Recurring nightmares make it difficult for Emily Prentiss to deal with the BAU's current investigation. As the only survivor of the brutal serial killing is a selectively mute sixteen year old girl the team are frustrated and anxious as the killings become more disturbing and frequent. The case takes another turn as the girl will only confide in Emily revealing a startling secret , will Emily's ethics break the girl's trust or will she bend the rules for the sanity of the girl. And what does Aaron Hotchner think about all this. Multi points of view.
I am running. Running down the alleyway, feeling the gennels encroach around me in the dark Italian street. The beads of sweat drip down my face and the panting of my sharp, shallow breaths drown out any sound that I would normally hear during the night. I take turn around the narrow corner, only to stop in front of a brick wall. Ignoring the scolding in my mind about the futility of the trying to climb the wall , I attempt it anyway. I cannot find anything to grip on that will allow my feet to balance, as I try to climb the wall. I frantically begin to claw the wall, scraping the tops of my fingers until the raw grazes draw blood. I let out an aggravated scream of fear , barely recognizing my own voice. Suddenly a sickeningly laugh sounded from the other end of the alley. I turned around hastily to see standing fifty metres in front of me , a tall figure completely concealed by the shadows of the night.
"What are you running from Emily?" the man asked in an enticing yet terrifying voice. There was a familiarity about the deep sound of his voice, which made me somewhat inclined to run to the alley to uncover this mysterious man. However the chills running feverishly down my spine prevented the whimsical and potentially suicidal act.
Instead I shoved my back against the wall trying to create as much distance between us as possible. "Who are you?" I screamed. My voice was a higher pitch then what I remember and as I flung my hand over my mouth , the inside of my lips slid over my braces , gently cutting them. "Oww" I quietly whimpered , as I began to cry ,not at the pain of my small injury but at the realization I was fifteen , alone in a sinister alley with an unidentifiable male. He let out another cadaverous laugh and began to slowly walk towards me.
"No , stay where you are , I don't what you to come near me , help HELP!" . It was a vain hope that my screams would alert some Good Samaritan passing by , as the horrendous sounds of my screams began to echo in the alley as the ricocheted off the wall. "Shhh , Emily you know there's no point in that , it only makes you all the more alluring. You should know that , after all your years of profiling. The more scared you are , the more pleasure I get . The more you fight back , the greater the challenge , the greater the conquest. You should know Emily , we always win". I was too petrified to move , as tears began to fall down my face , my breathing became erratic. "No please , I'm only a kid , I'm only a kid". Another callous laugh , as the figure advanced seeming larger and larger with each step. Slowly my legs gave way beneath my body in I slouched to the ground trembling.
As the moon , ascended from behind a cloud , the light from the beams gave a slight illumination to the man's face. I choked on air as the moon revealed my tormentor to be none other than Chief of the BAU , Senior Supervisory Agent Aaron Hotchner. However , his face was void of the lines of stress it often had etched in at work. His eyes lacked the tired , pained gleam that was so prevalent in recent times. Instead it was replaced by a maddening shine of insanity which was simultaneous with his sadistic smile. "Hotch?" I whispered trying to sound buoyant. hoping he would recognize me and regain his usual composure. His smile twisted more so than it already was as he reached into his blazer and pulled out a shiny kitchen knife in immaculate condition. He knelt down and outstretched a hand , gently stroking my cheek. "Emily , little lovely Emily". He taunted. There were now rivers of tears flowing profusely down my face as I prayed that Hotch would do something unexpected like pull me into a tight embrace and tell me that everything would be okay. Again this was a fruitless wish , for the psychopathic look on his seemed to intensify as my fear became more obvious. "Shhhh , little Emily , hush little girl , I promise this won't hurt one little bit" As he raised the shiny knife to my neck , the sleek sharp edge of the blade made gentle contact with the skin on my neck. I felt the razor-sharp pain of the blade splitting my skin as I screamed out in agony , as Hotch laughed a ghastly laugh as if he was getting some sort of pleasure out of my pain. I closed my eyes to flee such a grotesque image , however I was forced to reopen them when his strong hand began to tighten around my neck , crushing my trachea. When I reopened there , Hotch's transformation was unbearable . A complete metamorphosis has occurred , changing my crazy superior to the most atrocious man I've ever seen in my life. George Foyet was laughing viciously as he tried to kill me. "Hotch…help" I choked
"ARGH!" I woke up in a cold sweat , shivering from how real my nightmares had felt. "Shit!" I thought angrily , as I buried my face in my hand rubbing my eyes. I got out of bed and switched on the life marching into my ensuite , turning on the tap and splashing cold water onto my face. It was the fifth nightmare this week. The same scenario , cornered in an alley in Italy , confronted by men who I've once feared ;
My grade two PE teacher , My Grandfather on the odd occasion , the family priest , My old boss Jason Gideon , Martin Hille , Benjamin Cyrus. All of them had morphed into George Foyet otherwise known as the Boston Reaper. Although all the other men initially approaching me had scared me , none had shaken me like seeing Aaron Hotchner. Seeing the unnaturally reserved and controlled Senior Agent , sadistic and fanatical was indeed unnerving. Seeing him morph into George Foyet was even worse. I was normally never one to heed the possible secret warnings of nightmares. I was never one to be susceptible to the Barnum Effect or believing in pseudo sciences. However these dreams gave me a horribly ominous feeling I could not quite shake. As I looked at my wide eyes in my reflection , dark bags starting to emerge due to lack of sleep , I knew that tomorrow was going to be a hard day. I stared back into me dark bedroom , all of a sudden wanting to repel the urge I felt to go back to sleep. "Stop it Emily , stop it , you're thirty four and that's too old to be having nightmares" I scolded. I forced myself to walk back to bed and hop in. Once under the covers , I felt inclined to do what I did as a little child to feel safe from any possible monsters. I pulled the covers over my head and crawled into the fetal position. As I did this , a quote came to my head:
"For as children tremble and fear everything in the blind darkness , so we in the light sometimes fear what is no more to be feared than the things children in the dark hold in terror and fear will come true" Titus Lucretious Carus [99-55 B.C] De Rerum Natura III. I 87