Abduction

16: House Rules

Becca dropped me off at the house somewhat late, we had simply lost track of time because we were having too much fun. The second I walked into the house, I saw Steve looking out the window at Becca's car.

"Where have you been?" Annette questioned emerging from the hallway.

"With Rebecca Steele." Steve commented in a disappointed tone

I became confused, "What's wrong with Becca?"

Annette responded quickly, "Her parent's are awful, they act like-"

I quickly cut her off, "Just because her parents are awful doesn't mean that she is."

"Regardless," she replied, "you haven't been answering any of my texts and its eleven o'clock on a school night."

I shrugged, "My phone died and I was just at a friend's house, it isn't a big deal."

Steve shook his head, "It may not be a big deal to you, but it most certainly is to us. Especially considering the circumstances."

I let out a fake laugh, "So this is all because you thought I went back home to my other parents?"

Annette sighed, "Don't start arguing with us, please."

"No," I said crossing my arms, " I'm not even allowed to go to them anyways. Tell me the truth."

"The truth, young lady, is that we have rules in this house that we expect you to go by." Steve said angrily.

I nodded, "Great, if only I knew what the rules were. Unfortunately you've been too busy forcing me to pretend to be normal that neither of you have talked to me at all."

The room fell silent, proving I had won that point. There was no argument to be made there.

Finally, Steve cleared his throat, "Tell your siblings there will be a family meeting in the living room in 15 minutes."

Great, now I had released the devil.

---

"So, it's been a really long time since we had our last family meeting and I think we need to sit down and figure out the rules to clear the air." Steve said, officially beginning the meeting.

Jacob rolled his eyes, "Just because Erika got in trouble doesn't mean Elizabeth and I have to suffer too."

I stuck my tongue out at him and Annette sighed, "Be mature, please. This is serious."

Elizabeth spoke up, "No offense, but we've had the same rules for like... ever. Can't you just tell them to Erika and let us move on?"

"Rule number one," Steve said completely ignoring her, "always check your phone and call us when you are going somewhere. If your phone dies, borrow someone else's. Everyone your age has one these days, it's not that hard."

We all nodded, easy enough.

"Two, curfew is 9:30 on school nights and 11:30 on weekends." Annette said sternly.

We all started to complain and freak out over that one.

"9:30?! Are we in middle school?" Jacob complained.

Elizabeth complained, "That's only a couple hours after dance rehearsal!"

Steve put his hand up to silence us, "We can make it 8:30 if you guys don't stop yelling and arguing."

The room quickly grew silent.

"Rule number three, you are to ask permission before leaving the house or going somewhere after school." Annette added.

I sighed, "Great, looks like we'll never be doing anything fun."

"The answer will almost always be yes, we just need to be aware of where you are." She assured me. 

I nodded and the family meeting continued on for another ten minutes. Us three kids sat and listened to the new list of rules and put our input in on some. In some cases, we were able to get them to alter the rules but it usually ended with Steve threatening to make it worse like the curfew rule.

When they were finally finished they told Jacob and Elizabeth they could go to their rooms while they talked to me for awhile. Great.

"What's going on?" I asked worriedly.

Steve made sure the other two were gone before asking me, "Have you heard from Mike and Lisa?"

I shook my head, "I tried calling them and it was just an error message. I think they shut their phones off." 

"Yeah, the police tried to track their phone but it just led them to a motel a couple hours away and found their phones destroyed. They're clearly hiding their tracks." Steve continued to tell me.

I shrugged, "What's the point of telling me all of this?"

"Erika," Annette began, "we just need to make sure you're okay and understand what's going on. We don't want to argue about this anymore but we have to address this whole situation."

I looked over at Steve who continued, "You aren't allowed to try to contact them anymore and if they find a way to contact you, you have to tell us."

"You get that they're not evil villains, right? Like, these are the people who raised me. They gave me everything they had." I reminded them, quickly growing annoyed.

Annette quickly snapped, "They shouldn't have been the people who raised you! You were our daughter and they just went into our yard and took you like it was nothing. Now it feels like we don't even know our own child."

I scoffed, "Right, I forgot I was raised to be some awful person. Sorry I forgot this was all my fault. Clearly you think it is since every time we talk I'm being scolded for the situation." 

Annette burst into tears and I instantly felt bad for what I said. I knew it was hard for them too, maybe even harder since they've been going through this for fourteen years while I had no idea it was even happening.

Steve comforted her and looked over at me, "Maybe it's best we pause this conversation and just head to bed."

I nodded and told them goodnight before heading to my room. I checked my phone to see my night was only progressively getting worse by receiving a bunch of texts from Josh, begging me to meet him. I turned my phone off and fell into bed, enough had happened today and I felt like I needed to sleep for days straight. 

A/N: Hey guys I had a little idea that could be fun to interact more and I wanted your opinion on it! I thought it would be cool to add a "question for the reader" at the end of each chapter so I can interact with you guys more and you can learn more about other readers and comment on their answers! Would that be something anyone is interested in or is that just really lame? Let me know!!