Psychosis

Chapter 30- Fear Factor

Isabel looked around the room, expecting many torture instruments to be waiting for her, but she only saw one. There was just one problem. It was the one she was most afraid of.

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Ciara looked, wide-eyed, at the power drill on the table, unsure what the Unsub was going to do with it, but knowing that whatever it was, she wasn't going to like it. She screwed her eyes closed, trying to imagine she was anywhere but there. Unfortunately, as a writer, she always had an overactive imagination that didn't always do what she wanted it to do. As she tried to imagine she was in a different place, her imagination instead left her right where she was, and instead greeted her with images about what the Unsub could do with the power drill.

She quickly opened her eyes and looked around for the Unsub, but he had only delivered her to the room and chained her up before leaving. She knew he wanted to torture her by leaving her in the same room as what he thought was her biggest fear so that she would think about what was going to happen to her. He wanted to torture her by dragging her fear out to almost unimaginable lengths, probably until the fear caused her to break down. He wanted to torture her by making her imagine what he would do with that feared object. And damn it all, it was working.

She tried to take her mind off of what could happen, but her imagination took her to yet another unwanted dark place. It took her back fifteen years to when she acquired her fear. In her mind, she clearly heard the screams and sadistic laughter that accompanied the memory, and even though her eyes were shut tight, she couldn't escape the vision her brain was presenting her with. She shook her head violently, but she knew it was no use.

Try as she might, she couldn't run from her own mind. No matter how hard she tried to control her mind and her psychosis, in the end, both had ultimate control over her. She knew she was screwed from the moment she was little, but still, sometimes, she wished that it wasn't so. Sometimes she wished she hadn't been born at all. Sometimes Ciara wished it had been the both of them, instead of just her. Finally, the memory left her mind, and she looked up at the window where the five members of her team were standing, watching for the Unsub to come back.

She looked at Reid, and she felt a pain when she saw the fear on his face. He had his hands pressed against the glass, and for a moment, Ciara thought maybe he'd be able to push it away and they all could save her from her prison, but then reality came crashing down. If Morgan couldn't break the glass by punching it, how could Reid do anything to it? Neither Reid nor Ciara had much muscle, and she knew that one day, that was going to bite them in the butt. Maybe it already was. In a desperate attempt to calm herself down, she let her imagination take hold again, pleading for it to take her anywhere but here. It listened, and brought her back to the day in the music store after everything had turned sour. She had forgotten about the one bright spot after that moment, and her imagination was quick to remind her.

"Hey, I've been meaning to tell ye something. I learned a new instrument," Ciara said to Reid, who looked over at her with interest.

"Which one?"

"The trumpet. Oh, oh, and listen to this!" she exclaimed, picking up one of the trumpets. She was so glad that the store owner had given her permission to try out the instruments to her delight, thinking that maybe she would find one that she would one day buy. She brought the trumpet to her lips, and reminded herself of the notes, before playing the trumpet part to one of her favorite songs, "Nine in the Afternoon". She could hear Brendon's voice singing in her mind, and even though she wanted to smile, she was a bit preoccupied with playing the tune. As soon as she played what she knew, she wiped off the mouthpiece with the cleaner that she had bought when she first went in, and she saw Reid smiling at her.