queen of hearts / enoch o'connor / on hiatus

vii.

*

Everything went wrong.

I repeat in my head as I hear the cries of the children outside. I stay still on my bed, shocked at what happened over the past few weeks.

*

I smile softly as I listen to the birds tweeting, their songs echoing in the air.

I hear someone sit beside me, grass crunching underneath their weight. "Why are you here alone Frances?" I hear him say in an airy voice. Victor. 

"Well I like to think alone and besides the kids are still quite scared of me." I say as I let my thoughts wander. "I'm just thinking what it would be like to be normal really." I say not thinking twice before uttering those words.

"Really? Then what if you join me then.... were not close but I can take you back to the present." He says as I sense a tone of want in his voice. 

"You know I can't Victor, and besides it's too dangerous and besides, what about your sister?" I say remembering the stories Ms. Crow once told us about what happened to peculiars outside of loops.

"I think I can handle it and besides I have the strength of ten men." He says before a girl calls him making me unable to warn him once more.

*

I should have done more. I should've held him back. I should have made him reconsider.
My thoughts consume me more and more as I think of Victor.

I stand, bumping into my desk as I try and find my way out of the room. I turn to the corner only to fall and have someone make me fall to the floor, their hands on either side of my face to keep them from crushing me.

"Well this is quite awkward." I say not knowing who pushed me. "Understatement of the year." The voice says. Enoch.

"How come you always bump into me?" I ask remembering how we bumped into each other often. "How come you are always so clumsy?" He retorts not moving from his spot.

"Well could you at least move?" I ask getting uncomfortable in the cold hard floor. He quickly mutters something and pulls me up his hands on mine as I steady myself.

"Are you okay?" I ask remembering how Victor and Enoch were close friends."It's none of your business." He says angrily as he lets go of my hand and storms off.

"You do know I lost my only friend too right?" I call out to him, hearing him stop his tracks.

"She died just like the other children." I say touching the cloth covering my eyes.

"So before you think that nobody understands you, just remember the people I called family left me alone too." I state as I turn back trying to walk to my door when I hear him walk towards me and grabbed my hand, dragging me out of the hallway.

*