Two Minds & All the Places They Have Been

Chapter Three / Hey Stranger


warning: brief language


Fifteen-year-old Zyla Zone faced the crowd of unknown faces. Her gown was hot and thick, but she didn't care. She was graduating high school. She was finally getting the hell out of this place. Speeches were made as she sat in the crowd of seventeen and eighteen-year-olds, people who had been either ignoring her or taunting her for years, but she didn't pay attention. She just waited for the ceremony to be over so she could go home and begin to work on what was next for her.

Absentmindedly, her thoughts went to Spencer. Her lips upturned into a small smile. Zyla missed him like crazy; the boy genius was off getting his degrees and living his life. Tomorrow, right when she wakes up, she's planning to start to trip to Caltech, to surprise him. She just wished this damn ceremony would hurry up already.

She got her wish: soon hats were thrown into the air, and hugs and joys were shared all around between friends and family. Zyla pushed her way through the busy crowd, nobody stopping to talk to her. She had pulled off her gown, revealing, not a dress, but jeans and one of her favorite t-shirts, and draped the gown over her arm. She was almost out to the parking lot when she saw him waiting for her.

Spencer was leaning on one of the lamp poles, and though his frame was small in the light, his grin was huge. Zyla laughed in glee when she saw her best friend, and ran to meet him, dropping her gown in the street. He caught her in a hug, both of them smiling and laughing. Spencer had graduated the year before, and without him there Zyla had felt totally alone at school for a while. But here he was, the only person that had come to see her graduate.

"Hey stranger." Spencer said, pulling back from her.

"Hey yourself." she said, still smiling. "Let's get out of this place; bad memories. I have something to tell you too." Spence said, taking her hand in his own and walking towards her car. Zyla nodded, and walked along, completely forgetting her gown in the street still behind her. She walked away from the school and gladly never looked back. She swung their hands back and forth like she did when they were younger until they got to the car.

"The usual place?" she asked, starting her car and zooming out the busy parking lot as she turned up the radio. "Of course." Spencer replied, like it was the obvious answer, and turned down the radio. She rolled her eyes, but she was still smiling. Vegas was busy, and they fought through the traffic as they talked about everything. They had, of course, sent letters and called practically everyday when Spencer was away, but they still found something to talk about. However, Zyla was fighting with herself. Over the year, without having Spence around, many things had happened, and she didn't know how to bring it up with him. She knew that he wouldn't approve, and that he would be worried for her. She kept biting her tongue and the inside of her cheeks in worry, but trying to keep it inconspicuous. Zyla knew that if Spencer saw her doing that, he'd immediately know something was wrong. Sometimes the kid knew her too well.

About twenty six minutes later, they were racing down a deserted two-laned highway. The sun had gone down long ago, and now that they were away from the Vegas lights, they could see some of the stars more clearly. Zyla rolled down the windows so the wind could pick up inside the cab, and blasted the music she knew that Spencer didn't much care for, but listened to anyway for her sake (and even though he was sure that by twenty, he was going to be half deaf).

Finally they pulled up to a dirt road, and after a few minutes on it, Zyla parked and turned off the car. A patch of luscious trees bordered a green space of long grass. In the spring, there would be little purple and blue flowers scattered among the grass. Being summer now, everything was very green; as green as it could get in Nevada, anyway. There wasn't much green around where they lived, and when the two found this place a couple years ago they both immediately fell in love with it.

Zyla dug an old ratty blanket out from the trunk, and laid it out on the hood of the car. They both climbed onto it, their backs against the blanketed windshield, staring up at the sky. Zyla sighed contently, closing her eyes as a soft summer breeze blew over her face, blowing a few strands of dark hair across her cheeks. She then turned to her best friend, propping herself up on her elbows to meet where he was sitting up. "So," she began. "What do you need to urgently talk to me about?"

To her surprise, he didn't say anything. Though the corner of his lips were upturned, he seemed nervous. His hands were wringing together, and he kept pushing back his unruly hair. "Spence?" she asked quietly, eyebrows furrowed.

And then he turned and kissed her.

