𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 ➳ [ SPENCER REID ] [PARTS 1 & 2]

━━━━ prologue

LEAH GRAY HAD just finished her shift at the cafe that she worked at- the merge cafe. it was a modern cafe from the looks of it; a marble counter with the walls painted white and the black tables and chairs that looked glossy. the booths, however, gave the cafe a 60s vibe- red leather seats with led lights that lit up the windows. not to mention, the old jukebox that leah had begged for which had thousands of selections that not one person under 18 could name.

she loved the cafe, even more so the owner who she knew did not feel the same way for her. to most, agnes campbell was nothing but a 60 year old lady who ran a coffee shop, but for some reason, to leah, she was much more.

and agnes had a husband, whom leah didn't really care to remember the name of. he looked familiar, for some reason. he had these gray eyes that stared into her soul every time she made eye contact with him- which was only one time when he stopped by the cafe to see his wife.

she didn't like it- she could have sworn she knew this man from somewhere, but she didn't know from where. that feeling sucks, doesn't it? when you see a face of someone you think you've known your whole life, but you can't put a name to them?

the cafe was not very far from her home, which was in an apartment building which she shared with her roommate shayne parker, who she had known since high school.

shayne was the only one leah had stayed in contact with after high school. she never really had any friends in high school, not that she cared. shayne was the only one who talked to her, and she was okay with that.

leah was a loner in high school. she was probably the only teenager that didn't care much about the drinking, the smoking, the sex that for some reason attracts every teenager in one way or another. instead, she had focused on what she wanted to do when she was older- planning out which college she would go to and how she would pay for it.

she had been working at the cafe since her sophomore year, and every day after school she and shayne would make their way to the cafe together and- despite the fact that she was working- they would talk endlessly for hours until her shift was over.

shayne would talk on and on about the cute boy that walked by him that day in the hallway, and leah admired him for that. he didn't seem to care who was listening, he wasn't afraid to show the world the real shayne parker.

leah talked, too, of course. not about the hottest guy in school, not about the grade that she had gotten on the latest test.

no, instead she talked about the latest crimes that had occurred in the state- or sometimes, even in the country. although she wasn't always the biggest fan of the police (considering the increase of police brutality over the past few years), she had always dreamed of doing something like that. she wanted to be a hero- she wanted to save lives and catch bad guys and help the people of quantico, virginia- or maybe, if she dreamed big enough- the world.

she was in her senior year of high school when she had taken a high level of interest in the fbi. that was when she had finally decided what she wanted to do with her life: she was going to be a part of the fbi, in one way or another.

she excelled greatly when it came to any subject in school- especially when it came to science and technology. she had been offered to graduate early- a LOT earlier than any other student that went to the school.

however, instead of taking the offer to graduate high school after only 3 semesters, she decided she wanted to live out the full high school experience. go on trips, make new friends, go to prom- all of it.

however, if she had known that shayne would be the only person willing to talk to her, her decision might have been different.

she had a good time in high school, however. yes, she didn't have many friends, she had closer bonds with her teachers than her own classmates, but she had a good time nonetheless. on a school trip with her chemistry class in junior year, her teacher had introduced her to the head professor of chemistry at yale, who even offered her early admissions if she wanted it. she did not accept, but she knew that when she got her college acceptance letter from yale with a full scholarship a year later that the professor had remembered her.

she somehow managed to start college during her last semester ever of high school. she still excelled greatly- and completed all her work on time and got a hundred on almost every assignment.

so, yeah. for her last semester of high school EVER, she went to school in virginia and completed all her assignments, also taking online classes from yale (it took a while to convince the nice professor to make this possible, but she managed), and also worked up to 5 hours most days at the merge cafe. and yet, she wasn't stressed. instead she was relieved to have been able to start college early. she was determined to receive not one, but two bachelors degrees from her university, no matter how long it took.

she moved in with the one and only shayne parker shortly after prom- which they ended up attending together for the sole purpose of not wanting to go alone.

they lived in a nice little apartment in quantico, virginia. yes, maybe leah had paid a little more rent than shayne had, but she was okay with that. she did have a full scholarship to yale, so her college savings that she had been collecting since she was 8 had come to good use.

leah walked into the lonely apartment. it had a dull, almost empty vibe now that shayne wasn't there to greet her like he always did when she got home from work.

yes, she had managed to graduate from yale with her two bachelors degrees, and yes, she STILL lived with her best friend.

she reminisced his voice, trying to recall the last time she had heard it. the 26 year old who had just started fbi school a few months ago (which shayne was so happy about) now lived alone in her apartment, and she longed to find out the reason why.

she wanted to know who, and how, and why someone took her best friend's life.

it was only 3 days ago when they found shayne in the parking lot. blood pooled on his chest, and all around his limp body. she thanked god every day that she wasn't the one to find him- seeing him like that would push her over the edge.

the harsh knock echoed through her ears as it happened. she had wondered who it could be- she definitely didn't have any friends coming over to check on her and she definitely didn't have any family coming in from town.

she was making her way over to the door to open it when a tall man with a vest that read "fbi" and a gun knocked down the door and started to shout.

"leah gray!" he started. "you are under arrest for the murder of shayne parker."