Upside Down

(31) Puppets On Strings

Chapter 31

Hope : Good :: Hope : Bad

Why?

Why, why, why did this have to happen? I didn't want to like her, I didn't want to know her and yet she charmed her way into not just mine but my family's life, made us believe she was this innocent little girl in a desperate situation and now ... now I find out the truth. She had been lying the whole time. Of course! She's a cat!

I had never been against all cats, just most of them but now I knew that no matter what age or how they looked or acted in front of you, cat were vicious, cruel, and sadistic beings. They will break you apart bit by bit.

Like Kriss tried to do.

I looked at her through the one sided mirror as she sat behind the table with her head down. She was crying, the little faker.

"Grant, progress report," I demanded with a growl.

"Uh, Allise is better now and Jerry's sister is letting her stay with them. Allise is scratch less, perfectly fine except for the explanation we owe her and the scars she now has mentally from uh, you know. Um, also she said ... she said there was two monsters."

"What did they look like?"

Grant shifted on his feet, worriedly looking at the glass which Kriss sat behind. "She said they were like monsters off of monster like Wolf man and American Werewolf in London stuff. Like a cross between animal and human," Grant informed me and my eyes narrowed. How could this fucking happen? "Hey, Emerson, are you sure about-"

"Yes," I growled, not turning to look at Grant.

"You don't even know what I was going to ask."

I scowled at him then turn back to the window. "Yes, I do. You were going to ask if I'm sure if she's the monster and yes, I am sure."

Grant snorted, "I was going to ask if you got the whole story, numb-nuts. I was the one who talked to Allise, did you? She said there were two-"

"-Monsters, yeah, yeah, I know. You told me already-"

"-One attacked her then something-monster like-attacked it and drove it away. Maybe Kriss wasn't the monster that attacked?"

This was getting too complicated.

Damn, I wish Grant hadn't said that because even with that one line a bubble of hope is crawling up my chest but I knew I shouldn't hope. I'm unsure of myself and my decisions. I wasn't sure what to do and every idea that passed through my head was covered in doubt. And as I watched Kriss from the one sided mirror, curling into herself as if she was cold, I was hit with a torrent of emotions that flooded my body. It was like being in a wind tunnel with countless things being thrown at you and they're passing by so quickly you don't have time to catch even one of them to examine it without something else hitting you in the face.

I sighed, falling back into my chair. "Go home, Grant. It's late, I'll finish up here."

I didn't look up as his chair squeaked, signalling him getting up. I didn't remove my hand from my tired face as light from the door way flooded in and washed my face in artificial light. I could feel Grant pause at the door and only then did I look up to she his black silhouette in yellow light. "Hey, Em, promise me something, okay?" I cocked an eyebrow as he fidgeted, "Just ... give her a chance, please? If you don't get her story you'll regret it, Emerson. Trust me."

I huffed, letting my head fall back onto the chair but nodded none-the-less.

Then he left me alone in the dark room with the only light coming from the other side of the one way mirror.

How was I going to get through this? How could I go in there after knowing she lied to us all this time?

She lied to me.

It was so strange that just this afternoon we had been playing around in some store with hoe clothes, puking hipsters and stuff that I was pretty sure was illegal. We had been joking and dancing and laughing. I just wanted to go back to that time and see Kriss's smile that seemed to brighten her whole face and make her look like those girls in the magazines that were so beautiful without even trying. But that felt like it was years ago, on a different world and in a different dimension with totally different people living completely different lives.

Because it was all a lie. 'Kriss' was a facade, a fraud to fool us into giving her shelter and the freedom to do harm on my pack and family.

Whoever said 'sometimes the even the ugliest truth is better then the sweetest lies,' doesn't know shit.

But I made a promise to Grant that I would at least listen to her and to be truthful, I yearned for some kind of explanation as if she would have this perfect explanation and all would be better. I could take in back into my arms, head back home and we would sort everything out together.

Everything would be perfect again.

But how could it be?

I walked into the interrogation room tensely and sat in the chair across from Kriss who hung her head down low, not even looking at me. A water bottle sat on the table in front of me and Kriss's hands (hand cuffed) laid on the table in front of her, catching the tears that dropped from her face once in a while.

"Kriss," I gruffed out and she hesitantly raised her head to me. Her face was pale with reddening eyes and nose. Trails of water streaked down her face and her thick black eyelashes clung to each other in clumps of wet desperation. I huffed stiffly, looking down at my hands then grabbing the water bottle to quench my parched throat. "Talk," I finally retch out in a miffed tone and winced inwardly because of how quiet it was, not only my voice but the room in total. I was scared that if I raised my voice any the world might collapse on us.

Though the thought is ridiculous.

I squirmed on my seat, focusing on the stationary bottle to the right of my left hand as I got more and more irritated at the growing silence in the small space Kriss and I occupied. I could swear I could even hear a clock ticking and a cricket chirping somewhere even though there was none in the small and supposed sound proof room. I drummed my fingers against the table, still avoiding Kriss's soft grey eyes still wet with tears. Tap, tap, tap, my fingers continued to drum.

"Talk, dammit!" I suddenly shouted as my temper roused and my fist collided with the table making the bottle fly off of the table and Kriss flinch inwards and away from me. I sighed heavily and grabbed the bottle off the floor, sitting back in my seat. "Why?" I groaned into my hands. "Why did you lie? Why did you do this?"

"I'm sorry," She whimpered softy and so quiet that I could barely hear her. "I-I didn't want to be a monster. I'm sorry, I'm so, so, so sorry." She sobbed, her head hung low and I could tell she was trying to stop crying but it was only making it worse like she was choking or something.

"Then why are you a monster? And why did you attack Allise?"

Still steadily hiccuping with tears, she looked back up at me with a red and confused face. "I didn't attack Allise."

This time I was confused. If she didn't attack Allise then why was she crying that she was a monster and was the other beast that was there, was that the one that attacked? If so, then why was Kriss even there at all? "Then who did? Who attacked Allise?"

Kriss looked back down at her hands which rested on the table, clenched in what I guessed was anger. "He did," She said simply.

"He who?"

"Slasher, he's one of the them, the animals," She spat out as if it was a curse. "They're cruel and evil, mindless monsters ... like me. They destroy everything in their path and won't let anything get in the way. There's s-so many of them and he's not even the worse one! She controls them, like puppets. We're all just puppets, puppets on strings.

"Kriss," I sighed, taking her hand. "I-I don't know what your talking about. Explain to me, what are they and who is 'she'?"

"She owns us."