Upside Down

(36) They're Here

Chapter 36

Love : They Way I See It :: Love : The Way You See It

I think I've become numb, both mind and body. I just don't know why all these things must happen to me and everyone around me, like some kind of family curse descended upon my family and anyone we associate with.

So yeah, right when I met Kriss I knew she wasn't exactly normal but who in hell ever expects the cute little black haired girl with soft grey eyes who can shift into one of the world's most adorable kittens to also be able to become a horrifying monster? Yeah, you could say I was quiet shocked. And yes, something was strange about those chocolates but why would I ever expect the chocolates to be overdosed with adrenaline? I wouldn't! I didn't!

And well, yeah, so after I found out Kriss could turn into a enormous half cat half human creature I knew she had an abnormal childhood (shit, I knew that before the whole shifting issue) but to think she grew up in a lab and was tested on by an evil scientist to avenge a long forgotten mad man in Germany? That crap only happened in unrealistic sy-fy movies I watched with Drew and laughed about the bad graphics. I would have never thought someone would experiment on her, or anyone to create some monstrous side of the shifter's abilities.

They were monstrous.

I didn't know what to do.

What are you suppose to do in situations like these?

I told Dr. Jensen about the stashed chocolate from the box we were given, the one I was going to give Kriss and he told me that he was going to run some test on it to see if it really what we thought it was.

Then Grant, Kriss, and I all piled into the car for a silent ride home.

As we pulled into my driveway, I looked at their faces to see they matched mine. Grant had this wandering and wondering look in his eyes as if he couldn't believe what he had just been told. And Kriss looking down somewhere off into the distance with this emotion in her eyes like someone was going to start smacking her around any minute and she wouldn't exactly blame them if they did.

I parked the truck and we all sat there lethargically until Grant sighed and opened his door.

"Emerson," Kriss whispered to me as she tugged on my sleeve right before I was going to get out of my truck. "Can I talk to you?"

I looked at her small round face which starred back at me with sad grey eyes. She looked so fragile right now so when Grant gave us a look from the door way as if to ask if we were coming in, I just waved him off, motioning for him to not wait up for us.

"What is it Kriss?" I asked, taking one of her small hands in mine.

She whimpered looking down at the seat where our hand laid, entwined with each other.

"Emmie," She sighed as her shoulders hunched over and it looked like tears gathered in the corner of her eyes but I couldn't really be sure seeing as she wouldn't look me in the face. "I know I'm not very smart, and I don't understand a lot of things-

"Kriss," I interrupted, taking one of her small hands "your one of the smartest and bravest girls I've ever met. You just have a lot ignorance because of the way ... the way you grew up." I corrected her.

She gave me a bleary smile, looking as if she was about to cry. "Yeah ... yeah, well I don't know a lot of 'normal' things," She admitted with a shrug, "but I do know one thing for sure. Emerson, I want to thank you for not giving up on me when I know I would have. You've done so much for me and ... and my head, it's normally so, so bad and loud and all I can think of is my past but with you ... when I'm with you ... you give me a quiet mind. And ... and I love you for it. I love you."

I sat there taking in what she said and even though it was one of the saddest things I've heard, it made my heart sing to hear that she ... she loved me.

She loved me.

Kriss loved me.

I couldn't stop the shit eating grin on my face as I scooped her into my lap and wrapped my arms around her in a tight hug. "I love you too, Kriss." I whispered to her and her arms wrapped around my neck. "You one of the most wonderful people in the world. I'll never meet another as generous and true as you."

Her wide grey eyes connected with mine and it was like a flash of lighting between us as when both leaned in, her eyes fluttering close. I could smell the lavender and jasmine flowing off her as my head bent down farther.

Then I could feel her warm breath brush against my face and just as my lips were about to connect with hers, I felt her pause.

What? Was she having second thoughts? Was this not what she meant? Did she mean she loved me like a brother or a friend? Oh, god please don't let it be that, don't make me suffer the disappointment and humiliation of that and especially please don't make our relationship suffer from the awkwardness if she doesn't like me the same way I like her.

Because, God, I love her. I love everything about her and yes, I'm going to lay everything on the line because I know it this does turn out right, it will be worth all the risk and all the heart ache. Kriss was just the perfect person.

There was just something about her bubbly out-going personality as if she had washed off all those years of horror and just wanted to be free to try as many things as she possibly could. And yet even though she grew up with barely any education and was super childish, I didn't feel like a pedo because I knew that she was matured, matured way beyond her years and was valiant and brave enough to stand up for others.

Please God, I begged, please let me love her.

I felt her cool hand on my chest, stopping me and my eyes popped open making me wonder when I had even closed them to begin with. Her head was shot up, smelling the air that leaked in from the cracked windows and her grey eyes widened in terror.

"They're here."