Thanks to the awesome possums who are reading this! Enjoy!
The two boys suddenly hushed at the sight of the girl in the room, quieted with sleep. Their mother's stern face was the only thing they needed to scurry up to their own room and obey their mother's orders.
"I'm sorry about my boys," she apologized to the man. "They are quite the handful."
"No need to apologize," he replied as he looked outside the window, snow beginning its descent on the earth for what seemed to be eternity. Jane popped back into the room from an adjacent room.
"Dinner should be ready soon. Please feel welcome to join us." Jane whispered, mindful of the sleeping girl.
Within a few minutes, everyone was crammed around the crowded table. Jane, her mother, two brothers, her little sister Adelynne, and now a guest prayed for a blessing before digging in. Nightfall soon fell, and the little girl on the bed stirred to life again.
Jack decided that this was probably a happily ending story, and he no longer was entertained by whatever commotion was going on earlier. He went through the village, sliding his finger along the edge of windows here and there, leaving graceful trails of frost. He went on like this through the night until...
Back at the house, new sleeping arrangements had to be made. It was finally decided that the little girl's father slept in the front room, and Jane, Adelynne, and the young girl slept in the upper room.
After poking around, Jane finally found the little girl's name to be Kai. She was doe-eyed with bright green pupils that illuminated her face once she sipped some of the warm broth and ate the bread for dinner. Although weak, her body was a little warrior. Adelynn and Kai automatically got along. Adelynn began to excitedly explain the winter festival that was to happen in a few days. Kai exclaimed that she was supposed to be going there with her cousins. Before the extra sleeping mat was prepared for Jane, the two of young girls wouldn't stop talking.
"Girls, it's late and we've had a long day." Jane said softly, motioning them to their beds.
"But we're talking about snow!" Adelynn exclaimed, her hands waving her arms extravagantly to reflect her emotions. The two giggled at Jane's surprised but pleasant expression.
"How about I'll read you a bedtime story about snow?" Jane replied thoughtfully, pulling out a book from her bag. It was the leather-worn book that Jack saw earlier at the bakery.
"Ooh ooh ooh! I know that story!" Kai jumped in upon seeing the book. "My daddy read it to me last week!"
"Don't spoil it for me!" Adeline almost screeched, even jarring Jane back to full awareness.
"Okay, okay. I'll read it to you. The only rules are that you have to be quiet, and listen, and be in bed."
"Awhh." The two groaned, but succumbed to her instructions and crawled into their beds.
"Once upon a time..."
Jack was almost finished with his whole run around the town. He even had time to glance into the sky to see the beginnings of the glowing trails of sand in the sky. Before even realizing it, he was back at Jane's house. Knowing that all the downstairs windows were already frosted, and also thanks to his curiosity of the happenings inside the house, he floated onto the roof to frost the last upper room. It was Jane's voice, penetrating the cold, that drew him to a certain window.
"And Jack Frost was his name." she read from the book.
"Jack Frost? Is he like Santa?" Adelynn asked softly, fighting off the grips of sleep.
"No! He's like a fairy!" Kai whispered, also trying to keep from dozing off. "He kinda flies around, right Jane?"
"Really. A fairy?" Jack muttered outside, relaxing his hands onto the window's frame. He sat onto a roof conveniently by the window and listened to the story about, well, himself.
"Well, almost." Jane said, smiling as she read the rest of the legend.
"But." Adelynn once again interrupted. "Is Jack Frost as real as Santa?"
Jane thought about it for a second, thinking of a clever answer. Neither Santa nor Jack Frost were real. "Well. I definitely believe he is. There's no way that those frosty winter leaves are made by chance." The two girls giggled.
Just as Jane was about to turn the page, she heard the sound of soft snoring, probably from Adelynn. It was then followed by the even, soft, breathing of a sleeping child; that was probably Kai. She sighed softly and turned the lamp down to barely a glow.
"Oh well then. I'll just read the rest of it tomorrow." she whispered as she closed the book gently and set it back into her bag.
Jack, in a way that was definitely not stalker-like, observed her every movement as much as possible though a window. The way she buttoned the bag, the way she tucked the covers tighter around both young girls. The way she was coming towards the window.
Coming towards the window? Jack's mind automatically snapped out of the gaze, seeing that she was heading straight for him. Or not actually him. Oh yeah, she can't see me.
