It's a sunny and warm day on the 20th of August. A small French rural village, located to the Middle France, wakes up from darkness to an embrace of the orange sunshine. Gentle wind blows leaves lightly, and their movement is almost unnoticeable.
The village isn't very popular outside France but for many French people it's a splendid place to relax as it provides many kinds of activities; fishing, riding, boating and many other exercise possibilities. The town's sports hall, which is open from 10am to 6pm every weekday, can be visited in every season. It is the biggest building in the whole village, also one of the newest community buildings. It attracts millions of visitors per year.
Although the village mostly consists of middle-income inhabitants, there is a residental area of the rich on the verge of the village. A big turquoise river runs through the area all the way down to a lake. From the total five thousand inhabitants in the village, only a few have successed well enough to get a lot from the wealthiest but even more beautiful district. This house is a part of the rich, which belongs to the Moquins one child family, where forty-five years old boss of a big company, François and his nearly forty years old wife Jeanne live. They have 20-year-old daughter who is still living with them.
Béatrice Moquin, the daughter of François and Jeanne, has inherited her mother's blond hair and face features. On the other hand, sky blue, slightly pale eyes she have inherited from her daddy. Compared to other villagers, Béatrice has one or two notches paler skin colour which the Sun doesn't tan so easily and that's why her skin colour turns into red pretty easily. Thus, Béatrice prefers to spend time mostly indoors and steps outside only when a group of clouds have conquered the bright, clear sky. But when it comes to riding, she'll go outside no matter what weather it is - She has been into riding from the times she was in primary school. She has won numerous of competitions between her own village and municipalities and even a competition held between the whole France, once. In other sports she is beyond average and that's why her body figure is neither formidably muscular nor model skinny.
A few days earlier Béatrice competed in the last jumping race event in that year. This time Béatrice didn't win out but came from a few points from the winning to the second place with her horse Tempête (in English: strom)...
...But on the other hand, Béatrice won the galloping race which was in the same division with the jumping race. During many years, Tempête has been voted to the whole village's, and sometimes even to the whole France's, horses top list despite it's young age. Béatrice has never had more than one or two mates at school, so by spending some quality time with her horse they've build a tight, unbreakable bond of trust between them. If someone asked a question from Béatrice about who was her best friend, she would give a direct answer without even a second of hestitation "my horse, Tempête".
After the competition Béatrice didn't question a second whether she dared to relax properly. She decided to put new sunbathing chairs to a test, which her mother had bought lately, still after the Sun had set enough that it couldn't burn her skin. Béatrice gets along with the cooler air and doesn't feel the coldness so lightly, but on the contrary she can't stand the heat waves in the middle of the summerdays. But laying on the sunbathing chair was not enough to Béatrice so she swam in a huge pool in their homeyard. The pool had cost a fortune and it was dedicated to Béatrice in her forteen years birthday.
But after the school...
...-"Hi! I'm home now", Béatrice had a habit to inform to her parents everytime she came from the school to home.
Béatrice is studying in a tiny university in her village where she has specialized in arts. She has been in her 2nd class nearly two weeks for now.
Béatrice peeked into the kitchen where her parents were sitting around the kitchen table, as silent as in a funeral. Béatrice lowered her schoolcase on the floor behind the wall and raised her swinging hand to awaken them from "trans" in which they currently were, to her mind. Normally her parents reacted at least with a hi-shout when Béatrice came back home if they were present, but this time neither of them paid a greeting back. "There's something wrong", Béatrice thought.
-"Sit down, my child. Sit, by all means", Français guided Béatrice to sit down next to him.
-"Father, what's going on here? You are acting in really a strange way, you didn't even answer when I came home." Béatrice paid attention to her mother's ring finger - the wedding ring was gone.
-"Béatrice", Jeanne interrupted, "the thing is that... that me and your father are going to divorce. There's only a one step before we're actually going to divorce formally."
-"...But why?" Béatrice asked while glancing alternately her mother and father.
-"Your father's company went bankrupt, I just cannot and I do not want to live my whole life in debt imprisonment."
-"You were with my father only because of money?" Béatrice got agitated as she was disgusted how her mother talked about abandoning her father at that kind of moment. Only when Béatrice had believed that her parents loved each other genuinely. She had believed that despite the richness money wouldn't have been in the first place in their relationship. But it turned out to be the other way around.
