"The swelling's really gone up."
"It looks like a pig's trotter."
The child looked a little disgusted. "It wasn't swollen at all before."
"How could it swell that fast?"
The old woman chided him gently. "You have to give it time to react."
"Grandma should've come to find you sooner."
The old woman sounded regretful. "Does it hurt a lot?"
"Was it hard walking all the way here?"
The child shook his head, unable to hide his grin. "I didn't walk."
"The tiger brought me back!"
His cheerful tone was full of pride.
"A tiger?"
The old woman froze.
The tiger Lei Lei was talking about... was it that tiger?
Had she... heard him right?
If she had...
The old woman shook her head.
A tiger brought the child back... How could that be?
Besides, she hadn't heard of any tigers around here.
If she'd known there was such a dangerous animal as a tiger in the woods, how could she have let the child come here alone at night?
Even in the daytime, she wouldn't have agreed to let him play in the woods.
"Lei Lei..."
The old woman hesitated.
The child wasn't stupid.
But what he didn't understand was... "Grandma, didn't you see it?"
"The tiger's right beside me."
As he spoke, the child turned to look.
The next second, he froze.
There was nothing beside him.
No tiger.
And no fireflies.
The flashlight in Grandma's hand made the place, which should have been dim, seem almost too bright.
It was so bright, yet he couldn't see the tiger or fireflies he wanted to see...
When had they left?
He hadn't noticed at all.
The child suddenly remembered how, earlier, he'd secretly hoped the tiger would leave on its own, as silently as it had come.
He