The other in my head
Summary : murders occurred in a town of Maine. To find the killer the BAU had to interrogate the only one who knows where the UnSub is: a perturbed witness with dissociative identity disorder, who is willing to talk only to Prentiss and Reid. PrentissxReid.
The imaginary town named Castle Rock is the property of Stephen King, I used it because it's one of my favourite writer.
Okay, I know I have other fics in continuation, but this one couldn't get out of my head, and it was bothering me, so I wrote it down, because it was quite short, and wouldn't take too much time. It's already finished, I just have to make some corrections in the next chapters, but otherwise, it should be complete very soon.
About my other CM fic, Doctor, I am currently writing the next chapter, and I have to take time, because it's a difficult one. But I am far from giving up on that story, so of you are one of its reader, don't worry.
22th May, 01:10 am.:
The BAU had been called a week ago, in order to solve a case in Castle Rock, Maine. It included the abduction, rape and murder of several women, all aged between 16 and 22, coming either from Castle Rock or the other towns around. The sheriff had been first reluctant to call them, but he soon had to admit he and his men weren't able to solve this case by themselves. The majority of the officers had given the team the cold shoulder, something that wasn't unusual to them, sadly.
They had first studied the victimology, noticing there was no racial preference, meaning there could be several Unsubs, or just one who liked different type of women. Asian, black and white girls had been/were the victims. Until now, he had killed five women, and five others were still missing.
They had soon noticed there were only one MO, and certainly only one killer, the profile they established supported this theory. The man who was doing this was a narcissist, who showed hatred toward women, who wasn't good at keeping friendship and romantic relationship, which may have a history of violence.
It was pass 01:00 am, but the agents were still working. Hotch and Reid were studying the geographic profile while Morgan and Garcia were trying to find anything that could be related to their case, and Rossi, JJ and Prentiss were trying to find anything helpful in all the things the families of the victims had said during the interviews earlier that day. The whole team had realised one thing: it would be hard to break the silence of the folks in this town. In small places, there was always this unspoken rule that made people not talk about secrets to strangers. It was maybe what was making the investigation progress so slowly.
Emily was feeling bad since the beginning of this case. She was feeling somehow close to the victims, she didn't know why them especially. She was feeling more sensitive since some times. Everything was more intense for her since some times. Maybe it was since she had realised the way she was feeling for the doctor of the team. She couldn't tell him anything, knowing that if he didn't share the same feeling, their professional environment and friendship would be ruined. She imagined Reid acting uneasy toward her for something stupid she had said and she couldn't handle it.
Prentiss was far from suspecting how wrong she was about Reid. He may have felt nervous if she had confessed her feelings, but it would have been out of utter joy and love. Reid really didn't know since how long it happened, maybe the beginning in fact, only, he hadn't acknowledged it. Maybe it was after what happened with Benjamin Cyrus, the fear of loosing her had been so hard…But he was sure she would never feel the same way. He had tried to forget her, that's why he had picked up Austin, a brunet bar tender, with whom he had a relationship with. He had felt a lot of affection and attraction to her, but he knew he really loved only his colleague. She had felt it, that's why she had decided to break up. Now both of them were trapped with their feelings.
Reid could feel that Prentiss was touched emotionally by this case, maybe because the girls were very young. The five girls who were still missing were Elizabeth Short, Rose Samuels, Patricia Moore, Polly Davis and Sarah Lammond. None of the family had any idea of the killer's identity; they were just all worried sick, though the Lammond seemed more collected. But maybe it was their way to deal with the horror of the situation.
As Reid and Hotch were still working on the geography, a cop rushed in. Hotch and Reid turned toward him, wondering what could be happening.
"Someone called, one of the girl had been seen, alive."
A phone call had been passed by an old woman; she had seen Sarah Lammond, a sixteen years old girl and one of the victim, enter the catholic church of the town. The woman had tried to approach her, but the girl had screamed like she was crazy, and just when the woman had backed off, Sarah went into a deep prayer. The BAU was rushing to be there as soon as possible.
