Before I start: I am really sorry it took me so long to post this update! The truth is I posted the first chapter dangerously close to exam time. I thought that after posting up the first chapter, I'll write bits and pieces of the next chapter here and there and hopefully, I'll post a chapter maybe every 2 weeks or so. Apparently, it didn't work that way and even now, after my exams have ended and the summer semester has started, it's taking me a really, really long time to type up a chapter. I realized now that writing is harder than I first thought. No matter, I promise I will try my best to update sooner than I did :P

Also, thank you for my reviews and to all those who added me to their favourite/alert list. You deserve nothing but the best and I will try my best to deliver it

Disclaimer: I don't own this show, the characters associated with this show. I based the idea of The Lovely Bones

Eternal

Chapter 2 – Memories

So, if he was really dead, then was he in heaven or was he somewhere else?

Reid examined his surroundings. Thanks to his unquenchable thirst for knowledge, Reid had spent the majority of his life reading and studying. His childhood was devoid of any real friends, only the few odd companions that he would play with from time to time. Instead, he filled his days after school and on weekends making lists of everything he wanted to know about, then he would set off to find out the truth, the answers to every questions he had. Over the past 28 years of his life, he has accumulated vast knowledge on a variety of subjects, including death. But he doesn't remember reading about anything like this regarding life after death

He stood up and began walking. This was it? This was the afterlife? The FBI building where he worked and the park he used to go to as a kid?

As he walked, his minds lulled over all the stories he had read about the afterlife: heaven, hell, rebirths...there were so many.

The Christians believed that the saved would suffer purification after death by purgatorial flames. He didn't see any fire

Hinduism and Buddhism spoke of reincarnation. How the body was nothing but a shell that the soul takes on temporarily. Death was nothing more than an act of shedding, like changing your cloths. Well, he doubt that he was in a new body now

The Ancient Greeks believed that the soul was to travel down the river Styx ferried across by Charon in order to reach the underworld. He didn't see any river or any disgruntled ferryman.

He could see the exact text that he had read the stories from; they were dancing in front of his head, taunting him. Everything that he knew, all the knowledge he had accumulated: in the end, it didn't even matter. Nothing he knew would help him now

He came to sudden halt when the realization dawned on him. Nothing he knew would help him now. For as long as Reid could remember, his entire life was built on books and learning. Every time he encountered any sort of crisis or dilemma, he could always count on what he knew to get him out of trouble. He remembered the first time he joined the BAU, he was intimidated by how physically fit everyone around him was. Meanwhile, he was just a skinny, tall kid who couldn't even aim a gun right. But once he could solve a problem using some trivia that no one else in the room knew, he could feel how powerful he was. How much he deserved to be in the room with everyone else.

And now, he was completely lost. He hated not having any direction. He could feel himself panicking, his breathing was quickening with every step he took.

I can't be dead, he thought to himself, this was just some awful dream and I'll wake up tomorrow and everything will be fine

I have to get out of here. How do I get out of here? He sped up. He ran left and right, but all he saw was a field of grass. Before he knew it, he had wandered back to where he was before: the gazebo, the park bench, and the mirror to the living world

Reid collapsed on the ground in front of the mirror. His friends were still in the hospital comforting one another. The more he watched them, the heavier his heart felt. He had abandoned them. He began pounding on the mirror, thinking that if he could break the mirror he would be able to return to where his team was. He stayed on the ground for a long time, hitting the mirror with all the strength he could find in his body. But the mirror never faltered, the surface remained unflawed.

Eventually Reid stopped. He buried his head in his hands as he took in deep breaths to calm himself. He couldn't deny it anymore. He was dead

Out of the silence, an unknown voice cut through the air, "I know how you feel"

Reid looked up. He glanced around the park but couldn't see anyone.

"Look behind you"

Reid turned around. There, standing by the gazebo, was a young girl. She couldn't be any more then fifteen years old. Her hair fell gracefully down to her shoulder, framing her round face. She held an opened umbrella, which shielded her from the relentless rain.

