Reid sat alone in his dimly lit bedroom. The door was closed, closing him off from the rest of the world. He was in darkness, with only a small candle placed carefully on the foot of his bed. Large shadows were splattered across the off white wall, giving the room an eerie countenance. The light flickered across the folds of his red bedspread like how the setting sun radiates across the vast sea. Upon the bedspread sat Reid, legs crossed and hunched over, clutching onto a small jar. The light bounced across the crown of Reid's head, to his slender arms, and down to the kneecaps of his crossed legs.
In his trembling hands, he held the small vial of Dilaudid that he collected from Tobias's corpse. He sat there in silence staring at the small jar, his head titled in such a way where his brown hair covered his chocolate eyes. This small jar was the one thing that separated him from being the Spencer Reid that everyone knows from the man who Tobias injected with Dilaudid.
The telephone rang. Reid wasn't even fazed by the rings filling up the silent room. He merely ignored it until the answering machine picked it up. "Hello, Spence, it's me; JJ. You've seemed quiet lately, I was wondering if everything was alright with you because of what happened..." There was a period of silence in which JJ was trying to muster up what to say to her young friend. "There is a case that we need your help with…could you meet us in an hour? Call me back, bye."
Reid, with his free hand, placed his hand on his face and let out a frustrated sigh. Then, he, in a mechanical fashion, swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, gingerly making his way across the dimly lit room. He slowly stooped over and blew out the candle's small, flickering flame before exiting the room.
His eyes squinted to the bright light outside of his room. Generally, Reid preferred to bask in the lights warmth and comfort but lately, he would rather sulk in the dark that reflected his stormy mood. He slipped into his sports coat as he headed out the door, locking his apartment. He decided to walk to work today; perhaps spending some time outdoors would brighten his somber mood.
His encounter with Tobias took the life out of him. The cold air generally didn't get to him too much, but lately it seemed to slice through him. He instinctively shoved his hands into his deep pant pockets. He shivered slightly as he ran his fingers over the glass jar which he subconsciously placed in his pockets. He began to recall the time in which he was tied to a chair, bloodied and bruised, having Tobias inject him with the liquid substance. Before he knew it, he found himself entering into the BAU headquarters.
Reid looked around the office at his sympathetic co workers. They were all silent and staring at the young man. 'Reid,' was all that the otherwise chatty Morgan could say as he looked at Reid. When he was first rescued, everyone was joyous to see Reid alive, but then reality sunk in; would Reid ever be the same? Not even Reid knew this.
Reid felt better seeing his friends. They did help save his life during his ordeal. However, no one could save Reid; he had to save himself this time.
"We're glad to see you back." Gideon whispered as he gently patted the young man on the back. Reid just nodded his head and flashed him a weak smile. Gideon pulled up a chair and sat next to the slouched over boy. "Reid?" He gently asked, hoping to at least make eye contact with him.
After what seemed like forever, Reid finally made eye contact with Gideon. Gideon stared back into Reid's dull, red, puffy, eyes. Seeing them broke Gideon's heart. "You're going to be ok." Gideon reassured Reid, unknowing if he would be himself.
Reid tried to be as cheerful as he could be for the rest of the day, trying to get the rest of the BAU to treat him like they used to. He remembered how carefree they used to be as he observed how carefully they acted around him. Finally the day came to an end. He quickly returned home, not even stopping to say goodnight to the rest of the team.
After he cleared out of the building, his coworkers exchanged sympathetic glances, talking about how Reid was holding up. "He's doing ok for the circumstances." The optimist JJ finally reassured the group.
"I just hate to see the boy like this…" Morgan commented in an unusually somber tone.
All of them spoke amongst each other about what to do with Reid. They felt that they had to do something for him, to protect him after his recent trauma. After about an hour, Gideon finally decided to go home as well.
While lying in bed, thoughts of Reid entered Gideon's troubled mind. He wondered how he could save him. Reid was like a son to him, he felt that he had to do something for him. He hated not being able to protect those who he cares about. Finally, he drifted off into sleep, Reid's sad eyes being the last of his thoughts before he drifted off into his subconscious.
"Reid, Reid!" Gideon shouted to Reid as Reid was sinking in a pool of water that was engulfing him.
"Help me, someone, I'm drowning." Reid shouted as he stretched out his hand to grasp onto something that would slow down his sinking.
"Gideon, you have to save him." JJ called out from a distance, stretching out her hand as if she was trying to reach out to the sinking Reid.
Gideon leaned over the pool of water to grab onto Reid's hand, which was becoming more distant. "Save me!" Reid called out again and again, each time his voice becoming fainter.
Tobias, his parents, and other villains of his life were pulling him down into the water. The rest of the team ran over to join Gideon in the struggle to grab onto Reid and save him.
"Save me!" Reid shouted, his voice was inaudible, but they could still see him mouthing out the words as they saw his slender body go deeper and deeper in the water.
Gideon looked into his eyes, void of any emotion. Even the sadness vanished from them, now he was just an empty shell, a shadow of his former shelf. Gideon knew then that he couldn't be saved.
August 5, 2007: I finally decided to edit this and I changed some of the spelling errors that I made and just changed it around in general.