Jacob's Best Friend || Enoch O'Connor

Chapter 10

All of us looked around the ride, trying to see what it's purpose was. Enoch and I look at the front and noticed a sign that said Temporarily Closed for the War. Well, that explained a lot.
"Wait! I think I read somewhere that there was a loop entrance somewhere around here! Maybe this is it," Millard explained.
We all looked at the clothes that symbolized Millard then at the entrance to the ride. Jake, Emma, Enoch, and I timidly walked over to the door and walked through it. Enoch and I stayed in the ride while Jake and Emma went through the exit, to see when the loop was. We waited in silence for a moment, then the couple returned, looking quite chilled.
"What's out there," I asked.
"It's like January," Jake replied.
"That doesn't matter. What year is it?" Enoch interjected.
"2016," Jake smiled.
My eyes widened. That was close enough to the present that we could help everyone and then go home! But I mean, did I really want to leave everyone? I didn't have time to worry about that, we needed to save Miss Peregrine. Enoch went back to get the others. We all stayed in the ride and devised a plan after Emma and Jake scoped out what the situation was.
Emma, Millard, and Bronwyn would accompany Jake into an old, run down factory across the street from the pier while the rest of us would pull some hollows out and attack them from here.
Jake lead the first group toward the factory and we began gathering weapons, such as paints and sticky toys. These were going to be thrown at the hollows so we could see them without Jake's help.
After a couple of minutes, we saw two men walked out of the factory.We all ducked behind the sign of the haunted house so we weren't seen.  The men were staring straight ahead and did not notice the oncoming streetcar barreling towards them. The older of the two, however, saw it just in the nick of time and stopped, letting the man with him get hit. Once the train passed, he began walking again. I watched the power lines above the man move in a way that was definitely not caused by the wind.
"Enoch, there is at least one hollow behind that guy over there," I mumbled, pointing in the man's direction.
He nodded and began telling the others. We all slowly moved into our positions near the boxes of "ammunition". We waited until we could estimate where everything would land on the hollows and when they reached that point, Millard screeched "Fire!". Our group began pelting the air behind the human hollow with snowballs. After a couple of minutes, we began throwing sticky toys and spraying silly string on them. Enoch and I slipped back to free the skeletons that he brought back to life from the shipwreck. They were equipped with swords and wooden boards.
Once we determined the hollows were no longer a threat, Enoch, Olive, Fiona, and I hopped off the haunted house roof. We ran to the warehouse where Jake and the others were. Jake was nowhere to be seen when we arrived. Emma, Bronwyn, and Millard, I'm guessing, were fighting with one of the human-looking hollows. Enoch was sidetracked trying to find a heart to but in a mechanical elephant from an old circus.
I went to Emma and began assisting her. Out of now where, I was thrown against a wall. I was unconscious for about 30 seconds. When my head began clearing up, I heard Enoch mumbling something. I tried to listen to what he was saying, but he stopped talking after a little while. I felt soft lips press against my forehead, then hair tickling the top of my head. I slowly opened my eyes and saw it was Enoch leaning above me with his forehead pressed against mine. I lifted my hand up and placed it upon his cheek. He slowly lifted his head up and leaned into my touch.
"You're okay," Enoch breathed. He looked relieved for a moment, the his eyes looked as if they were about to pop out of his head.
"Does anything hurt? Did you hit your head?" he asked hastily, pulling me into his lap.
"Enoch, I'm fine, really," I smiled.
"Oh, thank god," he mumbled, before pressing his lips to mine.
The kiss was gentle, but passionate. Enoch put every emotion he had, it seems like, into this kiss. We pulled away, severely out of breath and pressed our foreheads against each other's. It was like the moment we'd shared before the children's home was bombed. Until, we heard a young voice behind us.
"Wow, so Enoch does have feelings," Millard said.
"Let's go you guys, you can finish this later," Emma laughed. "Right now we have to save Miss P and Jake."
"Do you know where they are?" I questioned.
"Yeah, Millard was following the guy who took them," Emma replied.
I cautiously stood up, pulling Enoch with me. We walked behind Emma with our hand intertwined. She walked down a long hallway, then stopped in front of a large door. It was obviously locked. Emma grabbed the lock tight and began melting it. We tumbled into the room and saw a cage in the center of the room, with two Jake's standing in front of it. Enoch found the crossbow that belonged to Miss P.
"How do we know which one is the really Jake?" I mumbled to Enoch.
He simply shrugged and kept the loaded crossbow pointed at one Jake or the other at all times.
