Lightning Bug

I love you

We've been dating for about six months, two days and five hours, but hey who's counting? Horace leaned over by me on our daily walk and he ever so subtlety whispered in my ear "I love you."

        I blushed and coughed, gaining everyone's attention. Enoch, who had become like my older brother winked at me, and turned back to his conversation with Emma. I'm pretty sure he likes her, but I think she despises him. I know that Olive has a crush on Enoch, and I think deep down, Enoch really likes Olive. Now Emma, she still loves Abe. I turned to Horace and blew into his ear, causing him to shiver and glare at me.

      After that, I basically spent the rest of the walk avoiding Horace. After the walk was over, Emma, the twins, Bronwyn, Millard and Olive left to go somewhere. Something outside of the loop. That left me to talk to Enoch.

"Depressed dead raiser! Where are you?" I yelled while walking around. Hearing a smash come from a few doors down, I saw Enoch standing beside a smashed jar. He glared at me as I knelt to help him clean up.

      "I'm not depressed." He spit at me. I nodded. He handed me a small bag for the shards of glass. Carefully I disposed of the glass pieces. After we finished cleaning, he gave me a serious look.

       "Abby, you look sick. Your pale half the time I see you. You don't want to miss the solar eclipse in two weeks." He stared at me. I smiled unconvincingly.

"I'll be fine, Enoch, it's probably just a simple cold." Thankfully, I could lie.

_____timeskip-a week and three days_____

      I bent myself over the toilet, retching my breakfast into the basin. The solar eclipse was in two days, and I had been getting sicker and sicker. Half the time, I couldn't even move from my bed. Mrs. Peregrine would only let one person visit me at a time, and it was usually Horace or Enoch. Emma would visit me to spoon feed me and make sure I was comfortable. Jake would visit occasionally.

"Abby, what's going on?" Horace asked me, breaking me from my thoughts. He helped me hobble over to my bed. Lying me down, he covered me with a dark grey sheet that would keep me warm, but would not let me get hot.

"Horace, remember your dream?" I answered his question with my own. Watching him nod, a tear ran down my face.

"It's not happening right?" I hesitated to answer. "RIGHT?" I nodded. He broke down crying. I coughed and coughed, instantly his head shot up. "Abby-" he started.

"Horace" Mrs. Peregrine said his name from the doorway. "Let Abby get some rest." She commanded. He nodded and kissed my forehead.
"I love you." He murmured against my feverish head. I gazed at him with sleepy eyes. Love is only an illusion. My head rolled to the side and I fell into a sleep. 

(Dream)

*A mirror stood in front of two paths. I stood in front of that simple black mirror. On one side, a man in the shadows beckoned to me. The other side had Horace, Enoch, and all of my other friends from the loop smiling at me. I took a deep breath and stepped to my right, smiling at my friends.*

Horace POV
  Mrs. Peregrine lead me into her study, Enoch already sitting in a stiff chair. I sat in the squishy chair next to him.

    "Boys, this is about Abby." She said in somber tones. Enoch instantly sat up from his relaxed position and I stared at the ymbryne.

"What about her? We know she's sick, but she'll be fine." I forcefully stated. Enoch visibly tensed when I said that. Mrs. P stared at me.

     "Did she tell you that?" Her voice was smooth, calming. I nodded, Abby would never lie to me. "She lied. She will most likely not survive throughout tomorrow."

      I stood up, causing my chair to make this irritating scratching sound against the hard wood floor. "You LIE! She would not lie to me!" I rushed out of the room, hearing Enoch run after me.

   "HORACE! HORACE!" Enoch who never raises his voice yelled at me. Immediately I stopped. "Look, I don't want to believe it, but I'm pretty sure Mrs. Peregrine is telling the truth." He led me into his room, Olive instantly moving to a corner.

     He sat on his bed beside me. Over the time I had been dating Abby, we had grown closer, more like brothers.

"Horace, she's been sick for over two weeks now, and she hasn't gotten any better. " Enoch tried to reason with me, but I just stared at the bookshelf filled with human organs and the broken dolls on the floor. Tears rolled down my face. Words flew from the peculiar's mouth, but I heard none of them. Eventually he gave up, and we sat in silence the whole night.

---------morning----------
Emma brought Abby breakfast, and stayed in the room with her for ten minutes. She walked out with her head down, but nodded to Enoch who walked into the room. I stood in my spot for fifteen minutes, frozen in place by what I would find inside Abby's room. Enoch walked out and grabbed my arm.
    "She's a mess, don't look shocked or disgusted when you walk in." He hissed under his breath. I nodded and walked in. Enoch was right. Her normally shiny hair was limp and dull, her shining eyes looked almost clear. She gestured for me to sit on a stool placed by her bed.

    "I'm sorry, for making you worry." She started. For about five minutes we made small talk, when she started to cough and cough. She rolled onto her back and stared at me with glassy eyes.

   "no no No No NO NO." I started to whisper, growing louder with every word. "Don't leave me please. I love you." Tears welled up in her eyes.

    A single tear ran down her face as she spoke in a silky smooth voice, saying the words I didn't want to hear. "If you love me, let me go." Her eyes locked onto mine and she inhaled then closed them, on the exhale, she left me the only living person in her room. The dragon made of pure light that used to race around her room, dimmed and flickered out.

     The rest of the people in the house ran upstairs, but nothing they said made its way to my ears. I stared at her without seeing, in death, she seemed so peaceful. Her hair, formally limp, seemed lighter and she looked like any minute she would open her eyes and smile at me.

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? Was it dramatic enough? Anyway. Thanks for reading this story. Sorry it took me a while to write it, it was hard for me to write about Abby dying.
Word count: 1 1 7 7