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Ah, now we get (I think) why Karilla goes gorilla if anyone touches her horse. My sympathy's with Jennifer though - you can't do that to a horse.

An old friend of mine was of the "horsey" sort & she told me at the stables she kept her randy old psychopath of a steed that you could always tell at weekends which horses' owners hadn't been up to ride them. They'd be restless & at times bolshie (not so good if you're having to muck out others stables as part of the way of paying your stabling fees!), particularly if the ones stabled next to them had been getting attention.

No matter what any owner may claim, most horses are spoiled rotten, & get the stropes if they're denied attention, especially if they see the owner giving it to another horse. Considering those ranch horses all come from broken backgrounds, I'd have called Jennifer as well within her rights to do what needed to be done to prevent Raven from perhaps reverting back to previous bad behaviour from the anxiety of fearing rejection again.

Hooray I am now caught up with my Fury reading (accompanied by Minty's comprehensive reading notes about the dangers of frustrated randy steeds )!

What can I say? MURDERER! MURDERER! MURDERER!

That Karilla, she's a killer! Apparently.

If Jennifer had a shred of sense, she'd have asked one of the boys to take Karilla's horse for a ride instead of breaking the pact made by the girls. Silly Jennifer.

For example, she could ask Jack to take the horse out and he could ride across the fields with the wind in his hair.

Well I shall eagerly await the next story. Let's hear about this murder. Perhaps Jack could tell the story, possibly without the need for a shirt. He could, for example, sit by the fireside while telling the tale, maybe with a glass of whisky.

(And if the fireside storytelling should result in a fire scenario requiring firemen to be called, that would result in no objections from me.)

Finally got around to reading the chapter.

Well that was a bit of a twist, Karilla killed Marissa's old horse. I can't wait to hear the story behind this odd event.

Time for the long-awaited Part 2 of Chapter 30!! Now just as a forewarning, you might cry

Chapter Thirty, Part Two

“What the hell do you mean, ‘you killed him’? Did you really….”
“I might as well have….”




FLASHBACK: TWO YEARS EARLIER

The wayback machine has turned back to the summer of 2011. An entire year before Mike got arrested and subsequently started working at the stable and almost two years before Jason came into the picture. Around this time, Karilla was a junior in high school while her best friends Jennifer and Marissa were already in college. It was summer, both high school and college students were celebrating their summer break and the three girls were no exception.




Also around that time, Marissa still had her old horse. A seven year old Bay Quarter gelding by the name of Apache. Unlike most of the horses at Six Gable Stables who were rescued by the ASPCA or other animal rescue organizations around Crystal Falls, Colorado, Apache was raised by Jack Sliver from birth. In a tragic turn of events when he was born, Apache’s dam had died during birth which prompted Jack to form a close bond with the bay horse. Apache is known for being laid back, easy to handle, obedient and friendly. When Marissa first arrived at the stables in search of riding lessons, Jack knew that Apache, for his easy-going nature, would have been perfect for her. Jack’s decision caused Apache and Marissa to form an extremely close bond, even closer of a bond than Apache and Jack.




On July 17th of 2011, Marissa approached Karilla outside the barn in order to ask her for a favor…a favor which would bring devastating and tragic results.

“Hey, Karilla? Can you do something for me, babe?”
“Sure! Anything!”
“I’m going to be hanging out at the mall with Jenny and a few other friends from high school. I would love it if you would take Apache out for a ride and give him a little exercise.”
“Ok! I don’t have any plans for today so I can get right on it!”
“I knew I could trust you!”




After Marissa left, Karilla saddled up Apache, caressed his neck in an affectionate manner and mounted him.
“What do you say, Apache? Ready to go?”




For the rest of the afternoon, Karilla spent the time riding Apache up and down the trails branching off from the stables. Along the way, she comes across a few felled trees and seized the opportunity to attempt jumps. All obstacles were successfully cleared by the duo.
“Good boy, Apache!”




Moments later, Karilla came across the barren remains of what once was a cottage, all that remained of the old homestead was an old wooden fence and a crumbling foundation. The fence was considerably higher than the felled trees, but Apache was known for being a brave horse that doesn’t spook easily and is willing to accept any challenge that is thrown his way. Including trying to jump over an impossible obstacle.

“Are you sure you can clear that fence? It looks really high….We can try if you think you’re ready! Let’s go!”

What happened next was the beginning of a fatal tragedy that would adversely affect everyone that rides at Six Gable Stables.




