Gone: A Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys Mystery

9. Nancy

Morgan grabbed me by the shoulders and dragged me of the cell. We went down and through the door into the big room. Inside was Esti on the table. Morgan sat me on a huge black chair. He looked around the room to see if we were alone.

'Okay, whatever my uncle is doing it is truly going to hurt. It is meant to. I can't do anything but give you painkillers after and knock you out now. I'm truly sorry, Nancy.'

He looked really sorry as he knocked me out but I still didn't get it. I had no idea what was happening. Nothing happened after the first shock but the second shock woke me. That chair electrocutes me. Now, it is not like an electric chair, that can kill me. The chair they have in there in minor in comparison and it isn't hooked up to any pressure points. It is more like a taser than anything else. It is uncomfortable and after many times it gets pains, especially where it electrocutes. Everything hurt and was fuzzy after they were done. A woman who looked like me shrieked. She came over and hugged me, and turned and screamed at the other man. My head was too foggy to remember what they were saying. The man and the woman got into a screaming match that day and the man pushed the woman into the operating table Esti was hooked on. I didn't know who she was or why she was there but you should have seen the look on that man's face when she fell off the table. I slipped into unconsciousness again and when I awoke I was in this cell and Morgan was asleep in the chair. I shouted at him to wake up, to explain exactly what was going on. When he did I learn that the woman was my mother, Stella. She had been working for Doright for almost sixteen years. She was this amazing doctor that he thought could work a miracle on his comatose daughter, Esti. Stella was out of hope and told Doright that Esti would not come out of a coma, alive that is. She was trying to quit, to come back to me, and that was the exact reason I was there.

I didn't believe Morgan at first. I said that my mom died in a car crash. I didn't even know that she was a life-saving doctor. I said that my mother would never abandon her family like that. The truth is, I didn't want to believe that she would do a thing like that. The woman my father spoke of loved me and she loved my dad. Stella the miracle doctor in the captivity of Doright didn't fit in the equation.

Morgan told me that my mom had faked her accident so no one would worry about her or come looking for her. She planned to finish up with Esti quickly and go back to the hospital and to me and Dad. But she couldn't heal Esti properly and Doright wasn't about to let her go back to her daughter when he couldn't have his. So after all this time of fighting with my mom and her refusing to work, he sent out his nephew to kidnap me. I was the blackmail, Doright's motivation to my mom. Work and she doesn't get killed.

Unfortunately, Stella doesn't seem to have a cure." I sit up and twiddle my fingers. My hands are cut and bruised and suddenly I don't want Frank to see me like this. I never want him to see me as anything other than this perfect detective. But it turns out that I am broken and so is my family and everything that I thought was reality is false. I stick my hands under my thighs but Frank's silent stare still seems to pierce right through me. The silence is too much; I had to continue talking.

"I sleep in this cell and every morning at ten and every night at ten, John orders Morgan to drag me out. Morgan hurts me, Mom cries and John yells. Every time I come back Morgan gives me so food and so painkillers. Most of the time I don't find them until hours later when I come to.

Then yesterday Morgan started acting weird. He didn't talk to me. He didn't give me information. And he didn't say anything about escaping. He was fine in the morning, but at night he acted as if he were actually doing his job. He dug his nails into my arm. He dragged me ruffly. If I tried to talk he slapped my mouth and he hit me for no reason. Under normal circumstances, I would have fought back and been fine, but I'm so weak that I couldn't do a thing. I slipped consciousness whenever we stopped moving.

He didn't feed me at all today. When he took me out, I tried to get away. He pulled me into his bedroom and threatened that he would make sure it hurt worse today than any other day if I didn't quit struggling. I asked if he would let me go tomorrow. All he said is that sometimes you can't always keep a promise. Then he hit me. Not soft or fake like all the other times. He hit me like he no longer cared about what happened. At the session, he punched me. I have bruises all over and they look terrible. I have open cuts too. Until you got here I didn't think I would ever get out."

I still can't believe my mom's not dead. I can't get why she didn't care enough about my life. How can someone leave for fifteen years?

"Can I take a look at the bruises?" Frank asks.

I nod. I pull up the side of my shirt. Underneath is an ugly bruise about four inches wide and two inches tall. Frank touched it softly and my cheeks heat up. No boy has ever touched me as gently or with as much care as Frank Hardy. His eyes scan over my side and he gives a soft whistle between his teeth.

"Are you going to be all right?" He looks into my eyes and his brown eyes look deeper into me than I can imagine. His hand still rests on my bare side and I can feel the warmth radiating off.

"I should be, although it does hurt like crazy." Frank abruptly moves his finger and I find myself missing them. "Do you have a plan to get out?"

My head starts pounding and my vision tilts a little but I try to keep my eyes focused on Frank.

"Joe and Bess are going to meet me and George in the room next door. They said that they knew where your mom is. We are going to work out a strategy to get you both out." He glances at my side. "And to a hospital."

I nod and cover my side with my shirt once more.

"You rest up. Joe should be here so I am going to go talk to him. Someone will be in in a little bit."

I smile and nod as I lay back down. My head feels fuzzy and I try hard to concentrate on what Frank is saying, but every minute I am awake I feel worse. I focus on the fact that I am finally getting out of here. Frank backs out of the cell and locks the door. He replaces the key ring to the hook and slips out of the room. My eyes drop closed and the world disappears.