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“You know,” Mikell said as he reached past Claire and TJ, picking at the small overpriced sugar-coated pastry on a cheap paper plate that Jack was holding. “Funnel cakes have no right being this good.”
As he pulled off a small piece of the greasy pastry, a little bit of the sugar fell off into TJ’s hair, Mikell quickly using his other hand to ruffle TJ’s hair while discreetly wiping it away.
Claire giggled softly, clearly having witnessed his little mistake and cover-up.
“Do you want to just take it? I’m pretty sure that you’ve eaten more of it than the three of us combined,” Jack sneered.
“I would but I don’t want to fill up before my turn and—”
“Yeah, yeah. You ‘ride better on an empty stomach’ , we know.”
Mikell chuckled again, finishing off his bite before turning to the three. “Alright, you all know where your seats are?”
Jack nodded, making a small noise of acknowledgment as he picked at the funnel cake with one hand while awkwardly balancing it with the other hand.
“Good,” Mikell said. “It’s going to be my turn soon and I better see you there. No walking off, got it?”
Mikell knew he must have said this same exact thing to them at least a hundred times before. Still, he couldn’t help but say it again. It was just one of those things he always needed to repeat any time he left the three alone.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever, dad .”
“Very funny, little man,” Mikell said as he rolled his eyes, reaching up and pulling his hat off before dumping it onto Jack’s head, it immediately slipped down over Jack’s eyes for a moment and left the kid to sneer as he pushed it back up out of his face.
“Good luck! Don’t get hurt, please!” Claire chimed.
Mikell couldn’t help but chuckle softly, leaning down to the young girl’s level. “Thank you, princess. I promise I won’t.”
He gave her a small kiss on the forehead as TJ began to shout from beside her, a wild grin plastered on the kid’s face. “You better show them who’s boss!”
“I will, I will—” He mumbled as he raised his hands defensively while standing back up.
“—and remember what I said, I’ll be waiting with the camera,” Jack added with a grin.
Sheesh, they acted as if he’d never done this before.
Mikell sighed. “Will you ever get tired of bullying me?”
Jack’s grin widened. “Absolutely not.”
Mikell couldn’t help but give another small chuckle as he reached over and squished the hat back down over Jack’s eyes again. “Right, well, I’ll see you three in a bit.” As he turned and began to leave, he briefly spun back around, cracking a smile as he looked at the three of them and hollered, “Claire, you’re in charge!”
He could hear Claire quietly giggling as he turned to take his leave.
As Mikell stood on the fence, watching the bull for a few seconds as it was dragged into the pen, he couldn’t help but let the edge of his smile fall a little bit.
The bull in question was about average size, maybe on the upper-average side. He had no doubt it was probably a near two-tonner. It had a set of large horns that thankfully curved back around itself, meaning that as long as he didn’t end up tumbling over the head, the chances of him getting on the wrong side of them were pretty slim.
None of that was what caught his eye though.
What did draw his attention was how the bull was acting .
As one of the volunteers worked on dragging the bull by the lead into the pen, the bull jerked its head sharply, thumping into the guy’s side and causing him to stumble into the wall.
It wasn’t anything serious. Even Mikell couldn’t help but give a light chuckle along with the rest of the small crowd waiting nearby as they watched the kid sheepishly jump back up and grab the lead then go right back to leading the bull over. However, that didn’t settle the fact that the bull was clearly on the more aggressive side.
“Looks like you’ve got a feisty one, Mikey,” One of the other riders chimed teasingly.
Mikell couldn’t help but flash another smile, forcing the shreds of doubt back down. “Better me than you,” Mikell teased back, the other rider giving a sharp snort of amusement.
Mikell watched as the bull was dragged into the pen with him, Mikell clinging to the fence just a foot or two above it while waiting for the nod of approval to hop on. As the volunteers worked on making the final preparations with the bull, Mikell let his eyes drift across the stands.
He knew that the kids were supposed to be sitting somewhere in the A section. The B section was right behind him so that meant they’d have to be to his right and—
Some movement in the stands caught his attention, two small hands waving frantically as TJ and Claire both grinned dumbly at him, clearly having noticed him trying to locate them in the crowd. He could only barely see them over the fenced area, Claire having to crane her neck over TJ in order to see.
He gave a small chuckle, raising a hand and waving back as he felt his nerves begin to subside, the two dorks finally stopping their waving and turning to each other to chatter away excitedly.
His grin melted into a soft smile as he watched them babble to each other, Jack disinterestedly listening to them before the boy gave a small laugh, the three clearly making more jokes at Mikell’s dispense.
Mikell sighed softly.
At least they were all enjoying themselves. Even if the bull did throw him off—it happened to even the best of the riders sometimes—at least he knew that the three would still get a kick out of it.
