CHAPTER ONE
abe's grandson
・゜゜・．
i woke up at exactly eight this morning to begin my day. it was the same routine as usual. wake up at eight, breakfast at eight thirty, clean up after breakfast, free until lunch time, except for saving a window from being hit by a rock which a bird drops at exactly ten forty six every day. lunch is at twelve o'clock, i'm free until dinner which is at six o'clock, movie night is at seven thirty, then off to bed at nine o'clock. maybe a bit later if i stay up reading. it's pretty much the same every day.
nothing exciting rarely happens in the peculiar household, unless us kids fell adventurous and want to cause havoc to the town and it's people. after all, they won't remember when they wake up the next day. another thing exciting that i guess i do on a regular basis is reading in the library with millard. it's a common love we share, being enveloped in books. there's just something about them that brings your mind into a different world.
i put on a pair of tan stockings, throw on a white shirt with a yellow button dress over it, put on my dirty white slip on shoes before venturing out of my room. i put my hair into two twisted pigtails – which i do nearly every day. it is quite simple and comfortable.
downstairs, out of all the kids claire and bronwyn have gotten themselves ready so far. millard and i have the daily chore of making breakfast for everybody. since we are both fifteen years old, and being two of the older children, miss peregrine assigned us the job. emma and olive have lunch time duty, whilst enoch doesn't really cook. miss peregrine tried to get him to, but he refused. i'm sure his cooking wouldn't of been that good anyway. besides, all four of us take turns in helping miss peregrine cook dinner so we don't really need him.
this morning, to my surprise, i am down and ready before millard. he's usually up hours before me. maybe he had a long night reading. i continuously stay up late to finish chapters of books i become lost in.
i look towards claire and bronwyn, who look eagerly back at me. they must be hungry this morning. "are you two happy with jam toast for breakfast this morning?" i ask them, a smile spreading across my face.
"yes!" claire tells me, nodding her head quickly. bronwyn agrees with her.
i smile again, putting some toast into the toaster and getting the jam out from the refrigerator. "how about a glass of orange juice too? fiona made some nice ones yesterday." i offer, grabbing two glasses from the top cupboard.
"yum, orange juice is my favourite!" bronwyn says, her curly hair bouncing up and down.
i gather two oranges from the fruit basket, squeezing all the juice into a glass each for the girls. on time, the toast pops and i quickly bread jam on top before handing the plates and glasses to the girls.
"thanks, max!" the both say together.
"that's quite alright." i chuckle.
a few seconds later a pair of trousers and an untucked button shirt comes sauntering down the stairs.
"about time, everyone else should be up soon. i don't fancy making breakfast by myself." i say, placing more toast into the toaster, as i prepare for everyone else to come down.
millard sighs, taking another orange from the fruit basket. "i didn't go to sleep until late last night, and surprisingly i wasn't reading. hugh was snoring, which meant his bees kept on coming in and out of his mouth." he tells me, squeezing the orange juice into a glass, "it's the buzzing that gets me."
i shake my head, "haven't you lived with him for over 60 years? shouldn't you be used to it by now?"
"no. and no matter how much longer i live with him i'll never get used to it." millard chuckles slightly, and i watch as the glass is lifted up into the air and tilted.
i can't see millard unless i use a fair amount of energy. the first time i discovered i could see him was when we were playing raid the village, and i had to make all us kids (besides millard of course) invisible before the police spotted us. i was concentrating so hard, that when i looked over at millard's floating clothes i could see him. i knew it was him because of his clothing, obviously. i was just glad he hadn't taken them off or anything like he regularly does.
he seemed quite glad to know someone could see him, even if it was just for a little while. when i told the others and miss peregrine, they were amazed. apparently not many peculiars could see invisibles.
the thumping and shouting upstairs snaps me from the memory. fiona, hugh, the twins, olive and emma all came scurrying down at once.
