A/N: I noticed that I have written a horror story around Halloween nearly every year since I started writing fanfiction. So I decided to do it again. This one isn't very long and isn't the typical gory, boo-scare horror that I don't like. However, I'm also pretty wimpy when it comes to scary stories; so you may not find it very horrific. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or its characters. They're just forced to bear the brunt of my writing. :)
The Key to Nowhere
by Enthusiastic Fish
Chapter 1
Nowhere...
Help me! Let me out!
He pounded on the invisible walls, trying to ignore the gleeful laughter.
No one can hear you! You're with us, now!
NO! NO!
Stay with us!
He could see all the hands reaching out to him. Just the hands. He didn't want to see the eyes. Not again.
He pounded on the wall that didn't exist, shouting through it to the people he could see, to the world he could see.
To reality.
HELP ME!
The hands pulled at him. He was overwhelmed. He was dragged further and further away from that wall.
He was nowhere.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Somewhere...
He had gone too far. It was unacceptable. She saw where he was going next and followed.
She would not sit back and wait this time.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Washington, D.C.
There was a knock on the door, and Tim woke up with a start.
"I'm coming!" he called out.
He jumped out of bed and ran for the door. He looked through the peephole and couldn't see anyone. Quickly, he unlocked the door and opened it.
He looked around and then, he looked down.
There was a key on the floor in front of his door.
He bent over and picked it up.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
...and suddenly, Tim skidded to a stop, looking around himself.
"Where..."
He looked down at himself. Instead of his pajamas, i.e. boxer shorts and t-shirt, he was wearing his running clothes. Shoes and all.
He looked back up and realized that he didn't even know where he was.
There were trees. Lots of trees. He couldn't see the sun. He could be anywhere so far as he knew. He didn't know what time it was...except that it was daytime.
Then, he saw a runner coming into view. Trying not to sound as panicked as he felt, he flagged the man down.
"Hi," he said.
"Hi."
"Hey...I have a weird question to ask you, but I'm suddenly really turned around. Uh..." Tim hesitated. He didn't want to admit that he didn't even know where he was. He forced a smile. "Could you point me toward civilization?"
The man laughed, although it was clear he thought this was a little strange.
"Well, Silver Spring is that way," he said pointing to the left. "DC is south. Anything else you need?"
Tim forced himself to laugh.
"Nope. Thanks."
The man continued his run with only one look back. Tim swallowed and starting running. ...again? He had no memory of running. No memory of putting on his running clothes. He didn't even know what time it was.
He just hoped that, when he got out of the trees, he'd be reoriented.
He got to the edge...
...of Rock Creek Park. He knew where he was and where to go to get home.
Thank goodness. He got home as fast as he could and went inside.
...and found that he'd missed four calls from Tony, two from Ellie and one from Gibbs himself.
Uh oh.
He looked at the time and groaned.
It was ten a.m. He was very late. What had happened to the time?
He got ready in record time and ran out the door, calling Tony as he did.
"McGee, you are in deep doodoo if you don't have a good reason for being this late."
"I don't have a good reason. In fact, I can't even explain why I'm late, Tony."
"What do you mean you can't explain? I mean, Gibbs won't care why, but you should at least have an idea of what you would say if he let you."
"I can't explain it, Tony. It's the strangest thing. I think that..."
"Don't think. You just need to have something to say. Gibbs is very not happy. I must have called you a million times."
"Yeah. Okay."
"You don't sound nearly worried enough, Tim."
"I'm worried."
"You'd better be ready to grovel."
"Yeah. Okay. I'll be there in a few minutes."
Tim wasn't sure why he wasn't telling Tony about his lost time, about suddenly being in Rock Creek Park. He just didn't have the words to explain what he had felt. So he hung up and focused on the road...more or less.
What was the last thing he remembered?
Oh, yeah. That key on the floor after someone knocked on his door. It had been a strange-looking key.
Tim drove as quickly as he dared to NCIS. When he got there, he was worried about going inside. Hours late. A weird dislocation. Strangeness all around...and he didn't want to have Gibbs glaring at him.
Still, there was no sense in putting off the inevitable. It would only make things worse. He went up to the bullpen.
Thwack!
"You do not set your own hours, McGee," Gibbs said.
Tim rubbed at his head.
"I know, Boss."
Gibbs raised an eyebrow and Tim knew he would be on the receiving end of the more unpleasant tasks for the next few days.
"A Marine has gone missing. He vanished without a trace. You think you could handle figuring out where he's been?"
Knowing the answer was expected to be yes, Tim nodded. Gibbs wasted no more time. He gestured to Ellie and Tony.
Ellie looked at him and mouthed yikes, sympathetically. Tim smiled weakly. Tony walked over to Tim's desk and handed a few pieces of paper to him. Tim looked and saw the information to get him started, information that Gibbs would expect Tim to conjure up out of nowhere.
