When Boxes Rattle

Chapter 8

Kalia sat at the furnished waiting room listening on her earphones when the door to the doctor's Main Room finally opened. She turned her music off to Sleeping With Sirens' If You Can't Hang, an old pop-goes-punk emo song.

She settled at an ornate cushioned seat and placed her shoulder bag on her lap. The psychiatrist, Doctor Helen Sua, sat behind the desk facing her.

"You had to wait for an unimaginably long time. I would like to offer my sincerest apologies for that." Doctor Helen smiled neatly, her glittered braces brandished. "I cannot offer an explanation because of patient-doctor confidentiality, but you must understand an hour or three will never be adequate enough to save a life."

Bemused, Kalia chewed on her lower lip before answering. "My parents died on a car accident. They were crossing a block when a slumbering driver behind a gas-tanker's wheel crashed against their starboard. If they had been a minute earlier or later in crossing that road, even ten seconds earlier or later, they wouldn't have died. So I will beg to disagree, doc. Even ten seconds could save a life."

Doctor Sua nodded and offered another of her neat smiles. "Perhaps we should trade places sometimes--you and me, Miss Tan. You impress me."

"You are too humble, doctor, for someone with a degree from Mother Teresa's and Cambridge."

"We psyches prefer to remain a step ahead while pretending to be chasing after you."

The small talk being done with, the two women leaned back to their chairs. Doctor Helen Sua opened her notebook.

"I understand the patient is your younger brother, Kevin Tan; 19 years of age, an accountancy student graduating this year, and under regular medication for severe lymphoma and cardiac arrythmia for a year and a half now. Both of your parents died five years ago. I was referred to you by your firm's senior partner, or rather you were referred to me by dear Lotus, for counseling and for your brother's treatment."

"You make precise notes."

"That I do, Miss Tan." Doctor Helen agreed. "Remind me though of the nature of your brother's problems."

Kalia did not hesitate for a split second. "Kevin's been hallucinating. He's been thoroughly confused this past week but I would say, this all started three years ago."

"How would you say he's hallucinating--"

"He said he met this girl three years ago who happened to spill shawarma on his shirt and bought her fruit tea as an apology afterwards. There was no shawarma spill on his shirt that day though. And last week, Sunday, we were at the mall when he spaced out all of a sudden. Kevin claimed he saw her standing opposite us. There had been no girl. We were inside Booksale with nothing to block my view and I saw no girl. And the Monday after that he went back to the mall and had a tour by himself. After a while, he started running around. He later told me he saw her run so he chased after her. That was when he had the seizure."

Doctor Helen looked up from her notes. "Hence, the referral?"

"Hence, the referral." Kalia agreed.

The Doctor added some other notes. "This girl he is obsessing over, did he describe her? How she looks, how she dresses, so on and so forth."

"He just said she's really pretty. She was wearing a white dress during their first meeting. And they traded something that day, as a way of recognition when the time came that they'd meet again."

A quick eye darting, and then back to the notes. It had been a brief pause on the doctor's part, barely noticeable, but Kalia saw it.

"A token, perhaps?" Doctor Helen provided, her strokes substantially quicker now. Kalia could imagine the words she was scribbling at that moment had become impossible to read. "Tell me, Miss Tan, did the girl give him a box?"

"Why yes," There was a hint of fear on Kalia's voice. "How did you know?"

"Is the box a perfect square? Silver handle and hinges, black leather borders, scented?"

"Doctor Helen Sua you are starting to scare me."

"Believe me, Miss Tan, you scare me much more. I believe my inquiries were spot on? Silver handle and hinges..."

"Black leatherline borders, and scented, yes. What is in that box? Do you know something about that girl?"

"My answers will only bring more questions now. What I need is to research on this more. I would also like to talk with your brother as soon as possible. This afternoon, perhaps?"

"He's at review. I don't think--"

"Tomorrow then?"

"Kevin's scheduled to meet you on Wednesday, doc. What the hell is happening?"

"I'll meet him tomorrow. You can slip him here even for twenty minutes, can you not? As you mentioned earlier, it doesn't take an hour to save a life."

Kalia had enough. She turned to leave. "I'm sorry, doctor, but I won't allow you to see my brother without any clarification or explanation from you. You were referred to me--"

"Zippers, Miss Tan," Doctor Helia cut her off midway on her attempt to stand. "You are wearing zippers on your blouse instead of buttons. Your slacks are locked with a pin instead of a button as well. I can still see the buttonhole stitched to a close. You have a fear of buttons."

"Anyone can see that. Yes, I do fear buttons. But that doesn't relate at all to my brother's problem or to the damnable box."

Doctor Helen stood from her seat and went to the sidetable. A basket of fruits awaited on it. The doctor picked an apple and offered it to Kalia. The latter declined brusquely.

"Have you ever tried to open the box, Miss Tan? Or at least shook it in an attempt to figure what it contained. No?" When Kalia shook her head, the doctor returned to her desk, an apple on her hand. She took a Tupperware from a closet overhead and placed the apple inside. "When we shake a box, it either produces a sound or not. In the case no sound is made, we presume either the box is empty or filled to the point that there is no space left. But if we shake the box and it rattles, we know for a fact something is inside. Something is locked inside. If we shake the box and it rattles we are certain to an extent that there is something, but we do not know what it is."

Kalia recalled Kevin saying when he tried shaking the box, he heard billiard balls rolling.

The doctor shook the container and continued. "Currently, Kevin is a container. We could shake him despite the fact that we won't ascertain what's inside him by doing that. However, we'll know if he is empty or not. We will start from there, Miss Tan."

There was very little that Kalia understood, and she knew she will leave the room with more questions that when she entered. She had a starting point though.

"What about the box--do you at least have a clue what it hides?" Kalia Rose asked.

"Try shaking it, Miss Tan. I would bet you your fee you'll hear a lot of rattling. As if you're shaking a box filled with buttons."