“Enjoying the party, Ryan?”

The girl being addressed looked up to the smiling face of her parent. Ryan, as she was named, was just a young child. The message didn’t arrive, or more likely, was never sent, to her mind as she was quite mature for her age and lacking the signature childhood sense of humor. It was no wonder her mother came to question her as she sat alone at a chair with a stone-cold face while the kids around her buzzed through the air and free-for-all atmosphere, having a ball at the birthday celebration.

“Yeah,” she said, her unchanged face telling a different, although incorrect story, “It’s fun.” Ryan wasn’t lying, but her standards for fun tended to be different than the others in her age group.

Her mother actually did believe her, though, despite the blunt monotone that came to her ears, but knew better than to simply leave it at that. “Why don’t you go play with your friends?” she asked hopefully.

“I only have one and she’s not here,” came the reply. She wasn’t actually friends with the birthday kid. He had just invited everyone he knew following the golden rule of more people equals more presents.

Points for brutal honesty, her mother thought, there must be something around here she’ll like. She glanced around at the sugar-fueled mess that was once a house until she found an answer. The party happened to belong to one of the more wealthy children on the block, and as things tend to go, the eager-to please parents went all out in the attractions. In a corner was a clown, delighting the faces of his young audience with his gags and balloons that always ended up as an animal of some sorts, the exception being a snake. Balloons already came in that shape when you blew them up. In the living room was a few rows of chairs set up, most occupied, as an entire wall was turned into a personal silver screen by a ceiling-mounted projector. What the mother set her sights on, however, wasn’t any of these. She had something bigger in mind. Instead, there was a sign pointing out to the field the owners called a back yard. It directed the many children to more various centers of entertainment outside such as the pool and bouncy castle with matching slide, but on the top, in blocky, noticeable letters, were the words “HORSEBACK RIDES!!!”

Ryan’s mother figured this would be the best choice if her daughter was reluctant to get really involved with all the usual activities. “Want to try horseback riding? They have it in the backyard,” she asked. She got an indifferent shrug. “It will be fun,” she said toned in a sing-song voice. However, it wasn’t an appeal this time, as indicated by the hand that was offered to Ryan.

Ryan merely took the hand, allowing herself to be lead away from the table and chair she had become so acquainted with. They made a move for the door, but were cut off by a large group of screaming and hollering kids darting by in an organized clump of limbs, all of them covered in or carrying some kind of party token, whether it be face paint or sugar-filled cake their parents would have to deal with later. Ryan’s mother took a glance at the passing crows before shifting her gaze to Ryan. Ryan, herself, was just staring ahead, waiting to get a move on.

Once the path was clear, the two walked out into the grassy turf, pool to the left, fence to the right, and a football field’s worth of space in front, which is where the four-legged animals were. Even from the some-distance-away spot she was in, Ryan could see the horses trotting calmly though the makeshift pasture with a young, overenthusiastic child along for the ride. There were at least three of them, each with their own attendant to lead them in their circular path and to make sure everything went smoothly.

“That looks fun,” her mother attempted, but she might as well have been talking to herself. Her daughter had already made the observation. Ryan gazed off towards the equines with interest. Never before had she actually seen a horse. Sure, there had been pictures and incredibly childish drawings in her coloring books, but the real, living thing was in its own league altogether. While any other girl her age would likely be running with a delightful squeal, their poor mother in her heels being dragged along the grass, Ryan was passively fascinated. For the first time since arriving at the party, she found herself being drawn to something. She subconsciously increased her speed, not acknowledging her own movement. Her mother however, did notice. That must be a good sign, she figured.

They soon found themselves at the line for it, if it could be called that. In truth, it was really a spot in the grass where at least one attendant and a horse were waiting for someone to come for the attraction. The attendant was talking to the only other child in line, a boy of frizzy red hair that had a twinkle in his eyes that spelled mischief. He was in the process of being explained by the attendant why he can’t have firecrackers go off near and definitely not on the horse. It sounded silly to the outsiders that were Ryan and her mom. Surely it was common sense? The boy however, wasn’t dumb. He knew full well when and when not to use the sparky rockets. He just wanted to annoy the man with his absurd ideas.

Ryan briefly wondered where he had even gotten the things that were currently stuffed into his pockets but figured they were probably lying around here somewhere, only to be set off for some time during the birthday celebration to add fun dramatics and effects to the show. She paid the boy no more mind, even if her mother was giving him a look of suspicion.

The man broke his lecture long enough to notice the newcomers. He quickly changed his exasperated demeanor into that of a happy I’m-being-paid-to-do-this one. “Looking to take a fun horseback ride?” he said in a rehearsed tone, each word more bright than the previous.

Ryan nodded.

“Okay, but first let’s go over some safety tips for Henry here,” he said, gesturing with a thumb over his shoulder to the chestnut-colored horse lazily grazing behind him a few steps. At receiving another nod, he went on in a monologue of safety and why they were important to take heed to. Ryan didn’t pay too much attention, though. It was all rules she would expect such as to treat the animal how you would want to be treated. They were really just versions of the ones she was used to in school, so she knew it was smart to smile and nod in “understanding” as he finished up.

Under the watchful eye of her mother, she was lifted up onto Henry the Horse, as she found herself somewhat affectionately calling it. Once up, she couldn’t help but gawk at the view from on top of the saddle. She could see the whole world! she thought. Even normally her much taller mother was but a tiny speck in the greenery. This is going to be amazing! she thought as she clutched the reins as instructed. She smiled an eager glance at her mother who, in turn, shot one back happily. Looks like her plan was working, even if there weren’t any other children around. Save for one trouble-making boy sitting in the grass while fiddling with toys he shouldn’t have.

Ryan was caught off guard as the beast of burden suddenly started a slow, guided trot with the aid by its side, causing her to momentarily almost lose her balance, but she recovered just fine. With that, she was off!

The girl was lead around the small field, enjoying every single moment. She would describe it, insisting she wasn’t exaggerating, that it was a wild rush of wind and speed as she and Henry the Horse dashed across the field, her hair billowing in the wake of the air they sliced that so foolishly got in their way. Ryan was sure her steed was enjoying the ride as well, judging from the sidelong glances it would occasionally throw at its unfamiliar passenger from its long face. Overall, it was a truly ecstatic experience.

…which meant that it was a shame that everything afterwards was the direct, terrifying opposite.

From the pocket of grass that they had started at came a sudden, quick shriek. Ryan knew that voice. It was her mother’s. Already facing the direction it came from, she craned her neck around the horse’s head to see what could have caused her mom to become frightened, but the answer came to her quickly. As in it literally came to her.

She let loose of her own as a loud, screeching blur of sparkling red blasted past her face. Her head darted backwards in pursuit, catching sight of the missile as it crashed into the ground, flares still shooting out. Maybe not a missile, but a rocket, it seemed. It didn’t take her long to put two and two together as she realized the boy had probably sent one off by mistake. She calmed herself down from her scare once knowing there wasn’t any reason to be alarmed and tried to set her mind back to the happy place it had been in.

Unfortunately, the horse did not share the same recovery. Horses tend to be higher strung animals, susceptible to sudden scares, and it just so happened that this particular one was feeling antsy as is in the unfamiliar environment infested with small, screaming children. With a fear-induced whinny, it reared up its entire mass, rider and all, up onto its two hind legs, its now-airborne legs held out in front and pining the empty space, as a bright and faster moving firecracker flew by its head, playing a shrill note many octaves too high.

Ryan felt the sudden change before all else. One moment she was fine on top of her friend Henry the Horse, the next she was facing the odd sensation of gaining altitude at a rather awkward angle, then finally ending up in the actually familiar yet unlikeable feeling of falling. She’d fallen off of things an embarrassedly large amount of times before, usually at the playground at school, but it was always a heart-skipping experience. She yelled out in an unpleasant mixture of surprise and fear as she fell towards the unforgiving ground, completely at the nonexistent mercy of gravity. This was much worse than the usual falling sensation, though. Between the nasty surprise and whinnying horse, it was made even less desirable by the extra-long distance from the animal’s back to the ground. It only lasted seconds, but time was rendered irrelevant.

She landed on the ground hard, her head taking a nasty hit from the resulting whiplash. Tears sprang to her eyes and gave no indication of stopping their flow. It only was at this time that her mother saw the situation, her imminent scolding to the boy interrupted by the cry from her daughter. It took only a moment before instinct took over. She darted out to the rearing animal that once held Ryan, kicking off her heels and not caring where they ended up. All that mattered was her child and protecting her. She screamed Ryan’s name all the way.

Meanwhile, the attendant, who was supposed to be preventing this exact kind of situation, was still recovering from the shock of the sudden turn of events. Only moments too late did he come back to reality after Ryan’s fall. However, there was no time to ponder what could have been prevented. There was a horse that needed to be calmed down. He turned to the animal, the thought I am so fired running through his mind. In most situations, he would have had the problem sorted out in a jiffy, but, once again, horses are timid creatures. This is especially the case when a woman runs towards one screaming. By a bad sense of humor, Ryan’s mother’s concern only lead to making things worse as the horse became startled at the perceived threat. Acting on the latter portion of fight or flight, it turned in a hurry, trying to gallop off, while ignoring the dismayed response from its trainer.

Unfortunately, there happened to be a child in the way.

Ryan, back against the ground and vision blurred, shrieked as the massive form of the horse came over her, its size blacking out the sun and giving it a terrifying silhouette. The horse paid her no mind, however, as it only seemed content on becoming the horrible monster that whinnied an unearthly sound at its victim. This wasn’t Henry the Horse, as Ryan knew, but a big angry beast that sought nothing more than to take sadistic pleasure in its poor and helpless prey. Tears flowed like a broken dam as the girl could only scream as the monster rushed over her, relentlessly tearing up the earth it shook in its wake.

The poor girl didn’t even see it when a hoof came at her, straight for her face.