-"Béatrice, calm down", Français continued, "this is the best decision when concerning everyone. Life is always beatable, no matter what turns out, in some day this man will live richly too." A small glittering tear was recognizable from Français' corner of the eye which was ready to roll down her father's cheek. But there was something to hold it in it's place, like something didn't want it to move a bit.
-"But how about me?"
-"We are thinking your best", Jeanne landed her hand on Français' hand which was resting on his left tight.
-"What is my best then? Please, let me live still here."
-"Can you see that newspaper on the table?" Jeanne asked, clearing her throat. Her smoking of twenty years had really lowered her voice and made it sound rough-ish.
-"Yep. But what makes it so strange?"
-"Take a look at it." Béatrice grabbed the paper in her hands, looking at the date of it. It was a month old paper from the midway of July. It wasn't either the same kind of paper like those other ones which Béatrice always read in mornings at a cup of coffee before going to school. The text was in english and big names were shining in photos and headlines who were from the west continent - the hottest names in Hollywood. But what the paper did in their home?
-"Yes, your eyes don't lie. The paper in your hands is printed in USA which is sent abroad also. Take a look at the inside of it", Jeanne guided.
-"No, not that double page. Just open the second last one." Béatrice obeyed and opened the view of announcements which conquered the whole double page. There were announcements of selling pets, of apartments, jobs...
-"We were just thinking with your mother that it would be already best for you to go to see the world. You are already 20 years old and I'm hurt every time how you tell about the ongoing bullying. Now you have a chance to go to see the world with your own eyes and meet new people. It's already time for you to get independent, Beatrice", Français got Béatrice's heart beat even faster.
-"We have acquired a place from New York university for you!" Jeanne cried out with a high pitched voice, "you are going to move into girls' dormitory, but as you arrive two weeks late you need to share your appartment with a girl. But who knows, maybe you will become good friends together..."
-"Yeap, and the dormitory is meant only for girls! You do not need to encounter men", father continued with his story. Béatrice has never had permission to have a boyfriend as to her old-fashioned parents' mind she wasn't ready for a boyfriend until she was ready to get married with him and have babies.
"One place left in a girls' dormitory which is meant for students of New York university from first to last grade. The appartment will be shared with another student. If you are interested, please contact the following contact information..."
-"Well, how it sounds like, my dear daughter?" Français gazed at Béatrice's serious face with a glance in his eyes as maintaining hope of that his daughter would exhilarate of the idea.
-"I'm not going..." Béatrice said so quietly that it was almost impossible to hear.
-"I'm sorry, I didn't catch it."
-"I'M NOT GOING!" Béatrice shouted and hit the paper on the table so hard that you could detect the frightening clearly from their stiff appearance. It was the first time when they saw their always-so-peacefully calm daughter got nervous.
-"Why do I have to suffer from your divorce the most? Why are my parents still deciding about my life even though I'm already over eighteen years old?" Béatrice calmed down so quickly the mood changed like a sharp spike from anxious to deep sadness. From the both sides of Béatrice's cheek tears flowed down so fastly that it was like they did not touch her soft skin at all.
-"I do understand your reaction but everything is already settled and nothing can be cancelled. My sweety, do you understand that this is only good for you?" Jeanne tried to encourage Béatrice, "think the positive side. Now you may have the first chance to get many new friends and you get to see all the skyscrapers of the big city. Some may only dream of living in New York and now you'll have the chance - and we'll cover the costs!"
-"Why's everyone talking about how amazing place it is to live in USA? This is my home and I want to live here... and Tempête is here too..."
-"Béatrice, you need to grow up. A horse is just an animal which doesn't mean anything to you in the end!"
Akward silence suffused the kitchen table. Even a small creak of the chair or hand movement felt like a scream in Béatrice's ears. All the sounds which were present with that silence felt like clawing its way deeper into Beatrice's empty cranium. What was that her mother just said?
-"You can never feel the same way as what I feel towards Tempête", Béatrice said with a low, quiet voice.
-"Béatrice..."
-"...Okey, I'll go. But only if you take back your words. Only if I can kiss goodbye to Tempête and if you promise to take good care of it when I'm gone."
