Wednesday.
Luke.
"Doctor Hemmings, Mila is here" my nurse spoke, opening the door.
"Send her in please" I spoke, pulling her folder, opening it to her notes, sighing lightly.
I smiled as the door opened, her small body entering alone, shutting the door behind her without a word.
"Hi Mila, how are you?" I immediately asked her.
"I'm good" she smiled lightly, playing with the sleeves of her hoodie as she walked to her chair, slowly sitting into it.
Her knee immediately started shaking.
"What did you do yesterday?" I asked her, trying to start off by breaking the ice.
"The guys went to work- I did school online" she spoke slowly, making me nod.
"Do you like school?" I asked her.
"I do" She nodded slowly.
"What's your favorite thing about your school?" I asked.
"It's online" she spoke simply.
"You prefer online?" I asked.
"Yes" she nodded.
"Why?" I asked her.
"I don't have to talk"
"So you just don't like talking?" I asked her.
"Not exactly" she spoke.
"Can you explain?" I asked her slowly.
I saw a lot of hesitation.
She shook her head slowly, looking away from me.
"That's okay"I dismissed.
"Mint?" I spoke after a moment, seeing her eyes glance from the floor to me.
"No thanks"
"Then let's play a game"
I brought out Jenga, moving to a smaller table in the middle of my office.
I kneeled beside it, setting up the pieces, seeing her watch me silently.
"Come on, it's not fun if I play by myself"
She slowly came to me, kneeling with me, watching me set it up.
As we started playing, I spoke
"So I'm going to say something about myself, and you say something about yourself, we'll go back and forth, we can both as any questions we want, okay?" I spoke.
She looked hesitant, but she nodded slowly.
"I'll go first" I spoke as I slowly pushed out one of the pieces
"I live with three roommates who are my bestfriends and have been my bestfriends for the past five years, they're also doctors" I spoke, seeing her eyebrows raise lightly, but she didn't speak as she focused to carefully take out one of the pieces, cautious that it wouldn't fall.
"You're turn" I spoke as I went for a piece.
I could tell she was thinking hard.
"I like watching documentaries" she spoke quietly.
"What kind of documentaries?" I asked her.
"Random ones, there's a lot on YouTube" she spoke vaguely.
I got my piece out, continuing to speak
"I have two brothers named Jack and Ben" I told her slowly as I watched her carefully take a piece out.
"What's that like?" She asked.
"What's it like having brothers?" I questioned back to her, seeing her nod.
"It's annoying sometimes, but after not seeing each other for a while, it's nice to be able to get back together and catch up" I spoke, seeing her nod slowly.
"I'm allergic to cats" she spoke briefly, watching me lightly push pieces to see which was loose.
"Severely?" I asked her.
"I just swell" she shook her head slowly.
I noticed our time was winding down- we had maybe five minutes before her guardians would join us.
"I have a dog named Petunia" I spoke out
And for the first time
I saw a genuine happy reaction take over her face
"Do you have a picture?" She spoke in a quick motion.
"I do" I spoke.
I went to my phone, showing her multiple pictures, watching her sit silently, smiling to my phone with me as I explained every picture.
"I used to have a dog" she began to speak- and I felt myself getting excited, she seemed ready to talk- she was finally excited
"She was a black lab, she would always roll over for me to pet her tummy, her name was Butterball-" she slowly cut herself off, her smile fading as she spoke
As if she remembered that she had to be shy.
"Tell me more about Butterball" I tried to push her lightly, seeing her eyes return to Jenga
She shook her head lightly, nodding to the pieces, telling me that it was my turn
"What just happened?"
