A/C Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed so far! This story is inspired by various horror films (House of 1,000 Corpses, Texas Chainsaw, etc.). I'm not completely sure where I'm going with it, but that's the fun of it I suppose! And I do not own any part of Criminal Minds or the characters. Please keep reviewing and make suggestions if you have any! I love feedback as we all do.
"Well that was helpful," Reid said with a hint of sarcasm. He wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of heading to some stranger's house in the middle of nowhere to use a phone. The isolation of the entire town freaked him out to be perfectly honest. He couldn't help but think of that remote cemetery in Georgia where he had been held captive a few years prior.
"Don't worry, we'll call Hotch, tell him where we are and he'll have us directions in no time," J.J reassured him. She was a bit uneasy about the situation herself. After all she had seen over the years it was hard to trust people out in the world. But they needed a phone desperately and this seemed to be the only way.
"Try not to mention the whole Fed thing to anyone else, please," Prentiss said as they got in the car.
"Sorry, it just… slipped out." He knew that hadn't been the best move and in their situation there wasn't any room to cause people to turn them away. But to be honest it was hard to think clearly in the heat. Reid could feel a layer of sweat coating his back underneath his button down shirt. He never really felt comfortable wearing anything else so it had been the only option despite the temperature.
The car had heated up when they were inside. However, it felt even hotter due to the dark exterior. Prentiss turned it on along with the air and they waited a moment or two before getting in. J.J could feel her makeup melting on her face.
"Did you know 3,500 people died of heat stroke in Europe in 2003 when there was a heat wave?" Reid asked absent mindedly in the uncomfortable silence.
"Good to know," J.J said as she fanned herself with a folder.
The rest of the ride was taken in silence. Everyone was becoming a bit irritable regarding the situation at hand. Then they began to approach the back road that the woman mentioned. The area surrounded it was heavily covered in brush and the path itself was made of dirt, but the SUV could handle the terrain easily. As they got closer the house came into view. It was an old farm house with blue chipped paint and a wrap around porch. It was surprisingly large with three floors. It looked almost menacing sitting on the slope of the land. Fields surrounded it and fences could be seen in the distance. The front lawn had various pieces of scrap metal and such on it.
"This should be interesting," Prentiss said cynically. They already had a pretty good idea what the rest of this family would be like based on the woman back at the restaurant. The three of them were all having difficulty denying that she was the epitome of a stereotype. However, none of them were in the position to judge despite the fact that she acted like she wanted nothing to do with them.
"Should we all go you think?" Reid asked referring to going to ask about the phone.
"We should stay together," J.J stated strongly. Ever since the Tobias Hankel incident she was very weary about splitting up. Even though it had been years since then, the ghosts of that night would often enter her thoughts.
"Yeah, plus there's no use wasting anymore gas by having someone wait in the car," Prentiss added. She was well aware that the three of them might seem overwhelming to whomever was in the house, but they couldn't take any chances. "I think no guns would be a smart move as well. You saw how that woman reacted," She motioned towards Reid's weapon lying on his belt. With a shrug he handed it to J.J who placed it in the glove compartment with the rest of theirs.
Nodding in agreement they ventured out of the car back into the heat. The walk from the road to the house was a decent hike. And with the temperature rising, they were all tiring easily.
The trio then made there way up the steps of the porch. The old wood creaked eerily as their feet made contact. Reid had a feeling it might be ailing from termites. Looking through the cracks in the wood he jumped back in fright. There seemed to be an eye peering up at him.
"What? What is it?" Prentiss asked as her heart raced from shock. She had no idea what had gotten into him lately.
Reid peered down at the crack once again, but what he had seen vanished.
"N-nothing, I just thought I saw something," he said with a tinge of embarrassment. This was definitely not his day. He considered the idea that his mind was playing tricks on him. That was all he needed: delusions. And yet he could have sworn he saw something or someone gazing up through the crack.
"I think the heat's getting to you," J.J said lightly as she patted him on the shoulder. Like Prentiss she was beginning to grow worried for him again. She thought he had gotten through the rough patch after his abduction, but now she suspected new demons were lurking. Being that they were close she wished he would confide in her.
Prentiss rang the door bell resulting in a shrill beeping sound that echoed all throughout the entire house. They waited a few moments and still there was no answer. The woman had made it sound like someone was definitely home. Then the door opened. A girl in her twenties stood there. She had dark auburn hair pulled back in a ponytail. Her shirt exposed her belly button, which was pierced, and the daisy dukes she wore overly accentuated her shapely behind. Her face was covered with a heavy coating of makeup. None of them would be able to deny that she wasn't pretty.
"Well hello there," she said instantly eying Reid. There was a glimmer in her eyes that resembled a lioness setting her sights on prey. She was quite gifted at reading other's emotions so she caught onto his awkward nature quickly. Looking over Prentiss and J.J she was a bit more skeptical. They were the type of business-like women she deplored. She almost felt the desire to laugh at Prentiss' sharp appearance. J.J on the other hand had potential with her sweet face and blond hair.
"Hi… we were wondering if we could use your phone. A woman at the restaurant in town told us you had one," Prentiss asked cautiously. There was something about this girl that she didn't quite like. Maybe it was the way she was looking at Reid or maybe it was just her volatile demeanor, but there was something not right about her.
"Of course, of course! Come inside." With a grin she launched for Reid's hand and pulled him along inside. He looked back at his friends with a confused expression and a slight shrug. They couldn't help but chuckle a bit nervously. Her impulsive energy was a bit unnerving.