At first, it was quite awkward. Spencer had just kinda leaned in and went for it, but he didn't have any experience. And Zyla was completely thrown off by it, totally frozen on his lips. But then she closed her eyes, and slowly, it turned soft. Her warm hands were placed on his neck, bringing him closer. He still didn't have any clue what he was doing, so Zyla led the kiss, trying to show him. His hands went uncertainly on her mid-back, trying to keep in sync with her lips. Both their hearts were in their ears, and placed hands started to turn to gripping fingers.

"I love you."

It was a murmur, barely a breath between kisses, but Zyla heard it and it stopped her cold. She pulled back from the kiss and looked at Spencer in surprise, eyes wide. He was flustered then, and started to stutter. Zyla shushed him, but didn't say anything else. To her horror, she remembered what she needed to tell him, and then realized what they just did.

"Oh, Spence," she muttered, barely audible. "Oh God, Spence. I am so sorry."

Spencer furrowed his eyebrows, confused. He quickly licked his lips in anxiety. "What-What do you mean?" Zyla swallowed, closing her eyes and unintentionally digging her fingers into his flesh in the darkness of the situation.

"I have something to tell you." she whispered, chest twisting painfully. Spencer looked at her with wide, anxious eyes. He studied her face, grabbing her tighter. "What? Zy, just tell me." he pushed when she was silent, needing to know.

Zyla slowly let go of him and untangled herself, pulling back and standing up from the car, not looking at him. She ran her shaky fingers through her hair nervously.

"This year, when you were gone, I-well, I got… together with Andrew Trump." Zyla spoke quietly, her fingers fumbling. Spencer tensed, his back going straight. His mouth fell agape, and he was struck by her stupidity. Was she insane?

"Trump? Zyla, are you an idiot? You know what he is, you know what his father does! I-I can't believe you'd be this stupid!" Spencer blew up. Immediately, Zyla's face grew hard and stony, and her body tensed. Her jaw set and clenched.

"You do not get to tell me that, Spencer. You're not my father. You left; where was I supposed to go?" Zyla said coldly. Spencer swallowed, squeezing his eyes shut in frustration. He jumped off the hood of the car, pacing and thinking, his mind working into overdrive.

"Zyla, you know his family. You know about him and what he's done! I-I just don't understand-"

"I love him," she said, her voice distant and blank. Zyla made it a priority to not look at him, seeming very interested in a blade of glass in front of her, but just imagining his face was enough to twist her gut over and over again. Her squeezed her eyes shut and pinched the bridge of her nose, gradually just putting her face in her hands. The place around them was silent, the only sounds the whispering of the trees and the music of summer crickets. Spencer did not speak, and Zyla pulled herself together. She cleared her throat and looked up, and she was right: his expression killed her. She forced that down, tried forcing everything down and make her face blank. For a few moments, it seemed to work, and she pushed herself to speak.

"I'm sorry. But you cannot dictate my life, Spencer. I'm in love with him, and I'm going to stay with him. If you can't accept that, fine. I'm sorry you can't." she started to move towards the car, balling the blanket on the window messily and throwing it in the backseat. She slammed into the driver's seat, started the car, and waited for Spencer to open the door so she could drive him home. Soon, he moved and got into the car silently. His face was stony and unreadable, and Zyla kept her eyes on the road instead.

For about fifteen minutes, the car was completely silent. The radio was off, the windows were up, and it felt stuffy with the tension, but neither moved to break it just yet. But then Spencer spoke. "You're going to get yourself killed if you stay with him. If you won't listen to me, I'm not going to stay around and watch you die. But I can help you. Please, Zy, don't do this to yourself."

Anger flared in her chest, traveling through her throat and out her mouth. "I can fucking take care of myself. You're acting like I'm going through this blindly, and I'm sick of it. I'm not a fucking child. I can take care of myself."

He blew up right back. "Can you? Because so far, this is just showing how you can't take care of yourself because you make stupid decisions. His father leads the biggest gang in Southern Nevada, and you're screwing his son."

The car screeched to a stop. Zyla breathed heavily, her eyes burning and her hands clenching the wheel so hard her knuckles turned white. Her eyes were closed as she calmed down. Spencer was silent next to her, his hands wringing into fists. After four minutes of silence, Zyla opened her eyes and started to drive again, going over the speed limit. Again, the car was silent. Zyla's jaw clenched as thoughts processed through her mind and her chest was compressing painfully in anger and hurt.