It was raining outside, not as much as earlier, but still strongly. They finally reached the church, the windows were glowing from the inside lights, enlightening the darkness of the night. Before the church, the one who called was waiting, she walked toward them as fast as her trembling legs allowed it, and she looked scared. She was simply driving her car when she had seen someone on the road, walking with difficulty, under the rain, and she had simply checked if this person was alright. She wouldn't have imagined such a thing. Hotch went to her, and she spoke before he could.
"Please, do something! She is completely mad, she is screaming and talking like she…Like she is possessed or something! She…"
"Calm down, Ma'am, it's okay, we will take care of it, we are used to deal with those situation."
They entered the church and were stunned. Inside, the place was enlightened by so many candles that the electric lamps wouldn't have been needed. Every single candle that could be found here were burning, a majority of it was around the altar. Sarah was praying before it, on her knees. The scene was really disturbing, and Reid couldn't help but remember Brian de Palma's Carrie: after the prom, Carrie comes back home, and find her house filled with burning candles, lighted by her crazy mother. They advanced carefully, noticing there was drops of blood on the floor, which meant Sarah was wounded, maybe not too badly, but still. Rossi was the first to talk:
"Sarah Lammond? We are with the FBI, we would like to…"
He stopped abruptly. At first, Sarah hadn't even noticed them at all, chanting a prayer lowly, and at Rossi's word, she had turned her head to see who was talking. Then, in a fraction of seconds, she was holding a big shard of broken glass to her neck, eying the team with crazy eyes. They didn't know what she broke, but a lot of broken glass was laid before her knees. She was breathing sharply, and was all wet and trembling as if she had been soaked into ice water. The white dress she was wearing was in rags and dirty, with blood on it, clinging to her skin with the wetness, like her dark, shoulder lengthen hair. They noticed several wounds on her legs and arms.
"Sarah, please, don't do this, we are here to help…"
"NO! Don't approach, you…You monsters! You snakes! You wanna hurt her; I won't let the snake come!"
They were all first silent, trying to know how they could calm down the obviously disturbed girl. Reid quickly analyzed what she said, and noticed she was eying Rossi, Hotch and Morgan with more wariness than the rest. She was afraid of alpha male, obviously. Reid let his shoulder down a little, trying to look even less imposing than he was, and took a step ahead. The girl heard him and turned to see who was coming, the shard of glass still held firmly to her throat. She frowned but didn't say a thing when Reid began to crouch to be at her level, while talking.
"Please, calm down, no one here will hurt you."
"No…They…You all will!"
"No don't worry; we want to catch the one who took you away…"
"STOP! Snake in the hole, Snake in the hole! Snakes, they are everywhere, EVERYWHERE! They won't hurt Sarah anymore."
Reid understood immediately.
"Can I ask you your name?"
The girl suddenly stopped her ranting about snakes and looked at him suspiciously, hesitating.
"Why?"
"Because I would like to know who you are, you are trying to protect Sarah, and we want to help her too."
She shook her head, and JJ tried to approach her too.
"He is right you…"
She turned to the blond and her somehow calmer expression turned into a demented one again.
"GET AWAY! You whore of Satan, whore of Satan! You are full of snakes! I can see them inside you!"
She turned toward Reid while JJ was backing away, quite dumbfounded and horrified. The wounded girl continued her ranting, while casting frequent glances to the rest of the team, to watch if none of them were approaching.
"She'll spit the snakes at my face! I don't want it! I'll rather kill both of us!"
"No one will spit those at you, we want to protect you."
This time it was Prentiss who just talk before Reid could say anything. Sarah looked at her, and for a second, Emily thought she was going to scream at her like she did with JJ. But instead, the girl simply asked:
"Who are you?"
She turned to Reid, back to Prentiss, and tightening her hold of the shard, she continued, with the trembling and ragging voice:
"You wanna know my name? Tell me yours first, both of you!"
"My name is Emily Prentiss."
"Mine is Spencer Reid. We are both FBI agents."
The rest of the team didn't try to intervene, understanding that Sarah was scared of them, JJ because of what the girl had said, and Rossi, Hotch and Morgan had noticed the way she looked at them. Strangely, she looked more reassured with Reid and Prentiss. Rossi was struck however, because he didn't remember anyone who told them about Sarah's mental trouble. This girl was showing an evident case of DID, how could her parents not have noticed?