Reid looked at her with confusion but stayed rooted to where he was, not sure if he should approach her or not. The girl advanced towards him with slow, sure strides and stopped right in front of him. She knelt down and moved the umbrella closer to him, shielding both of them under it.

"It's okay to feel that way," she assured him, "It's a big adjustment that you'll have to make"

Reid's eyes were locked on hers. He opened his mouth and attempted to reply but couldn't find the right thing to say. "Who are you?" he finally asked her

"My name is Naomi. But you can just call me Nomi. It's what everyone used to call me before I...well... I'm sure you know"

Reid nodded. He remained silent for a moment before venturing forth with a question of his own "Is this heaven or hell?"

Nomi hesitated before answering, "Neither, actually. This place is more like an in-between"

"In-between where?"

"In between where we once were and where we should have gone"

Reid looked at her in confusion, "Why are we here then? Why couldn't we just skip this place and go straight to where we should go?"

"That's because you and I, we're still connected to the living by an unfinished business. We can't leave here until the issue is resolved"

"What kind of unfinished business?" Reid demanded impatiently

Nomi shrugged, "I can't tell you that. You'll have to figure that out yourself"

Reid thought hard, "But there were so many things I needed to do"

"Think about the moments leading up to your death," Nomi offered, "That's usually a good starting place"

"Leading up to my death?"

Nomi nodded, "close your eyes and think hard"

Reid complied. But he realized that he couldn't remember much. His memory was jumping back and forth from one event to another. The details were unclear: Perhaps he was killed in a cabin...or maybe a small house. His killer was young...but old somehow.

"Why can't I remember?" He asked Nomi in frustration. He opened his eyes once again but found that Nomi had disappeared.

"Hello?" he called out. His cries were met with only silence. He got up from his spot and was about to look for her when he caught sight of the mirror. The colours were swirling once again. It was hypnotizing. Before he knew it, he had once again taken a seat on the park bench staring intently into the mirror. The colours arranged itself and the image sharpened once again. This time, he was looking at a view of some city. The uneven duet of old historic buildings and modern skyscraper should elude the identity of the city but for some reason, Reid instinctively knew:

Philadelphia

What was the case again? He wondered

Then he remembered. It was the policemen that were the victims this time. They were being lured to abandoned buildings all over the city by minor 911 calls. Instead of finding evidence of domestic violence or other small crimes, they would find themselves staring into the barrel of a revolver instead.

His fragmented memories were slowly coming together again. He closed his eyes and recalled the events of that nightmarish day. It was a rainy Tuesday in Philadelphia. His team was racing over to the airport to track down an alleged unsub that they believe was fleeing the city. Reid was left behind. He had chosen to stay because his mind was mulling over what had happened the day before when Rossi and he were assigned to interrogate a suspect.

Reid remembered his last name was Hamels. That was about all he could recall about that man. He didn't remember what his first name was, how he looked like, how he behaved, or why they decided to look for him. But what Reid did remember was that he was renting his basement to a man that Rossi and Reid decided to interview

His name was Chris Marlow. He was old: in his late 50s or so. He was pleasant and confident while answering the questions the two agents had for him. He acted like he had nothing to hide, offering what little details he knew of Hamels to the agents. But their interview was cut short by a phone call from Hotch who informed them that Garcia had found a lead and they needed to head back to the station right away

The rest of the detail of the case seemed unclear to Reid, even redundant. All he knew was that the next day at around five in the afternoon, Garcia told them that Hamels had purchased a one-way airplane ticket to Canada. Panicked grip the team, all the evidence they had pointed them towards Hamels, and they couldn't let him escape. So off they went to the airport, leaving Reid alone at the station. After half an hour of thinking, he decided to pay a visit to cabin the unsub had performed his first kill.

