Pieces of a torn pink foil wrapper bounced on the surface of the bed as Morgan's foot tapped the bedspreads. A soft tune escaped from her lips while her pencil formed curves and line and shapes on her sketchbook to create a car with the top down rolling down the street. Inside the car, a formally dressed man leaned over limply while a fashionably dressed woman held her hands to his head. She filled in the facial features of the people before sliding off her bed and retrieving her box of 120 crayons she received for her last birthday. She picked up the golden box and lugged it over to her bed, but hopped out of the way of her cream tinted carpet as the area in front of her began to sink and form a depression. The depression continued to grow, the carpet rising deeper til the end of it could no longer be seen and it occurred to Morgan that there was a tunnel in her carpet.
"Mommy mommy!" she called, but did not want to leave her room. She looked down it and saw someone zooming up towards the opening. She took four steps back, her box of crayons dropping from her grip and hands flying to her face. Her veins buzzed with intense fear at the thought of what was happening in her bedroom. She scurried to the corner and shook until she saw a fuzzy rabbit with grey and taller than her dad pop out. He was not cute and adorable as Morgan has expected all rabbits to be. He looked mean and serious. A boomerang quiver had been slung around his back and he had strange brown cuffs around his wrists and ties around his feet. But Morgan's fears faded with the site of Jack rising up out of the tunnel behind him, and the hole closed up, making her carpet whole once again.
"Jack!" she cried and her pudgy body waddled over to him. He smiled at her and welcomed the hug she offered him. She shivered from his ice fingers pressing into her back but giggled and stood back.
"I've brought a new friend for you. Maybe he can keep you company now that it's getting warmer," he explained.
"Are you the Easter Bunny?"
"That I am, little lass," he said.
"You talk funny."
"It's the accent," he politely said. "Ever heard of Australia?"
"Yeah. It's in the Pacific Ocean, right? Mommy says the time is different there."
"It sure is, it's tomorrow there," he said to her.
"That's so cool! They're like... in the future!" Morgan giggled.
"You working on something, Morgan?" Jack gestured to the open sketchpad on her bed. Morgan gasped and then picked up her box of crayons, scurrying over to the bed. She crossed her legs and patted the section in front of her for them to sit down. Jack took the spot immediately, but Bunnymund just stood beside the edge.
"Whatcha got there, mate?" he asked, leaning over to see the drawing.
"It's President Kennedy the day he got shot," Morgan said. "And that's his wife, Jackie. She loved him a lot. She's trying to put his head back together, see?" Bunnymund looked over at Jack who pursed his lips. A private exchange happening between the two of them. But it didn't go unnoticed. Morgan's shoulders dropped with disappointment. And she flipped the cover over. "You don't like it..."
"Nah, that's not it," Bunnymund told her. "You have a real talent for art. It's just not something I am used to see kiddos drawin'."
"It's really unique!" Jack said quickly.
"You think?" Morgan responded, her spirits starting to lift a little.
"Have you ever drawn anything that doesn't have anything to do with history?"
"Well... for school projects, yes," Morgan said. "And maybe when I was little... My aunt gave me some books on the first Thanksgiving a few years ago, and my mom told me it was all true, but then Aubrey told me that wasn't true, in fact that the pilgrims were cruel to the Native Americans. Mommy told me she never heard that before, and daddy said the same thing. I just thought it was so weird how we're taught stuff that's supposed to be fact and it's not real and we all think it is. I guess the same thing happened with Columbus. Since then I've been drawing history because we should all know what really happened. Kids focus too much on cute and fun stuff and eat their turkey dinner and play football and have fun with the holiday without knowing the real reasons we celebrate it. It's dumb."
"You don't celebrate Thanksgiving?" Jack wondered.
"I do!" Morgan corrected in defense. "I like being with my family. But I think they should still know. Oh, hey, Bunny, thanks for the fox. He's my favorite ever. And so soft. I named him Bumble."
"Bumble?" Bunnybund wondered after a moment of beaming.
"Seemed to fit. He looks clumsy," she stated with a smile. "But I love him."
"I'm glad. I saw you had pictures of foxes on yer walls, thought ya might like a mate."
"Jack, are you leaving for the summer?" Morgan asked with the trace of a whine in her tone. He chuckled.
"Not quite yet. I still have to tell you some stories, right?" Morgan nodded. "I'll come back one more time for you, all right? Then I vacation in Antarctica."
"Oh you get to see penguins!" Morgan clapped at the exciting thought.
"I do. They're a lot of fun."
"Gotta hop on back to the Warren, love," he said to her. Morgan reached for a hug and his fluffy paws tickled against her neck when he returned it. She laughed and he playfully pushed her back onto the bed.
"And I'm going to go before it starts snowing in your room," Jack told her.
"Okay, but before you go!" Morgan flipped her sketchbook and shut her eyes as she tugged at a page with some of her artwork on it. She held it out to her frost-covered friend and he stared at it for a moment. The contours were close to perfect dimensions and she etched out the smallest of details most children couldn't catch in a drawing. She knew where to put each web of frost on his jacket and stared at the portrait of him with genuine admiration, instead of one given to a child when you're simply pleased with their effort.
More than anything Jack felt he could cry if the water in his body were not ice. A light curve of his lips showed his satisfaction and he surprised Morgan with an attack of a sudden, icy hug. She shrieked from the cold at first, but then cackled at herself and put her arms around him.
"This is amazing, kiddo," he said to her. "Thank you."
"You're welcome. Take it with you to Antarctica," she asked.
"Of course I will." She bounced on the bed when he dropped her and went to the window, pushing it up. Two thumps with Bunnymund's large feet opened up a tunnel in the carpet again and Morgan gasped at the magnificent use of his foot.
"See ya, kid," He said, and dropped down into the hole. As it had done before, the carpet closed up again and Morgan turned her attention to the boy halfway out her window.
"You better come back one more time!" she ordered. He looked to her and chortled at her bossiness.
"I promise!" he told her, and Morgan was satisfied with his answer. With a flick of his hand from his head as a goodbye, he let the wind catch him and Morgan watch him drift away.
I'm sorry this is so short but I wanted to get the next part up before bed and I had homework to do and I'm about to past out so I hope you like it anyway.