The girl was breathing hard, her eyes wide open, and she obviously thought that the two agents were going to deny her request. She gulped and finally accepted to tell her name.
"I am Judith."
Prentiss continued, feeling encouraged both by the girl's response and by Spencer's presence.
"Fine, Judith. Sarah is obviously hurt, she needs to go to hospital. We will take care of her."
"No, no. I am the only one who take care of her, I always do. If the doctor comes, he will separate us."
Reid leaned a little more toward her and spoke.
"No Judith, we won't, you can come with her, stay with her, and we just need to heal her wounds. You are certainly a good caretaker, but you are not a doctor, aren't you?"
Judith/Sarah didn't answer, but lowered her gaze, showing she was thinking about what Spencer just said.
"She needs a doctor now. I would like to talk with Sarah, in fact…No, no, don't do this."
Judith just pressed the shard a little more against her neck.
"Don't, it's okay. You can listen, it's not a problem, and I swear that Emily and I will be very careful that no one will act inappropriately toward her."
"Promises…People breaks promise…"
It was obvious that in spite of her words, she wanted to believe what he was saying. Emily crouched next to Reid and extended her hand to take Sarah's wrist very gently, trying to block her from thrusting the glass through her throat in case.
"We won't, Judith. I am a woman myself; I won't allow anyone to hurt her or you as long as I am around. Please, give me this shard, and let us talk to Sarah, okay?"
The girl hesitated, and for a very tense moment, she didn't do anything. Then, she finally opened her fingers and let her weapon drop. Then, as Reid was grabbing it from the floor, Judith closed her eyes, and Sarah appeared. Her body was a little less tense, and Sarah's eyes opened. She first looked at the people around her, and sighted the blood on her. She screamed.
"OH MY GOD! I'M BLEEDING!"
"Sarah, don't worry, we will take care of you, the medics are coming."
"Who are you?"
She couldn't recognize Reid and Prentiss who had been only presented to Judith. She glanced at the rest of the team, and looked even more scared. She backed away from them, pressing herself against the altar.
"Sarah, please don't move too much."
She turned to Reid, and didn't try to go away from him. Whatever personality they would face, they were both scared and reassured by the same persons. Emily rose from the floor, and walked to be at Sarah's right side, while Reid was still on the left side. She kneeled, and put her hand on Sarah's shoulder, and though the girl jumped in surprise at the contact, she didn't try to shy away from it.
"The medics are coming. I am Emily Prentiss, and this is Spencer Reid."
"Yeah we are the FBI, and we want to help you."
"He'll take me back, I don't wanna go back!"
"No you won't we will protect you from him."
The medics entered the church, and the team walked aside to let them pass. Sarah looked at both Reid and Prentiss, she was obviously more complying than Judith.
"Please stay with me."
"Only one of us can go with you."
Hotch stayed where he was, but instructed Emily to go with her. Sarah looked at Spencer with pleading eyes, and he told her she would see him again soon. The two agents exchanged a glance, and looked away, uneasy. Somehow, what just happened woke up the feelings unknown from each others, and they both felt the need to be together. Sadly, none of them knew the other was feeling the same way.
While Emily went with her, the team followed the ambulance in their car. It was obvious Sarah would need to be handled with care. Morgan, JJ and Reid were in the same car, silent for the first minute. JJ broke the silence first:
"It's good you were here, Emily and you."
"Yeah, but I wonder…"
He stopped himself, as if something stopped him. His colleagues frowned, silently telling him to speak.
"I wonder why she reacted like this toward you. I mean, you Morgan, Rossi and Hotch are quite imposing, and that certainly reminded her of the UnSub. But I wonder why she reacted like this when she saw you, JJ."
"I don't know."
Her stomach knotted when she thought about Sarah/Judith's words. She had already been insulted in her career, by angry witnesses or families, but somehow, seeing this girl, wounded and scared reacting like this to her, while she had obviously trusted Reid and Prentiss was hurting. But one thing was sure: a talk with the parents would be needed.
Hope you enjoyed! Care to let a comment? Please…
