Dusk was slowly enveloping a small corner of the village, and the narrow path leading to the health post was hidden in the shadows of the trees. Only the pale moonlight outlined the landscape. Alla, having finished her final preparations in her study, absentmindedly slipped her keys into her pocket. Her daughter was waiting for her at home, and her husband, as always, grumbled when she came home late.
“The last patient never came…” she muttered with slight irritation as she approached the door.
After closing the post, Alla felt fatigue weigh heavily on her shoulders. All she wanted was to go home and rest. But no sooner had she set foot on the steps than she froze, as if rooted to the spot. Right in front of her, emerging from the shadows, stood an enormous wolf.
Two blazing eyes, like beacons, pierced the darkness. A cold shiver ran down Alla’s spine. Wolves never ventured as far as their village. Never.
“What a joke is this…” she whispered, fumbling in her bag for a flashlight.
The wolf wasn’t moving. It was staring at her intensely, as if waiting for something. Suddenly, a distant memory came back to her. That same wolf… a green leather collar. She recognized it! It wasn’t a wild animal, but the wolf cub her father had saved, who had long ago returned to the forest.
“Impossible…” she murmured, staring at the familiar mark around the animal’s neck.
Her heart raced. Something had happened. The wolf hadn’t come there by chance. Its gaze was too charged with meaning, as if begging for help. The wolf stood up and headed toward the path, turning as if to invite Alla to follow him. Every second counted. Without hesitation, she ran to her office, grabbed her medical bag, and dashed into the night.
The wolf waited. His silhouette was dissolving into the twilight, but he confidently guided her along the narrow forest path.
“My God, I have to be there on time…” Alla whispered, quickening her pace, following the animal into the unknown.
The forest was becoming denser and denser, darkness engulfing everything around her. Only the cracking of branches under her feet and her panting breaths broke the silence. Alla felt something waiting for her there, ready to change her life forever. Time was ticking away inexorably.
“What do you want to show me?” she asked the wolf, but received no answer.
Suddenly, a faint light flickered in the distance. Alla’s heart was pounding. There, deep in the forest, fate was already preparing the answer to the wolf’s silent prayer…
No one expected this.