Psychopathy

Chapter 1- Last Words

Isabel was in the dark, totally and completely. She couldn't see anything- hell, she could barely even perceive anything. There was nothing to feel, nothing to touch, nothing to smell. The only thing there was to tell her that she was alive at all was the fact that she could just barely hear voices in the distance. She couldn't make out what they were saying, but there were definitely there. Where was she? Where had she been? The last thing she could remember was the sound of a fight, and then something struck her head... and then nothing at all.

What had she been fighting against? And where was she now? Slowly, one of the voices came closer and closer, until it was practically right on top of her. She tried to move, she tried to open her eyes, she tried to do something, but nothing was working. Finally, the voice above her spoke, and when it did, a cold shudder ran down her spine.

"Wakey, wakey, Isabel. It's time to have some fun."

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"Alright, Reid, explain everything. How do you know Ciara's missing?"

Reid looked down at the glass he was holding, his slightly panicked, tear-streaked face reflecting in the water. He gripped the glass, trying to calm his shaking hands, but it wasn't working well. He had a million thoughts running through his head, all of them tumbling around and getting tangled up together. His heart was racing just as fast as his mind, and he wished he could just slow everything down. For as long as he could remember, his head had always been stuffed full with facts and knowledge. It was just a part of who he was, and he had never minded it. But, right now, he was really wishing for an empty head to think things through.

"Hey, Reid, look at me." He looked away from the water and over to where Akilah was sitting across the table from him, a soft smile on her face. That smile, however, didn't quite meet her eyes. He could see it in her eyes that she was panicking just as much as he was. She was trying to hide it, probably for his sake. She wouldn't much be able to calm him down if she herself wasn't calm, or at least appearing to be so. In fact, when he had first arrived at Morgan's house, it was Akilah that had sat him down and gotten him some water.

"It's strange. I have so much knowledge and experience but it's like... I-It's like I can't access any of it. It's all locked away and buried under all the racing thoughts, and I know to access that knowledge, I need to just calm down and sort through things, but I can't," he said, and Akilah softly put her hand on his wrist. "I can't focus. My thoughts are all over the place, and I keep switching from one train to the next and back again. The only thing that connects them at all is that they're all about Ciara."

"Exactly. Keep your thoughts on Ciara. She needs you to focus so we can find her. You have more information than all of us. I know I was technically the last person to see her, but it's only because of you that we know she's missing at all," Akilah said, and Reid nodded. All of that was true. After all, based on the fact that he had seen Morgan and Akilah had been whispering to each other the night before and how little Akilah had actually been wearing when Reid arrived... Well. Even for him, it wasn't hard to figure out where she had been all night.

"Okay. You're right. But there's so much to go through... where do I even start?" he asked, and Akilah looked over her shoulder. Morgan, who was standing behind her, looked down at her, put his hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed, before looking back at Reid.

"Walk us through what happened this morning. Start at the beginning. You must have decided to see Ciara pretty early on. After all, it's not even eleven yet. When did you decide you wanted to see her?" Akilah asked. Reid took in a shaky breath, and thought back to the early hours of the morning. He hadn't been able to sleep well the night before, distracted by what Ciara meant when she asked him to be careful. So, naturally, he had been up early and hadn't wanted to wait to see her.