manipulate // enoch o'connor

18 // caught

  CLARA WAS SURE EVERY PECULIAR HATED HER NOW. She was guarding Miss Peregrine and the rest of the ymbrynes in their bird forms who were inside cages. The room was dim, which reminded her of her years training. After all those agonizing years, finally, she finished the lifelong mission she felt she was made for. She no longer safe, as she did in the children's home. Instead, she felt in danger, but she knew to herself that she was the danger.

Clara hoped Enoch kept the note she wrote for him. She's expected the worse, especially after what she did. That note was the smallest hope for her, and deep inside her she wished Enoch would trust her. Hearing footsteps approaching the room, she started her plan. 

The ymbrynes started to make noise, Clara tried her best to shush them. "I'm going to get you all out, I promise, I just need time---" Barron entered the room. To him, he heard her say something treacherous. "It-It's not what it looks like," The version of Clara told him as he looked at her.

Clara was by the shadowed part of the room, hiding while she project a different version of herself to Barron. "Well, Clara.. What makes you think this is believable?" Her eyes widened, and she started to breathe heavily, but continued to focus on her work.

"You got me, I was going to let them escape and blame it on someone!" The other Clara exclaimed, "I'm so fucking tired of your bullshit! I did everything, I should be done with you!"

"But I'm not done with you," Barron hummed, walking towards the back part of the room, making her more nervous, "You see, Prescott. I still need you. I believe you have connections with the children..And I've got a feeling, they're coming back for me." 

"I don't have friends! They were all suspicious of me from the start." The other Clara said, "Portman isn't a friend. He was a puppet!" She gritted her teeth.

"But now, you are." Without Clara noticing, Barron grabbed her by the neck. The other version of her dissolved into thin air and she clawed his grip away. "You think you can deceive me?" 

"Let... Go.." Clara was able to say. His grip tighten, making her breathing harder. Barron laughed, "You bitch. You don't think I know? Malthus told me you were fucking with another peculiar, other than Portman. He told me when we were at the children's home, and now he's not back here." 

Barron finally let go of her, making her fall on her knees. She inhaled and exhaled as she tried to catch her breath. "He's dead." Clara mumbled.

"I know Malthus is dead. Their timeloop was dangerous." Barron turned away from Clara, "Tie her up somewhere but here," He told his henchmen, "And you. Come with me." 

✧ ✧ ✧

  CLARA WAS TIED UP ON A THICK, STONE WALL. "What the fuck are you going to do!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, "I know you're here, Barron! Show yourself!" 

Barron walked out of the shadows, but he was no longer himself. "How do I look, Prescott?" Her eyes widened. His new disguise was her. Barron got her features well, it was as if she was looking at herself in the mirror. "Do you want to know what I will do to your little peculiar friends?"

"I don't." Clara answered, making Barron laugh. He even got her voice well. "Don't tell me."

"I will eat their eyes in front of you, and make that boy you're protecting to suffer first before killing him and finally, I'll kill you." He told her. "Fun, right?"

"You touch him, you're dead!" Clara shouted, struggling against the ropes tied to her, "Leave them be! Just kill me, torture me, hurt me, anything! Do it, Barron! Just not to them. Please."

Barron laughed, "I haven't heard that word from you in such long time. What is it again?"

"Fuck you!" Clara spat. Barron slapped her. "That's not very nice is it, Clara? Where did your manners go?" Barron mocked her. 

"Shut up! Shut the fuck up!" Clara shouted, "I'll kill you, Barron, and when I do, I'll make sure you'll regret everything you did to me!" Barron scoffed. "You? Kill me?" He laughed, "Not if I kill you first!" 

"Go on then. Kill me now. Do it." Clara challenged him. 

Barron smiled to her mockingly, "Prescott.. You will never learn, huh?" He brushed his fingertips onto her face. She tried to shake them off, "I still need you alive. You were useful, until you fell for the enemy. What a shame."

"Fuck you!" Clara has tears falling down her cheeks. She was getting frustrated and she was exhausted from struggling too much. Her plan failed, and now Barron might kill Enoch. She needed to improvise but she was drained. "Fuck you.." She said, but this time, her tiredness echoed through her words.

"Rest now, you'll need your energy back when I kill them in front of you." Clara wanted to shout again, but she felt her body giving up. She was weak, and she couldn't do anything but talk.  

"Goodbye, Clara. I'll be replacing you for now." Barron winked at her and smirked. Now Clara knows how it feels like to be annoyed at herself, especially using that trick she used to do to others before. "I'm sure I got everything about you correct. They'll be too dumb to buy it."

"Fuck you!" She yelled hoarsely and slowly lost her consciousness. 

author's note

this book ranked #1 on #missperegrineshomeforpeculiarchildren
and i got 2.4k reads, wow that's amazing! this fanfic is almost
finished so buckle up and enjoy! stay home and stay safe xx