Thank you, he mouthed at Tony.
Tony just smiled and left. Tim got to work on building a pattern for PFC Caleb Johnson who had inexplicably vanished during his leave and had not reported back.
Nothing came up as strange. He had made phone calls to people who must be friends. He had spent money at normal stores in and around Norfolk and DC.
...and then, there was one discrepancy. Tim leaned forward and double-checked the credit card purchase.
"New York? How did he get there?" Tim asked himself.
There was a charge for gas in Norfolk and then, a car rental in upstate New York and gas purchases in a couple of towns. It was only three days before his disappearance. It was weird. It didn't make any sense. Sure, he could have had a ride, but why? He wasn't from the area. Nothing in his history indicated any reason to go up there. It was so bizarre.
He got up to see if Tony had anything else on his desk that Tim could look through to help him with figuring all this out.
As he did, he felt something in his pocket and reached in to see what it was.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Don't come in here! Stay away! They'll get you, too! Go away! Go away!
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
"Agent McGee, is there anything I can do for you?"
Tim looked around and realized that he was standing in front of Vance's assistant's desk, but it wasn't Pamela who had asked him the question. It was Vance himself. Pamela wasn't at her desk.
"Agent McGee?"
"Uh...no, Director."
Tim looked at his hands. He was holding files, but he had no idea what they were or why he had them. He looked surreptitiously at his watch and saw that he had lost another 20 minutes.
"Well, Pamela isn't in, today. She had to stay home with her son. Anything you have for her will have to wait until tomorrow."
Tim seized on the out and nodded.
"Thanks, Director. I'll...see her, tomorrow...then."
Vance looked at him curiously. "Are you all right, Agent McGee? You seem a little confused."
"I'm fine! No problem, Director Vance."
Tim turned and hurried out to the balcony, down the stairs and to his desk.
He opened the files...and then, he closed them very quickly. He didn't know what they were. They didn't have anything to do with PFC Johnson. He didn't know where they'd come from. He shoved them into his desk and called Tony.
"What's up, McGee?"
"Something weird."
"I meant with the case, Tim."
Tim grimaced.
"That's what I meant, too."
"Is it weird enough to get you back in Gibbs' good graces?"
"Maybe."
"Okay. What?"
"PFC Johnson rented a car in upstate New York only a few hours after buying gas in DC. Not sure how he got up there."
"You sure it was him and not just his card?"
"No, but he bought gas a couple of times on a track that would take him back to DC. He also made a couple of phone calls on the way."
"Okay. That is weird. I'll pass the word along. Maybe you'll survive the day."
Tim grimaced again. "Yeah. Maybe."
He hung up and decided that he needed to tell someone about this. Ducky would be able to tell him if it was serious or not, if it meant anything.
Decision made, he got up and headed for the elevator.
He made it to Autopsy without any problem. Thank goodness.
"Ducky?" he asked, sticking his head inside the door.
"Yes, Timothy? Was there something Jethro wanted me to do?"
"Uh...no. I have...a question for you."
Ducky looked at him with some interest as he set down one of his tools.
"I take it this is not a professional question?"
"No, it's not...but I'm already in trouble with Gibbs; so I can't take long."
"Very well. What is it?"
"I..." Tim stopped. Now that the moment was there, he wasn't sure he really wanted to try to explain it. "Maybe... Maybe it's a bad idea. I should just..."
He started to turn around, but Ducky stopped him.
"Timothy, you seem upset. What is it, lad?"
"I woke up this morning because someone was knocking on the door. I went to the door and opened it. ...and then, it was... I was in the middle of Rock Creek Park in my running clothes. Oh, and it was...hours later."
"You had a blackout?"
"I don't know! I didn't feel any time passing. I was one place and then, I was another place. Hours later."
"You didn't tell Gibbs that?"
"I was hours late for work, Ducky. Do you really think that he let me say anything?"
Ducky smiled a little, but he was clearly concerned.
"I suppose not, but Timothy, this is not a simple thing. It could be dangerous for you to lose track of time like that."
"I know. That's why I was asking you about it."
"All right. When Jethro gets back, I will talk to him, but if you have any more of these episodes, you need to let people know...and regardless, you should have a brain scan. You didn't drink heavily last night, did you?"
"No. I never drink heavily."
"I wouldn't guess you would, but I've been wrong about things before."
"Okay."
"Timothy, you will need to tell Jethro about it. If this wasn't an isolated incident..."
"Okay."
Tim left Autopsy and hurried back up to the bullpen. He didn't want to get in more trouble.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Nowhere...
HELP ME! GET ME OUT OF HERE!
There is no escape! You are here with us! You'll never leave. You won't want to leave!
He freed himself from the hands and ran for the wall again. He pounded on it, trying to get free. He couldn't.
HELP!