You Can Break Everything I Am, Like I'm Made of Glass

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“Michelle! Get your ass in this house for dinner. Stop fiddlin’ with that damned stallion already!” I heard Daddy yell from the porch.

I sat in the barn with my big buckskin horse, Ace. He was all I had, and I took good care of him. He was a stallion, with aggression like no other. He was big, fast, and mean. I have been the only one to be able to touch him. My dad’s talked about shooting him since he was a colt. After he was born, I spent the night with him. The next morning, my dad came in yelling to wake me up and he charged the stall door trying to bite him. Since then, he doesn’t let anyone but me anywhere near him.

I rubbed the horse’s nose one last time and left the barn slowly, seeing my dad tap his boot impatiently against the wood porch floor. His face was rough, and mean all the time. His green eyes burned through me as I approached, holding my blue dress above the ground so I could walk.

“I ought to put a bullet ‘tween his eyes. Devil horse…” he mumbled as I followed him into the house.