Her Grey Eyes

Bad Liars

       Rain started to drizzle down as the children, Jacob, and I stood behind Miss Peregrine. A record was playing on a large record player, it was an old record that I had never heard before. Miss Peregrine smiled at us before turning toward the house and placing her gas mask on. She had given each of us one before we came outside. We all put them on, I struggled a little but managed. The distant sound of planes sounded overhead. The high-pitched whistle of bombs falling was the accompaniment to the repetitive record. The ground trembled slightly beneath my feet as bombs struck closer and closer. The sky was stained red with the distant flames and the smell of smoke and rain drifted through the air. I saw Jake jump as a plane flew overhead, dropping a bomb over the house. I could feel my fingertips start to tingle as I took a step back. The glass in the gas mask fogged up as I started to breath heavier. I looked around but the children seemed unbothered. Miss Peregrine stood with a golden pocket watch in her hands. She wasn't even looking at the bomb, she instead watched the seconds pass on her watch. Just before the bomb hits the house, time stands still. An almost silent clicking is the only sound heard as Miss Peregrine turns the time on her watch backward. The bomb and the rain begin to ascend and return to the sky and the record begins to play backward.  My eyes widen as the day rewinds itself. Within a moment it's night time once more, a clear starry night. Miss Peregrine and the children take off their gas masks before starting toward the house. Jake walks over to me, astonished.

  "I can't believe that just happened," He whispered. I chuckled.

    "I have a feeling we're gonna say that a lot on this trip," I said. Once we were back in the house, Emma led us up the stairs and into Abe's old room. Jake and I changed into our clothes and got ready to return to our own time. As I shoved on my boots I noticed that Jake had paused. He stood staring at something on a trunk. He picked it up and brought it over to me,

  "It's from my grandpa," He said. I looked at the item in his hands, which was a normal-sized envelope labeled urgent and addressed to Miss Peregrine. "Should we take it?" He asked me. I furrowed my eyebrows, I didn't know if it was such a good idea to steal something from Miss Peregrine. However, Jake took my silence as an affirmation and stuffed the envelope in his coat pocket. I said nothing as we walked down the stairs and met Emma and Miss Peregrine at the front door. Jake awkwardly waved goodbye, while I smiled at her. Miss Peregrine gave us a smile of her own as we followed Emma away from the house.

~***~

    The three of us reached the cave we entered through earlier today and just as we passed through to our side, Jake's phone went off. Emma jumped in surprise.

  "What was that?" she asked as she looked around the shadowy cave.

    "It was Jake's phone," I told her. Jake pulled his phone from his pocket to show her.

  "Yeah, it's been dead the whole time in the loop. I guess now..." He trailed off.

    "Your phone?" Emma asked. I'm sure she was curious as to how such a small object could be a phone. Jake then tried to explain how a cell phone worked.

  "Yeah, ya know, like a telephone. You can call people and send written messages," Emma's face still held confusion, but also amazement. "You'll love this, you can take a picture," Jake said as he pulled up the camera on his phone. He stood next to Emma and held up the phone. "So you press that," He said. I moved behind them just before Emma pressed the button and I gave them both bunny ears. Jake looked at the picture and laughed. Emma let out a small chuckle before stepping away from the two of us.

    "Are you okay?" I walked over and gently placed my hand on her shoulder. She nodded her head slowly and shrugged her shoulders.

  "It's just funny to think that one day, you two will grow up as Abe did," She said sadly. "Get married, have children...grandchildren." Emma trailed off. I looked at Jake who was staring intently at Emma, listening to her every word. It was strange to imagine him growing up and having his own family. I suppose it's even more strange if you can't grow up. "Your children might even see this photograph...and I'll still be here."

    "But can you leave someday, and live in the present if you wanted to?" I asked. Emma shook her head and sighed.

  "No. More than a few minutes in your time and the years would catch up."

    "You'd age?" Jake asked. Before Emma could answer, a squawk sounded through the cave, followed by a hollow impact. Near the entrance of the cave, a small bird lay injured and breathing heavily. Emma rushed over and cradled the bird in her arms.

  "I think it's the Ymbrene from Horace's dream," She said. Jake and I looked at each other with wide eyes.

    "Are you sure it's not just a bird? Wouldn't she change if-" I started.

  "She can't. Not if she's hurt," Emma faced away from us and checked the bird over. "I should take her inside. You two should go," Emma told us. Jake started to tell her goodbye, but Emma interrupted. "Please don't say anything else. I hate goodbyes."

    "We'll come back tomorrow," Jake promised. Emma sighed as she stood up.

  "There's no rush. I'll be here forever," She trailed off sadly.

~***~

    As Jake and I walked back into our own time, the air got thicker and clouds hid the sunset. A comfortable silence settled between the two of us as we walked on a gravel road. the crunching of rocks was a serene sound in my ears. Quick footsteps broke me from my thoughts. I looked up and saw Mr. Portman jogging up to us. Jake sighed and I grimaced. 

  "I've been all around this damn island! Where the hell were you?" Mr. Portman asked. Jacob glanced at me and I shrugged.

    "We lost track of time. Sorry," I told him. Mr. Portman shook his head and looked at Jacob for further explanation.

  "We were having a blast with Worm and...Dirty D," Jake lied. I snorted but covered it with a cough. Jake's dad paused and let a smile grace his face. He chuckled a bit and patted Jake on the back.

    "You know what? This is good. This is good. This is you're new friends, doing teenage stuff," We started walking toward the inn again as Mr. Portman rambled about how Dr. Golan would approve of our activities.

  "Hey, you, American! Get over here!" An old man called us over to the gate he was leaning on. Outside of the gate stood the two guys from yesterday, the ones that we supposedly spent all day with.

    "Look there's D-bag and worm-man," Mr. Portman attempted to remember their names as he guided us over to the gate. I could feel my pulse quicken as we got closer, knowing we were about to get caught in a lie. We got up to the gate and my eyes widened. There was a whole herd of sheep lying motionless in the grass.

  "Did you do this?" The old man asked. I shook my head rapidly.

    "What? No, of course not!" Jake said. His dad looked at us sternly as if he didn't believe us. "It wasn't us!" Jake insisted. 

  "Look, sir, I don't know what happened but my son and his friends have been together all day." Mr. Portman gestured to the two guys who were leaning passively against the gate. "And Jake and Amaris would never do anything like this."

    "Bollocks, we haven't seen them!" Worm exclaimed. I facepalmed and wiped my hand down my face. "You paid us to hang out with them yesterday, so why would we do it today for free?"

  "Where you two with them or not?" Mr. Portman looked at Jake and me with a confused stare.

    "No? We're sorry!" I spilled. Jake was quick to speak so that his dad couldn't.

  "You don't seriously think that we could do this!" Mr. Portman grabbed us both by the shoulders and steered us back to the inn.

    "I think we're done here." He told the old farmer. Jake and I shared a look before glancing back at the ground. We knew that we were in for it when we got to the Priest's Hole.