Jasper and the Waffle Fairy
"Jasper!" Beth called. Jasper rolled over in bed and looked at the clock. He had been asleep for only four hours. It bothered him that he could not get to sleep at all these days.
Jasper stuck his head under his pillow and squeezed his eyes shut. He wouldn't go to school today. It's not like he had any friends there. Peter was his only friend but he was a genius and managed to graduate before Jasper. And then there was Charlotte, lovely Charlotte. Jasper thought about her a lot. She was Peter's girl friend, but Jasper's friend with benefits. It sucked that when it came down to it she would always choose Peter over him.
"Jasper!" Beth yelled again. This time she was in the door way. Beth… Jasper's foster mom. It didn't matter any more, soon he would be eighteen and he could leave, join the army or something.
"Leave me alone Aunt B," Jasper moaned. He heard her footsteps across the hard wood floor of the bed room he had occupied for three years. Aunt B was the only foster parent her had ever had that let him stay longer than six months. In the early days, other fosters couldn't handle him. He was 'moody and uncontrollable'.
"Young man, you get out of bed right now, you have school today," Beth said.
"I'm not going," Jasper retorted, keeping his head under his pillow.
"Yes you are," Beth insisted.
"I don't want to," Jasper complained, sat up and stared at her. She really wasn't that old, only about 30. He always wondered why she became a foster parent.
"There's only a week of school left you lazy bum," Beth said.
"But Aunt B," Jasper said. All of the foster kids in the house called her Aunt B. She was so caring it felt like she really was their aunt.
"No, buts," she said and started leaving the room. "Hurry up; your waffles are going to get cold."
Jasper jumped out of bed. Beth laughed and went back downstairs. Jasper pulled on his school clothes and packed his book bag. Then he ran down the stairs. He had to dodge a couple toys and the dog, Napoleon, who was lying at the foot of the last set of stairs. Jasper's room was on the third floor. He had a room to himself, separate from all the little kids.
"Good morning star shine, the earth says hello," said Kelly. Jasper smiled at her and pat her on the head.
"Good morning glories," Beth was saying in the kitchen. Jasper walked in and smiled. She was serving four kids waffles. Another plate was set for Kelly, who skipped into the room and sat down. She was Beth's real daughter; Beth and Michael's, who was walking out the door for work. Jasper sat down and a plate of waffles was set in front of him.
"Thanks Aunt B," every one chorused. Jasper dug in, he loved waffles. It was his favorite food, he would eat them at any time of the day.
"Jazz, tell us the waffle fairy story," said Anna. Jasper looked up from his plate. Three girls were staring at him; two boys were glaring at the girls. Jasper laughed. The boys didn't want to hear the waffle fairy story. Both of them, Adam and Nick, had been there for a year; as long as Jasper had been telling the story. The two new girls, Julie and Hannah, had been in the home for about 3 months, they still liked the story. Kelly, who had always been there (of course), never got tired of hearing the story.
"Maybe another time," Jasper said.
"You said that last time!" Hannah argued.
"I know but I don't think the boys want to hear it," Jasper said.
"Actually, I do," said Nick. Jasper raised an eyebrow and Nick shrugged. He was younger than Adam, so maybe he still had some interest in stories like the waffle fairy.
"Fine," Jasper said. "There is a waffle fairy. She is very short, has very dark black hair and golden eyes. She is always happy and excited and her skin is very pale. Every night she goes from house to house and makes sure that there are ingredients for waffles. If there is not, she does her magic and makes some appear. So when the little children of the house wake up in the morning, they'll have waffles to eat. As much waffles as there hearts need to make them happy all day, just like her."
Jasper finished the story. It was short and he wondered why the kids liked it so much. Maybe they all knew it probably wasn't true, but they liked the idea of eating magical waffles. Jasper finished his waffles and put his plate in the dishwasher. He gave Beth a kiss good bye on her cheek, kissed the girls on their foreheads and gave the boys a fist bump. Then he took his bag and left for school. As he was starting to drive away on his motorcycle, Beth ran outside.
"No skipping class today!" she yelled.
"Whatever you say Aunt B!" Jasper yelled, he waved and drove off.
However, even though Jasper wanted to make Beth proud, he did end up skipping school. Only at the end of the day though, when his only class left was gym. He hated gym, he didn't understand why it was necessary.
Jasper got on his bike and rode away from school. He wondered if Peter was home. Charlotte hadn't been in school. She hadn't graduated early, like Peter. She was still in Jasper's classes. They were lab partners in science class. Quickly, Jasper drove to Peter's house. Nobody was around; all the kids were in school, all the adults at work. It wasn't tourist season, not quite yet.
