Trying something new here. I came up with the concept of this short-story while riding home on the tram yesterday. The rest of it sort-of fell into place when I woke up at 5AM this morning, unable to get back to sleep. Hope you enjoy it.

Josh was riding the scooter on the city footpath, not trying super hard to avoid the other pedestrians. He was going at a speed that was both unsafe and illegal, but it was the only speed he knew that would prevent that horse from showing up. Besides, he had something that he needed to do, and it was only at such reckless speeds that he knew that that thing would work. Well, he didn’t know; but being at his wits’ end after trying everything else, he had to try this. He picked his target ahead and sped up towards it. Good thing he was wearing his helmet.

Josh never used these sorts of scooters before the collision two weeks ago. He was walking to work that day, when he saw someone on such a scooter coming towards him, helmet on head. The rider was going a ridiculous speed, and Josh tried to get out of his way as he approached, but the scooter driver turned towards him, not slowing down at all. Josh tried again but was not fast enough. The scooter rider ran straight into him and bowled him over onto the footpath. Before Josh could gather himself, the scooter rider slap his helmet onto Josh’s head and shouted, “Get a horse!” He got back onto the scooter and sped away.

Josh got up, fighting the various aching muscles from the fall. He dusted himself down, took the helmet from his head and looked at it. It was very uncharacteristic of those worn by scooter riders. Most of them were plastic things, either green or orange, yet this one was grey, made of solid leather that was slightly fuzzy to the touch. Josh looked inside the rim and found some printed writing: Wilkinsons Equestrian Helmet. One side fits all. The one was underlined with some black marker.

Josh put the helmet in his backpack and was about to resume his commute, when he stopped in place. Several metres away, a white horse stood, staring at him. Or at least it looked like a horse. The vision was misty and slightly transparent, giving the sense that it was not real. Yet after blinking and clearing his eyes, it didn’t go away. Josh started to move towards it, and when he was just within arms reach, it disappeared. Josh shook his head, and starting walking. But when he turned the next corner, there it was again: a horse, standing in the middle of the footpath several metres away, staring at him intently.

Since that day that horse has been haunting Josh. On his walk, at his workplace, in his home, even on the tram. Always staring, always outside of reach. Either standing in his path or following close behind him. The vision will go whenever Josh approached it, only to reappear when he turned to look in another direction. Naturally, no one else could see it. When that horse was in a public place, people seemed to instinctively walk around it. Yet when he asked them if they could see it, they had no idea what he was talking about. But Josh couldn’t do anything to stop seeing it. At every waking hour of the day, from when he got out of bed to when he got back in, there it was, always staring. Never looking away.

And he knew it had something to do with that helmet. He tried a few things to dispel the vision, such as leaving the helmet at home or trying to give to random strangers (who always refused it). Yet nothing worked to clear the vision. That is, nothing other than what had worked on him. Now was the time to test that theory out.

His target was ahead, a man in a business suit walking at a leisurely pace. He had his back to Josh, so he couldn’t see Josh turn his scooter towards him and accelerate. The gap between them rapidly closed, and Josh made contact with the man, slowing a little to avoid significant injury, but still fast enough to knock him over. Josh got off the scooter and stood by the man, sprawled on the footpath. Once again the horse appeared, as he knew it would. He looked down to see the man starting to get up. Josh had to go for it now! He took his helmet from his head, slapped it on the man and shouted, “Get a horse!”

Josh got back on the scooter and sped away for few seconds, then stopped to look behind him. He saw the man back on his feet, helmet in hand, looking at it much like Josh did a fortnight ago. He saw the horse as well, but this time it had its back to Josh, staring intently at the man, yet Josh could see that the man hasn’t noticed yet. He could see the man put the helmet by side of the road and walk away, turning a corner. The horse was fading from Josh’s eyes, yet it was still visible enough for Josh to see it follow the man around the corner, several metres behind.