(Im)Perfection

Chapter 6

The blonde agent stepped out of the SUV onto the grey cobblestones. The whole courtyard was empty, as if the place had been abandoned. She walked around the car and opened the trunk, where she picked up her overnight bag. Right next to her own light blue bag was the small black suitcase Emily used for most of their travels. She picked it up and started to pull it along with her. When Emily had called, she had been talking to one of the local police officers to coordinate the information released to the public. Hotch had gotten her and told her that she and Emily would stay at the school for the night. Ten minutes later, she had jumped into one of the SUVs to get her and Emily's bags.
Then she saw the dark-haired agent walking towards her. The headmistress right next to her.
"Hello Ageng Jareau. I'll take you and Agent Prentiss to the room you can have for the night. Dinner starts at six and goes till seven pm. Breakfast is between seven and eight am. Please make sure you're on time."
She led them down a long dark corridor. "These are the rooms of the top ten. Here is number 10 and all the way in the back number 1. This room here is the old governess room. It hasn't been used as anything but a guest room in years. I hope you'll find everything to your satisfaction."
She left them alone in a big room with two beds. JJ set her bag down on the bed to the left. "It's almost six pm anyway. So maybe we should just put our stuff away."
The two did just that. JJ changed into different clothes while Emily brushed her hair and put it up into a ponytail.
Twenty minutes later, the two agents entered the dining hall, expecting loud chatter of the young girls, but were hit with silence. The only sounds one could hear were the sound of forks scraping on the plates, chairs being pushed back, and steps on the floor.
Emily looked around to find her sister but couldn't see her anywhere. While she and JJ joined the line of girls waiting for their dinner, she continued to look around. All the girls were looking at their plates, and not one of them was talking. But she still couldn't see Flo anywhere. The brunette tried to cling to thought that she might have already been down for dinner, but deep down, she knew that wasn't very likely. It was a quarter past six, and dinner started at 6 pm on the dot. It was incredibly unlikely that her younger sister had managed to finish her dinner already. JJ nudged her in the side and gestured to the front. A small blonde had stepped up. Maybe eleven years old. She put her hand on a scanner. After a few seconds, the machine beeped and printed out a ticket. The girl went to the woman behind the counter and handed it to her. They watched as the woman pulled out a plate and filled it. She seemed to read the instructions on the small note the girl had handed her.
A teacher standing close by noticed their looks and walked closer. "It's so we know what girl has been to meals and how much they ate. So if a girl hasn't shown up in a while, the nurse will check on her and make sure she gets all the nutrients. All girls are regularly checked out by doctors and nurses, and their meal plans are made accordingly." The young man gave them a smile. He seemed so happy with this system, but both JJ and Emily shared a small glance. They had talked about how tiny and frail the girls looked a few days prior. Both of them agreed that only a handful of girls looked like they weren't underweight. Looking around now seemed to prove her point. A lot of girls looked underweight, pale, and small. She even spotted a few tiny girls, who couldn't be older than maybe ten, but looked like they were maybe seven or eight. It broke her heart to see all these girls, who looked like they had nobody in this world to take care of them.
"You two are the FBI Agents, right? Come with me. You'll get dinner from the teachers kitchen." The two shared a glance but followed him.
At the other end of the hall, there was a small restaurant like setup. The two of them sat down, and a staff member handed them today's menu. It showed three different menus, and the staff member waited close by to take their order.
"I'll take menu 3, please." JJ said. Menu 3 consisted of Creamy Garlic Pasta with chicken and Kale Salad. "And for you?" She looked down on the paper again. "Menu 1 for me, please."
The two looked around as they waited for their food. Most of the girls seemed to be eating low-carb food and greens. "It doesn't seem or feel right. Why do teachers eat separate." JJ suddenly said.
The dark-haired man hummed slightly, still checking if her little sister was somewhere in the room. It was almost half seven, and she still didn't see her. Maybe she would come later.
Their dinner was served, and the two ate quietly. It didn't feel right to talk when it was silent around them. Emily kept an eye on both the large wooden clock and the girls entering the hall. There were only ten minutes of dinner left, and her sister hadn't come so far. "Florence hasn't come down for dinner so far. I'm worried she won't come at all." She told JJ, who gave her a smile. "We can pack some of the food, and you can bring it to her?" Emily nodded and used one of the napkins to wrap most of the garlic bread. JJ did the same with the strawberries, cherries, and blueberries her dessert had.
They waited till most girls filtered out of the room before leaving as well. Emily hid the food in her jacket, as she had seen the girls being checked for smuggling food outside.
If they hadn't known that something was off, they knew know. A nine year old was pulled to the side for taking a cookie with her. Luckily, the teachers didn't even check them, so they got through without any problems.
"I'll take this to Flo, okay?" The brunette asked, making the other agent nod. "Yeah, you go ahead. I'll call or text if anything is going on."
Emily smiled at her before leaving the blonde behind to rush down the hall towards her sisters room.
"Florence." She knocked at the door. Behind the door, it was silent, so she knocked again before she opened the door.
The younger Prentiss sat at a table studying. This was the first time she noticed the perfect posture of her younger sister. Perfectly straight, one hand on her lap the other on one of the pages. The dark brown hair is in an impeccable bun.
"Hey Flo. How are you? I've brought you some food." She put the food on the table next to her. "Oh, thanks, Emily."
The younger girl didn't act on her hunger. She continued to focus on her mathematics homework.
The older sister looked around, her sisters room was clean. Squeaky clean. Everything put away orderly. The books all on the shelves, except for the once she was currently using. No dirty clothes, no posters or personal belongings anywhere.
"Aren't you hungry, sweetheart?" Emily asked and moved closer towards her sister. "I didn't see you at dinner, so I know you must be hungry." "I'm okay really. I'm not hungry. I don't really eat dinner."
This one sentence just confirmed her fears, her baby sister wasn't eating dinner. Maybe she was skipping other meals as well.
"And I need to study anyways. I have a lot of homework and need to finish a project." The girl said, still not looking over at her older sister.
The older brunette moved closer and untied the tied bun on the younger girls head. The long hair fell down in a ponytail before Emily pulled out the second tie. "Hm. I think you should eat dinner, before you finish your work." She squeezed the younger ones shoulder. "I'm really not hungry it's okay. You should go and do your work." But the older one shook her head and gently turned the younger girl around, so she could look her in the eyes.
Her baby girl was incredibly pale and had dark circles under the eyes. "Still think you should eat something. You're really thin. I know this place promotes weird perfection standards. But this isn't healthy." "You don't know what your talking about." The younger says back.
"But I do. You're looking like minutes away from a breakdown." "I'm not. Okay? You don't know me and you don't know if or when I'll have a breakdown." Florence basically yelled before she paled even more. She looked scared as she looked towards the door. Emily immediately felt worried. Why was she so scared?
"You need to take a break. Okay sweetheart. I'll help you with your work and you eat, okay?" Florence tried to shake her head but Emily squeezed her hand. "You'll dictate and I'll write while you eat a little, okay?"
Florence held her breath in an effort not to cry. Emmy was safe. She knew that, but deep down she knew that she couldn't except help. She wasn't allowed to. The tiny brunette was so caught up in her thoughts that she couldn't focus on Emily, the food or the homework.
"Hey there pretty girl. It's okay. Let's calm down okay?" Florence felt soft hands touching her shoulders, gently squeezing them before running her hands up and down oh the younger girls arms.
"You're okay. I'm okay. We're both safe. I promise I'll keep you safe." She squeezed her sisters hands.
Slowly she calmed down. Emily's hands grounded her while she tried to refocus. It worked and after a little while she had fully calmed down. She felt exhausted and leaned into her older sister.
"Hm you okay there pretty girl?" The older one whispered as she gathered the child in her arms. "I'm so tired Emmy."
Emily hummed and gently scratched the younger ones scalp. "I know." "But I have to finish it all. Otherwise I'll be in trouble." Once again Emily hummed. "Okay here is the plan. You'll eat a snack and I'll help you with your homework. Once we're finished you'll go straight to bed okay?"

