Running

Chapter 1

I rush through the woods behind my house. It's always the same. The same trees. The same destination. The same torture... It never ends, no matter how hard I try to stop it.

"STOP!" I yell.

"DAD PLEASE!"

"NO- HELP ME!"

No matter what variation I try, it never works. In the end he catches me. He grips my ponytail firmly and wrenches back. I go flying down, a sharp pain tearing through my spine as a strangled cry exits my mouth.

"No way, you little bitch. You're mine," he snarls.

I don't really know what happens next. I've never known what happens next. Whether or not I pass out and then he rapes me, or he does it before hand, but that part has slipped from my mind, and rightfully so. I'm glad I don't remember those times. But sometimes it sucks that nobody else knows. Nobody else has any idea what he's done to me.

"All better," he groans, as he finally releases me from his grasp.

I scrabble away, and start to run. Back into the woods. Back within the trees. But he's not far behind.

"GET BACK HERE!" he screams. But I keep running.

Running and running until I feel that familiar shaking begin in my arm.

"Elle," the voice says.

Another quiver runs through me.

"Elle."

"No... no..." I murmur.

"Eleanor," they say again, and I crack my eyes open.

I'm on the jet. The same old jet that I've been on hundreds of times when flying to all parts of the country to try and save those in need.

"Elle?" It's Spencer. "It's okay, it was just a dream..." he rubs my shoulder as I straighten.

"Was I talking again?" I ask.

"And shaking." He gives me a small smile. "Do you wanna tell me what it was about?"

Something about his smile calms me, although I've never been able to pinpoint it. "No," I reply, my tone unnaturally soft. "I'm fine."

He raises a brow, knowing full well that I'm lying, but now is not an appropriate time for the truth, and he knows that, so he doesn't broach the topic further.

"We'll be landing in a few minutes," he whispers, before moving back to the other end of the couch to continue his 'light reading,' as he calls it.

I glance around the jet as I stretch my legs. Emily gives me a worried glance, but I give her the same reassuring smile, and she turns back to her conversation with Hotch and Rossi.

JJ and Morgan sit at the table across from them, Jennifer's back to me as she flips through the file. I catch Derek staring and he raises an eyebrow. I shake my head and he grins softly before turning to look out the window.

The clock above the television reads 5:21 am. We'd gotten the call about a new case at the bright and early dawn hours of three in the morning. I had to lug myself out of bed, and drive the seemingly endless roads to the BAU. We'd had a small briefing with our tech analyst Penelope Garcia, who very conceivably showed up in bright pink pyjamas and fluffy slippers. Afterwards we set off for the jet, talked for barely half an hour before we split ways to do what we pleased with the plane ride. My choice was sleep. Despite the constant nightmares, sleep will always be the option for me.

Our case is one in Jamesport, Missouri. An abduction case, the third in the serial. Two months ago, Farrah Dane went missing from the school playground. The police force searched endlessly, but in the end turned up nothing. Not even a hair, and in turn, the case went cold.

Last month Kayden Jones disappeared from his living room late at night. The police had originally thought it'd been his father, but after torturous effort and coming up with nothing, they let him go. Although they encourage us to speak with him further.

And most recently. Payton Eve. He was visibly abducted at a street corner by a man in a ski mask. Onlookers reported absolutely everything they'd seen, but it brought them no closer to finding him.

After the newest kidnapping case the police force in Kansas City said to hell with their pride and called in for our assistance, and JJ found it best that we fly in as soon as possible.

"Alright team," Rossi says as he hefts himself up from his seat. "We've landed..."