Rhyme ~ an original story

chapter twelve

Five months later.

"When I was little, I was just like you.

"Stuck someone else's home.

"Then, someone new took me in.

"I didn't know that that was going to be the end of the cycle, but it was.

"They loved me, but I didn't want to be with them.

"But over time, my mind changed.

"I began to see how much they cared for me and that they made sure I was always safe and well fed.

"After a long while, I stopped calling my parents by their first names and started to try 'mom' and 'dad'.

"And I'll never forget the feeling of knowing that I had parents who loved me and that I'd have a stable home.

"I hope you will feel the same way."

Rhyme ran her fingers on the right side of the picture frame. It was the picture she had seen in the living room when she first visited Ms. Kelly's home. She had finally worked up the courage to ask about it.

"Ms. Kelly?" Rhyme asked.

"Yes, Rhyme?" She responded.

"What was it like for you?"

"Do you mean when I was in foster care?"

"No, before it."

Ms. Kelly paused.

"I only had a mom. She never would let me go play with the neighbors, she wouldn't let me play outside at all. The only time I ever left the house was to go to school. I was always bored too. For my birthday when I was in second grade, my mom got me a sketchbook and a pencil, and all I did until I ran out of paper was teach myself how to draw things around my house."

Rhyme looked back down at the photograph.

"Life was very mediocre, but I only ended up in foster care because my mom went to jail."

"Why did she go to jail?" Rhyme asked.

"She had killed my dad."

The room became very quiet.

"I always tried to my best to be good, but my parents said I was terrible," Rhyme picked at the couch. "My mom and dad would lock me outside for the night. It was really bad in the winter. I got frostbite one year and they didn't take me to the hospital. But when they sent me to preschool that morning, my teacher knew something was wrong, so she sent me to the nurse, and the nurse called my parents. They didn't answer, so the nurse had no choice but to call an ambulance so I could go to the hospital. When I got home, my parents yelled at me because they thought that I told my teacher that they left me outside. The person that lived next door heard all the yelling and came over to see what was going on, and my parents got really angry and attacked him. They lost custody of me."

"I'm so sorry," Ms. Kelly said.

Rhyme shrugged.

"But you know what? I'm going to take care of you. It's a fresh start. I love you, Rhyme." Elise smiled.

"I love you too," Rhyme managed a small smile.