Rats in the Attic

Inspired by a prompt for the 33 Day Guro/Gore Challenge. Yeah, I'm that kind of person.

Prompt: Decapitation

Warning: Gore, heavy imagery, strange prose, decapitation.

In the end, it isn't the sight of a teenage girl's rotting, headless corpse that does Reid in; nor is it the coppery, metallic smell of aging blood that hangs heavily at the back of his throat. It isn't the sound of rats scurrying around between the walls, nor is it the constant drip, drip, drip of the leaking tap in the corner of the basement that's slowly but surely filling the bloodstained basin with stale water. The feel of rough, mouldy wallpaper slickly coated with something squelchy that clings to his hands, he can brush off, as he can the way that the wooden floorboards underneath him creak and groan with every step he takes. He's not even that bothered by the single bare bulb hanging from the middle of the ceiling, swinging softly on its chain.

No, what finally does Reid in is the schoolbag in the corner of the room, sitting crookedly on a wooden stool that looks like it will break any second. It's bright and colourful, with neon yellow straps and pink hearts dotting the fabric it's made from. In a room full of darkness and blood and pain and the irrepressible sense of death, the sheer innocence of its being seems like a beacon to Reid.

She didn't deserve this, he thinks, rubbing at his forehead as he feels another of his migraines coming on. But then again, does anyone?

The tears begin to prick his eyes, but Reid soldiers on ahead and forces them back. He can cry later. Now, he has a job to do.

Morgan whistles – he goddamn whistles- while looking around the room, flashlight held high in the air. "Howard wasn't wrong when he said he loved every part of Penny Lou Adams," he sighs, and Reid cringes at the older man's attempt at humour.

"Was that really necessary?" he interrupts sharply, voice shrill and thinner than Reid would like it to be. Morgan gives him A Look, but exhales and gives a short nod.

"Not really. Sorry. I was just trying to…" he trails off, realising that lighten the mood is more than a little insensitive. The BAU is no stranger to gallows humour, but when one of their own takes offense, they don't make jokes like that. Period.

"It's fine," Reid says tersely. He takes a deep breath and heads over to examine the body. Penny Lou Adams is – well, was – well-developed for her age; tall and slender, had the body of a future model. At least, he assumes this is Penny Lou – she's lost her head. Literally. Penny Lou's head is nowhere to be found; above her neck, all that remains is severed muscle and a chunk of milky white bone. There's less blood than what Reid knows there should be, but that just adds to the clues to find her head. Reid places one hand on his hip and turns back to Morgan, preparing to state the obvious.

"So, decapitation. That wasn't in Howard's MO before."

"Well, he admitted to abducting and murdering Penny Lou Adams, so I guess it doesn't really matter to the court if the MO doesn't match exactly," Morgan sighs defeatedly.

"Decapitation is a possible escalation from the severing of limbs," Reid admits. "Howard started with hands and feet, moved up to arms and legs, finally escalates to decapitation."

"It could also be symbolic," Morgan notes. "Howard's got a learning disability and was never given the proper help in school. Penny Lou had the highest grades in her class. The other victims were all skilled athletes, something which Howard certainly isn't. He had it rough in high school and thought that he deserved better, so he targets those who he envies for having skills and talents that he wished he had when he was that age."

Reid nods, coming to an understanding. "That also further explains why he was so uncooperative with us, even when we offered him deals. We're all succeeding, he's doing nothing but failing." Of course, they're not succeeding; if they were succeeding, Reid wouldn't be trying to hunt down a dead girl's missing head and profiling a serial killer in their own basement. If they were succeeding, there wouldn't be innocent people dying left and right, with Reid playing an eternal game of cat and mouse in attempt to avenge them.

Morgan sighs and shakes his head. "All right. Let's deal with the elephant in the room here."

"Penny's head?" Reid guesses, and Morgan nods tersely. "My best bet? Somewhere in those cupboards." Reid points to a row of cupboards and drawers lined up neatly in the corner of the basement. Duct tape seals them tightly shut, but Reid can tell there's something rotting inside by the buzzing of flies and other insects from that corner. Morgan cuts open the tape with a Swiss army knife Reid swears wasn't on the older man's belt before, and with Reid's help, proceeds to look systematically inside every cupboard.

In the end, Reid is the lucky guy who picks the right drawer. He's gotten used to opening the doors and seeing nothing but some mundane, everyday items inside that he's not expecting it when Penny Lou is suddenly staring at him right in the eyes, piercing through to his very soul. The sound of buzzing flies is suddenly much louder, and thankfully drowns out the undignified whimper of Morgan he makes when Penny Lou almost tumbles out of the cupboard and smacks against the floor. Luckily, Reid closes the door just in time to keep her in place, and the two of them work to make sure she won't almost fall out again.

Yes, Penny Lou definitely could have been a model, Reid thinks, seeing her blonde hair and big, piercing brown eyes. Too piercing for his liking, he realises, and decides to brush his gloved fingers down past her eyelids to close them. It's harder than it looks in the movies and it takes him a few attempts to close them both properly, but when he's done, she almost looks at peace. He makes a mistake and lets up his mental guard for a few moments as his eyes wander across the room, finally falling on the one last remaining proof of true innocence he can see here.

The schoolbag…

In that moment, he feels something unidentifiable crawl up from the depths of his stomach, all the way up his spine and right to his erratically-beating heart. His breathing quickens, face pales, and Reid vaguely overhears Morgan asking him concernedly if he's okay, and the feeling inside of him intensifies until suddenly it consumes his entire being.

Reid shakes his head no and turns back to the basement entrance and starts running back up the dark stairs, eyes trained on the bright light at the very top. No, he's not okay. No, he needs to leave right this second, because if he stays another second inside of this hellhole then he's going to lose it, but really hasn't he lost it already?

Yes, I have, Spencer thinks to himself mournfully as he reaches the top of the staircase and the bright, cheerful sunlight shines upon him again. He looks down at the blood mixed into the palms of his hands, lets his back slide down against the wall beside him and crumbles down, the panic inside him only rising further and further.

In the end, Penny Lou isn't the only one who loses their head that day.

If there's anyone here who's following my other ongoing CM fic Hollow, an update for that is in the works and coming soon! :D

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Thank you for reading! :D