My eyes burst open, my mouth dropped as I took in my surroundings.

Everything was white. I was in white clothes; white bed, white blankets, white walls, white tables, white medical supplies, hold on, no they were all sorts of colours.

A tall slender lady in a nurses uniform strolled into the room.
"Are you feeling okay?" She asked calmly.
I gave her a quizzical expression. "Never better, what happened?"
"You had an accident with a horse and were rushed to hospital. You have no broken bones but we need to do an x-Ray to check you have no other damage."
"Oh phew, I nearly panicked when you mentioned hospital!" I released a shaky laugh as the last of the shock wore off.
"Here put this on." She said as if ignoring me entirely. She handed me a clear face mask connected to a long, thin plastic tube. I pulled it over my face and lay down in what I had thought was a bed, but had turned out to be a stretcher. An anaesthetic gas rocketed through the tube and filled my nose, before I knew it, I was out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My emerald eyes speedily adapted to the light of mid-day. Mum was hugging me tight, Erica was beside my hospital bed with a concerned look on her face.

My chest was bandaged.

Erica's eyes were pinned to what looked like a small TV.

The nurse came over to the bed that I lay on (not the stretcher). "You are all good to go now, nothing major but because a couple of you're ribs came close to cracking you will have to stay home for a week to let them strengthen!"
"Great, thank you," I breathed, allowing my body to relax.

Suddenly mums eyes leaked small tears of happiness. She was studying the x-Ray screen. "You are so lucky you're ribs didn't crack!" She sniffed, blowing her nose into a tissue from my bedside table. "Didn't crack..?" Suddenly my mind decided to actually process all that had just been said. "MUM I WENT FLYING OVER THE FENCE!!!"
Mum stared at me in shock.
"Um no you didn't, Lucy said She only saw you slide of Survivor's back!"
"Ooh!" My cheeks turned red. Mum laughed as she helped my out of the bed before I went to get properly dressed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Mum I need to see Survivor today, I haven't gone to the SPCA for a week now."

She clamped the knives she was sharpening down and stared me straight in the eyes.

"He could've killed you Elisabeth!"

"Yeah but I was breaking him in, he would've thought I was a leopard trying to kill him!"

"There's no leopards in New Zealand." Mum replied, returning to her knifves.

"What of one escaped from the zoo!?"

Mum sighed, I knew that was a stupid thing to say. "I just, don't want him to be slaughtered." I muttered, turning on my heels to walk away.

"Oh fine! I'll take you! But no breaking in! Okay!?"

"Yes! I knew you would give in!" I hooted, nearly tripping with laughter as I skipped out the door and headed for the car. Mum just shook her golden curls smiling to herself.

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My heart stopped as I peered down the line of stalls. "Where's Survivor Lucy." I speculated as she carried a water bucket to Winter Ripple. "Ooh, um, well he's kinda..." I stared at her in disbelief. "You mean... Don't tell me, he's, gone already!?" I started quivering with fear.