My breathing hitched painfully in my swollen throat as I threw my body upward into a sitting position. My hand reflexively clutched at my side where the broken ribs should have been. Then it traveled shakily upward and smoothed along my forehead, checking for the sticky smear of blood that had been the last thing I remembered. My head swiveled around hurriedly, my eyes calculating as I took in a cosy bedroom, decorated kindly and looking very much lived in. I was too confused to really think, I didn't want to pause enough to go inside my spinning head. My whole body was reacting to the questioning that alerted me into this panic state I was in. I halted my probing search as my eyes registered another figure in the room. It appeared to be on all fours on the ground, but it was much too regular sized to have been the first name that popped into my head at the thought of a four-legged animal. Why had that name become so fuzzy in my head? The animal whined then, a high keening that had no more sign of actual intelligent speech in it than any morning song bird, or barking house dog. The poor thing had been startled about something and I looked around out of impulse trying to find the source of surprise, when I realised it must have only been my abruptness in awakening. Why the heck was I asleep? I bowed my head, my face twisting into a confused grimace. What was going on?