Secrets - Criminal Minds

Chapter 1 - Cleanish Slate

She stood still.

People walked beside her, but as she took in the building in front of her, her new home, she couldn't move. She'd been inside it seven times today, carrying boxes or bags of clothes, but now, as she holds the last box and realises that this is it, she can't move.

The snowflakes had covered all her hair by the time she took her first step, her feet scrunched against the hard snow that had settled on the floor.

This is her new apartment, and for some reason, she can't find it in herself to be excited about it. Living on a quiet, safe street close to her best friend would be amazing if she was certain to stay. This could be the life she had always wanted.

Taking a deep breath, she makes her way along the path, her body rigid and cold. She can't help but wonder what it would be like to have a place she could call home and actually mean it.

When she reached the front of the apartment building, Val leaned her shoulder on the translucent glass door, wincing as pain shot up her right side. She takes another breath that only entices the pain and takes her last step through the doorway.

As soon as her snow-covered boot touched the carpet, her eyes scanned the room, looking out for any threat, and she listened out for any unusual sounds. Still, the only person in the lobby is Marcus. The handsome old security guard who only works Mondays and Tuesdays - according to the file her old team leader gave her.

She nods towards him for what feels like the tenth time today. The elevator in the middle of the lobby taunts her as she turns left towards one of the flights of stairs that leads to the eighth floor.

"Miss Hubert, are you sure you don't want help?" Marcus's sweet voice vibrates on the marble walls of the building's lobby. The name feels foreign to her, but she still turns around to face Marcus, who is sitting comfortably in his spacious box office, wearing a concerned frown. His desk was illuminated by the sun strays coming through the bulletproof windows.

She declines his offer once again, making a quick exit to the stairs. The poor man has tried to explain multiple times that the elevator works and that there is no need for Val to keep using the stairs. Insisting that stumbling her way around would not help anyone.

She would never willingly walk into a small, closed space again.

Each step intensifies the sharp pain in her side, and she begins to curse herself for not accepting the older man's help, but she doesn't trust anyone to go inside her flat beside her best friend and herself. She keeps breathing through the pain, trying but failing to ignore it. A sweet child's voice travels down the corridor, followed by the calm and gentle voice of a woman, which she doesn't pay much mind to. She needed to get into her apartment to drop this damned box quickly.

Val doesn't quite remember what's inside the box if there is anything of value in it, but as soon as the door closes behind her, she drops it. She lets her body fall back against the wooden door and slides down, the pain too much to bear. Val knows she shouldn't have been making all these efforts, like with these stupid boxes. She has not been cleared by any doctor yet (not that she's been to one in the last two months) and is more focused on hiding and trying to survive long enough to escape him.

"We got him a Cupcake! No more hiding. We'll be working on moving you out of the safe house in the next couple of weeks." Her unit chief had called her two weeks ago excited. He was completely unaware that she had just woken up from a horrible nightmare that had her sweating and wishing that she hadn't survived any of it.

But right now, as Val sits on the wooden floor of the apartment she was forced to move into, she finds herself hoping that surviving is just the beginning of a new journey that will not involve as much shattering as in the past.