Remember Me..?

Everyone has that one person that they will always remember. You may not have seen this person daily but over the years their image has just stuck in your mind. You won't always think about them, they may just pop into the forefront of your mind at random moments over the years leaving you to wonder.

What ever happened to him?

You wonder what they're doing now, and this thought will hit you while you're shopping for shoes or underwear. You'll remember one of the last times you really saw them or held a conversation with them. They were probably walking with their head down, kicking a rock or you were looking behind you every so often just to make sure they were okay.

I had one of those people and he crept into my mind at least once a year. I could remember the last time I spoke to him just like yesterday. It was sad really, he was socially awkward and I had wanted to talk to him more but I could tell he wasn't comfortable. I had let him walk away leaving me standing on the sidewalk behind him in slight wonder.

Seeing the lanky boy ahead I sped up my own pace rushing up beside him, pulling the straps of my backpack down as I ran to keep it from moving. I knew I had to move quickly, he was a pretty fast walker when he wanted to be, I usually considered myself lucky if I ever managed to catch up with him.

"Hey" I smile uncertainty; I never really knew how he would react to me. Sometimes my unexpected greetings seemed to annoy him, other times he embraced them and engaged me into some civil conversation, brief conversation but civil no less. It was hard to know what to expect from Spencer Reid, we were the same age but due to his intelligence he was currently attending our local high school.

His intelligence didn’t intimidate me; on the contrary he was one of the few people who at the age of 12 I thought could actually hold a decent conversation with me. The girls in my middle school often spent our free time giggling about boys because they finally discovered that they didn’t have cooties. That and at our age hormones and other psychological factors came into play making the opposite sex appeal to us. Well that’s what I had read at least.
I wonder if Spencer had read that too, I wonder if I appealed to him?

"Hi" he mumbles in reply, glancing over quickly before he returns his gaze to the sidewalk. I grip the straps on my backpack tighter not knowing how to carry on the conversation. Spencer was a mystery, and I understood he was a quite person. I had also heard that he was picked on quite a bit at school from my older brother. That alone was enough to assure me that my own decision not to advance to high school this year had been a good one.

After that we don't talk we continue our walk in silence both seeming to enjoy the silence. It had been the last day of school and I was tempted to ask what he had planned to do over the summer but at the same time I didn't want to break the silence. I mean he was a 12 year old boy, there wasn't too much he could do anyway right?

As we near my house I watch as my older brothers car swings in the drive way not to far ahead causing both Spencer and I to slow our pace. It only takes a few moments and a curious look from my brother before he looses interest and slams his way into the house his girlfriend trailing behind. Sighing I watch Spencer’s face scrunch up before he resumes his pace walking away.

I follow behind slowly stopping at the bottom of my driveway watching as he made his way down the street towards his own house. We had lived near each other for as long as I could remember, when we were younger my Mom sometimes watch him while his mother was working. As a kid we had been closer but as we grew older we both seemed to shrink away from each other and spent our time reading. Spencer had always read faster then I did of course, but I wasn’t far behind.

"Spencer!" I call behind him, he pauses and turns slowly. I could almost see the uncertainty on his face as he faced me, from 5 feet away I could see the tension in his shoulders. "Have a good summer" I offer watching as his shoulders relaxed. The only indication I got that he heard me was small smile and a nod before he spoke.

"You too Anne, see you around."

That was the last day I spoke to Spencer Reid, it was well known that the following school year he went to Cal Tech thus becoming some sort of idol to those who focused only on academics. I saw him a few times when he came home over the summers from a distance, as we grew older so did our gap. We didn't talk after that day, I'd offer a smile or a brief wave, he was usually making his way quickly to his destination and I was lucky to get an acknowledgement. He was still that person I'd think about every so often. And as smart as I was Spencer Reid would probably always remain a mystery to me.



Fuck. That was the only word that came to my mind as I dropped the large binding onto the ground. The splash was a good indication that the pages would now be soaked, I was going to have to get it reprinted now and didn’t really know if I had enough time. Rubbing my face roughly in frustration I bend and pick up the book between two fingers and make my way over to a garbage can dropping the soggy mess into it.

“Not like I needed that or anything” I mutter to myself before mentally calculating the time it was going to take to re-print another copy of the text I had spent the last few months working on.

“Talking to yourself again?” a voice questions, I jump startled by the voice and spin around to see my publisher holding out another bound copy of my latest book a small smirk on her face.

“I always talk to myself,” I respond with a shrug taking the book, nodding in thanks. “you physic or something?”

With a laugh she shakes her head before turning back towards her building, “No, I just happen to know you have horrible luck.” She calls over her shoulder making me roll my eyes. That was correct of course. I was pretty klutzy and needed them usually re-printed a few times for my own copy. I was a notorious editor and continued to revise even after the book had been published. I would even hand out pages of inserts to my college classes with instruction to add the material. I was only 26 and a college professor giving lectures in Psychology, Physics and English. I had PhD’s in all three, but I was still often undermined by my colleges, I was sure they only thought of me as some kind of freakish wonder child with questionable social skills.

That was probably true, I didn’t even really look my age and could be mistaken as a student, something which I used as an advantage to slip into lectures from other faculty’s like the forensic sciences and engineering. The University of Virginia offered a lot of courses that interested me, probably the reason I accepted their offer to teach there after my own graduation four years ago.

I look back at my car before deciding that a cup of coffee and some writing maybe a good activity for the next few hours. Not only did I write textbooks but I had a few published novels and was currently finishing up the third in a series I had been writing. Smiling to myself I turn on my heel, mentally patting myself on the back for my good idea, only to crash into a chest my book flying from my grasp once more.

“You have got to be kidding me” I mutter bending down quickly to retrieve my book before I had a repeat of the soggy wet mess that was sitting in the trash.
“I apologize, I didn’t anticipate that you were going to turn so quickly” a male voice apologizes from above me. Grabbing the book I roll my eyes before placing a fake smile into place.

“Don’t worry about it” I answer in a falsely nice tone looking over the mans shoulders not really caring enough to engage in eye contact.
“Anne? Anne Duncan?”

My eyes snap over and upwards at the sound of my name. I feel my eyes widen as I recognize the man in front of me standing tall, his hair shorter then I had ever seen it.

“Spencer Reid?”