I woke with a pounding headache and a dull ache along my back.

  When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was hay.

  Dry, yellow strands scattered beneath me.

  The air was damp, thick with the unmistakable smell of animals.

  “…A stable?”

  My voice came out hoarse, weak.

  This wasn’t a dream.

  I remembered dying.

  The racetrack. The blinding white light. That white horse.

  I tried to sit up, but nothing happened.

  My body felt impossibly heavy, pressed flat against the ground.

  "Worse—my position felt wrong."

  Face down, stretched out in a way no human body should be.

  A chill crept up my spine.

  Only my neck responded.

  Slowly, carefully, I turned my head. …and froze.

  Behind me was a horse’s body.

  Long legs...

  A broad back rising and falling with steady breaths.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  A tail swishing lazily, annoyed by flies.

  “…Huh?”

  "No. That wasn’t right."

  For a brief, desperate moment, I convinced myself I was just lying too close to another injured horse.

  Shared stable.

  "That made sense, it had to."

  I forced myself to breathe.

  Trauma. Concussion. Hallucination.

  The stable door creaked open.

  Footsteps.

  A man stepped inside, tall, well-built, dressed neatly, carrying an air that didn’t belong in a place that smelled of hay and medicine.

  "…Wow!!! Absurdly handsome. No one like him before."

  The kind of presence that made you think of nobles.

  Or princes.

  He didn’t look at me.

  He walked past straight to the horse behind me.

  I watched as he crouched down, carefully examining its leg, his expression serious and practiced.

  "Hey. I’m injured too." I think.

  Eventually, he turned.

  Our eyes met.

  He stepped closer and crouched in front of me.

  My heart skipped as his hand reached out, warm and careful, touching my head.

  “…Huh?”

  His fingers slid through—

  "Fur. …Fur?"

  Heat rushed to my face as my thoughts lagged behind reality.

  Without thinking, I relaxed my expression.

  He froze.

  His face drained of color as he pulled his hand back, stepping away like he’d seen something impossible.

  “…Huh?”

  What did I do!? I tried to speak.

  “Wai—”

  A rough breath escaped instead.

  Then a snort.

  The man stiffened.

  I tried again.

  Another unmistakably horse sound burst from my throat.

  No.

  No no no.

  Something cold pressed into my back.

  Pain exploded.

  A sharp neigh echoed through the stable as my vision blurred.

  … an injection.

  "But wait— Wasn’t the horse behind me the one being treated?"

  I could hear his breathing.

  So why—

  “So, this is how it ends again, huh?”

  The thought surfaced, dull and distant.

  Darkness swallowed me.

  Later, I heard what had happened.

  The horse in that stable with me had been acting strangely.

  Unstable. Dangerous.

  For everyone’s safety, it was sedated.

  On that man’s orders.

  … funny.

  I used to calm panicked horses.

  Now I was the one deemed unstable with it.

  And yet, no matter how I replayed it in my head—

  I still couldn’t understand.

  The one behind me was the one being injected.

  So why…

  Was I the one who fell asleep?