Karilla kicked Apache’s sides in order to make him spring into a full canter. Careening down a slight incline and into the range of the fence, the horse’s frontal legs rise up above the fence….




However, in mid jump. Karilla heard a sudden and sickening whacking sound and a shrieking neigh of pain came from her mount. She began to feel herself descending quite rapidly….




Soon, she was violently ejected from the saddle. Karilla slid down Apache’s neck and landed flat on the back of her head, knocking her out as the horse landed askew and literally flipped over headfirst, nearly crushing the 16 year old redhead to death.




Karilla regained consciousness five minutes later with Apache standing up and licking her face in order to wake her up. Everything seemed fine with the horse at first, but Karilla could notice right away that there was something amiss. Apache was not putting any weight on his back right leg.







She attempted to mount the gelding and ride him back to the stables, but almost instantaneously after she straddled Apache, he began to go ballistic, neighing in a painfully high pitch and rearing up, attempting to throw Karilla off his back. She quickly dismounted and realized immediately that Apache was in an enormous amount of pain and could not put any weight on his bad leg whatsoever. Karilla had no choice but to walk back to the stable with Apache in tow. She couldn’t bear to face the painfully obvious worst-case scenario that his leg was broken.

“Hopefully it’s just a sprain. Please God, let it be just a sprain and that’s it.”




Unfortunately, despite Karilla’s wishful thinking, it was not a sprain.

“(sighs) The x-rays don’t look very good. According to the scans, Apache has broken his cannon bone in three places and he appears to be suffering from internal hemorrhaging quite badly in the sesamoid and pastern areas of his leg.”
“What can we do, Dr. Milford?” Jack asked.
“Unfortunately, the cannon bone is part of the horse’s fetlock. Break those bones and they almost never heal the way we want them.”
“What does the prognosis look like in Apache’s case?” Marissa inquired.
“I’m sorry but even if the cannon bone miraculously healed, he’ll always be in excruciating chronic pain….I think it would be best if we……..say goodbye.”




At that moment, tears began to violently erupt from Karilla’s eyes as she realized that indirectly, she was the cause of Apache’s demise. Dr. Lemar Milford tried his best console the crying teenager.

“You….you can’t do that!! YOU CAN’T KILL APACHE!! THERE’S GOTTA BE SOMETHING YOU CAN DO TO HELP HIM!!”
“I know it’s hard to say goodbye....and I know how it feels to lose a furry friend. I may not have owned horses, but I’ve owned many dogs in my life and when they get old or sick….and I have to put them down, it’s one of the most devastating things you could ever experience….but Apache wouldn’t want you to have your heart broken…He’ll be in a better place.”
“What kind of a goddamn vet are you? You’re supposed to help animals get better, not f***ing KILL them! You might as well pull out a Glock, put it to Apache’s head and pull the trigger until it goes ‘click’!!!!”




Jack jumped into the conversation and tried his best to talk Karilla down from doing anything drastic.

“KARILLA PLEASE! Calm down! There is nothing that we can do for Apache now!”
“You know what Jack, you’re right. It’s not your fault for allowing this to happen and it’s not Dr. Milford’s fault for euthanizing him. It’s MY fault! I made him jump over that f***ing old fence! I CAUSED HIM TO BREAK HIS LEG! SO IF THERE IS ANYONE TO BLAME IN THIS SITUATION, IT’S F***ING ME!!!!!”

Karilla stormed out of the stable with tears in her eyes.




Despite Karilla’s pleas, Marissa, Jennifer and company decided that it would be selfish to prolong the bay gelding’s suffering just so that he would still be alive and that it would be best if that suffering would be taken away from him forever. Shortly after Dr. Milford administered the lethal injection to the horse, one of the girls laid down next to Apache and held his large head. Jack was surprised that it was not Marissa, but it was Karilla that laid next to the dying beast. Soon, the horse’s breathing began to slow down, the dark eyes of the steed began to slowly close, and Karilla’s weeping intensified.




The weeks following the death and burial of Apache were painful for everybody at the stable, but for Karilla the most. Every day as she walked past the empty stall that was once Apache’s, she feels a large wave of guilt wash over her. If she had not attempted to jump over the old fence…if she had not agreed to ride Apache for Marissa in the first place, he would still be alive. Marissa, Jennifer, Jack and Julian despite being extremely saddened by the loss, managed to move on. Karilla remained in a state of constant depression for a month and a half afterwards.




