Sincerity - Criminal Minds || Spencer Reid Fanfiction

5. Hope

"Contrary to popular belief and hope, people don't usually come running when they hear a scream. That's not how humans work. Humans look at other humans and say, 'Did you hear a scream?' because the first scream might have been you screaming inside your head, or a horse backfiring." ― Terry Pratchett.

*8 Months Later*

The Heart

I looked at the clock again, sighing, my eyes frantically searching the street around me as I drove.

"C'mon Spencer, where are you?" I groaned under my breath, pulling into a space. I got out and the humid night-air  met me.

I ignored Aaron's voice in my head, telling me to get back into the car and drive.

Instead, I approached the alleyway and the two men who stood next to it.

"Excuse me, have you seen this man?" I asked, showing Spencer's picture to the two drunks.

They squinted at the picture and swayed, shaking their heads and grunting no.

Huffing, I pushed through into the alley and continued asking the drunken people down here too.

"Have you tried Main?" A woman drawled, barely able to look up to meet my eyes.

"Where, sorry?" I asked, lowering my head to hear her better.

"It's the alley down by Main street, about five miles that way." She said, and threw her hand in a direction.

"Thank you..." I smiled sympathetically and hurried back out of the alley, trying to refrain from reaching for the hand sanitiser as soon as I got back into the car.

"What're you doing Beth?" I grumbled under my breath, hitting my head gently off of the steering wheel.

Sighing again, I started the car and pulled off, wondering whether to trust the drunken woman or not.

Eventually, I found another alleyway swarmed with more drunk people, and realised that this wasn't an alleyway I'd ever tried before.

I'd found him in many, but I'd never thought to look here.

Feeling hopeful, I got out of the car, his picture in hand, and marched for the lane.

But, I didn't have to ask anybody anything as I spotted him immediately, slumped on the ground against the wall, his head lolled back, his mouth open and his hand weak on the needle against his opposite forearm.

"Spencer!" I yelled and ran to him, just as the man sitting next to him reached for the needle. "Don't touch him!" I yelled as I dialled 911.

Everything seemed to happen in a blur of panic and fear.

Spencer was unconscious, his skinny frame so fragile and beaten.

Losing Melanie had killed us all, but Spencer... He was beyond dead.

The paramedics rushed him through to triage where I wasn't allowed to be with him.

I was worried to call Aaron, in case he lost his patience again. Spencer had really been testing us both lately, but Aaron was beyond trying to help Spencer. Besides, he'd only just returned to work, and I didn't want this setting him back.

I didn't want to call Jack, his time with friends so precious and rare that I didn't want to risk disrupting it.

And so, I waited. For several hours. Alone.

I was thankful that Penelope had Matilda for the evening, otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to go looking for Spencer.

Finally, a doctor approached me.