Before I Fall

Chapter Sixty-nine

⚠️Trigger warning!! Really heavy stuff ahead, read at your own risk!⚠️

When you're feeling lonely and solace is all you seek, know I'm right there with you, never far from reach. So close your eyes my darling and off you go to sleep. Her grandma's lullaby repeated in her head. She'd often sing it whenever Morgan had trouble falling asleep or even when she had a hard time in ballet class. A potbellied kid like her had no business learning an art such as that and the bullying was her recompense, nevertheless, Hillary refused to let her give up. Still, the gradual ease she would normally get after her grandmother sung the lullaby avoided her and the blackness that shrouded her mind was lifting. Beep, beep. There was a steady beep echoing around her, it stirred her spirit and pulled her up from the gutter. Her body shivered when the cold air blessed her naked skin, which meant her clothes were removed. The bitter taste lurking at the back of her dry throat wasn't as bad as the sting in her eyes when she began opening them. Fuck! The bright lighting didn't do her any favours than to only make it worse. Morgan's blurry vision soon became clear the more she blinked, giving her the means to assess what was around her.

A groan escaped her lips, her headache had increased tenfold causing her ears to ring. How long had she been out? Her memory was still intact and she remembered everything from waking up to when she got in the car with that traitor. Beep, beep. There was that sound again, it bothered her along with whatever was currently stuck in her arm. She was standing upright, however it didn't feel like standing, no, her body was restrained. Her wrists, her ankles, her torso and head were manacled to a cold metal slab, pinning her in place. Beep, beep. There wasn't room to move and trepidation took root in her sternum, she'd been captured again. With little space to wiggle, Morgan's eyes darted all around the makeshift laboratory, looking from test tubes to radioactive machines, then to the body strung up across the room just like she was. The familiar blonde hair, the once flawless white skin. It couldn't be.

The gut wrenching cry was unsettling but Morgan didn't care. Her tears of relief and remorse flowed because of the condition of her sibling. Morgan wept unabated as a storm of anger raged within her. Her own self interest totally abandoned.

"Lourdes! No, no, no, no baby... what have they done to you?!"

The intensity of her sorrow grew as she looked at the bruised and malnourished body of her beautiful sister with her head hung low, face masked by her matted golden hair. There was a big, protruding belly in front of her which only meant that her sister was also pregnant. Morgan was going to be an aunt.

"Lourdes!.... Lourdes! Open your eyes, baby... it's Morgan. I'm right here with you."

The faint moan she heard in response from her sister sent her over the moon. She was alive!

"Yes, yes! That's it sweetie... it's me! I'm gonna get us out of here, I promise! Don't go to sleep, just listen to the sound of my voice. Can you do that?"

Hope was reigniting when she saw a slight movement of her head which meant she was aware. Morgan had no idea how she was going to get them both out but she had to find a way for the sake of her sister and her baby. Lourdes' pregnancy was supposed to be a time of celebration and rest as she prepared to give birth yet here she was, skin and bones while cuffed to a table. She had been starved and it was obvious. Where the fuck was Quinn to protect her? Was he behind this? Where was she when she should have been searching for Lourdes? Guilt consumed Morgan when she realized she allowed herself to become so wrapped up in Roman that she neglected to search for her sister. She hated him but she despised herself more. She had failed Lourdes and there was no one else to blame.