Author's Note:
Alright. Thanks so much Cjabbott for typing this out! This is CJA's work (minus a sentence here and there), so you all get a taste of this great author's writing! :)
This is a spin-off of the chapter "How Bad Can I Be?" so enjoy!
Dear Santa,
I'm Jackson Overland, and I know I'm on the naughty list (I'm positive I am), but it's for a really good reason. I need that coal to heat the house for winter for my little sister. She worries about so many things (she's too young to worry, if you ask me) and I don't want her to have one more thing to worry about.
If I'm being bad for the good of others, how bad could I possibly be?
I'd just like you to know why I'm doing what I'm doing, and if this changes anything, that I'd like to keep getting coal every year.
Thank you,
Jackson Overland
Jack looked over the letter one last time. It had been hard writing this - Emma's school teacher had to teach him how to write since he didn't go to school - but it would be worth it. To see his baby sister's face when he heated the little ramshackle hut with his 'present' would be completely worth it.
...
Jackson Overland was overjoyed yet disappointed as he studied his present. He had gotten coal for Christmas, like he did every year.
He then made his trip to the nearby lake, like he did every year. He went there to mope - as much as he liked getting coal for Christmas, he also hated it. He missed out on great presents yearly. Another reason for traveling to the lake was so Emma did not see him moping. This year, however, there was a surprise for him.
In the middle of the frozen-over lake, there was a small red present with a tag. Jack stumbled out onto the slippery ice excitedly, wondering if Santa got his letter and if he had actually read it.
"To Jackson Overland, the boy on the Nice List," the tag read in beautiful cursive handwriting.
Nice List? It took Jack a moment, but the realization finally sank in.
He made the Nice List!
He didn't understand why, but it didn't matter. Jumping around, he heard the ice creak and felt it crack underneath his weight, not quite thick enough to be jumped on. He quickly picked up the present and made his way to the bank, sitting down.
Tearing open the shiny red paper, Jackson was amazed to find that he got a real present. It was a pair of hand-knit blue mittens and a scarf. He got a present!
He, Jackson Overland, the boy who couldn't do anything right - the boy who was always playing pranks - got a gift. From Santa Claus!
He really was an okay kid after all.
...
300 years later, Jack Frost was on the Naughty List. He didn't think he would ever get off it, and couldn't remember a time when he wasn't. He just wasn't used to being nice (always playing tricks had its downsides).
Whenever Christmas Eve rolled around, he would fly around the globe and wouldn't stop until he was overwhelmingly exhausted. He would collapse in some snow bank or another and fall asleep.
See, his logic was that if he wasn't in one spot, North couldn't give him his yearly coal. It never worked, though.
Every year, without fail, he would awaken the next morning and he would find a little, neatly wrapped, dirty-with-coal-dust present beside him. He never had to open them anymore. He knew what the little box contained.
Call it habit from a tradition long forgotten or call it a coincidence, but the day after Christmas, he always did something nice. He would find a child who was struggling with keeping warm. Jack would remove the tag and leave the present under the tree or in their stocking.
Don't worry, he would write, you're not on the Naughty List. This is just to keep you warm in the winter. Use it well. From, Santa.
...
Miles away in the North Pole, North was watching Jack Frost, the boy who was always playing pranks. The winter spirit reminded Nicholas St. North of a child long forgotten.
Maybe he wasn't such a bad kid after all.
Maybe he deserved a chance.
A/N:
Great right? Shorter chapter than what you usually read from me, but not all chapters have to be 1,000+ words, right?
Thanks for supporting me and thank you all so much for reading!
Reply to She Who Dreams Of Tomorrow: Since Jack spent a lot of time in Germany, he would have learned how to read German, too. The signs over there aren't in English, haha. Also, when you learn a new language, 50% is hearing it and 50% is reading and writing it. Thanks for mentioning that!