locusta (enoch o'connor)

six

when aurelie and enoch reached the bottom of the staircase for dinner, they were greeted with a table full of prying eyes and teasing smiles. though the younger kids only met the pair of teenagers with confusion, the older children and even miss peregrine gave them smirks. aurelie blushed at the attention, but enoch simply walked to his seat and began eating.
     in her usual seat next to emma, aurelie shifted under the scrutiny of the children around her. miss peregrine, always keen on any tension, was quick to start a conversation that distracted from aurelie and enoch.
it started off about a boy named abe, and all the kids seemed to be excited at the mention of his name. aurelie knew it wasn't the time to intrude, so she picked quietly at her dinner until the conversation shifted towards more mundane topics.
horace asked miss peregrine if aurelie would be allowed to see the town, to which miss peregrine agreed - on the condition that no policemen would be at her door. the children laughed and emma grew giddy, rushing into stories about cart rides and adventures in the small coastal village. aurelie, overwhelmed, merely smiled softly at her friend's excitement before enoch broke into the conversation.
"emma's a terrible driver. her and olive both," he mumbled, "so it'd probably be best if i drove. just so no one dies."
olive argued her case immediately, jumping in with something about how 'that sheep came out of nowhere!' however, aurelie wasn't paying attention. she smiled gently at the boy, although his face remained stoic. still, aurelie knew she had won a small victory just then; enoch wanted to join her into town.

•••

aurelie woke early the next morning, her anticipation for the small journey making it nearly impossible for her to sleep. as she went about her morning routine, she could hear loud shuffling from the room next to her. she giggled to herself, images of a flustered enoch clambering around his room in search of some small item flashing through the girl's head.
she headed downstairs where ever-timely miss peregrine was already asking her to help with breakfast. aurelie got right to work, telling stories of how she'd had to cook for the orphanage before. miss peregrine stayed mostly quiet, allowing the young girl to vent and share in ways she hadn't been able to before.
unbeknownst to aurelie, a certain dark-haired boy was around the corner listening intently to tales of aurelie's past. she hadn't intended for him to hear them and he knew he shouldn't be snooping, but it was all too easy for him get lost in her honey-smooth accented voice.
"enoch!" hugh shouted, causing enoch to lunge toward the boy. hugh laughed as he ran away, leaving enoch to awkwardly linger in the doorway of the kitchen, praying that neither aurelie nor miss peregrine had noticed his prying.
     it was a few more hours before the children were ready to head into town. emma practically flew out of her weighted boots from sheer excitement as aurelie's mind raced with thoughts of what would happen.
     the five children; horace, emma, olive, aurelie, and enoch, all set off on their small journey. horace fussed with the cart until it was comfortable while enoch huffed.
     "what's taking so damn long? we should be there and back by now."
     "oh, hush," olive scolded, "you should be grateful we're letting you come at all."
     emma laughed at her friends, but aurelie sensed a hint of true resentment behind olive's tone, though she pretended to ignore the tense air that settled after.
     finally, once all was in place, the group set off. while mindless chatter kept aurelie entertained on the short ride, she found herself longing for the boy behind the reins. carefully, she moved to sit beside enoch, ignoring the unsure look he gave her as she moved.
     "what will we do in town?" she wondered.
     "dunno," enough shrugged, "you can see the shops and the pub, i suppose."
     "how long can we stay?"
      enoch shrugged again, taking his eyes off the road momentarily to look at the girl next to him. aurelie took the queue.
     "i was thinking we could all watch the sunset together."
     "um, probably not," enoch asserted, his low voice cutting through the brisk air. "we need to be back before the bombing."
     "oh," aurelie replied, looking down at her lap, "that's right. must be annoying to see the same things everyday."
     "sometimes it is, yeah. but something new just happened so it's not all bad."
     aurelie looked up at the boy, although he kept his dark eyes trained on the road ahead. she noted a small grin dancing along his features and, not knowing what to say, aurelie have him a light shove. he smiled in response - a good, honest smile that was still unfamiliar to aurelie.
     behind them, the chatter had slowed as the town grew nearer. within a moment, enoch was slowing the horse.
     the group all clambered out of the back of the cart. when it was aurelie's turn to climb down, she hesitated, not wanting to fall into the mud below her. enoch looked at her expectantly, quickly tying up the horse before reaching out to help the girl down. she thanked him as he held her arm for the drop, ignoring the faces she knew her new friends were pulling behind her. to them, this was a different enoch.
     the group wandered around for a bit. aurelie marveled at the surroundings and, when emma insisted on showing aurelie the pub, the rest of the children spiraled into objections. the pub, aurelie gathered, always brought trouble.
     "i say we should do it," enoch chimed, "we'll be careful and it's not like we have to go inside."
     "enoch," horace exclaimed, "you're just trying to impress frenchie."
     a small awkward pause fell, causing aurelie to look to either emma or olive to break it. while emma chimed in with her support of enoch's idea, olive grumbled, fussing with the ends of her gloves just slightly.
     "right then, it's decided." emma proclaimed, "we'll just go up and look in, but we won't go in at all."
     horace continued to shout his reservations, but followed dutifully along as they approached the small building. they stood silently for a moment, all just staring at the unassuming door in front of them.
     suddenly, the door burst open. a man stumbled out, allowing the noise from inside to leak onto the otherwise quiet street. the man was still turned around yelling back toward someone inside, and he failed to notice the row of children in his path. while they all moved quickly to avoid him, the man's shoulder caught enoch's. then, the two men just stared at each other.
     enoch's permanent scowl didn't serve the situation well, and the man seemed to take it as a threat. he grumbled and slurred, but through his accent and the alcohol on his tongue, aurelie couldn't understand him. enoch, however, did.
     he spoke lowly to the drunken man in front of him and, though it was too quiet for the rest of the children to hear, aurelie still picked up on the punching tone behind his voice.
     the man lunged towards enoch, though his attempt was feeble; weakened by swaying and unsure movement. enoch was quick to avoid the man. the man then scoffed, turning back to reopen the pub door.
     aurelie breathed a sigh of relief though it was immediately squashed by the panic of her friends. she looked to enoch in confusion and his wide eyes told her all she needed to know. the man was headed back inside not for another drink, but to grab friends to help him against the boy he'd taken offense to.
     quickly, the group all broke into a dead sprint back to the cart. enoch scrambled with the horse's ties and the children prodded him on as the man stumbled back out, followed by two other large men.
     "hurry, enoch!" emma pleaded.
     "i'm trying, dammit!"
     the large men moved closer and, in a panic, aurelie picked up a stray rock. she felt her hand pulsing around the object and, once she knew it was ready, she hurled it towards the men. the tallest one, easily 6'3", grabbed the rock in anger, ready to throw it back. but as he stood, he froze, convulsed for a minute, then dropped.
     aurelie has never seen her peculiarity at work before. all the same, it served its purpose and the group was off again - heaving out praises to the girl between fits of laughter. however, aurelie was stunned. she sat still as a statue at the cart sped down the road.
     "shut up!" enoch scolded, looking back and noticing aurelie's clear discomfort as the group quieted. aurelie glanced at the boy, thankful for his interruption.
     the rest of them then noticed aurelie's expression, and horace was the first to speak up.
     "he'll be fine, you know. the loop will reset and it'll be like we were never even here. he'll be fine."
     emma spoke next, reassuring aurelie with a gentle hug that the man wasn't dead - not really. the next moment was filled with a heavy silence until olive asked where enoch was headed.
     "back home, obviously," he chided. "i think we've done enough for the day and miss peregrine will be angry enough as it is."

