Chapter 9: The Wolf Comes Out
1047 Words
Jason paid for their purchase and made sure Candy was close by at all times. This wasn’t hard to do. She was fascinated by the store and the mall too. Candy would walk over to the clothes racks and look at the clothes from all sides. It didn’t matter to her; she took it all in to her field of vision. Jason didn’t have to do much, merely keep an eye on her.
The only incident inside the store took place when a woman of about the same age of Candy walked up to her. Candy was looking over some scarfs. Assuming she had the same interest, the woman tried to engage her.
“These aren’t too expensive, but I like the ones better they sell in the Orleans store,” she spoke in a casual matter to her. Candy stopped and looked at the woman’s face, unsure what she meant.
“Are you from around here?” the woman asked. “I should introduce myself. I’m Marsha.” She extended a hand.
This time Jason hung back and decided to see what Candy would do. To his surprise, she took the hand and grasped it. Not too tight, but he could tell Candy had to work to determine the proper way to greet someone.
“Candy,” she said. “They call me Candy.” The women smiled a bit.
“Is that your real name?” the woman asked her. “Must be short for something.”
“It’s the name they gave me. I never had another name.” She dropped her head.
The woman looked her again and put her hand to her mouth in shock. “Oh my God,” she said to her. “You’re that woman they found in the wild. The wolf girl!” She turned and walked out of the store in a hurry.
By now, Jason had moved over to Candy. He carried the bags that contained her clothes. Her head was down. It might be a good time to leave. She’d handled the recognition well, but he was afraid something might be triggered.
“Why did she do that?” Candy asked Jason after they left the store. “Did I act wrong?” Her head was down, but she turned it to speak to Jason.
“You did fine, Candy,” he told her. “Some people are easily upset. They’re not all like the people back at the institute. Some people are scared about what they don’t understand.”
“She knows who I am?”
“Yes. Many people know about you. There aren’t many people who went through what you did and lived. Come, I think we need to leave.”
They were on their way outside the mall, when Candy froze. Jason stopped and turned to see her starring at something at the entrance of the mall. They were only a few feet away from the exit door and ready to leave.
Candy starred up at the mezzanine on the second floor and narrowed her eyes. A cold chill went through Jason. This was the Candy he’d first met when he hired on at the institute. The Candy not far removed from the wild. The one they had to keep sedated least she injure herself in an attempt to escape.
“There,” she said to Jason. “That man.” Jason looked up to see what she looked at on the second level.
A man was yelling at his kids. It was a bit loud. He was angry with them for some reason. It didn’t matter. The two children were boys. One appeared to be about eight, the other maybe two years older. His voice floated across the mall since there was little background noise this time of the day. Jason could see a local security guard start to walk over to the loud man. The guard had a bored look on his face as if this was something he dealt with too often.
Jason turned back to explain all this to Candy.
She was gone.
In horror, Jason turned to look for her. It didn’t take him long to find Candy. There she was; halfway up the pylon that connected the two levels of the mall together. He shoes were on the floor next to it. She shimmed up the pylon with ease. Her face was locked on the angry man.
He didn’t want to yell at her, but Jason knew he needed to intervene before something terrible happened. Good for him the stairs to the next level was right next to where he stood. Jason turned and raced up the stairs. He shot past three women who pointed at the form of Candy as she crawled to the next level.
The man stopped yelling when Candy plopped down next to him. He turned and looked at the tiny barefoot woman who was crouched next to him. She had the look of a savage animal in her face. Even the two boys quit smirking and starred at Candy.
“Candy, that’s enough!” Jason thundered as he reached her. She was seconds away from an attack and he needed to act quick.
The effect was magick. Candy stood up and turned to face Jason. She turned back to the trio of father and sons. One of the kids cried and tried to hide behind his brother from her.
Jason took one of her hands and held it. This was an emergency and he had to violate the rules. Candy looked up at him as her basic humanity returned. He watched as the flames in her eyes went out. When Candy looked down, Jason realized she would be okay. At least for now.
“I’m sorry, sir,” Jason said to the man who hadn’t said a word since Candy dropped down next to him. “She’s training and didn’t mean to scare you. Pardon us.” He continued to hold her hand and walked away with Candy.
- Writer
