Lucas's voice was hoarse. He had been talking to Morgan for two weeks. He made sure to keep up his diversions and real searching on the computer and went to the cafeteria at meal times and to his room at night. The doctors were perplexed at his devotion to this girl he hardly knew. He kept at it like he was family. Nobody could talk him out of his vigil.
She still hadn't woken up. *Maybe it's futile like the doctors said.* But Lucas had never lost a battle before and he didn't intend to now.
He had talked to her at first as a friend, pleading with her to return for him. But his attempts to call her back to herself went unanswered. She had lain unresponsive to his pleas, like a doll.
When it had become apparent this wasn't going to work, Lucas turned to his computer. He would talk to her as he searched for records to explain what had happened to her.
The confirmation that her records were being forwarded to the UEO was helpful. He had found it the morning that he had first been allowed to see her. It was sent to a blind box address somewhere in the Justice Department. Lucas was still trying to track it down, but without her real name it was proving difficult. Further searches for any files on Morgan Smith or 'Elise' were unproductive. He needed her last name.
"Morgan, what happened to get you sent here?" Lucas asked. He question went unanswered, just like all of his other questions. Tapping away at the keys, he added, "What is your real last name? Any little hint would be a breakthrough right now." fatigue and frustration in his voice.
"Hunter."
The response made him jump. With a quick look over to Morgan's bed, he could see she was still unconscious. Glancing over at the door, Lucas saw the doctor that had granted him access to her in the first place.
"Her real name is Elise Hunter."
"Why is her name Morgan Smith on her charts? Why are you telling me this?" Lucas demanded.
Walking into the room, the doctor began checking on her vitals. "I don't know why I telling you this, but it might help you get her back. I know you're searching for information on her past." The doctor paused and looked over his shoulder, "I won't tell them," he answered with a nod to indicate the other staff. "You might be her only hope. When she was admitted, we thought it was a simple suicide attempt after the incident she was involved in. When we got her to talk to us, she said her name was Morgan Smith. She wouldn't admit to being Elise Hunter. She won't answer to that name at all. We were forced to use 'Morgan'."
Making some notes in her chart, the doctor continued, "I was skeptical at first. I thought you wouldn't be able to help her. When you asked me to discontinue drugs the first day, I really thought you were wrong. However, her vital signs have picked up and she will respond to stimuli now. We wouldn't have moved her back to her room if she hadn't." To prove his point, the doctor pinched Morgan's foot. She flinched and moved away from him. Lucas almost protested but any response was a good one. The first day she had been so deep that even that had not gotten a response.
"It's incredible. The stimulants we were pumping into her should have had her running around the hospital, but they only seemed to push her deeper. You've been here every day. I wouldn't have expected that of a nine year old. Why are you so interested in helping her? You only met her a month ago."
"I can't explain it. Something about her seems so familiar. It's like I have to help her. She puts up a tough front but inside I think she's so alone it scares her to death." She really reminded Lucas of himself, but he wasn't going to tell the doctor that.
"Well, just don't forget to grab something to eat tonight. It's almost 10," the doctor ordered as he left. It was almost time for lights out.
As the doctor exited the room, Lucas popped back onto the 'net. He didn't have much time, but he was quickly rewarded. Elise Hunter he typed into his search engine. Immediately he found the information that he had expected to find the first day he had searched for Morgan Smith.
It was all there; date of birth, foster family information and notes from the social workers, an admission file for the hospital and a police report. Intrigued, Lucas pulled up the police report.
What he read shocked him:
[16 year old subject was unconscious when we arrived in response to a 911 call. (See attached file for copy of call.) After securing the scene, my partner and I came to the initial determination that the male victim had been clubbed to death (pending coroner's report). Evidence points to a baseball bat used by the 16 year old subject. Further interview with other foster child (minor- 9) Anne Howard reveal that the male victim had entered her room at approximately 2 am. He made threats and hit her on the face. When she screamed for help the second foster child (minor Elise Hunter-16) came to her aid, at which time the victim broke Miss Hunter's arm. At this time Miss Howard is unsure of what happened next but it seems that Miss Hunter armed her self with the bat and in self defense attacked the victim. Previous reports are on file with this office supporting his history as physically aggressive. Social services was contacted and claim no knowledge of his history. Miss Howard was released into their custody. Miss Hunter was sent to University Hospital due to self inflicted injuries. The cuts on her arm are apparently an attempt to commit suicide. Miss Howard indicated Miss Hunter was in a daze and clubbed the victim to death, after which she placed the 911 call and then got a knife from the kitchen and slit her wrists. The evidence has been bagged and filed with the evidence department. A copy of this report has been filed with the district attorney's office if they wish to proceed with criminal charges against Miss Hunter.]
