Chapter 6

Fear.

If you're not careful, it could kill you.

Usually, it sneaks up on you, ready for the kill, and that's why fear is so… terrifying. When caught off guard, it will paralyze you and time will suddenly stop as you prepare yourself for your ultimate fate. Your heart will beat so loud in your chest that you'll feel it in your throat. Finally, you'll have to make the choice whether you're going to swallow it whole or let it destroy you completely.

The jingling of keys on the other side of the door causes Reid to lose all mobility. He can't feel his legs, only the painful beating of his heart in his chest. It's not until he sees the doorknob turn does someone yank him to the ground.

He's not really sure how he'll ever repay Emily once – if – they ever get out of here. She has helped him in more ways than one since they woke up there. At that moment, he makes a vow to be eternally grateful to her until the day he dies.

The lights turn on, illuminating the room and Reid fears that their hiding spot from under the desk isn't good enough. The desk is too short for his tall frame and is definitely not made to fit two. With Emily practically in his lap, he has to crouch and contort his body to fit in whatever free space he can find.

"Can I get you anything, D. Hall?" A nurse with a small voice asks.

They have left nothing on the desk. They have not misplaced anything. Reid knows this. He is sure of it, yet he can't help recite every move he has made in the last hour.

"No, Ashley. I just came in to get a file I forgot…I am behind on some paper work," Dr. Hall replies.

Thankfully, this desk has a back to it, so there's no way Dr. Hall can see them. Unfortunately, Dr. Hall seemed to be heading straight their way. Reid has to clamp a hand over his mouth to keep his breathing under control. He's pretty sure Emily didn't turn off the computer; only shut the lid, which sends him into a state of panic. If Dr. Hall has come for his laptop, then he will know. Reid shudders at the thought of their punishment. However, Dr. Hall doesn't head for the desk, instead he walks to the opposite side of the room. They hear the rustling sound of keys clinging together before a loud pop! Reid mentally slaps himself. It is probably the one place he hadn't looked, but then again, he didn't have a key either.

"Would you like me to help?" Ashley offers seductively.

At that, Emily rolls her eyes and sticks her finger down her throat.

Thankfully, Dr. Hall doesn't take her bait. "Eh…no thank you Ashley. It's just the Jenkins case. I think I can do it myself."

Reid's eyes grow wide. They need that folder to convict Dr. Hall. There is no way Hotch would believe them over the phone. He would just think they were crazy. After all, he locked them up in the first place…. But if they had proof…

"Be careful driving Dr. Hall, there's a big storm coming in," the nurse, Ashley, tells him.

"I'll be okay, Ashley but thanks."

"There's suppose to be flooding. They say it's bad."

Dr. Hall chooses to ignore her. "Is Michael here? I think I'll smoke a cigar with him before I head home."

"Yes, sir. He's in the coffee room."

Michael, Reid is pretty sure, is the same guy from the basement. He's not really sure how long it takes to smoke a cigar but at least it'll buy them enough time to come up with a plan.

"Thanks Ashley," Dr. Hall says softly.

They listen as the footsteps suddenly stop, evidently studying the office one last time. Afraid Dr. Hall can hear his child-shallow exhalations, Reid holds his breath. Then he switches of the light, steps into the hall, and pulls the door shut, locking them in.

His footsteps move off the way he had come. His steps fade, clocked by the fierce pounding of their hearts. Their first inclination is to remain in the cramped haven and wait until daybreak or even longer. But if they stayed, they would surely get caught. Slowly, they crawl out from under the desk and rise to a crouch. For awhile that's as far as they get. They are frozen by the expectation that the door will crash open and their intruder would burst in again. It is Emily who finally breaks their trance and rises to her feet. Together they let out a sigh of relief.

"Close call," she whispers, breaking the silence.

"Emily! We have to call Hotch."

Emily actually laughs at him and he frowns. "And tell him what exactly? Hi Hotch, our doctor here is a serial killer and will probably kill us too. Kay. Thanks." Emily rolls her eyes. "It will go over so well, especially, coming from two patients in an insane asylum." She harshly whispers the last part at him and he drops his eyes.

"Well, what do you suppose we do," he shouts as quietly as he can.

Reid is sure he can see the gears turning in her head. Immediately he regrets even asking her because he knows he isn't going to like whatever she has to offer. "We follow him."

"What?"

