Audibility- A Miss Peregrines Fanfiction #1

His Peculiarity Is Revealed

I woke up and came downstairs. After a quick breakfast I decided to come to terms with Hugh, because, after all, I hadn't seen him in the flesh for a while now. And so I started to search for him. I came outside and looked around. Aha! I spotted him up in a tree, didn't know he could do that.

"Hey!" I called to him from the ground. He leapt down. I shrank back a foot or two, afraid he'd land on me.

"Hey Netta, see, I've got to talk to you." He said, adjusting his goggles, which had become off kilter after his jump. "So look," he began, "I haven't talked to my sister in forever, and the minute I get a chance, she's whisked off her feet by a kid I've never met before." He crossed his arms.

"Do you think I could help that?" I asked him. He spluttered.

"Well, I don't know, can you?"

"Can I what?"

"I just don't know." He said. "All I'm saying is that I should be allowed to decide who gets to date my sister, and Enoch does not make the cut." I coughed a little. Date? I've haven't talked to him in two nights!

"I see you haven't changed much since I last saw you." I said, marching off.

Crunch!

I looked down at my feet, at a pile of what appeared to be stone. I heard feet behind me and turned around. Of course, it was Enoch.

"Hey! Watch where you're going-" he stopped, noticing who it was.

"Oh, sorry Netta, what I mean is that it wasn't my best work anyway." He said, apologizing. My attention was more so focused on the pile at my feet.

"What was that?" I asked, looking up. He muttered something unintelligible. I asked him to repeat.

"They're homunculi." He said, louder this time.

"So you make these?" I said, not really getting it.

"It's what I can do, my peculiarity. Taking life from one thing, and giving it to something else, like this."

"How do you do that?"

"Hearts, animal. For humans, sheep and cow are best, but for these guys I use mouse and reptile." He said quietly, remembering in the past how everyone else reacted.

I thought to myself, how alike we actually were, both from a loop, mostly ignored and sometimes bullied. So I said the first thing that came to my head.

"I think they're brilliant." I said. Enoch stopped for a minute, slightly confused.

"What?"

"That's awesome."

"No, not really."

Sure, I wasn't really that impressed, not to mention it was kind of strange the way he created them. But at that moment all I was thinking that right now Enoch really needed some friends.

"Thanks for the compliment, I suppose." He said.

"Why did you never tell us about it?" I asked him.

"Because that was one of the first mistakes I made at my old loop." His old loop. Why did he keep mentioning it? Something bad must have happened there.

"Well, I'm certainly not going to judge you for it, and there's no one here that would either." I reassured him. "But, really, these are amazing, you're an excellent sculptor."

"Thanks." At that moment, I had an idea.

"The girls!" I exclaimed. "Wait here." I ran to Marcie, Claire, Charlotte, and Olive, who were playing at the edge of the hill. "Hey," I said breathlessly. "Can I see your dolls?" They handed them over. "Come with me." I motioned for them to follow.

We all walked to Enoch, who now sat on a tree stump, watching over his homunculi. "What do you want?" He asked. I held out the dolls.

"What can you do with these?" I asked him.

"They'll be just like these guys here." He pointed to the homunculi.

"Okay girls," I turned back to them. "How would you like your dolls to move like actual people?"

"Can you do that?" Marcie asked curiously.

Enoch snorted. "Of course I could." He turned to me. "I don't have anything with me right now." He whispered.

"Then get some." I said, practically shoving him off the stump. The girls laughed.

"I'll need these." He said, picking up the dolls. I decided to follow him.
~*~
The stairs creaked as I followed Enoch down the stairs to the basement. I had no idea why he spent all his time down here, and how Miss Peregrine let him. Not to mention it was freezing down there in September. We walked through what seemed like a winding path of tunnels, but was probably just across a threshold. I ran against a wall, hitting my head.

"Watch out, the ceiling drops from here." Enoch said, navigating next to me. He took my arm and led me to the right, where I could just make out the impression of a high shelf. He turned to the wall and lit a gas lamp. I gasped when I saw a shelf filled with jars of what appeared to be vegetables.

"Is Miss Peregrine's pantry?" I asked, wondering if we were going to steal something.

"Not quite." He said, reaching up for a jar. He pulled it down and showed it to me. It turned out to be a jar of mouse hearts. I shrieked a little, backing away. Enoch flinched. I stopped, realizing how embarrassed he probably was.
"Come on." He muttered, leading me to a small table. He placed the dolls down face up. As soon as he opened the jar of hearts an overwhelming scent of formaldehyde hit my nose. Enoch didn't seem to notice. He reached in and pulled out a heart. I decided to go upstairs, choosing not to watch.
~*~
I was sitting with the girls when Enoch walked out of the house and onto the lawn and sat down next to us.

"Done." He said. "Mind you, this won't last forever." He set them on the ground in front of him. The dolls stood up, stretching. Marcy, Charlotte, Claire, and Olive squealed in delight as their beloved possessions tottered around the lawn.
Enoch got up, and I followed.

"You didn't have to do that for them." I said.

"I know I didn't." He said, walking off. I shook my head.

When will he realize it was okay to open up to us?

Hello readers, hoped you enjoyed this. It would've been up sooner, but my birthday was on the 11th, that's right, officially a teenager! Kind of scary though.... Anyway, next chapter should be up soon!
P.S. How do you guys feel about a Christmas special? Let me know in the comments!