Bringing Lightness to a Life
She did not look terribly happy. She looked more…blank, her nose deep in (potentially boring) book, despite the snow, the children playing and laughing just metres away. She looked up, and a slight smile curved her lips, while her eyes just grew colder, somehow hungry.
Jack Frost watched her. She wasn't exactly a child; in fact, in his three hundred years he'd seen more than a few her age with a babe already in the cradle. But he could see that she wasn't having fun, not even from watching the children he'd filled with his happy little snowflakes.
The young woman looked down at her book again as the laughter rang through the air. One bitter tear gathered in the corner of her eye, and she angrily dashed it, focusing on the text as hard as she could.
Jack sighed, realizing what she felt. She felt envious that the kids were enjoying themselves while she, for whatever reason, couldn't. There wasn't much he could do; he worked with children, not adults. But still…
A single snowflake formed on his fingertip. He gently blew it over to the young woman, and it sank into her eyes.
She looked up again, and for a moment, just watched the play. One boy fell over into a snow pile with the force of a snowball his friend threw, and she laughed, genuinely light-hearted, genuinely happy to see their joy and fun.
She turned back to her book, the happy little smile still set upon her face.
Jack smiled as well. Not much, but one more person finding life a little more light. Maybe not one of the children he guarded, but someone who'd needed him nonetheless. Him, and his little flakes of fun.
AN: If you're reading my work for the first time, you may not realize that this is rather different to what I normally write, but you're welcome to read on.
Those of you who maybe are regular readers of mine, you might be wondering where this came from. Well, the young woman is me. About thirty-six hours ago, I was diagnosed with depression, and told that I may well have been suffering from it for ten years. That's half my life. And it just so happened that last night I was watching RotG, and when watching all the scenes with the children having their wonder and hopes and dream and light and fun watched over, I honestly felt extremely jealous, because for the later part of my childhood, I felt pretty miserable most of the time, and while I know now why that was, I didn't have much clue then. I would have loved someone to lob a magic snowball in my face and give me my fun back, and that hasn't really changed.
Sorry for dumping this rather angst-y AN on you, but depression in children is real, and it can take a long time to come to light.
Katara