Peculiar Waters- millard nullings

FIVE

The steam rising from the mug of tea curled the blond baby hairs that framed Pascale's face. She slowly sipped the tea, making her insides feel warmer then they had. The girl was still getting use to the bright daily sun, as she had grown accustomed to seeing the gloomy sky of Miss. Pigeon's Loop over the years, and the bright light was giving her a headache.

Beverly sat on her bed, across from the mattress Pascale was sat, curled in a ball shape. The girls were chatting, getting to know each other, Pascale would suggest a person, and Beverly would do an impression of them.

"Okay, okay, do Marilyn Monroe" Pascale suggested, still laughing.

Beverly looked like she was focusing really hard. "I don't know what she sounds like" she confessed with an apologetic look on her face.

"Don't worry about it" Pascale replied with a wave of her hand. "Why don't you pick someone and I'll try to guess who it is?"

Beverly nodded, and thought for a moment before speaking. "Now this is a story all about how my life got flipped, turned upside down..." Beverly began, though she stopped upon seeing the confused look on Pascale's face.

"I'm not familiar with that music" she said with a shake of her head.

"You don't know The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air?"

Pascale shook her head. "I don't know of anything past 1957. For all I know the world could have ended."

"Right, sorry" Beverly apologized.

Pascale shrugged. "What's it like, the 90's?"

"Oh, it was great, television was great, music was great, fashion was great, everything was great."

"You don't sound very enthusiastic" Pascale observed.

"I just miss it, that's all" Beverly replied with a small smile. "I've been in this Loop for ten years, I miss it sometimes."

"Why did you come here anyways?" Pascale asked. "Not to be rude to anyone here, though."

"Well, it's quite a good story, in my opinion at least" Beverly smiled. "My Peculiarity started showing when I was very young, I was singing a Beatles song, and my friends commented that I sounded exactly like all four members at the exact same time, they thought I had a radio on me or something. It was the same when I would impersonate my parents or my teacher or whatever. One day, my friends and I where at a restaurant, and we where doing impressions. Then a man came up to me, and offered me a show, I could do impressions, sing songs, like a comedy show and a concert at the same time. I took it, I mostly did shows in London, but I moved around a bit, though I never left Europe. I was so good, that some people thought I was faking, lip syncing. I started to receive a lot of hate, and people would throw tomatoes at me. But one day, Miss. Peregrine found me and brought me here."

"Wow" Pascale breathed. "What about your friends?"

"They became less supportive. I was making loads of money, so they started using me more. The relationships became messy, drama that I didn't need started. I don't miss them, well sometimes I do, but very rarely, when I left we where on such a bad note, that it doesn't really matter anymore."

"Oh" Pascale replied, and looked out the window, a wave of sadness washing over her, as she thought of Dominique and Jacqueline, followed by guilt, as she realized how good the trio had it, compared to Beverly.

"What about your friends?" Beverly asked.

A lump formed in Pascale's throat. "Dead, maybe, I'm not sure. I don't really want to talk about it."