The Rule of Three

Chapter 20

Patterson's eyes slowly flutter open; she can't see anything. She can tell she is laying on something soft, and she is covered with a blanket. Her head hurts really bad, and she winces when she feels a shock of pain surge through her body. She is extremely sore, but she can't remember what she did to cause herself this fatigue. She sits up slowly and looks around the room she is in. She turns around to see a thin line of light streaming from under a door; there is a flight of stairs leading up to the door.Her eyes are adjusting to the dark, so she can begin to make out shapes in the room. She sees that she is sitting on a rather large couch in the middle of a white or blue room, without light she couldn't make out the color of the walls. There was a TV against the wall across from the couch and a coffee table in between them. In the wall to her right, there is an open door, and she thinks she can see the outline of a sink. "Must be a bathroom," she thinks to herself. On the opposite wall, she sees a small kitchenette; it can't be classified as a whole kitchen, because it only has a sink, fridge, and a microwave sitting on top of a short counter. In one corner of the room near the kitchen, is a table with two chairs and a vase of flowers on top. In the corner between the TV and the kitchen, a very small book shelf sits only half filled with books. On the far side of the room near the bathroom, there is a twin bed with the sheets and blankets folded neatly over it. As Patterson takes in her surroundings, she feels as if something is strange about the room. She feels like she is in a dream, but she can't figure out why the room feels strange. She continues to search the room to find the source of the eery feeling. Patterson gasps as she realizes the room has no windows. She turns and looks at the steps quickly realizing that she is in a basement, a basement she has never seen before.

She suddenly feels a sharp pain on her forehead. She winces and reaches up to find out what has caused the pain. When her fingers find her forehead, she feels something smooth covering a larger corner of her forehead. She stands up and walks to the bathroom in hopes that there will be a mirror for her to see what is on her forehead. When she reaches the thresh hold of the door, she flip the light switch on the wall. The small bathroom is illuminated, and Patterson gasps at the sudden light. It takes a minute for her eyes to stop stinging when she tries to open them. She finds a mirror above the sink. In her reflection, she sees that the object on her forehead is actually a bandage. Curiosity takes over again, and she begins to peel off the bandage to see the wound that is underneath it. She finds a cut above her right eye. The cut appears to be relatively new, but Patterson can't remember how she hurt herself. She doesn't even know what day it is.

Patterson's head spins as she tries to remember what happened and how she came to be in the basement. She remembers Gaillard is still in the hospital. She remembers Copeland telling her that their mom is making them go to school on Monday, when ever Monday is. She still doesn't know what day it is. She remembers fighting with Copeland; her heart falls to her stomach at the memory of her sister yelling at her. "Focus," she says to herself as she squeezes her eyes closed and tries to remember what happened next. She remembers getting in the car and driving. She was going to go see Gaillard in the hospital, but she was crying because of the fight with Copeland and her thoughts were very much still jumbled. Patterson was too upset to drive, so she pulled over to try and pull herself together before she got in a wreck. She remembers sitting in the driver's seat, trying to calm down, but then she has no idea what happened next. Suddenly, the room behind her is completely illuminated, causing her to scream from shock.

"Please don't scream," Patterson hears a familiar voice say behind her. She turns around to see Ms. Denton at the bottom of the stairs. Patterson furrows her eyebrows in confusion, still very confused about what is going on. Then all of a sudden, she remembers.

Patterson was sitting in the driver's seat on the side of the highway, trying to calm down. Her tears were nearly dried, when she heard a knock on the driver's window. She jumped at first, then calmed down when she saw a teacher from her school, Ms. Denton looking through the window . Patterson rolled down the window to speak with her. When the window was all the way down, Ms. Denton smiled and reached inside the window. She opened the door from the inside then proceeded to pull Patterson out of the car. Confused at first, Patterson resisted Ms. Denton's tugging and asked her what she was doing multiple times with no response. When Ms. Denton realized Patterson was resisting her, she began to pull the teen from the car more aggressively. Patterson clung to wheel and began kicking and screaming. She was trying to get away, but the more she resisted, the tighter Ms. Denton held onto her. She remembers hearing Ms. Denton try to say something to her but she was too busy trying to get away and screaming to hear. Ms. Denton had managed to pull Patterson from the car and had began to make her way to another car parked in front of Patterson's on the side of the highway. Patterson remembers finally breaking out of her grip, but she fell. Patterson squeezes her eyes closed again trying to remember what happened next but she can't. She assumes she hit her head then somehow and passed out.

Patterson's heart begins to pound as she realizes what is happening. She was kidnapped and is now being held in a basement. She focuses back on Ms. Denton, who has not moved from her spot next to the stairs.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you," the teacher smiles. The smile only lasts for a short amount of time, but it then falls when Ms. Denton notices the cut on Patterson's forehead. "You took off your bandage. We need to replace that before it gets infected," she says as she steps towards Patterson.

Patterson backs away quickly, "What am I doing here?"

The teacher smiles softly, "You live here, sweet heart. Now let me bandage your forehead, please." She smiles and advances towards Patterson again.

"Please let me go home, Ms. Denton," she begs."My sisters need me, and I know my mom is freaking out," Patterson adds.

The teacher places her hands on her hips. Slightly upset, she says, "I know this is new but you live here now." She states, "You are never going back, so please don't ask ever again. As for your family, they're not your family. You live with me." She smiles and takes the last few steps, coming face to face with the now terrified teen. She gently puts her arm around Patterson and leads her to the couch, "I'm your mom now." She smiles and begins to gently bandage the cut on Patterson's forehead.