It took some thinking but I finally got another story!
I'm excited about this one and I hope you all enjoy!
The timeline and where everyone is at in their life will reveal itself!
Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Criminal Minds
"She was like a drowning person, flailing, reaching for anything that might save her. Her life was an urgent, desperate struggle to justify her life."
-Jonathan Safran Foer-
"Hey guys, there she is. There on the hill." Emily exclaims, but when she looks back at her team no one is there. Emily shrugs it off. She looks back up the hill and the little girl is gone. "Hey, where did she go?" Emily asked as if she was still speaking to someone. Without looking back to see if they were there she continued up the hill. She hollered for the little girl, "Hey! I'm coming! It's okay!"
Emily ran, but felt as if she was getting nowhere. The hill seemed to get steeper and steeper and then she was right on top of it. In front of her was an open field, with grass that is waist high. She scanned the scenery and there was no one there. It was silent, suddenly she heard a rustle behind her, she looks quickly but there's nothing and realizes that the hill she just climbed is gone.
Abruptly the field disappears and she finds herself standing in a creek, and as she looks at the water rushing by it turns a blood red. Emily looks in the direction of which it's coming and sees the little girl floating. She runs up to her and the little girl's arms are folded across her chest. Emily yells, "We're too late! She's gone!" As if she was still talking to her team, but there was no one there.
Emily touches the young girl's pale skin and blood starts to run up her hand. Emily pulls her hand back but the blood is still there. Quickly it consumes her arm moving across her chest, dripping down the front of her torso. "Somebody help! Guys! Help!" Emily can feel the blood tracing up her neck, as it reaches her mouth it starts suffocating her. She wants to scream but she can't. Emily tries fighting it and just before she feels herself starting to fade…she wakes up.
Breathing rapidly she struggles within the first few seconds to try and find her bearings. Finally realizing she is in the safety of her apartment, she swings her feet to the cool wooden floor and slowly steps toward the bathroom. She brushes back the moistened strands of loose hair and flips on the light. She squints at it's brightness before her eyes adjusted. Finally she looks in the mirror and turns on the water. Splashing the coolness onto her face, as if trying to wash away the blood, she ponders the significance of the dream; vaguely she remembers something of her past but quickly puts it out before it has time to enter. After turning off the water she dabs a towel on her face and exits the bathroom, only to notice her digital clock in the bedroom reads 5:30am. It was pointless to go back to sleep, so Emily took a run to clear her head and then got ready for work.
Emily enters the bull pen and makes a bee line for her desk, as she sees Rossi eye her drowsiness and distraught demeanor. She sits down and quickly opens a case file to look busy, but to her dismay her actions don't get far past a seasoned profiler.
"You look a little frazzled this morning." Rossi said, coming up behind her.
"Not now." Emily said exhaustingly trying to avoid any conversation.
"We all have them; just don't let them get to you before you talk to someone." Rossi said concerned.
"What happened to no inter team profiling?" Emily said finally making eye contact with him.
"And yet you profiled my office before I had time to paint the walls." Rossi said sitting on the edge of her desk.
"Touché" Emily remarked, smiling for the first time that morning.
"There's that pretty smile." Rossi commented at the brightening of her face. He placed his cup of coffee on her desk, "Here have mine. You need it more than I do."
Just then as Emily was about to take a sip, Garcia came flying through the bull pen towards Hotch's office, "That can't be good." Emily said.
"I'd say by the looks of it, it's going to be a bad one." Rossi replied.
Moments after Garcia entered Hotch's office a briefing was held shortly thereafter.
Garcia began. She switched on the screen to reveal a canvas of dead bodies young and old, male and female. "Over the past year 9 bodies have been discovered along or in the Penobscot River in Northern Maine. The last victim Rita Taylor was found hanging from one of the dams, by a rope tied to one of her ankles." Garcia switched the screen to the brutal image and grimaced just talking about it.
"Well the un-sub doesn't think much of women." Rossi stated.
"How was she killed?" Reid asked.
"She was raped, beaten, and her hair was cut. Only did she meet her fate with a single stab wound to the chest."
"The first photos you brought up were of men, women and children. How are they related to this victim?" Emily wondered.
"Well my raven haired beauty that's where it gets interesting." Garcia said changing the images on the screen as she explained. "Among those 9 victims were 4 children, 3 women and 2 men. Unlike the women all the children had a broken neck and were left in a scenic area of the lake, lying on the bank. They were left fully clothed with their arms crossed over their chest, no sign of sexual assault."
"Doesn't that show remorse?" JJ asked.
Reid replied, "It does actually and..."
Garcia cut him off, "Before the genius of Dr. Reid brings up the contradiction let me explain." Garcia brought up a picture of a man, "This is Randy Tate. He was found by a fisherman floating in the river, naked from the waist down with a single gunshot wound to the head. His hands were glued to his face and his um…were removed." Garcia tried to say pushing her glasses up on her nose.
"That's different." Emily remarked.
"The placement of the hands could show shame." Morgan pointed out.
"Three different M.O.'s and three different victim types. It sounds like we have three different un-subs." Rossi said.
"I agree. Besides the river there is no apparent similarity." JJ added.
"That's when I tell you all the common link and you set out on another crime fighting adventure, while I'm stuck in my office…"
"Garcia." Hotch said, trying to get her back on track. The rest of the team shared smiles across the table.
"Right, sir. Our common link is this." Garcia said grimacing again as she brought up the picture.
"What is that?" Morgan said leaning in.
"Ah, that would be the underside of Rita Taylor's tongue with the initials RT engraved in it. Ironically enough RT are the initials of all the victims. So far the initials have only been seen on three of the victims. That is why we weren't called in sooner. The police department is currently working with the families to get permission to exume the other victim's bodies."
"I wonder if that's the initials of our un-sub?" Reid asked.
"That's what we've got to find out, wheels up in thirty. We'll finish briefing on the plane. Thanks Garcia." Hotch said standing up.
"Stay safe." Garcia wished them as they got up and walked out.
Well there is the start, more to come about the case and more to be revealed about Emily's dream. I'd like to know what you think.
