A Wolf's Call (complete)

Chapter 8

Gail sat at her desk staring at her computer screen. She had a schedule all planned out with different tasks for the girl each day. Her eyes wandered onto the clock and she noted that is was ten. She’d left the girl at eight in the evening. There was an orderly on watch and she and Holly had gone to get some rest. Having been unable to sleep, Gail had just worked but now noticed that her eyelids were becoming heavy. Leaving her computer she moved to the couch that stood below the window in her office. It wasn’t the most comfortable of couches but it would do. As soon as her head hit the cushion she was asleep.

Time had passed when the door in Doctor Brooks’ office opened and an orderly entered.

‘Doctor Brooks?’ he asked.

Gail stirred reluctantly as she heard the orderly’s voice. She rose slowly until she noticed that the orderly in front of her was supposed to be the orderly watching the girl. But the orderly seemed to sense her curiosity.

‘We can’t… see her…’ he murmured slowly.

‘What?’ exclaimed Gail.

‘Well, we didn’t go in the room, you said not to… but we can’t see her…’ he said trying to explain.

‘Didn’t you see her do anything?’ asked Gail as she charged into the hall, storming towards Shilo’s room.

‘Well, I… fell asleep…’ he said slowly then catching her glare he added ‘it was only for a few minutes…’

‘A few minutes! I left her 2 hours ago!’ exclaimed Gail

‘Oh… I’m sorry… but she looked asleep…’ he said weakly trying to make excuses as they turned towards Shilo’s room.

‘Go get Holly, I’m going in the room!’ ordered Doctor Brooks sternly as she opened the door.

Closing the door behind her she looked around the room. It was completely empty except for the bed.

‘Shilo?’ she asked anxiously ‘Where are you Shilo?’

From beneath the bed she could hear scuttling and slowly, she saw the feral girl crawl from beneath the bed. Gail watched as the girl fixed her in her sights. She sat in a dog like manner and stared at Gail with her large hazel eyes. Gail sat slowly on the floor and pulled a pack of salted cookies from her white coat. Opening the pack she offered a treat to the girl and waited to see what Shilo would do. Gail didn’t call Shilo, but instead wanted to see if she needed orders to move, or if she would take what she wanted.

The girl just sat across from her. She looked at the cookie but didn’t move. Gail was somewhat deterred as she earned such minimal reaction. She threw the cookie to the girl, thinking that the girl’s refusal to take the cookie was solely because she didn’t trust her. But Shilo didn’t take the cookie. She didn’t even look at it. Her gaze rested on Gail.

Shilo confused Gail, and she was completely astounded. Although Gail had dealt with children who had lived without human contact, she had never worked with a child brought up with animals. She had also never really been a true animal person and was unsure of how to treat Shilo.

Gail watched as Shilo backed away from her and the cookie and only stopped doing so when her back was pressed closely against the wall. Shilo was different than she had been before and Gail could see that. But she couldn’t quite figure why Shilo had changed. Could Holly have been right in saying that she was potentially depressed?

Gail could only wonder and could only think that she would need to figure out how much human contact Shilo had been exposed to. Was Shilo actually sentient enough to have decided to refuse their contact? Gail could only hope that she hadn’t refused them quite yet. She feared that if Shilo had, then she would end up like countless other cases like hers. Living in a world of her own, unreliable and wild just like a vicious dog in captivity. Luckily she wasn’t acting violently towards Gail or Holly, which reassured her that Shilo might still be convincible, and teachable.

Gail knew that Shilo was hungry, and that if she was going to get her to eat, she would at least need to feed her something more than a salty biscuit. Shilo would probably already have been fed if the orderly hadn’t fallen asleep on the job. At that moment Gail decided something, something that would change the way Shilo’s rehabilitation would work. As soon as Shilo had improved enough to attribute sounds with sights, Gail would vouch to get her moved to a special facility, with the necessary equipment and herself, her intern and any other person involved there. This environment would not only get Shilo prepared somewhat for actual living habits but would also give her more of a relaxed, less trapped atmosphere.

Gail paged an intern to get some food over to Shilo’s room, but didn’t leave. Instead she moved slowly to the bed, leaving Shilo the time to keep her distance. Soon they sat across from each other, Gail on the bed and Shilo on the floor. Gail looked into Shilo’s eyes and yearned to understand her.

‘We’ll get there… don’t you worry… I haven’t failed a patient yet.’