For those of you following/reading my other Criminal Minds story (Popular), I haven't given up on it! Don't worry, I'm just facing writers block with that finale so I thought I'd get my mind off it and start a story that I've had in my mind for a while now.
Speaking of my other story, you're going to notice that a lot of my stories take place in Texas. I'm very hesitant about writing about other states because I don't want to get the geographic areas wrong so I normally make my stories take place in areas that I have either visited recently or know people who live there so that way I can get my facts right. If you would like to send me info about places I can center my stories in, that would be awesome and very helpful! I appreciate it!
I have always LOVED the Brothers Grimm and writing a Criminal Minds fic about them is awesome! Little Red Riding Hood (a.k.a Little Red Cap) to me has always been a very dark story and I tried to put my own twist to it to make it darker. Now I won't keep your reading my mindless babbling! Enjoy!
"Every fairy tale had a bloody lining. Every one had teeth and claws."
Alice Hoffman
The woods were silent, only crickets and the occasional night stalker disturbing the quiet. The forest had settled down for the night and nothing was going to disturb it. That is until the woman came crashing through it. Her hands were still bound in front of her with duct tape and her blond hair was caked with mud and twigs. She was running as fast as she could to get away from whatever was chasing her.
The quiet was interrupted as she continued to crash through the trees letting out a painful cry in between sobs whenever she stepped on a rock or a sharp stick. However, she could still hear them behind her, running as fast as they could to get their prize. Their whooping and hollering forced her to continue running as it faded into the distance. Finally it stopped and so did she.
Her mouth felt dry as she gasped for air behind a large tree, sliding down the trunk until she hit the ground. Whimpering slightly, she glanced around the trunk into the darkness. Nothing stirred. Even the crickets had stopped chirping. Sighing in relief, she turned back and screamed loudly as three sets of arms grabbed her, laughing cruelly as they lifted her up.
"Thought you'd get away from us girl?" The largest one said as he handed her to the two smaller ones, their masks covering their face.
"Please!" She cried softly. "Please let me go. I won't tell anybody."
"Don't think you can fool us like that." The shorter one whispered in her ear. And with that, Melody Darner was dragged away into the night.
"I still couldn't sleep last night!" Prentiss laughed as she and JJ walked into the BAU Office. "I like a good horror movie as much as the next one, but The Ring really kept me up."
"Prentiss you serious?" Morgan walked into the conversation as the two women walked past he and Reid getting coffee. "Your afraid of a little girl coming out of the television? Need me to call a therapist?"
"Actually a fear of that particular movie is not uncommon." Reid piped in. "It falls under the category Psychological Horror film, which normally aim to cause discomfort by exposing common vulnerabilities and fears that most people can relate to whereas splatter horror films use a technique that hardly anybody relates to. So logically speaking, a fear of this type of genera would be acceptable as it plays on our fear of things that..."
"Thank you Dr. Reid." Prentiss interrupted, smiling at the young agent. "Either way, it was a scary movie. That's all." JJ laughed and Morgan chuckled as Reid opened his mouth to speak again.
"BAU team, conference room now." Hotch's voice rang out through the office, cutting the conversation short as he continued walking down the ramp to the room.
"Why watch horror films Prentiss?" JJ asked quietly. "We live through our own." and with that said, the team filed into the room, which already held Hotch, Garcia and Rossi and took their respected seats around the table.
"Today my ducklings, you are requested in San Marcos, Texas." Garcia started the presentation and a females picture flashed on the screen. "This is Ashley Sans, a 19 year old college student who attended school there. About a month ago, she was reported missing and turned up the next day. Her body was found in the middle of a park on the campus dressed like this." She clicked the remote again and another image flashed next to Ashley's. It showed the blond teen, but dressed in different clothes. A long red cloak lay sprawled beneath her body and her hair looked curled under the hood. Her makeup had been increased and lips painted red, a contrast to her pale, dead skin.
"He redressed the body." Prentiss started. "Maybe someone important to the unsub who they feel wronged them?"
"Look how she's posed." Rossi pointed out. "Her hands are folded across her chest and her head pointed straight up. If she were in a coffin, that's how she would be laid out. Maybe a sign of remorse?"
"She's been cleaned to." Morgan pointed out. "That blue dress that she's wearing shows no sign of blood or wounds."
"What was the cause of death?" Reid asked.
"The coroner reported that she had been strangled with some kind of rope." Garcia said. "But that's not all. Enter victim number two."
Another picture flashed upon the screen, this one of another blond girl with braces and laughing at the camera. The picture next to this showed her dead body in a similar location to Ashley's, in the same attire; a long blue dress with a red cloak behind her, hair curled and makeup done.
"This is Melody Darner. She went missing five days ago and staff members discovered her body across the river in the same park where Ashley's was yesterday. Same cause of death, though this time, they found more."
"What do you mean more?" Hotch asked.
"This..." Garcia clicked the remote and looked away so as not to see the image on the screen. Morgan whistled and JJ gasped slightly.
EYES
"Someone...carved that into her chest?" Prentiss asked quietly. No one answered, or had to. The evidence was clear on the screen.
"How did the blood not seep through the fabric in the dress?" JJ questioned aloud.
"It was probably done before death." Hotch answered. "Then cleaned up after she was strangled so that only the scars remained."
"Eyes..." Reid muttered aloud, his brain whirring. "What big eyes you have."
"What?" Morgan glanced at the young genius.
"What big eyes you have." Reid repeated. "A famous paraphrase from the story Little Red Cap by the Brothers Grimm, more widely known as Little Red Riding Hood. It makes sense, the bodies are posed as they would be in a forest and the look matches famous artists descriptions of what she looks like."
"How could a fairy tale prompt someone to murder?" Prentiss asked, shaking her head.
"The original tale is actually much darker than a children's fairy tale." Reid said. "We should probably study the original version to get a good look on what this unsub is thinking."
"He kept Melody for four days and tortured her before killing her. He only kept Ashley for a day." Morgan said. "Why the increase in time?"
"Maybe Ashley fought back? Or Melody gave him something she didn't? Either way, he's on the hunt for a new victim and we need to get there now." Hotch said. "Get your bags, wheels up in thirty."
Good so far? I'm trying hard to improve my writing style to make it more dramatic and less full of mistakes. REVIEWS ARE APPRECIATED SO I KNOW WHETHER TO CONTINUE OR NOT!