Lucas looked up from reading the report with tears in his eyes.
His Morgan had killed someone? Admittedly in self defense, but Lucas couldn't imagine the pain it had taken for Morgan to strike back. He knew only to well how much pain a person could take without striking out. Mainly, though, his response was to manipulate the situation into his favor.
He wouldn't be young and under his father's control forever. Even now he had plans forming that would take him out of his father's sphere of influence before he was eighteen. But murder?
Lucas knew he didn't have it in him no matter how pressed he was. It wasn't an option. And then to attempt suicide over it? There had to be more to this than the report told.
He had found a clue that might help him though. One of her caseworkers had indicated that she loved the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially The Hobbit. Whenever she was placed with another family, it was one of the few possessions she took with her.
Checking his online files, Lucas saw that the book was on his account. Tomorrow he would start reading it to her. Maybe it would reach whatever place she had retreated to. Switching off his computer, Lucas got up and left her room. The short distance to his room seemed much further but the staff would check to make sure that he was in his own room. At least he had some answers. No all, but enough to be excited about his chances tomorrow.
There was no pain where she drifted, no sights, no smells, no memories. Just extremely pleasurable feeling of floating, now in free air. She was surrounded by a comfortable womb like warmth.
After a long time, there was a faraway sound, a voice inside her head. Mainly she ignored it as she floated in the beauty and peace of that place. She could have happily existed there forever.
Gradually, she became aware that the faraway sound wasn't in her head, and it wasn't so far away, either.
No, it was a voice droning on and on close by her ear.
Though it intruded upon her consciousness, it didn't push her to remember like the other voices had.
Eventually, the drone resolved itself into words, and the words slowly became comprehensible.
He (yes, the voice was male, she decided) was reading something- something familiar- Tolkien?
Yes that was it, and he must have been at it for quite a while, because he was reading from the last part of the Hobbit.
Roads go ever ever on,
over rock and under tree,
by caves where never sun has shone,
by streams that never find the sea;
over snow by winter sown,
and through the merry flowers of June,
over grass and over stone,
and under mountains in the moon.
Roads go ever ever on
under cloud and under star,
yet feet that wandering have gone
turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
and horror in the halls of stone
look at last on meadows green
and trees and hills they long have known.
The voice paused for a moment. She heard swallowing.
*Don't stop,* she whispered in the place where she was. Who was that with the hoarse voice? She forced her eyes open a slit, just enough to focus on Lucas.
He was sitting in a chair beside her bed. He was just setting down a glass of water. He looked ghostly pale and drawn, the lines of fatigue etched beside red-rimmed eyes.
She wondered how long he had been sitting there, and why, and wanted to reach out to him. She was so weak all she could move was her head. The movement caught his attention.
She found herself being assessed by a pair of penetrating blue eyes. "Morgan?! ," he finally said shocked. "I thought I had lost you."
Lost her? How? Unable to stay awake, her eyes closed. She looked just as she had for the past weeks.
With a sigh, Lucas closed the file. Had he just imagined that Morgan had woken up or was it real? It had been a month and once before he had thought she had woken up. Now unsure and exhausted, Lucas saw that it was 10:30pm and it was past time or him to return to his room.
The shouts sounded like murmurs to her numbed ears, murmurs far away and having nothing to do with her.
She saw the rescue personnel hover amidst this horror scene.
"I've never seen anything like this before in my life."
"Pray that you never do again," a steady voice answered.
Something had gone terribly wrong.
She awoke suddenly alone. Trapped. No sound except her own harsh breathing to reassure her straining ears.
"Help me!" she cried out reflexively.
"Morgan?" came the muffled sleepy reply from across the hall.
"Lucas!" she called.
