Forbidden Love

16

I accidently let the plate slip out of my hand, landing on the floor with a shattering clang. I stood for a moment in shock before I try to send her a smile.

"No, you're only joking. I seen him here, I talked to him, he talked to me." I say with a short laugh of disbelief.

"Y/n, I'm not." I look into her blue eyes and when I see the hurt that shown in them, I knew it was true. I put my hand on the side of the sink to steady myself as I tried to process this. I just talked to a dead person. He wasn't here. He's dead.

"No no, I have to be going insane." I mumble as I place my head in my hands by the edge of the sink. I feel her taloned hand sit on my shoulder as she tilts her head to look at me.

"There's no other explanation except that this might be your peculiarity." Alma says softly and I still have the chills from knowing I talked to a deceased person and it hurt even more knowing he was just a boy.

"No, it can't be." I say as I give her a pleading look. "I'm just imagining it. Maybe you brought it up somehow?" I ask begging for her to be wrong but her lips make a thin line as she shakes her head.

"I never told you about him." She says and the name seems to pain her so much she can't say it. "Y/n, this is your peculiarity." She says gently and takes me in her arms. When she did, I couldn't help but smile a bit when I saw Victor in the doorway smiling warmly as he leaned against the frame.

~~~~~

"You can what?" Enoch says astonished when the children practically begged me to tell them my peculiarity when they found out I found it.

"I can see the dead." I put it out simply as a few of them, especially Enoch, look at me surprised. Bronwyn ran up into my arms as her eyes started welling with tears.

"You seen Victor? Is he alright?" She says as her bottom lip trembles and I gently brush a strand of hair away from her face as I give her a warm smile.

"Yes, he is. In fact," I pause as I look up and glance in the doorway where Alma was. Little did she know the boy stood beside her in the doorway. Victor caught my gaze and smiled as he walked over and I gave him a warm smile. "He's right here." I say gently as suddenly Victor gave me a look. Almost as if to carry on. I give him a questioning look and he sighs with a smile.

"Picture me as I am right now. Watch and see." He says simply and I followed through. I tried to imagine him being in the room. A few questioning and hopeful looks were given to me when suddenly everyone's gaze followed to beside me. Bronwyns jaw dropped as I suddenly realized what happened. I have the ability to see the dead, but I can bring them back only for a little. But not really them, just your spirit.

"Victor..." Bronwyn breathes out his name before the children started colliding into him with hugs. Bronwyn sobbed against him and my chest swelled yet hurt at the thought. This won't last long. I glance up at Alma who stood by the doorway, her eyes glistening with tears and wide from the incident.

"Victor." She says under her breath and he moves away from Bronwyn and the others when the calmed down, walking towards Alma. She dropped to her knees as she hugged him tight against her, one hand behind him and the other resting on the back of his head. Tears ran down as she sobbed quietly in his arms and my heart broke at the sight. "Victor, I miss you so much." She says and I see even Enoch was upset from the scene. "I'm so sorry I wasn't there when I should have been. If I was there sooner I could've prevented this." She says quietly as her shakes. Her hands were now on his shoulders as she looks him in the eyes, hurt, happiness, a million emotions running through her.

"Miss Peregrine, you have to stop blaming yourself." He says his voice firm yet gentle. "Years after you still carried the guilt and hurt from my death as you still do now. You have to stop." Her blue eyes skimmed over his face as silent tears ran down her face, her eyebrows creased in sorrow and worry. "I am very proud that you were able to gain that empty spot that started when I died. Y/n has made both you and the others so happy and I'm glad you two were finally able to meet." He gives me a glance when Alma does and I give him a soft smile as Bronwyn hugs me tight. He looks back at Alma, his voice firm. "You have to move on and let go of the guilt. I don't blame you, I never did. It was not your fault." To them he started slowly leaving even though for me I could still see him. "I have to go, but just know I'm always here." He says before he completely left.

"No no, Victor, please." Alma says desperate not to see her boy leave again. She holds onto him tightly as he goes.

"Goodbye, Miss Peregrine."

•••

Bronwyn soon calmed down as the older ones all decided they needed a distraction so they took the little ones out to try to cheer them up. Alma still sat by the doorway as tears still ran down and she seemed more hurt by the minute. Guilt rose as -even though Victor wanted to be seen- I knew I shouldn't have done so. But then again, she needed to know that. She needed to know that it wasn't her fault. I stand and walk gently over to her, but don't get the reaction I was expecting. She stands instead, her eyes burning with tears and rage, as she leaves me and heads outside before shifting into the falcon, flying away.
~~~~~~~~~~~

And that is the sound of all our hearts breaking.