-"Go, my child. The flight departs in early tomorrow morning. You have time for this day", Français joined the conversation. He saw how his child bolted from the chair and started to run towards the front door, towards the stable where Tempête currently was. He didn't stand to see his child's agony and wanted to keep his last promise as well as he could. Maybe that way Beatrice could forgive his father of that mess which had caused by their non-formal divorce.
Béatrice had put her riding outfit on so that she would have a chance to ride with her best friend for the last time - with Tempête. She arrived to her horse's yard where Tempête accepted Béatrice's hug with a neigh. Even though there had been only a day since they last time met, the pause had felt much longer than that.
-"Oh Tempête, how sad I am that I can't spend time with you for longer than this day. We have so many good memories together", she sighed while petting her horse's snout.
-"Come, your fur is full of mess. Let me brush you for the last time."
Béatrice leaded Tempête out from its yard.
Béatrice brushed Tempête's back carefully slowly and each brush was slower than the previous one. In the end, Béatrice's hand stopped in one place and could not move it; it truly was the last time when she was able to see him, and even if the day came when they could see each other it would be after multiple years. Still, Béatrice wanted to believe that her father kept his promise and didn't wipe Tempête out. Tempête already anticipated for sure what was going to happen - animals are not stupid.
-"Do you still remember when we rode here for many hours?" Béatrice asked while looking at the yellowish fieldsight caused by sunset. She watched the barn which had been empty for many year because it's owner had sold the barn and fields for public use. Today the barn was crammed with grass fed to cows which are eating on the fields in every autumn.
-"It's been, sure enough, many years... where the time has rushed so quickly? It's like everything happened only the day before yesterday."
The Sun flowed behind the mountains fastly, changing the field sight abruptly darker. In these lands the Sun indeed set and rose quickly. It started to be so dark soon that it was better for Béatrice to leave towards the stable. Though the village was one of the savest it was hard to navigate to home on backroads in the darkness where were no streetlights around.
-"Look how beautiful it is here", Béatrice petted Tempête's neck, "there's so peaceful here. We need to leave towards our home, though."
Tempête had a feeling of what was going to happen. It anticipated how sad Béatrice felt inside but didn't want to show it to Tempête. Yet the horse knew her too well Béatrice could not hide something like that. Tempête had a feeling that this day was the last one in their memories, last day they were together. Tempête felt how Béatrice's hot tears dropped one by one one on it's neck.
-"I'm sorry, it's just too hard to restrain it", Béatrice gave up and let the waterfall free which she could not hold any longer.
Tempête rose on its hind legs and gave a loud neigh - it was like Tempête was crying too, it was like it was it's way to sorrow. Béatrice rose her hand in the air, trying to touch everything behind it - trying to take them inside her hand and taking them with her so that she wouldn't feel lonely. Her home was here, with Tempête, and nothing was going to change that. She swore in her mind that she came back as quickly as possible, spending time with Tempête in the same way as they used to. It was Béatrice's only wish.
Tempête descended back to four legs, staying totally quiet and listening Béatrice's sad voice. Cold air pushed from their back which gave goosebumps to her. The autums was coming faster than usually because in that time it was normally nicely warm at nine o'clock, so that people could withstand the weather with a t-shirt.
-"We need to go home", Béatrice cried. She kicked softly the horse to a gallop and they went down the hill.
A bronze trophy from a jumping race paraded behind the bed on the table which Béatrice had won from the race held between the whole France, taking the third place with Tempête. There were also awards from an art competition on the wall, taking the first place, and on the left side of it was an award from riding competition, taking the second place which was held precisely one year ago. The other awards were located downstairs in a glass cupboard in the living room.
Béatrice settled down on her bed, taking a look at the awards overarm once again. She would have wanted to cry once again but she could hold it, though. She got always migraine attacks, occassionally even really strong ones everytime she cried too much. And besides if she cried more, it would have been harder for her to accept the fact that she had to move on with her life and she had to become an adult. Adulthood indeed was cruel.
Béatrice turned off the lamp on her bedside table and lied down. She tried to think in a positive way, hoping that next day she could find out that everything was only a piece of jape - like in April Fool's Day.
Béatrice closed her eyes and started to count the sheeps.
