|the telepath | v

TALES FROM ANOTHER BROKEN HOME

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Life in the home seemed to pick up quickly after the first couple of days or so. I'd gotten myself into a routine that seemed to reset just as the loop did. I suppose most people would have found it boring but being peculiar meant I wasn't 'most people' and everything always felt so new. Discovering more about the children's peculiarities would never get old. Or at least for now I still held a certain level of curiosity.

I currently lay starfished on my bed, staring at the ceiling. Despite everything else, the room still didn't feel like my own.

I'd decorated it to the best of my ability. Fairly lights taken from a small and unused Christmas box framed my window leaving a soft glow when the room was dark, a vase of brightly coloured flowers grown by Fiona sat on my dresser, and the pale blue walls were covered in pictures of home.

My real home.

Pictures of my mother and father before I was born, pictures of our farm, pictures of me and the boy next door who never failed to say hello at school. Even a picture of our little dog who hid in father's picnic basket when he was riding off to work once.

Seeing them made me smile fondly but also stabbed my heart. I couldn't begin to count how many times they'd been in and out of my bag over the past week I'd been living here. I couldn't decide what was more painful, seeing what I'd left or never seeing them again.

Miss Peregrine and the children were extremely welcoming and even with just the small time I'd spent here, I could tell the bird would soon become like a second mother to me as she had with all the other children.

A small knock on the door awoke me from my thoughts and I sat up from my position quickly.

"Come in" I beckoned and soon emerged Bronwyn with a small smile on her face.

"Miss Peregrine asked me to tell you it's time for our walk" she stated though seemed suddenly taken in with the sight of the room. More so the fairy lights. I smiled and let out a small giggle.

"You can take these if you want" I stated, holding out a set I hadn't found room for. She thanked me and took them, hugging me tightly after. Despite the fact I couldn't breathe at that moment, I could see in her mind that she was happy.

 I smiled and followed her down the stairs where the other peculiars were standing waiting.

"Right, should we go then?" The Ymbryne chirped, clasping her hands together before making her way to the door followed closely by the children.

---

It was nice to get some fresh air after being cooped up in the house for almost an entire week. Of course, I was able to go outside and sit on the grass outside of the house but that didn't all compare to actually being able to leave and roam about the village. I stuck close to the older children as they seemed to know exactly where they were going and I'd only ever seen the village once before. I'd never really gotten the chance to explore but being out with peculiars showed me that there wasn't all too much to explore.

I wasn't sure exactly what I expected from the small village. People living their day-to-day lives amid a war. Paint crumbling off their houses and stores. Small boats lined the dock like the one I'd arrived on.

Still, I appreciated the chance to get out of the house, even if we were still in the loop. The children had probably seen this sight a million and one times. Millard made it known that he was writing a book on every single thing that happened on the small island. I told him that the idea was crazy but he didn't seem to care.

Most of the trip was spent searching around small shops with grumpy clerks, restocking anything we thought would be useful for the house.

We eventually stopped to sit down on the sand by the beach, watching the waves roll slowly onto the shore. It was quiet as everyone sat in their thoughts but a peaceful quiet rather than one with awkward tension.

Glancing to my left, I could see how close Abe and Emma were. He had his arm around her loosely and the pair shared glances that the other would miss. Fiona, Hugh, Horace, and Millard chatted quietly now and again, and Olive was currently left in what looked like a rather awkward encounter with Victor.

That left me and Enoch.

I hadn't seen him move an inch since we'd sat down, his dark eyes fixed onto the sea in front of us as he sat with his legs up to his chest, the trace of a scowl still left on his face despite the calmness. I wondered if he even knew how to relax.

His eyes flickered towards me briefly and I looked away in an instant, letting him get back to his thoughts. My cheeks burned a shade of red despite the cold creeping in and I was forced to wrap my arms around myself. Emma had been kind enough to lend me a dress of hers, plain but pretty, so I wouldn't stand out so much in the wrong era but it was doing nothing to keep the slowly declining weather at bay.

"We should head back" Olive announced suddenly, standing up. I looked towards the sky and saw that she was right, it had started to get dark without any of us noticing and that meant the German planes would be coming soon.

Quickly, we packed up our few belongings and made our way back to the path when something caught my eye.

In an instant, my heart dropped and my eyes began to swell with tears which I quickly attempted to brush away.

"That's the one thing I'm dreading having to write" Came the voice of an invisible boy from behind me. "Heart-breaking isn't it?" With that, he started to walk with the others but I remained routed to the spot. I could hear my name being called but I was unable to move. A hand on my shoulder, which I assumed to be Emma's, brought me back into reality but I couldn't let them see me like this so instead, I ran.

---

I wasn't sure how long I ran for but I knew it must have been a while as I was exhausted the moment I stopped, collapsing into the corner and beginning to cry.

The scene still played in my head. A tired and worn soldier knocked on the door with a solum look on his face, a small woman answered the door with a cheery expression that dropped the instant she saw who was on the other side of the door, continuing to drop as he spoke till she burst into an ugly sob, tears unable to stop as she dropped to the ground as if in agony. She'd lost her son. She'd lost her baby to the war. I didn't need to read her mind to know that. I also didn't need to read her mind to feel her pain so there I was, sat in the corner of an alley on a foreign island, sobbing.

The sound of footsteps nearby pulled me out of the scene momentarily as I looked toward the end of the alley to see who was there. The figure walked closer before slumping down in the corner with me and remarkably it was the last person I would have ever expected to follow me.

Mr. Enoch O'Connor

He didn't say anything for a little while and didn't even look at me. Yet just his presence so close was oddly enough to help me relax. The only sound is the steady sound of our breath.

"Why did you follow me?" I asked after a short amount of time, curiously.

"The others asked me to" He answered with a stoic expression. I tried not to seem too disappointed at the fact he wasn't here just because he cared but then again, I don't know what I expected in the first place.

We fell back into another moment of silence but unlike before, it was awkward and full of some sort of tension.

"I take it you lost someone" He stated after another short break of time.

I nodded slowly, not being able to voice a reply. "My dad" I admitted after a moment, "he died when I was three. Some sort of ongoing complication from the war. Then it was just me and mum but I guess now she's alone..." My voice trailed off towards the end of my sentence as tears threatened to spill.

"I didn't know him very well but just seeing that woman... Knowing she was never going to see whoever again, I-" Once again, my voice had failed me, but Enoch nodded all the same as if finishing the thought for himself.

"We should go back" He stated after yet another long and tedious pause, the words snappy but his tone not quite so. I nodded and stood up, brushing myself off. No words of sympathy had been offered, and yet I felt myself begin to calm simply by his presence. Something I couldn't quite understand when I knew the boy hadn't even wanted to come over in the first place.

We walked back slowly despite the impending bombings but somehow managed to make it just in time for the reset. I could feel Olive's eyes bearing on me as we re-entered.

Miss Peregrine scowled but left us with a small "I'll deal with you two later" before she led the children outside for the reset.

I nodded guiltily as I grabbed a gasmask and went to put it on when Enoch's voice whispered "Don't worry about it"

So I didn't.

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Hi guys! I'm so sorry this is insanely late but I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm hoping that the next ones will come a lot sooner as I've fully written up my plan and am on top of schoolwork!

What do you think of the little bit of insight into Robyn's past?

What do you think about Olive's attitude about the pair?

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, it hasn't been edited yet but I will be getting to that either later today or more likely tomorrow so keep your eyes peeled.

In the meantime please vote, comment, follow, and all that jazz.

- Andrea x

(Ps. Thanks to everyone who keeps reading and voting, it means the world!)