Peculiar ♡ Alma Peregrine

Chapter One - Pretty Bird

I tossed around in my bed, unable to fall back asleep after waking up that morning. There was far too much on my mind to be able to sleep, anyway, me leaving the loop, for example. I had to do it before everyone else was up, so I peeled myself up from the mattress and changed into the clothes I'd put aside last night. I grabbed my backpack and shoved some things inside it that I'd snuck in here last night for this exact thing. I put some clothes, food, water, and other small valuables in the bag, zipped it up, and picked up the noted I'd written for each of the children. 

I pulled my shoes on and all but ran down the stairs - somehow not making enough noise to wake everyone - leaving my letters on the table before I rushed out of the door and started walking towards the loop exit. It was hidden behind a few bushes as nobody had left in a long time, only the headmistress and I knew where it was. I tore the bushes down and stepped through the entrance, watching as the scene changed ever so slightly in front of my eyes as I walked down the dark, empty building corridor. 

It wouldn't take long for me to reach the place where the ferry would leave to take me to Wales, so I made a few quick stops to get some coffee and small keep sakes. And when I was finally on the boat on my way to the next loop, I felt a heavy weight in my chest. I knew those children loved me, but it was for the best. If they got too attached and I wanted to leave, it would not be very good to put that kind of sadness on their own little hearts.

After the very long boat ride, I jumped off of the ferry and onto the dock before the boat had even properly stopped. I saw some birds flying above me, but I couldn't yet identify them. I walked down the dock slowly, taking my time until I reached the street, where I sped up a little bit to get where I wanted to go. Which I didn't exactly know where I wanted to go yet, but I would find somewhere along the way before I went to the new loop.

I ended up stopping at a small store near the end of the street that sold small keychains, I ended up buying a small keychain with a blue bird on it. I didn't even have any keys, but the chain was cute and I'd find something to do with it. For the moment, I attached the keychain to my backpack and walked back down the street towards the dock. I walked right past the dock and went down to the beach - not sparing a single look back at the only hotel there was on this island - and placed my stuff down on the floor of a small cave before sitting down on a long rock.

I looked down at my watch, it was half past three in the afternoon - still half an hour until I planned to be at the new loop. I felt around in my backpack until I found my map, peeling it open and looking at all the black dots on the page. Each one had a few words written beside it, I read the words by the dot closest to me. The words read : 1943 loop - cave entrance. I folded the map back up again and shoved it in my back, jumping back when I saw there was now a bird standing across the cave from me.

"Wow, hello," I said, almost expecting something to majestic to start speaking back to me. It looked almost like it nodded it's head, but I immediately shut that thought down, telling myself it was just a trick of my mind. I had no plans of moving towards the bird, not wanting to scare it off, but I didn't have to. Instead, it moved closer to me, standing just a couple of feet away. As it got closer, I was able to see it's feathers were much more blue than any of it's kind that I'd seen. It's shiny, black eyes watched me, not a hint of fear or even aggression in them. It stood almost as if it were proud of it's extreme beauty - as it should be.

I pulled out my camera and snapped a photo of the bird, holding my hand over the top of the camera for when the picture printed. I put the camera back in my bag, inspected the photo and stashed it away in my pocket before turning back to the bird who was watching me, a strange spark in it's eye that I'd never seen in a bird.

"You're so pretty," I whispered, shifting slightly closer to it. "You're the most beautiful creature I've ever seen." I reached my arm out to it, and to my surprise, it hopped right onto my wrist and quickly moved to my shoulder. I laughed out loud, reaching up to gently stroke the top of it's head. The feathers were soft, like how you'd expect feathers to feel when people explain them. I reached into my backpack and ripped a piece of bread off my sandwich, lifting it up to the bird's beak. After a few seconds, it took the bread, somehow knowing that it would hurt me if it was too fast or stabbed me with it's beak. It was being careful. I laughed at that thought and gently pet along it's wings, they were slightly rougher than the ones on it's head.