The waiting room felt painfully bright. Too bright for how dark her thoughts were. She sat down only to stand again a second later. Pacing. Pressing her palm to her mouth. Replaying everything like a nightmare:
Lily falling. Ranger lunging. Ranger collapsing. The snake rolling lifeless from the grass. He hadn’t attacked her child. He had saved her. Her guilt kept looping until she couldn’t breathe. She hadn’t realized how long she spent sitting there until her phone buzzed in her pocket — sharp, startling. David.