"What the hell was that?" I exclaimed once I was sure I could open my mouth without vomiting.

"We already told you!" Janie giggled. "That was the changeover, silly!"

"Miss Cardinal just reset the loop." Riley said.

"It is now 7:25 on December the 30th, 1949." Raymond said.

Charlie looked up. "We can still get back to our time, right?"

"Of course you can!" Miss Cardinal exclaimed. "As we've mentioned, time never stops or resets on your side of the loop."

I suddenly remembered the day in the woods when we found Janie's box, and also how George told us that Raymond had wet himself the first time the loop was set. Damn; the first December 31st, 1949 must've been intense; all of them probably thought they were about to die; they probably felt the same way I did. That was the first time it really sunk in; these kids had been here for decades; they were really those same kids from the story and the poster. I gaped at one peculiar to the next; if I saw them walking around in the present, I never would've guessed they'd been around since the forties. The most mind-blowing, spine-chilling realization was that these kids had been right here, just as they are, decades before I was born.

Charlie and I didn't speak for the rest of dinner.

After everyone finished, Janie jumped up and said, "Miss Cardinal? Can we walk Ricky and Charlie back to the loop entrance?"

Raymond added, "yes, bidding them goodnight is the least we can do provided how much we scared them."

"We weren't scared!" Charlie and I both lied in unison.

"Of course you can." Miss Cardinal smiled. "Just be careful; stay close; come right back; you all remember what happened to Little Joanie."

"Who's Little Joanie?" I asked.

"What happened to her?" Charlie added.

All the children suddenly looked grim and sorrowful for a second.

"Never mind that." Raymond stood up. "Let's go."

As we walked through the dark forest, the general atmosphere was different; the temperature was closer to how it was in the present, and there was no snow on the ground.

"It doesn't snow 'til the wee hours of the morning of the 31st." Phoebe told us tiredly when we asked.

All of the peculiars, I noticed, all walked through the woods in their own way; Raymond and Riley walked slowly and romantically hand-in-hand, Janie skipped ahead and ran orbits around the rest of us, George attempted to keep up with her, Phoebe dragged her feet on the ground, on the verge of falling asleep despite the fact that it was fully dark out, and Sebasten swung from low tree branches like a monkey, barely breaking a sweat and not slowing down.

"Who's Little Joanie?" Charlie asked Riley.

Riley pursed her lips thoughtfully, choosing her words carefully. "She lived at the home a few decades ago. One night she went out alone at night, there was an accident, and she died."

"Oh." Charlie looked down at her feet.

When we got to the hole in the cliff face, all of the children surprised me by crawling through to the present to say goodnight.

The sky had been gloomy and cloudy in the loop; in the present, it was a perfectly clear window into the universe. The younger children craned their heads in awe.

"Thank you for visiting." Riley said. "I hope you come back real soon."

Raymond reached into his knapsack, which I hadn't realized he had, and pulled out a neat stack of clothes. "Here are your clothes; good night."

"Thanks." I said, taking the clothes.

"Well we really should be going now." Riley placed protective hands on Janie and George's shoulders. "Goodnight."

The rest of them waved and then disappeared back into 1949.

Charlie and I ran up the hill to the cabin, where Grandma was pissed.

"Where the hell were you?" She yelled. "I tried calling you hundreds of times! No one in town says they've seen you! I had no blooming idea where you were! I can't even express how worried I was!"

"Sorry, Grandma." I said.

"We were hanging out with our friends; they live in a cabin like this one in the middle of the woods. Guess we lost track of time."

"We got our clothes back!" I held up our neatly folded clothes.

Her nostrils flared. "That's enough from you! I tried to leave you to your own, but apparently you have no concern for your grandmother! From now on, you are not leaving this cabin without me. Every day I will walk you to and from school. Now go brush your teeth and go to bed! We have things to do tomorrow!"

Heads down, we obeyed her. Once I climbed into bed, I checked my phone; sure enough, Grandma had called me exactly 251 times and left several dozen texts. I placed my phone on the table and closed my eyes, a lump in my chest. It took me a second to notice my cheeks were wet. I dried them quickly.

The next day Grandma sat in a chair against the door, trapping us in all hours of the day except when we went to the local office supply store, where she glared at us like a hawk. I found myself looking for an opportunity to sneak away; none came- at least not one where both Charlie and I could escape.

The next morning, we had to wake up before dawn to get ready for school, even though I loudly protested. She drove us to the small schoolhouse- and by 'schoolhouse', I mean a large house that had been converted into a 13-roomed school.

When I got to the 11th grade classroom, I saw Meghan sitting in the front row. I slid into a seat next to her, even though it was against everything I stood for to sit in the front row.

"Hi." I said smoothly.

"Hey." She smiled. "That seat's taken."

"Yeah. By me." I wasn't sure if that was the right thing to say, but screw it; all girls like bad boys.

She rolled her eyes.

