Howl.

"Lilly? Can you hear me?"

I opened my eyes, blinded by white light for a moment before everything became clearer and I realized where I was. I tried to sit up, but a hand stopped me. Mom was standing in the corner of the room, biting on her lip like she did when she was nervous. A man in a white coat stood at the foot of my bed. I expected to see Mary on my left.

It was Embry. He stared at me, his eyes full of concern.

My head felt foggy, and as I lifted my hand to my head, the doctor spoke. "My name is Dr. Zigrossi, and I'll be in here every couple of hours or so to check up on you. How are you feeling?"

I looked around the room, at Embry and at Mom. "I feel like shit." Mom laughed nervously.

"Do you remember what happened?" Dr. Zigrossi asked, his pen poised above the clipboard held up by his arm. I nodded, closing my eyes. Embry sighed, and when I looked at him, he bit his lip. "Ok, well, we've given you the morning-after pill to prevent any pregnancies that might occur. It's not one hundred percent effective, but since you were brought in last night, there is a very low chance that it won't work. There are a few bruises on your legs and hips but that's not unusual for a rape victim such as yourself." He paused, and looked at me. "There is a possibility that you will be able to go home later this evening, but as of right now we're going to be running some more tests, just to make sure everything is clear. Do you have any questions?"

I stared at my hands, my eyes tearing. I was a rape victim. "I - no. Thank you," I said, picking at my dirty fingernails. Dr. Zigrossi smiled meekly, and with a slight nod to Mom, he left the room. I felt a heavy silence come over us, and I wanted to say something, but couldn't bring myself to do it.

"I'll leave you two alone," Mom said, picking up her purse.

I watched her leave, and waited until I couldn't hear her footsteps anymore before I said anything. "Em, why are you here?"

He frowned. "Lilly ... I found you. I brought you here. I wasn't just going to leave. I had to make sure that you were ok."

"You never cared before." I stared at him, clenching my jaw.

"Would you rather have had me completely ignore the fact that some fucking douchebag was raping you??!" His eyes glittered. "I was going to rip his face off if you hadn't been lying there defenseless."

"I don't need your help."

"You sure as hell did last night."

"We're not friends, Embry. You made that decision a long time ago." I lied back on my gurney and turned my back to him, ignoring the dull pain from the IVs in my hands.

"God, Lilly." He sighed, and I could picture him pushing his long fingers through his hair. "You can't even thank me for rescuing you?"

I sighed, and sat up again. Staring straight at him, I said, "thank you so much for everything you've done, Embry. If it wasn't for you I would probably be in a lot worse condition. But that's all that I need to say to you."

He groaned.

"And it's not even my fault," I continued. "You were the one who said that we flat out couldn't be friends anymore."

"You have no idea how that made me feel."

"Then why did you do it?"

Embry looked at me. "Because I'm not the same person that you knew before. When I got sick, Lilly, I changed. Completely. There might be only a glimmer of the old Embry that you knew. We've all changed."

"Did you even think about what was going to do to me? I fell apart, Embry."

"I know you did. And trust me, it was a lot harder than you think it was. Hell, I had to say it over the phone."

"Chicken-shit." I smiled. A strange silence came over us, and he took my hand, rubbing the back of it with the pad of his thumb. I watched him, taking in his soft, dark skin and dark eyes. He looked absolutely exhausted, and had probably been waiting with me all night. Embry and I had been closer than most couples that we knew. He would kill for me, even now.

"I'm so sorry, Lilly," Embry said. "I never meant to hurt you."

I squeezed his hand. "Does this mean we're friends again?"

He smiled, and looked at me. "If it's ok with you."

Embry stayed with me for the rest of the day, watching corny Lifetime movies and complaining about the terrible hospital food. The nurse had given me a somewhat decent meal for lunch, and I was pretty content with the ice cream that came afterward. But, I wanted to go home. There were too many things I had on my mind and I didn't want to have the nurses and doctors prodding me, asking me questions about what I remembered, checking for psychological trauma.

Dr. Zigrossi came in with a cheery, "knock, knock!" He smiled at me, standing at the foot of my bed again with his clipboard and pen. "How are you feeling, Lilly?"

"Fine, I guess," I said softly. "Better."

"We got your test results back," he said. "Looks like you're clear and good to go. Your mother is working on your discharge papers right now." He wrote something on his clipboard, a small smile on his face. "Just a few suggestions for when you get home. You'll still be a little sore, so I'm going to give you a prescription asperin for when it gets a little too uncomfortable, and make sure that you rest quite a bit so that your body can recuperate." He looked at me. "Everything is going to be ok. If you have any questions, or any symptoms from the asperin comes up, don't hesitate to come and see me."

I looked at Embry, Dr. Zigrossi's footsteps on the floor echoing as he left. Embry's eyes were darker, and I knew that he was tired. "You should go home," I said, pushing my blankets off. I hadn't yet had a good chance to look at myself, and was eager to - no matter how emotionally painful it was going to be.

After I had my IVs removed, Embry helped me off of the gurney and into the bathroom, throwing some folded clothes at me. There was only the small mirror above the sink, so I couldn't yet inspect the damage. Not that I was complaining, though.

I pulled the sweatpants on, thankful that whoever brought them had thought ahead. "What a way to start my summer off," I whispered to myself, moving on to the red Mickey Mouse top.