GRACEN.
—
her eyes slowly opened, but when gracen caught sight of the gray concrete wall, the dim lighting, and the smell of strong chemicals and cinnamon, it hit her. her eyes shot open, adrenaline running through her veins as she let out a strangled scream, kicking around in the chair she was tied to. her chest heaved up and down as she tried to wake up from her nightmare, digging in her nails into her hand.
but this was real. she was back here and this was happening. a tear slipped down her cheek, then many more, as she thought about the things she hadn't done yet in her life.
gracen knew she was going to die in here. she knew he was going to kill her after ten years.
fuck.
she thought back to the five months of freedom she had. gracen wished she did more. she should've known it wasn't over. she should've taken more walks outside, she missed the sun so badly. she missed spencer so badly.
and the last thing she said to him was she never wanted to see him ever again. gracen sobbed, her cries escalating until she her throat seized up from a lump. it hurt so badly—everything hurt so badly.
"end it." gracen said. "FUCKING END IT! KILL ME!"
her voice echoed throughout the cellar, and no voice was heard except for hers. "DO YOU HEAR ME?!" she shrieked.
suddenly the wooden door flung open, and gracen immediately regretted her actions. from what she could tell, the door only led to another area, not outside. she was underground.
there was a shadow standing in front of the now closed door, and as he approached gracen she started to freeze. wanting to run. needing to run. but she was bound tight to the chair.
"gracen..." he cooed. "oh, my little grace..."
she froze, paralyzed from shock as the man's face finally came into view.
her heart was sending all kinds of signals—telling her she knew this man, and that there was more to him than what her eyes could see. but gracen couldn't put her finger on it. who was this man to her?
her brain didn't recognize him. but her heart did. and right at that moment, it was screaming at her to get away.
"who...who the hell are you?" she asked. "are you ben?"
the man was middle aged, maybe in his late 30s. he had shaggy brunette hair and round glasses that sat on his face, somehow adding more eeriness to his features. he wore an outfit that was similar to how reid dressed—and she thought back to what the cute genius had said to her one time.
"if i don't have my gun on me gracen, i look like a teachers assistant."
a teacher. her instincts were firing up, this man had to have been a teacher. at her school.
"don't fuck around." he said with hard eyes, crouching down at eye level. "don't play stupid."
"i don't know who the hell you are." gracen spat at him, making him flinch. "let me go."
"i'll make you remember." he said, standing up angrily, slapping her. gracen didn't let out a single reaction as her cheek burned with pins and needles. she stared him dead in the eyes.
"fuck you." she said. "fuck you ben."
"don't you remember what i did to your family? all those people you loved? or do i have to remind you—"
"shut the fuck up." gracen gritted her teeth. there wasn't anymore fear in her anymore. she had nothing to loose. gracen at least just wanted to die easy. but she and ben knew that wasn't going to happen.
"i'm going to make you suffer so badly, grace." he slowly chuckled, grazing his fingertips of her jaw. "for running away. and then i'll kill you." ben traced his hand across his neck, mimicking a slitting motion. twice. "like that."
"they'll find you. they'll fucking find you!" gracen yelled through gritted teeth, disgusted at his hands on her.
"oh, i already found them first." ben said smugly, picking at his fingernails. "i've been following you and your little fling around for this past month."
gracen's breath hitched in her throat. he knew about spencer.
"that's why i took you after you guys had that little fight. tragic, really. the last thing you ever get for say to your lover boy is that you never want to see him again. luckily for for both of you, i can't easily grant that wish." ben brought his face up close, his eyes glinting with glee as he watched her expression morph into horror.
"no. no!" she smacked her head against his, making him fall back again. "don't touch him. please don't."
"that was a mistake, grace." ben rubbed his forehead painfully. "you used to be sweet. what changed?"
"you. you fucked me up! YOU RUINED MY LIFE!" gracen lost control, thrashing violently in the chair. "you took everything away from me."
"no." he said. "you did this to yourself. you say you're innocent, you act like you've done nothing wrong in this world, but we both know that's wrong."
"what have i done to you?" she asked weakly.
"the looks, the smiles, your posture, everything. EVERYTHING! and you never noticed. not once. you blindly waltzed around, flirting with any boy in sight. i wanted you. so i got you."
it was true that gracen was loved at her school, and she remembered that. the way she took advantage of boys for their homework, and even getting them to buy things for her. maybe this was karma. maybe gracen deserved this.
no. no one deserved this.
