Strange Worlds [Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children] Enoch O'Connor

eleven

CHAPTER ELEVEN
AWAKENING THE DEAD

The basement was dark, with no light coming through. Trying to navigate our way through the crowded area was proven difficult as my foot caught a lifted piece of concrete, causing me to trip and fall into a pile of crates.

Upon hearing the sound of clattering boxes, Jacob pulled out his phone and turned on his dim flashlight. With the help of the light, I was able to make out the broken wood around me; luckily, the boxes were empty.

"What happened?" Jacob asked, stifling a laugh.

"I tripped." I growled back, "Now help me up."

Jacob sat his phone in his pocket and grabbed onto my outstretched arm, ready to pull me up. Before he was able to start to help, I pulled him down. He landed on the remaining crates, also shattering them. This time the sound that followed wasn't just the sound of broken wood but of shattered glass followed by a slushing sound. I let out a loud gasp, covering my mouth as my laughter filled the room, "Oh, my."

A foul chemical smell filled the air causing me to hold my nose and groan in disgust. It reminded me of the strange room for our chemistry class, a place I hated being in as the smell always made me feel sick.

"What was that?" I asked and quickly jumped up upon feeling wetness by my hand, I also pulled up Jacob with me, and we both grabbed out our phones. Both our dim flashlights worked together to have the brightness of a standard torch.

What we saw was not a pretty sight. My whole body froze. Jacob tensed up beside me. In front of us were broken glass, discoloured liquid and... organs; brains, hearts, eyes. I heard Jacob gagging beside me, and I quickly backed away from both Jacob and the pile of broken rubbish.

"We should keep moving," I suggested, and Jacob replied with a hum of approval, grabbing onto my hand to make sure we don't get lost.

While we kept looking around, I couldn't help but wonder why Miss Peregrine would keep such grotesque things inside her basement; perhaps they weren't human organs. Hopefully, they weren't, that they were animal parts and used them as food, even in the butchers nowadays they keep and sell such things.

In front of us, we found a weak glimmer of light. Slowly, we made our way towards the light and found a hole in the floor above us, below the broken chest and what we thought were letters. I knelt, pulling Jacob with me as he still held onto my hand. I started to pick up the pictures and look at them. My breath hitched in my throat as I realised that the photos looked freakishly similar to the ones grandpa Portman had shown us. Perhaps he wasn't lying.

Perhaps everything he had told us, all his stories... they were real.

I was pulled from my thoughts as a loud crash sounded from above us, it came from within the house somewhere, but it didn't come from any form of animal. This sound was almost human-like someone was walking around with heavy steps.

The sound came again, and I dropped the pictures in my hand, standing up almost immediately. I shuffled closer towards the hole and peered out. I could hear voices, and footsteps came close. All I could think was that those village boys had come to play a trick on us.

As the footsteps came closer and closer, I held my breath. My arm stretched outwards, looking for Jacob, who quickly grabbed hold of my hand. As soon as my feet came into my view, I fell backwards and held onto Jacob. He held onto me too.

Suddenly it became deafeningly quiet, and then a female whisper filled the air, "Abe? Is that you?"

I looked at Jacob, scared. Who was this person, and how did they know our grandfather's name? We stayed quiet, waiting for another sound to come, but nothing did. Suddenly a lantern from above us lit up the surrounding emptiness, and faces came into view. Half a dozen kids kneeled on the floor from above and looked down at us, who sat on the floor, hugging each other as if our life depended on it.

The one who held the lantern was a girl, one I knew all too well. This was Emma. Grandpa Portman had spoken of her too many times to count. But why was she so young? How could she stay this young for so many years?

But upon closer inspection, this girl wasn't holding a lantern. Yes, indeed, she had a light made of a flame, but in her hand, she held no lantern. Instead, a flame just flickered in her bare hand. She didn't flinch at the pain from the light. She seemed calm, as if the fire was one with her.

I knew these were the people we were after, the ones we had been looking for so long, yet nothing would leave my mouth. I wanted to shout that we had been searching for them, that we are the grandchildren of their friend Abe, but I couldn't, and instead, I just stared.

As soon as I had found my voice, they had disappeared, and all I could do was cry, "Wait!" Alongside Jacob.

We ran. I don't even remember the effort to get out of the cluttered basement. All I remember was running after the girl in a blue dress as Jacob and I ran through the bog, following her into what looked like a rock made igloo.

Behind me, Jacob hesitated, but soon I felt his hand reaching out to me as he quickly followed along.

When we crawled through the mud and made our way into an open area, I quickly stumbled to my feet and looked around in the darkness. Jacob followed, pulling out his phone and showing an open space that was almost the size of a bedroom.

The girl wasn't here. The area was empty. I let out a loud groan and stomped my foot, body covered in mud. "Let's go." I whispered, "I wanna go home and have a shower, change my clothes."

Jacob only nodded, and we began our trek back towards the inn. The rain had stopped upon leaving the tunnel. The ground had almost thoroughly dried up as well. The light was practically blinding, causing the mud on our clothes to harden and chip off.