Burgess. A small town nestled in the forest of Pennsylvania where everyone knows your name and greets you on the street. You wont find anything big or commercial here, no Starbucks or McDonalds, just mom and poo businesses that have been here for generations. In the very center of the town was an old building that was in prime condition. It was the schoolhouse. It was large and rectangular in shape and was made out of the reddish brown bricks that matched the rest of the town. Unlike modern schools, the classrooms were old fashioned and had a window for each room. Despite the town's size the school was actually quite full. It was the only school around, so all of the children from small villages and large mountain homes made the daily journey to Burgess Elementary School. In an effort to be modern, the district had given each teacher a subject that they taught for 6 periods of the day, one period for each grade plus lunch. This is where it all began.

It was evening, all of the teachers had gone home as well as the students. Around Burgess, families were sitting down to dinner while the sun began its descent behind the mountains. The school was vacant except for one Principal Manuel "Manny" Lunar, who sat at his desk, pondering over his recent dilemma. He was medium height with a round figure. He had no hair and his bald head was shiny and pale. He was wearing a white suit, like everyday, with a tie that had little moons on it. Since it was a full moon out this time of year, the moons on the tie were full and almost seemed to shine with real moonlight. He took off his round glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose as he looked over the resumes in front of him.

Recently, over winter break, he had hired a new English teacher by the name on Sanderson Mansnoozie. He came highly recommended and was a good friend of everyone at the school, but he required only one thing: a translator. You see, Mr. Mansnoozie was a mute and often times it was hard to communicate is brilliant lesson to the students. Principal Lunar had been interviewing prospective translators all winter break and it had come down to two possibilities. The school's very own Janitor, Mr. Pitch Black had applied for the English position in the first place, and after he was passed over he applied for the translator position. What worried Principal Lunar was the possibility that he would ignore Mr. Mansnoozie, and would teach the way he had originally planned to, a method that Principal Lunar was not impressed with. At all. The other applicant was an interesting choice. His name was Jack Frost. He was from out of town and was willing to move to Burgess in order to take the job. He was fluent in many languages, a college graduate, and quite young. The more Principal Lunar thought about it, the more he liked the Frost fellow. With a smile he pushed Pitch's application to the side and focused on Jack as he sent him the acceptance email and told him the date that he needed to start on.

Meanwhile on the other side of Burgess, a taxi was pulling up to the entrance to a narrow country road that was crowded by pine trees that had been dusted with touches of white snow, almost like a garnish. The door opened and a young, pale man with snow white hair stepped out. He stared at the long road as the driver got out and retrieved his two small suitcases from the trunk of the yellow taxi. It stood out like a sore thumb in the peaceful winter landscape just outside of town.

The taxi driver set the bags down next to the young man and stared at the road with him for a few seconds before he broke the silence like a stone through glass.

"Whelp...this is as far as I can take ya kid. The forest is too dense for my cab back there. Its only about half a mile from the main road to the house." he took out his chewing gum and threw it on the ground, retrieving another piece from his back pocket and popping it into his mouth. For a few minutes, all that could be heard was the wind in the trees and the smacking of his teeth against the gum. The man sighed after a few minutes and got out his wallet, handing the money over. The driver snatched it up and counted out the money. He turned to look at the meter to check it against the glowing numbers and when he realized that the man had given him only the dollar amount,not the change, he turned with his mouth open to demand the rest. He was met by an empty road, the bags and the man were both gone.

His round face turned red and his meaty hands balled up into fists as he made to follow the man down the road. Just as he reached the gate that was the entrance, a shrill ringing broke the silence and the driver winced when he saw the caller ID.

He handled the phone like it was a bomb and as soon as he answered a shrill woman's voice exploded from the speaker. He flinched and tried to calm his wife down as he glared fruitlessly at the trees. Finally he sighed defeatedly and turned back to his car, driving down the road back to the dim lights of the town.

The man peeked out of the trees and chuckled as he turned and hummed to himself as he walked up the road. In no time at all, he was face to face with a small cottage nestled in the trees at the end of the drive.

It was small and dark, painted a soft baby blue with a dark blue door with a snowflake carved into it. The roof was obviously refinished and when he stepped inside he smiled at the winter theme that greeted him. Winter was his favorite season. He turned on some lights and lit the gas stove, making himself some soup for dinner. He unpacked his clothes in the already furnished upstairs bedroom and thanked whatever deity had made him make the choice to pay extra for the fully furnished place.

He plugged in his laptop and smiled when it came to life at the desk. His email dinged and he grinned like a child on Christmas morning when he read the acceptance letter from the principal of the local school. He crowed and did a little dance when suddenly something outside caught his attention. He flew to the glass and looked out back. A pond. A frozen pond.

He smiled larger and it didn't disappear for the rest of the night as he scarfed down his hot soup and climbed into the cool sighed happily nd nestled into the blankets.

Everything was falling into place. He started work tomorrow and his new home was perfect.

Yes, Burgess was making a good impression, he could definitely learn to love it here, maybe even stay.

With that final thought Jack Frost slipped away into dreamland.