Chapter 3:

"Hi, I'm Dr. Harris, but you can call me Cassie." The greeting left a bitter taste in her mouth, but she held her smile regardless. There was no response, just a blank stare. Then it dawned on her. She knew relatively nothing about the subject, except for the charts sent in the mail. It may not even know their language. Her eyebrows rose with concern, and she gently asked, "Do you speak English?"

"Yes, ma'am," it whispered, looking down at the bed.

Subtly biting her bottom lip, Dr. Harris quickly realized this was going to be harder than she expected. Sifting her legs under her so she was sitting Indian style, she debated the best way to approach it. Usually she had at least a day to prepare conversations with her patients, but this was thrown in her face with no warning whatsoever. It hadn't even moved since she opened the door, something she immediately took note of. The only sign that it was even alive was its shaky breaths and blank eyes. She looked back up at the creature as it shifted uncomfortably under its sheet.

As she was opening her mouth to say something, its soft voice cut through the air. "I-I'm sorry," it stuttered barely above a whisper.

"What?" she calmly asked, even though her mind was swarming with questions. Half of being a psychologist was reading your patient's facial expressions, but the other half was being able to hide your own.

The blank stare quickly transformed into a growing panic. Looking everywhere around the room except her face, it continued, "L-Loud voices...e-everywhere..." Cassie slowly moved towards it, hoping to console it, but it quickly jerked its head away, its panic escalating. "I-I didn't m...mean to...I tried..." Its breaths were quickly growing unstable. "I-I tried to be good."

"Shhhh..." Cassie whispered as slowly raised her hand. Upon her command, it immediately closed its mouth and looked at her with wide frightened eyes. "I was the one yelling earlier," she slowly explained, remembering when she snapped at Dr. Baum. "It wasn't about you. It's not your fault."

This seemed to calm it down considerably. Noticing it still hadn't moved, she thought it may help if it sat up, so they could look eye to eye, subtly showing they were equals. "Will you sit up for me?" she asked in the same gentle voice with a slight tilt of her head.

"Yes, ma'am," it whispered. Cassie noticed at first it had some trouble, but she decided not to help since it was obviously frightened by human contact. Once it was completely up the thin shin slowly fell off its shoulders, lying gently at its waist. Cassie couldn't help but slightly gasp at what she saw. Its chest was covered in scars with splotches of old dried blood in various places. Its ribs were drastically protruding through its skin. And, in front of it, its wrists were bound together by a thick chain. "Oh my god..." she lipped, still trying to contain herself. There had never been a day in her life where she was speechless so many times.

In front of her, the metallic door slowly opened, revealing Dr. Baum. "It's been five minutes. The scientists are going to be here soon," he declared, looking beyond the subject and directly at her.

Dr. Harris nodded adamantly, and turned her attention towards the subject one last time. "Don't worry, I'll be back later." She waiting a couple seconds for a response she knew she wouldn't get, then stood up and strode towards the door, never looking back.

Back in the outer room with the mysterious green gems in the wall, she turned towards Dr. Baum, wanting an explanation. Dr. Baum skeptically looked at her, oblivious to her rage. She took a deep breath to contain herself. "How long as it been like this?" she asked, her eyebrows raised with concern.

"Like what?" Dr. Baum replied, wondering what happened behind the closed door.

Looking around the room for a second, she desperately tried to control her anger. "It's terrified of everything, and it has scars everywhere," she whispered, even though her voice was clear with vindication.

Nodding in agreement, Dr. Baum nervously paced around the room. "I'm not too sure...I've only been here three months myself."

"What?" Dr. Harris breathed, not believing there was yet another secret her colleague hid from her. Then, through the haze of confusion, she quickly remembered something the doctor told her earlier. "But you said when it arrived it was very intelligent. How would you know if you weren't even here?"

Slowly backing away from the psychologist, Dr. Baum quickly raised his hands as a sign of peace. "I-I read it in its file," he explained, his voice slightly trembling.

Her shoulders relaxing, she closed her eyes for a brief second. "So, what do you know about its background?"

"Virtually...next to nothing," he muttered, almost ashamed of himself. "But I just assumed it's always been mentally unstable. I have noticed a regression since I arrived though. We were hoping you'd be able to tap into that undiscovered realm of intelligence." Slowly exhaling, Dr. Baum gave her a moment to process the information before anxiously continuing, "But we really have to go, now. They are going to be here any minute."

Following the nervous Dr. Baum into the hallway, Dr. Harris processed the great load of information she just received, but if there was one thing she learned in her field it was to never assume.

To Be Continued...

AN: Don't worry. I'm going to go into Clark's POV in the near future. I'm just still debating on the best way to do it. Italicized thoughts, or the same way I've been revealing Dr. Harris' POV, or something else... Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.