Chapter 1: Can you see me?

Somewhere in Burgess, Pennsylvania, a sixteen year old brunette girl ran out of her house in a hurry, a wide smile on her face. Her blue-green eyes were lit up with glee behind her glasses and her loose, curly hair bounced with each running step she took outside. Freshly fallen snow crunched beneath her black knee-high boots and she barely acknowledged the small shiver that went through her due to her dark pink tee and thin black pants, too excited to play.

The girl, Shannon, LOVED the snow; in fact, she was like a young child in every way possible. She had that adorable babyish roundness to her face, innocent eyes full of wonder and her voice even had the infantile edge to it. She continued running until she came to a big open field, where piles of snow were everywhere.

The brunette spun around in the snow like a four-year old excited to see winter, looking a little TOO childish for her age. About some time later, Shannon decided to take a little trip into the forest. She soon came to a frozen over lake and after a moment of thought, cautiously took a step onto the ice. It creaked a little under the pressure of her boot and she paused. But when it didn't creak again, she took another step onto the ice. Her smile widened as she began to slowly skate.

She wasn't the greatest at it but she liked it nonetheless. She spun around, making a few figure eights. She didn't skate much, but whenever she could, she would try. After a while, Shannon stopped and sat by the tree, tired. She smiled as she looked up at the sky, enjoying the winter breeze and giving herself time to rest before continuing the skating. A half hour passed by and the teen returned to the ice, giggling to herself and all around having a blast. Suddenly though, without warning, the ice began cracking under her and before she had the time to react, she fell in.

Frantically, she tried to reach for a spot to pull herself up. She couldn't swim, so she knew this was probably the end. Shannon kept sinking down slowly. Her lungs began to hurt, burning with the sensation of oxygen deprivation. She opened her mouth by habit for breath, but instead, she received the cold rush of icy water traveling down her throat. Her vision grew blurry and weaker by the second; she realized that she was unconscious. This was it... This was the end...

Or so she thought.

A pair of hands reached out and grabbed her arm, tugging her toward the surface of the lake. But by the time she broke the surface, Shannon had already passed out.

When she awoke, she coughed up water, discovering that she was laying on the ground next to the lake. She was shivering, and she suddenly remembered what had happened. Wasn't she drowning? Did someone save her? Surely SOMEONE must have; she was on dry land next to the lake. Who saved her? She recalled seeing a dark figure above her before she passed out, but her body had already started to shut down at that point, she hadn't been able to make out who precisely it was.

"D- dammit.." She said softly, her teeth chattering as she sat up and wrapped her arms around herself. "S-s- so c-c-cold..." Shannon whispered, moving her hands up and down over her arms to try and warm up. She loved the snow, but HATED how cold the water was in the winter.

Suddenly, she found herself cursing about how cold winter was, her mood cross from her near-death experience.

"Well excuse me, but Winter can't be that bad if it saved your life." The voice was of a young boy, probably around her age, his tone sounding offended but at the same time playful. Shannon's eyes widened and she spun around, trying to locate the source of the voice. When she didn't see anything behind her, she looked elsewhere, but still nothing. Then, the voice piped up again. "Did you have fun?"

She looked up, and to her surprise, there was a skinny teen boy with silver-white hair and the most beautiful icy-blue eyes she had ever seen. He was somehow perched atop a long, crooked staff, perfectly balanced at its very top barefooted, a smile of amusement on his pale face.

"W- Who..." was all Shannon could manage before the boy jumped down and landed on the snow, not even flinching at the cold sensation, looking at her with surprise.

"You can see me?" he asked with an edge of excitement in his voice. All Shannon could do was slowly nod. He grew more and more thrilled. "You can see me! She can see me! Oh my god, I can't BELIEVE this!" he said in a whoop then looked at her again. "You can hear me?" Again, she could only nod. The boy jumped up in excitement, punching the air with a fist. He was obviously happy someone could see him.

"D-d-did you save me?" Shannon suddenly asked. The peculiar teen stopped his little happy dance and gave her a curious glance, a mischievous smile growing on his face.

"Yes, I did! I was watching you for a while, you know. I like your attitude," he replied, earning a blank stare of confusion, to which he simply laughed.

"W-W-Who..A-A-Are you?" She stuttered, still utterly freezing.

"I'm the spirit of winter! Jack Frost!" He replied grinnning. "What's i YOUR /i name?"

She shivered a bit, looking into those adorable icey-blue eyes. "S- Shannon.."

"Shannon hm? Pretty name"

Shannon blushed a little because no one had ever said that about her before." Hey, Your the first person to i ever /i see me, you know that?" Jack asked.

"No one see's you?" she asked in surprise. Jack looked a little saddened by that and nodded. "I don't understand why, I mean.. You look like the type of boy who would be fun to hang around..." She said, Jack looked at her, his eyebrow perked in a confused look.

"Really?" He asked, slowly, Shannon nodded. Another smile of amusement crossed his lips.. "Well then, wanna hang for awhile?" He asked, his tone changing to plainly amused. Shannon looked at him, she had to admit, he was incredibly cute and he did save her.

"Mmm...Sure, I guess. My mom's not expecting me home for awhile." Shannon replied. She couldn't help but smile when Jack grinned widely. Purely happy he had someone to talk to after a century of solitude and icolation. He grabbed her arm and brought her over to a tree and they sat down. Shannon couldn't help but notice Jack's touch was extremely cold; but then again, he i WAS /i the spirit of winter. There was a moment of silence due to the fact neither one knew what to talk about.

"So ummm..Jack?" Shannon started. "Does it get lonely having no one to talk to?" she found herself adding. Jack took no time in replying to that although he sounded hurt at first.

"Well, yea, but when you get to have sowball fights and all that, it's not so bad. No rules, no responsibility, it's a great as it sounds!" Shannon giggled.

"I wish I didn't have any responsibility." She said. Jack laughed, his laugh sounded really cute.. Shannon mentally slapped herself. Jack was a spirit! It was not realistically possible for a human to fall for a spirit! She smiled to hide the thoughts going through her head.

"Okay, my turn" Jack said, "What do you like to do in your spare time?"

"You;ve been watching me haven't you? You should know"

Again, Jack laughed. Shannon looked at him. " Why have you been watching me?" She asked. Jack looked over with a mischievous smile.

"Like I said, I like your attitude" he replied. "I've been watching you for a long time"

...

Soon it was time for Shanon to go home. "I gotta, bye, Jack" Shannon said before jogging off leaving Jack stnding there to woonder one thing; would he ever see her again?