The Captured Bird

Chapter 8-They Know

"Is everything alright? I smell smoke." Miss Sparrow walked into the room with a raised eyebrow and crosses arms.

"Yeah everything's just wonderful! And apparently I can't cook." You said nonchalantly, as though you didn't almost just burn the kitchen down.

"She also didn't know that pouring water on an electrical fire isn't such a good idea." Miss Peregrine rolled her eyes as she finished chopping vegetables and adding them to salads according to what everyone liked to eat. You had no clue how she remembered everything they did and didn't like.

Jocelyn sighed and left, soon after a new voice could be heard. "Oh yum, salads!" You jumped, Millard wasn't wearing clothes, again. "Hey Miss P! What's the difference between me and this salad?" He asked, picking up a bowl you assumed to be his.

She raised an eyebrow but decided to take a guess. "The salads healthy?"

Millard laughed but just told his original punchline. "Actually, the salads dressed!"

She just stared at the open space where she assumed him to be, just based on the floating bowl, before narrowing her eyes. "Yes, I've been meaning to talk to you about that." She sighed, taking the floating bowl and putting it back on the counter. "Go get some clothes on." Millard grumbled as he left the room.

As Alma finished up you zoned out, not even noticing where your gaze landed. "It's rude to stare, darling." Alma didn't even look at you but she felt your eyes on her. You snapped back to reality and shook your head.

"Right, sorry." You muttered as you walked over to stand at her side. "I've got an important question." She glanced at you and nodded, prompting you to continue. "Does a vulture fly over the home in a circle cawing ominously every day?" She paused and looked up at you.

"No. I've never seen any vulture and I've been living in this loop for over one hundred years. That bird, would be new. Meaning it's not a bird, but a peculiar. Didn't you mention two evil ymbrynes?" As she spoke she whipped down the counter and started grabbing bowls to bring to the table.

"Right, yes, Miss Pigeon and Miss Vulture." You grabbed a few bowls, following Miss Peregrine as she placed them on the table. "They know where we are.."

"I need to let the others know. Don't tell the children, I don't wish to scare them." You nodded and watched as she left. With the sigh you went to move the rest of the food to the table.

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Dinner went surprisingly smooth despite the obvious tension in the air that only the younger children didn't seem to notice. Now it was time for movies, everyone crowded into the room as Horace put on his eye piece. You stood next to Alma who was focused on the screen.

The dreams started as they always did, with Horace buying expensive fashionable clothes. But that dream quickly turned into a nightmare. As the next thing to flash across the screen was Barron, walking through the loop entrance with his famous knife hand. Another flash and there you stood, at the door of the house. You shed a tear before turning, closing the door, leaving you outside in the dark. The next scene was a strange one, you didn't really understand what was happening. Alma was walking away from you but suddenly turned around and yelled something inaudible at you. Your face looked to be full of hurt. And then the screen went dark.

Well damn, that didn't look good. The next half hour consisted of the reset and biding the five ymbrynes that were going to stay with Miss Avocet and Miss Quail goodbye. Once all of that was over Alma tucked in the kids as everyone else prepared for bed. You sat on the loveseat, waiting for Miss Peregrine to go to bed. You said goodnight to each other and you waited until you were sure she was asleep before getting back up.

You were carful to be quiet as you pulled your hidden bag out from under the bed. You wrote a quick note to Alma, leaving it on the nightstand before exiting the room and waking to the kitchen. Once there you grabbed a few bottles of water and some snacks for the road, shoving them into the backpack. You stood at the house door for a good minute, just looking into the home for the last time before shedding a tear, closing the door and walking away. You didn't look back at the house as you walked away, fearing if you did you'd just run right back.

You didn't know if you'd ever go back. Even if you had the option to. Plus, would anyone even want you to go back to the house? Probably not, you'd never really belonged there. Though it wasn't like you belonged with Barron and his troops either. In all honesty, you didn't know where you belonged, that's likely why you were so willing to let Barron use you for the experiment.

Because you most definitely belonged in a coffin, six feet below the surface.

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This was a little shorter than most of my other chapters but it's important to the plot so oh well