"It's only in love and in murder that we still remain sincere." -FRIEDRICH DÜRRENMATT

She ran. She knew she was being chased, and she knew that if she stopped or slowed down, she would be killed. Leaves crunched under her feet. Trees flew by. Her sky blue hair flew in and out of her face. She could hear her heartbeat inside her ears, it felt like it was going to explode from her chest. Still yet, she ran faster. Her pursuer was close behind her with a bat in his hand. She looked back for only a second to look at him. Before she turned her head back around, she tripped, her foot caught under the root of a tree. She hit the ground hard and cried out with her ankle searing in pain. Her pursuer caught up to her and dropped on top of her, leaning in to her face.

"You've got pretty eyes. Green is my favorite color." His breath was rancid. His face was greasy, as was his hair.

She started crying, begging the man for her life. "Please, please, I'll do anything you want, just please don't kill me!"

The man smiled. "You'll still die." He started to unbutton her shorts. She cried harder, trying to get away, but the man was too heavy for her to move. She started to come to terms with the fact that she would be dead in a few minutes.

"FBI, drop the weapon and get off the girl, NOW!" A man's voice came from beside them, and she looked over to see three FBI agents pointing guns at the man on top of her. The man let go of the bat, but he picked up a rock, and before she could move out of the way, he rammed her head with it.

She woke up in a hospital bed. Her head was throbbing. She tried to sit up, but she only moved a little. She felt around her bed for the nurse button, and she pushed it. A few seconds later, a perky redheaded nurse entered the room.

"You're awake! How do you feel?" She said, her voice just a little too high-pitched.

The girl smiled a little. "My head hurts really bad. Is there any medicine I can have?"

"Your doctor said you shouldn't have medicine for at least twenty-four hours. I'm sorry, Melinda." The nurse said. "But, since you're awake so fast, the FBI might still want to speak with you. Are you feeling okay enough for that?"

"The FBI? What do they want with me?"

The nurse sighed. "I'll let them tell you, but first, your doctor has to check up on you now you're awake. I'll send him in." Then, she walked out.

Melinda sighed, herself. She remembered what had happened, and she immediately pushed it out of her mind. She didn't want to think about it. She never wanted to think about it again. She shut her eyes hard, but all she saw was that man's face…

"Melinda? I'm Doctor Spencer Reid with the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?" She opened her eyes to see a very skinny, well-dressed young man with short, messy light brown hair and a messenger bag strapped around his torso. His hands were in his pockets, and he had a warm look in his eyes, unlike what you would think an FBI agent would look like.

She smiled at him and motioned for him to sit in the chair next to her bed. "Not at all, but what is this about? Didn't you catch that man?"

Doctor Reid sighed as he sat down. "Unfortunately, no. He got away. That's why I'm here, so I can try to get a better idea as to where he might be going."

Melinda's head throbbed harder, like something was trying to warn her. "So…he's still out there? He can still hurt me?"

"Yes, and no. He's out there, but he's not going to hurt you. You're going to be accompanied by either a U.S. Marshall or someone from within the Bureau from the moment you get out of the hospital to the moment John Astrim is caught. You have no reason to be afraid." John. That man had a name, obviously, but Melinda didn't think of him as a person with a name and a life and possibly a credit score. She thought of him as a monster who had made a week of her life a living Hell. In the middle of her thoughts, Doctor Reid touched her arm. "It's alright. Are you sure you're okay to answer questions?"

She blinked heavily, then looked at him and smiled. "I'm fine. Hit me with your questions, Doctor Reid."

He smiled back, then pulled out a pen and a legal pad from his bag. "So, do you have any idea where he was going to take you, if he was going to take you anywhere at all?"

"No, he didn't mention any specific place. All he said before I got away was that he was going to do more things to me."

"Okay, and was he driving on any street or in any specific direction that you can remember?"