i shuffle over to millard, grabbing onto his shoulders (he is quite tall, so it was a little hard) and move him in front of the toaster. "you do the toast, i'll do the orange juices." he doesn't argue, and begins to spread jam on a slice of toast.
i take more oranges from the basket; fiona had made a lot yesterday. i cut them in half before using a tiny force field on either side for more added pressure, that way most of the juice would disperse. i did this quickly, and soon placed all the glasses in front of the children. i help millard spread jam onto the rest of the slices of toast, and hand them out. i make sure to save a plate each for miss peregrine and enoch.
millard and i get our own breakfast, and join the kids at the table. enoch joins us to, grumpily sitting at the end of the table nibbling on the bread.
we all chatter amongst ourselves, laughing and making plans for the day.
"how about we play a game of soccer today?" i suggest to hugh, millard and fiona, "who's in?"
hugh and millard nod their heads. fiona nods to, but tells us miss peregrine wants her to grow extra vegetables for tonight and tomorrow nights dinner.
"that's ok, join us once you finish though." i tell her, to which she nods enthusiastically.
miss peregrine makes an appearance, clearing her throat as a hint for us all to be quiet. "good morning, children." she smiles. we all mutter good mornings back. "you all know yesterday and maybe the day before that i went out of the loop to check over some things. on the way i spotted, well, i spotted abe's grandson."
"grandson?" i gasp. abe had been a good friend of mine. he left a few years ago to join the army, grow old and have his own life, but i didn't realise how quickly the time had gone.
"yes. he is the spitting image of abe. anyway, i was listening to a conversation of his yesterday, and today he is going to look for the children's home. which is obviously us. he is in 2016, so the house he will find will be burnt and no longer there. he will assume we have all died in the bombing meant to happen tonight." she pauses, "i need some of you to go out and get him for me."
instantly hands go flying up. we are rarely allowed outside the loop, as we would age quickly if we are out for too long. my hand is stretched high into the air as i grin at miss peregrine.
"emma, olive, maxine, millard, hm- i guess claire and bronwyn can go just this once. and the twins too." she tells us. i beam at her.
we all finish our breakfast before heading out straight away. i walk with claire, leading the group through the cave and out of the loop. once out, i take an inhale of the 2016 air. it's always weird moving from the past to the future, present- well, it felt like the future. we aren't allowed to know anything about the future though, miss peregrine forbid us.
"let's head into the house. he might be wondering around in there." emma suggests. i nod, and help the little kids over the mud piles and broken shards of glass. you would think they'd clean up a little.
we all go seperate ways. emma and olive take the kids upstairs, whilst millard and i look around downstairs. i stare sadly around me. the living room doesn't even look like a living room. it's covered in ash, and the lounge is singed to pieces. it's weird to think this could have been our fate if not for miss peregrine.
i move around slowly through the thick piles of photo frames and rubble. the sun reflecting off of the glass of a frame catches my eye. "millard, look. it's us." i call him over, picking up the frame. i wipe the dirt off with my sleeve. i hear millard walking over, and can feel his breath as he looks over my shoulder.
the picture was one which miss peregrine took a few weeks after i first arrived. it was of millard and i in the library. you obviously couldn't see millard, but you could see his clothes. he was still there. the photo is our house now is tucked away, but because of the bombing in this time it has re-emerged. millard chuckles into my ear, "i remember that day. weren't we-"
"we've seen him, we've seen abe's grandson!" claire comes bouncing in, interrupting millard and i.
i smile, placing the frame down where it had been and follow closely behind claire. "he's just around that corner." she whispers. i peek around from behind the wall, as does claire. the boy spots us and gasps. we quickly pull our heads back in.
we watch as he runs out through the kitchen, tripping over some cracked cement and hitting his head. i hear millard sigh behind me. i sigh too, walking over to make sure he's alive. he seems to be breathing. "bronwyn, are you okay with carrying him back to the cave entrance?"
the little girl nods, running over to him and easily flinging the boy over her shoulders. the rest of us kids make our way towards the cave entrance. the boy seems to be waking up, so bronwyn dumps him onto the ground and joins us. he gasps for air, standing up quite quickly. i raise an eyebrow at him.
