Meant to Be (23 page)

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.

I tried to turn my head to watch them, but
the strap holding my head in place kept them just out of my line of
vision. I heard Amanda tell someone else to grab more sensors for
my heart.

A few seconds later, the neckline of my shirt
was pulled down as another sensor was attached.

I could only lie there, helplessly waiting
for what was about to happen. My pulse began to quicken and I could
feel my hands begin to shake. I tried my breathing technique to
steady them, but the claustrophobic feeling of being tied down was
more than I could handle.

“Okay, we’re ready to go,” said someone off
to my right.

Before I could brace myself, a stabbing pain
radiated through my forearm where one of the sensors rested. I
screamed out in pain.

“Oh no, that won’t do,” Russo said, walking
back to the front of the table where I was strapped down. I felt a
moment of relief thinking that maybe he wasn’t a monster after
all.

“Amanda, bring me the mouth restraint,” he
said undoing my head strap.