18.) Day Two

Melanie

I had been in and out of sleep the entire night, trying my best to ignore the throbbing pain that was coming from my now mangled hand, but that was easier said than done. My eyes were tired from all the crying I had been doing and I was physically and emotionally exhausted. Every time I closed my eyes to sleep, I'd see images of my grandma getting shot, which made my eyes shoot back open. I tried to think of something else...anything else, really, but it was no use.

"You're giving up?" I heard, as I looked up. Standing in front of me was Spencer, as he leaned against the table with his hands in his pockets.

"No, I'm not giving up. Not yet anyways." I said.

"Then why haven't you attempted to escape?"

"How do you expect me to escape, Spencer? I'm tied to this chair, with only one good hand, and the hand that I would've used to escape is literally broken!"

"Then help us find you." He said. "Look around...tell me what you see." I looked around the semi dark place, only seeing a small ounce of light coming from outside.

"I see...hay. Lots and lots of hay." I said, squinting my eyes. "I'm in a barn."

"Okay good. Have you been in this barn before?"

"I...I'm not sure. It's really dark in here."

"Okay, let's not focus on what you can see. Focus on what you can hear or what you can smell. Use your other senses." He said. I closed my eyes, hearing a rooster in the distance.

"I hear a rooster, which means...I'm close to a farm." I said.

"Good. Keep going. What else?"

"I...I can hear the sound of light rain, which explains the strong dirt smell."

"Focus, Melanie. Give us something that will help find you!" He continued, making me close my eyes tighter.

"I...I can hear..." I began, but before I could continue, I felt cold water being thrown on me; causing me to jerk awake from my uncomfortable slumber.

"Rise and shine, sleepyhead." Javier spoke, tossing the bucket to the side.

"What in the actual fuck!" I snapped. I looked around and Spencer was nowhere in sight.

"Who knew you'd grow up to have such a potty mouth?" He was enjoying seeing me suffer and he better hope I don't make it out of here alive, because if I do...I was going to kill him. "I brought you breakfast."

"No thank you. I'm not hungry." The lies I tell. I haven't eaten anything since yesterday afternoon, but I didn't want any food from him. There's no telling what he could've done to the food.

"Aww, what's wrong? You don't trust me?" He asked, making me glare at him. "Fair enough, but don't worry. I didn't do anything to the food. You'll need your strength for what I have planned for you today, so open up." He held the biscuit up to my mouth and I took a small bite, slowly chewing it. So far, so good, I guess. I took another bite, eating until the biscuit was gone.

"For someone who wasn't hungry, you surely devoured that food." I rolled my eyes, ignoring his comment, as he opened up some water and pressed it against my lips. It didn't dawn on me at how thirsty I was, until I damn near sucked the bottle dry. "Good girl." He smirked, walking away from me. Now that it was daylight outside, I could see a lot better than I could last night, and I was indeed in an old rundown barn. It looked as if it had been abandoned for years and was on its last leg, but something was still holding this thing together.

"I need to pee." I told him. He's only taken me to the bathroom twice, which consists of me doing my business in a bucket, that was in the corner of the room. Huffing loudly, he untied me and walked me over towards the corner, and stepping away so I could pee.

"No funny business!" He spat, making me roll my eyes. I peered through one of the cracks, seeing nothing but trees and bushes, and a long dirt road that traveled God knows where. Where the hell were we? And why did none of this seem familiar?

Once I was done, he basically dragged me back to my chair, being oddly attentive towards my broken hand.

"Where are we?" I asked him. I knew he wouldn't tell me, but I had to figure out how I was going to get away from him.

"That's for me to know and for you to never find out. Now...shall we get started?" He pressed the button on the camera, before grabbing a syringe, and slowly walking towards me.

"What is that?! What are you doing?!" He ignored me, grabbing my head, and jamming the syringe into my neck. I could feel my veins burning, like my entire body was on fire from the inside, which made it hard for me to breathe. "I can't...I can't..." I started gasping for air, feeling my entire body shake, before everything slowly started to numb.

"How are you feeling now?" He asked me, with a smirk on his face.

"What did you give me?" I slurred, feeling like I was drunk and on a cloud, all at the same time. Is this what it feels like to be high? And why haven't I tried this before?

