[Criminal Minds] The Waiting Behind

In the dark night, little bits of moonlight shone in through the thick curtains, reflected on the carpet, dotted with stars.Combined with the shadows of the surrounding flickering furniture, it looks extraordinarily gloomy.

On a wooden bed, there were faint groans/groans coming from the obviously arched quilt, which seemed to be filled with inexplicable pain and fear.

The moonlight moved slowly with time, and it just happened to shine on the bed at this time, and what came into view was a girl's face covered in cold sweat and extremely painful.

"Don't—" screaming, the girl who woke up from her nightmare suddenly stood up and sat up on the bed.

This girl is none other than Michelle.

Michelle's eyes were fixed on a spot at the foot of the bed, out of focus.This is not the first time, since Michelle inadvertently realized the thoughts in her heart after the last conversation with Reid, Michelle has been in a constant cycle of nightmares-waking up-insomnia-drowsy sleep-again nightmares in recent nights Pass.

Is this a punishment for myself?

Michelle bent her knees and buried her head limply in it.Several "reviews" every night made her very familiar with this dream.

In each of the same dreams, she stood on the street, talking, gesticulating, and even insulting every pedestrian coming and going, but no one could see her, and frustration was intertwined in her heart.The screen changed and came to the door of the Quantico Building.She could only watch all the familiar people, Emily, Reid... Even Hotch passed her by without seeing them.Whether they talked, or talked and laughed, or were serious, or laughed and scolded, it had nothing to do with her, as if she was just a spectator.

Yes, spectator.

Michelle collapsed on the bed with her arms spread out, and looked at the ceiling with a wry smile, but she returned to her previous role, but this time it was not through a small screen.

But the point is that she can't go back to her own world... Michelle slowly curled up, buried under the blanket and burst into tears.

A few days later, in Portland, Oregon, Michelle was walking casually on the streets, aimlessly.

In recent days, the dream troubled her so much that she dared not fall asleep, which also led to poor spirits during the day, bringing her almost to the verge of a nervous breakdown.

She doesn't know how to adjust this kind of thing. After all, no one knows this secret, and people may not believe it when they tell about things like time travel. They will only think that they have delusional disorder or schizophrenia.

I simply asked the coffee shop owner for leave, packed my bags, and went out to relax.

I don't know if I arrived in a city far away from BAU, so my mood was relaxed.Anyway, at least I had a good night's sleep yesterday.

It would be good to hide outside for a few days, Michelle thought to herself, and it was also a good time to sort out her disturbed thoughts.Maybe if you are far away from him, these gorgeous reveries will slowly fade away.

Just seeing a beautifully furnished coffee shop, Michelle walked in slowly. Well, it is a chic little shop with many books that can be browsed casually.Looking around casually in the shop with coffee, this kind of cozy feeling is very enjoyable.

Michelle stands in front of the bulletin board, where there are many flyers posted.Babysitting, buying a car... all kinds of life information come to your face.Huh, what is this?

"Overcome your fear, it's only $100," Michelle whispered. 【Note】

An office with closed windows.

Sitting in front of the desk was a man in a suit and leather shoes, wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, who was writing something at the desk, put down his pen as if thinking of something all of a sudden, and turned off the lamp on the desk.

He sat quietly for a while, but turned on the light again as if forced, got up slowly, and took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat oozed from his head.He opened the door, and there was a girl wringing her fingers nervously sitting on the sofa outside.

Brown hair and black eyes.

Early the next morning, a jogger found a floating body during his morning run, which was Patrick Walker, who had been mentioned by the landlord who had called Emily.

"Burn, hang, suffocate, and now there's another drowned." Hotch stood up, frowning, and went to the data board to ponder the connection.

"I think this is a person who is afraid of drowning." Reid thought of the man who was always brave and decisive when he was trapped in the elevator with Man that day, and he had a crazy look on his face. Anxiety Disorders . . . That's a list of 5 types of fear."

Hotch clasped his hands on his chest and nodded in agreement, "Most of the circumstances and situations are related. These people were killed by their own fear."

This is the second session of overcoming fear.

