Beautiful Things

When I came to, I was completely disoriented. I had no idea where I was or what had happened. My right arm was aching something awful and my entire body felt heavy. I tried to move, but then I realized my arms were tied together behind a pole. I rested my head against it, since I was clearly stuck here anyways.

It seemed like I was in a basement. I tried to remember all my surroundings, in case I escaped and had to identify the place. Then the thought of me not escaping came to me, and there was an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. I pieced together the previous moments before I was here.

I remembered Reid. I remembered how his eyes lit up as the sun hit his face through the coffee shop window. I remember how he followed me around, making sure I was okay. I remembered how his laugh instantly made me smile, and I smiled now just thinking about it.

Then what had happened? We headed to my apartment, right? And then...

And now I'm here. I'm tired and cold and lonely and scared and so stuck here. I've never been kidnapped before, so I wasn't sure how this was going to go. All I knew was how the other girls ended up, and that scared me to death, possibly literally.

No. Not possibly literally. I decided I wasn't going to die here. I was going to get out and I was going to be able to put this deadly duo behind bars. I wasn't going to give up without a fight, no matter what they threw my way. I hadn't trained myself to be weak, so I wasn't going to be.

I wondered how long I had been here. I tried to look at the spot where my arm hurt, I was sure they had injected me with something. That made it even more difficult for me to tell the time. The only thing I knew was that the other girls didn't last long, and I was sure they wouldn't leave me alone forever.

So I waited. I counted each minute, even though as each one passed, my anxiety grew. The only way I felt I would get through this without having a heart attack was thinking about something happy, so I did.

"Hey Rebecca," a voice said in a way that made me uneasy.

I pulled my knees up to my chest and kept a solid glare at the man who entered. I wasn't going to beg. I wasn't going to give them anything they wanted. If they were going to kill me, they would have a really unpleasant time doing so. I would be a hassle, I swore.

A man stood in front of me, looking down at my exhausted body. I was in no state ready to fight, but it wasn't an option at this point. He knew I was tired, and he was going to take advantage of that.

"Did you see those other girls?" he asked me softly as he kneeled down to my level. "They looked like you, huh?"

He reached out a hand to touch my face, but I turned away. I didn't want his hands anywhere near me. He stifled a laugh at my protest.

"Don't worry, they didn't mean a thing to me," he continued, "I was just killing time until I had you, Becca."

I made direct eye contact. I wasn't exactly sure who Rebecca was, but I wasn't going to be her. I wasn't going to play along with his fantasy, because if I did, I would have to play until the very end.

"I'm not Rebecca," I hissed.

He stood up, clearly frustrated with me. He raised a hand and I winced as it came down across my face. My cheek stung bright red, but soon enough that side of my face drifted into numbness. I breathed a little heavier, but my emotion didn't change. He wasn't even close to breaking me.

"I'm not going to rush this," he assured me sinisterly before he left.

I was left, still tied to the pole, bleeding from my nose. I wasn't sure what I was going to do or how I was going to get out of this. I began crying. I couldn't help it, but I thought that now was the best time if any. I really just wanted a tea.



I was awoken by two clammy hands placed on my shoulders, shaking me back and forth. Well, as back and forth as I could go being tied to a pole. I opened my sleepy eyes, just realizing I had fallen asleep. I cursed myself for allowing that to happen.

A girl was sitting in front of me. She was holding ice to my face and smiling sympathetically. I stared curiously at her. Clearly, she had been the one who helped abduct me, but I wasn't sure what she was doing right now.

This wasn't part of the profile.

"He's gone out," she told me.

"Who?" I asked, trying to drag a name out of her.

"You know who," she replied, not falling for my trick for a second. "What's your name?"

"Did you ask the other girls that too?"

She paused and glared at me. "I'm trying to be friendly."

"Friendly, right," I scoffed. "My name's Megan, not Rebecca."

"I know you're not Rebecca!" she laughed. "Megan's a pretty name. You work for the police, right?"

"Can you tell your little friend that my name isn't Rebecca, then?" I asked angrily.

"Do you work for the police?" she repeated, ignoring me, "Yes or no?"

"Yes," I answered, going along.

"And you brought the FBI here, am I correct?"

I wasn't sure where she was going with this. Knowing that she was a serial killer's accomplice meant it was probably somewhere pointless. I nodded in response, just to see where she was taking it. She went quiet for a second.

"How fast do you think the team will figure this out?"

"I..." I paused, somewhat shocked with her question, "I don't know."

"Well hopefully they'll get here in time," she said finally, ending the conversation without making eye contact.

She got up and left the basement, taking the ice and the answers to every question I had with her.