A muffled grunt and a strange shuffling sound broke the silence. Morgan remembered the sound as Lucas's leg as it was dragged along in his hurry to get to her.
"You're really awake!" he said.
She nodded, sniffling, as his palm flattened to push the damp hair off her forehead.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what happened. I woke up alone and panicked." she said.
"No wonder you're having nightmares. The session notes said the doctors were trying to get you to remember the incident. I don't understand. Why if you remember it could it have this effect on you?"
"They were trying to get me to remember something else," was all she would say. Looking away from him, unable to meet his eyes. "I'm afraid to be alone. I'm afraid that ... as soon as I close my eyes, it'll come back. Please don't ask me about it."
Lucas stiffened at the anguish in her voice. She was saying something else, begging him, not with words, but with her heart.
"I'll stay all night if you want me to," he vowed.
Morgan felt him looking down at her and tilted her head back so that she could see his face.
Her Lucas, with that wise, sad smile.
"I'm forgiven, then?" She asked.
"Yes, but don't do that to me again. This had been the worst month of my life."
"A month!?" She was shocked at the length of time that had passed. "And you stayed the whole time?"
"Yes, I did. You're my friend Morgan I wouldn't leave you."
"You saved my life." *Everyone else would have given up* she thought. *You've given me something else. A family not of blood but of the soul.* A connection that had pulled her from the depths of herself.
" It was almost like you went so deeply into your own mind that nothing touched you," he gently probed for answers.
"It touched me, all right," she assured him grimly.
"I remember some of it. I remember.. him."
"What is the last thing you remember?"
A leering face with glittering eyes and a predatory smile, etched on the inside of her eyelids, made her shudder. Unable to continue with that memory, she instead focused on the most recent horror. The remembered snap of breaking bones made clutch her arm that was in the cast. Unable to face it right now, she pleaded, "Tomorrow, Lucas. Okay? Just sit with me for now."
With a sigh, he stopped pressing. Tomorrow she had promised. Oh well, he had waited this long. One more night wouldn't hurt him. He settled himself into the chair by her bed and still holding on to her hand, he fell asleep.
Lucas felt stiff and uncomfortable. *Why did I fall asleep in a chair?* Lucas wondered. He opened his eyes and started to stretch out the stiffness. He'd have to get back to his room before the nurses saw him. He froze in mid stretch when he saw that Morgan was watching him. *She's awake! I wasn't dreaming* His arms and mouth dropped at the same time.
A crooked grin suddenly spread on his face as he asked, "Been awake long?" making a joke to break the ice.
Morgan returned his smile. "No, not long. I've been watching you sleep. Something I guess you've had a lot of practice with recently." The smile left her face as a more serious expression took it's place. "I've been thinking about what I should tell you. We obviously missed our lunch date, huh?"
"Yeah well, better late than never," joked Lucas. "Morgan, I have to confess that I've already found out about the incident and that your real name is Elise Hunter." He had an accepting look on his face. "Tell me about Anne?" He gently prompted.
Morgan was shocked. Of course, he was smart, but for him to find out her past, he would have had to have hacked into several databases. Given his curiosity and the time that she had been asleep, it was possible. She had hoped to break it to him herself.
Morgan sighed and looked away. "She was the new kid in the house. She was too young to understand the rules. I tried my best to look out for her, but I failed." Morgan's voice cracked at the end. "I never want to fail another child. Except for the last home, the foster families I stayed with were good people. "
"Morgan, look at me." Lucas wanted her to believe what he was going to say next. "Whatever you did, you did in self defense. No one has ever shown me that kids come first. Nobody believes me... us. If we try to tell them something's wrong, they ignore us or think we're lying. I'm glad you protected yourself and Anne. No one has protected me from my father."
"Lucas, does your dad hit you?" He seemed to think about it for a minute and then reluctantly confirmed her suspicions.
"Yeah, but I usually stay out of his way and act like a helpless child. He gets so busy with his company, that I can go days or weeks without seeing him. It's only when I slip and he catches me at something, that he hits me. This last time, though, I pushed on purpose to see how far he'd go."
"How can you live like that?"
"It's the only life I've known." His calm acceptance threw Morgan for a loop. She had never met anyone quite like him before.
"You remind me of Anne, but you're fighting back. You don't see anything wrong with what I did?"