Then the teacher, a tall black man with square silver glasses and a beer belly that was definitely about to explode through his Under Armor t-shirt, walked to the whiteboard in the front of the room. "Good morning students." He said. "Today we have a new student."

"I know; he's in my seat."

I turned around and saw a short, frizzy-haired girl standing behind my seat, arms crossed. Several students laughed.

The teacher furrowed his brow and looked at a sheet of paper from his desk. "Yes; sorry, Donna sits there. There's an empty desk at the back of the room, though." He pointed to a dark corner with filing cabinets and cardboard boxes stacked precariously on top of each other. The other students laughed as I stood up and walked over there, including Meghan, though she tried to hide it behind her hand. My cheeks grew warm.

"Nice hair, weirdo!" Said one guy.

I gritted my teeth.

The desk in the corner looked like it hadn't been used in ages; I was sure that if I went into the loop, and came to this room, it would be exactly how it was now. The desk was chipped and covered with cobwebs and fossilized gum. The wood floor under it was warped and the legs of the desk were sinking into it. I sat down and the chair creaked and groaned under my weight- which made the class laugh even more.

I looked at Meghan and she gave a half smile and an expression that said, "sorry."

The teacher cleared his throat. "Young man, aren't you going to introduce yourself?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but just couldn't do it; I buried my face in my hands, my forehead meeting the desk, sending a small cloud of dust into the air.

"His name's Ricky." Meghan said.

I looked up.

"Well, Ricky." The teacher said. "My name is Mr. Coles. Welcome to our class."

And just like that, he started on a lesson about something I didn't understand and couldn't care less about.

Throughout the day, I thought about the house with the peculiar children. What were they doing now? Were they mad because we hadn't returned? How could we ever send them a message that it wasn't our fault? I pondered different ways of getting a message to them during lunch hour, when all the students in all the grades sat down at long picnic tables to eat cold hot dogs, hard mac-and-cheese, and tap water.

As soon as school let out at 4, Grandma was at the door to take Charlie and I by the arms and drive us back to the cabin. We didn't talk. Charlie did her homework at the table and I sat on my bed, playing Angry Birds on my phone. I might've had homework, but I really didn't care.

And so went the next week; went to school, didn't pay attention in class, thought up elaborate escape plans during lunch, continue to not pay attention in class, then go back to the cabin in silence. Charlie and I talked less and less; she'd found a group of friends who she was always talking to or texting whenever she could.

Then one night, Raymond sent me a dream. I was in his room again; except this time, all the children were with him. They all looked kinda sad and let down- which, to be fair, they kinda had been let down.

"Why haven't you been visiting?" Janie was the first to speak.

"We set you guys a place at the table every night, but you never come!" Riley added.

I quickly told them what'd been going on and that if we could, we would definitely visit them every day. I also told them I was so glad to see them.

"I'm sorry." I said as the dream faded.

I woke up that next morning with a splitting headache- I guessed that was a side affect of Raymond sending me dreams.

Before school started, I pulled Charlie aside and told her about the dream and that the children now knew our grandmother was holding us prisoner. I neglected to tell her I had no idea what they could do about it. Maybe Sebasten could bust into the cabin through the wall, but he didn't like me so why would he do that?

It wasn't until the next day that I received news from our friends in 1949. I was about to sit in my usual place for lunch when a small voice cried out "ow! You're sitting on me!"

I stood back up and whispered, "J-Janie?"

"Yup!" She whispered back.

Luckily no one was looking or listening my way, so I could continue this conversation normally. "What are you doing here?"

"We wrote this!" A folded note appeared in thin air. "For your grandmother; give it to her and sneak out in the middle of the night. Sorry I can't stay; if I don't head back now, I'll age forward!" Leaves crunched as she walked away.

I was too stunned to move or even realize that she'd put the paper in my hand. I unfolded it and read it:

To the grandmother of Ricky and Charlie Pickering,

It has recently come to attention that you are concealing your grandchildren from us peculiars. Well you can't protect them from what they are, if you would feel more comfortable if they were taken out of your care and came to live with us, we wouldn't mind; we have lot's of room, plenty of food, we'll send them to school in the present every day, and mold them into the best peculiars they can be! You can even visit them whenever you want, since you are peculiar yourself, and maybe even stay. The way into the loop is through the hole in the cliff face near where you come out onto the main road. There is a column in the middle of it; go clockwise and you're in. Although we would recommend winter clothes. Miss Cardinal, our headmistress, would just love to have you all here.

Regards,

Headmistress Lynn Cardinal
Raymond Somnusson
Riley Jones
Sebasten Evergreen
Phoebe Knoll
George Nelson
Janie Utwell

I smiled at the attempt they'd made, but I knew there was no way Grandma would ever agree to this. Still, I tucked it in my pocket, a reminder of the world I'd discovered; the one I truly belonged to.

_________________________________

Love ya!

CC