Finally Jasper got to Peter's house. Peter was adopted, he had been in one of the foster homes that Jasper had been in. it was Jasper third home, Peter helped him cope. Even when Peter got adopted and not Jasper, they continued to be friends. Jasper parked his bike and noticed Charlotte's BMW. Spoiled rich girl, he thought to himself. He had to save his own money for his motorcycle; Charlotte got her car for her sixteenth birthday… when she couldn't even drive yet.
"I'm home!" Jasper yelled as he walked in through the front door. He heard sniffling and his first thought was that Charlotte and Peter were watching something sad. Maybe it was Finding Nemo, that movie always made Peter cry, obviously because of his abandonment issues and how his real dad never tried to find him. However when Jasper walked into the living room the TV was off. Charlotte was on the couch, wiping her eyes.
"Where's Peter, Char?" Jasper asked and Charlotte pointed to the kitchen. Jasper walked into the kitchen where he found Peter pacing.
"Sup man?" he asked. He figured nothing was wrong, Peter and Charlotte had their fights, everything blew over quickly.
"Nothing," Peter muttered. Jasper walked over to the fridge and looked in it. Then he looked in the cabinets.
"Damn," he muttered, "I need to teach you to always have waffle ingredients… or at least that shake and pour mix… or even frozen toaster waffles."
"You know my parents find your waffle obsession unhealthy. Why would they buy waffles when they know you spend half your time over here?" Peter asked. His mom was a nutritionist and his dad a psychologist… both of them thought Jasper had a problem.
"Yeah whatever," Jasper said and he picked up a pear. He bit into it and chewed thoughtfully. Usually, Peter or Charlotte would have come to him by now asking him which of them was right, or how to get the other to forgive them.
"So…" Jasper said. He could still hear Charlotte's sniveling. "You and Char have a fight?"
"No man," Peter said. He finally looked Jasper in the eye for the first time since Jasper got there.
"Well what's her problem? Did Daddy take away one of her credit cards?" Jasper asked.
"Shut the fucking hell up Jasper Whitlock!" Charlotte yelled from the other room. Jasper raised an eyebrow and looked in on Charlotte. Usually she didn't care if he made fun of her excessive amount of money. She knew he didn't mean it, especially since when he turned eighteen he would receive a large amount of money from his trust fund set up by his parents before they died.
"What's her problem?" Jasper asked, taking another bite of his pear. Peter hung his head.
"She's pregnant," Peter said. Jasper's eyes widened and he choked on his pear.
"Huh?" Jasper asked stupidly. I must've heard him wrong, he thought.
"She. Is. Pregnant. You. Dumb. Ass." Peter said, each word like a sentence; each word like a punch in Jasper's face.
"You or me?" Jasper asked. Peter knew what Jasper and Charlotte sometimes did together. He knew; he just ignored it.
"Don't you think if it were yours she would've told you first?" Peter asked. Then he looked down in shame. "I'm sorry Jazz. But I'm freaked out right now."
"I can't believe you," Jasper said. He was shaking his head, unsure of where his friend had gone. It was like he was a different person.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Peter asked. Jasper just shook his head and walked out of the kitchen, but he heard Peter following him.
"Jasper?" Charlotte asked. Jasper stopped and looked at her. "Jasper don't leave, we need you."
"Yeah man, don't go," Peter said. Jasper looked at them both and then thought about it. He seriously thought about it. He wanted to stay, he loved Peter like a brother and Charlotte… well she was Charlotte.
"I can't stay," Jasper said. "If you two needed me, you wouldn't have taken so much advantage of me in the past."
He walked out. He didn't wait for either of them to say another word. Jasper left them and wasn't going back. He would be eighteen in three days. He had already graduated, he didn't have to go to school any more; Beth just wanted him to. So he would leave.
Jasper got on his motorcycle and then thought better of it. He stood beside the bike and rifled through his back pack. Then he found what he was looking for. He put it under the windshield wiper of Charlotte's car and got back on his motorcycle. Jasper drove off and later that night when Charlotte and Peter want out to her car to drive to her house and tell her parents about the baby they found what Jasper had left. It was a picture. Jasper carrying Charlotte piggy back style and Peter with a base ball bat in his hand. The three of them were smiling. It was the only picture ever taken of all three of them.
When Jasper got back to his foster home he instantly went to his room and slammed the door. Then he set to work packing. He got all his bags packed. Then he sat down and wrote Beth and Michael a letter. It read…
Dear Aunt B and Uncle M,
I love you both. You're like my really cool older siblings. Or even my real aunt and uncle. I don't know. But I feel like I owe you both. I turn eighteen in three days. I'll be okay on my own. Aunt B, you told me what to do to get my trust fund money. I'm going to do that. I'm also going to repay you Uncle M, for all the money you've put into keeping me longer than a normal foster kid. Tell Kelly I love her too. and please always tell the kids the waffle fairy story. I don't know why they love it so much, but it makes them happy.
I'm sorry that I have to do this. I'm going to try to get in touch, I promise. I just have to go now.
