Jack and Annabelle had been walking for about five minutes before they reached a river.
Annabelle turned to Jack and took one of his hands with enthusiasms. "Are you ready to play the game?"
"I think so. What do I havta do?"
"First you have to go through the ritual so that we know you really want to play. Then the fun begins." She looked out at the river with a sinister smile. Similar to the Cheshire cat, only creepier. "You're going to go in the water and hold your breath as long as you can. When you come up, we will tell you if you're ready or not. Is that okay?"
"Yeah" His eyes lite up. "I can hold my breath for a really long time. I practice in my bath at home. My mommy says it's really cool and she would never be able to do it."
"So, are you ready?"
"Yeah!" He was bouncing on the balls of his feet as they continued the rest of the way down.
When they got in the water, Jack seemed to be excited to be playing the game. Annabelle, on the other hand, was excited for an entirely different reason.
"Okay, whenever you're ready." She whispered to him.
Jack took a deep breath, closed his eye, and finally pulled himself under the water. His feet left the ground as he didn't want to use any energy trying to keep them on the ground - so, he floated.
A couple seconds passed, then more and more. Jack could feel himself becoming lightheaded, but he wanted to push himself to the end. Finally, he told himself he could come up. Mentally, he counted to 45 seconds. He was hoping that would be enough.
His head started to come up but he felt a hand on the top of his head holding him down. He put his feet to the mud beneath his feet and tried using that as an extra boost. Nothing worked. He was being firmly held down. He opened his eyes to see another option but he was greeted with a sight that left his mouth hanging open. Hands were coming at him from every direction. Some grabbed his legs, others grabbed his arms. They all pulled him farther under the water. The first hand no longer held his head. He looked up and saw Annabelle above the water laughing manically.
Water had rushed into his mouth. When his lungs couldn't hold out any longer they gasped for breath. Then they started to burn as the water lodged itself in his lungs and throat.
Jack became dizzy and watched as darkness started swarming in from the edge of his eyes. His head became heavy and his arms felt like a deadweight. The hands left him and he was floating somewhere between the bottom of the river and the top. Although, he didn't have the energy to pull himself up. He just hung in the now peaceful abyss that was left before he lost all consciousness.
Haley mumbled something and turned on her side. She reached her hand out to wrap around Jack and help keep him warm, but all she reached were empty blankets. "Jack?"
She opened her eyes and saw exactly what her hands felt. No child, just blankets. Alarmed, she sat up quickly, looked around, and jumped out of the already open tent.
Her heart was pounding and her hands were shaking. Then her frantic eyes landed upon Hotch and Rossi.
"Aaron?" They turned around confused when they heard the trembling in her voice. "Have you seen Jack?"
"No, I thought he was with you." Suddenly he started to get up and was soon followed by Rossi.
"He's not with me. I woke up and he was gone."
"Well, he couldn't have gotten too far. I'll get the others." Rossi then rushed to their tents and quickly woke them up. They came out immediately.
When everyone was there, they started walking past Haley and Jack's tent, because if he went any other direction, they would have seen him.
They were walking for about five minutes, looking in every direction and only seeing trees and hearing the crunch of dead leaves beneath their feet.
At one point everyone heard a rustling and then a screech. They all turned to look at JJ who had a death grip on Reid's arm. Reid, uncomfortable and confused, asked, "What is it?"
"Something grabbed my leg. I don't know what it was, it felt like a hand. But it was there."
"JJ..." Hotch started but was cut off.
"Don't you JJ me. I felt it, dammit. I'm not delusional. I 'felt' it. I know I did. You have to believe me. Come here." She let go of Reid and got on her hand and knees to start sweeping away the leaves and dirt.
Again, Hotch sighed. Everyone looked at each other, unsure how to respond to their friends usual behavior. Hotch kneeled down and put a comforting hand on JJ's shoulder. "JJ, let's get going."
"NO!" She yelled. She was tired of them not believing her. She knows what she saw, she knows what she felt. She wouldn't let them walk away from something she was so adamant about proving. "It's here. We just have to keep - Oh my!" She gasped and fell back.
Hotch looked down and saw what she unburied. It was a human head. A child no less. It wasn't Jack, but he had an uncanny resemblance to Hotch's missing child.
Haley watched wide-eyed and tense. She wasn't sure how to respond. First she wanted to scream, or faint. She didn't know. But she was now more determined to find her son.
That is until she heard her son.
"MOMMY! MOMMY! Look, look what I can do!" Haley turned around to Jack's voice but never saw him.
"Jack? Where are you?" By now the team was watching her with mild curiosity but still fully aware of the body they had just uncovered.
"Don't you see me, Mommy? I'm right here." Haley felt a tugging on the hem of her Pajama's. She looked down but didn't see anything. All she saw were the ripples from the wind on her loose top.
"Jack?"
Everyone continued to watch her until they started hearing children laughing and what sounded like splashing coming from ahead of them. Reid looked beyond Haley and steady river not too far from them. He pointed it out and everyone walked over. Even Haley, who kept feeling the tugging of her shirt but saw nothing.
"Is that - NO!" Haley was looking at the river when she saw a body floating, head down, in the river. The body was wearing Jack's pajamas and had his hair.
They all rushed down and Hotch grabbed the kid from the water. Everyone backed away and watched as Rossi helped Hotch turn the kid over.