Hayden was on his way home after a party, a rather good party, so he had been a bit reluctant to leave but he knew that if he didn‘t get enough sleep lives might be lost, families split apart, bonds might break and he might have a lawsuit on his hands.
Hayden wasn‘t your average man, he was a very successful surgeon. He graduated as both a trauma and general surgeon but he could if need be, take the place of orthopedic or cardiac surgeons as well as being a veterinarian in all but title. He didn´t know how, but he had better memory than anyone he knew of, to the point of only needing to read or see things once to remember it from there on out.
The older surgeons said it wasn´t possible to watch a surgery once and then be able to perform it, but he´d done it once, unfortunately the older surgeons were at home at that particular moment. Why? Bird flu, same reason why he was the one cutting and not someone with an older and weaker immune system. He couldn´t afford to give the older surgeons any reason to fire him. Most of them already thought he was too young and inexperienced to do what he did and coming tired to work because he was at a party did not show how mature he was, so he always went to bed early. He left the party at about 1:30 am despite his friends telling him to stay just a bit longer.
It was Friday and he had a few days off, thanks to some asshole that slammed a door on his middle and index fingers so he didn´t have to go to work until Wednesday but he didn´t want to make a habit out of staying up late. 12:00 am, that was his bedtime on holidays and off days, unless there was a party, he loved parties and attended every one he could make the time for, work came first and parties after that, his entire family had already passed away and parties and friends were intertwined.
His mother died giving birth to him and his father was a one night stand. His grandparents both died of lung cancer, heavy smokers both but never smoked when he was around unless they were somewhere outside.
All in all his life was very successful but sad and lonely if not for the friends his roommate in college introduced him to. None of them were really close friends to him but they´d call him if they were having a group get together or a PARTY, they knew he loved to party and he knew it as well but in college he simply didn´t have time for them because he made a promise to his grandparents that he would be successful in life and he wanted to show them that he would uphold that promise.
After about a five minute drive he parks his car in his assigned parking spot and gets out of the car.
The very first thing he noticed when he opened the car door was crying and laughter coming from a corner in the parking lot, after getting out of the car and locking it, he walks to the corner were the sounds are coming from and see‘s five kids, about 10-12 years of age, kicking something pink that‘s laying on the floor.
Not liking this he walks closer to the group and calls, “Hey, what are you doing? “ They look at him and then at each other. A few seconds pass until they all make a run for it.
Hayden watches them until they disappear around a corner and finally looks at what they were kicking. The first thing he notices is that it looks like a pony, its coat is pink and its mane is a slightly darker pink. It‘s laying on its left side and covering its face with its forelegs, rear legs huddled up close to its body. It‘s shaking and still crying, a small puddle‘s formed under its head and it has a few bruises, one of which is directly above the three balloons adorning its hindquarters, two blue, one yellow.
Hayden gets down on his knees and places a hand on its side. As soon as he does it stops sobbing and pulls its forelegs ever so slowly from its face to reveal a pair of big, blue eyes, glossed over from crying. As its eyes fall on Hayden, he starts stroking its side and says; ‘‘Shhhhh, it´s okay, don´t worry, I’m going to take care of you until you recover or I find your owner. ” It didn‘t say anything (why would it? It‘s a pony) but tries to stand up. When it tries to use its left rear leg it grunts but tries to use it anyway. It seems to be about to limp away when Hayden places his arms underneath it.
Slowly but surely he rose to his feet and with the pony in his arms he turns to the door leading inside the apartment complex he currently resided in.
His apartment is on the first floor so it only takes about a minute to get inside it. Once there he looks at his couch and frowns. It wasn‘t very comfy and he didn‘t have a guest bed so he opted to take the pony to his bedroom, after all, it´s just an animal. He could have it sleep by his feet while it gets better, or something.