"you're sick." she glared. "over a little crush? you're a psychopath, ben."
"it wasn't just a crush, gracey. it's an obsession. i control you. i run your entire fucking life, gracen, and both you and i know that." ben said, running his hand through her hair. "but i'm going to have to kill you. since i can't have you."
"damn right." gracen said. "and they'll find you. they'll lock you up for life. and i'll be in hell laughing my ass off at how pathetic you are."
"yeah? we'll see about that." the man grabbed a table, setting a camera in front of her.
"say hello, gracen."
—
SPENCER.
"oh my god." garcia said, covering her mouth as her eyes grew wide at her laptop screen.
"what? what is it?" spencer asked, rushing to her side. garcia stopped him.
"i-i don't think you want to see this." garcia said, her eyes watering up. "you don't want to see this, spencer."
"no. no. give it to me." spencer forcefully grabbed her laptop, desperate to see gracen alive. his breath caught in his throat. she was alive.
"is there sound?" spencer asked. garcia shook her head. "can you track it, garcia?" he asked, trying to push down the desperation in his voice.
garcia went to work, typing viscously on her laptop with trembling hands as she tried to hack it. "i-i can't. what the hecking—ugh!" she threw her hands up. "i can't, he's using a virus laced router and if i hack into it our fbi shanagans is at extreme risk, and even if i get past the router i'm not sure i can get past the other obstacles he's set up for me and i know he has because this man is a sick son of a—"
"okay." spencer said hurriedly, stepping back and running his hand through his hair, taking a few deep breaths to calm down.
"what can you do, garcia?" hotch asked.
"i'm not sure, i'm thinking right now. he directly sent the live to my laptop, which means he's relatively close—"
"how close?" jj asked.
"7 miles max? i-i can't be sure."
"okay. at least we have a radius we can work off of." morgan said, patting garcia on the back. "you got this, babygirl."
"i'm trying."
spencer watched over garcia's shoulder as the livestream showed gracen tied up to a chair, angrily lashing out at her captivator. his heart wrenched at her already bruised face, but other than that, she hadn't been hurt too badly. yet.
they watched as her captivator, dressed uncannily alike reid—approached her with a black ski mask on. he was holding a knife.
spencer gnawed on his bottom lip until he tasted blood. "he's—he's going to hurt her." spencer said, his voice cracking.
"oh my god." prentiss murmured as the man slowly cut gracen's neck, not deep enough to kill her but deep enough for blood to pour out of the wound. the girl didn't give a single reaction. she was disassociating herself. spencer felt relieved she wasn't in as much pain as she could be. but the tears were still building up in his eyes.
he slapped her once in the face, gracen's head whipping to one side. spencer looked at his hand. no ring. he was unmarried.
GRACEN.
—
"gracen, do you know how much we love you?"
gracen looked up, meeting eyes with her parents. she screamed in joy, the three engulfing each other in a big hug. oh how she missed it. the warmth. her father smelling like oak wood and her mother smelling like flowery perfume.
"how did you guys find me? where-where are we?" gracen asked.
"your favorite park." mother said, as the scene around her morphed into a playground, specifically a swing set.
"we used to go here all the time." gracen said, grazing her fingers over the metal chains, before sitting on the swing.
her father came up behind her, pushing her slightly. gracen giggled in happiness as her mother watched with a large smile, the corners of her eyes crinkling ever so slightly.
suddenly, a sharp pain erupted from her neck. gracen stopped, crying out, as she felt her own blood dripping down. "ow! dad, mom, it hurts!"
"you can do it, sweetie. we believe in you." her mom said, coming over and touching the wound. the pain faded away immediately and gracen returned back to a euphoric state.
"thank you." gracen said. "but i'm scared. will you guys stay with me?"
"we will stay with you forever. we never left." she replied, cupping gracen's face. gracen sinked into her mothers touch before another pin erupted in that exact spot, making her mother retreat.
gracen whimpered. "he's going to kill me."
"no he's not, you're going to be in a lot of pain, but you'll make it, alright honey?" her father said, peering at her with warm blue eyes.
gracen bit her lip and nodded, as the torture continued. every time she was struck, her mother healed her over and over again. for once, she believed in herself. she could take it. she could survive him. she could survive ben.
—