I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out as I felt a sharp pain on the back of my head. I was out before my head hit the ground, and never saw the person who delivered the blow that knocked me unconscious.

Chapter 12

I woke slowly with my head pounding, feeling very disoriented. It was pitch black in my room as I opened my eyes. I reached over to turn on my bedroom lamp, but felt nothing but open space. Where was my lamp?

And then it all came flooding back to me. My mom in the hospital and Mark’s dad showing up in the parking garage, but I didn’t remember anything after that.

I abruptly sat up. Where was Mark?

My sudden movements only accentuated the painful throbbing, like someone was hitting my head with a hammer.

“Mark,” I said quietly, feeling around with my hands. “Mark,” I said much louder, starting to feel panicked. I climbed off the cot I was laying on, dropping to my knees. “Mark!” I said again, my voice rising to a near scream.

I crawled around on my knees, holding my hands in front of me like a blind person. “Mark. Where are you?” I said choking on a sob. I continued to reach out my hands, finding nothing but cold hard wall. The darkness was beginning to taunt me as the sobs ripped out of me. I crawled back over to the cot and curled up into a ball.

I tried as hard as I could to stay calm, but the panic was beginning to overwhelm me. I closed my eyes and began holding my breath. Smother it out, I chanted in my head, smother it out. The room felt like it was spinning, leaving me groggy. Unable to keep my eyes open, I drifted back to sleep.

The second time I woke was less confusing as I expected the oppressive darkness when I opened my eyes.

I hoped my eyes would adjust to the darkness, but it was no use. There was not even the slightest bit of light to help.

I lay on the cot for a few minutes, trying to figure out why this was happening to us, and why Mark’s dad was involved.

“Mark,” I said trying one more time to see if he was with me, but there was no answer.

I cautiously sat up and was relieved that my head at least felt a little better. I swung my legs off the edge of the cot and stood up. Reaching my hands out, I took a cautious step forward encountering the rough bricks of a wall. I trailed my hands along the wall trying to get a feel of the room and its dimensions. It felt like it was about the size of my bathroom at home, minus the fixtures.

There was only one door which seemed to be bolted on the outside. The only fixture in the room was the cot I had awakened on.

I sat back down on the cot trying to control my senses. I had lost all sense of time and could not tell if it was day or night. I focused, trying to use my heart as a gauge. It was just beginning to ache, so I knew that meant I had been away from Mark roughly four to six hours. I wonder what Sam and Shawn could be thinking?

None of this made any sense. Why would Mark’s dad kidnap us? If only I could remember more of the details before I had blacked out.

Other questions of more concern pressed on me.

Where was Mark, and what had they done to him? What about my mom? What if she woke up and I wasn’t there?

My head began to ache again, so I lay back down to deal with the pain. The endless darkness made it difficult not to feel tired, especially lying there with my eyes closed.

Suddenly, I could hear the lock on the door being disengaged. Light flooded the room followed by the door being pushed open.

Blinking in the sudden brightness, I looked up to see a heavy duty florescent light above the cot. It was making a faint buzzing noise and was flickering like the bulb needed to be tightened. I stared at it blankly for a moment while my eyes adjusted.

After a few seconds I was finally able to focus clearly. I looked around at my surroundings and wrinkled my nose in disgust at what I saw. The walls were painted a dingy white and were covered in scuff marks and stains; I didn’t even want to speculate about what had caused them. I saw the door I had discovered in the corner of the room, it was in bad shape like the walls. It was made of steel that had once been painted, but was now peeling in multiple areas. I finished my scan of the room and was right about my earlier estimate of its size. It was roughly 6 feet by 8 feet.

A woman I had never seen before walked into the room carrying a tray, followed by a large burley man. The woman set the tray on the edge of the cot. There was some food and a bottle of water, but it also held several needles.

“Arm,” the woman said.

“What?” I asked.

“Arm,” The woman repeated. “I need give you this shot,” the woman said impatiently. “Either you can let me do it or Bruno can help convince you,” she said, nodding over at the man who was still blocking the doorway.

