Once Upon A Karma (Karmic Krystal Book 1) by Rosie Malezer

the doctor’s office.  He is a mind doctor and he wants to check that our brains are in our heads, I think.  Mum goes into the office by herself while Dad sits outside with the three of us girls.
    “Daddy, is my brain gone now?” I ask. 
    “What?  What’s gone?” he says, startled away from his overwhelming thoughts. 
    I enquire again as to why we are seeing a doctor who wants to look into our heads.  My dad says my brain is just fine and asks me to sit down and play with the abacus on the floor.  Leena and Tania are both playing with it already and, not wanting to interrupt their fun, I start putting building blocks on top of each other to see how high I can make a tower.
    “Ow!” screams Tania.  She starts crying and I notice her finger caught on a loose wire on the abacus.  It has pierced right through her finger.  Dad examines it and is unable to pull the wire out without hurting Tania even more.  Nothing hurts my family and lives!
    “Let my sister GO! ” I scream at the abacus. 
    The wire immediately dislodges from my sister’s finger.  Tania sticks her finger in her mouth to try and stop it from hurting and bleeding.  I feel bad for my sister.  Not wanting her to feel any pain, I try to transfer it entirely to the abacus, but instead of the wire pricking itself, the whole abacus completely disintegrates to dust before our eyes.  Silence fills the room as all of our eyes grow wide with shock.  Dad looks from the pile of dust to me and then back to the dust again.  He seems to forget how to speak.
    Mum comes out of the doctor’s office and asks my father to take Leena in to see the doctor while she waits outside.  Dad instead tells Mum to take Leena in while he has a talk with me.  Uh-oh! I know that he is about to yell at me for breaking the doctor’s abacus.  Without any pocket money to spare, I also know that I will be 30 years old before I have paid for the damage.  My dad looks at Tania’s finger, only to discover that it is completely healed.  There is no hole, no blood – just a healthy finger that seems to have been completely untouched by any wire.
    “Did you do that?” he asks softly.
    “I’m sorry, Daddy.  I’m sorry,” I say, hoping that he will not smack me.  I have seen children being smacked before by their parents.  It doesn’t look like fun. 
    “I am not angry at you, sweetheart,” my dad says.  “No secrets, remember?” 
    I nod my head and tell him that I don’t know if I did it.  But if I did do it, I am sorry and I will get a job and pay for it.  Trying not to giggle, Dad accepts that I had not done anything intentionally.  He also tells me not to worry about getting a job because he will pay for a new abacus, but he wants to continue our discussion a little bit later.
    Leena comes out of the room.  Both my mum and my sister are crying.  I go and sit with them to comfort them both.  Dad takes Tania in to speak with the doctor.
    “Did he hurt you?” I ask Leena and my mum.  “He doesn’t stick a needle in your brain, does he?”  I am terrified of needles.
    “No, Krystal,” my mother replies.  “No needles.  He just wants to talk.”
    Fifteen minutes later, my dad brings Tania out from the doctor’s office.  Tania is crying.  Dad looks completely rattled by whatever had just taken place inside the doctor’s office.  Now I am really getting scared.  Anybody who can freak my dad out must be quite terrifying!
    “Krystal, come with me please,” my father says gently.  He takes my hand and I feel love and warmth radiating from his palm. 
    Inside the doctor’s office, I climb up onto my father’s lap and sit on his knee.  The doctor tells me that I am not allowed to sit on anybody’s knee during this visit.  I have to sit on a chair by myself.  Dad lifts me down and sits me beside him in my own chair.  The doctor then tells my father sharply to let go of my hand.
    “Hi, Krystal.  How are you feeling today?” the doctor