Dawn

2

My blood froze, forming icicles in my veins.

How...how is it possible? How can wolves be in these woods? Despite the name and local legend, Wolferton doesn't have wolves.

I could feel the cogs turning in my brain grinding to a halt. I had no idea what to do. What could I do? What would someone else do in my situation? I was standing metres away from a huge, shadowy wolf, whose eery hazel eyes were fixed on mine. It's nostrils were flaring and it's leg muscles were twitching beneath its thick fur. It was well aware of my presence. If I ran, I was sure it would follow me.

I didn't notice that I was slowly backing away until I heard the car.

It was an odd feeling, flying. Suddenly everything was a dream, all I could see was a continuous mixture of surroundings, as though some great mystical being had reached a long finger into my world and swirled everything together into a whirlpool of colour.

I felt detached from myself... like I was watching it happen and randomly, abruptly, I would be thrust into my body, finding myself in a scene that I couldn't remember entering. All of a sudden, I was sitting up, crying. Then everything was black, and once again, my memory was lost to me as I opened my eyes in the cold air, two unfamiliar people staring at me and fumbling about with some sort of equipment. There was a horribly uncomfortable pressure wrapped around my head... I couldn't understand. Nothing made sense.

How did I get here?

And then I was being moved, lifted onto something. I could vaguely make out the sound of my mother talking worriedly with someone. Through my cracked open eyelids I could see a red stain on the grey road.

Is that my blood?

Then I was in a room... No, not a room, a van. An ambulance. Somebody was holding my hand. Somebody else's smaller hand was squeezing my thumb tightly. People were shuffling around, asking questions, clattering about. I just wanted it all to stop! There was too much noise; my throbbing skull couldn't take it.

"On a scale of one to ten, how bad is the pain, Dawn?"

"I don't know," I managed to croak back to the paramedic.

"Where is the pain?"

"I don't know."

"Dawn, I'm Officer Richards. Are you okay to answer some questions about the driver that hit you?"

"I don't know!"

It was all too much. The neck brace was digging painfully into the back of my head, and at every twist and turn, every time the vehicle accelerated or slowed down, I would slide up and down the stretcher I was lying on.

And then it stopped. I was being wheeled down at weird angle, before a bump shook the stretcher. I was moving again; somebody was pushing me down hallways, people were constantly shouting and talking around me. Finally, the movement ceased.

But then hands grabbed me and I was lifted higher, onto a soft bed. I rolled my head to see people coming at me with scissors, cutting my clothes away, checking my cuts. Someone stuck a needle in my arm but it didn't bother me.

"Okay, Dawn, we're going to give you some morphine for the pain and run a few tests."

Why were they telling me this? I didn't understand. I couldn't reply.

My eyelids were growing heavier, like tiny weights were hanging from my eyelashes and forcing my vision to go dark. I was unbelievably tired; I felt like I had just run a marathon. I was so sleepy.

I opened my eyes briefly to find myself in a weird cylinder... It was dark, but there were lights. It didn't make sense, but I was too tired to care.

So I drifted into unconsciousness.

                                                                                            <<<>>>

When I my eyes reopened, I was surrounded by silence, which I was thankful for. There were hands holding mine and no pressure around my head, evidence that the neck brace had been removed. My skull was aching and forehead was sore; I feared that I had ended up with a horrible injury.

"Mummy?" I called out.

"Oh my gosh, Dawn," I heard, and my mother, father, and siblings came into view. Dad kissed my hand and cradled it softly as quiet tears ran down his face; mum stroked my hair and kissed my head dover and over again; Sid climbed onto the bed beside me and wrapped her little arms around me, and Ryan held my other hand, gripping it firmly.

"Am I okay?" I asked, my throat sore.

"You're going to be fine, sweetheart, just fine. You were hit by a car, but there are no broken bones, everything's going to be okay," Mum cooed into my hair as Dad left the room, calling for the doctor.

A man in his early forties walked through the door shortly after, followed closely by Dad. He had thinning ginger hair and scruffy copper stubble smattering his chin and cheeks, and his eyes were a light brown, just slightly lighter than my own. I instantly warmed to him.

"Hi Dawn, I'm Dr. Carmon. I'm glad you're awake. I have to say that you are one strong young woman— you sustained major trauma to your head, but you're awake much earlier than I expected you to be. The police found skid marks on the road and had a chat with the driver, and they concluded that you were thrown twenty feet in the air, then landed on your head. You cut your forehead open— we closed that up with seven stitches —but there are no breaks or fractures, and you have minimal bruising to your brain. To be honest, I'm surprised that you didn't fracture your skull.

"You're very lucky, Dawn. If not for the weight of your school bag, you would have been thrown much higher and landed with a much greater force. We're going to clean you up a bit, check if you can walk and how your body is coping, and you'll be able to leave in an few hours at the most."

I nodded, digesting all the information. It was a lot to take in— especially with such a brutal headache, but I understood.

It was oddly funny how the library books had both risked my life, but saved it. If I hadn't have gone to the library I wouldn't have walked home in the first place, but without the library books in my bag, I probably would have died.

"I want to go home," I croaked.

"Yes, as I said, you'll be able to in a few hours. Just rest, try to eat something, sip a little water, and one of the nurses will be in to clean you up and check if you're able to walk."

"Okay, thank you doctor," Dad said, shaking Dr. Carmon's hand.

After two hours of sipping at water, resting briefly and being washed up by a nurse, I was finally helped out of bed by a male nurse named Carl.

"Alright, Dawn, take it slowly," he encouraged. My legs were shaking uncontrollably and as soon as I placed my feet on the ground, my knees buckled.

"It's alright! It's alright, now just calm down and try again," Carl cooed, catching me swiftly and helping me move forward. I couldn't remember how to use my legs at first, but after a bit I no longer needed Carl's assistance so he let my family help me out of the hospital and into the car.

I was lifted into the front seat by Dad as Mum piled in the back of the car with Ryan and a reluctant Sid, who didn't want to let go of my hand.

Finally, after a horrible ordeal and a bumpy drive, I was home. Mum and Dad helped me into the house and let me lay down on the sofa, covering me with blankets and making me some hot chocolate.

"I'm so glad you're okay, sweetie," Mum cried, sniffling quietly.

I squeezed her hand, "I'm alright, Mum, really."

We all spent the rest of the evening enjoying each other's company. The pain meds given to me by the hospital were helping immensely and I was able to laugh as my family told jokes and stories; we all wanted to forget what had happened today.

And after a while, warm and comfortable on the sofa, I drifted off to sleep, my thoughts revolving around my great luck, the near loss of my life, and the mysterious, hazel-eyed wolf living in the shadowy trees across the street from my home.