Ello, there! Wow! It's been a very long time since I've written anything. I mean I barely have time though, being a sophomore, and all (becoming a junior very soon… feel kinda weird, and old. Hehehe…). I'm also in the marching band during autumn and concert band during spring. Yep, band takes up a portion of my life, especially even more because I'm running to be a part of band council so if I end up making it... Also, shoutout to any fellow flautists reading this! Anyways, I really hope you like this story! I've had this idea in my head forever and the fact that I finally got around to doing is just, mega yay! I'll try to update this as much as I can, but I don't have a specific date it will be posted since my schedule is so wonky, but I'll try my best! Pretty please, favorite, and follow this, it would also mean the world to me if you could review! Enjoy!

I do not own, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, that title belongs to, Ransom Riggs. I also do not own the poem, A Thing of Beauty, by John Keats. I do own Penelope Lane and her mother.

Presenting...

~Our Porcelain Lady~

Chapter 1

Do you ever feel like you're meant for something more than what you are right now? Like, something is calling to you, but it flees from your grasp? You sort of feel like, there is a hole inside of you, that is waiting to be filled up. Or I guess in my case, it feels like a piece of my glossy flesh is missing, and is just waiting to be found.

I'm being silly, aren't I?

Today so far has been going like any other day. My slumber disturbed, as usual from the rooster's robust calls, coming from outside my house. I would then give a big roar of a yawn as the rising star stung my eyes, and reflected off my shiny surface.

After gathering enough will to get out of bed, I rushed to put on my red t-shirt, and mud-stained blue overalls. Then, I would do all of my "safe" chores, as Mother likes to call it. This included washing the floors and dusting every crevice of our small, but comfortable home.

When I was finished with the chores, Mother would feed me the usual menu of eggs, and toast. Afterward, Mother would then leave me to go do the "dangerous" chores such as, milking our cows, feeding the chickens, and tending to our garden full of vegetation.

Yeah, so, let's just say, I can't go help her tend any of the animals anymore. For one, I can't be seen, and second, is because on account of that one time I was almost mauled by a cow. Yeah, that was not so, ideal.

Anyway, while Mother was tending our small farm, I would spend the rest of the day, watching the world go by, through my window with nothing, but a small painting pad, and brush in hand, illustrating what I saw.

Around noon, Mother would come in, and we would start my daily lessons. We would go over history, math, English, and all that other jazz. My eyes would wander off to the nearest window as she went on, and on.

Mother would then usually warn me by saying, "Now, dear," for the umpteenth time that lesson. And that's how the rest of the day would go on, until dinner time, of course.

This schedule was the same every day and rarely strayed from normalcy. We never even get any visitors, but if on the rare occasion that we do get one, then I am immediately told to hide in the closet because there's the fact that nobody knows that I exist. Hehe… Mother likes to keep it that way, on account of my condition, and so she has no social life because of me. No friends, or significant other. I feel awful, sometimes, for being a burden, but she insists that I'm not and that I'm everything she's ever wanted. Sometimes, I see that look in her tired eyes as she watches the town go by each passing day. She watches longingly, as do I.

It's hard not to wonder what's beyond those rolling hills surrounding the village, especially since the books I read only add to my imagination of what's beyond this village. All I read about is adventures such as, the knight in shining armor having to travel to faraway places in order, to save the one they love. There is more than this provincial village. My hand aches to paint more than what I see from a window. Sigh. I want more. But, there's always that deadly thought that kills any hope inside of me that I could ever go out into the world.

I could shatter, and that would be the end of me, Penelope Lane.

And, if you're wondering, no, my father, is not in the picture. He ran out on Mother, and I not long after, I was born. Mother doesn't know that I know, but the reason why he ran out was because of my condition. The only one, who was there for Mother after I was born was my aunt, Susan. In fact, because of her occupation, as a midwife, Mother was able to give birth at home. Unfortunately, my kind aunt died, when I was six years old.

Anyway, currently, I am in my lesson, once again letting my eyes wander off, as Mother rambled on with the English lesson. Today was a bit different though. That dream I had last night was racking at my brain all day. Yes, I have dreams just like anybody else, but this one was very weird, and at some points it even felt a bit real. It went like, this:

Everything is gray. It's dull and almost gloomy. It was also oddly warm, but not uncomfortable. A thought comes to mind, and I quickly look at my hands. Yep, still made of china, even in a dream.

"Hello!" I bellowed, the space echoed back a "Hello" to me in a faraway voice that was mine. I slowly did a 360, analyzing everything around me to see if there was something. Coming in my line of vision was something of a small distance, meaning that it was a few ways from me. I tried to squint and strain my eyes, but ended up hurting them, causing me to rub at them for a minute.

