𝔠𝔞𝔠𝔬𝔢𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔰, jake portman

10 | LITTLE BIRDIE

CACOETHES
CHAPTER TEN !

Imogen passed Abe's old gas mask to Jake, smiling at him and following everyone outside where it was heavily raining. This was always quite an amazing part of the day; when Miss Peregrine reset the loop. She put on the ritualistic song that they always played, exciting the children even more.

Everyone was lined up, standing in the garden and holding their masks tightly. Miss Peregrine already had hers on. As she turned around and nodded at the peculiars to put their masks on, Imogen subconsciously slipped her hand into Jake's. Neither of the teens quite knew why, but they both seemed quite content with their fingers interlocked. It almost felt like their hands were made for each other.

Imogen slipped on her mask, Jake quickly following when he realised that was what everyone else was doing.  Everyone watched the sky patiently, whilst Miss Peregrine glanced between her pocket watch and the sky.

Suddenly, the whirring of planes could be heard in the distance, before they came flying over the house. Jake stumbled back in shock, Imogen squeezing his hand comfortingly as bombs were suddenly dropped from the planes. Everyone watched calmly, aside from Jake, as the bombs fell towards them, getting closer and closer. With every second longer Miss Peregrine left, Jake got more and more panicked, especially for Imogen, that something would happen. But the peculiars knew better, they had, after all, watched this happen for centuries.

Just as the bombs were inches away from the house, Miss Peregrine pressed a button on the side of her pocket watch and everything froze. The rain stopped in its spot, as did the bombs, literally a hair's length from the peculiars' home.

Jake looked up at the spectacular scenes in wonder, gazing up at the frozen water droplets above him. In amusement, Imogen reached up and flicked a rain drop towards Jake. It landed on the eye piece of his mask, which made the vision in his right eye go slightly blurry as he couldn't see through the glass.

Then, Miss Peregrine began winding a dial on her pocket watch. As she did so, the day began rewinding. The song they had been playing was sung in reverse and the clouds passed in the opposite direction much faster than usual. Birds flew by, squirrels scampered through leaves and the sun went up and over. It went from night, to day, from day, to night. Until they were in the exact same time as before, but the previous day to the one they'd reset the loop on.

Everyone took their masks off, looking around and smiling excitedly after the events. Imogen grinned at Jake, the two of them finally letting go of each other's hands. Though neither said it, their hands felt especially cold without the other's interlocked with it.

As everyone began filing inside, Jake and Imogen taking up the back, the latter began chattering happily. It seemed as though Jake brought out the best in her. All Imogen wanted to do when she was with Jake was make him smile and laugh and happy, so when she succeeded, it literally brightened her day. It was fine for Jake, as he felt fine listening to Imogen's voice as she nattered on about even the most boring subject.

"Aren't you glad you stayed? It really is spectacular, isn't it? I see it every night yet I still can't get enough of it." Imogen rambled, looking at Jake.

"Yeah, it was pretty cool." Jake agreed, the hint of a smile tugging at his lips. Imogen's smile, if possible, got even wider. She was like a small child in a candy store.