"you're emma." he states, pointing at my friend, "and the twins. and olive, and bronwyn, and he's millard, claire, and you're maxine." he finishes.
"max." i correct, smiling slightly at him, "no one ever calls me maxine. except miss peregrine."
"max," he nods, as his eyes linger on me for a moment, but his smile turns into a frown. "but you're dead. you're all dead."
he looks at millard. "he's invisible but he's still dead."
"none of us are dead." millard states.
"oh my god," the boy mutters, "am i dead?"
emma shakes her head. "no."
he looks at her. "you called me abe in the house, why?"
i smile sadly at her as she takes a breath, "you looked like him. just for a moment, before you started screaming, yelling, running away and concussing yourself."
"wait, what's happening?" he questions, seeing us look around behind him.
"we're waiting until the coast is clear before we go into the loop." olive says.
"going into what?" the brunette boy stutters.
"please, miss peregrine's waiting." emma tells him. "she saw you on the island and sent us to get you."
"what's your name by the way?" i ask him, as we enter the cave. "miss peregrine never said."
"uh, jacob. you can call me jake." he tells us in his thick american accent.
the cave echos as we all walk through it. we come to a bumpy, rocky bit where millard grabs my hand. i smile to myself as he helps me down the pile of rocks.
we all stop, noticing jacob was no longer walking with us. we turn around to watch him. he looks between us and the exit. he quickly runs out, leaving us all behind. i sigh.
"twins, claire and bronwyn. head back to the house. we'll go fetch jake." emma tells the little ones.
claire, bronwyn and the twins nod and all head back to the house. millard, emma, olive and i venture out to get jacob.
"great, i bet he's run to the village. miss peregrine won't be pleased if the police come knocking on our door after this." i groan, following the others as we run after him. we all watch as jake runs into a bar of sorts, disappearing from sight.
"millard and max, you distract the people inside, so they don't hurt him. i don't think he knows he's in 1943." emma says. i nod in agreement.
"please don't concentrate too hard, max. i'm taking all my clothes off." millard tells me.
i chuckle, turning myself and my clothes invisible. "i'll try hard not to, millard." i say sarcastically.
we walk into the bar quickly. jacob seems to be getting interrogated by one of the workers. "throw the plates." i whisper to millard.
i pick one up, and together millard and i begin throwing them around the room. i even take a drink from a man's hand and throw the alcohol onto his face. olive comes rushing in, pulling jacob out of the bar, as she places her ungloved hand to a wall and it erupts into flames.
millard and i leave too, jumping onto the carriage which emma, olive and jake are on. we get further from the bar, and soon it disappears from sight.
"i can't believe you're real!" jacob exclaims, "you're all real!"
"we have been trying to tell you." emma says.
"but i'm special too!" jacob tells us, "in the pub, all of you saw right? everything was flying and breaking, and that was me!"
emma stifles a a chuckle as jake continues. "i was doing it with my mind."
"no, that was max and i." millard says. my eyes widen as i remember i'm still invisible. i become visible again, giving jake a small smile. "sorry, jake."
"millard, are you naked?" jake questions, looking slightly uncomfortable.
"yeah." millard says.
"put your clothes on, mill." i roll my eyes, handing him his clothes which sat next to emma.
"yeah yeah." millard sighs, as his clothes begin to float as he puts them on.
"i don't understand. a bomb dropped on you all in 1943." jake tells us.
"it is 1943." olive says, "september the third."
"all day, everyday." says emma.
i nod, looking ahead. "it's our loop."
・゜゜・．
word count: 2514
updated on: 18/07/18
last edited: 19/10/18
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