Yours, Jasper
Jasper looked at the note and stuck it in an envelope, along with the picture he had gotten of him, Beth and Michael at his graduation. He had gotten two prints. His plan was to give them one and keep one for himself when they finally parted ways. So he was still going to do that. Jasper made sure his room was neat and clean and he placed the envelope on his pillow. Then he closed the door and took his bags to his motorcycle.
Jasper strapped down the bags. There were only two, a duffle bag and a smaller type of duffle. He wore his back pack on his back. he drove away from the house and never went back.
Jasper drove to a motel and stayed there until his birthday. Then he went to a bank and did all the things necessary to take care of his trust fund. He put all the money in a bank account for himself. Then he drove again. This time he went north. He drove right out of Georgia. He only stopped to eat, sleep and refuel.
"I don't know where I'm going," he had told a man in a Virginia gas station. The man was friendly, has asked where he was going. He seemed to really care for Jasper's well being. But Jasper didn't care for his. He didn't care about any one. Not really, the two people he had cared for so much had done nothing to return that feeling.
The next few times Jasper stopped he didn't bother to look at where he was. However, for some odd reason, one day he did look. This time he was in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It gave him a weird feeling and he didn't like being there.
Jasper stopped at a motel and left his bags in his room. He put his motorcycle keys in his pocket and his wallet in his other pocket. The woman at the front desk had suggested a near by diner. He decided to walk to it and give his bike and ass a rest. Not to mention the ozone, he thought to himself as he walked into the diner. His inside joke was the first thing that made him smile in a long time.
Jasper stayed in the diner for a long time and soon he felt like he would fall asleep on the bar counter if he didn't go back to the motel. He was just too tired to stay up too late. Jasper walked out and saw how much darker it had gotten. He shrugged and made his way to the cross walk that he had used earlier. Jasper waited for the little white person to appear and then he crossed. However, something hit him.
It hit him hard and sent him flying. The object was cold and sent pain shooting through Jasper's body. He heard yelling and sirens. Then he was in a white square space. He speeding somewhere, not really registering what was happening to him.
"Your name, do you know your name?" someone asked him.
"Jasper Whitlock," he heard himself say. His eyes were closing and he didn't know what was happening to him.
Soon he realized what was happening. It happened some time between being wheeled into the hospital and being taken into the operating room. Jasper knew he had been in some kind of accident. However soon he blacked out once more from the pain medication. The sound that brought him back was an angelic voice.
"Carlisle I saw it happen!" the girl was insisting.
"I know Alice, you've said that already," a man said. he was probably Carlisle.
"He's not going to live, I saw that too," the girl said.
"I know he won't," Carlisle said.
"Carlisle, you know what it means for me to have a vision of a stranger," said the girl.
"I know," said Carlisle. Jasper wanted to open his eyes, to see them.
"I want you to save him. He's important, I need you to save him," said the girl.
"I can't," Carlisle said.
"Why not?" the girl asked impatiently.
"Because, you saw yourself saving him, didn't you?" Carlisle asked.
"Yes," the girl said. Then something happened. It was strange but Jasper felt like he was being picked up. He felt like he was being carried away in freezing cold arms at the speed of light. As soon as it started, it stopped. Jasper was lying on something soft. He felt the freezing hands of those arms touch his eye lids.
"Open your eyes," someone whispered in his ear. Jasper swore it was the girl from before. Jasper opened his eyes and he couldn't believe what he saw.
"I've seen you in my dreams," he said. "You're the waffle fairy." The girl chuckled.
"No, I'm Alice," she said. "And I'm going to save you Jasper." Then she bent over him. Jasper didn't know what was happening until her teeth were sinking into his neck and wrists and all over the fire was spreading.
For four whole days he lay there. Occasionally he heard other people, saw the man who was Carlisle. But always he saw Alice… the girl he had dreamt of a year ago. The girl he had described to be the waffle fairy. Jasper didn't know what she was, but she wasn't human. Maybe she was making him a waffle fairy also.
When Jasper finally came to his senses and was done his change Alice explained things to him. She let him go back and get his clothes and bike from the motel. He went quickly; he found that he could run very fast now. For some reason Jasper liked the idea of being able to live forever. The way Alice described it, living off animals, it didn't seem so bad. Also, Alice had told him she saw the future. She told him they had a future together.
Jasper thought about Alice constantly. She loved him because of a simple vision of him that she had a year ago, the same day of his waffle fairy dream. It was crazy that after only seeing him in a vision she would love him, when Charlotte had seen him every day and had never loved him. Jasper realized he loved Alice too. He found it strange how much he was attracted to her. But he didn't let it bother him. He was happy now, and would live forever, in love with his waffle fairy.
Tada! So this idea just sort of came into my head. I don't know if it's any good or not. So please review. =)
~EM~