The house smelt like mildew as they entered through the door. The floors were wooden and a living room was visible. The furniture looked extremely old as if it had been in the family for a long time. They could also see a few portraits hanging up. The pictures seemed to date back to the early 1900's. Everything in the room seemed dusty however. Obviously they didn't keep up with their house cleaning.
"Now I never bring guests inside without offering them a drink first," the girl said with a smile, "I'm Angie by the way." With that she winked in Reid's direction. His two companions couldn't help but smirk. They had never seen a woman throw herself at Reid like this. Neither of them thought he was unattractive, but he just wasn't the type to have women all over him.
"That's very nice of you, but we really need to use a phone," Prentiss began gently. She didn't want to offend her, but they weren't here for any other purpose.
"Oh you need to use a phone?" Angie said in a daze, "Ours hasn't worked in ages. No one really has a need for it," she continued with a light giggle.
Prentiss and J.J exchanged confused glances. She had blatantly acted like they could use their phone and now they didn't have one that was working. Something was strange.
"Uh, the woman back at the restaurant said you had one though," Reid tried nervously. Angie kept smiling at him. He wasn't used to this much attention.
"Who, Mama? She don't know anything," she laughed.
"Is there anyone around who does have one?" Prentiss asked. She felt herself beginning to get agitated. It would be dark soon and the last thing any of them wanted was to be stuck in the middle of nowhere at night.
"Well my brother has a cell phone that gets a signal sometimes," Angie confessed.
Instantly they all pulled out their phones. Still, there was no signal. Was this family that cut off that they didn't have any means of communication?
"You can stay for dinner; He should be back by then."
The three excused themselves for a moment onto the front porch. It wasn't the most appealing option, but they supposed they had no other choice. There obviously wasn't a gas station in the immediate town from what they had seen and they wouldn't make it anywhere else. If they were nice enough these people might give them some gas.
The late afternoon carried on into night and Angie occupied her guests. She brought them lemonade and told them about all the pageants she used to do when she was younger. They tried their best to appear interested, but the only thing that was on Prentiss' and J.J's minds was getting the hell out of there. Reid on the other hand thought she was kind of amusing and sweet. She hung onto his every word no matter what was said.
Around six o'clock the woman from the restaurant came through the door. She had a tray of something in her hands that they assumed was dinner. The thought of food coming out of that filthy restaurant wasn't very appealing.
"Oh, they're still here?" she asked Angie as she put the tray on the kitchen table.
"Yep, they're staying for dinner," Angie responded with a smile. "This is Spencer… he's a doctor you know." With that she giggled again. She seemed to do that a lot when it came to Reid.
Prentiss had to fight off the desire to roll her eyes. This had been going on all afternoon. Hopefully the brother she mentioned would be home soon and they could get out of there.
"Did they tell you they're also FBI?" Mama replied skeptically.
"No, really?" Angie seemed even more interested at this idea. She wasn't even upset they had failed to tell her this little piece of information.
"And what is it that you do exactly?" the older woman hollered as she put plates out on the dining room table. All the rooms of the house seemed equally dirty. The smell of rotting meat from the restaurant was also present here.
"We work for the Behavioral Analysis Unit. Basically we study the behavior of serial killers," Reid stated quite bluntly.
"Serial killers? Jeez, that sounds dangerous," Angie exclaimed. Prentiss was waiting for her to hang onto Reid at any second.
"A bit," J.J responded. She was also growing tired of being there. Henry was constantly on her mind. The thought of Hotch calling Will about their disappearance made her anxious. She wondered what everyone else must be thinking. They had to get back soon.
By the time the dinner was prepared and they were all sitting down at the table a noise emerged from upstairs.
"That'll be Daddy," Angie said, "He's been trying to fix that toilet upstairs all day."
The three of them hadn't even realized someone else was there. They had heard noises, but they assumed it was just the old nature of the house. And then a man stumbled in. He was wearing a dirty flannel shirt, a worn pair of jeans and his face was covered in thick stubble. There was a snarl on his face that none of them liked the looks of.
"Who the fuck are they?" he asked eying them.
"Daddy! They're our gueeeests," Angie whined, "Don't be rude!"
"Where's dinner?" he asked.
"Right here, right here," Mama said as she brought out the tray once more. It looked as though it was some sort of chicken. The agents would've eaten anything at that point so they didn't mind as long as it wasn't diseased.
"When did you say your brother might be home?" J.J asked with a weak smile.
"Any minute now," Mama responded.
Reid felt his head begin to throb once more. He even started to feel a bit dizzy and nauseous. As much as he wanted to eat, he couldn't, Maybe he just needed to use the bathroom.
"Can I use your bathroom?" he asked.
"Sure, I'll show you where it is," Angie said as she got up excitedly. J.J and Prentiss exchanged looks at this. What an odd girl.
He was led to a small powder room. The walls were covered with wilting floral wall paper and the tiled floor was saturated with filth. This wasn't exactly helping his stomach. For a moment he almost lost his balance and grabbed onto the sink. What was going on with him? Reid figured he might as well go back since nothing was really helping him. As he walked the hall seemed to be spinning before his eyes. Something was really not right. Entering the dining room again he was greeted with a strange sight. Prentiss and J.J seemed to be lying their heads down on the table. Gazing up at everyone he saw they were continuing supper like nothing had happened. Before he could say anything he collapsed in the door way.