Besides, all riders knew what to do if they got thrown off.
Get up and get out.
The most he’d get out of here today would be a few new bruises that would heal within a couple of days and a slightly soured ego.
He’d be fine.
“Mikey,” One of the volunteers barked from beside him, drawing his attention. “Are you ready?”
Mikell nodded, flashing another smile. “Sure am.”
As soon as the gate started to open, the bull immediately made a run for the clearing, barreling straight into the metal of the gate and nearly knocking Mikell loose as he hollered and kept a tight hold on the animal, a few members of the crowd gasping. Mikell, on the other hand, couldn’t help but grin as he maintained his balance perfectly.
Once outside of the cramped pen and past the gate, the bull immediately began violently trying to buck him off. It jumped. Turned. Jerked. Spun around. Anything to try and knock Mikell off.
A couple of times, Mikell nearly did tumble off but each time he was able to catch himself and get right back to trying to keep his balance.
He could hear laughter and some hollering from the crowd, figuring that he must be putting on a damn good show considering the amount of noise coming from the watchers. He wasn’t sure how many seconds had passed. It could have been only half a minute or it could have been five minutes—but the longer he went and the louder the crowd felt, the more his doubt began to melt into excitement and thrill.
He felt alive. He was being jerked around like a ragdoll and yet he felt alive .
He couldn’t help but holler in excitement as the bull gave a particularly sharp turn, catching him off guard. He was able to cling to it even as he felt his leg slide a little, still grinning wildly as the bull gave another sharp turn in the opposite direction, finally feeling himself truly beginning to slip off.
Damn . Jack was never going to let him hear the end of this.
He carefully fell off, trying to put a little distance between himself and the animal as his shoulder smacked into the ground hard.
Ignoring the dull pain in his arm, he started to drag himself up quickly, still grinning ear to ear despite his loss.
At least they’d all have something exciting to talk about on the way back to the ranch—even if it would be about his spectacular loss.
Then the creature began to rear back around and Mikell’s smile immediately fell—replaced by soul paralyzing fear.
It was barreling straight for him—on him in an instant.
The noise.
In the middle of everything, the only thing that really registered to Mikell was the awful noises.
They were deafening . Strangling out every other sense. Snuffing the fact that he was watching it come towards him. Choking the paralyzing fear that started in his stomach and nearly immediately made its way to his dry throat. Suffocating the stench of grass and dirt below him—or the smell of the cheap fair food from around him.
The only thing that Mikell could notice at that moment was the deafening sound of the bull’s hooves right in front of him in one instant before he heard a sharp crack as it was finally on top of him.
He wasn’t exactly sure what the sharp noise had even been from.
It was so quick.
Painful too.
It wasn’t a familiar pain though.
Fists never cracked or shattered things like a two-ton beast stepping directly on top of your chest. They don’t dig sharply inwards or push off you as they prepare to deal another gut-wrenching blow.
Even when the beast landed right on top of him, forcing his body back to the ground like an actual ragdoll, whipping his head back into the ground to follow the rest of his body, the only thing that truly registered was just how loud the following thump was.
It took Mikell a few seconds to even organize a single fleeting thought in his pounding skull as he felt his body go slack against the ground.
It felt like his skull was a room and the dull crack had been the sound of a light switch being flipped, shutting off anything and everything within.
He laid there.
Was he really laying there?
It felt distant.
What felt distant though?
He couldn’t—
He couldn’t exactly tell…
Everything?
That wouldn’t be an understatement.
Why couldn’t he breathe?
He was in pain—
Right?
It sure felt like it—
Wait—
Of course, he was in pain—it felt like he was in pain.
Was the pain causing this suffocating feeling?
It—
What was that awful rattling noise coming from?
He felt hands grabbing at him, it took a few seconds for him to register the blurred figures dragging him sharply off the ground, sending him into a whole other void of agony and nausea as he was jerked up.
He didn’t—
Why—
Who was dragging him off the ground?
Why were they dragging him off the ground?
Didn’t they know—
Didn’t they know how much it hurt?
It hurt—
He thought that he could hear someone familiar.
Maybe—
Maybe multiple people that were familiar?
It hurt—
He felt darkness beginning to creep into his vision, the pain slowly numbing as his thoughts continued to scream at him that the pain was still there .
That the pain needed to be there.
It was there.
He needed to not let it go. He needed to cling to the pain. Stay awake.
He knew—
He should be in pain.
It felt—
He—
He felt his body begin to slacken again despite his best wishes.
In his final seconds, the voices and crying began to register.
It was the kids.
Claire.
TJ.
Jack.
...
He hoped they were alright.