Em woke up in an unfamiliar white room. A bright light above her felt blinding and she tried to cover her eyes with her hand but both of her hands were attached to tubes and wires. Next to her was a machine that kept constantly beeping. Em turned her head and saw numbers and figures on the screen.

Her left hand was wrapped tightly into white bandages. Confused about where she was, Em tried to sit up but then someone walked into the room.

“Oh thank God, Em you're awake!” Mom rushed to the room almost spilling the coffee she had in a cup.

“Mom,” Em rasped. Her throat was dry and coarse. It felt like she hadn't drank anything in days, which probably was the case. She had now idea how long she had been there.

Mom looked very worried. Em could see the bags under her eyes and her clothes were wrinkled. Em couldn't help but wonder when was the las time mom had slept.

“I was so worried about you,” mom said taking Em's hands into hers. It looked like she was about to cry. “When you went to look for Poppy and she came back alone, I was so worried. I'm so happy that she led us to you. Bless that dog.”

“What happened?” Em asked. Her memory was foggy and she couldn't remember things clearly. She had been in a forest, looking for Poppy... There was some kind of animal... And then...what happened?

“Some kind of animal attacked you,” mom said and sniffled. There were tears in the corner of her eyes. “It bit you in the arm. The doctor said it's a miracle that it still works.”

Em looked at her wrapped arm and moved her fingers. It hurt but not badly. Not like that night. A wolf had bitten her. She remembered it now. A grey wolf with yellow eyes. The wolf had bitten her and then left her to die there. Or left her to be found and rescued? But why? Why didn't it kill her? Easier meal would probably be hard to find. Why did it leave?

“Where's dad?” Em asked then turning her gaze back to mom.

“He had to go back to work. He'll come as soon as he can.”

“When can I go home?”

“The doctor will have to check you. But you'll probably have to be here a few more days. Just in case you get...complications.”

“What kind of complications?” Em asked. Mom sounded weird and avoided looking at her.

“Well, the wound could get infected... And since it was a wild animal...,” mom started, “there's a chance it might've had rabies or something like that.”

“Oh.” That was all Em could say. She didn't know much about rabies except that it was deadly. Had the wolf let her go just so that she would die later? How cruel.

“Of course the doctors already gave you medicine for that,” mom said quickly, probably due to the grave expression on her daughter's face. “There shouldn't be any danger. But just to make sure...”

“I understand,” Em said. She trusted the doctors but just the thought of possible having something like rabies twisted her stomach in knots.

A silence fell in the room, there was only the consistent beeping of the machine. Mom stared at her coffee cup and looked like she was holding back tears. She would've probably crushed the paper cup if her grip had been any tighter.

Em closed her eyes for a moment. The light was still too bright.

“Is Poppy okay?” she then asked.

“Yes. She's fine,” mom said. And it became silent again.

“Mom?” Em asked after a moment.

“Yes, darling?”

“Could I get some water?” Throat was still annoyingly dry and it sometimes it felt like her tongue wouldn't even move.

“Yeah, of course. Wait a second”, mom said. She put her coffee cup on a nearby table and walked to the door. Before she could open it, a nurse came in.

“How is she?” the nurse asked mom before noticing Em. “Oh, you're awake. Excellent. Wait a moment, I'm going to get the doctor,” she continued and left as quickly as she had appeared.

Mom left the room as well and gave back very soon holding a plastic cup in her hand.

“I'll bring you a water bottle later,” she said handing the cup to Em. She tried to get it but the wires attached to her hand didn't quite extend that far. It was also hard to sit up since she couldn't properly use her hands to push herself up.

“Can you raise the bed?” Em asked after mom had given her the cup. It was very uncomfortable to just lie down.

“I think there's a switch or something,” mom said hovering around the bed. She didn't find the right button on time when the doctor walked in the room.

“How is our patient doing?” the doctor asked smiling.

“I'm fine,” Em said.

“That's good, that's good,” the doctor said. The doctor was a middle-aged man with wrinkles in the corners of his eyes and lots of grey hair on his temples. He also had glasses that seemed to be falling off his nose all the time. He had to push them back up constantly.

“Are you hurting anywhere?” the doctor asked taking a small flashlight from his pocket. “If you could follow the light please.”

“Just my hand,” Em said trying her best not to squint to the brightness of the light. But she did as told and followed the movement of the light. “But not anywhere else really,” she added then when the doctor switched off the light and put it back in his pocket.

“That's good to hear,” the doctor said. “You are getting pain medication right now but we we will reduce the dose little by little.” The doctor was silent for a moment, looking very serious until he spoke again. His eyes looked very sad. “I won't sugarcoat this, your hand was very badly damaged. We did our best but it is possible that it won't work as well as it used to.”

Em felt a pit in her stomach. She looked at her bandaged hand. She might have rabies and now this too?

“Was it really necessary to tell her that now?” mom asked, sounding very upset. “She just woke up after all that.”

“I would've had to told her that sooner or later,” the doctor said. “I'm very sorry.”

“It's fine,” Em said looking at her hand and slowly moving her fingers. Had the wolf really messed up her arm that badly that it left permanent damage? It had been just a one bite.

“Of course there is the chance that everything returns back to normal. Human body is quite amazing in fixing itself. And we'll also offer you some physiotherapy to make the recovery easier,” the doctor said, little worried about his patient's silence. It was probably difficult to process all this at once.

“Well, maybe I let your rest now. If you need something, call the nurse,” the doctor said, nodded to Em's mom and then headed out of the room. For a moment there was only the beeping of the machines.

“How are you feeling?” mom asked then, carefully.

“I'm okay. Just thirsty,” Em said. She still hasn't gotten any water.

“Oh, right, I'm sorry,” mom said. She found the switch for raising the bed and offered the water cup to Em.

“Everything's gonna be alright, you know,” mom said. “You're gonna be alright and we make sure there'll be nothing else left of this all than a bad memory.” Mom clearly tried to sound encouraging but Em wasn't sure if who mom tried to encourage; Em or herself.

“Thanks mom,” Em said. “I'm sure everything's gonna be fine too.” To be honest, she wasn't sure of that at all. She felt weird in a way that she couldn't explain. Maybe it was because of the medication or the the shock, or because she had caught rabies or something else from the wolf. Whatever it was, something wasn't quite right.

“Maybe I should leave you to rest now darling,” mom said. “I'll come back later with dad. See you later sweetie.” Mom kissed Em's forehead and then left the room.

Em stared at the wall for a while, thinking that mom had forgotten to bring the water bottle she had promised.