Chapter Text
"There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds." Laurell K. Hamilton
Pain. A blinding headache was all that he could feel. The pain seemed to be all encompassing. His eyes were closed, but it still felt like he was somehow looking straight into the sun. He was glad that he couldn’t hear anything around him because he wasn’t sure that he would be able to handle any noise with this horrible headache.
He felt himself getting nauseous. He really didn’t want to throw up; he hated the feeling of it and the aftertaste always made him even more nauseous. He tried to breathe in slowly through his nose and out through his mouth to calm his upset stomach. Slowly, in and out, just concentrating on his breathing. After a couple of breaths the nausea only seemed to get worse. He still wasn’t fully aware of his surroundings. He was able to turn his head to the side just in time to throw up on the ground next to his bed. He was immediately hit by the foul smell, which only worsened his nausea. He groaned softly in pain, the first sound he had made since he had woken up.
Woken up? Was he sleeping before the headache started? He couldn’t remember going to sleep earlier. What time was it even? Very slowly, he started to open his eyes so he could look at his phone to check the time. He didn’t want to open them too quickly for fear of throwing up again. He was still all too aware of the sour taste in his mouth.
When his eyes opened he was met with harsh light. Did he fall asleep with the lights on? That would explain why he couldn’t remember going to sleep. His eyes were still adjusting to the bright light, he turned his head to his left where he would usually charge his phone. To his surprise, there was no bedside table next to his bed. Weird. He could have sworn that there was one in the hotel room that he was staying in. Looking around more, he couldn’t seem to recognize anything in the room. The walls were white, there was no other furniture in the room besides his bed; above him,a single, bare lightbulb hung from the ceiling.
This wasn’t his hotel room. His heart started to beat faster. Where was he? Was he in a hospital? Did something happen to him to make him forget? How did he end up here? No, this couldn’t be a hospital room; the sound of various medical machines that always seemed to be beeping in the background were missing. In fact, he couldn’t hear anything. The room was completely silent. The only thing he could hear was his own breathing picking up speed. Something was wrong. Something was really, really wrong. He had to get out of here, wherever here was.
Although his whole body seemed to ache, he tried to move his feet to sit up on the bed. To his shock, he wasn’t able to move very far. Restraints? He pulled on his legs a couple more times to no avail. His legs were stuck. They seemed to be tied to the bottom of the bed. He tried to move his arms to try and untie his legs, but a couple futile pulls told him that his arms were tied to the headboard.
The shock that he just felt a minute ago was now turning into full blown panic. He frantically started kicking his legs and pulling on his arms to try and loosen the restraints, but they weren’t budging. His breathing sped faster, and his heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest.
He kept pulling and pulling, but nothing was happening. He felt the restraints starting to hurt his wrists and his ankles, but he was too busy struggling to notice that he was hurting himself.
“Help!” he yelled. Hoping that someone, anyone would hear him. No one came.
“Help!” he yelled again. “I’m in here! Please!”
Nothing.
“Please help! Please!” His yelling was becoming more desperate.
After a couple more yells he began to realize that no one was coming to help him. His frantic pulling on the restraints slowed down, and he stopped screaming for help.
The panic in his body was still raging through him, but his profiler brain was starting to kick into gear. Panicking wasn’t going to get him anywhere. He had to think calmly and logically about what was going on here. Where was he? And even more importantly, why was he here?
He didn’t get very far into trying to figure this situation out before he was startled out of his thoughts.
“Hello, Aaron Hotchner. I was beginning to wonder if you were going to wake up at all.”