The young lady is actually a character from another ToTG story I was swriting but haven't uploaded. I ended up liking her a lot so decided to bring her over here.
Chapter 12
A Poor Night Out
Jack entered the workshop again, and as he thought, Eros was nowhere to be seen. Bunny and North seemed to be mid arguemnt, while Dawn was shouting at them, demanding they listen to her. Tooth was standing back, hands folded neatly in front of herself as she stood away from the group. She saw Jack enter and smiled at the young Guardian; Tooth was the mother of their group, and she filled the role well. Jack looked over the others in the room as he sank into his couch from earlier. Sandy had also joined the group, and was watching silently as the others argued. The couch was comfortable and Jack smiled as he sank into the cushions, listening to the others shout. North and Bunny were yelling at one another, while Dawn was yelling at the both of them; though she was ignored.
"Has Eros left then?" Tooth asked, speaking across the room to Jack. He nodded in response.
"Ah Jack! Good chat, yes?" North asked, now that Tooth had brought his attention to Jack. Bunny looked over at Jack and seemed to smile; the argument was done for now. Though the topic of it was not.
"Why are you all shouting? Could hear you outside." Jack asked, leaning back into the couch and stretching his legs out, crossing them at the ankles.
"There was no argument, just these two shouting about nothing." Dawn huffed.
"That's how they argue." Jack said, smiling.
North let out a laugh, and Bunny rolled his eyes Dawn huffed again. Jack Had to stop himself from laughing; he felt a lot better after chattign with Eros. He wasn't sure why, the conversation wasn't exactly riveting. Jack looked at tooth, who was hovering a few inches above the ground, hands still folded in front of her. From the corner of his eye he saw Dawn leave, and noticed Tooth's shoulders droop; she was relaxing. It felt as if the whole group took a collective breath of relief; which was close to what happened.
"Everything okay Tooth?" Jack asked, eyes still on Tooth.
"Oh, yes Jack. She's just always been a little too much for me." Tooth smiled at Jack.
"I hope the sprout's alright, must've felt good slapping the ol' girl though." Bunny said, partly to himself. "Hopefully she hasn't started something bad for herself."
Jack felt his eyebrows raise. "What could she have started?" