The White Horse

Picture Prompt #55 – The Blog Propellant

         

‘Oh, is it morning already!’, wondered William as he heard the alarm blaring. ‘How quickly the nights go.  I close my eyes, and the next thing I know is its time to wake up and get to work’. How he hated getting up in the morning. As if he had a choice! There was a time he could just sleep to his hearts content, just eat, sleep, go to work. His doctor had given the final verdict, ‘There’s nothing more I can do, unless you decide to change your unhealthy lifestyle’. Thus started his daily routine of going for a jog in the morning.

With great difficulty, he dragged himself out of the bed, put on his running attire, and set about for the days workout. As he jogged down the path, he noticed something odd. The place seemed to be deserted. Where did all his co-runners go, he wondered. His morning routine had given him a lot of new friends. But how come everyone decide to take a break today? Was there something wrong?. He couldn’t understand.

He continued running, still trying to figure what happened to the people around him. It was then that he noticed the three storey building. Every morning, he could see a beautiful girl standing there, looking out into the distance, lost in a world of her own. Was she sad? Or was she taking in the beauty of the dawn. He never understood. But today, even she was not there. What he saw instead was unbelievable.

There was a white horse near the window, exactly where the girl used to stand. William stopped in his tracks. How on earth did the horse get on top of this building. Perhaps someone took it up there. But how and why! And what happened to the girl? A lot of questions came rushing to his mind. He stared at the horse for a long time. There was a fierce look in its eyes. But he could sense a feeling of despair and helplessness too in the poor animal. As though it wanted to escape.

As he watched, he realised that it was trying to break the glass window. It wanted to be free, he felt. He looked around, but couldn’t see anyone. He was now standing right below the window. He saw, with utter disbelief, the horse breaking the window. It was about to jump down. William tried to run, but couldn’t. He felt an invisible force pulling him to the ground. He tried to shout, but no words came out of his mouth. He stood transfixed as the horse jumped out. It landed right on his head, and both went crashing to the ground. ‘Aahhh’, he screamed, closing his eyes, and realising his voice coming back.

As he opened his eyes, he saw his wife staring at him. ‘Where’s the horse?’, he mumbled. He looked around, he was still in his bed in his house. ‘You don’t get up in the morning, and then scream on top of your voice and scare the hell out of me’, she seemed annoyed and walked back to kitchen.