As soon as they hit the city limits, the car stopped yet again. Zyla stared out the window, wiping angry tears off her cheeks. Spencer wanted to comfort her, but white-hot anger flooded his veins. Only a part of it was aimed towards Zyla. Spencer pulled the door handle, but didn't open the door the full way.

"I'm sorry." Was all he said. Both of them didn't really know what he was sorry for.

After he closed the door, Zyla sped off, trying hard to not look back at him, but she did. Looking through the rearview mirror, she saw him standing at the curb watching her drive away. A second later, he turned and started moving.

Zyla drove around the neighborhood for a while, thinking. She knew that it was dangerous; a cop could pull her over and see that she was fifteen and needed an adult with her, but she didn't care. She couldn't go home. Zyla just could not deal with her mother's drunkenness right now. After another two minutes of aimless driving, she decided to go to Andrew's and see him. All she wanted was a hug and something strong to drink.

She pulled up in front of his house, parking the car and shutting it off. Instead of going in like she somewhat wanted to, she stayed in the car, face twisting as tears pooled over her cheeks. A shaky sob worked up her throat, and she let out a deep breath, trying to control herself.

Zyla didn't see Spencer for a while after that, but he was on her mind almost every single day. Drifting on her thoughts, as she is drifting now, further and further into….

Into what?


Drifting- she was drifting. Was this Heaven? Hell? That somewhere in between? Was she dead? Zyla Zone thought the dead couldn't hear, couldn't feel or touch. But she felt like she'd been run over with a truck, twice. She could feel the warm touch on her hand, curling around her fingers like a child's. She heard the beeping of the electroencephalogram, making the room fill with the mechanical sounds of her heartbeat.

Her eyelids fluttered open, and tried to focus under bright lights. They were heavy; in fact, her whole body felt heavy. Once she got a clear sight, she began to get a sense of her surroundings. She began remembering what had happened before she blacked out, trying to fit the scattered pieces of memories as she was slipping in and out of consciousness, trying to decide whether or not it was a dream or reality. She remembered the bullet being reality, that was for damn sure. She remembered the pain; the horrible sharp pain. Her skin was ripped and it was so bloody that she couldn't see where, couldn't see how bad it was. Panic began to bubble in her mouth again as she remembered laying on cold cement, wondering whether or not she was going to die-

Someone was holding her hand. Her fingers had twitched and she felt others, ones that were not her own. Zyla looked over, wearily turning her head as little as possible, and for a second she swore that she heard the machines blip.

He was here, and he was holding her hand. He was here, he was safe, he was alive.

Oh Spencer Reid, you're here.

Zyla half-laughed; a broken, hoarse sound grunting from her throat, but it made him look up. His eyes, that were wide and worried at first, softened and it made Zyla feel warm. She felt hot tears roll down her swollen cheeks, but didn't dare move to wipe them away. Her whole body throbbed. However, Spencer leaned over and wiped them for her with the pad of his thumb. His hand lingered on her cheek, and she leaned into it.

"Spencer." Zyla mumbled, her voice heavy, but he understood. He gently grabbed her hands in his.

"Hey stranger," Was all he said, but it made more tears roll down Zyla's cheeks. Spencer leaned forward and kissed her forehead softly. She squeezed her eyes closed, gripping his hands as tight as she dared. "Rest, Zy. I'll be here when you wake up."

"You too, Spence." she murmured, already falling back asleep. She felt his fingers stroke hers comfortingly.

Zyla didn't think of the risk of her staying here too long. She only thought of how absolutely wonderful sleep sounded to her, and the feeling of Spencer's hands holding hers.


A/N: AHH! I'm so sorry I took so long to update again! My life has been kinda hectic lately, and it hasn't given me a lot of time nor energy to write.

But finals are over, and break is here, so hopefully, I'll be writing more! So this isn't a great chapter, but it's important. We'll get to see more of what exactly Zyla is up to in the next chapter. I already have it written, so I should be uploading it around tomorrow.

Hope you guys had a good holiday. Leave reviews please, and have a happy new year!