Hey People from around the globe that decided to be so kind and read my story,

How have you guys been? It's been awhile, hasn't it? I'm sorry about that. I really am. I could list plenty of reasons as to why I have been unable to write, but does it really matter? It's life, it happens, it's as simple as that. But please forgive me.

Anyways, I hope this chapter does justice...now let's see where it takes me.

Chapter 5: They're Not Just Ghosts, Morgan!

"Aaron, I'm going to take Jack and go to sleep. It's getting late and he's barely keeping his eyes open." Haley commented to Aaron and then gave him a quick peck on the cheek. She turned around and picked Jack up from the leaves he was laying in. Together, they went to their tent and fell asleep.

Reid, on the other hand, was nervously trying to comfort JJ while Hotch and Rossi discussed their plan of action about JJ's break down and Morgan and Prentiss' whereabouts.

"They couldn't have gone far." Rossi started. "There should be plenty of twigs to find on the ground. We should still be able to see them, but we lost them two hours ago."

"Jack." There was a pause until the name was repeated. "Jack."

Slowly, Jack opened his eyes. Everything around him was foggy and his head hurt from being woken up too early. "That's it. Hi, my names Annabelle. I wanna play a game with you, but you have to be very quiet. Do you want to play as well?"

Jack looked around. He saw nothing but his mom sleeping a few inches from him. His brow furrowed and he rubbed his eyes a bit. When he focused his eyes he saw a dim light to his left. A child, barely older than Jack himself, was kneeling with her skirt flowing around her. She had an angelic glow surrounding her and a slight transparency through her skin. Her clothing looked nothing like the girls at his daycare wore. She spoke with both elegance and confidence structured into her sentences. Jack noticed that the only time he had seen girls wear and speak like she did was in older films he watched with his dad, but he could never tell you the era those characters were from.

Annabelle reached out her hand and offered it to Jack. "I want to play down by the river but I'm sure your parents might not let you. It will be a lot of fun. All you need to do is be very quiet and come with me, okay? I promise it will be fun and you'll meet all my friends as well. Would you care to join me?"

It took a few seconds for Jack to comprehend what she was asking and he had a nagging feeling in the back of his mind telling him to say no, but her warm, gentle eyes compelled him to nod his head and take her hand.

"That's it. Now, be very quiet. We can't let your dad or that other old guy see you." Annabelle unzipped the tent quickly but quietly, something Jack wouldn't have been able to do, and she led Jack around the tent and into the forest behind them.

Hotch and Rossi sat, unaware, as the youngest Hotchner disappeared from the camp site.

Prentiss' breathing had even out after a few long minutes. She was still shivering despite the humid weather out.

Morgan's hand rested on her lower back while he looked around to try and find any sign of life, or, in this case, dead people.

So far, the most either of them have heard were the gentle brushing of leaves on branches and the occasional owl. Both indicated that they were somewhere, but where? They didn't know.

"We came from that way," Morgan turned and pointed in the direction of a narrow path surrounded by trees. "I think."

"I could have sworn we just got turned around and we should head straight." Prentiss stood straight up and glanced in both directions. She corrected herself when she saw what direction he was looking in. "My straight, not yours."

"No, I would have remembered walking up a hill like the one we just came from. We never did." He turned toward his partner.

She sighed in response. "And I would have remembered a path that narrow. We never walked through there. I'm telling you, we came from that direction."

Morgan looked down and took a deep breath before looking back up and glancing at the trees that were around them. He took notice to the fact that the trees were Cypress Trees, but why they were here, he didn't know. Briefly he remembered one of the random facts the Reid spewed out on a slow day. He could remember that Reid had mentioned that Cypress Trees were used in cemeteries to slow down the rotting of the corpses, again, why he remembered that of all things, he didn't know. He continued to observe the trees when he felt a rope-like object beginning to snake its way around his ankles. He looked down and watched has roots grew out of the ground. For a few moments he felt immobilized to do anything until he felt a ice cold hand wrap around his wrist. He looked up.

Prentiss' eyes were wide and her mouth slightly ajar. Her skin was deathly pale with hints of green and a purple tint around her eyes and lips. She wasn't looking at him, instead, at the the trees.

He followed her gaze and found eyes starring back at him. Not one pair, or two, but hundreds. Each one morphing from the trees. Then noses began to appear and eventually twisted, smiling mouths grinning sinisterly at them.

While watching as the trees transformed into faces, they failed to remember the roots growing around them. Finally they felt the rough bark crawl under their shirts and rub against their flesh.

Ants crawled off the roots and onto their smooth skin and began marking them.

Quickly, both Morgan and Prentiss reacted and tried peeling the roots from their bodies, but it was too no avail.

The branches lurched and pulled them to the ground. Their backs hit the dirt with a thud.

They tried sitting up but more roots grew and they continued to wrap around them. Eventually the roots snaked around their necks and started to choke them until they coughed. The darkness became more intense and they both began to feel light-headed and weak.

Prentiss' head slightly shifted to the side and she saw hands, children's hands, coming from the ground toward her face. She was about to scream but they blocked her mouth and covered her eyes. Her only senses left were both hearing and feeling. She felt the rough dirt beneath her rub against her skin. She felt hands running up and down her body while goosebumps formed in their wake. But she heard whispers from every direction. Behind every whisper was a different voice. A meaning. A purpose.

"Come play with me." A child's voice echoed in her ears.

Finally she heard a dulled buzz and her thoughts blurred together. She no longer felt alive. She no longer felt anything.

Eventually, Morgan soon followed.

Watching from a distance, Rose smiled as both the Profiler's bodies were engulfed and buried beneath the dirt and roots.