Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. All characters belong CBS criminal minds with the exception of OC characters. Any similarities to actual people or scenarios are unintentional. This is purely for fun.

Chapter 1:

The hateful flame flickered, dispelling the shadows which seemed to permeate the air. He could see his shaking hands in the dim light covered with dirt and blood he was no longer sure was only his own. The stone walls and the dirt floor still seemed to echo the sound of cellar door slamming.

The door would not budge, this much he could tell with what little light he had left. Iron hinges barred the way and would not yield judging by the furrows carved in by desperate finger nails. He was not desperate man nor was he hopeful. It had been too long with the weight of a collar around his neck for him to be anything but realistic. Realistic from the moment he woke up in that basement months ago that he would not be getting out of this alive.

Fresh air slowly turned stale and he could no longer avoid the room.

The candle still burned but he was the only occupant who could appreciate this fact. Bodies curled together, almost sleeping if it were not for the various stages of decomposition. Men, women, children- none had been spared so neither would he. That was the cost and you accepted it. It's simply time to pay your debts.

But what a bitter cost it was.

His heart pounded as he crawled closer to the child near him. Mud stained the boy's face, his blond hair falling in front of sightless eyes and pale skin now ashen in death. Still he checked in vain for a pulse though he knew none would be found beneath his shaking fingers. There was nothing more he could do and he knew it.

Shrugging off his thin jacket, he placed the fabric around the child's, no, corpse's shoulders. A sign of remorse, he thought as he smoothed the child's hair, I understand now. Gingerly backing away as to not disturb the other bodies, he finally found the clearing where he had woken up by the candle.

I'm sorry Henry, Spencer Reid thought as he blew out the candle.

Darkness was preferable to this hell.