Groaning, Morgan began to wake up. She tried to open her eyes, but her head was pounding so hard she had to squeeze her eyes shut just to try and dull the pain. She went to bring a hand to her forehead to try and rub away the pain, but then a sharp pain shot through her wrist. This made her open her eyes with a gasp.
"Fuck," she whispered, looking down at her wrist. It was handcuffed to the armrest of a chair, and when she pulled on it, she had broken the delicate skin on the back of her wrist. She hissed in pain when she tried to move it again, then laid her head back with another groan.
"Hey." A faint voice in front of her caught her attention. She quickly looked at him, her jaw dropping. "Greg!" She called in surprise and happiness, smiling at him. Then, once she saw his injuries, her smile slipped off her face and was replaced with a face of worry. "Greg?" She asked again, quieter this time. Greg had winced when she called his name the first time, and based on his head injury, it looked like he might've had a mild concussion, she assessed. Therefore, she'd have to speak softly if she didn't want to hurt him.
"Are you okay?" They both asked at the same time, chuckling slightly.
"I'm alright," Greg said quietly. "It looks worse than it is. You?"
Morgan bit her lip, her headache slowly fading away. Thankfully, she didn't have a concussion. She looked to her wrist. "That's my only problem right now."
Greg groaned, laying back on the bed that he was tied to. Morgan could see ligature marks on his hands and his bare ankles, but only his right wrist was handcuffed to the metal bedframe. "They're mentally torturing me," he said, immediately regretting saying it out loud.
"How?" Morgan asked, her cheeks burning with an assumption.
Greg turned to look at her, then wordlessly shooted as far towards Morgan as he could, his wrist pulling on the handcuff. He reached out his left hand as far as he could. Morgan stretched out her fingers, and there was barely two inches of space between them. Greg recoiled, pulling back to rub his wrist. "See what I mean?" He looked down, refusing to make eye contact. "You're in pain, and I have the supplies to help you get better, but they decide to torture me by making sure I'm close enough to see you, but not close enough to help you."
Morgan sighed, lowering her head. It was hurting her, too. And not just her wrist.
She was about to say something, when the noise of the four different locks on the door began to turn. Greg and her stared at them silently, both of their heartbeats echoing in their ears. They braced themselves for something to come barging through, but were surprised when the door opened just enough for someone to slip through.
"Greg!" The man said, practically running over to his side. Morgan watch with suspicion as Greg didn't shy away from him.
"Adam, this is Morgan." Greg whispered to him. Adam turned to her.
"It's nice to meet you Morgan," Adam said, smiling. Then his look turned sour, looking down. "Just not under these circumstances."
Morgan nodded in understanding. She wasn't going to be polite to some stranger who kidnapped them. Maybe Greg had stockholm syndrome already. She sighed inwardly. If so, how were they going to be rescued?
"I came in here to warn you guys." Adam said quietly, glancing at the door. "Sam's going to be in here any minute now. He went out with his buddies about an hour ago, and my guess is that he's either going to be drunk and angry, or maybe he'll be drunk and calm. There's the slightly possibility he's not drunk, but with him, that's hardly ever the case."
Morgan just stared at him in wonder. Why in the world was this guy giving up valuable information like this guy's name? Was he another captive? Was he just messing with their brains?
"I'd better go. I'm not supposed to be talking to you guys. I managed to create a five minute loop in the video camera over there, just so I could warn you. Good luck. Maybe I'll be able to talk him down from his anger when he gets here."
And with that, he was out the door.
"Great," Greg sighed sarcastically, laying his head back on the bed again. He stared at the ceiling, praying silently that Sam wouldn't hurt him and Morgan. Especially Morgan.
She opened her mouth to speak to Greg, to try and make him feel better, but she couldn't find the words. She just stared at him, their situation finally sinking in. They had been kidnapped, and the fact that majority of people kidnapped don't make it out alive had come into her mind. Her heart raced in her chest, her breathing becoming faster every second. Before she could stop it, she was full-on hyperventilating. Her body shook, her breathing sporadic, and her eyes looking around wildly, not really seeing anything.
It was only when she felt a warm hand on her knee that she stopped shaking. Her eyes finally met Greg's.
"Take a deep breath, Morgan." Greg said calmly, though his eyes looked concerned. "Focus on your breathing."
As she did, she could find herself beginning to wind down from her small anxiety attack. She smiled lightly at Greg. "Thanks," she cursed herself for doing that in front of someone.
