THE ROAD TO TRAGEDY, criminal minds

i. ━━ sin-stained glass

chapter one ; sin-stained glass

[ season one, episode one ]

Every night, Emmanuella was drawn into the same haunting dream. She found herself standing in the middle of a grand cathedral, its high arches and intricate carvings reaching towards the heavens. The air was cool and filled with a serene, almost holy, silence. Sunlight streamed through the stained-glass windows, casting vibrant hues of blue, red, and green across the stone floor.

But as she moved closer to the largest window, depicting scenes of saints and angels, a sudden, ominous crack echoed through the cathedral. She watched in horror as the once beautiful glass began to splinter, fissures spreading like a spider's web. Piece by piece, the glass shattered, raining down around her in a cascade of jagged fragments.

The vibrant colors that had once painted stories of faith and devotion now lay in ruins at her feet. In each shard, she saw faces—her mom's, her dad's, Eden's, and Silas'—whose wails of agony pained her head, her screams blended in with hers, and her vision blurred with tears. Her knees buckled under her weight, and her hands trembled as she tried to gather the broken pieces. The edges were sharp, cutting into her skin, but no matter how hard she tried, the pieces wouldn't fit. The patterns were distorted, the images unrecognizable. The window could never be restored to its original state.