I do not own the Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children series.
"I tried to leave it all behind me
But I woke up and there they were beside me
And I don't believe it but I guess it's true
Some feelings, they can travel too."
—Don't Cry, 2020 by COIN
Eight Years Ago
"Grandpa," Jacob said, "who's this girl right here?"
They had been packing up the photos of all those wonderfully strange children, when Jacob noticed that they had missed one. The picture showed an elderly man, his hand outstretched by his side. Underneath his hand stood a young girl who reached out to the man. The man seemed to not notice that the girl was even there as he stared off into the distance obliviously.
Grandpa Portman laughed. "Oh, that's Peggy!" He exclaimed, nostalgia flooding his words. "How could I forget little Peggy?" He smiled widely as he studied the picture. "She loved to play jokes on the locals," he continued, glancing up at Jacob for a moment. "Her sense of humor was always with her—nothing would get in between her and a good joke."
"Can she shrink?" Jacob asked skeptically. "Really?"
His smile growing, Grandpa Portman nodded. "When I last heard, she could shrink to the size of a chipmunk, but she was working hard on getting even smaller."
"Peggy got along with anybody, as long as you gave her enough time," continued Grandpa Portman. "But she was closest with Enoch." He wasn't looking at Jacob now, or the picture. He was staring off into the distance, reliving an old memory. And, for a while, Jacob and his grandfather sat there in a calm, comfortable silence. Blinking, Grandpa Portman looked around before his eyes once again settled on the photograph he held in his hands, and, with a sigh, he placed it back in the box.
"I suppose it's time to put these away again," mumbled Grandpa Portman, as he shut the old cigar box with shaking hands.
As Jacob ran off, Abe sat there, staring off into the distance once more.
"Oh, Peggy," he murmured, "I hope you and everyone else are all right. I hope you have all found it in your hearts to forgive me..."
September 3, 1940
Peggy Tran sneezed loudly. As she furiously rubbed at her nose, a hand was placed on her shoulder.
"All right there, Peggy?" Emma Bloom asked her as she joined her on the front steps outside their home.
"I am well, Emma," Peggy replied, a sheepish smile on her face. "Just a sneeze, that's all."
Emma laughed. "Well, you know what that means. If you sneeze, someone must be thinking about you!"
Suddenly, another arm wrapped around her shoulders, pulling her away from Emma, and into the side of Enoch O'Connor. He looked down at Peggy with a sort of half-smirk, half-smile.
"Now, who on earth would willingly think about you?" He asked her, his voice holding an underlying tone of sarcasm.
Peggy just smiled cheekily. "Maybe the same people that would think about you."
"Not many, then."
Giggling, Peggy shoved him lightly. Emma watched the two, smiling softly as her mind went elsewhere.
Oh, Abe, she thought to herself, I wish you were here right now.
A/N
Oops, I've made another! I had read this series a while back, and I recently remembered how much I loved it. So, I decided to make a story for it. That's where Peggy comes in! Her family migrated to Europe a few years before she was born. English is not Peggy's first language, so she struggles a little when she tries to speak it. I'm also going to try to include some Vietnamese, but I do not speak this language, nor do I have any way to learn it currently, so I will be trying my best. Please correct me if I put something in this story that is incorrect! I will try to avoid using Google Translate because, even though they mean well, their translations suck. I should know—I've taken three years of Spanish, and I got about halfway through my first year before I realized that Google Translate was not the site to use. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy the story! This will be based off of the books, as that is my primary source, but the Enoch in this story will be based of the one portrayed by Finlay MacMillan. Happy reading!