Over the course of a few weeks, Mercury’s fear and guilt slowly fermented into anger and self-loathing. She stopped running about the Lagoon in the frantic hope that if she kept moving, Felony couldn’t run into her; in fact, she all but stopped moving altogether. If the stupid cripple found her, so be it. If he never saw her again, even better. In the end, Mercury shut down entirely for a few days, finding no reason to move whatsoever.

When she finally did move, it was mostly out of hunger. If there was one way Mercury was determined not to go, it was starvation, and anyway, she wasn’t about to face Felony as little more than skin and bones. The mare tore at the grass greedily, her mind waking up a bit from its hiatus and her legs creaking from misuse. At one point as she paused to drink Mercury lifted her head and looked back, examining herself in confusion; her usual dark coat was sporting a new uneven sprinkling of whitish hairs, and her face was beginning to pale in her reflection.

Her dark ears fell back into her pale mane. She didn’t know what this new thing was or why it was affecting her coat, but she blamed Felony.

Turning away from the water, Mercury began to walk, her steps sharp and irritated. Everything was Felony’s fault. Her bloating stomach was Felony’s fault, even though she didn’t really know what that was all about either. She was probably sick, but it was still his fault. She wove through the trees, cold and feeling heavy and having more trouble squeezing through small gaps than she usually did.

Upon spotting the arabian, Mercury wasn’t sure what to feel. This was the first horse she’d seen in, what, two weeks? How did I manage to avoid everyone? She couldn’t decide whether to be angry at the mare’s presence or just not to care. She supposed it didn’t really matter; either way she could just leave, whether or not the mare had already seen her. Mercury had no problem walking out on people.

But, wait; this mare was bloated too, even more so than Mercury herself. ”Are you sick too?” she blurted, speaking loudly; the distance between them was not so much to warrant a yell, but there was distance.