Lorelei slowly opened her eyes as the animal insistently tried to wake her up with small taps. At first, she was scared, but then she remembered what had happened the night before.
She got closer to the fox and wanted to make him turn around on his back so she could see the wound, but she didn't know how she was supposed to communicate with it. She stared at it for a while before gesturing with her hand to roll, the fox followed her finger and turned upside down. After doing so, Lorelei leaned in to inspect his wound. It wasn't a deep one and should be able to heal within a few days from now.
She recalled what the man did to her when she first woke up; her arm was wrapped in leaves, long ones.
She went around searching for them, but she herself was fatigued by all the digging she had done in the previous days, so she couldn't move efficiently. She was moving at a very slow pace.
She had to drag her broken legs with her; they were heavy, but she had a feeling, a feeling she couldn't describe, as if something forced her into searching for these leaves. Not only did she have to choose the right set of herbs and leaves, but she also had to bring them back, which was the hardest part of her task. The man taught her everything she had to know about surviving in the forest, so for her, sorting out the herbs and leaves wasn't a challenge since she was able to recognize the ones she saw in the books and the ones her caretaker showed her, rather finding them was.
It took her hours to finally get a pile of them. She had to carry them in her mouth since she used her only arm to crawl; it was a horrendous sight. She was already half dead, yet she kept going forward, clinging to the last strand of humanity she had in her. She had to save the fox.
After a while, she got to the river and saw the fox lying down. This sight brought back the memories of the dying man right in front of her.
She was powerless; she couldn't save the man, but she could save that fox, no, she had to save that fox. Lorelei hastily crawled over to the fox and carefully made sure he was tightly wrapped in the leaves.
She then covered her hand with the rest of the leaves to make sure she didn't directly touch him and pressed hard until she was sure the blend of herbs and leaves was properly in place. With the days that followed afterwards, the fox slowly started rejuvenating.
The fox couldn't yet walk again; he was just like Lo , powerless, he couldn't do a thing by himself.
They both helped each other; every time they were hungry, they would go searching for a few edible herbs around the river, and whenever they were thirsty, they would drink from it and sleep in each other's embrace.
That night, she got up to keep digging the grave, but the fox wasn't yet asleep. She hadn't realized that the fox was getting up to join her and kept digging. The fox then got behind her and made his way in front of the grave, and started digging along Lorelei.
When Lorelei saw him digging with his little paws.
''StOp!'', she screamed.
He didn't; he kept digging with her. Lorelei then threw dirt at him to make him stop, but that wasn't enough to stop him.
Lorelei, seeing him dig, her own mistake, the one she loved so much, the person who she never wanted to kill, she cried, and between her hicks and cries, she softly whispered.
''ThAnK yOu.''
Lorelei was slowly starting to feel her different emotions, and instead of being guided by instincts, she was now able to think not of her needs, but of what she wanted. She had once felt those emotions with the man, but she felt like they grew stronger and stronger by the day. She wasn't going to be a burden to anyone anymore. She wanted to be independent, responsible for herself, and not have to rely on anyone to help her with anything whatsoever.
Her very first desire, very first wish was not granted, but she believed that she had to keep going forward no matter what, the man's life will not be wasted in vain.
A few months passed, and the fox slowly healed. He could now run as he normally does and jump; he was utterly grateful to Lorelei, and Lorelei was to him.
Even if he healed already he stayed by her side, he woke up in the morning and went searching for fruits to bring back to Lorelei, as the weeks went by Lorelei was getting better and better, the grave was not yet dug, but she felt at ease with the fox by her side, just like how she felt with the man, but this time it was not a human, but an animal.
She was sure that this time she could utterly trust that fox.
It was for her the only thing that she could call family.