Upside Down

(17) Kristina, Honey, Come Here

Chapter 17

Dreams: Good :: Nightmares: Bad

"You know what? I don't give a damn!"

There was still yelling from the kitchen as Kriss and I walked to it. I hid her behind me, still listening to the angry shouts.

"Fine! You want to go invest yourself in a whore then go ahead!" It sounded like Grant who had screamed this time.

"You're one to talk!" This was Drew but ... Drew never screamed or yelled or was really angry which was strange for a large man let alone a werewolf. Whenever he got upset he would cry. Not in front of anyone but we all knew he did it. Why was Drew screaming like this? He was always a lover and never a fighter. "You're a fucking asshole!"

Just as I opened the kitchen door I could hear the front door being slammed shut. I could see Grant standing over the counter, his hands clenched.

"Grant?"

We both turned, Kriss's eyes were wide as she stared at Grant's clenched hands. Grant looked stricken like he didn't know what to do; he unclenched his hands and wiped them on his pants as if they were dirty. "I-I-I ..." Grant stuttered. "I'm just going to go." He walked away, his head down as he opened the door and left. I felt like I should have said something but what? What do you say when two of your best friends and they're friends with each other and then they just randomly start fighting. How did this happen? Were they always fighting and I was just too oblivious?

Kriss yawned beside me and I realized she must be still sleepy. With all these nightmares I've been having I haven't got much either. "Come on," I told Kriss, pulling her towards the guest bedroom. "I'm going to let you take a nap." I could already see her eye lids falling but before I could take her into the guest rooms, she tugged me ahead to my room. She looked around before going up to my bed and trying to get in. And notice I say 'trying', my bed was pretty tall and Kriss was pretty short. She kept jumping, but she would slide back to the floor with a plop. She would get her torso up onto the cover and try to get her legs up and onto the mattress but I guess she was too short. I came behind her and held her by the waist, pushing her up into the bed.

She smiled at me, patting beside her as if to tell me I could sit behind her. I rolled my eyes but climbed in beside her. She curled up next to me and fell asleep quickly. I may not know Kriss very well and I know I hadn't known her long but ... I couldn't imagine living without her anymore.

[Dream]

She looked up and smiled attentively. She never knew how to react around him. He confused her, but then again a lot of things did. He only scowled back. His skin was a bit dark from a tan then ... when was the last time she'd seen him, day, two days, or a week? It was hard to tell time when you can even tell if it’s day or night. His hair was also blonder, and he was wearing some kind of shorts and striped shirt.

"Stop staring at me." He hissed at her and she lowered her head. "This is why I hate spending time with you. You're always such a freak." His hand tightened on her arm before he walked forward and into the double doors.

Kriss hated those doors. Something bad always happened when she went through those doors. It was different every time but it was always bad and she was always in charge. They followed her command like puppies lead by treats. She was a scary woman who never told Kriss her name only that she was to be called Ma'am. Ma'am was tall and scary; her face was angular with a large mouth covered in red lipstick and light make-up. She had brown hair always tied in a bun and dark brown eyes behind glasses perched on her delicately small nose. She had a beautiful figure which wore a white coat like thing that went to her ankles but she only wore this when she dealt with ... when she forced the...

Kriss shivered just thinking about it. Out of everything, that was the worst and violence always made Kriss sick to her stomach.

"Kristina." She heard her voice croon, such a beautiful voice on such a horrible woman. "Kristina, honey, come here." She looked back at him and he nodded at her, giving her a little push so Kriss hesitantly walked over to the woman who sat on one of the metal carts, one leg over the other. "Such beautiful eyes you have, so grey and sweet, so ... innocent."

Kriss smiled, she never got to see her eyes but she was glad they were pretty. The woman though had done some horrible things, she was sweet. She ... gave Kriss food to eat and helped her get through her ... problem. She helped her even though it was bad, Kriss was bad. Kriss was terrible; she had done so much...

"Kristina, honey, why are you frowning?" Ma'am asked. "I know you have this problem, and I want to help but if you’re going to be such a baby about it I won't do anything. See, this is why you are stuck like this. You are too stupid to do anything. This is why everyone will hate you."

"I-I'm sorry, Ma'am." Kriss whispered. "I'll try, I swear I will."

Ma'am smiled, spreading her arms and giving Kriss a large hug. "Good girl, I know you will. I know everyone hates you, you are a very hate-able person but maybe with my help you won't be so hated. Maybe people will even ... like you."

Kriss smiled so widely. To feel loved or to feel accepted, okay maybe not loved, she wasn't that great of a person but she might have people that like her or not hate her? That was Kriss's dream, one where people wouldn't look at her with hatred and disgust. With Ma'am's help her family might not think she's disgusting, horrible person.

"Come on, Kristina." Ma'am was off the cart with grace, still holding her hand. "Let's go have another test."

Now she was scared.

She hated 'tests'. They were torture. They never hit her during a test, he always did that after if she got it wrong but her brain hurt.

They approached a box, small and white about a foot long with a few holes in the top. It was tall and when Ma'am told him to open the box Kriss found out why. There at the bottom sat a little white mouse, so cute and looking up at Kriss with absolute trust.

"Cute, isn't he?" Ma'am asked Kriss. Kriss could only nod; she'd never seen a mouse before. It was so small and its ears were so round. "Kill him."

"What?" Kriss squeaked, looking at Ma'am in shock.

"You heard me, kill him!" Ma'am shouted this time. "Kill the mouse, right now or else!" Kriss was shaking now uncontrollably. "Do you want to go in the room, Kristina? Because that's what you're asking for by not killing that mouse!"

Kriss shook her head and looked back at the mouse.

Just don't look at him, She told herself, Just don't look. She extended her claws and slashed almost throwing up when she felt the warm blood soak her hand. She bit her lip trying to reign in her sobs but she could feel tear streaking down her face.

"Kristina," Uh oh, Kriss knew that tone, Ma'am's serious tone. What had she done wrong? She told her to kill him and she did. "You killed that mouse."

Kriss nodded. Of course she did, it was the test wasn't it?

"It was an innocent mouse, Kristina." Ma'am scoffed with disgust. "You're a terrible person. This is why your family hates you. You just killed an innocent little mouse."

Kriss looked at her opened mouthed, "But you-"

"Told you to kill the mouse?" Ma'am finished for her. "If someone told you to kill thousands of innocent people would you? Of course you would. You are a sick child; I don't know why I even try. Xavier, take her to the room."

"With pleasure," The boy grinned and took hold of his sister's arm with one hand and her hair with the other, dragging her with him. Kriss, not able to hold back anymore started sobbing.

"Please," She cried. "Please, please! I'm so sorry! I didn't know! I didn't know!"

"You should have thought about that sooner, you little monster."

~~~~~~Just so you know, Kristina is Kriss's real name. Do you know what I realized just the other day???? Emerson is a guy but his nickname (Em or Emmie) is a girl's name. And Kriss (Kristina) is a girl but goes by a guy name... That's weird.... I'm weird.

Emerson: Yeah, you are.

Me: Shut up flat ass!