The last thing she remembered. Was the crashing of the gate as the old oak slammed into them. It was a horrific sound, metal groaned, bolts sheared from their hinges and the gates crumpled down to the ground in a heap as blackness closed over the walking form of Clover, her consciousness torn from her in one fell swoop.
Then the area was completely silent save for the howl of the wind, the monsoon-level rain, and the distant thunder as the storm continued to roll over the area. It was not often they got a storm like this. It had been years since this particular area had gotten such a strong storm. They'd known it was coming. The barn had been locked down at every corner and several of the more at-risk ponies in older parts of the barn were housed inside the mansion in the maid's quarters. There had certainly been some complaints from the maids about that.
But the maid's feelings were irrelevant. It was all so everyone would be safe.
Everyone except the one who'd decided to return.
20 long minutes passed as Clovers form lay face down in the mud, eventually, a pair of blazing white headlights appeared down the laneway and a vintage-looking car trundled down the lane, with Hayley at its wheel. She brought the car to a quick stop, staring at the crumpled gates, the huge oak laying across the area, and to the prone blonde-haired form beneath it all. Her face paled as she wrenched her door open, rushing to the girl's side.
"Clover? Clover?!" She cried out, turning the girl's head slightly so she wasn't face down in the mud, the blood running from the open cut on her head raising as much concern as the pool of red in the large puddle forming around her. The girl was breathing, but she was not conscious.
"Shit shit shit." Hayley tore a walkie-talkie from her waist and opened up the emergency channel which would broadcast to every radio connected to the network.
"Aria, You're going to want to get to the front gate immediately! Christoph, we need your excavator and power tools here NOW and bring Victoria with you. I have a feeling we're going to need her."
A crackle came through the radio, it was the sleepy voice of Victoria, "What's goin----"
Hayley cut her off, "Just shut up and get up here now!"
She threw the walkie-talkie to the side and sat there with Clover. They hadn't had an accident at Tall Tails in a very long time and to say this was scary for her was an understatement. To her credit, Hayley didn't leave Clover's side once before anyone else arrived, constantly checking the girls breathing and pulse.
*******************
As darkness closed over her. Alexandria found her world dissolving in a sea of multi-colored bubbles spiraling into blackness. She'd had a brief moment of pain, and then there was nothing. No feelings. No sounds. Just nothing.
~Am I...dead? What's going on? Hello?~
Of course, no voice responded to her. She was in her own head. Protected by her brain's self-preserving functions.
~Maybe I shouldn't have come back. Why do things always have to be so against me? Why can't I just be happy?~
Her thoughts spiraled out of control until they faded into nothing more than mumbles and cries, wondering if she'd ever see the light of day again.
*****************
Three long days had passed since the incident at the gate. Since Clover had made her journey back to Tall Tails. Aria had done her best the keep any rumors under wraps and while she was extremely disappointed with Clover, she did make sure she was ok. She'd given clear and concise instructions to her staff but had, for the most part, remained in her office and bedroom for the better part of the three days, awaiting any sort of news that might come of the girl.
Upon being freed from under the gate, Clover had been immediately brought to Victoria's clinic. The woman, while she was called a vet. Was in fact, a licensed doctor. She was the highest-paid individual on the farm. She had most of what was needed to help Clover and make sure she was ok. Minus the Portable CAT-Scan which was airlifted in from a nearby hospital at Aria's expense. For the most part, Clover had gotten roughed up pretty hard. The hit to her head had split the right side of her head open and stolen her consciousness. They weren't sure if she'd wake up. But based on the scans, if she did wake, she'd be ok. Beyond the head though, she'd gotten quite a few 'pokes' from the many branches of the oak. She had a star pattern of stab wound through her back right side and an ankle that would be several weeks to heal.
"It could have been so much worse." Victoria had explained to the exhausted Aria, Christoph, and Hayley sitting on a bench at the side of the room, all of them still soaked in a mixture of mud, water, and blood from the rescue of the small formed female.
"She'll survive. But what state she'll be in when she wakes, I can't say. Do you want her to remain here, or in the recovery room in the house?"
"Is it safe to move her?" Asked Aria.
Victoria nodded, "With the new path to the house, the trip by hospital bed should be a smooth one."
"Then in the house. It's more comfortable."
They all nodded in agreeance and after Victoria had fixed up Clover to the best of her ability and fitted her with a wide-bore IV in her hand along with several monitors, she was wheeled up to the house to rest.
And that's where she'd remained for three long days. The four who knew of her did periodically check on her, most prominently was Hayley and Aria who was often at the house.
Aria had remained in her quarters most of the time. Part of her was upset with Clover for doing something so stupid and reckless. But part of her blamed herself. She'd known the storm was coming. She'd guessed the girl would come back. Why hadn't she simply made other arrangements? Kept tabs on her. She was frustrated with herself as much as Clover. But being who she was, nobody else needed to know that. She occasionally checked in on the girl, brushing her hair away from the 28 stitches across her scalp. She hoped the hair would grow back properly, Clover did have a lovely mane.
It was, however, on the third day that what they'd hoped for had come to reality.
Hayley was sitting in the corner of the white-painted recovery room with a magazine open in her lap, idly flipping through the pages. Not that she was reading it so much as trying to distract her mind.
Against the far wall was the hospital bed holding Clovers form. A thick blanket was laid over her and she was propped up on soft white pillows. The constant beep from the EKG she was hooked up to, letting Hayley know she was ok. But at that moment, it wasn't the EKG noise that demanded her attention...
