Question and Answer

NIA Clinical Laboratory

11:31H

Shania Cray began stirring and her fingers twitched, as she was coming to from a night of coma. Very slowly, she opened her eyes and was met with white hospital lights enhanced by the bright sunlight, momentarily blinding her.

Once her eyes adjusted, she realized she was in a hospital room. Or so she thought. NIA Clinical Laboratory was designed that way.

In the silence of the room, the moments from when she was held captive began to flow unbidden in her mind.

<=><=><=><=><=>

Flashback two nights ago.

In a very dark room, Shania was bound with her arms tied above her head. Her body swayed back and forth. Her feet were a few inches from the floor.

Morris Claude was pulling her hair back, "Tell me why were you at the Club Serene at that time? Was it arranged by your father?"

Shania remained tight-lipped while staring blankly at the man. She couldn't exactly sell her father to this man, but she was really in the dark about his father's business.

"It must be him. How much does he know about our business?!"

Claude grabbed Shania's jaw as irritation and anger consumed him.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Shania tried to spat those words while gritting her teeth.

"Your father's been snooping around my business. Do you honestly expect me to trust you, Shania?" He sneered further then he gripped her jaw with his other hand.

"You came out of nowhere and had the fucking guts to expose my business. And yet, you're telling me you have nothing to do with your father's plans?" His tight hold almost dislocated her jaw and snapped her head off.

Someone rapped at the door and a man suddenly entered the dark room.

"Boss, we recovered a hard drive on her bag. It has copies of our transactions." The man spoke unemotionally. He handed the device to Claude who let go of Shania.

At this, Claude's temper reached beyond boiling point. Holding the device, he used it to fiercely slap Shania's face that a gash of wound opened on her left cheek and blood trickled on her lips.

"You don't know?! Then tell me why do you have these data files? Do both of you think you can put a stop on this business?"

Coughing up, she stubbornly said, "Whether or not he can, you should know by yourself. Didn't he get his hands on your records without you knowing? Criminals like you, even if alive, your soul is already burning in hell!"

By this point, Shania had really believed that she was made a bait in a game of hide-and-seek by her father. She was used by her father to catch his prey without being seen.

The result?

He did obtain solid evidences to build criminal cases against these people. However, it was on account of her own life.

She could only hope that if, and only if, she survived, she'd make sure to make her father pay for what he did.

Claude continued to beat the sh~t out of her, venting out his anger to make her talk about the old man's moves.

"I don't know how you did it, but your device contains a record of my dealings. Who, aside from your father, can get his hands on it? Furthermore, I don't believe your presence at the Club Serene is a coincidence." His voice was very low, masking his fury.

Ignoring the pain she was feeling, she remained impassive as she answered him back.

"I really don't know what you're talking about. I don't even know you. And even if I knew, I will not tell you anything. Over my dead body!"

Her voice determined, her eyes glared fiercely, not showing any signs of her fear.

Her heart hurts from the subtle revelation that his father used her. He'd put her in danger just to get what he wanted. She couldn't understand. Why would he do that? Her own father, the very person she always looked up to, threw her in snake's den. Nonetheless, she still wanted to protect her parents, if only for her mother.

"Ha ha ha!"

He released her abruptly, then laughed without humor and stepped back a few steps. He turned around, his back on her and put his hands on his hips. "Such a general's daughter you are! I would have admired your tenacity should you have been on my side."

He abruptly turned to face her again. His voice dropped in a cold, menacing tone.

"Unfortunately, you so asked for this."

He slapped Shania so hard that her whole body fiercely rotated 360° from being hanged up like a pig. Then the endless beatings started again.

She endured all of it, not expecting to come out of that hellhole alive. Well, hardly alive. Whoever rescued her probably saw how she was barely hanging on when they got her out of there.

<=><=><=><=><=>

The memories of being held captive and tortured caused distress in her heart, that the monitor beside her started beeping in alarm. So much so that her heart started to race at an alarming rate.

Her mother stirred to the sound of the machine. Opening her eyes, she saw that her daughter had woken up, with silent tears endlessly flowing from her eyes.

Her eyes widened with worry at the site, she crouched at the side of the bed holding her daughter's hand. "Oh, sweetheart! What's wrong? Do you feel pain somewhere?"

"M-mom.." She softly called out. Her voice sounded hoarse from a dry throat. "Water, please." She weakly answered, tears began to flow anew.

Mrs. Cray immediately poured a glass and handed it to her then helped her sit upright. "Take it easy, honey. Let me call the doctor to check on you."

She bolted out the door as called for the doctor.

When Shania placed the empty glass on the bedside table, her mother came back with an average looking man in his early thirties dressed in a white medical coat. A couple of nurses were in tow.

"Miss Cray, my name's Dr. Grooves of NIA Clinical Laboratory. I am very sorry about what happened to you. How are you feeling?" The doctor strode to her side of the bed as he spoke. "Do you recall what happened to you?"

Shania answered his questions with a curt nod.

"It's good to know that your cognitive hasn't been affected. You suffered quite a lot of injuries and heavy bruising, though mostly are superficial. But there are a few which needed stitches, particularly the one on your head. You got lucky no blood clot affected any major blood vessel, otherwise..." Sighing at the end, he began checking her heartbeat, blood pressure, and pulse rate.