On Easter Sunday
Sixteen Years Old
Smokey Bear trotted up to Pippa, stick in his mouth. She smiled at the dog and took it, tossing it again. Smokey Bear took after the small branch, splashing into the lake to fetch where it had landed. Pippa watched him then glanced down at the small daisy in her hand. She sighed and tucked it behind her ear, into her red hair.
Bear bounded up to Pippa again, dropping the stick and barking at her. For an older dog, he still had some life in him. His muzzle was greying slightly and he was fatter than when he was a pup. Pippa grabbed the stick and tossed it into the lake once again. Pippa had grown as well. Her red hair had turned darker and so had her grey eyes. Her lanky and skinny pre-teenage body had filled out and her round face was now more heart shaped. She had also taken up art and found that she had quite a knack for it.
Smokey came and sat down next to her, chewing on his stick. Pippa laid back in the grass, putting her arm behind her head as a rest. It was Sunday; Easter Sunday to be exact. For the most part, all the snow had melted and winter had moved on. Now, the only places that had snow were the hill tops and mountains. Pippa sighed. Another winter passed. It had been three years since Pippa had seen a certain white haired winter spirit.
Three long years. Winter still came during that time; but they were all pitiful. Light snow fall, hardly any frost or ice, just slush. The first winter Jack Frost had not showed up at her window, when she was fourteen, Pippa was feverishly determined not to be discouraged despite the fact that disappointment ate away at her. She made up every possibility she could; Jack got caught up in a blizzard or lost track of time, but in her heart she knew they were all a lie. In her heart, she knew Jack Frost had just forgotten about her.
The next year was even harder. No matter how disheartened she was by Jack's absence the first year, there had still been a glimmer of hope that he would return the next. That was quickly crushed as each winter month went by.
This year, there was no hope in his return.
Pippa had not forgotten about the kiss. The kiss Jack left her on her nose when she was just thirteen. She had thought about that kiss, her very first kiss, for months afterwords. She had relived it over and over again.
Jack Frost nipping at your nose... Pippa sang to herself. It fit perfectly.
As a thirteen year old, Pippa had thought that the kiss had ment something. She adored her winter friend but apparently he had not felt the same. Now as she thought about it, Pippa could have laughed at herself. At the time she had thought it love; she was a silly thirteen year old that had fallen in love with an immortal winter spirit. She now knew how absurd she had been, thinking that the kiss had meant love.
Pippa sighed and rubbed her eyes, giving Smokey Bear a pat on the head. Her eyes were bloodshot with shadows beneath them, traces from another sleepless night. She was starting to have nightmares, and gruesome ones at that. Her dreams no longer consisted of the teasing Jack Frost but instead were plauged by images of a tall pale man adorned in black. She didn't know him nor had she ever met him but she feared him. He conjured up images and figures with dark sand and sent them after her. In her dreams she ran but they always found her. Sometimes the man would grab her by her throat and push her under the frozen lake where she would struggle to break free from the ice's cold grasp. His shadow creatures would lurk in the back of her mind even when she woke. They were the shadows under her bed and the darkness when she closed her eyes.
Pippa shuttered at the thought of the horrible creatures. There was one nightmare in particular when Pippa was fourteen and still in love with Jack. She had dreamt that Jack had finally come to her window, beckoning her to follow him. She did and he led her into the forest; going deeper than they ever had before. Before long they were encompassed in darkness. Jack was no longer himself but had morphed to the grim shadow man.
"Do you love him?" he had asked in a raspy voice.
Pippa had fallen to her knees out of fright but did not answer.
The man laughed, his grayish skin pulled taunt over his high cheekbones, "I can see it in your eyes. You silly girl, you're forgotten, nothing but a mere memory in the back of his mind. He left you to me. That little light and good and love in you will disappear and soon enough you will be nothing but a shadow of your former self."
Pippa closed her eyes and pressed her palms to her eye lids again. She pushed the memory of the dream away. They were terrible nightmares and they plagued her mind with vicious images. All she wanted was to make them disappear.
Next to her, Smokey Bear had chewed the stick to pieces. He looked up across Pippa and growled, his attention on something in the forest. Pippa looked to the side, but saw nothing. Smokey Bear, however, was determined to figure out what was hiding in the woods. He stood up and took off down the lakes edge towards the woods, barking madly.
"Smokey Bear!" Pippa called half heartedly, sitting up.
Pippa looked around the clearing and across the lake, feeling more alone then ever now that Smokey was no longer by her side. The sun had gone down by now and everything was dressed in evening grey, the grass dancing lazily in the wind. Shadows meandered across the lake, circling Pippa in darkness. Pippa could feel her heart skip a beat as a quiet fear snared her body.
"Come..."
Pippa's spine went ridged and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. She knew that voice. It called to her in the nightmares, it was the voice of the dark man that tormented her dreams.
No! Pippa pleaded quietly as choking darkness seemed to surround her. She pressed her fists to her temple and squeezed her eyes shut. This is not happening. I'm dreaming. It's another nightmare. Wake up! She chanted to herself, rocking slightly in place. This isn't real. It's impossible. I must be dreaming, I have to be dreaming. Wake up Pippa!
Pippa waited until her heart rate slowed before slowly opening one eye, then the other. Her breathing was ragged and a nervous sweat had broken out across her forehead. Pippa looked around. The shadows had receded. Pippa let out her breath carefully, spotting something colorful in the grass a few feet away from her. Hesitantly, she reached out, her fingers closing around something round and smooth. An easter egg. Pippa turned it over in her hand, carefully studying the tiny gold and green design. She remembered a time when Jack Frost had told her about the other legends that lived to protect the children. She had believed them at a time but now she was just so unsure about everything she wasn't sure what to believe.
Pippa gripped the egg to her chest. She wasn't sure what it meant, but it gave her hope.
Cradling the egg, Pippa got to her feet and called Smokey Bear again. She turned from the lake and started on the walk back home, all the while eyeing the precious egg, as if it would keep her safe from harm.
From deep in the woods, where darkness lay so thick you could cut through it with a knife, two gold eyes watched Pippa perniciously as she retreated back to her home.
Authors Note: First off a big thank you to : MissBioshock, iluvehttyd, redangel24683, FALLING-ANGEL24, tenneyshoes, An Echo In Time, angelrider13, Robin-It-Totally-Whelming, ShatterTheHeavens and Leanna Trizzle, your reviews keep these updates coming :)
So yeah, a time jump where we see Jack's missing and Pitch Black makes his very first entrance. Yay! And what is this? A little hint of Mr. Bunnymund? But of course.
Safe and Sound covered by Me vs. Gravity was the song that I listened to while typing this up. It fits, does it not?