"Have you told anyone else that you're coming for treatment?"

"No, it's just a temporary idea. I don't live in this city, I just came here for tourism. I just saw that it's only available for a short time, so I came to try it." This is indeed Michelle's original intention. There is really no good way for people to get rid of fear.

The man who claimed to be Dr. Stanley Howard was taking notes, while looking at Michelle and asking carefully, "Tell me about the specific circumstances under which you feel anxious and fearful?"

Michelle sat on the sofa and took a sip of the green tea she brewed in her hands. The comfortable environment made her relax a lot, but she never relaxed without revealing that she was a time traveler. After a moment of hesitation, she told the content of the dream The man just omitted the fact that he had known this group of BAU elites through TV for a long time, and just described them as ordinary company staff colleagues.After all, it's better not to expose Hotch's real identity, and Michelle thinks it's a good job.But after a long time, after a lot of things happened, Michelle would often complain to Hotch, if she had said at that time that she knew the FBI agents, would this person have cast a mouse, and such terrible things would not have happened.At this time, Hotch often just looks at the girl who is complaining with pouting eyes with gentle eyes, and doesn't tell him that the murderer will do what he should do, not because he dares, but because he can't stop—— Unable to control own behavior.

The man pondered for a moment, "When did this start to happen?"

Michelle slowly recalled those dreams that were extremely painful to her, and avoided answering, "The sun was shining brightly, but I felt extremely cold on my body. I kept calling their names and running after their backs, But I never got any response. Until everyone disappeared, only me was left alone, and the surrounding scenery became more and more blurred, and the range became smaller and smaller. Finally, I only saw myself standing there alone, surrounded by It's pitch black and so quiet. I can't even hear if I'm making a sound..."

The man clasped his hands, put them on the table, leaned forward slowly, and cast a dark shadow on Michelle's body: "So when you fall into the black hole in your imagination, you are trapped there, without light, There is no sound, and you can't go back to the original scene?"

Michelle moved her body a little uneasily, the sense of oppression deliberately created by this man was too strong.

"Ah."

"Then you're talking about being..." The man raised his head slowly, meeting Michelle's restless eyes——

"Buried alive."

On the other hand, Emily and Reid found Dr. Goodman's advertisement flyer in the laundromat closest to Patrick Walker's apartment. Later, for confirmation, Man also found a yellow leaflet posted on the bulletin board of the No.2 victim's coffee shop. But unexpectedly found that the date of inscription was last summer.That means more victims!

A man and a woman walked back and forth on the winding stairs-Doctor Howard and Michelle who came to attend the last session of treatment.

"Can you help me?" Michelle didn't know what the treatment process was like, and was eager to ask the man for confirmation.

"At the heart of a phobia is the feeling of being out of control. Once we understand and accept it, we can overcome everything that is our fear."

But she is just a ghost parasitic on this body, and what she fears is beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.It's a pity that these things can't be said to the man, Michelle followed behind silently, it is better to look at the professional solution, let's treat a dead horse as a living horse doctor.

"Creak—" The old door was pushed open with a harsh noise.

Michelle frowned, it was too dark here, only a faint light was projected from the depths of the room.

"It's a basement, but it's kind of cold and dark, and the walls are soundproof, so it's basically impenetrable. So you can think of it as the only darkness you're in."

"I'm sure the basement is much nicer than there." Michelle laughed, but there was no one there, and there was at least one person with her here.

"Are you relaxed?"

"Well, I think that cup of tea just now really calmed me down a lot." Michelle shook her head, just feeling a little dizzy, is it lack of oxygen?

"Go this way, it's okay." The man came over to tidy up, "Remember your state of mind gives you strength."

Michelle supported the wall and followed the man's pace, but felt dizzy more and more obvious, and then fell into a person's cold arms... The next second seemed to be pushed into a deep pit, which hurt so much.

In the blurred vision, it seemed that the man took out his notebook and wrote something down.It seems that I have met a bad guy, is it some kind of perverted killer?At the last moment of losing consciousness, only one face came to mind... Michelle silently shouted in her heart, Hotch, save me...