Should I really be working on a new story?
Probably not.
But this wouldn't leave me alone, so I must!
Winter and rain never worked together. Wet snow was slushy, frigid, and just plain wet. Jack hated it when it rained during the winter, and he often found himself wondering who's bright idea it was to do such a thing.
On days like today, when he had just place freshly fallen snow down and it ended up randomly rain, Jack wished he was battling Pitch again; anything was better than slushy snow.
So Jack set off to try and find something to do; since all his hard work was for not. At first he thought of going to go play with Jamie and his friends but then remembered that the boy was in school.
'Should have made it a snow day.' Jack thought to himself as he walked the streets of Burgess. 'Than again, Jamie and his friends probably wouldn't want to play out in this weather… this sucks.'
Walking past the town square, Jack had the sudden feeling that he was being watched. But whenever he looked back, nothing was there. Shrugging it off as nothing important, the winter spirit continued on his way. Past the grocery store, the library, and a quick sweep by the school and still Jack had that feeling.
The feeling lasted all day and even now, as he walked Jamie home, he still felt like he was being watched.
"Something bothering you Jack?" Jamie's voice spoke out, snapping the spirit out of his train of thought.
"Hm, what?"
"You haven't spoken a word since the school. Is something wrong?"
Jack had to give credit when credit was due. Jamie somehow always knew when something was wrong with Jack and the spirit felt grateful that the boy cared that much for him. Shaking his head Jack gave the boy a light poke with his staff.
"I'm fine, just have this weird feeling is all." Jack said as they made it to Jamie's house.
"What kind of feeling?" Jamie asked as his little sister Sophie came running out of the house at seeing Jack.
"… Like someone is watching me, but it is probably nothing." Jack said as he lifted the little girl up into the air; earning the spirit a loud giggle from Sophie.
"You sure?" Jamie asked. "It's not Pitch is it?"
Setting the girl down Jack shook his head. "Pitch won't be a bother for a very long time. Maybe forever if I'm lucky."
Smiling at that, Jamie and Sophie gave Jack a quick goodbye before running inside the house. Finding himself smiling Jack took to the sky and allowed the winds to carry him lazily through the town. Jack knew he had other places to go, other places to freeze, but he just wanted to skim over the town one last time. To make sure nothing was truly there.
Jack had flown over some apartment buildings when he heard it; a loud crashing sound with people screaming at the top of their lungs. Nearly falling from the current of wind in surprise, Jack turned around to find a horrifying sight.
A car had crashed into another and the first was under the latter. The cars were dented, broken, and sparks were flying. Jack had seen many crashes before but something about this one stirred him wrong. Flying closer to the wreck, Jack noticed that one of the screams from inside the crushed car was that of a child.
As panic set in, Jack landed on the street and ran over to the cars. Looking through what remained of the back window, Jack spotted a small boy, no more than four or five, stuck in his seat; screaming for his mommy and daddy. Jack didn't want to but as he looked to the front of the car he found why the parents didn't answer.
They were dead.
Jack felt sorry for the boy, but he had to put his focus on trying to get the boy out. The town's folk were trying to get the people out of the top car and that gave Jack some time. Freezing the back door, Jack tapped it with his staff and watched it fall to the ground. Slinking his way into the wrecked car, Jack soon was next to the little boy who was crying madly.
"Hey, don't worry. I'm gonna get you out of here." Jack said as it shocked him that the boy turned to look at him with his wet eyes.
'Guess this kid is a believer.' Jack thought as he froze the seat belt and it broke. 'Makes this easier.'
Taking the boy in his arms, Jack nearly dropped him when the boy started scream 'Monster!' At first Jack thought the boy meant him but when he looked to where the boy way, the spirit's jaw dropped. In the front seat, where the boy's parents were, stood a tall figure dressed in a black hooded cloak. The figure was reaching out for the dad, who had been driving, but Jack noticed it shy away he had to guess the figure saw them.
"Who are you?" Jack called out, not sure if he would receive an answer.
And he didn't as the figure quickly caressed the man's cheek and disappeared in a puff of black smoke.
A little dazed at what just happened, Jack remembered eh had to act quickly before any adult came and saw him hold the boy; or more like a boy floating midair. Squeezing his way out of the car, Jack snuck his way into the nearby alley. Setting the boy down on the ground, Jack frowned at how the boy was still crying.
"Hey hey, it's alright. You're safe now." Jack said as he crouched down and pulled the boy into a hug.