I didn’t feel like being held down against my will, so I didn’t fight as the woman tightened an elastic band around my arm. It pulled at the fine hairs on my arm, causing me to wince, but she paid no mind. She tapped the skin on the inner side of my elbow trying to coax a vein to the surface. I felt the prick of the needle as it found the vein and watched as she proceeded to inject me with several vials of a thick liquid. I cringed at the thought of them pumping something foreign into my body.

“It’s nice to see you so cooperative; your boyfriend could stand to be more like you.”

My head jerked up. “Mark, where do you have him? You have to let me see him! We have to be together.” My words tumbled out of me in a rush. The mention of Mark had made my heart start racing. “Please you have to let me see him, I need to be with him,” I pleaded.

“We know you need to see him. Why do you think we have you separated?” she said as she gathered her empty vials and headed out the door.

I heard the lock being engaged after the door was closed. What did she mean, that’s why they have us separated? Did they know that I got violently ill when he wasn’t around?

I was so frustrated that I grabbed the tray and chucked it against the door.

The metal tray hit the door with a dull thud, sending the food flying, but the water bottle bounced harmlessly off the wall.

“Well that did a lot of good,” I said to myself.

I needed to think.

It was now obvious that they wanted to do testing on us. Why else would they be injecting my arm with some unknown fluid? They also seem to know exactly what they were doing to us by keeping us separated.

The lights flickered off as suddenly as they had flickered on.

The sudden darkness made me uncomfortable again. I’ve never confided it to anyone else, but I have always been secretly afraid of the dark, and this was the worst kind because I didn’t know my surroundings that well.

I curled back up into a ball tucking my head under my arm. The effects of being separated from Mark were beginning to intensify, causing a dull ache throughout my body.

I tried to take my mind off of the darkness by thinking about sections from my favorite books. This helped slightly; making the darkness easier to bear.

As I lay there, I let my thoughts drift thinking about Shawn and Sam.

Had they realized that something happened to us? Would they come looking for us? Mark’s car was still in the parking garage. I just hoped they wouldn’t say anything to my mom if she woke up. If she knew I was missing she would freak out, and that wouldn’t help her recovery.

My throat was definitely dry from thirst. I had been trying to ignore it, but it only intensified. Especially, since I knew that there was a bottle of water somewhere on the floor. I didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of drinking their water or eating their food, but after awhile I began to realize I was only hurting myself.

I got down on the floor and felt around trying to locate the bottle of water. I found the wrapped sandwich they brought me and after a few more minutes, I also located the water bottle. It had rolled under the cot after I pitched the tray at the door.

Settling back on the cot, I twisted the cap off the bottle and gulped the water to sooth my parched throat. I screwed the cap back on and picked up the sandwich. I paused before my first bite to take a sniff, it smelt like turkey. I took a small cautious bite, it tasted wonderful and I inhaled the entire sandwich before I knew it. I guess I didn’t realize how hungry I was. I knew I should save the rest of the water, but the sandwich was a little dry. I twisted off the cap and only sipped enough to wet my throat again, then recapped it making sure the lid was on securely.

The darkness of the room and a full stomach began to make me sleepy again. I laid down tucking the water up by my chest so I wouldn’t lose it, and in a few minutes I was out.

The lights woke me up.

I sat up and looked around, but nothing had changed. I just wished that I could see Mark. I missed him so much and needed to be with him.

The lock was released on the door and this time I was surprised to see Mr. Russo, Mark’s dad, accompanied by Bruno.

“Why are you doing this to us?” I asked sadly, “He’s your son.”

“Doing what?” he answered, not acknowledging the second part of my statement.

“Holding us against our will,” I said.

“I wouldn’t worry your pretty head about that now,” he stated in a condescending voice. “You’re insignificant in the whole scheme of things anyway.”

I felt hatred begin to well up inside me.

“What do you mean, insignificant?” I asked incredulous.

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

“You have to let me see Mark. I have to be with him.”

He waved off my questions like I was an annoying gnat, bothering him.

“Enough talking, you will find out all the answers to your questions in due time. I want you to be clear on exactly what you are before I’m done with you.”