"You did the best you could." Lucas championed. His look of faith, made her realize that he really didn't understand what had happened back at the foster home or its implications.
"Are you satisfied with the answers you found?" Morgan wanted to know. *He thinks he found all the facts. I hope he's satisfied with that. I won't lie to him, but he might not be prepared for the truth.*
"The only thing I don't understand is why you tried to kill yourself after you defended yourself and Anne from that monster." Lucas was clearly struggling with the issue.
"Lucas after I heard Anne scream, I was running on adrenaline. I had to help her. When I saw Blake raise his hand to hit her again, I grabbed his arm. When he shoved me away, my arm hit the door jam and broke."
Taking a breath, Morgan continued on, "I don't know, I could say it was the pain. To be honest, I would have to say that I had been pushed too far. Too many time, I saw him hit the little ones. Usually, they didn't make waves and they were in and out in a couple of weeks. A month at most. I had been there for five months. I had seen the pattern too many times."
"One time he went too far and I thought he had killed one of them. I called the cops anonymously. Nothing really changed. They came and took the kid to the hospital but no official reports were filed with social services. Anne was placed after he left. I couldn't get myself out and not her." Tears swelled in her eyes. Morgan couldn't continue to look at Lucas. He reminded her of Anne too much. The next part would decide if he was going to turn away from her too.
"Anne was so sweet. She was like an angel. He hurt her. I was so mad. All I remember, after I heard my arm snap, was that this had to stop. I got the baseball bat out of the closet. I hit him once across the back. He turned on me and I just kept hitting him until he couldn't hurt us anymore." As she had gone on, her voice had gone flat. It was like she was turning off the emotions surrounding that night.
"Why did you stop? Why did you hurt yourself?" Lucas still didn't understand.
"Anne was crying. It got my attention like nothing else would. That's why I stopped hitting Blake. By then it was too late. He was already dead. I looked over at Anne to make sure she was okay. She had this horrified look on her face. I tried to reach out to her but my hands were covered in blood. She started to scream. In her eyes, I was worse than Blake." The tears Morgan had been fighting fell down her cheeks. She made no move to brush them away.
Reaching over, Lucas gently brushed them off her cheeks. "It's okay. You did what had to be done. You can tell me what happened next."
"Lucas you remember me telling you I was crazy?" At his nod, she continued, "Elise and I were together through thick and thin, going from foster home to foster home. I was her voice of reason. I kept her out of trouble through the years. I stayed in the background. I never took control before. Something snapped in her when I took matters into my own hands, so to speak, and hit Blake. It wasn't in her personality to fight back. She regained control when I couldn't face Anne. What I had done was so far from Elise's ability to cope that she just couldn't face life anymore. She made a choice not to face that pain. She felt she couldn't trust me.. herself anymore. We didn't have any family. No friends. We had barely made a few acquaintances. We were so alone. It was almost better to die than be so alone. We had had each other before that, but she turned away from me."
Lucas reached out and grabbed her hands. "Morgan you're not alone anymore. I'm here. I'll stay with you until they discharge us. Even then we can stay in contact. I've been making plans."
"Lucas you have to hear the rest." Morgan protested. "According to the law what I did was murder, not self defense."
"No! You had no choice."
"Yes, I did. When I reported Blake to the cops the first time, I could have requested social services place me somewhere else. By not doing that, it was premeditated. They had a copy of my 911 call. And ever since the Legal Reform Act of 2001, anyone over the age of thirteen proven to have committed murder is sentenced to life in prison." It had been a radical act, but necessary at the time because of the rising murder rate. The worst offenders were usually the gang bangers that thought if they were under eighteen they had nothing to fear from the law.
"But that doesn't explain why you said your name was Morgan here at the hospital."
"Anne's horror devastated me and Elise's decision pushed me even further back inside her. I couldn't stop her. When the doctors tried to revive us, Elise refused to surface. I had no choice but to step out and take over. They started asking me questions. They asked so many, I lost track of what they were asking. Before I knew it, I had told them my name was Morgan. It scared me. I had never even told Elise. She thought I was just a voice. You know? Like a gut feeling, telling you what to do in a difficult situation. She was wrong. I had a full fledged personality. That's when I refused to answer any more of their questions. I heard them tell the cops on the other side of the curtain that I had amnesia and a possible psychotic break. The cops asked if I was crazy. The doctors said they would have to run tests."