"Just a little serum I bought. Now...how about you and I play a little game?" He brought the camera closer, before grabbing something off the table, and sitting down. I could barely focus, let alone pay attention to what he was doing, because whatever he gave me...had me in a daze. "Focus, Melanie. Tell me...who is this?" He showed me a picture of Hotch.

"That's...that's Hotch."

"Good...good. And what can you tell me about Agent Hotchner?" He asked me.

"He doesn't...he doesn't have a sense of humor." I said, letting out a laugh. "He's always soooooooo serious!" I laughed harder, letting my head fall back. If this was some sort of drug, then I wouldn't mind feeling like this again. I felt GOOD!

"Hey! Hey!" He slapped my face, making me blink, as I looked at him. "Focus! Who is this?" It was a picture of JJ.

"JJ. She's like the mama bear of the team. She's so bad ass at her job, but...I don't think she likes me." I could barely focus, as he kept asking me about different members of the team, even though I was just trying to enjoy this high that was slowly making me higher and higher. What the hell did he give me?

"And what about him?" He said, holding up a picture of Spencer, which instantly gave me butterflies. "He's a special one, isn't he?"

"That's not nice." I slurred, shaking my head. How dare he call Spencer special?! That's kinda like saying he's dumb, but he isn't dumb! He's smart! "And I'll have you know, he's a genius, and he...he..." My eyes slowly closed, but shot back open when a felt a hard slap.

"He what?!"

"He's an excellent lover." Oh shit, did I just say that out loud? Knowing that I was on camera? "I mean...he's an excellent lover of knowledge!" I couldn't help but to laugh at myself. The hell was I talking about? He tossed the pictures down on the table and I couldn't tell if he was angry or just over my bullshit. He honestly couldn't be mad at me, when he's the one that did this, right? He went to turn the camera off, but I quickly stopped him.

"Can I ask you something now?" He turned and faced me.

"What?" He asked.

"Did your mother beat you a lot as a child?" I asked him. He glared at me, but didn't respond. "You had a sibling, didn't you? A younger sister, who your mother treated like an angel, all while treating you like dirt?"

"You have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Is that why you target young girls? Because they remind you of your sister? Someone who got all the love, while you got nothing?" In response, he bawled up his fist and punched me hard across the face, but I couldn't feel it and I didn't ease up. "I thought...I thought we were bonding, Javier. It's okay, you can tell me, because we both know I saw the truth. Was she your first victim? Is that why you go after little girls, because deep down you still feel hatred for all the love she received, even though it wasn't her fault?!"

"SHE WASN'T EVEN MY SISTER!" He shouted, grabbing me by my throat. "She was just some little orphan, who swooped in and took my mother away from me, making my life a living hell in the process!"

"I...can...relate." He gripped my neck tighter, almost making me lose consciousness.

"I held her throat in my hands like this, squeezing until all the life left her body!" He growled. In this moment...I knew it was the end for me, or so I thought. He let my neck go, allowing me to gasp for air, as I started coughing. "Nice try! But it's not your time yet. You still have one more day!" He turned away from me and grabbed some pliers off the table, and walked towards me; anger burning in his eyes.

"Wait...wait!" He grabbed my face and shoved the pliers in my mouth, grabbing ahold of one of my back, bottom tooth. I cried out in pain, feeling my tooth literally getting yanked from my gums, all while blood filled my mouth. I damn near choked on my own blood, until he successfully pulled my tooth out, holding it up to the light.

"Got it." I heard him say, as I leaned over and spit out a mouth full of blood. "Let this be a lesson to you, the next time you try to get inside of my head!" He stormed out, leaving me there, with blood dripping from my mouth.

"Dumb ass." I groaned, noticing that he left the camera on. "If...if you guys can hear me...I have no idea where I am, but...I...do know I'm not far from my old childhood home. I'm in an abandoned barn...and-" I heard the door open and I instantly stopped talking, dropping my head, as if I had passed out. I could hear Javier talking to someone, but I wasn't sure who.

"Change of plans. I need to get rid of her tonight!" My eyes shot open and I almost picked my head up, but I didn't. "I know what I said, but her face is plastered all over the news and I need to get across the boarder by morning! Sí...be here by midnight." I swallowed hard, hearing his footsteps receding, before I slowly lifted my head.

"Oh shit." I winced, trying to move my broken hand so I could attempt to free myself, but it was no use. My hand was useless and at this point...escaping seemed impossible. I just hope the team could find me before it's too late, otherwise...I'd be meeting the same fate as my mom and grandma.