We can drive home
with one headlight

I felt warmth at my side as the cool air filled my lungs for the first time. I smelled someone wonderful even though I couldn’t see her in the darkness. Rich milk flowed down my throat as I experienced my first meal, drawing strength into my bones so I could attempt to stand without falling. Then I laid down again, exhausted by all these new firsts. When I awoke, I was alone. Hazel eyes open as bright light filters through my eyelids, confusion filtering into my mind. Where was I? I look down and see my small dark hooves, the little zebra stripes that wrap around my thin legs. I crane my neck and look over my slate body, unable to tear my gaze away from the unusual dorsal stripe that runs across my back. Swirls of purple, pink, and blues run through the black and it is glittered with spots of starlight. I like looking at this interesting part of myself, I like the way the colors bleed into each other.

A strange sound brings me back to the present, realizing just how alone I am. Where was my mother? I had one a minute ago… Didn’t I? I attempt to stand again but without someone to encourage me it seems like a waste of time. My little limbs fold beneath myself again and I manage to force a scared squeal out of my mouth. Surely someone would come for me. Surely my mother had just wandered off and was coming back soon. I didn’t realize that I was smaller than an average foal. I had the dished face of an Arabian and my body would be thinner as well but my body would never grow the way it should. Half Falabella and half Anglo Arabian. What an odd combination. While others would grow tall, I would always remain on the shorter side of things. Looking up at people, wondering what it was like to have your head hit the clouds. I’m unaware of my strangeness, of the fact that I was kind of a freak. I have no idea if maybe this is why I was left here. All I know is that I’m hungry and scared and already sick of being alone in this strange place.