THE INNOCENT DELINQUENTS

Chapter 13

In a jar full of hate and anger Dr. Brice is sitting in the middle unknowing what to do, and how to deal with things from now on. She has succeeded so far, but will things be the same? it's a different generation with different personalities, she kept thinking that she's not dealing with kids anymore, but with confident adults.

On her way to the office, she pulled her phone from her pocket and dials the Forbes number to discuss with them their daughter's situation, and try to explain how hard it is positively.

· Dr. BRICE: I apologize for bringing you all the way to the hospital. But it's not something that should be told on the phone, you must know so you can help with the recovery, and it's your choice whether telling her friends or not but it's better to tell them. Just her close ones, it doesn't need to go viral.

· Mr. FORBES: Okay I'm being anxious right now. What's going on Doctor?

· Mrs. FORBES (frustrated): oh my god, did something happened to her?

· Dr. BRICE: No, not at all! Technically yes, but nothing physical.

· Mr. FORBES: What do you mean? If it's not physical.

· Dr. BRICE (nodded): Unfortunately, she's mentally sick and it's not new, but still we are not sure of anything yet. We're still in the middle of her diagnosis.

· Mr. FORBES: But what do you doubt she has?

· Dr. BRICE: Before even the accident I think that your child has schizophrenia, she's being her and other times she's not the person that was talking to me a moment before. It's confusing me as well. Not only this but also her memories are damaged, it's like her brain erased all her memories after 11 years old. That's what makes the situation harder, she got two mental illnesses at once. One because of the accident which is the memories and the other is schizophrenia.

· Mr. FORBES (widen his eyes as if he knows something): but it could be healed eventually right? We should just send her on a vacation with her friends or something, she always becomes better when going on vacation, I mean like changing mood.

· Dr. BRICE (shakes her head): Look Mr. Forbes, I am not trying to upset you or being negative, yet I'm not giving you some false hopes. Schizophrenia is not a mood problem, it's more than that, it's not a moral problem or a problem with intellectual abilities, I mean sometimes we come across people that have weak intellectual abilities and their brain create another character to protect that person from others, or simply from that person itself. We don't have that problem with Griselda, she's a smart confident girl. Her problem is simply a chemical imbalance in the brain, or in other words, a disorder in the brain that was caused because of an incident that made her depressed, and her brain automatically created an opposite version of herself to protect her from the encounters.

· Mrs. FORBES (confused): what are you talking about? How can her brain act without her? I logically cannot understand.

· Dr. BRICE (avoiding eye contact with Mr. Forbes): Her brain is part of her; obviously she's the one creating WITH her brain unconsciously. That's why I asked to meet you, I need to know if she was abused in her childhood or did she ever been in a difficult situation emotionally or physically. When her brain couldn't handle any of her difficulties it fractures into a totally different personality, and that may not be the only thing, it may be more than one personality that tries to protect her from what she could not face.

· Mrs. FORBES: Wait, hold on, what do you mean more than one personality?

· Dr. BRICE: I said maybe until now there is only one personality that has appeared, I need your help to know and discover if there is more than what I'm looking at. Schizophrenia is a serious illness that develops with time in degrees. Since her brain already created one, it may create another one easily to serve another purpose that she can't handle, or it is hard for her to face.