Psychopathy

Chapter 36- Sickness And Injury

Isabel held the little demon at arm's length, ignoring the way its little claws were scratching up her arm. After her revelation, the lake promised it would help her, but so far, it seemed the lake was biding its time. Waiting for the proper moment. Isabel wasn't sure what would happen, but she knew that when it was time, she'd be ready to fight. She would fight for her freedom with everything she had.

A rumbling beyond the horizon distracted both Isabel and the little demon. Storm clouds were gathering above what Isabel knew was the lake. The rocking in her veins grew stronger until it felt like the whole world was rocking back and forth. It made Isabel nauseous until the rocking abruptly stopped. Then a tornado burst from the storm clouds, coming straight for her. Isabel closed her eyes and covered her face as the tornado hit, surrounding her with red water and blazing fire.

When the tornado stopped, she opened her eyes to find that she was completely unharmed. The little demon, though, was nowhere to be found, taken by the lake.

"Well. Ain't that something."

**************

Reid sat at his desk, calculating the minutes until Teresa was supposed to be there. It was the last day of the latest livestream, and Reid had kept true to his word about letting her know when it started. Teresa had done some work to arrange for her to come by the BAU for a few hours to see her sister. The members of the BAU who hadn't gone to her house that first time were excited to meet her, but they all wished it had been under better circumstances.

To tell the truth, this livestream probably was the best one for Teresa to see. Nothing bad had happened as of yet. That was, except for the fact that Ciara seemed to be sick. What she was sick with, none of them were sure. Reid wasn't even sure if Ciara knew. They had only been unmuted on the first day, and when asked, Ciara had just said she was sick. She hadn't said anything else or provided an explanation. All they knew was that when the livestream came on, Ciara had been sitting on a five-gallon bucket, grabbing her stomach every now and again. Perhaps she was some gastrointestinal illness. Perhaps the Unsub had given her something bad to eat or drink and it was upsetting her stomach.

It was strange to admit, but the whole week, the Unsub hadn't done anything to her. He had almost been taking care of her. He had actually been giving her water instead of just letting her get it from the gallon jug she kept, and he'd been bringing her food. Mostly granola bars and the occasional fruit, but it was more than Reid had ever seen him give her. Reid honestly couldn't believe it. But, he figured the Unsub was just trying to keep her alive. Once the sickness had passed, Reid was sure he'd go right back to his old heinous self.

Reid checked his watch again, calculating that with the normal traffic at that time and the speed limit, Teresa should arrive in thirty minutes. With no case at the time to focus on and being frustrated beyond belief with the black notebook, Reid had spent the day reading through the green notebook. He had only been able to get through a few pages at a time, unable to handle more than that.

How could Ciara's parents do such things to their own child? How could they beat her and starve her and burn her? Reid now had the explanation for the scars on her body- but he wasn't sure if that was a good thing. The one that wrapped around her side? That was from Ty wanting to try out a new hunting knife and using it on her. The third-degree burn on her arm? That was from Simon and Kasey holding her arm above a trash can fire. The one on her leg? Forcing her to sit on a stove.

It made Reid sick.

But it also explained how Ciara had survived this long in that place. She could survive it now because she'd survived it before. Almost everything that the Unsub had done to her, her parents had done first. It was the isolation, time deprivation, and sexual abuse that she hadn't experienced. That was what broke her. But she had come back from the brink and now Reid had to do everything to make sure that she wouldn't get that close again.