The Girl and The Boy - Cont.

#The girl at the hospital

The little girl was drifting in and out of sleep for hours until a woman in uniform with a trolley came in and pulled the curtain around her bed to make way.

"Good morning, little miss! How do you feel today?" She started changing the IV bag.

"Do you remember anything?" She checked the readings on the machine and wrote down something on a piece of paper.

"The doctor will come shortly. Don't be nervous, okay?" She tried to assure the girl. The nurse came up close to her.

"I know it must be hard! But please hang in there, baby!" The nurse combed the girl's hair with affection and care.

"You went through a lot! Hang in there, okay?" Although the nurse did not give her any information about the situation she was in, those words did sound very nice to her ears. The little girl nodded her head.

The nurse went away. The girl did not know how big the room was because of the curtain around her. Now that the curtain had been moved, she curiously looked around.

The bed was near the window and there were little cute tubs of flower plants. The sun was up. She could hear the chirping of the birds. The nearby trees were hosting a morning chorus from flocks of tiny little birds.

Soft light from the morning sun bathed her cabin. The squarish shadow of the window frame and the light created a beautiful artwork on the white bed sheet. She looked around.

The little girl was alone. She felt sad. There was no one there to talk to! She wished there would be a few kids her age!

On the right side of the headboard, there was a table. There were some cute little figurines and dolls to play with. She took a doll of a cat.

"Hey, Kittie! Good morning!" The cat did not answer.

"How're you? Where's your mom?" Mom! She felt pain in her heart! She did not know why, but she felt so sad.

Tears came out. "Mommy! Where are you?"

She wept alone for some time. That made her very tired. She did not know how many hours had gone by. The shadow of the window frame now moved from her bed to the ground. She felt like sleeping and closed her eyes.

The little girl felt the time was running extra slowly that morning.

#Mysterious creatures and the boy

With fear and hesitant steps, the little boy slowly walked amid the trills of insects, the hooting of owls, and the clapping of the wings of nocturnal birds. He could seldom hear howling but it seemed to be moving closer.

Cold and fear were quickly draining the child. Suddenly, he saw a few glowing eyes in the dark. He immediately froze and forgot to breathe. His body was numb from fear. He slowly sat on the ground and tried to hide his body behind the tree.

The glowing eyes came closer. In the dark, he could only see eyes, not the owners. They slowly came by his side; his breathing became heavy and his heart was beating faster—wolves? Black? He could not tell.

He didn't move a muscle, as if he had become the tree he was hugging so tightly.

"Please, make them pass. Make them go away! Please..." he was thinking with closed eyes. He could feel the warm air from the heavy breathing of the beasts on his neck. One of them whined a little. He kept his eyes closed and prayed so he would not be harmed.

After a few minutes, he squinted to see what was happening, as if keeping his eyes half closed would make him invisible to the beasts. He was sitting on the ground behind the cover of the roots bulging out of the ground.

He was hoping they would be gone by now. However, to his dismay, those glowing eyes were still there but he did not feel any hostility from them. They were just sitting in a circle around him.

One beast nudged a little one toward the boy. It was a tiny, curious thing that came waddling toward him with baby steps.

The boy could feel its curiosity! It was brushing against his body as if he wanted to make friends with him! The fear the boy felt subsided with this interaction. He took the baby into his arms.

The little cub was warm and soft! "Awww!!! What a fluffball," he thought. At this point, his fear of those creatures was completely gone.

The curious little thing was standing on his lap on its hind legs and stretching its front paws toward the boy's face. It was trying to lick his face.

The great stress the boy was feeling melted away. He hugged the baby wolf with care and rubbed his nose with the little one.

"Awwww...where's your momma, mmm? Do you like me? Wanna be my little friend? We will play in the morning, okay?" He rubbed the belly of the cub as it relaxed on his lap.

One of the beasts came to him, smelled, and whined in a low voice. The beast licked the child, rubbed its head against his back, and sat next to the boy.

Now the rest of the pack circled him and sat to make a barrier. One of the beasts pushed him toward the belly of another as if it were telling him to get closer for warmth.

These mysterious creatures acted not out of hostility but out of some affection. Their intent was clear now: protection and shelter. The child felt a strange affinity toward these curious beasts.

Realizing that they were not here to harm, he curled up and got close to them even more. They became his bed and cover from the cold, freezing night. The boy was tired from shock and hunger, so he fell fast asleep.

As the boy fell asleep, the whole jungle went silent too. As if every creature in the jungle was respecting the need for silence from the baby.

Even the nocturnal creatures that were so loud a while ago were trying not to wake the sleeping baby. As if the king of the jungle were sleeping.