"Come on, Reid. The only way Hotch will believe us is if we have that folder."

"But he took it home with him!" Reid protests.

"Exactly, that's why we follow him."

"And how do you suppose we do that?"

Emily glances out the office window to make sure Dr. Hall's car is still in its parking spot. "If we go now we can just hop in the trunk of his car. He'll never know."

"Oh! That's a great plan," Reid mocks. "Except for the fact that he is a serial killer! Emily he could kill us!"

"I think Dr. Hall framed us for starting that fire and I think there is a reason behind it."

"I don't… I don't know for sure."

Emily grips his shoulders and shakes him slightly. "Yes we do, Reid! We both heard him in the basement…he's hiding something that could set us free!" Her eyes are wide and pleading with him so he looks everywhere but her.

"Emily… we can't just walk out the front door."

She smiles her genuine smile and Reid feels himself breaking. "I have a better idea."

He follows her eyes as they focus on something behind him. It takes all his strength to keep his mouth from dropping. "What…Emily…we….can't!"

She shrugs heading for the window. "Why not? This is the only room where the windows aren't barred."

"We are on the second floor," Reid protests.

Again she rolls her eyes. Nevertheless, she still looks out the window to study her surroundings. "Well, we could jump." Judging from the expression he must be giving her, she offers him a different option. "Or we could climb down this rain pipe."

He opens his mouth to protest once more but his voice must have a mind of its own because the word that comes out of his mouth is not one he had been expecting. "Okay," he says, surprising both her and himself.

Her whole face lights up. "Let's go catch our unsub."

"Like old times?"

She nods. "Like old times."

Before he can even blink, Emily has disappeared out the window. Running to the windowsill, he sticks his head out to make sure she didn't break anything. However, he just finds her smiling up at him.

"Your turn!" she calls up to him.

"Yes. Let's follow a serial killer home," Reid mutters to himself as he straddles the window ledge. "That sounds like a perfectly great, insane-less idea."

"Reid! Come on!" Emily hisses from below. "Are you coming or what?"

Reid sighs as he takes another minute to think about it. It doesn't take him long to realize that he doesn't have much to lose leaving the hospital. In fact, he has nothing to lose at all.

XxXxX

Now, the image of the Hopkins Family is like one of those holograms that change depending on the angle at which it is viewed. Sometimes he sees those twin boys and sometimes he sees his own. Perhaps this is the reason he is following Emily, barefoot, across an Asylum's parking lot in the middle of a storm. Luckily for them, it hasn't started to rain.

Yet.

"Emily, its suppose to storm," Reid shouts above the wind. He glances up nervously at the ominous sky, which threatened to fall at any moment. However, it seems to concern Emily very little.

"Which car do you think is his?" Emily asks.

There is a total of five cars parked in the parking lot at this hour, two of which were preoccupying 'reserved' spaces.

"One of these has got to be Dr. Hall's," Emily says, answering her own question.

The first car is a white Chevrolet. Ten years old. Piles of candy bar wrappers are protruding over the dashboard and a makeshift ashtray takes the place of one of the cup holders. To top it all off, the car is locked.

The second car is a Honda, at least six years older than the Chevy. Even from the exterior, it smells of lemon-scented air freshener. It has tinted windows, leather seats, and the driver's door is unlocked.

"Bingo!" Emily smiles triumphantly as she leans into the car like it's her own.

"Emily!" Reid's eyes grow large. Quickly, he glances over his shoulder to make sure Dr. Hall hasn't chosen that exact moment to return. "What are you doing? We don't even know if this is his car."

"It's his car." To prove it, she turns and flashes a picture of Dr. Hall and his dog. Before he has time to take in the image she has already shoved the picture back into the glove box where she originally found it.

Reid fidgets. He didn't like thunderstorms and he really didn't like stealing cars.

"We can't steal it! We don't even know where he lives."

"Calm down, Reid. We aren't stealing it." Emily reaches down between the seat and door, and the trunk opens with a pop. There's nothing in it but an old blanket.

"You can't be serious," he mutters.

"How else do you plan on getting to his house? A taxi?" It sounds like she's using her sarcastic voice with him. He use to find it comforting, he's not so sure anymore.

He swallows hard. "I don't know Emily."

The wind suddenly howls, pushing him towards the car.

Emily raises her eyebrows. "Now or never?"