-"Looking ready", Béatrice finished her new look which she wanted to make an impression with in her new hometown, in New York, where she was going to head these small hours. In some day she wished to colour her naturally blnod hair to dark as she had heard from her only friend that men preferred brunettes to blonds.
Men. What would he know about them. Why everything was forbidden from me? Béatrice thought. Why my parents didn't allow me to experience the warm and protecting touch of a man?
However, Béatrice still loved her natural colour because it was atupically light and brown may have looked too dark in her.
Béatrice opened her wardrobe for 10th time to check that she surely remembered to pack all her favourite clothes with her and leaving the worthless and older clothes at home which she could use when she paid a visit to her home next time.
Béatrice loved pastel colours and also a little bit brighter colours. Her favourite colours were turquoise and sky-ish blue which she composed to her clothes a lot. She was wearing the newest clothes which she had bought from a big city near her village when she was paying there a visit several weeks ago.
Béatrice leaved her room and headed down to downstairs.
Béatrice didn't really drink coffee but at this moment she was so tired when she woke up so early that she couldn't help herself but try if a cup of coffee would refresh. She had heard many tales about how coffee helped to refresh, thanks to it's caffeine percentage. However, only the smell of the coffee made Beatrice nauseous - but if she didn't get anything invigorating she would have fallen asleep right away. Waking at 2:30 o'clock was totally not anything pleasant.
Béatrice took a seat on the smaller kitchen table in the kitchen. She paid attention to a sheath of paper on the table from which she recognized her mother's handwriting. She took the paper in her hands and started to browse the text with her eyes, a line from line, a word from word.
"Hi Béatrice,
Me and your daddy are really sorry for that we could not make it to say goodbye to you. We were forced to go to a city next to our village to settle our divorce things. I hope you woke up in time and get to the aeroport with a taxi well in advance. We have packed supply for you, you'll find them in the fridge, hopefully you remember to take them with you. Hopefully you remembered to pack everything essential with you! Me and your dad love you with all our hearts, wishing that you will have really fun time in your new hometown. Remember to behave!
With love, your dad and mum."
Béatrice put the coffee cup down, solidifying in a thought bubble for a several seconds. "Whose parents leave their child alone at the moment like this, kissing goodbye with a single paper sheath?" Béatrice thought. Yet her parents send her in a new land without asking from her. It was rude enough but still acceptable, but in this case...
Béatrice pulled her socks up, taking the paper sheath in her both hands and teared it from amid, leaving the two peaces on the table next to each other.
A taxi curved in front of the Béatrice's house. A middle-aged man got off from the taxi who was ready to receive heavy luggage and place them to the trunk of the taxi - but, Béatrice was only carrying her school bag in which she had folded her clothes nicely so that they barely fit. In addition to clothing Béatrice carried a passport, teeth-washing stuff, the flight tickets and a wallet in which had Béatrice's last year's savings. There was not much money but her parents surely transferred money into her account monthly for the rent and food - and for the school, of course.
Béatrice sat on the backseat. The man behind the steering wheel was watching her through the mirror with an inquiring face, squeezing his dark eyebrows gently.
-"To the nearest aeroport", Béatrice guided and in the same second the taxi rushed on the move slowly.
-"To the nearest aeroport", Béatrice guided and in the same second the taxi rushed on the move slowly.
-"Farewell my lovely hometown", Béatrice thought. "Farewell the centre of the village, farewell the bridge that's crossing the river, farewell the river where we used to fish with my dad when I was a kid..."
"...Farewell my school where I enjoyed to be despite the bullying and discriminating. That smell which encountered me in front of the classroom was something unspeakably graceful. There was something so unique in it which made to forget all those grieves which I happened to carry..."
-"Farewell all those lovely tiny shops where they sold clothes and fresh foreign delicacies. And the customer service... people surely aren't as open-minded and happy in New York as they are here, that's what I'm sure of... "
"...Farewell Tempête. You are the one I will miss the most. It can't be explained by words how", Béatrice was holding her tears, "...how important you are to me, how good friend you've been for me. However, all the good things seem to come to an end, and I wish you, my dear friend, nothing but good. And I hope that my father can keep the promise he gave to me about you - that you could still live in your old days with full of happiness in your own stable. Maybe you will get someone new good friend and you will forget me, but I can guarantee to you that no one can replace you in my heart... no one, ever."
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