Forgotten (Criminal Minds Fanfiction/Sequel to Boss's Niece)

The Tape

*Reid's POV*

It was late. I was the only one left at the office and I wasn't leaving. Not yet. I wanted to find Mel. Every minute that she wasn't with me was a reason to think she might've been dead.

"Hey, Kid." Morgan said. I looked up at him, nearly asleep.

"What?" I mumbled.

"Go home. You look tired." he said.

"Not yet." I said, shaking my head. "I need to find her."

"We have lots of time to find her tomorrow. Now go home and go to bed."

"I can't, Morgan!" I said, standing up. "Every moment we don't hear from her or from Justin is a moment to believe she's dead."

"But every moment that she doesn't turn up is a reason to believe she's alive."

I sighed and sat down again.

"I just want to make sure she's okay." I said, my voice quiet and tired.

"We will, Reid. Don't worry." Morgan said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Now, go home. Get some rest. Come back tomorrow and we'll find her."

I nodded. I guess he was right. I collected my things and went to the elevator. It went down to the main floor and the doors opened. I exited and walked towards the parking lot.

The small rental car we were given when Mel's blew up sat in the dark, all by it's self. I climbed in and sighed. I rested my head against the steering wheel and gave myself a moment to just think.

Where did he take her? What was he doing to her? Was she already dead?

I couldn't help but picture Mel's pale lifeless body in a ditch somewhere waiting to be found.

I shook my head to get the image out of it, but my stupid eidetic memory made it stick. I just managed to push it back, for now.

I started the car and drove to the apartment.

I got out and trudged up the stairs. I really did need a good night sleep. I hadn't gotten proper sleep since this all started.

I walked down the dimly lit hallway. As I got to my apartment, I noticed a box on the floor. It had my name on it.

Puzzled, I picked it up, unlocked the door, and took it in. I flicked on the lights and laid the box on the table.

I peeled the tape off and opened the box. Inside was a VHS tape with "Watch me" scrawled across the white tape in the middle.

Lucky for me, I was old school and I still had a VCR as well as a DVD player. I took the VHS and put it in the VCR and clicked play.

A dark figure appeared on the screen.

"Why is this stupid thing so dark?" asked the figure. "Oh. Right."

A light turned on and the dark figure became Justin.

"That's better!" he said. "Hello there Spencer. I hope you got this tape okay. It took me a while to get this to work. It'd be a shame if all my hard work went to waste."

I sat down on the couch, gripping the remote. Justin.

"Well, I guess you know that I finally found your precious Melanie. You know, you guys need better security. That guy you sent with her didn't even care about her." he said. He shook his head. "I thought you wanted her to be 'safe'."

It took everything in my power not to get up right now and leave and go to look for Mel. I had to know what he wanted. I had to know she was okay.

"Anyways, I guess you're wondering why I'm sending you this tape. I figured you guys are going insane trying to find her, so I decided to let you know that she is safe. For now. We're having some great fun. If only you were here." he said as if he was talking about being on vacation somewhere. "I'll send you a picture in the morning so you can know how long you have to find her."

He looked off screen. His face almost seemed to soften for a second before looking back to the camera.

"I'd say two or three days. But you can decide tomorrow."

And with that, the tape ended. I quickly called up Hotch to let him know. I needed to find her. Now.

*This chapter is meh in my opinion. What do you guys think?"