We stood at the tip of Spiral Hill. Jack looked at me with sadness in those eye sockets. Yet I knew there was something there, staring longingly at me.
"Well? Go on. If it really is you, then it'll uncurl and you'll be able to walk down it."
I hesitated. After all, what if it wasn't me? What if…
But it was too late. I felt a rolling and my legs buckled under me. But the hill didn't budge. It was solid.
I was devastated. But not as much as Jack was.
"So then…you are just another one…" He turned away.
I was pissed, to say the least. How dare anything keep him ignorant of my feelings. Suddenly, the years of suppressing and denying broke and let fly a flood of emotions.
"Now you listen to me! I most certainly am the one you have in mind! I am the girl who has those feelings for you, and took me all those years to accept it! So now, if you don't know, then both of us will be miserable until the end of our days and it'll be all my FAULT!!!"
He was stunned. Completely bowled over by my outburst.
"Did you know you get very scary-looking when you're angry?" he asked when the effect wore off.
I relaxed.
"Yeah, that's me. The 'Pumpkin Queen'," I said sarcastically.
A bunch of villagers surrounded us as we walked into town. They were officially afraid of me. Apparently they felt something creepy around me and acted as they did around Jack, except it was the male townspeople fawning over me. Weird!
Suddenly, the town clock chimed. Three bongs. I looked up. It was midnight.
Jack looked worried and stared at my face. I looked at him, too. Somehow, I felt the place dissipating around me. Five more bongs.
We grasped hands. I tried to talk to him, but the words were caught in my throat.
"Jack…I never told you…my name's-…"
I heard three more bongs as he followed my sentence.
"Goodbye Jaq…I'll see you someday…"
The scene was gone. I blacked out.