"B-but M-Mommy and D-D-Daddy?" the boy sobbed into Jack's sweater.
Jack wanted to lie, he wanted to tell the boy that they were okay, and that he would see them soon. But he couldn't, instead Jack stood up and gave the boy his hand.
"Let's go see if we can find someone to watch over you." Jack said as he walked the boy out of the alley and towards the crowd of people. Jack could tell, just from the look the boy gave him that the kid understood what he meant and followed the spirit blindly.
As they reached the crowd, Jack felt the boy tug at his hand. Looking down Jack saw the boy reaching out to someone in the crowd.
"GRANDMA!"
"JASON!"
An elderly woman with long grey hair stormed out of the crowd and the boy, Jason now, let go of Jack's hand and ran to her. Jack smiled, at least there was someone to watch over him.
Turning back to the cars, Jack frowned. What had been that thing in the car? He couldn't get a good look at it since it had its oversized hood up but Jack did see the hands; pale, delicate, but slightly calloused at the back of the palm. And if Jack was correct, he might have seen black nail-polish.
Shaking his head, Jack decided that he should ask the other guardians about this. Maybe they had answers that would explain what he saw. Taking to the sky with help from the winds, Jack made his way to the Pole where he could hopefully catch North for a few seconds.
Christmas was in fact only two months away.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.
By the time Jack made it to the workshop it was almost time for the sun to set. The colors that cascaded over the snow were marvelous but Jack had no time for that. He had to ask North about what he saw.
Flying in through a window, Jack watched as the many yetis were working on toys. North was nowhere to be seen here so Jack flew over to the man's office, but no North. Figuring the globe was the next best place to look Jack went there and lucky to find North staring at the globe.
Landing just behind him, Jack walked up to the tall man and looked to the globe.
"What you looking at?" Jack asked but North didn't turn to look at him.
"A light was flickering earlier today." North said as he crossed his arms. "I know this light, just like I know all of them, and I know for fact that this light is too early to be a flickering."
"Who's light was it?" Jack asked.
"A little boy named Jason May." North said. "He lives in Burgess, like your Jamie. He is only five and a half, much too early to stop believing."
"Really?" Jack asked, realizing what North was saying. A light not only flickered out when a child stopped believing, but also when… "But it came back on right?"
"You should know Jack," North said as he finally looked to the winter spirit. "You saved his life. But question is why was light flickering to being with?"
"I don't know," Jack said. "I mean, he looked alright to me. He even saw me."
"So believing is not issue." North said and it was than the gears in the old man's head began to turn. "What did you see Jack?"
"A car crash, poor kid lost both his parents." Jack said as he held his staff close to him. "But he has a grandma to look out for him."
"Yes yes, very good." North said but it was obvious in his voice that is not what he meant. "But what did you see in car?"
It was than Jack remembered he had a question to ask. "I saw a tall figure dressed in black. I couldn't make out a face but it touched the Dad than left in a puff of black smoke."
It was then that North's expression turned to concerned. Placing his hands on Jack's shoulders, North began spouting a hundred questions an hour if Jack was alright or if it had touched him and if he felt fine. Shrugging the man's hands off him, Jack took a step back.
"I'm fine, what's got you so worked up?" Jack asked but North didn't answer as he went over to the globes controls and activated the aurora borealis signal. "Hey! What is going on?"
"What you saw Jack is very bad." North said as he turned to look at the spirit. "No one is supposed to see them unless…"
"Unless what? What did I see North?" Jack pressed on, wanting answers and wanting them now more than later.
North looked hesitant, he even tried to avoid the questions entirely by changing the subject on how Sandy and Bunny should be here soon. But Jack would have none of it, floating with the wind up into the man's face Jack gave North a very serious look.
"Jack, listen to me." North said as calmly as he could. "I alone cannot explain it. The others need to be here so they know what has happened as well. So please, Jack, be patient da?"
Jack didn't want to be patient, but the boy was smart enough to know when he had lost a battle and with a huff he floated over to a nearby beam and sat down on it. If he had to wait for the others, he was going to sulk while doing it. Childish, yes, but Jack was forever a child so certain things didn't die out with the years.
Jack didn't know when everyone got there, he probably fell asleep at some point, but when a hand shook his shoulder Jack opened his eyes to see Sandy floating next to him. The little yellow man motioned for Jack to come down and when Jack saw that everyone was here he followed.
