𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒, 𝑚. 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑠 & 𝑙. 𝑎𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑧

chapter one, home alone

IT WAS THREE PM WHEN CORALINE WOKE UP, it was a normal thing in her apartment. every day she woke up at three, around the same time her younger brother came home from school. on most days, he would wake her up, knocking on her bedroom door, loudly as her body jolted up. she felt drool on her cheek as she wiped it with her right hand, yawning and trying to get used to the light shining in her face.

"got us dinner," he stood at her door, a bag in one hand as she groaned, her throat dry as she slid off her bed. connor was her younger brother, he was eighteen, she was twenty six so nearly a decade older than him but in a few ways, he was the more responsible one of the two.

"what'd you get?" she peaked into the bag and was met with two containers, soda and rolls. "it's a fish fry," he stated, blatantly as he walked away from her door, his sister following his lead. "ew." she licked her bottom lip as they separated ways, he heads to the kitchen and she followed the path to the bathroom.

she walked in, the floor was cold underneath her bare feet as she picked her toothbrush up from the little blue container it was in. there were two toothbrushes, his was the yellow one, hers was the green one. she spread toothpaste on the brush, wet it and popped it in her mouth and got on to business.

she stared at her reflection, while she brushed, and practically scrubbed her teeth. it took her a few minutes, nearly gagging when she brushed her teeth before she rinsed her mouth. she splashed water on her face, the water was a welcoming change of pace. made her feel alive. she sighed, breath hot as she gripped the sink. she was still exhausted.

when her reflection stared back at her, she was pale, she looked lifeless. her eye bags had grown over the last few days, her lips were chapped and her hair seemed dry. she could have been mistaken for a corpse. she was losing her mind but she didn't care.

"want any soda?" she heard connor call for her, pulling her out of her trance, "yeah, sure!" she called back, leaning against the bathtub for a moment while she collected herself. she had spent the majority of the night writing, the due date for her new manuscript was growing closer by the day. she would have to give it in by the end of may, it was three weeks away.

it felt like life was speeding by her and she was slowly fading away, part of her just felt happy that she could talk to someone. she couldn't remember the last time she spoke to anyone that wasn't her agent or her younger brother. and connor was the only person she actually had a real conversation with, that she saw in real life but he was gone a lot. she was home alone a lot.

"how's the book going?" connor waited until his sister took the corner before he spoke up, watching as she tugged down her t-shirt and sat down at the table. she sat across from him like she did every day, exhausted as she pulled her plate towards her. he didn't give her any fish, just a plate full of fries.

"with the 65k advance, it has to outdo the goddamn bible." she yawned, shoving fries on her roll before getting up to get the ketchup. the money she got for the advance had been keeping them alive for the last few months, it helped her pay for the bills and his school fees. he also used the money to buy food, and any things they needed around the house. coraline barely left the apartment, there were days she didn't even leave her room.

"i can edit it for you, you know im good at that." connor was smart, he read fast, he understood her words and how to change them and how to make them better. they were like a small writing team.

"im not sure it can get read yet, it's still in the very bullshitty stage." she spilled the ketchup onto the fries, taking a bite of the roll and goddamn, it was good. she washed it down with some soda.

"that's why you need me." he gave her a cheeky grin, he was right. she did need him but he had homework, sports and friends. he had to go out with his friends, not spend his time reading her novels. he had a life, it wasn't his fault that she didn't.

"i guess so." she gave him a smile that lingered even when dinner was done and the two split up. connor would go to his soccer practice and coraline would move to the living room where she would write for about twenty minutes before she heard her phone ring in her bedroom.

she assumed it was connor, she hoped it wouldn't be her agent, it was too early for a fight about her book.

she walked into her small bedroom, pushing past her shoes that she left in front of her bed as she flopped down on it. her body told her to go back to sleep but instead she reached for her phone, answering it without knowing who had been calling.

"hey, cora."

the voice on the other end was familiar, it was someone she hadn't spoken to in what felt like forever. "hey, em." she stared out her bedroom window, she could see the image of her backyard through her white curtains. she could see her brother's turtle crawl around, eating grass and she guessed that he probably moved at a faster pace than she did on most days.

"im sorry to bother you, things have just been rough around here recently." emily had been like an older sister to coraline when she worked with the bau. she was like a mentor that tried to help coraline but they both knew coraline couldn't make it in the bau because she didn't want to be a profiler. she only did it to make her grandfather happy and after he was gone, there was nothing to hold her to the fbi. she had a bright career ahead of her as a writer, she didn't need or want to work for the bureau any longer.

"we're down an agent and we need you. you know i wouldn't call if it wasn't necessary." that was true, everyone knew about coraline. they all knew that she didn't like being around people, that she didn't like being bothered so if emily called her, it had to be important.

"how long will i be there?"

"until we can get reid back." that confused coraline. where was reid, she doubted he would leave the team. he loved his job, they all loved their jobs. they were all the reason she realised that she didn't love hers.

"wait, what happened to reid?" she slowly sat up, knowing she would have to focus now.

"i'll explain in person. when do you think you can get here?" coraline checked her watch as she got out of bed, she still had to take a shower and get dressed, "thirty minutes at most." she guessed, she had to find something professional to wear. she had spent the better part of a year in pajamas.

"im sorry that we have to see each other under these circumstances." that was what people said when something bad was happening, when they wished things were different. coraline wondered what made emily prentiss frightened, she sounded scared and the emily she knew was never scared.

"i'm sorry for not trying to stay in contact but im glad you called."

"me too." emily hung up and coraline prepared herself from leaving her apartment. she took a shower firstly, washed her hair in a rush and then got dressed in a white t shirt she had to steal from her brother, and a sweater vest that she had in the back of her closet. she threw on a pair of slacks, boots and a tweed blazer and then she went to brush her hair.

"people go outside all the time." she told herself in the mirror, "you're not special. no one cares about you. no one is gonna look at you." she ran the brush through her hair as she smiled at her reflection, trying to get all her negative energy out of her body.

"you're just like everyone else. you'll blend in. no one is gonna look at you." she repeated those last words to herself on the walk out of her apartment, in her car and on the drive to the bau. she was going to be just fine.