Upside Down

(4) KrisTank

Chapter 4

Fish : Good :: Fishtanks : Bad

"So that's why I think she may have been abused," I explained to Dr. Todden. "her being mentally disabled would have ruined their reputation."

"That's terrible." She exclaimed. I always liked Dr. Todden, in the associate type of way. She was like an older sister and was always giving me advice that's why I chose her to take a look at Kriss's ... problem. "Bring her in and I'll give her a look over. Now, I'm not a therapist or something so I can't say for sure if she's mentally retarded or what but I can check the signs and I can tell you if she's been abused or not."

"Thank you," I sincerely thanked as I got up and left to the waiting room for Kriss. As soon as I walked in I saw the faces of many people starring at one point of the room in a ... disgusted way. My head turned too to see Kriss ... trying to snatch fish out of the fish tank.

"Kriss!" I exclaimed. What the hell was she thinking? Then she turned to face me with a fish tail wiggling in her mouth. I stopped, just to stare. What ... the ... fuck? She's eating a fish from a fish tank? What the hell would posses her to do that?

When I got over my initial ... shock, I yelled, "Spit the fish out."

Her eyes widened and she spit the fish into the tank. "W-w-what did I do?"

I quickly walked to her side. Her hands, face, and hair were soaking wet from the tank. I shook my head, putting a hand on her back and crouching down a little so I could look into her eyes. "You don't just go to ... eating fish out of random fish tanks."

"Random?" She questioned, her eyes wide.

"Yeah, random." I confirmed.

"What does random mean?"

My mind went blank. "Uh, random. You know, um, like something ... unexpected, uh ..."

"Irregular, not normal, unplanned, not normal, unpremeditated, not normal ..." A woman behind the front desk suggested.

"Thank you," I said only half listening and ignoring her pointed glances. I stood up, leading Kriss in the way to Dr. Todden. "But anyway you can't eat out of fish bowls."

"Why not?"

"Well ..." I thought "they're unsanitary plus they're not your fish."

"So I have to get my own fish?" She asked as I opened the door for her to Dr. Todden.

"Oh, you must be Kriss!" Dr. Todden exclaimed excitedly, sticking her hand out for Kriss to shake. But Kriss just tilted her head starring at the hand.

"Yes." Kriss affirmed meekly, scooting closer to me.

Dr. Todden looked like she was making mental notes of everything Kriss did and I didn't very much enjoy it. "You can leave the room, Emerson. I'll get you in about an hour. Feel free to do whatever. I have your phone number in case you want to go some where."

"Thank you." I replied before turning to Kriss. "I'm going to leave you with Dr. Todden here. She going to ask you to answer some questions and stuff to help so do everything she ask you to, or at least try your best, okay?"

Kriss nodded and I didn't really want to leave. She looked a little frightened but willing so after a nod, I turned and left.

[In The Waiting Room]

Although I left the room, I wouldn't-couldn't leave the waiting room. I paced, naustia building in me. What was taking them so long? I looked at my watch and saw it had been more than an hour.

That's about the time Dr. Todden burst into the waiting room to grab me.

"Emerson, you have to see this." Her brown hair-normally pulled into a tight pony-tail was messy and her glasses askew but there was a grin on her face that demolished all bad thoughts that swam through my brain.

When she pulled me back to the room Kriss was in, I saw Kriss's face immediately brighten as she. She fidgeted, crinkling the white paper under her. "Em, Em, Em," She repeated.

"What? What? What?" I asked back.

"Emerson, you must see this. Watch," Dr. Todden commanded then turned to Kriss. "Kriss tell me what two hundred fifty-two multiplied by eighty-three is."

"Twenty thousand, nine hundred sixteen."

I turned to Dr. Todden. "Is that right?" She showed me her calculator that stated exactly what Kriss had just said, rubber-stamping the answer in respond. "What does this mean?"

"What does this mean?" Dr. Todden floored then exclaimed, "It means she's a mathematical genius! I tested her and she has a whole knowledge of stocks and shares from about two decades ago. Her vocabulary is strange. She knows a lot of large words but some smaller words like table or baseball confused her."

"So she's not ..."

"No," Dr. Todden's voice suddenly became hard, her excitement gone. "No, she's far from stupid ... but she was abused." She ushered me to a table where she had layouts of photos. All of them of Kriss. Her back was purple and yellow from bruising and her sides didn't look much better. And her rib ... Jesus, her ribs were so pronounced you could use them as a xylophone. "I suggest you make sure she eats five times a day but not too much or it'll upset her stomach. I have some painkillers for those bruises but with her ... condition i wouldn't find it wise to use them unless completely necessary."

"Yes, m'am." I looked over at Kriss. Who knows what kind of pain she's been through.