Separate Entities//Miss Peregrine AU

Chapter Twelve

Our next few days on the island were as uneventful as a seniors' bingo game. We'd been there for a week already, and just when I felt like time was speeding up, it slowed back down. Hours felt like days and days felt like weeks. How long would Jake and I have to live like this? We only had two weeks until we left back for Florida, and now Miss Peregrine was asking us for the impossible: stay.

As much as I wanted to stay and live with the peculiar children, I knew I just couldn't. Jake and I had families - real, living, normal families who wouldn't understand if we just up and left. Hell, I had college and a baby brother to think about now, not just my loving - albeit needy- fathers. How was I going to be a big sister with an art major if I never left the island?

Two days after Miss Avocet arrived, my dads called to check in on me and Jacob. I tried my hardest to sound happy, and I must have pulled it off, seeing as they didn't question me. Either that or they knew damn well something was wrong but could tell I didn't want to talk. I didn't - I couldn't. What would I say to them? 'Oh, we found this time loop to the forties and met a bunch of cool people who want us to live with them for all eternity' wouldn't really sit well with them.

Jacob was going through a great deal of shit, too, as he had his own parents to think about. I knew that without a doubt he'd be more affected by this than anyone - these were his grandpa's friends. It was like some sort of legacy or tradition he was being forced to uphold. I just wished there was a way for me to comfort him, but I knew I would do no real good. I knew he wanted to talk to me, but what could either of us say when our situations were so different?

The obvious choice for me was to leave when our two remaining weeks were finished. I knew that if there were two loops there'd have to be more. Perhaps I could skip getting a job after college and look for another loop and try to find some American peculiars. I proposed the idea to Jake, who was less than enthusiastic about the idea. I'm sure in different circumstances he would have been in full support. My peculiarity was a lot easier to live with than Olive's or Millard's - a normal life was within the realm of possibility for me. I knew the same would go for Jake, but his situation was so much more complex.

He was an only child. His parents would flip out if he never returned. But these kids needed him. He was the only one who could see their biggest threat. Seeing ghosts was no big deal, and Millard would probably be more than happy to resume not wearing clothes once I left, but then something dawned on me; if one stayed the other would have to, too. I couldn't leave Jake behind - what would I tell my parents? The same went for him with mine. There was no good outcome for that situation. No matter what, someone's heart would be broken.

Maybe I was just overthinking things. Jake and I had two whole weeks left to decide what we'd do. If luck was on our side, the threat of the hollow over our heads would subside and we would be free to leave. Then I remembered that other ymbrynes were missing. We couldn't just leave all of the peculiars to fear for the life of their precious Headmistress. Even if the hollowgasts and wights left them alone, there was no telling if or when they'd be back. Something didn't feel right about leaving them behind to deal with such a terrible problem. And if Jake and I were to leave the island, who's to say the hollows won't find us and kill us in America? We'd be lucky to make it to twenty-five.

For a brief moment, I thought about Jake and I becoming like peculiar superheroes - the idea actually made me laugh. 'Ghost Girl and Fairy Boy, hunting hollows and saving peculiars across America'. It sounded more like a shitty kids' show than a reality, but it might have been an option, once we helped Miss Peregrine. All I knew was that I was picking between these two different lives, and it was impossible to choose. I wished I could be pulled apart to become two separate entities - the peculiar part of me could stay in the loop, and the normal part could return home.