"If they could prove I'm crazy, I think they would put me away. The only thing worse than being locked up in jail would be locked up in an asylum. I had to stay in control. I couldn't tell them the truth. Elise and I had worked well together in the past. We weren't dysfunctional like everybody thinks of other schizophrenics. Even without Elise, I can go on."
"When did you first remember being separate from Elise?" Lucas asked curious.
"We were eight years old and a UEO official was putting us into a car. It took us to the first foster home."
"What a minute. Who was this UEO official?" Lucas was practically bouncing in excitement. "I've been tracking a UEO connection since the morning you slipped into the coma."
"I don't remember. There was some sort of trial. I was told to talk to a judge. I don't remember what we talked about. It must have had something to do with my being an orphan and foster placement."
"Morgan, the UEO wouldn't have anything to do with a hearing about placing an orphan. Believe me, I've checked out the family law statutes."
"What could it have been about then?"
"I don't know, but I'll keep checking on it. Did you know that your session notes were forwarded to the Department of Justice?"
"They must be trying to make a case against me. I cannot stay then." Morgan started to get out of bed. She was definitely not going to stick around. Flight seemed like the only option right now.
"Morgan you can't leave me here by myself." Lucas implored.
She thought about it for a moment and gave in. "You're almost ready to be sent home anyway. As soon as you're discharged, I'm getting out of here. I don't know what I'm going to do, but I won't stay here and be railroaded."
Lucas suddenly went very still. "Morgan, wait. I have a better idea." Slowly, Lucas started to alter parts of his plan that he had first formed for himself. He didn't want to lose Morgan now that he had found her. There had to be a way to include her. "Do you have any special skills Morgan?"
"Well, I like to tinker with stuff." Morgan admitted.
"What do you mean by 'tinker'?"
"I was really interested in any science projects for Elise that involved taking mechanical things apart."
"How far are along are you in school?" Lucas was distracted by his planning. Morgan could almost see the wheels turning as he plotted their lives.
"I was taking Advance Placement classes and was due to graduate before this happened." She said with a nod to her arm. "Why?"
"Okay, I can work with this." Lucas turned to the computer he had left in Morgan's room and started typing in commands. "Have you been accepted by any colleges?"
"Well, a couple of them sent acceptance letters, but I couldn't afford to go even if they would accept me after this."
"What about scholarships?"
"I was going to apply but it's past the deadlines now."
"Do you have any money of your own?"
"Who do you think I am? No, of course, I don't have any money."
Lucas sighed this might be a bit tougher than he had thought. "If I could get you in, which university do you want to go to?"
Morgan was thinking Lucas had a screw loose. Hadn't he been listening to her at all? *Oh, this is too weird to imagine.* "How about M.I.T.?" Morgan joked.
"Okay, it'll work. There's a scholarship program that I could get you into without a lot of problem." Lucas replied matter-of-factly. He was in the database for new students in a couple of minutes.
"Wait! What are you doing?" Morgan wanted to know.
"I'm getting you out of here and into some place where you'll stay out of trouble for about four years." He continued typing. "Do you have anything against the military?"
"Military?" *What is this kid doing to my life?* "I guess not." In a strange way the disciplined life of the military seemed intriguing.
"I'm arranging for you to go on a full UEO scholarship to M.I.T. Everything; room, board, classes, books will be paid for if your major is engineering. So long as you maintain a 3.8 g.p.a. and agree to sign up for reserve duty while you're there and then follow up with a four year tour of duty with the UEO, it'll work."
He seemed to think it was all going to be so easy. Morgan hated to burst his bubble. "Einstein, do you really think with my history, they'll have me?"
"Damn it. Okay, let me think for a minute."
He pondered the problem for a bit then asked, "The doctors used Smith to fill in your records. Is that your last name?"
"I've never given it much thought." Morgan answered.
"Well, I can't put you in as Elise Hunter or Morgan Smith. They'd be on the watch for either of those names." A minute or two passed. "What about Elise Morgan. It's just different enough that they wouldn't think it's the same person. You'd be hiding in plain sight. In the military they usually use a last name and hardly ever use a first name. You'd still be Morgan to everybody. Would that be okay?"