"No problem," he said, scooting back onto the bed. He had been lying halfway off the bed in order to reach her knee.
"I'm sorry," she said suddenly.
Greg looked at her, concerned again. "For what? You've done nothing wrong."
Morgan couldn't bring herself to look Greg in the eyes. "I'm the reason we're here right now." She paused. Knowing that that had come off different than what she had meant, she continued. "I mean, if I had gotten there faster...if I wouldn't have waited for a police escort...if I were there, at your apartment, talking to you about…" she cursed herself for bringing up the incident between Greg and Nick. "I could've prevented this!" She finally let her tears fall, though she hated every single tear that landed on her faded jeans. Morgan had promised to stay strong, for Greg, and now she found herself crying in front of him.
Greg almost cried, too. He wanted to hug her so badly. To rest his chin on her head as he comforted her. "Morgan," he whispered. Then, he composed himself. "Morgan," he finally caught her attention. "It's not your fault, alright? I could've put up more of a fight than what I did, and I could've easily prevented it, too. Don't blame yourself. If I wouldn't have provoked Nick into saying what he did, I wouldn't have gone home. If I wouldn't have gone home, I wouldn't have gotten kidnapped. It's my fault no matter how you look at it."
"But I wanted to comfort you!" Morgan burst. "I wanted to go over to your apartment and tell you that it was all going to be alright and that Nick was sorry and that I was sorry you got in an argument and…" she gulped. "I asked Sara if she thought I should've gone over, and she said it would've been better for you to just have some time to yourself. So, I respected that. I waited a whole hour to finish my last case before I started packing up my stuff so I could sneak out and come see you. I was just in the break room with Sara, telling her where I was heading, when you called. Everyone's eyes were on me when I picked up the phone, and so on and so forth." Tears streaked her cheeks as she spoke. "If I would've left even ten minutes sooner, I could've saved you, Greg!"
Greg sat there, dumbfounded. She was going to sneak out, risk her job, just to come and see if he was alright?
"I'm so sorry," she cried again, but her crying stopped suddenly when they heard the locks unlocking again.
Greg glanced between her and the door this time, while her gaze stayed pointed to the ground. The door was quickly thrust open, and a figure stepped into the room. It wasn't Adam, so they had to assume it was Sam. Thankfully, the figure seemed drunk, but if he was angry, that wasn't something to be thankful for.
"Adam!" The man yelled. Adam hurried through the door quickly after the man.
"Yes, Sam?" He timidly asked.
"Man the camera," Sam knelt down in front of Morgan, putting a finger under her chin. When she refused to look at him, he motioned for Adam to bring the camera closer. Then, once Sam deemed Adam close enough, he brought his hand back, and smacked Morgan across the cheek. Hard.
"Leave her alone!" Greg yelled as Morgan's neck turned sharply. She gasped in pain, adrenaline keeping her from feeling the pain yet. A red handprint began to show across her cheek, and Sam motioned again for Adam to bring the camera closer.
"I am only going to say this once," Sam said, standing up from Morgan. He turned so he could look at them both. "I am going to tell you what I am going to do to the other one, and then, you'll have to watch. For instance," he smirked. "Greg, I am going to burn her." Morgan's head whipped around so fast you could've sworn it was circling around on her shoulders. She refused to look at the camera as Sam left the room. She looked at Greg, tears welling in her eyes.
Greg was in shock. How could he? How could he hurt her? She was so innocent!
The second Sam came back into the room, Greg spoke up.
"No! Burn me instead! Hurt me! Leave her alone!" He pulled against his restraint, trying to swing at Sam to get his attention.
Sam held the branding iron in his hand, the tip a bright orange. The tip was a circle, obviously not meant for the usual branding purposes. Sam smirked at Greg. "No."
Then, Sam quickly grabbed Morgan by the hair and pushed the iron into the middle of her chest, her screams filling the room and echoing down the halls. Greg cried openly as the smell of burnt flesh enveloped the room. He gagged, trying not to puke as Sam pulled the iron away, tossing it to the side of the room. Letting go of Morgan's hair, Sam reached into his tool belt around his hips, bringing out a knife. Normally, Greg would've found this funny. Kitchen utensils in a tool belt. But right now, his heart was racing so fast he felt like he was about to start hyperventilating like Morgan had.
"Morgan!" Greg said, calling out to her. Her head was hung low, and her breathing was slow and heavy. Her face looked like it was hard just for her to breathe.
When she didn't respond, Sam laughed. "Looks like this next punishment's for you, Greggo."