“Bruno, perhaps you can escort the lady now,” he said as he walked out the door.

I ignored Bruno’s hand and stood up on my own. They may be treating me like a prisoner, but I would be damned if I will let them haul me around like one.

We walked down a narrow hallway, passing several closed doors. At each one, I tried to pause to see if I could hear Mark behind any of them.

Finally, the hallway opened up to a large room that looked like a big oversized garage, big enough to house airplanes. The ceiling was a least 30’ high and the space itself could hold my entire house. Off to one side, I saw a row of at least ten computers. A couple of lab tables sat side by side next to the computers with about two feet of space separating them. On the other side of the massive room were microscopes and other equipment I could not make out. One looked like an x-ray machine, with another lab table under it.

Several people milled around the room, but none acknowledged my presence.

The woman who had given me the shots earlier was standing against the wall talking to another person. Finally, there was another intimidating looking man that could have been Bruno’s twin. He had the same beefy build, but his hair was just a shade darker.

Looking around, I was filled with despair. I had been harboring the idea that I could somehow elude them and escape, but it became clear there was no way we were getting out of here.

Bruno took my elbow and escorted me to a door that was off to the right of the building.

“Bathroom,” he said shortly obviously not a man of many words.

I turned the knob and walked in. The small bathroom offered no means of escape, it was windowless and the ceiling seemed to be made of a solid single sheet of metal. It held a metal toilet in the corner and a metal sink by the door. I looked around for a few moments getting a feel of the space. Sighing in frustration after a few minutes, I gave up seeing no way to escape. I sat on the toilet and relieved my full bladder. When I was done, I washed my hands at the sink and took a moment to splash water on my face.

I heard a knock on the door; apparently I had used up my allotted time.

I opened the door finding Bruno waiting for me. “They want you by the machine over there.”

He obviously didn’t know what all of the machines were either.

“Why?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t get paid to ask questions.”

I scanned the room with my eyes trying to file away as much of the set up as I could. Except for the hallway that I had been escorted through, the only other door into the lab was the door that led to the bathroom. I at least now knew that there was only one way to get in and out of the lab.

I approached what I thought was an X-ray machine, but upon arrival, could tell it was like no other I had ever seen. It looked like most of the occupants of the room were readying the equipment. One was fiddling with a computer that was hooked up to the machine, while another adjusted the placement of the lab table underneath. The rest just stood there watching me approach.

“Sit on the table please,” Russo told me. I refused to think of him as Mark’s dad.

I sat on the table as they proceeded to attach wires to my collar bone and temples. They assisted me on lying down so that the wires wouldn’t pull free. Two of the assistants pulled arm restraints out and tried to attach them to my wrist. I pulled my arms back.

“No,” I said, near panic now. What could they possibly be doing to me that they needed to strap me down?

“Don’t be difficult. This test will be as hard as you make it. If you fight, it will only get worse.”

I shook my head no. With a sigh, Russo beckoned Bruno and his look alike over.

I sighed, reluctantly holding my arms out. The techs strapped them securely to the boards and then moved to my ankles. I wanted to protest, but knew it would do no good. Once they had my ankles securely attached, they moved up to my head and strapped it down to the board.

The straps cut painfully into my wrist and ankles.

“These hurt,” I said, but no one responded. “These hurt!” I said, louder this time.

“They’re not supposed to be comfortable, now be quiet.”

I laid there trying to hear what they were discussing.

“Is the other subject ready?” Russo asked. I figured he was talking about Mark, but I couldn’t believe he was referring to him as a subject. It seemed hard to believe that he shared the same DNA as Mark.

“Yes, we had to knock him out to get him into the containment room, but the camera is up and ready to record.”

“All right then, let’s get started. You need to make sure the sequence is right,” I heard an unfamiliar voice say.

Sequence? I thought, beginning to panic. What the heck did they have planned for me?

“Amanda, check the sensors on her temples.”

“Yes Mr. Russo,” Amanda said formally as if addressing an official. I could practically feel the hero worship emitting from her.

She carefully inspected each sensor as the other spectators stationed themselves on the far side of the machine where the control panel was.