It had been a week since that fateful December day. But for Pippa Overland it felt like so much longer. She was no stranger to death, having lost her father soon after her second birthday. But this time it was different for her, infinitely more tragic. This time it was someone closer to her. She had lost her brother. Her brother, who had always been there for her, wiping away her tears in a rare moment of seriousness, was gone. No more tricks, no more jokes, no more goofy brown eyes full of fun. No more Jack.
Pippa tossed in her sleep, the tears in her eyes almost dry for the first time that night. A light breeze tickles her bare feet. Suddenly those once bright eyes open, the color washed away from grief. Startled, she looks up at the foot of her bed to see her brother smiling at her, holding the shepherds crook he has used to save her with, cloak whispering across the floor.
"J...Jack? You're alive!" Pippa asks, her voice cracking with faint hope. Her brother just smiled sadly and silently. "Jack…?" Her voice was small and scared. "Jack! Please answer me!" She reached out for her brother's hand, whispering his name in a broken voice. "Jack…"
Almost as quickly as he had appeared, Jack's apparition began to disappear, fading away before her eyes. His figure began to blur, nothing more than a shadow. Pippa brushed her hand with his, "Don't go…" She sobbed, the tears welling up again. She lunged for his wavering form, "JACK!" Alone on the cold floor of the cabin, Pippa stopped fighting the tears. Her small body shook with the force of the heaves. As if to comfort her a cool wind blew mysteriously with in the cabin, and Pippa could just hear her brothers voice echoing on it. "Good Byeeeeee..."
As the voice faded away, the sound of ice cracking shot through the forest as a limp, pale boy rose slowly from the depths of a frozen pond. Bright, ice blue eyes shot open, and frost formed in the air as he took his first breath.
Pippa's wails echoed through budding town, "Jaaaacckkk!"