These Intolerable Things

"Secrets are bad. Hiding things is bad. Share you feelings- don't bury them. Never feel guilty. Never do anything that might make you feel guilty. Be confident. Don't doubt yourself-"

"Shut up," Spencer Reid hissed. His reward was the cycle repeated.

"Secrets are bad. Hiding things is bad-"

"No, no, no!" Spencer grabbed the sides of his heads and groaned. Where was the voice coming from? Who was saying all these things to him? Every time he tried to will the voice away it only became louder. Finally he gave up and let it repeat as he tried to ignore it.

Suddenly, the lights turned off and the voices stopped.

"The voices," Spencer mumbled to himself, eyes widening. "Damn it, no…!" That wasn't a good sign and neither was the fact that the same voice seemed just too familiar. He blinked his eyes a few times as the scene began to focus in, and he only then realized that he was at home- more specifically, on his bed. He sighed as he came to. It had just been a dream after all. Feeling relieved, Spencer sighed and moved to get off his bed.

"I've been waiting for you, Spencer."

Spencer immediately stilled himself. Hands shaking and heart racing, he watched as Emily Prentiss smiled viciously at him. In the time it had taken him to blink, she had somehow moved to the bed next to him with her hands running through his hair. "Bet you never wanted to feel this," she murmured. " 'Bet you never wanted me," she added with hostility. Her fingers were suddenly tensed in his short hair as her red-painted nails relentlessly dug into his scalp. Yelping, he tried to free himself but found that he wasn't able to. He tried even moving his hands to try to force hers out of his scalp, but even then he was unable to do it. "Wh…What's going on, Emily?"

"Don't call me that!" she screamed. Prentiss threw Spencer to the floor and glared down at him sadistically. She bent down to the floor and ran her bloody fingernails across his smooth white face. Spencer screamed out in agony as Prentiss ferociously dug her nails in lines all across his skin. Blood fell in ragged streams from all over as she pinned him to the ground and ripped at his skin, tearing his clothes and staining them red.

"STOP!" Spencer cried out. "Please, please!"

"Do you feel this Spencer? Do you feel this?" Prentiss growled. "This is what it felt like before I died-this is how I felt. It hurts, doesn't it? It's not fair, is it?"

"Please…HELP!" Spencer shrieked. "HELP!"

"Emily, let him go," a familiar male voice instructed softly.

"No," Prentiss snarled back. To reiterate her defiance she ripped at Reid's cheeks until his whole face was covered in so much blood that he was practically choking on it.

"Hotch, stop her," Reid begged. "Please…"

Reid watched as Hotch grabbed Prentiss from behind and hoisted her off him. Realizing that he had been freed, the younger profiler rolled over to his side in attempt to control some of the bleeding. He cried out in pain though as a sharp stabbing pain ceased through his side. Seconds later Hotch was on the ground next to him, trying to roll him back on his back. "Hotch…" he whimpered through breathless gasps.

"Stay with me, stay with me," Hotch urged back, reaching for his phone as if to call for help.

Suddenly, Reid screamed out as the pain levels intensified and he just couldn't stay conscious any longer. "I'm sorry," he whispered weakly. Then Reid went numb in Hotch's hold….

"Reid, wake up. Spencer!"

Spencer Reid's eyes blinked open as tears stung at his already reddened skin. Wiping them away, he steadied his breathing and halted his screaming. He stared up at whoever had saved him, mimicking the person's frown as he bent down in front of him. "Spencer, are you with me?" Hotch frowned.

"Hotch?" Spencer asked, rapidly batting his eyelashes. Just then did he realize that he was still crying and that the entire team was standing behind Hotch with matching sad expressions on their faces.

"I'm right here Spencer," Hotch nodded. "Can you let go of your arm?"

"Oh," Reid mumbled. He hadn't realized that he had been holding it. Immediately he let it go and waited for further instruction.

"Are you alright?"

Spencer let out a deep breath. All lying aside, he wasn't okay and everyone knew that. So Spencer smiled weakly and nodded his head. "Yeah, I'm fine."