Morgan thought about it for a while. "What about my past? I'll have to have records in that name."
"No problem. I've created whole files on fictional people and no one has seen through them yet."
"What do you mean?" Morgan wondered.
"As a kid, nobody would do business with me on the 'net. I've created an adult persona to get me into the stock market." At her shocked look, he continued, "My dear old dad patented a program I wrote when I was seven. My father said he wanted to protect me from myself. Most of the money goes into a trust I can't touch until I'm twenty one. It's managed by my father."
Lucas let her in on one of his secrets. "I managed to divert a couple of cents from each dollar into a special account that I do have access to. I decided to invest some of it in stocks. I must be doing something right, no matter what my dad says. Last I checked, I ... well the persona I created, is worth about 4.6 million dollars. The trust my father's controlling is only half that." He grinned wickedly at that moment.
I knew that he enjoyed the challenge of outwitting his father for some of his own money. Even better yet, then proving to himself that he was good enough to do a better job at it than his father.
"I'd give you the money to go to school, but it would show up on the records and there would be even more questions than I can come up with answers for. One of my teachers always said keep it simple or you'll get tripped up in the lies. I usually go one better and just don't talk about it. Silence might be golden but it also means everyone thinks you're harmless. Since I look like a kid but sound like an adult, I don't talk to a lot of people. Most people, when they find out I'm a genius, assume I'm nothing but a brain hooked up to a computer. They never question what's behind my work. They never see me. But you did, Morgan, and for that I'm going to tell you about my plans."
"The reason I asked if you minded being in the military was not just about the scholarship. There's this sub that people are talking about. It's on the drawing boards right now. It's going to be the most modern one of its kind. There's going to be military and science combined. It will enforce the UEO laws about ocean development. That's why the military's going to be included. It's going to be the flagship of the UEO. It will also be a research vessel. They hardly know anything about the ocean and it covers three fourths of the earth. I know the military slot wouldn't be an option for me because I'm so young, but I can get into the science department. I have a couple of ideas that might get enough attention that I would be asked to join regardless of my age. Also, things are not so hot at home. If I can just get my dad fed up enough at me, he'll 'exile' me to the last place on earth I would want to be."
"Daddy, Daddy don't send me to the awful sub." Lucas sounded like a helpless child. Was this the person everyone else saw when they looked at him? He deviousness astonished even me. If he had been in a nurturing home, what would he have accomplished? Was it the adversity that had energized him into doing the things he had done and planned to do? If I closed my eyes, he sounded like an adult. When I opened them, I had to admit that the voice he had slipped into was more in line with how he looked. He was a chameleon. His survival depended on blending in and not attracting attention. If that meant acting his age, he'd do it.
"I'm sure I can get you assigned to the engineering department. By the time you're due to graduate, I'll be ready to put my part of the plan into effect."
"Lucas you'd only be fourteen. They'd never put you on a sub in the first place and secondly whoever is in charge of it wouldn't accept you there."
"They'll have no choice. By the time I'm ready to get sent there, I'll have maneuvered everyone into accepting that this is the only solution."
"Okay, say I go along with this and it works. What are we going to do after we're free of our backgrounds?"
"It will be four more years there for both of us. The tour of duty you'd be on would be that long. I'd turn eighteen and then with my money we could go someplace quiet. I could finance the home of your dreams.
Morgan thought wistfully of her dream home. *I want to have a big home and take care of other kids out there that don't have anywhere else to go.* It was such a simple dream, but meant so much to Morgan.
"I just want a place that is a sanctuary. I want to be able to talk to people without censoring my thoughts. I hate being seen as the child genius. Sometimes I wish I could skip ahead and be eighteen overnight. Once I'm older I won't be a prodigy anymore. The pressure will go away. The world always makes a big fuss over the youngest athlete, musician, whatever. As soon as someone else comes along, younger and smarter, I'll won't be under everyone's microscope."
Morgan considered the implications of what he was proposing. For the first time in a very long time, she began to feel hope. Hope for the future. Hope for a dream and a goal worth working toward. She stared at Lucas as the hope began to take hold of her.
"Okay. Let's do it!"