When Karilla finally got the inner courage to face Marissa and Jennifer. Karilla proposed a pact. A pact that would ensure that a tragedy like Apache’s death would never occur again. That under absolutely zero circumstances that they’re able to ride each other’s horses. The girls would be limited to their one horse.




In due time, Jack adopted an American Paint gelding named Winston and gave it to Marissa on January of the following year as a birthday present. At that point, Karilla seemed to have gotten over her depression and successfully reconciled with her friends, but as evidenced by the way she reacted to Jennifer riding Raven the day prior…the deep scars of guilt still exist.




PRESENT DAY

“Ok….Karilla. I ain’t gonna lie, that is one of the saddest stories concerning horses that I have ever heard….but babe, the way you’re conveying this whole thing makes it sound like you took a gun and shot the horse!”
“Like I said before, I might as well have.”
“But you didn’t! Apache’s death was a tragic accident. That’s all it was! You didn’t ‘kill’ him!”




“Mike, how could I have NOT killed him?! I was the one that took him out! I was the one that forced him to jump over that damn fence! If I didn’t do it, he would still be alive today!”
“Karilla, It wasn’t due to the fact that YOU were the one that was riding him! It could have happened to anyone. It was a tragic accident, Karilla! Nothing more! You did NOT kill Apache! Now what I want you to do is apologize to Jennifer for flipping out on her! Also, I think that you should dissolve this pact. Just because this horrible tragedy had to take place does NOT mean that if you girls ride each other’s horses, it’ll happen again! You can't spend the rest of your life abusing yourself over this, Karilla!”




Karilla pondered Mike’s advice….and responded to his words.
“…….I guess you’re right Mike….I should stop this whole deal….”




That night, Karilla walked past the stable to discover Jennifer standing outside the massive door. Karilla sought this as an opportunity to follow her boyfriend’s advice and to break the pact for good.
“Hey Jenny.”
“Hi Karilla! What’s up?”
“Listen Jenny….I’m sorry for flipping out at you yesterday….You didn’t deserve to be yelled at.”
“It’s okay, sweetie!”
“Also…….I’m dissolving the pact.




Jennifer was genuinely surprised at Karilla’s statement about the pact, especially due to the fact that Karilla has been the most defensive about the pact since 2011.

“Why?”
“I just can’t deal with the self-abuse anymore…….I realize now that I didn’t kill Apache, it was just a tragic accident…..It’s horrible that it happened, but I didn’t physically murder him”
“Karilla, Marissa and I have been waiting for you to say those words for a long time now….”




Karilla smiled as a tear fell from her eye. Jennifer also smiled and wrapped her arms around her best friend….



(Quick trivia: Do you remember Julian Sprockett, the stablehand that was injured when Fury attacked him in the very first chapter? What happened to him was that sometime in between the time when Karilla confessed her love for Mike to when Jason first came into the picture, Julian decided to quit his job. That explains why Jack was so willing to hire Jason as a stablehand, it was to take Julian's place.

THE MORE YOU KNOW...... )

Poor Apache.

Good that they all went back to letting each other ride one another's steeds again rather than leaving them to get frustrated.

Great stuff, Fraroc! I'm glad to hear that the pact is dissolved so everyone can get a decent ride, as it were.

Hey guys, I know it's been over a month since I posted anything and I know you're expecting another chapter of Fury, and it IS coming...It's just that school is getting really crazy with tests and stuff so I kind of drained right now.....I hope you all understand

Of course, Fraroc, no worries. I would be distressed if you failed your tests because you were busy taking pictures of Jack just for me. You get back to us when you get a chance and good luck with school stuff in the meantime.

No probs Fraroc, real life duties must come first. We've a number of members like Sommie & Ollie that vanish due to education demands from time to time. That's what makes Sims time that bit more worthwhile when you get it - you feel you've earned it!

Hey guys....I'm writing this to basically announce that I'm taking a break on this story. NOW DON'T PANIC, I am going to continue to write some more chapters of this story. Trust me, I've really fallen in love with my characters, I really love them all. Mike, Jason, Karilla, Jennifer, Marissa, Jack.....I feel like they're all a part of me and there is nothing I want more than to be able to write more, but right now...I still feel kind of drained, so....it's sad to say but you might not see another chapter until at least May. If earlier, then great! But only time can tell when I'll be able to recharge my creative batteries.

Also....another thing. This may be a ways off...but...I sort of have an ending in mind for Fury already.