He put the pony on the bed, mindful of its hurt leg. He then went into his bathroom and got some painkillers so it could sleep. He was back in the bedroom within ten seconds but somehow the pony had limped into the kitchen and opened his fridge. He raised an eyebrow and shook his head, then went to stop the pony.
It was trying to open the fruit veggie drawer at the bottom, probably to get the apple he had there. He chuckled at the ponies failed attempts to open the drawer with its hoof before helping it and taking the apple out of the drawer. He held it in front of the pony´s tiny muzzle. The pony looked at the apple but quickly turned to the drawer and stared longingly at it.
‘Strange, there´s nothing else there except a sack of potatoes and some “emergency” twinkles. What? Don´t judge me! I have some friends that come over sometimes and one of them really likes sweets, so much in fact that he “steals” them from me and his other friends. I wouldn´t keep him around if he weren´t so damn funny. He can tell the best jokes and not even crack a smile, do the weirdest, but somehow still funny, things and act like the world is at stake. He´s got a kind of “You can´t touch me. And even if you did I wouldn´t care” kind of attitude. He could make you laugh just by looking at you with a straight face, he´s that friend. And he doesn´t like healthy things.’
The pony turned back to the apple and took a small bite out of it. It chewed slowly, like it was afraid, which wasn´t that farfetched. On all fours, the top of its head was about level with his knee. Considering he wasn´t NBA sized, it was tiny, it was lucky it wasn´t dead, those kids could have easily killed it.
Hayden crushed the painkiller in between my thumb and the uninjured index finger on his right hand and sprinkled the dust on the inside of the apple. The pony stopped chewing and looked up at him, head tilted to its left. He had to repress a daww and said; “Come on, eat up, it´ll help with the pain.” The pony reached up slowly and took another, equally small bite out of the apple. It was looking straight at him while it chewed and he stared right back. It was strange, animals can´t maintain eye contact with humans for long, because they´re guided by instinct while we´re guided by reason and willpower, but this pony kept eye contact for about a minute without blinking until it shifted and accidentally put pressure on its hurt leg.
It winced, it was probably swelling by now and the bruise on its flank was turning purple. Hayden was going to have to take a look at it tomorrow and to see if it was something serious. For now however, he scooped it up and closed the fridge before heading for his bedroom. He put her back in the bed and went about undressing. It stayed in bed this time, its animal mind making the connection between walking and pain. Only when he removed his shirt did he realize how cold his room was.
“God damn it, I forgot to close the window before going out. Typical, this is like the stuff you read on the internet. I can remember entire textbooks and complex surgeries from reading and seeing them once, but I forget to close the damn window every time I go out.” Hayden mumbled to himself.
It was late October and it was getting cold this far north. He put on some pajamas and turned to his bed. The pony was staring at him, head tilted like before. “Aww, you´re so cute.” He said and scratched it behind its right ear. The pony´s tongue lolled out of its mouth almost instantly and when he tried to move his hand away, the pony followed until it yelped and fell over. Hayden chuckled and scooped it up in his arms. He moved the covers out of the way and put the pony down on its back.
It was best not to keep it that way for long, as it can potentially do more harm than good, but it was fine for now. He took its injured leg in his hand and rubbed it with the other. When his hand reached the metatarsal bone(shin bone)it winced and suppressed a whimper. It made sense, going over its other metatarsal bone, he could feel the swelling on its injured leg. It wasn't good, that´s for sure, the bone might be fractured, but he couldn't be sure with all the swelling. Tomorrow he would run some tests, put it through an x-ray scan and do what he could to help it.
He let go of its legs and it rolled onto its side. Hayden moved the covers further down and crawled into bed himself. The pony was looking at him and he just couldn´t resist scratching it again. Its tongue lolled out of its mouth again and a goofy grin spread across its muzzle. Had Hayden been more awake he might have questioned how an equine was smiling ear to ear, but it was just so cute that he couldn´t.
The pony snuggled up against him and he continued scratching its ear softly until he fell asleep, the pony dozing off long before he did.