Jack spent his evening lounged on a tree, watching the airplanes fly overhead. He was in a bad mood, but the passenger airliners were a new thing, and the concept fascinated him. He could watch them for hours. A few times he had tried to chase an airplane to look and wave at the passengers through the tiny windows, but the engine was always too loud and too warm and it turned the chase into an uncomfortable experience.

Staring at them from below was much more pleasant. He liked to daydream about the people inside the airplane; about where they were going, the things they planned to do. He imagined them going on vacation, to meet relatives, to return to their families. The thought of these people opening doors to find children running to hug them always made Jack smile, even if it stung a little.

This was why Jack was here right now. Sometimes, being invisible among people for too long became exhausting. It was OK as long as there were children around; they laughed and ran… and he laughed and ran among them, it was almost normal. But when the children got back to their homes and there was no one around to play with, cities and neighborhoods could become unbearable.

Jack would sometimes get away then. He would fly around, go to an empty, desolate place. He would play with the wind, scatter the leaves, race with animals, until his frenetic games got him lost around the world. Then he would come across a new city. New, unfamiliar faces, people who maybe had yet to experience how fun snow could be. He would perk up, bring another snow day, and the game would start anew.

Right now, Jack was emotionally exhausted. His chest and throat ached and he longed to take a break from the world. But the same thing that would inevitably always happen happened again:

He became bored.

For how long could a person sit around and feel sorry for themselves anyway?

"Lets go, wind!" he said, getting up, a hint of a smile forming on his face as he thought of travelling to a mountain range. These were always fun. They had snow and ice and glaciers and deep frozen crevices; he would be at his element. There were majestic eagles to chase, deer and wild goats to spook into a frenzied dash and race. Mountains often had hikers and skiers running around that were easy to tease. Jack always felt an affinity with such people. He didn't need to offer winter fun to them, they choose it willingly. Even though they hadn't seen him yet, Jack felt more welcome among them.

His chest rising with elation, Jack took off at full speed. He soared to the sky like an airplane, stretching his arms wide and making plane noises.

"Vrrrrrr!"

The clouds rushed past him and Jack reached clear blue sky. A flock of geese flew in the distance, momentarily distracting him from his plan. But, no, he had already decided to go to a mountain.

Last time he had done that, there had been a skier with the grace and speed of a swallow. Jack had been impressed. He had adjusted the gusts of wind so that his speed and jump height increased twofold. The skier had even ended up winning a race that Jack hadn't realized was on.

This time he had a much better idea. He would create a ski slope all by himself, and push unsuspecting skiers in with wind and ice. It would be so much fun! There would be the toughest turns and steepest slopes, and probably he wouldn't even cause an avalanche.

Jack snickered as he remembered that one time he was racing against an unsuspecting skier and accidentally triggered an avalanche. Well, it wasn't his fault, not really. The skier screamed so much as the ground flew beneath her feet, Jack was pretty sure the yells were what had caused the built-up snow to collapse. Alright, so maybe the woman was screaming because he had set her off the beaten track, so maybe it was also his fault, sorta… But he had made sure everything ended well! He had guided her along the whole way and they out-skied the avalanche, like he had seen surfers out-surf giant waves in the ocean. It was awesome. And when it was all over, the skier was giggling so hysterically Jack felt proud. Adults were much more difficult to reach out to in comparison with kids.

He flew past the coast and started to cross the ocean. He flew so low that he could dip his hand in the water, leaving a thin trail of ice that dissolved immediately the moment a waved crashed on it.

Jack looked for the biggest waves and made a game of evading them the last moment. Several times he failed and crashed head-first into one, turning it immediately into a pyramid of ice and bumping his head painfully on it. Even when he fell flat on his stomach as a result, the sea beneath him froze. He took off and the process repeated itself.

It was a few hours later when a huge mountain range came into view. Jack zoomed towards it happily.

He could see crevices and peaks glittering with snow and oh-oh-oh was that a glacier? Glaciers were basically non-stop slides for him, he would achieve maximum speed skating on those. He should lure a couple of skiers on one, that would be good for a laugh.

A small village nestled within a snowed valley greeted him, stone and wooden houses emitting thin plumes of smoke, people milling around, talking, shouting, kids playing.

Jack set off to "work".

His first "job" was to throw a snowball straight at the elaborate hairdo of a rich lady. She screamed at first, then a few snowflakes fluttered to her nose and she started giggling and chasing her child around instead.

He proceeded to burst the pipes of the village fountain, freeze a creek into solid ice, and trick the school teachers into fighting each other with snowballs.

Jack had stopped his games, distracted by a teenager who was set to create the biggest snowman ever, when he noticed that the opposite slope was speckled with tiny dark dots that slid downwards effortlessly.

The snow sprite grinned slowly, narrowing his eyes.

Skiers.

…Although "unsuspecting victims" was a far more accurate description.

Jack flew towards them in a gust of wind so powerful that it toppled the gigantic snowman on the teenager.

A minute later he was landing next to a group of beginners: three men and one woman who wobbled uncertainly on their skis and advanced on the mild slope with a speed similar to that of a really determined turtle.

"Here, let me lend you a hand," Jack said helpfully as he created a path of pure ice in front of them and gave them a friendly push with the wind…

…straight out of the ski trail and into the steep slope punctuated by trees.

Jack chuckled as they started screaming behind him. He led the trail around trees, up to fly from a rock, into crazy turns and even steeper paths. He narrowly avoided slamming himself (and subsequently the skiers) into a tree trunk and led them towards a more open space. Seconds later he noticed a crevice splitting their path in two; it was more than three meters wide and must have been very deep.

Jack's smile grew while the skiers' screams intensified as they too noticed the gigantic fissure but were unable to stop.

He had this under control.

With a deft maneuver he adjusted the end of the trail so it shot just a bit up–

–and then simply backed away and watched as the skiers flew high over the crevice, crossed it safely and landed a good ten meters away from the edge, falling face-first into the snow.

Jack was laughing so much he had trouble keeping himself airborne, as the skiers stumbled into sitting positions, spitting out snow. They started to yell triumphantly and flap their arms around in over-excitement.

Boy, the reactions of the adults were always hilarious, although he much preferred playing with children. Children screamed less and laughed more.

The next moment a horrifying bellow resonated from the deeps of the crevice. Jack's smile slid of his face as the earth started to shake in accordance with a loud thumping that became progressively louder.