Pitch slipped silently out of the shadows and into the bedroom of a tiny cottage within the small colonial town of Burgess. Directly in front of him was a bed containing two sleeping forms. The first was a thin teenage boy whose messy brown hair stuck up in every direction across the pillow. The second was a small girl, clearly the boy's younger sister. She was clutched lightly within the arms of her brother and snored gently as she slowly breathed in and out. Pitch had been watching the two since just a few hours before, when the sun had finally set. The boy had seemed particularly annoying. He was extremely hyper and was constantly attempting to get his sibling to laugh at the things he said or did. Watching the two play had sickened Pitch thoroughly; he was never one to enjoy the happiness of others. But now it was his turn to have some fun.
Pitch's dream sand crawled out tentatively, examining its newest victims. As it slowly swirled around the girl's head she began to squirm and a pained expression appeared upon her formerly peaceful face. A dark chuckle escaped Pitch's throat. There was no greater pleasure to him than this, of seeing the fear his powers could provoke. The girl's wriggling intensified and her older brother's eyes snapped open, the movement having been enough to wake him. The boy looked up at him in horror, which was a slight surprise. Pitch had expected him to simply see right through him, he was far too old to believe in the boogieman anymore, but clearly that wasn't the case. The teen had noticed the dream sand swirling around the room, along with Pitch's unnaturally gray skin and smoldering golden eyes."What the hell are you?" he screamed. Pitch snickered wickedly. "None other than the King of Nightmares himself of course," he sneered.
The boy looked down at his sister, her face contorted in distress, and wiggled out from beneath her. He crouched in front of her defensively and growled, "What did you do to her?" He was trying to hide the pain that the sight of his sister caused him with a fierce glare. This only caused Pitch to laugh more. It had been so long since his prey had actually put up a fight; he expected to enjoy this night immensely. The boy tried to grab the closest weapon-like object, a wooden toy dagger, from the bedside table for defense, but Pitch quickly restrained him with his dark, inky sand. "Oh, I wouldn't do that if I was you," Pitch snarled menacingly, "you really have no idea who you are dealing with, or the amount of pain I can inflict." The boy tried to break free from the sand's gritty clutches, but he was completely immobilized. He was refusing to let his fear show, but Pitch could sense it rising within his tiny body with every passing second. "I-I'm not afraid of you!" the boy stammered, "N-Now leave us alone!" Pitch leaned in closer and smiled, nearly touching the boy's face with his own, "You'll have to be more convincing than that, boy. I can practically see the fear dripping off of you. You can't hide your emotions from me."
The boy squirmed as the Nightmare King came closer, he was clearly uncomfortable by being in such close proximity with him, but the dream sand held him firmly in place. Off to the side the girl began to whimper as her nightmare worsened. This caused the boy to struggle even harder, for his own worst fear was coming to life. His sister needed his protection, but he was useless to her now, just as helpless in this situation as she was. Seeing her twist and turn on the bed was one thing the boy couldn't stand to see. "Stop it!" the boy called out, but as soon as the yell escaped his lips a ribbon of dream sand covered his mouth. "Now now, we wouldn't want to wake up poor mommy and daddy now would we?" Pitch scoffed.
Pitch stepped over to the young girl, causing her brother's brown eyes to widen in terror. She had finally begun to settle down, the nightmare she had been given having finally ended. Pitch lightly brushed the back of his gray hand against her cheek and whispered "What a horrible thing it is to watch the ones you love suffer." He looked up at the boy again and his cruel smile returned. The dream sand that had been holding the teen dropped him suddenly, causing him to land on the floor with a loud thud, and then it rushed towards the girl, engulfing her completely. The boy ran to the bed and began to claw desperately at the sand, but as he did it tangled in his fingers, thus ceasing his attempts to free his little sister. Pitch's evil laughter reverberated around the room, but was cut short when the boy lunged at him in anger. Just before his fingers brushed against the dark silken robes of the Nightmare King, he melted into the shadows and reappeared from behind. "You'll never catch me like that," he mocked. The boy spun around to face him and Pitch placed one long, pointy finger on his pale forehead, causing him to immediately crumple to the ground, trapped within a sleep full of endless nightmares. Pitch chuckled viciously as he stepped back into the darkened corner of the room. "Goodnight children," he purred. The boy began to scream, but the grip of his nightmare refused to lessen, preventing him from waking himself. Pitch just had time to see two parents rush into the room, startled by the sound of their son's torment, before he slipped away into the night.
Although neither would remember the other, or their old encounter, Pitch and the boy would meet again, except things would be very different by then. The boy's brown hair and eyes would be replaced by white and blue, and the sister he had once tried so hard to protect would be gone, having long ago passed into the unforgiving hands of death.
Note: Yes the boy and girl in the story are Jack Frost and his little sister Emma :)