Temperance's Story

Chapter two- Don't Go into the Basement

Don’t Go into the Basement – Chapter two

Three years went by and I was like any other teen. I went to school, got bad grades, had friends, and got into trouble until one night. I had woken up from a bad dream. Clowns again, it was always the clowns. I hated clowns and their red noses and wild hair, big stupid clowns with their painted on faces and baggy multicolored clothing. Oh and let’s not forget the razor sharp teeth and their incisive craving for my human flesh. Yep the clowns in my dreams were scary. 

I went down stairs to find Max. He was usually working in his office or down in the basement, which I was not permitted in under any circumstance. I was headed to his office when I heard a loud noise and saw two men coming out of the basement. They were talking and laughing at how easy it was to catch the animal and how Max would be happy and maybe even let them have the night off. Well being the 13 year old I was I got curious. It was that curiosity that always got me into trouble. Max didn’t allow animals in the house. I had begged him for a dog for years but he insisted that it would just get in the way. I thought maybe he had changed his mind and got me a puppy for Christmas. Besides it was only a week away.

I considered the pros and cons on going down in the basement but only for as long as my thirteen year old brain could handle. I don’t think thirteen year old brains are equipped to make such big decisions. I decided to sneak a peek downstairs just this once. What could it hurt? Max would never know.

I opened the door and descended down a flight of cold metal stairs. I suddenly wished that I had socks on but it was too late now and there was no turning back.  It was very dark inside. I mean dark as in you can’t see your hand in front of your face until your slapping yourself and even then you can’t see it. I felt for a light switch and found something. I took in a deep breath and said a silent prayer that it wasn’t a fire alarm. I flipped it. What looked like emergency lights came on giving off just enough of a glow that I could squint and see shapes and some objects. Along the wall on the right were what looked like metal cages with chain link across the front.

I walked down the pathway thinking that my dog had to be in one of them. The first two were empty but the third held a man. I sucked in a sharp breath when I first saw him. What was he doing in a cage in the basement? He looked beaten up and maybe even hurt. He looked so familiar. He stared at me and I at him. After a moment I realized that he was the man in my hospital room that night.

He looked at me and said, “You are growing so fast. I had to know you were ok. Please open the door and I will be on my way.”

An odd feeling came over me. At first I thought it was shock or that I had never woken up and was still in my nightmare. I felt that there was no reason for him to be locked up. He had helped me. I didn’t know how but I knew he did. Before I knew what was happening I opened the cage.

“I will see you again when you are older my dear but until then be good and stay out of trouble.” I nodded like a good girl as he brushed a few strands of hair behind my ear.

I heard the basement door open and I knew I was in trouble. I was not supposed to be down here. I could hear Max’s voice. He was telling the men what a good job they had done when he came up behind me and stopped.  I turned to look at him and his face was pale white. He was scared but I did not know why. The man that I had let out of the cage hissed like a cat and jumped to the window ledge that was easily six feet off the ground. He punched the window out and was gone.

Max and the men started yelling orders and Max grabbed me and threw me over his shoulder. He ran upstairs still calling out orders and ran me to my room. I was being jolted all over the place and his shoulder was cutting into my stomach. When we arrived he set me down and shut the door behind him. He kneeled down grabbed both of my shoulders with his massive hands.

“WHAT WERE YOU DOING IN THE BASEMENT? YOU KNOW YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED DOWN THERE. ANSWER ME!”

He was yelling so loud my ears hurt and shaking me so hard I started to cry. He stopped and took a deep breath. He looked me in the eyes and wrapped his arms around me, giving me a big hug. When he released me he started again calmly.

“Temperance, honey, tell me why you were in the basement.” I knew from experience that telling the truth was better than lying.

“I had a bad dream and I came downstairs looking for you and I heard those guys say that they had an animal and I thought that you had gotten me a puppy and I wanted to see and when I went down there that guy was there and he was the same guy that was in my hospital room and he helped me and ….and…” I couldn’t control the crying or babbling.

I was too scared. I had never seen Max this mad before and trust me I had seen my share of Mad Max. I looked up at him and his eyes were so big I thought they might pop out.

“That man was in you hospital room?” He said so slowly that if I didn’t know better I would have thought he was slow himself.

I shook my head up and down while I was rubbing the tears out of my eyes.

“Temperance I need you to think really hard. Did he say why he was in your room in the hospital?”

I thought about it. Again you know how you just know something. Something told me not to tell Max about the blood transfusion I got that night. I knew I shouldn’t lie though. 

“No, he just told me to go back to sleep and that I was safe.”

Ok I know I said don’t lie but it really wasn’t a lie. The man never said why he was in my room.

“Did he say anything to you tonight?”

I thought about this too. The man had said that he would see me again soon but if Max was this scared maybe I should be too.

“Yeah, he said he would see me again soon.”  Max shook his head and gave me another hug. “Ok honey this is what I want you to do. I want you to go back to bed and get some sleep. In the morning we will talk. I want you to promise me one thing. I want you to promise me that you will never go back down to the basement again.”

That promise was fine with me. After tonight I never wanted to hear the word basement again. “I promise.”

Max carried me to bed and tucked me in. He double checked to make sure the window was locked and turned the light out making sure that my night light was on before closing the door behind him.