Something Peculiar (Enoch O'Connor)

8. Time Passed

Days passed by.  Those days quickly turned into weeks, and the weeks into months, and the months into a couple years.  Five years had gone by, in the blink of Antonia's eye.  Within that time, she'd gotten much closer to her brother, and became very good friends with everyone in the house - including Enoch, who it took her several months to be able to be around without crying.  Both her and Reggie had grown to love living in Miss Peregrine's Loop.

"Antonia!" Reggie yelled as he hopped towards her, his floppy brown ears bouncing in the wind.  "Come see the size of this carrot Fiona grew!  It's bigger than you are!"

Antonia laughed and picked up the rabbit.  "I'm aware of the size of Fiona's carrots, Reggie."

"No, this one is way bigger than normal."

"You want me to persuade her to give you some, don't you?"

"Well, yeah!"

She rolled her eyes and scratched the rabbit on the head.  "I don't understand you sometimes.  You talk like a human, but you act like such a rabbit."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

She laughed and put him down on the ground, brushing off some of the dirt he tracked onto her dress.  "I'm going to go wash up, thanks to you my dress is now covered in mud."

"I never asked to get picked up."

She rolled her brown eyes again and stood up, brushing off her dress.  "I'll see you later."  She went inside, and on her way to her and emma's room she saw Enoch sitting in his room, staring intently at a clay doll.  "Having trouble?" she asked from the only-slightly-open doorway.

"Just a little," he replied,  and she heard him get up from his seat.  The door opened more a second later, with him on the other side of the doorway.  "Just trying to figure out what I want it to do."

"Why not have it fight something?" she asked as she leaned against the doorway.  "You love doing that."

He shrugged, looking at the floor.  "I planned on trying something different today."

"Like what?" she questioned.

"Uh-um...  I-I don't know.  Deliver a message, maybe?  Ask questions?"

"I didn't know they could talk."

"Me neither, but I've always wanted to check."

She laughed lightly.  "Well, then put a heart in that thing, and let's start asking it questions."

He nodded and led her over to the table, and placed a heart inside of the clay doll.  It jumped to life and stood at attention.

"Do you talk?" she questioned the small mass of clay.

No response came.

"I guess that's a no," she sighed, suddenly reminded of her dress.  "Hang on, I'll be back.  Reggie got dirt all over me, so I have to change."  She left Enoch's room and went into her own, shutting the door as she decided on what dress she would change into.  Once she was changed, she opened the door to see Reggie.

"Antonia!" the rabbit called out.  "Shut the door!" he said as he hopped into the room.

"Did you get washed off?"

"Yes, Bronwyn hosed me down.  Now, shut the door!"  He nudged at the wooden mass with his head, and Antonia shut it.  "So while I was coming up here, I heard Enoch talking to somebody.  At first I thought he was commanding some of his clay things, but then he started talking about you.  He said he wants to figure out a way to tell you he likes you."

Her eyes widened, and she sat down on the foot of her bed.  "W-what?"  Images of Wesley began to fill her head.  The first time they'd met, when he first asked her out, their first kiss...  It all went flooding back into her mind.  She suddenly couldn't stand the thought of Enoch, he was too similar to the love she'd lost.

"I can go tell him you're not interested, unless you are."

She shook her head.  "No, you're not going to tell him anything.  My heart belongs to Wesley,  even when he's dead.  Enoch is never to know you found this out, do you hear me?  You're not going to go to him and talk about it, or tell him that I'm still hung up on Wesley.  Everything is going to go back to exactly how it was before you came in here and told me."

"If you're not ready for a relationship, just tell him that."

She shook her head.  "That could ruin our friendship.  Whether he has feelings for me or not, Enoch is one of my best friends.  I don't wanna jeopardize that."

"Don't you think the poor guy deserves an answer, at least?"

She sighed.  "Not unless he tells me.  I'm not going to go up to him and say hey, Reggie told me you like me.  Sorry, but no.  I don't want to hurt his feelings."

"Antonia-"

"You can't change my decision, Reggie."  She stood up and opened the door, but when she left she went outside, instead of back to Enoch.