Silver Lining

CHAPTER NINE

Olive pushed the door handle down with her elbow as she brought me in tea, Enoch following sulkily behind her. I smiled upon seeing them, however, I kept my concentration mainly on the basin in front of me so that I didn't lose the picture.

It had been a few weeks since the now dubbed 'intervention' where I was told I could no longer live my life in the safety of my room. However much I loathed going outside again, I supposed that I did feel better now, having spoken to the other children more regularly, than I did when I was entirely on my own. It reminded me that there was more to my life than blaming myself for what couldn't have been stopped.

Although it still grudged me to admit it.

"Enoch's in a huff." Olive sighed, setting the tea tray down on my vanity.

"Wha-I am not! You're in a huff!" He gesticulated his arms wildly before slumping down onto my bed, his arms crossed over his chest. Enoch stuck out his bottom lip as he pouted and it was hard to believe that he had been alive for so long yet still acted like a three-year-old.

"You're definitely in a huff." I agreed, a smirk taking over my face. "Not getting on with Jake?"

"He hasn't spoken two words to him yet." Olive rolled her eyes, coming to stand beside me at the basin

She had left with Emma and a few of the other children to collect Jake from the island a couple of hours before. I had been waiting with anticipation for him to finally discover the loop, but he had apparently managed to knock himself out within seconds of meeting my companions.

Although Miss Peregrine had wanted me to go and greet him myself, it wasn't an interaction I felt quite ready to face. We had both been there on the night that Abe had died, unbeknownst to him of course, and I still didn't know what to say to him. It was going to be difficult enough to explain that I was his great aunt that looked no older than he was. I didn't want to have to add into the mix that there was nothing I could do to save his grandfather.

"I don't like the way he gets on."

I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Everyone has been fawning over him the moment he stepped into the loop, even you haven't left that bloody basin since he set one foot on this blasted island. I don't like the upset." Enoch whined.

"The only one who's upset is you." Olive rolled her eyes, watching as Jake greeted Horace in the reflection in the basin. If we looked outside, we could probably see the meeting with our own eyes, but this had a much better angle.

...So I had lost my mind in my moments of isolation... Who could have guessed?

(A/N if this isn't how I felt during lockdown with no one but my characters to talk to lmao)

"You can't say it isn't dramatic."

I nodded. "It is, but in a good way. We haven't had any new kids here in decades and since Abe..." I trailed off, shaking myself to recollect my calm before I let the grief take me. "The children needed some good news, what better to raise their spirits than my great-nephew?"

"God, don't call him that, it feels weird." Enoch groaned, falling back until he was looking up at the ceiling.

"You're such a baby." Olive jested, pulling out the chair in front of my vanity so that she could sit down. "So, Nes, when are you going down to meet him?"

I sighed, breath shaky. Enoch's eyes followed me as I slumped against the wall, more so that I wouldn't fall down than an attempt to look casual. My hands grew all sweaty and my leg jittered. "I-I'm not sure yet. It's going to be a lot."

Enoch sighed. "She can go and see him when she's ready."

Olive made kissing faces at the pair of us and I coloured, turning to look out the window. Jake was no longer walking along the grounds and I started to shake upon realising that this meant that he was now in the house.

"I should probably go and get started on the tea for Miss Peregrine." Olive checked her watch, jumping up from the bed.

"Enjoy hanging out with Jake." Enoch sneered, not moving from the bed until Olive left.

"There's no need to be so hard on everyone because they like Jake, y'know." I sighed, casting a hand over the basin as I conjured up the image of the kitchen. Miss Peregrine and Jake sat at the table, as Olive raced into the room to heat up the kettle. "They're just excited to have someone new here."

"Yes, but everyone, especially you, will be heartbroken when he leaves. It'll be like Abe leaving all over again. Is it that bad for me to want to protect them?"

I shook my head, eyes not leaving the basin as I didn't want my concentration to waver. I understood where he was coming from, but if we didn't let ourselves get excited about things in fear we were going to get hurt then life in the loop was going to become more miserable than ever. We were stuck in a time loop replaying the same day over and over for the rest of our existence, it was rare that anything exciting happened there anymore.

"He looks so much like Abe," I whispered. He did, although I could see my sister in law in the slope of his nose and the way that he fidgeted his hands on the table in front of him. I had never had the pleasure of meeting her, as I wasn't supposed to be out of the loop in the first place, but from Abe's reports, I would have liked her.

"See what I was worried about?" Enoch murmured, watching along with me.

My heart pounded as I was very aware of how close he was, his chest pressing into my back as he watched over my shoulder. I swallowed, too nervous to say anything as I merely stared and stared at Jake, finding more and more ways that he was alike Abe, although my mind was elsewhere.

"Have I really met everyone?" Ab-Jake leaned forward in his chair, reaching for the teacup and saucer that Miss Peregrine held out to him.

A small smile spread on her face. "Why is it you ask?"

"My Grandpa, he- he told me about another girl here, his sister? Did she leave the loop?" My breath caught in my throat.

I might be meeting him sooner than I had planned.

Miss Peregrine sighed, reclining back in the kitchen chair as she took a long drag from her pipe. "I'm afraid Agnes has been... indisposed since the news of your grandfather. But she's still here. I'm unsure of when you'll be able to meet her."

"Really?" Jake asked, his shoulders slumping. "Honestly thought she would have been the first person that I met here. I've been worrying that I've made her up in my head."

Guilt swirled in my stomach at the fact that I was still hiding in my room, from him specifically, as I passed a hand over the basin. The imaged faded before my eyes as I turned to the window, watching out into the garden in silence.

"If you're not ready to meet him yet, you don't have to." Enoch murmured.

"I want to, I really do, it's just...I don't know, what if I'm not everything to him that Abe built me up to be? I listened to his stories every night, I'm not the same person as I was. I'm definitely nothing like what he told Jake." I sighed, sitting down on the edge of my bed. "Maybe it would be better if I just waited for him to leave."

I started, jumping to my feet as someone knocked on the door. I crept across the floor and waited with bated breath as I turned the door handle.

My jaw went slack.

On the other side of the door stood Emma with Jake at her side, his own facial expression mirroring mine.

***

Hopefully back now to my regular updating schedule. 

I reached 200 twitter followers this morning and I'm hoping to host my first live write-in when I hit either 250 or 300. I'll probably be announcing the date of the stream on Wattpad as well but I'll be uploading the link to it on my twitter, which is @ ChloeChurch20. 

(I'm trying to get used to promoting myself online, I'm still struggling with the cringe...just bear with me XD).