blinding; an e. o'connor short story

chapter v; victor and the wight

··Mʏ ϙᴜᴇᴇɴ﹐·· ᴛʜᴇ ʙɪɢ ᴍᴀɴ sᴀɪᴅ sʟᴏᴡʟʏ﹐ ··ᴀʟʟ ʏᴏᴜ sᴀʏ ɪs ᴛʀᴜᴇ. [...]
Hᴇ ʟᴏsᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴀᴛᴛʟᴇ﹐ ʜᴇ ʟᴏsᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀʀ﹐ ʜᴇ ʟᴏsᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴋɪɴɢᴅᴏᴍ﹐ ᴀɴᴅ ʜᴇ ʟᴏsᴛ ʜɪs ʟɪғᴇ. [...]
Rʜᴀᴇɢᴀʀ ғᴏᴜɢʜᴛ ɴᴏʙʟʏ﹐ Rʜᴀᴇɢᴀʀ ғᴏᴜɢʜᴛ ʜᴏɴᴏʀᴀʙʟʏ. Aɴᴅ Rʜᴀᴇɢᴀʀ ᴅɪᴇᴅ.··
﹣Fʀᴏᴍ ·A Sᴏɴɢ ᴏғ Iᴄᴇ ᴀɴᴅ Fɪʀᴇ· ʙʏ Gᴇᴏʀɢᴇ R. R. Mᴀʀᴛɪɴ

Saturday, 21st December 1963 | Tuesday, 3rd September 1940

"Mr O'Connor, Miss Clark, Mr Somnusson, I want you all to keep a close eye on Victor from today on. He could plan his leave any moment now. And when he does, advise him not to go. Give reasons for him to stay. Usually I would not encourage this, but lie if you have to. I want you all reporting anything suspicious to me immediately. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Miss Peregrine," we said in unison. Then we turned to leave her study but she spoke up and stopped me, "Only Mr Somnusson leaves. The rest of us still have an issue to be resolved."

Horace gave me a weird look and I gestured he should leave and I'd tell him later.

"Miss Clark, Mr O'Connor, I do hope Horace's dreams about the two of you haven't come into action yet. I need both of your eyes trained on Mr Bruntley and not each other - don't misunderstand me - I am not saying you can't be together, who am I to tell you what you can and cannot do I believe you both to be very mature people, but please remember there is a life at stake here," Miss Peregrine reminded us.

We gave each other a look with raised eyebrows and I turned back to her to explain, "Miss Peregrine, I think it's you who misunderstands us. We're not interested in... having a romantic relationship. None of the visions and dreams have taken place."

She gave us a nod and then dismissed us while muttering something along the lines of, "Just you two wait and see."

Enoch and I made our way out and went to sit outside to capture the last sunrays before it would eventually set and the rain would arrive. I closed my eyes and stretched my arms towards the sky.

"What are you trying to do? Touch the sky?", Enoch mocked.

I snorted and replied, "Next time try thinking of a better snarky comment."

A smile grew on his lips as he sat down on the ground. I sat down beside him, not minding the fact that it might cause the grass to stain my dark blue dress. His beige overalls already had green stains where his knees were and red sprinkles all over them, mainly concentrated around his stomach area. We just sat on the ground in silence for a while and watched the sun go down. Around us the ground was dotted with small yellow flowers that looked beautiful in the evening light. That is, until the realisation hit me what type of flowers they were. I jumped up, suddenly bound on finding Miss Peregrine immediately. I began making my way back to the house when I felt a hand grab my arm and hold me back.

"What's wrong? Did you see something?", asked Enoch, concerned.

I nodded energetically and pointed at the small spots of yellow on the ground. He raised an eyebrow questioningly and I responded, "Those are the same flowers from my vision Enoch. I don't know how, but it's happening. It's happening now. We have to find Victor."

Victor was nowhere to be found. We'd checked every room, every corner of the home but he was just gone. Oddly enough we couldn't seem to find Miss Peregrine either so we thought that maybe just maybe there was a slim chance she had taken him into town to talk to him or run a few errands but then again, none of the others seemed to know where they were either. So we had to mobilize our own forces in order to find not only Victor but also Miss Peregrine. Unfortunately, those 'forces' only consisted of Bronwyn - eager to get her brother back, Emma, Millard, Horace - hopefully he would't ruin his clothes, and Enoch and I. Hugh and Fiona wanted to stay back to take care of Claire, Olive and the twins. We told everyone what was going on and they all agreed to helping in a matter of seconds, the only problem we had was we had absolutely no leads as to where Miss P and Victor could have disappeared to.