“Was that all a dream?” I mutter, reeling from how vivid that felt. There is no way I shifted from human to tiger. 

“Thank God you’re awake.” Mom says beside me. She jumps up in excitement and reaches behind me, pressing a button that calls the nurse.

“How long was I out?” I ask, slowly sitting up.

“For about a week, sweetheart.” Mom answers. I freeze, speechless. The beeping on the machine starts to rise as my heart races. I start thinking about how much I missed. My mom sees this and distracts me. “What was in the dream?”

“I don’t know all of what I dreamed, but I did dream that I turned into a Tiger.” I tell her. She probably thinks I’m crazy to even ask.

“Well, maybe that was your subconscious incorporating an attack. Let’s just be happy the animal went easy on you.” Mom answers somewhat shortly. Before I can ask her what she meant, there is a knock and a nurse comes in.

“I see someone woke up.” The nurse says, walking over to check my vitals. “How are you feeling, dear?” 

I  stretch as much as I can with all the wires and tubes connected, and heed how sore I feel. I pause as I notice it’s the same feeling as when I ‘woke up’ in the dream. I try to shake it off. “Like I just ran a mile while lifting weights all day.”

“That is understandable, considering where you were found.” Before we could get any further the doctor knocks and comes in.

“Hello. I’m sure she just asked you this but I unfortunately missed the answer. How are you feeling?”

“I feel sore.” I say simply.

“That’s not surprising.” She echos the nurse. I didn’t think I went too far.“Can you tell us what happened?”

At least I will only have to describe this once. I recap my route, from starting at the tree in the corner of my parents property, to walking around the house a few times, then into the forest. ‘Maybe I did walk longer than I assumed.’ I muse. I tell them about passing out halfway through where I usually go and almost tell them I woke up as a tiger.

‘I must be losing my mind! That was just a dream.’ I think. The doctor types while listening. The nurse finishes and leaves while my mom sits in the chair throughout the narrative.

“Do you remember seeing anything, or anyone?” Mom asks when I finish. “Did you come across a cougar, bobcat, or maybe a coyote?”

“No, it was just me. Where and how was I found?” I wonder.

The doctor shares a look with my mom. “We had to contract a search and rescue team for you. They found you, passed out, 2 hours out from the property line. Your underwear and your shirt were completely torn up, and there were cuts all over your body. There were even claw marks all around you.” That is nowhere near where I passed out, unless you count the running from my dream.

“Why were there claw marks? Were there any other signs of wild animals or people around me?” Maybe I had been moved?

“Nobody found signs of anyone else around you. All evidence points to the fact you were out there with some predator. There was a loud roar of some wild animal  and its tracks that led right to you. The biggest mystery is why no one could find any tracks leading away from you.” Mom answers.

‘That’s because I was the animal,’ my brain whispers. I shake my head. I suppose I can no longer trust my sense of reality.

The doctor continues to ask questions about what happened before I passed out. Questions such as how did the pain begin (like someone stabbed me in the chest), was I alone at that moment (yes),Was this the first time (yes), and so on. Such questions continued until everything was covered. “Do you have any questions for me?” She asks in the end.

Being unable to shake the vivid details of the dream, I ask, “Is it possible to feel pain in a dream?”

“Not that I know of. Although you might feel some remnants of physical pain while you sleep, it is not possible for pain to be present because of what happened in a dream.”

If I didn’t know that changing form was impossible, I might start believing that the dream is actually reality.  Yet the knowledge of the impossibility does not allow me to move past the dream. After all, falling on one's face does cause pain.

“How did all the tests turn out? Do we know?” Mom asks.

“As for those, all the tests came back normal.” The doctor answers.

“You can’t tell me that this is some freak occurrence.” Mom exasperates.

“I am just saying that all the tests ran showed normal ranges.Whatever happened must have already left her system without a trace.” The doctor rephrases. “The only test left is a psychological exam.”

“Why would I need a psych exam? I don’t think this is just in my head.” I am not so sure about my defense with how crazy I feel.

“Well, when you were found, someone or something could have attacked you. Unable to process what happened properly, your brain is blocking that attack from your memory.” The doctor explains gently. That makes me feel better than anything else, explaining the need for a nonviable dream to be reality.The doctor turns to my mom and starts explaining the next steps.

“From here, we’ll observe her until tomorrow, If she remains stable,we will discharge her. We will also put in the referral to the psychiatric wing for the exam. You’ll also want to schedule an appointment with her primary care doctor. Once done, we will be able to go from there.”

“Alright.” Mom agrees. The doctor leaves and we sit in silence as we go over everything. Mom sighs but I am the first to speak.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I don’t know why I did. I understand why you wanted to make the appointment, and why you didn’t trust that I could make the right decision about it.” I look down at my fingers playing with each other. “I shouldn’t have wondered so far when I was in that frame of mind.” 

‘Things would have been even crazier if I had stayed.’ The insane, refuse to keep reality and imagination separate, part of my brain comments.

“I’m sorry as well.” Mom echoed, making me feel twice the guilt. “ I should have at least tried. You are an adult now. If I had, maybe I would have been there when the pain hit and -”

“No Mom, this is my fault.” I stop her. I do a quick subject change. “Anyway, where are dad and Viv?”

“Well, your dad had to work and Viv is at school. They will come visit when they get out.” She looks at her watch. “Wyatt should be on his way now. When he gets here, I’ll have a quick word with him about what the doctor said, then be off to work, myself.”

“If you want, I can tell him what happened. He’ll have quite a few questions and it will help us pass the time.”

“Ok, sweetheart.” Mom says. “Do you want him to bring you anything?”

“No, thank you,” I answer. “However, can you have Viv bring me some schoolwork?” Mom nods and we go silent. I look for a decent channel on the tv and mom goes to her phone.

After about twenty minutes, there is a knock on the door and Dad enters. The bags under his eyes look like they are big enough to carry my books. 

“Hey, look who's finally awake!” He says with a grin.

“Hey, Dad. Are you ok? It looks like I stole all of your sleep.” I greet, worried.

“Ha ha. You're the patient so all you need to worry about is getting better. And I did sleep, here.” With all the beeping and whirring of the machines I can see how he got so little sleep. He greets Mom before asking, “So what did the doctor say?”

“Ashka said she will tell you. I have to get going if I want to be able to tell Tina the news.” She gathers her stuff, gives me a kiss goodbye, and leaves.

I tell Dad everything the doctor says, and my side of what happened beforeI passed out. As I go over it again, I am reminded of how well my dream lines up with the facts, and I start to wonder if the impossible is possible.

He seems to notice I have my own theories as to what happened when I became unconscious. After a moment of silence, he asks. “What do you think happened?”

‘Should I tell him?’ I ask myself.