The sequence of events that followed from that moment felt like the final scenes of a Hollywood tragedy

He called Hotch to tell him where he was heading. Hotch was confused about the reasons but because he was so preoccupied about their current mission, he let Reid off without a second thought. He had no idea it was to be his last phone call to Reid, the last time he'll ever hear him talk again

He drove there on a borrowed car from the police station; there being a small cabin-like storage facility just outside the city. He didn't remember why he drove there. He guessed it was an instinct that overwhelmed all his senses at the time. He remembered stepping over the yellow police lines when approaching the building. He could still feel the metallic texture of the doorknob as he struggled to push the cabin door open. He had expected the cabin to be empty, but instead, there was a man bending over something in the middle of the room. The poor lighting wasn't helping Reid but his curiosity compelled him to advance into the cabin

The mystery person looked up when he saw Reid coming. At that moment, the setting sun happened to cast a fleeting ray across the man's face, exposing half his face to Reid's sight while the other half remained hidden in the shadow. The familiarity of his feature stopped Reid in his track. He couldn't place his finger on where he had seen him before, but his presence was somehow sending chills up his spine.

"You shouldn't be here," the man hissed. He lifted his hand to reveal a gun. Reid froze. His first instinct was to reach for his gun secured in its holster but he was too late. He heard a bang, and then felt a burning sensation as the bullet hacked its way through Reid's soft flesh. The room began to spin and the next thing he knew, he could feel the cold, hard floor slamming into his head. The mystery man advanced towards him and bent his head down to stare at his kill. At that angle, Reid could now see every detail of his face, from the colour of his eyes down to every contour of his pale face. He brought his hand towards Reid's shirt and pulled a button from it before staring into Reid's eyes and smirked, "Should've stuck with your team and went after Hamels, Dr. Reid. Now, they'll never find you. At least not in time"

It was the last thing Reid heard before he died. The killer's voice was still ringing in Reid's ear as he re-opened his eyes and stared into the mirror. The image has changed. This time, Reid was staring at the killer. His killer:It was Chris Marlow, the man from Hamels' basement. The unsub wasn't Hamels, it was Chris Marlow. And Chris had killed him. Marlow was flipping through a small black book with a list of name. He paused at the very end where there was a few blank spaces awaiting its next entry. He took out a pen and wrote: Thomas Hamels. Here, he put down the pen and paused for a moment, absorbed in his thoughts. After a few minutes, he took his pen back up. There was only a small empty spot left at the bottom of his book, he took a deep breath before putting down the final name: Spencer Reid

Reid's blood started to boil. He got up from the spot and ran towards the FBI building. He couldn't stand to look at Marlow for one more second. He burst through the door and stormed up the flight of stairs leading to the BAU's floor. All the while, he could see Marlow's face in front of him and could hear his taunting remarks. He was angry that Marlow was still alive, and he was angry that he was now another name is his sick notebook. He wanted Marlow dead. He wanted Marlow to burn in whatever hell is waiting for him.

Once he arrived at his desk. He buried his head in his hand and tried to clear his thoughts. Marlow's voice was ebbing away now, this time replaced by a clearer, much gentler tone.

Unfinished business

Reid withdrew his hands from his face. It was then that he noticed a brown folder sitting on his desk with the elaborate FBI logo decorating the front cover. He picked it up and opened it. He felt his heart sank when he saw the first picture in the file. It was a picture of him, bleeding and dying at the scene of the crime. He quickly flipped over it to find detailed crime scene records. He leafed through it, scanning it using his lightning-fast reading skill. The last page of the file wasn't a report or any crime scene photo. Instead, it was a picture of Chris Marlow. Strangely, he wasn't feeling angry anymore as he studied Marlow's feature. He now felt motivated as he realized what this picture could personified: His unfinished business

He couldn't rest until Chris Marlow gets his just desserts.

He was an FBI profiler when he was alive, fighting to catch sick bastards just like Chris Marlow. Now he understand, he will be an FBI profiler until the very end