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As much as I tried to keep my eyes on my favorite rock as it skipped and jumped ahead, driving into a playful dance even by my listless kicking, I could not. My eyes kept going back to the ocean all on their own, sweeping across the jagged blue-gray waves for any hint of my momma's dark face. I had begun to lose hope that I would ever see her again, but I still looked, just in case.
I heard the scuff of approaching hoofbeats but I didn't turn toward it right away, only twitched an ear (the tip curled comically inward at the very end) and waited. It was only when I could feel Parisa's body heat that I lifted my face to her, lips still twisted in a pouty scowl. I liked Parisa - a lot actually - except she was always happy. Normally this was a good thing, it meant that even if I accidentally bit her too hard when we were roughousing or kicked a little too hard she wouldn't get mad.
But right now, happy was the last thing I wanted to feel.
"My momma is gone," I answer, the words sharper than I realized. I had wanted to deliver a snappish sort of duh-you-dummy retort, but instead my voice had cracked at the end and hot, angry tears had welled up in my eyes. "It's not fair!" I shouted a moment later, delivering an angry strike against the sand below with a wild forehoof. "Hows come you get to keep your momma, huh? Whys it gotta be mine! She's MINE! She's s'posed to be here," my tone dropped abruptly from a yell to a whimper. "She's s'posed to be with me."
Without thinking about it, I crushed myself against Parisa's side, aching to be held. She wasn't my momma of course, but she was family, and I needed family more than anything right now.