But it was as though her body and mind weren’t speaking to each other. The more Emily’s mind tried to stop herself, the more determined her body was to investigate the strange sounds coming from the roof.
Emily drew on her long raincoat, reached for the apartment keys and made for the door. As a quick afterthought, she grabbed the baseball bat they kept for security beside the door.
With only the single beam from the flashlight to show her the way, Emily climbed the stairs. She heard hushed sounds of footsteps and chattering voices as more of the building’s occupants used the stairwell to get to their homes.
‘This isn’t smart, Em. There’s lightning up there,’ she warned herself. Once again, part of her wasn’t listening.
She made it to the top of the access stairs and faced the locked door that led directly out to the roof. Clutching the bat in one hand and the flashlight in the other, Emily struggled to get the key in the lock. When she managed to turn it, the door opened a fraction. Suddenly the wind caught hold and wrenched the door from her hand. It flew open wildly and made a terrible crashing sound as it was nearly torn off its hinges.
‘So much for being quiet,’ she chastised herself.
Emily stepped into the blowing rain, and started passing the beam of light over the rooftop, searching for fire. It was almost a year since she’d been up there. The whole area was badly overgrown. Strange vines had taken hold, covering the once lovingly tended flower beds.
The vegetable patch was unrecognizable. In the dark, with the storm at its peak, this was no longer the garden Emily knew. Instead it was a dark and frightening place filled with mystery and danger.
Through the noise of the pounding rain, Emily heard other sounds. It was the thumping again. Only this time, there was more. As she strained to listen above the terrible weather, she was sure she could hear whining, or the sound of someone or something crying out in pain.
Creeping forward, she passed the beam of light over the wild garden. To Emily’s right was the large rose patch. This had been her mother’s pride and joy. Every summer without fail, their apartment had been filled with the fragrance of the fresh cut flowers her mother had grown here. Now the rose bushes had run wild and were spilling out over the roof.
A sudden movement in the roses caught Emily’s attention. Directing the light back, she thought she saw the glint of gold. She inched closer and kept the light trained on the bushes. There! The flash of gold again. Taking another nervous step, Emily held up the bat.
‘Whoever you are, come out of there!’
As she took another tentative step, a blinding bolt of lightning cracked in the sky. The entire roof was bathed in light. And what Emily saw in the rose garden was impossible.
She stumbled backwards, lost her footing and fell hard to the ground.
‘It’s not real!’ she told herself. Rising to her hands and knees, she reached for the flashlight. ‘You didn’t see what you just saw. It’s just the storm playing tricks on you. That’s all!’
Shining the light once again in the direction of the rose bushes, her heart was pounding so badly she thought she might pass out. Climbing unsteadily to her feet, she crept forward.
‘It’s not real, Em, it’s not real,’ she repeated over and over again as she drew near. ‘You didn’t see anything!’
But when the light found its mark, she couldn’t deny the truth.
It was very real.
A huge white horse was lying on its side in the middle of the rose garden. What had glinted in the beam of the flashlight was one of the horse’s hooves. As Emily looked, she sucked in her breath. It was gold. Raising the flashlight, she received an even greater shock. A wing! Massive in size, it was covered in mud, leaves and rose petals, but unmistakable with its long white feathers.
‘No!’ Emily cried. ‘This is impossible!’
More lightning lit the rooftop, confirming what Emily was trying so hard to deny.
A white horse with golden hooves and a vast white wing was lying on its side in the middle of her dead mother’s rose garden.
Unable to move, barely breathing, Emily stared at the animal in disbelief.
As she watched, the wing on the horse’s side stirred, followed by a terrible shriek of pain. The sound tore at Emily’s heart. The animal was in agony. Racing forward and heedless of the sharp thorns that tore into her flesh, Emily entered the bushes and started to shove them away from the stricken horse.
She worked her way along the animal’s side, towards its head. Lying flat on the ground, it was completely trapped within the rose bushes as the vicious thorns tore into its tender skin.
Emily cried out in her own pain as the thorns dug into her flesh as she tried to free the horse’s head from the cruel bushes. It was awake, and looking at her with a huge dark eye.
‘It’s all right. I won’t hurt you,’ she soothed. ‘I’ll get you free in a moment. Then maybe you can stand up if you’re not too hurt.’