Your Thoughts Are Mine

Meet Olivia Elephanta

It was some year in the early 1900s when Derek and Amelia Elephanta brought two beautiful baby girls into the world, Olive and Olivia. Olive was born 2 minutes before Olivia, and her arrival shocked them all. Unlike her parents, Olive was born with bright red hair that reminded one of the glowing embers in the fire place. The young infant was also hot to the touch, burning anything her tiny fingers could grasp hold of. While the doctors were busy understanding the peculiar child, Olivia Elephanta was born. She however, was born perfectly ordinary and healthy. With her brown hair and... well that's odd... she shared the same mesmerizingly blue eyes as her sister but... neither parent held that trait. How peculiar.

Growing up through their toddler years, the Elephanta's began distancing themselves from the outside world. From the outside of their home, they blended in. With their white picket fence and neutrally colored suburban home, they looked as perfectly ordinary as any other house on the block. The inside however, was a whole other story.

Olivia had never been the center of attention in her own home. From the time her and her sister could toddle, their parents spent all of their time dedicating their attention to Olive. From chasing her around with a fire extinguisher to staying up late into the night to sew her fire proof gloves, Olivia grew accustomed to never being noticed. The weird thing was, no matter how much her parents denied the favoritism, Olivia knew they were lying. After all, she could hear their thoughts.

The voices had been their since birth, which explained her constantly fussy state through her infant years. As she grew older however, she learned how to adjust her attention. The problem was, no one knew, and because no one knew, no one gave her patience over her "small attention span". The problem was however, she didn't have a small attention span, she just couldn't hear over everyone's constantly spinning thoughts.

One night, like every night before, Olivia was getting yelled at for her low marks in class. This night was different however, in the sense of it being that after fourteen years of being told she would amount to nothing, she snapped. She soon realized however, that breaking down was a terrible terrible mistake.

Their parents spent the next two years in search of a home for Olive. They had heard through the grapevine of homes globally for children with abilities such as their daughter's, and decided it was best for her to grow with children of her own kind. What really sparked this mission, was their reason to get rid of Olivia as well. They could finally be as normal as they act- start fresh and be a happy couple that just grew old together. They believed that by dropping Olive off in a home and Olivia (who heard "voices") off in an insane asylum, they could simply tell their friends they sent them to an expensive overseas boarding school and that could be that. The problem proved to be however, that these homes were hard to find and were very well hidden.

At 16 years old, the parents dragged the twins up the doorstep of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. The girls were frightened, and very unaware that they would soon be separated. The woman who answered the door however, had other plans.

She was quite elegant in figure, with her jet black hair done up in an Italian bun and her winged eyeliner outlining her deep black eyes, she held almost a raven-like persona. Even her floor length dark black dress that shimmered a dark blue in the sunlight upheld this visual.

After their introductions and what not, the family was shown in, where Olive was then asked to demonstrate her peculiarity.

"How perfectly peculiar," Miss peregrine noted. She then turned to the Olivia.

"And what about you my child."

Olivia froze. For years she had been called crazy and was ridiculed by her parents for it. But maybe she wasn't crazy at all, maybe she really was gifted like her sister. Her father however, interjected these relieving thoughts with his own.

"Oh no, it's only Olive with the gift. Olivia has her own... disabilities, but not the kind you would be interested."

No no no, please crazy lady, don't fill my mentally unstable daughter's head with your ambitions. Just let us go so we can be done with this one at our next stop. (Derek Elephanta)

Olivia froze once more. Their parents were separating them, and it seemed Olivia's destiny was bound to be much worse that Olive's if she didn't do something fast.

"No!" Olivia stood up screaming.

"You will not separate us!"

The hell does she think she's doing. (Derek)

"Sweetheart, please, you don't know what you're on about." (Amelia)

Stay calm Amelia, she can't actually read your thoughts. (Amelia)

"Yes I can mum! I have proven it to you time and time again but you just won't listen!"

Miss Peregrine took quiet note of all of this, keeping a calm composure.

"Mr. and Mrs. Elephanta, I understand that you may want to believe it, but in the cases I have seen, peculiar children tend to also have peculiar siblings, and with twins, it's almost impossible that Olivia doesn't have one."

The parents stood staring at her in horror, but Miss Peregrine only turned back to Olivia.

"Olivia dear, what have you been proving over and over again?"

Olivia paused, trying to settle herself by taking a deep breath.

"I-I can hear peoples thoughts. I can't control it, it's constant."

Miss Peregrine took a mental note of this.

Hello then Olivia. I was wondering if you could describe to me the feeling that your sister gives off. Not her thoughts, just the emotion that radiates off her. Then, please proceed in telling me your parents.

Olivia's eyes were wide, but she did as asked.

"W-well. Olive is scared and confused, a healthy mix I would say. My mother is regretful and sad, my father is just flat out angry."

Miss Peregrine smiled then turned to the parents whose jaws were on the floor.

"I will be taking in both Olive AND Olivia. Olive has the peculiarity of being able to manipulate fire. Olivia however, has the ability to hear one's thoughts and feel their emotional aura. Though she has never experimented with these before, I'm quite positive she has the peculiarity being able to manipulate one's mind. It is an extremely difficult and dangerous peculiarity due to it's uncontrollable aspects such as those you have used to title her "crazy". I must go over the guidelines of taking them into my care however. You have only been able to enter the loop due to your daughters strong powers combining. When you leave our loop, you will never be able to re-enter or visit your daughter's again. Any questions?"

Olivia felt her mother's sadness deepen as her father's anger relieved into rejoice. Olivia could only assume it was because he would be rid of them faster.

"W-what's a loop?" (Amelia)

"Mrs. Elephanta, did you ever wonder why it took you so long to find us? My home, as well as the other's, remain in time loops. On September 3, 1940, this beautiful building was bombed at precisely 10:36 pm. I however, manipulate the time every night, sending us back to September 2, 1940 at 10:36 pm. By doing this, our whereabouts become invisible to those around us who continue on with time. We can venture in and out of the loop, but after remaining in a loop for so long, leaving could cause such extreme aging on a peculiar, that they simply perish."

Tears began to stream down their mother's face as she held Olive tightly. Olivia looked over to her mother for comfort, but the only remorse she received was a hateful glare. Great, Olivia would now forever remember the one thing that remained true through this all, she was never to be loved in her parents eyes.

During all the emotion, their father, as heartless as he was, had already fetched the girls bags from the car and began escorting the weeping mother from the home.

Olive was crying but Olivia was not. As they drove away, Olivia swore to never forget the hug she never received from her mother. She felt quite empty with that in mind, however it was soon filled by her and her sister being hugged tightly by Miss Peregrine.

"You will both be happy here, I can already feel it." She spoke softly to them.

That day was November 18, 1946, the day the Elephanta twins learned, they would never age a day again.