The first rain drop lands on his face. Like a tear, it rolls down his cheek and into his mouth. It tastes like regret and sadness. "Okay," he whispers more to himself than to her. "Let's do this."

He hops into the trunk and Emily follows close behind.

xXxXx

Reid's not really sure how long they laid in the trunk before the car engine jerks to life. It takes him by surprise as he didn't even hear Dr. Hall get in the car, let alone turn on the ignition. The tires shriek below them and the car suddenly shoots forward, causing them to lose their grip. With a loud bang, they slam into the back of the trunk. Reid holds his breath, hoping Dr. Hall didn't hear anything.

When the car doesn't stop suddenly, Reid lets himself relax. Emily gives him a 'close call' look and he smiles at her in return. There's more room in the trunk than he would have expected. It wasn't like earlier, when they were crammed under the desk. No, this time he had plenty of room to stretch and change positions every once in a while. Perhaps, he drops his guard a little too much because when he opens his eyes again he is no longer in the trunk but back in the asylum.

The night is dark, just like any other night. Fear breathes down the back of his neck and he can taste the bitterness of revenge on his lips. Like all his other nightmares, the moon is full and the door at the end of the hallway makes him feel small. Only now does he recognize that the door at the end of the hallway is Dr. Hall's office. He doesn't know what's behind it and frankly, he's not sure if he really wants to know.

Someone screams out in ecstasy on the other side of the door but he's not paying attention to that. Suddenly, Emily's there and everything changes. He feels himself breaking, crying. She's crying, beaten and covered in blood. So much blood.

"Emily!" he shouts but the word never leaves his mouth.

He races after her, crying with her. He shouts her name again but it just gets caught between his throat along with regret. Just as he reaches out to touch her, her whole body ignites into flames.

With a gasp, Reid awakes. He does not remember falling asleep and he's not surprised that he did either. The lack of sleep is finally catching up on him. He can feel it in the way his eyes dropped and his shoulders slacked. It is only a matter of time before he succumbed to the pure exhaustion and the undying silence. He just hopes that he hasn't been out for long. Unfortunately, he can tell from the annoyed look Emily is sending him that it has been much longer than he has original hoped.

He mentally smacks himself. Now isn't the time to sleep.

Apologizing silently, the best and only way he could, he sends Emily a sheepish smile

"Dr. Hall has been inside for about twenty minutes now," Emily tells him.

"Now what?" Reid whispers.

"I don't know. I didn't that far." She laughs but he can still hear the tinniest bit of fear in her voice.

"I'm sure he'll go to sleep soon. We could find somewhere to hide in his house till he goes to work the next morning. Then we would have the whole house to ourselves."

"Except that we need that folder and he's bound to take it back to work with him tomorrow."

Reid presses his lips together in a fine line. Just because he knows what they were going to have to do didn't mean that he enjoyed it.

"Emily, we can't."

"We have to," she argues.

In one swift motion, she kicks open the back of the trunk. It opens with a pop and in one swift motion, Emily jumps out of the car and runs towards the sanctuary of the shadows. He really doesn't want to be here. In fact, he wishes he is anywhere but there. However, he needs to end this. He has this idea that once Dr. Hall is thrown behind bars, Emily and his lives will go back to normal. But in all honesty, how was that even possible? The team refused to talk to her and they looked at him like he was crazy. It's funny. You really didn't know who your true friends were until something terrible happened. Right now, Emily is the only friend he's got.

"Emily," he hisses.

He follows her across the lawn, where she is crouched behind some bushes. He's thankful for Dr. Hall's taste in green things to hide them. Even in the dark, Reid knows their white uniforms could be spotted a mile away.

"The folder has the case in it?" She asks him.

Reid nods. "Yes. It has everything."

"We need that folder then."

"Emily, this is a terrible idea. The hospital is going to figure out that we're missing. We should go back -"

"Reid!" Emily cuts him off. "Do you want to end this? Or not?"

Reid swallows hard. For a moment he really debates going back. At least at the hospital, there is the sanctuary of a routine. He would be safe there. But then he thinks of the conversation in the basement and fire begins to boil inside him. He refuses to go down without a fight, especially for something he didn't do. Very slowly, he nods and Emily smiles.

"Perfect," she says.

The light in Dr. Hall's room goes off. Aside from the small light left on in the kitchen, the house is plunged into total darkness.

"It's game time."