Hesitantly, I stride over to the shape in the clearing of this abyss of gray, and gloom. Hehe… even in a dream, I still make a clinking sound every time I take a step, hehehe... I chuckled out loud to myself. Usually, I would be fearful that the shape would be a beast of sorts, and I might shatter, but by now I've oddly realized this was a dream. Since, I realize this was a dream I could choose to wake myself up, but, hey, why not explore while I'm in this lucid dream state. Especially, since, I am so limited in the real world.

As I come closer, the shape takes the form of a huge house. I eventually come face to face with it. This beautiful, huge house stood proudly. It looked new, but at the same time you could tell there was history behind such a proud house.

The house's exterior was made from red bricks and was decorated all over with huge windows. The house also had a pointed, green roof, and huge, welcoming doors. The house also came with a little, transparent greenhouse in the front, where you could make out a couple of greens through the panes. And, the house's sides were lined with plenty of dark green bushes, and there were even a few butterflies, and hummingbirds fluttering about. It was weird though because the life didn't dare go past the bushes where the gray gloom was. They seemed to be only staying in the protection, and comforts of a bubble, or even a snow globe because of how perfect this place looked. The house looked comforting, and happy which made it stand out immensely compared to the gray atmosphere.

As I was admiring the house, I was about to step out of the gray, and into the comforting green when suddenly, I heard something rapid, and aggressive, almost sounding, like a fan going 400 miles per hour. I froze, and snapped my head in every which way. The sound only got closer, and only got even more brutally aggressive. Looking up, coming from behind the house was a huge force of green planes passing by, causing my hair, and the hem of my nightgown to whip around as the aircrafts created wind. Something was off, that was for sure.

The alarms in my head were going off manically, and were screeching at me like, a bunch of banshees. Run, run, run! That's all my thoughts said, and that is what I did. I spun around, and bolted. All I could hear was the aggressive sounds of the planes, mixed in with my clinking sounds. But, amid those noises suddenly, I hear a piercing shrill sound coming from behind me. I took a quick peek behind my shoulder as I ran, and my eyes grew to the size of plates, and my mouth snapped open, and let out a shrill sound of my own.

My eyes were pinned on the black object that was falling from the gray sky. I immediately recognized it as a bomb, and I also saw the huge swastika on the side of it. It was heading straight for the beautiful, grand house, and the piercing noise only got louder to the point where I had to cover my ears with my hands as I ran, the excruciating sound ringing painfully through my skull. I was still screaming out of instinct, as if I could be heard over.

I forced my eyes to stop looking at the nuclear object and faced forward while continuing to run as fast as my fragile legs could take me. Run, run, run! Even though I was running at a remarkably fast speed, I felt like I still wasn't getting any distance between the bomb and me. I tightly shut my eyes close and braced for the impact that would be coming at any moment.

I felt it. Upon making impact it violently shook me and the ground to the core. At that very moment, I felt my scream become louder, not just because of the impact of the bomb, or the pieces of the house spewing out in every direction, a couple of huge pieces almost hit me, but it was because I felt myself falling forward. It all happened so fast. The ground was shaking, so violently that I had stumbled enough to clumsily fall. At that very moment I forgot that I was in a dream because it just all felt real. One thought coerced through my head at that exact moment.

I'm going to shatter. The end. It wouldn't even matter if I tried to stick my hands out as an attempt to try to catch myself because they would only immediately break off. I shut my eyes as I was about to make impact with the ground.

But it wasn't the end.

I made an impact with something, but it couldn't have been the ground, it wasn't hard, and cool like I expected, and most importantly I didn't feel myself agonizingly shatter into a million pieces. Instead, I stayed in one piece and had landed on something very, very soft. It felt like a bed, almost.

I was still breathing hard from the adrenaline of the life-threatening events from a few seconds ago. I hesitantly opened my eyes and lifted my head a bit from the cushion, only to see that I had landed on a bunch of well-groomed feathers that were white, spotted with black. Feather's? Turning myself over onto my back, my harsh breathing hitched at the sight before me.

Right before me were two big eyes and a sharp, yellow beak with the tip of it painted a dark gray. A bird!? Hesitantly looking away from the bird, I look around and piece together what had happened. From the looks of it, the bird caught me from my fall by cushioning my fall with one of its wings, which I was still currently on top of.

Having all fear dissipated, but remaining wary I look back to the face of the bird. I raised an eyebrow at it, I couldn't tell what type of bird species it was, but one thing was for sure, it was quite, a beautiful creature.

Even while underneath one of its wings, it still stood proud, and tall. To be honest, I was entranced by it, as if I was under a spell. When the bird decided that I had spent enough time looking at it, it "squawked" at me and looked at me in an expecting manner.

It took me a moment to realize what it wanted, "Oh, I'm sorry!" I immediately got up from the bird's wing. Once I was up and as it was tucking its wing back, I shrunk back a little because of how intimidating the height of the bird was. It looked to be standing at a height of 9'1-ish which was a great comparison from my height of 5'5. "Thank you," I whispered.