"I'm the real Jake!"
"No I am! He's the hollow!"
"No! He's the hollow!"
They argued back and forth, there was no way for us to tell them apart. This lasted for a couple of minutes. Until, finally, the Jake standing on the right almost seemed to have a lightbulb go off over his head.
"I can prove I'm the real Jake! Enoch give me the crossbow," he said.
Before Enoch could react, the crossbow was being taken away from him and pointed toward the air behind the other Jake, just as he was being lifted into the air, similar to how Enoch was raised a couple hours before. Jake shot an arrow and then the other Jake fell to the ground, fading into the body of an older African American man with gray hair and bleach white eyes. Jake loaded the crossbow again and shot it at the man, hitting him in the chest. The man grabbed his wound and fell to the ground, signifying his demise.
Jake waltzed over to the cage Miss Peregrine was being help captive in and opened it, setting her free. Emma hastily ran up to Jake and hugged him close. Enoch awkwardly placed his arm around my shoulders. I snuggled into his side, watching my best friend be with the girl he obviously is in love with. Once Emma let go, I gave Jake a quick hug, then Enoch roughly shook his hand. We all exited the warehouse with the other, younger kids behind us. We walked back to the haunted house ride, preparing to go back to 1940.
Did I want to go with Enoch and be with him? Or did I want to go back to the present with Jake? We already told his father that we most likely wouldn't come back so, why make him so worried for no reason? Yes, I'm staying here with Enoch and the others. There was nothing for me in the present. My parents never acknowledged me and my only friend was Jake. At least in the loop I had all the children, and Miss P, too.
The younger kids were hugging Jake, because he decided he was going to try and go back and explain what happened to his parents. Once it was my turn, he asked if I was going with him or staying with the others.
"I'm gonna go with them. I believe I'm going to have a much happier life with them than I ever could in Florida," I explained. "Plus, I think I can break Enoch's cold, mysterious exterior."
"Hey, I heard that," Enoch whispered in my ear, wrapping his arms around my waist.
I simply laughed and wiggles out of Enoch's grip to give Jake and tight hug.
"I love you, Jakey. Never forget me aka your bestest friend in the whole entire world. Maybe, except for Emma, but I'm a close second," I said.
Jake nodded and I walked past him, standing by the door, waiting for Enoch. They did that weird handshake into a bro-hug thing then I heard Enoch mumble a thank you.
Jake nodded as Enoch walked toward me, grabbing my hand and pulling me through the loop.
Once back, safely in 1940, we boarded the boat and began bringing it to life (lol i totally did not mean to make it sound like a pun bc ya know enoch's a dead-riser but whatever). All the older kids wanted to give the younger ones time to explore the boat and find a comfy place to sit during the voyage, to where? We didn't know.
Enoch quickly grabbed my wrist and pulled me into a dimly lit room and locked the door.
"Enoch, what are you doing?" I laughed.
"This," he replied, grabbing me by my waist and setting me on an old table so he was standing between my legs.
He pulled me close to him and pressed his lips to mine. It was more intense and passionate than the one we had shared earlier in the day. There was a lot more hunger, as well. It was like we were addicted to each other and couldn't stay away. I slide my arms around his neck and tangled my fingers into his hair. Enoch began sliding one of his hands down the top of my thigh. Never in a million years did I ever think I would be making out with a boy who was technically over 75 years old, on an old shipwrecked boat, in 1940. But I was enjoying every minute of it. Both of us slowly began kissing up and down each other's neck, leaving some not-so-subtle marks for us to find later. That was all we did for what felt like hours, but was only a few minutes. After a while, we decided to hang out on the deck of the boat for a few minutes.
When we got there, we saw Emma standing at one of the rails, alone. We stood with her watching the view, until we heard footsteps coming from behind us. We turned around and saw Jake, with slightly longer hair and clothes similar to Enoch's.
"Wow, okay how the hell did you get here?" I asked, hugging him.
"I'll explain later. How'd you get those bruises on your neck? Was Enoch trying to suck out poisonous venom from a snake?" Jake teased.
I whined slightly as Enoch pulled into his chest, as if he was protecting me. We both quickly walked away, giving Jake and Emma some privacy.
We headed down to the main engine room and began pulling away from the dock. Where our lives were headed next, none of us knew.

Hey! Merry Christmas! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and if you don't celebrate Christmas, happy holidays! I wanted to get this chapter up for you as a present from me to you, I guess? Anyway, make sure you all vote and comment! Love you guys! ❤❤