She looked discontentedly at the window. Frost was somehow seeping between the cracks of the wooden frame and the window itself. "I need to get that fixed," she muttered under her breath. She took out a block of wood that she typically would use to cover the crack in the case of leaking water from a storm, never for frost. It was worth a try, though.
Taking the a small lamp with her, she walked towards the window. She set the lamp on the other side of the windowsill and got to work in lodging the wood into the crack.
"Funny, I'll remember next time that a Jack Frost story probably isn't the best story to read while he's out doing his work." She spoke to herself, smiling at the thought. Jack Frost. "Oh Jack, look at the mess you made." She chuckled, noting how frost has somehow crept past the crack and onto the windowsill itself. "You got frost inside. Now that I mention it, that hasn't ever happened before."
"Not my fault-" Jack threw his hands up in the air extravagantly, floating away temporarily only to come back to see Jane looking out at him.
"Oh my goodness."
Jack suddenly became struck with paralysis at how directly into his eyes she was staring. She was just a foot away, looking through the window. He snapped out of his shock at suddenly turned around to make sure that she was not looking at something through him.
"Oh my goodness." Jane said again, this time her voice faint more than fear.
"Oh my goodness what?" Jack said, wide eyed in worry. "What, you can see me-"
He's floating. And has a staff. And a cape. What the hell is going on. Jane's mind flipped through a series of consecutively passing thoughts before she heard Jack's last words.
"-believe you can see me." His hand ruffled through his hair as he was trying to piece everything together.
"Wait what?" she replied disoriented, trying to figure out who this snowy-haired figure was.
"My you are slow." She grunted at his response. Suddenly he burst into playful laughter. "I'm just teasing. I guess I'm nervous. No one's spoken to me for about a decade... or so? Yeah I think a decade..."
Jane tried as hard as she could to comprehend what the guy was saying, but his everything became too distracting.
"Okay. See!" he flew back, holding out his arms. "I'm harmless. Let me start from the begin-"
One of the girls suddenly roused in her bed. Jane put her hands up, harshly hushed him, and pointed to a balcony. Kai, as it turned out, mumbled something undistinguishable and fell back into motionless sleep. Not wanting to risk waking the little ones, Jane scurried down the hall to the balcony in curiosity of what was happening. Her coat was still wrapped around Kai as she slept, so she walked outside in her nightgown.
"Hey, you came back! I am glad to see you again." He welcomed her onto the balcony, extending a hand to shake. She was hesitant at first, but shook his hand. Immediately, she could feel cold radiating from his palm.
"Are you always this cold?" She asked dumbfounded.
"I'm not sure. No one's ever told me otherwise." He smirked, a glint of sadness embedded in his eyes.
"Wait wait wait. Start from the beginning again." She said, referring to what he was saying earlier.
"Oh yeah. I forgot about that." He sheepishly grinned and stepped back. "Good evening, m'lady. My name is Jack Frost." He bowed extravagantly, sweeping his arm behind him in mock-chivalry.
Jane chuckled. Suddenly a realization dawned on Jane. "I must be dreaming. You're not rea-"
"No wait!" He said, putting his hand over her mouth almost instinctively. Surprised at the sudden contact, both Jane and Jack awkwardly pulled away.
"You can only see me if you believe in me." His voice was barely over a whisper.
"Oh," her face dropped, realizing why he was so excited earlier when she first saw him. "So no one's seen you before?"
"Never."
"And you want me to believe that no one can see you because..."
"Why would I lie?"
"Not a fairy." She teased at him. Jack's face crinkled into a grimace. "Well you do fly."
"Yeah, I kinda need to. I mean, frost isn't only on the ground." He grinned, his teeth also as white a freshly fallen snowflakes.
"Okay." She replied, not knowing where her conversation was going.
"Let's do something fun!" He suddenly changed the topic.
"I need to watch the little ones." She said, a sad smile took form on her lips.
"We can sit here." He said, motioning on a pillow of snow on the ground. "I mean, I prefer frost but mother nature is pretty good at her job, too."
"My feet are freezing," suddenly she looked down at her toes, now numb with cold. She looked at Jack, who also was bearing no shoes. But unlike her, Jack didn't mind the cold.
"Hold on a second!" He said, shooting away off the balcony. He came back with a pair of heavy boots.
"Where'd you get these?" Jane asked, hesitantly putting them on.
"I have my ways." He smirked at his cleverness. "Oh, and this is for you, too."
"Thank you... I think." Jane said, smiling awkwardly at the heavy cloak.
"Tell me your story." Jack said, cross legged on the ground, leaning forward on his elbows.