Emily had pulled the younger on her lap, working on the math homework while her sister ate. Of course the older one noticed the shaky hands as she took a few fruits and slowly chewed at them.
But she didn't say anything, not wanting her sister to be even more uncomfortable than she already was. "What else do you have to do?" "English and a music project." Emily hummed again as she felt her sister cuddle closer. As if she was looking for warmth.
"What kind of a project?" She quietly asked. "I have to play a piece on the Violin." The younger one pointed to the instrument in the corner. Emily smiled a little. She remembered when her parents forced her sister to play. Back than at 3 years old, she didn't want to play, but nowadays she looked like she enjoyed it.
"You think you can do it?" The younger one nodded as she was nibbling on the garlic bread. "If you want I could play for you." Florence quietly said. She wasn't looking the older one in the eyes. Deep down she was scared Emmy wouldn't want to hear her or maybe she would hate it.
"Of course. I'd love to hear you play." She let go of the younger one as she got up. The dark-haired FBI Agent watched as the teen tuned her instrument and took a deep breath, before she started playing.
Emily watched as her younger sister played a piece by Paganini. She looked so calm and concentrated while playing.
"You did great pretty girl." The Agent gently complimented her. "You're amazing at playing the Violin." "Thanks but I messed up some notes." The tiny girl mumbled. "You'll do great. I know it."
Flo smiled at her big sister. "Let's finish your English homework and then we'll get you to bed, okay?" She nodded at the older girl. Feeling something she couldn't quite grasp.
Together the two prentisses worked on the English homework quietly. Florence did most of the work herself but every now and than Emily pointed something out to help her.
Around almost 9pm they were done. "Alrighty that's all now isn't it?" The student nodded nearly putting all her books away.
"Let's get you ready for bed." Flo snorted at that. "I'm sixteen not six. I can get myself ready for bed." She didn't notice a hurt look cross Emily's face as she pulled out her nightgown.
"Alright. You'll tell me if you need me okay?" Flo looked up as she saw her sisters soft eyes. "I will. I promise." Emily got up and walked to the door, but turned around. "When are you getting up?" "Like 5am, why?" "Just so I know when I have to come check on you." Flo smiled. "And lock the door okay?" She nodded again. "I will don't worry Emmy. Good night." As she pulled the door to close Emily smiled "Good night, pretty girl."
After her sister left the room Florence changed into her nightgown, brushed her hair into two braids.
She got up to once more to go to the bathroom and brushed her teeth. As she walked back to her room she noticed how silent the hallway was. Nobody was walking there.
Quietly she entered her bedroom before falling down on her bed face first.