•••

     miss peregrine was angry. after nearly a full hour of being scolded (though most of it wasn't directed at aurelie due to her unfamiliarity with her new life) the children were all dismissed to their rooms until the bombing.
     it had been a while since aurelie had felt like a child in trouble, and it was a feeling she wasn't happy to be reintroduced to. she walked somberly to her room, bidding a quiet goodbye to her friends. however just as she reached for her doorknob, she was cut short.
     "um," enoch stammered, "if you want i could sit with you for a bit. i mean- i know you're upset and if you wanted to talk or just sit or whatever i could-"
     "thank you," aurelie cut him short, "do you think it'd be okay if i just sat with you while you worked?"
     enough swallowed thickly, nodding at the girl as they walked into his work room.
     aurelie had yet to see enoch this way. he was usually on the quiet, brooding side, but now he looked utterly ashamed and unsure of himself. he probably needed to be with her just as badly as she needed to be with him right now, she thought.
     "what'd he say to you?" aurelie inquired, unable to stop herself from prying.
     "what?" enoch replied, brows furrowed as he picked jars off his shelves.
"l'homme," she stated, staring nervously back at the boy, "what did the man say to you that made you make him so angry? and what'd you say back?"
     enoch shifted uncomfortably, placing his jars carefully along his desk.
     "nothin'," he mumbled, though aurelie didn't believe him.
     he looked up at her, his deep brown eyes surprisingly soft.
     "he just said something about you and the girls. didn't like it."
     "oh."
     aurelie was at a loss. she wanted to ask more, but she knew it wasn't the time. enoch cleared his throat to try and push past the topic, and aurelie let him. he reset his expression seamlessly, settling back into his usual persona as he got to work.
     for the next couple of hours, aurelie watched as he tinkered with the morbid dolls. she allowed herself to get lost in enoch's work. she distracted herself from her sour mood as the boy across from made the occasional frustrated exclamation of a whispered "fuck" and his typical bitter comments.
     nevertheless, aurelie wondered exactly what had set enoch off back at the pub enough for him to instigate a near brawl.
what could've been so important?

•••

A/N: hey guys! it's been a while, i know, but i reread this story and wanted to get back into it! i hope you guys are still as interested as i am and i hope this will at least keep you a little entertained in these weird times. stay safe and let me know if you want me to keep updating :)

l'homme: the man