She tried to remember. All she remembered was the man touching her, incredibly inappropriately, and swerving all over the road while he was doing it. "I can't-I don't remember anything like that. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I'm just asking questions, there's no right or wrong answer to any of them." Doctor Reid smiled again, and Melinda found herself growing more and more fond of his smile. "So, did he tell you anything out of the ordinary while you were with him? A story maybe, about his past or about someone who might have represented him?"

"Represented him? What is that supposed to mean?"

"Well, often, killers will talk to their victims about things that have happened in in their past, but they won't let their victims know it's about them. They usually try to let them figure it out on their own, then when they realize it-"

"It's too late." She finished his sentence.

He stared at her. "Uh, yeah. So, did he do any of that?"

"Yeah, he did, kind of. He told me about a place up in Woodbridge. He said it was part of a park, but it was closed off. He said he'd heard it was pretty there. He said he wanted to visit it." She remembered the conversation clearly. After that was when she got away. Her legs hurt, remembering all the running she did.

Doctor Reid watched as Melinda stared blankly into space, wondering if he should ask her more questions or not. He was normally good at these kinds of things. He would ask the surviving victim questions in order to try and locate their captor better, and he would do it with ease, but there was something about this girl that made him uneasy. He felt a little nervous talking to her. He had no idea why. Pretty girls didn't normally make him nervous, they were just there, and he would either pass by or he would interact with them as needed. Still yet, Doctor Reid tried to continue his questioning. "In the Woodbridge park? Where you got away? There is a restricted part of the park, but I don't know why it's restricted. I'll have to look that up." He wrote down what he needed, then started to get up.

Melinda looked confused. "You don't need to ask me anymore questions?"

"Well, I might, but it looks like your doctor was supposed to see you first, and not me. I'll be back a little later to see if you remember anything else." Doctor Reid gestured to the door, and Melinda looked to see a doctor in a white lab coat and scrubs standing in the doorway.

"I'll let you know when you can come back, Doctor Reid." He stepped out of the way, and the increasingly adorable FBI agent walked out, waving back to Melinda as he did. She stared after him, smiling a little. She didn't know she was staring until her doctor waved his hand in front of her face. "You like him?" He said when Melinda looked at him.

"I, uhm, I guess. He seems nice, for someone who works for the FBI." She let the doctor take her blood pressure while she talked. "But, is there anything wrong with me? How long have I been unconscious?"

The doctor laughed a little. "Easy now, Miss Turner. You're fine, you just have a mild concussion, a few bruises, and a fractured ankle, nothing we can't fix. You've been out for a little over three hours. Your blood pressure is fine, which means you're not in any kind of traumatic state." He took the strap off her arm and looked at her. "You're okay to answer more questions from Doctor Reid?"

Melinda nodded. "Yes, I am."

The doctor smiled, then stood up. "I'll send him back in." He walked out, and Melinda waited in her bed. She felt like she had to go to the bathroom, so she attempted to get up, but her ankle hurt like hell when she tried to stand on it. Nonetheless, she took a few steps towards the bathroom.

"FUCK! This hurts so fucking bad…" She spoke to herself, or so she thought.

"Are you alright?" Doctor Reid's voice came from behind her, and she felt his hands on her arms, holding her up. "You shouldn't be walking by yourself, your ankle is-"

"Fractured, I know, but I have to go to the bathroom." She looked at him, and was surprised to see worry in his eyes. "Would you help me in there?"

Doctor Reid held her arms, his mouth open. "I-um-I don't think I'm supposed to do that…"

Melinda rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you can help me walk into the bathroom, Doctor Reid."

"I guess so." Doctor Reid wrapped Melinda's arm around his shoulder and they slowly made their way into the bathroom. After letting her go, he stared at her. "I don't have to help you-?"

"No! I can do that by myself! Wait for me outside!" She pushed him out and shut the door in his face. He wasn't used to doors being slammed in his face, but it didn't make him angry. He just waited beside the door and bounced his foot up and down until she opened up again. He helped her back to her bed, then sat in a chair across the room.

"Hello, again." He said, smiling.

"Hello, Doctor Reid."