COLD HEARTED ⇢ ENOCH O'CONNOR

five

Olive lit up the fireplace before sitting down next to Arabella, who was sat with one leg crossed over the other, holding her cup of hot chocolate.

Arabella was staring at her drink, when the space beside her was taken, and she felt the couch sink a little. She was expecting to see the frills of Claire's pink dress, but she didn't.

Arabella looked up to see Enoch sat beside her. She furrowed her brows and Enoch shuffled around. Their eyes met one another's for a small second, before he broke their gaze.

"Yours has extra marshmallows, Jake." Millard said, handing Jake his hot chocolate.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Millard! Put some pyjamas on!"
"It's too hot in here!" Millard complained.

"Stop moaning!" Horace said.
Millard ignored him. "Excuse me." He said to Emma, who let him get past so he could sit next to her.

Horace began to project his dreams.
Arabella sighed to herself as she watched him purchase another fancy item of clothing.

Most of Horace's dreams were about clothes, which no one really found interesting - Arabella included.

Surprisingly, his dream about clothes quickly changed to Horace introducing himself to Jake, before complimenting his shirt.

"When did he dream this?" Arabella heard Jake ask Emma.
"Last night. Some of his dreams are prophetic... but mostly, they're about clothes." Emma whispered.

Arabella returned her focus back to Horace's dream, which seemed to now be more of a nightmare. She watched people with white eyes leading someone tied to a chair into a dark room.

Everyone gasped and shared scared facial expressions, but Arabella kept her eyes on Horace's projected dream.

"An Ymbryne. Who is she?" Fiona asked. "Miss Peregrine, do you know her?"
Miss Peregrine didn't respond.
"Don't be silly, Horace obviously just had a bad dream, that's all."

Arabella sighed to herself. "Thank God my peculiarity isn't to project my dreams." She thought to herself.

When the doors to the dark room where shut, the scene seemed to have switched again.

Arabella watched in curiosity as she was projected onto the wall. She seemed to be looking at something, and wherever she was seemed unfamiliar.

Enoch was then projected onto the wall, making him lean forward.

Everyone watched eagerly as the two started to lean in. This allowed Arabella to see more of their surroundings, but she still couldn't make out where they were.

Her eyes widened when their lips were about to touch, but luckily, Miss Peregrine turned on the lights and announced that that was enough for the night.

The children wined.
"I should probably get going." Jake said, putting his hot chocolate aside.

Arabella could feel Enoch's eyes piercing holes through her skull, but she refused to look at him.

"You could stay the night, if you wanted to, rather than walk home alone in the dark." Miss Peregrine suggested.

"But, the island is very safe, isn't it?" Emma questioned.
"Of course! I only meant... the path is dreadfully bumpy, Jake could trip. Perhaps you could show him the shortcuts... should he ever need to avoid bumps."

"Won't you at least stay to see the reset, Jake? It's really quite spectacular!" Olive grinned.

The children all nodded in agreement as Enoch threw his head back in frustration.

***

Miss Peregrine ushered for the children to follow her. Once everyone had left the room, Enoch grabbed hold of Arabella's and harshly pulled her away from the group.

"What was that?" He hissed.
Arabella scoffed. "How the hell am I supposed to know?"
Enoch's jaw tightened as he took another step closer to her.

Arabella took a step back, since Enoch was already stood pretty close to her.

"Now that Horace has shared his dream and I know about it, I can stop it. So don't think that meant anything." Enoch told her, before releasing his grip on her arm.

Once Enoch had stormed out of the room, Arabella was left alone.
She twisted her arm around to look at the red hand mark Enoch had made.

It was usual for Arabella to feel sad, but this felt different. To Arabella, she felt more than sad. When Arabella did cry, it was usually because of her dreams, but this was different. She was crying over something Enoch said.

Enoch.

Enoch was rude, but he'd never been this rude to her before, and it was all because Horace dreamt that they'd kiss in the future.

Arabella hiccuped. She shook her head and almost ran out of the room.

Arabella decided she'd go to bed instead of watching the reset. She didn't worry about anyone wondering where she was, because she didn't stay to watch it often. After witnessing it almost everyday, it got boring.

Arabella stood by her window, watching the time change. She watched as everything moved in reverse, before the sky turned dark and clear.

She sighed and flopped onto her bed and stared at the grey ceiling.

"Are you okay?" A familiar, soft sounding voice asked.
Arabella turned her head to see Emma stood at the door with a sympathetic smile.

Arabella nodded and sighed. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know what that was about, and I really wasn't expecting that - I don't anyone was," Emma chuckled, walking over to her bed.

Arabella rolled her eyes and rested the back of her head on her arm.

"But maybe this means something." Emma said.
Arabella furrowed her brows before scoffing.

Emma sighed. "You're lonely, Arabella. You show no form of emotion, and let's be honest, neither does Enoch."

"What are you trying to say?" Arabella groaned.
"You both need someone." Emma said.

Arabella sat up and narrowed her eyes at Emma. "Don't be ridiculous. I know what you're getting at! I'll be surprised if I catch feelings for Enoch, because let's be honest, he's an asshole."

Emma nodded. "He is. But things can change. That's all I'm trying to say."

Arabella rolled her eyes and flopped back onto her bed. "Goodnight, Emma."

Although Arabella couldn't see, Emma grinned. "Goodnight, Arabella."

She knew it would happen someday.