At the moment he touched the ground Jack was bombarded with questions and hands all over him. Tooth had her hands on his cheeks while asking him if he felt alright, Bunny grabbed him by the shoulders asking if Jack's vision was going out or something, and Sandy was popping image after image and far too fast for Jack to make out.
Finally having enough of everyone fussing for no reason, Jack shook everyone off him and took a step back.
"What's with you guys?" Jack asked as he smoothed out his sweatshirt.
"What's with us?" Bunny said in a worried tone. "Frostbite you can't be serious."
Jack just stared at everyone. They all looked very concerned about something but Jack was oblivious as to what it was. Shrugging his shoulders, Jack turned to North for answers. Seeing the looking Jack gave him, North sighed and pinched the brim of his nose.
"Jack does not know of it." North said to the others. "I thought it best for us to explain it to him together."
"Really North," Tooth said as she shook her head. "You could have told us that beforehand."
"uh hello?" Jack said, not liking that no one was answering his question. "Anyone mind telling me what is going on?"
Sandy nodded and, at a slower pace, formed images over his head. Jack, eye, some weird looking knife, a healthy tree losing its leaves, And for an added bonus, Sandy formed a flower in his hands and fell to the ground.
"Uh thanks Sandy, but can someone explain all… that to me in words." Jack said as he helped the sandman back up.
"What he was trying to say Jack, is that you saw… oh, how do I put it?" Tooth said as she looked to North.
"Well it is simple, he saw… maybe not so simple."
"I'll tell ya what you saw," Bunny said as he stood in front of Jack. "Ya looked straight at death, bloody hell!"
Now Jack was confused. Death? What he had seen was death? That couldn't be right. Death was just that, death. You died and you went onto a better place. Well, most of the time. Jack being a prime example.
"You're kidding right?" Jack asked. "No one can look at death. It's not a person… is it?"
"You really don't know, do you?" Bunny asked, face showing the shock he felt.
"If you think about it Bunny, Manny intervened in Death taking Jack. So it isn't surprising that Jack hasn't seen Death." Tooth said as she floated over to Jack. "But why see Death now?"
"I'm still kind of confused." Jack said as watched his friends' talk to themselves.
"You see Jack," North spoke up. "One only sees Death when, well, one is near death. So when you tell me that you saw Death it led me to believe you were going to…"
Now Jack understood why his friends were so worried. Just as North had put it, only the dead saw Death. And Jack had definitely seen something but so had the boy. And Jack was still here and the boy was too. So what had happened?
"Well, I didn't. And I don't think someone can die twice." Jack said but as he thought about it, in a way they all could. But only if all the children stopped believing, and Jack was certain that something like that wasn't going to happen all at once.
"Maybe, maybe not." Bunny said as he stepped closer to Jack. "But we don't take that chance. Death is a scary little show pony. We, and all the other spirits, stay clear of Death and dare not look at it."
"Cause you're afraid that if you see it… you'll die." Jack said softly, completely understanding now. "But we're immortal, Death shouldn't affect us."
"We don't know that." Tooth said as she flew next to Jack. "No one has ever spoken with Death… and lived."
Even Sandy was worried Jack saw, he could see his body shaking and sand falling off him. And Jack could tell by the look in North's eyes that he was a little bit terrified. Everyone was, and Jack, in a way, understood why.
"How do you know?" Jack asked.
"How do we?" Bunny asked with a scoff. "Have you ever met someone who is living to talk about a time when they had tea with Death? No!"
"We just are being cautious, Jack." North said. "And now that we know you are alright, I have to ask you something."
"What?"
"Don't go looking for Death now." North said and Jack was a little shocked by this.
"Why would I go looking for Death." Jack asked.
"Because you are you." Bunny said but North quickly cut him off.
"Because it is not safe. So, promise me Jack? Pozhaluysta." North said as he placed a hand on Jack shoulder.
Jack for a while was quiet. His curiosity getting the better of him as he thought of this… Death. Death couldn't be that bad, if Death was like them than it must have a purpose or center. Jack's mind soon began to think about how since he had seen death and not died he may be able to see Death again. But then he remembered what North was asking him.
"…Yeah, I won't go looking for Death."
"Good. Now that we have settled this, if you all excuse me. Christmas is coming soon and I has to be prepared." North said as he walked off into his workshop.
Soon everyone was saying goodbyes and saying how Jack should stay low for a few days to just play it safe. Once they all had left, leaving Jack to stand there alone, the winter spirit smiled to himself.
He wouldn't go looking for death, he had promised North.
But North hadn't said anything about Death finding him.