The magnificent creature lowered it's head a little, in the form of a bow, as if saying, "You're, welcome." then picking its head back up, and going back to staring at me. I felt like it was analyzing me, which would have made me uncomfortable, but for some reason I wasn't scared of it anymore, even with its huge height. Maybe, it was because it had saved me, so I knew it wouldn't hurt me, but I knew it wasn't just that, the bird just had a comforting presence to it, almost motherly even.

Then I remembered, "The house!" I gasped, I sped off behind the great bird, to which it followed by also turning around. I frowned at the sight before me, the beautiful, proud house stood no more. It was completely demolished, with its organs littered everywhere you looked.

I felt water roll uncontrollable down my smooth cheeks. I lightly touched a finger to my cheek and brought it up to my eyes, staring at the speck of water on it. Huh. Letting my hand fall back to the side, I looked back at the house and I let my frown deepen, "And it was such a happy house too," I cooed.

I turned back to the creature, I didn't want to look anymore, it was also staring at the spot where the once happy house used to be. With those big black eyes you wouldn't think they would be as expressive as they were, but you could tell that it was looking sadly upon the demolished area. It looked back down at me with that sad expression, which I also had.

"I agree, it is such a sad sight, isn't it," I whispered, as I was looking down and playing with my fingers, tears still rolling down heavily. It was weird because in this dream I couldn't control the amount of tears spewing out of me, my tears were as consistent, as a waterfall, always running.

I looked up into the bird's eyes and saw that it was shedding one large tear from it's right eye. It was so big that if I hadn't moved out the way in time before it fell to the ground then I would have been soaked. The tear did splash when it fell, causing a little bit to get on my nightgown.

It only made my frown, and sad eyes deepen at the sight. It also caused my uncontrollable tears to run down like an actual faucet on a high setting. But then I remembered something that I had read in one of my books. Hmmm, now how did the poem go again? Oh, yeah! I stood a bit taller than before, and recited smoothly,

"A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:

Its loveliness increases; it will never

Pass into nothingness; but still will keep

A bower quiet for us, and a sleep

Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing."

When I was done, the bird looked taken back at first, but then it's eyes, and body looked at peace. The bird then lowered itself to the ground and got into the form of a bird's sleeping position. It then untucked one of its wings out and "squawked" at me. It was beckoning for me to come lay with it. I was taken aback by the gesture, but I didn't hesitate to huddle next to it and get comfortable when it tucked it back in. It felt like I was in a cocoon of soft feathers. It was nice. So fluffy! Hehehe… I smiled to myself as I was about to close my eyes, but noticed something. My faucet eyes had turned off. Must have stopped flowing when I was done with the poem.

My smile grew a bit bigger at the realization, I then gave a small yawn and nestled myself deeper into the soft feathers. "Goodnight, Birdie," I whispered, letting my eyelids flutter close.

Yep, no doubt, that was a very, very, strange dream in my book, I would even consider it peculiar.

Hopefully, I can dream about that beautiful bird again, but maybe under better circumstances. Hehehe… I doubt I'll ever dream about it again though. Such a shame, but at the same time it is what it is, I guess. I huffed at that thought and then turned my head away from the window and to the chalkboard that Mother was writing on.

What is she talking about right now? English? Hmm, I think she is. It looks like she's way too far in the lesson for me to try to start comprehending the lesson. I really need to stop daydreaming so much during lessons. It's not fair to Mother because I'm technically wasting her time by not paying attention. I frowned to myself out of guilt from the thought.

Maybe, if I try really hard to start paying attention to the lesson at hand now, then I could at least get a little bit out of it, I mean it's better than learning nothing at all. But, before I go into full attention span of an eagle mode, I need to make a note to myself. Note to self: after the lesson look up what bird species I saw in my dream. I have a bird book left by my so-called, "father", but never bothered to open it, until now.

Hmmm, now that I think about it, I think it was a falcon of some type considering it had all the physical attributes of one. I wonder if it even exists at all! Maybe I just made up the breed in my head. Hmmm…. Maybe I'm ju-.

My thoughts were abruptly interrupted, "Penelope, my love, are you even listening?" Mother questioned me in an exasperated voice.

Okay, eagle attention starting, now!

I hope you liked this chapter! Sorry it's so short, I'm still trying figure out the storyline. Also, I'm not sure if I'm going to have this story either be based on the book or movie. I mean, I've read the books but it has been awhile so I would probably need to reread it and I don't know if I have time for that, like, I would love to do it based on the books because I think it was better than the movie. I mean don't get me wrong, I also love the movie too, but you know the book is always better. If I do it based on the movie then I will add some aspects from the book. I think if I do end up basing it on the book though, then I will add some aspects from the movie too because I like some of the things added in there too. Hmmmm.. I'm just not sure yet. Anyway, until next time! Please favorite, and follow this, and maybe leave a review… :)

P.S. I hope everyone is staying safe and is doing well. I know it's a tough, and scary time right now, but it'll be okay. We're gonna get through this. :)