Turn It Upside Down
Kassie had a friend. This friend wasn't ordinary...not by a long shot. Her friend was named Kris.
This girl, Kris, was confusing. She always talked about 'turning things upside down' and 'holding them up when they tried to fall.'
Kassie didn't understand any of it. Did she want to redecorate something?
She sighed and walked into the school's lunch room. She plopped down at her table amid a, apparently fierce, debate.
"They can love, though!"
"Uh, do you not get the fact they're heart-less? Meanin' they lack a heart and, therefore, the emotion of love."
"Turn them upside down."
Three teens stared at their friend with odd and assorted looks on their faces.
"Excuse me?"
"Huh?"
"You want to run that by us again, Kris?" Kassie stared in confusion as Kris giggled.
"Turn. Them. Up. Side. Down." To further reiterate her point, Kris turned over a plastic water bottle and balanced it on its cap. "Like that."
Kris smiled at her friends who were busy watching the liquid settle.
When they looked back up to stare at her, their confusion was still in place. Kris's smile melted into a disbelieving frown.
"What good'll makin' 'em dizzy do?" the guy who had been arguing 'Heartless logic' pondered.
Kris sighed and shook her head. "Nevermind."
"No," Kassie snapped, making the others glance at her. "I will mind because you never tell us what in hell you mean."
She grabbed the water bottle and crossed her arms.
"So what exactlydo you mean?"
Kris pulled a red sharpie from her pocket, something she always seemed to do.
"Let's say that bottle is a person." She held out her hand and flicked her fingers in a 'give me' motion. Kassie handed the bottle over.
Kris attacked its top with her sharpie, leaving a heart-shaped mark.
"Now, that cap is the person's heart." She set the bottle in the center of their round table. "The water inside is the spirit, soul, energy, what-have-you and the plastic is this person's mind and body. Firstly, would you agree that a Heartless's or Nobody's existence has been turned upside down?"
"But they don'texist." David, 'the expert', answered first.
"Yes, they do. Look at it this way. Does this table exist?" Kris rapped her knuckles on the wood.
"Yes..."he hesitantly replied.
"Right, but is it alive?"
"Not anymore..."
"Exactly. Nobodies and Heartless may not be alive, but they do exist."
David was quiet.
"Back to my other question. Haven't their existences been turned upside down?"
"Yes..." Kassie mumbled.
Kris turned the bottle on its cap again.
"Now," she continued. "What would happen if this bottle had no cap on it?"
The water would get everything wet," Brie, the quieter member of the group, intoned.
"Uhm...kind of. The water would fall out if nothing were keeping it in. So, why do we turn the bottle upside down again?"
David laughed, catching on. "So it c'n be filled 'n capped."
Kris giggled and pulled her water back towards her. "Yep. Somebody needs to turn them upside down so they can be a whole person again." She took a swig from the bottle.
"Wait," Kassie murmured. All three stared at her in wonder. "So we drink souls?"
David's and Brie's head met the table with two hollow 'thunks'. Kris frowned at her friend.
"You missed the point."