Hope you have liked it so far. I certainly enjoy writing it. Reviews will be great, so that I can gauge how best I can proceed with this story...cheers
At the office
Hotch opened his eyes and immediately regretted doing so as he winced in pain because the bright overhead light made the throbbing in his head worse. He wanted to close his eyes but a voice urged him to stay awake.
"Come on Hotch stay with me," Rossi urged him. He could see the pain in the younger agent's eyes as he struggled to focus.
The rest of the team members anxiously looked on as they waited for the paramedic to arrive. Hotch tried to sit up, but Rossi firmly held him to the ground.
"No. Hotch, you have to lie still. Help will be here soon."
"Where am I?" Hotch asked and was surprised to hear how weak he sounded.
"You are currently lying on the floor in the BAU with a very nasty head wound. Do you remember anything?"
"I don't..." Hotch suddenly had flashbacks of black shadows and a red toy car. He flinched as he tried to remember.
Garcia had a foreboding feeling things would turn for the worse and unconsciously began pulling out the pink hair of a troll doll on top of the pen which was in her tight grip.
Morgan gently asked Hotch to describe what he was remembering.
"There are shadows...many shadows. A car. I mean... a toy red car. It was on the floor. I heard a cry...no...I don't know."
"Hotch you are doing fine. Now can you recall where you were when you saw the red toy car," Morgan asked further.
The BAU unit chief gave him a blank look at first and then his face turned a shade paler. He grasped Rossi's hand with an intense fear in his eyes.
"No!no...no...no I must go. You don't understand. I must go," Hotch put up a fight to get up. Morgan and Reid immediately help Rossi to calm him down.
Somewhere in the city
A soft cry was heard in a dark room. The door was locked and its single occupant curled up into a small ball on the floor as he tried to stay quiet. He cried silently, waiting for the monster to come back. He must be brave he told himself.
At the BAU
"What do you mean, you have to go Hotch?" Morgan asked after they managed to calm him down. The physical struggle had reopened the wound on his head and blood began to flow again down his cheek. Rossi immediately picked up the towel which had fallen to the floor to stop the bleeding.
"I know somebody needs me. I have to do something...If only I can remember what it is that I must do," Hotch sounded frustrated.
Somewhere in the city
Tick tock...tick tock...the monster said as he entered the room. His captive cringed in fear when he heard the monster's voice. He closed his eyes and silently recited the prayer his mom had taught him to protect him from evil and the monster was reeked with evil. He peeked and saw the monster's shoes so close to where he was lying.
He waited for the pain to start because monsters had always inflicted pain and this monster enjoyed it.
At the BAU
Paramedics rushed into the bullpen area and checked on their patient. Hotch looked lost and Rossi could remember the fear he saw in his friend's eyes.
Suddenly Hotch lost consciousness again. One of the paramedics quickly shone light to his eyes and she was worried of what she saw.
"Pete, we have to go now. It looks like he has a concussion," she told her partner as they lifted the unconscious agent onto a gurney.
They immediately left with Rossi followed suit and jumped into the ambulance as he didn't want his friend to be alone when he woke up.
There was unusual silence in the bullpen. Prentiss and JJ glanced at each other as they tried to figure out what had just happened. Reid stood still beside Garcia who continued pulling the troll's hairs without realising it.
"Baby girl... you can stop that now," Morgan put his hand on Garcia's arm.
"Huh...what?" said the baffled IT analysts.
"Angel, if you keep doing that, the troll will look like me. I may look good without my hair, I think the troll looks better with them though," he gave Garcia a small smile.
She looked down and startled to see that she had nearly pulled out a big chunk of the troll's pink hair and most of the strands ended on the floor and some stuck to her skirt as well as her shoes.
Morgan gave her a hug and whispered something to her ear. He let go and went to his office.
Garcia smiled and looked sad at the same time.
"What did he say, Garcia?" Reid asked.
"He said he will get the one who hurt Hotch and will help me to glue back the troll's hair too."
Those who heard Garcia's reply broke into a small smile and soon many resumed their works because they knew they had to stop psychopaths, killers and the deranged from hurting the innocents and when one of them got hurt by these monsters, it drove the agents to be a force to be reckoned with, to hunt down the culprits.
Few minutes later, Morgan walked into the bullpen and retrieved Hotch's car key from under a desk where he saw one of the paramedics had accidentally kicked it earlier.