Hope (Enoch O'Connor x Reader)

Chapter 3: This shit is gonna go DOWN!

I wake up on the floor of the spare room under the window, covered in sweat. Sweat that feels a lot like thick, sticky blood. I knew it would happen. My mind, my unconsciousness, will haunt me with my own memories. Memories of my friends in my loop. Snowball fights, fun at the theme park there, singing at the top of our lungs at the auditorium now inhabited by hollows. All my friends, gone. And every night left of my existence will be reminded of that day, when everyone I love was ripped from me. No. I wipe my tears off of my face, unable to remember when I started crying. You haven't lost Miss Avocet. But she is trapped as a bird, with many serious injuries. Surely she won't make it. My thoughts are out-of-control, making me cry harder. No. I tell myself again. Miss Avocet will get better. And you also have Emma. And this is a new loop. There are other children, lots of potential new friends. To replace the ones I've lost. Before this new thought brings on another wave of tears, I pick myself up off of the ground and walk over to the door. I open it and peer down the hallway. Find Emma. I think to myself. Now which door would be hers?

I walk up to a door across from me and raise my hand to knock, only for it to open and reveal Emma. Good guess. I think to myself.

"Morning Y/N!" Emma beams. "Did you sleep well?" She asks as she steps out of her room, closes the door and begins to walk down the hallway.

"Yes, thanks for the room." I decide that Emma probably shouldn't know I nearly shat myself from my nightmares as I follow her down the hallway, so I emit that information in my answer. Okay, I lied to her, but I really just don't want her to worry about me. I'll be fine. Eventually. Maybe.

"So, where are we going?" I ask before my thoughts run away with me.

"To breakfast, of course! You can meet all the other peculiars here!" Emma replies.

"Okay, rightio. This'll be interesting." I say.

"Um... why?"

"I want to see if your breakfasts are the same as ours. In our old loop, everyone use to fight over food. No matter what it was, they would have an hour brawl over a plate of leftover breadcrumbs! I remember this one time –" I stop walking as the memory resurfaces. Of the time when I was happy with the other children in our old loop. But now, they are... they are...

"Hey. Are you alright?" Emma asks, looking a bit concerned.

"Yeah." I say as I snap out of the memory and focus on her. "I'm okay."

We continue on until we enter a room with a large table, with several people seated around it. They all look at me and instantly I feel very self-conscious. Miss Peregrine sits at the head of the table, nursing Miss Avocet, still in bird form. She addresses Emma and I with a kind smile.

"Children, this is Y/N. She is from Miss Avocet's loop which was raided yesterday and has come to stay here with us for a while. Please make her feel welcome."

"Hello Y/N!!"

"Top of the morning to ya!!"

"HIIIIIIII!"

"How are you?!"

"Did you sleep well?!"

"HULLO!"

"HIIIIIIIII AGAIN!"

Everyone around the table seems to simultaneously just burst out with greetings. Emma took a seat, while the little girl beside her helped her buckle herself into her chair to help herself sit. I took the empty seat beside her, across from a girl with pretty orange hair and beside an annoyed-looking boy at the opposite head of the table, across from Miss Peregrine.