What did I think about my life? It's cool, it's great, and I loved living in a tiny house with no air conditioning in London with my very sweet, very sarcastic cousin. Why would you ask? I mean, sure everyone kept saying, "1972 is your year, (Y/N)!"...
"So, my plan is to introduce you to as many people as possible before dinner starts, so you won't become overwhelmed once everyone crowds into the same room together, because that can get a bit nasty," my tour guide told me.
Emma walked through the kitchen, and grabbed a carrot that was on the counter. She took a bite, and said, "How are you feeling with all of this, by the way?"
It was a great question that people should ask themselves more often. How was I, other than stressed, curious, and still questioning if I was just passed out on a street in England and have been dreaming the whole past three months up. Of course, that theory made more sense than the reality I was currently living in.
"I'm fine," I lied. "It's just a lot to take in, is all."
Emma nodded at this, and led me to a door going straight into the back garden. The place was beautifully green, with hedges of different sizes and shapes outlining the perimeter. I could see children's toys scattered across the lawn, with the occasional kite stuck in a tree. The two girls from earlier were still playing tag, and had continued the game outside. However, it seemed as if they were able to get more players, since children kept running away from a little blonde girl.
The kid looked like Shirley Temple, with golden curls and pink ribbons keeping them away from her face. She had cold eyes, and seemed to be 'It'. The little girl ran over to Emma, and tapped her excitedly on her hip, saying "You're it!"
"Claire!" the older, tomboyish teen said from her hiding position. "What have we said about tagging those who have not verbally said they would play?"
Claire didn't answer, but instead looked up at me. She stared at me strangely, as if she didn't know how she was supposed to react. So instead, she tilted her head to the side, and scratched her curls.
"Who are you?" she asked.
I crouched down at her height, so I could look her in the eyes. Before I could say anything, however, Emma introduced me to everyone in close proximity to us.
"This," she gestured to me kindly, "is (Y/N). She is a peculiar from the present, and will be staying with us for dinner, right?"
I just nodded, and stood back up. Claire then curtsied kindly, and the older girl stepped out, holding the tiara girl in her arms. She then shifted the little one onto her left shoulder, so she could hold a hand out to me. I shook it, and quickly regretted it after figuring out that she had a too firm handshake.
"I'm Bronwyn," she said with a warm smile. "The one on my shoulder is Olive, and the one in front of you is Claire. We haven't had proper guests since Enoch O'Connor came along, and we didn't exactly ask for him."
Claire kept staring at me strangely. She asked, "What's your peculiarity?"
Bronwyn gasped, and angrily stared down at Claire. "Doll, you know how rude it is to ask that. How would you like it if someone you just met asked you?"
"Oh no, it's fine," I told them.
I decided that it would have just been easier to demonstrate then explain it, so that's exactly what I did. With some concentration, the world around us suddenly became black and white, as if we were looking at an old photograph. The three girls gasped, and Emma gave me an approving chuckle.
Quickly, I changed it back, and Bronwyn smiled.
"My bird, if Millard was here, he'd be ripping out his hair from amazement,"Bronwyn chuckled. "This is exactly the type of talent that he would fall head over invisible heals for."
"Did you say invisible?" I asked.
The small group around me looked at each other knowingly, as if they knew something I didn't.
Which they obviously did, since they decided to change the subject back into who would be playing their game. I happily joined, and had other peculiars introduce themselves to me. I later on met the boy Bronwyn was talking about from earlier, Enoch, and decided that I was going to have a complicated relationship with him.
Everyone seemed friendly, and would try to influence me to stay. There would be times when I would remind myself that I could stay for a bit..... but then I would remember my cousin back in 1972, probably wondering where I was.
And then I would decide to stay only for dinner.
A dinner that was supposedly going to be served soon.
The children brought their things inside the house, and Emma brought me up to her room. We sat on her bed, and Emma showed me photos she had been taking over the past couple of years. They were mostly of the same things, since she technically wasn't supposed to go outside of the loop.
She explained the stories of everything single picture, as if they were her best memories, until she got to a photo in the bottom of the pile. She was in this photo, and was sitting with her back against a tree (a tree that could be found out back, by the way) and a young man had his head gently on her lap. They looked happy, and it broke my black heart a little to see how sad the picture made Emma.
"Who's that?" I cautiously asked. True, I had only known Emma for a day, but I felt as if she needed to open up to someone.
She reminded me of old friends who would always put others before themselves. Those people drowned out their sorrow by helping others, until they forgot who they even were. Most of them told hilarious jokes though, so I guess that was a plus to being friends with them.
"That's....." She just stared at the photo, as if asking herself what she was allowed to say. "That's Abe. He was a friend if mine, but he left the loop only a few months after it even opened."
I put my hand on her back, and she smiled sadly at me. We hugged, and I could feel Emma's raggedy breaths against mine, and we kept that position until the dinner bell rang.
"Guess we better go," Emma said. She stood up, and calmly wiped a tear away.
Before she could go, I called out her name. She turned back towards me.
"If you ever need anything," I said, "don't be afraid to ask. If I'm staying in this loop with you, we can't pretend that things are fine if they really aren't. Not saying that you're not fine, but I can tell that you're not happy, you know?"
Emma seemed shocked. "You're staying?"
"Well, yeah," I shrugged. "I mean, I still need to go talk to my cousin about some stuff, but I think that's my plan."
"Cool!"
Emma gave me a real smile, and started walking to the door. Before going out, she suddenly stopped.
"I just realized that you haven't met Millard yet!" she exclaimed. I remembered hearing about him from earlier. "You're just going to love him, I can already tell."
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A filler chapter??? In my book??? It's more likely than you think.
Sorry for adding a filler chapter, despite there being NO PLOT YET (yes, I'm horrible at this, there's no need to rub it in.) Buuuuuut, I also didn't want your character to just suddenly be meeting a bunch of people at the same time, since it would take away from Millard and you having moments. I also didn't want you to meet him until dinner, since I just thought it would be interesting to see this happen in a formal setting. Anyways, thanks for listening to my weird rant thing. See you in the next chapter! (Also, should I add more pictures to the story, or...?)
