-/- Episode 2: Something's Not Right -\- "It doesn't look that bad, Rose. I think you were very lucky." Rose sat at the kitchen table while her father examined her wounds after being attacked earlier in the night. She examined the bite; other than a few bumps and scrapes, she mainly had two large cuts from the fangs of the strange beast. What puzzled her was that the wounds had completely ceased from bleeding already. "Are you sure, Dad? What if it was sick? What if it had rabies, and now it's passed on to me?" Rose burst out, tense. "Calm down, please," her father said, "we'll take a blood test and send it to the lab. But as far as I can tell, it didn't have rabies. It wasn't foaming at the mouth, was it?" "No," Rose strained. "I don't think so." "I've got the tools for a blood test in my bag; do you want to do it now?" Rose gulped. "I guess so." Less than a minute later, the kitchen table was completely set up with medical equipment. Rose had always hated blood tests, and she wasn't ready to do it again. "Are you ready, Rose?" Rose reluctantly placed her finger under the small machine. She waited for the pain to come, but it never did. Just as she was beginning to grow impatient, she heard a sound from behind her and turned her head to see her mother entering the room. "Samuel, what are you doing?" Suddenly a sharp pain pierced Rose's finger, and she yelped in pain. "Ow, Dad!" she cried. "There we go, Rose," he said softly as he reached for Rose's hand, "it's all done. I'll bring this with me to the office tomorrow." Rose sucked on her finger for a moment, and she glanced at her left forearm. She suddenly became uncomfortable again. "Dad, are we going to wrap up my bite? I don't understand why it's not bleeding anymore." "I'll put a sterile bandage over it, but I think the rubbing alchohol did the trick. Honestly, I have no idea why you're not bleeding anymore. I've never seen anything like it." "In any case, though," he said as he stood up to hug Elizabeth, Rose's mother, "I'll check in the records tomorrow and see if there's anything relating to what happened to you. Blood clots usually take a lot longer to form, especially at a place like your arm. All I know is, you're very lucky it was your forearm instead of your upper arm. If that thing had nabbed your artery, you might already have been dead, unless your blood clotted the way it did here, of course." "Are you feeling alright, Rose?" Elizabeth asked as she turned to hug her daughter. "Thank goodness Sam made it home when he did." "Yeah, I'm alright," she replied, smiling weakly, "just shaken up a bit." After Samuel placed a bandage on Rose's sealed wound, he left the room. Elizabeth looked worried. "Rose," she said suddenly, "did your father give you your shot? The one on the counter is still there." "No, he didn't," Rose said as she realized what this meant. "Dad knows I'm allergic to... oh, no!" Rose fumbled for the medical pen on the counter. Breathing heavily, she raised it quickly and thrusted her arm downward, but something was in the way. "Rose, calm down! You're okay!" Samuel said as he removed the shot from Rose's hand. "I don't know why you didn't have an allergic reaction to that dog, but for some reason you didn't. You're completely fine. I would be able to tell if you were reacting to it." "Are you sure?" Rose gulped. She knew that under normal circumstances, she would have probably died of the allergy. Something seemed off. "Yes, dear. C'mon, you're fifteen now; you need to learn to know when you are and aren't in danger of allergies." "But I've been allergic to dogs my whole life, Dad... why didn't it happen this time?" "I don't know. But Rose, I think you need to get some rest. This has been overwhelming for all of us, and you can't do this to yourself. Go get some sleep; I'll take care of the body. We might want to study it a bit at the lab." Samuel gave her a long hug, a kiss on the cheek, and left the room again. Rose left and went down to the basement. After changing her clothes and getting into her sleeping bag in the darkness of the small room, someone spoke. "Rose?" said the voice in the darkness. "I'm here, Lily," Rose replied. "Why aren't you asleep?" "Mom said you were hurt, but that I couldn't come upstairs," she answered. "Are you okay?" "Yeah, I'm alright. It's just a bite," Rose replied, reaching to her sister in the darkness. "Did the monster find you?" Rose was silent for a moment, quitely scolding herself for revealing the attack to a six-year-old. She wondered if she should tell Lily. Would she be afraid, or would she understand?" "Yes. But it's okay now; Dad got rid of it. Everything's fine now." "Okay," Lily replied quietly. "Thank you for telling me, Rose. Goodnight." Rose bid her sister goodnight, smiled and closed her eyes. Something about Lily puzzled her. She was always able to stay calm, even in the scariest of times. Rose marveled at the evening's events. She was completely puzzled; something was different about that animal. Why was it large enough to tackle her, but not quick enough to kill her? Why didn't she have an allergic reaction to the dog? Or was it a dog? Something about this seemed off. "Something's not right," Rose said quietly. "What?" Lily mumbled. "Sorry, it was nothing. Talking to myself." "Okay, goodnight, big sis. I love you." "Goodnight, Lily. Sleep well." Yeah, I know this one was shorter than the last episode, and I realize it was mostly dialog again. I hope it revealed something to you. The next episode will have more interesting things happen; stick around for the next one!
