Upside Down

(5) Yay Wendy's!

Chapter 5

Wendy's : Good :: Seatbelts : Bad

[Emerson's Truck]

Kriss had curled up next to me in the truck, fast asleep and softly purring. She seemed too peaceful for me to wake up just to put her seatbelt on.

Dr. Todden didn't explain much more but said she had alot of things to disscus with my father and I. But the most shocking news was when she said that Kriss might be a mutt.

In Shifter terms, mutt is not cross breed of dogs. Mutts have their own Packs and Clans just as the bears and foxes do. Mutts are lesser beings. Though, us wolves don't have anything against mutts, it's not their fault one of their parents had sex with an animal. Yeah, mutts are the offspring of any shifter (cat, wolf, fox, ect.) having sex with a normal animal. Some times mutts can't even shift. Some shift from animal to human. Or when they shifter they are not fully their animal like if a wolf shifter ... mates with a dog then most of the time their offspring with shift into a dog. This was the same for feline shifters, vixon shifters, and the others. If Kriss was a mutt then what did that say about her parents?

"Em?" I heard her soft voice carry over, sounding slightly shy. "I'm hungry."

"Okay, why don't we go to Wendy's or something?" I suggested seeing the sign. She tilted her head to the side, a look of not understanding. "You know, Wendy's, the reseraunt?" As soon as the word reseraunt slipped out of my mouth she perked up looking excited.

"A reseraunt?" She asked in a airy voice. "Oh, wow. Wow, yes, yes, yes. I would love to go to ... 'Wendy's'."

"That's ... good." I mumbled, uncertain as I pulled into the parking lot. It was just Wendy's not a fancy five-star joint. "Come on, get out." Kriss looked around confused.

"How did we get here so fast?" She asked.

"Um, I don't know," I shrugged not understanding before opening the door and stepping out and motioning to follow me. Her eyes full of pure wonder, her mouth slightly parted in awe. "It's just a car, Kriss."

"A ... car?" Her eyes seemed to grow larger, climbing out of the truck to stare at the vehical in awe.

"Yeah, a car, now let's go in Wendy's." I suggested. Dr. Todden must have been off her rocker when she said Kriss wasn't mentally ill.

"Right, the resteraunt!" Kriss exclaimed, grabbing onto my hand and skipping along my side into the resteraunt. As soon as we walked in I wished I had a camera. Kriss was like a leech, hanging on my side as if for her life. I think she was so full of excitement she would burst any second.

"Fish?" Kriss questioned when we stepped in the line.

"Yeah ... we can get you some fish." I told her. Why was she acting so weird? It was just Wendy's for god's sake!

"Welcome to Wendy's, can I take your order?" The woman at the counter asked. I wanted to roll my eyes, I hate fast food resteraunts. No, you can't take my order, I walked all the way here just to tell you that.

But I held my tounge and ordered a hamburger and fish sandwhich to go. If Kriss didn't want a sandwhich she could just take the bread off. As we waited I leaned against the wall, starring at Kriss as she 'hid' behind me, looking at everything through the slit between my arm and my torso. She was one strange cat.

"Number fourteen? Number fourteen?"

That was us. With Kriss still tucked under my arm, I walked forward grabbing out bag, paying then with a last smile at the girl at the counter I turned and we left.

"That was amazing." Kriss mumbled when we had gotten in the truck.

I just rolled my eyes but there was a small smile on my face. She was adorable, holding the Wendy's bag gingerly in her lap, her black hair was crazy and fuzzed out around her face, and her face lit up like a christmas tree.

"Here," I reached across her to grab the seatbelt and pull it over her.

That's when she started to freak.

"W-w-what is this? What are you doing? Get it off! Get it off! No! No more, no more, no more! Stop!" She was screaming now, her eyes frantic and the bag of food in the floor.

"Kriss, calm down! Kriss! It's okay." I tried to calm her.

"No! No more! Please, no! No!" Tears were streaming down her face at this point, her body shaking and ready to shift.

"Kriss stop!" She raised a hand up and in one swift stroke, she clawed my seatbelt in half then stuck herself to the other side of the truck, trying to get as far away from me as possible as her whole small frame shook with fear.

"Kriss, It's okay." I told her in a softer tone. "I won't hurt you. It was just a seatbelt, see," I motioned to mine that I had buckled. "It's to protect you if we crash into something, so you don't get hurt. All you have to do is click it open," I preshed the red buttom at the end of my seatbelt and it went loose, sliding back into place. I looked back at Kriss to see her noticably calming down. Her eyes weren't as wide, her breathing had slowed down and she wasn't as dangerously pressed against the car door anymore but loosely leaning back on it. I inched myself closer slowly, happy that she didn't seem so scared anymore. "And you can get out. It's not trapping you. It's okay Kriss. I'd never hurt you. I won't hurt you."

"Promise?" We were close now, her nose almost touching my chest until she looked up at my face with her big grey eyes.

I lifted my hand to the side of her face. "I promise." Moving her hair, I saw there was an old bruise hidden from sight by her hair. Whoever do this to her-not just the bruises but made this frightened persona she got a few mere minutes ago, I was going to fucking kill them and I had a nagging suspection of who it might be.

The Rufus family was going to die.

With slowly movements I lightly kissed her forehead then clutched her to my chest. "It'll be alright, Kriss. You're safe now. You're safe."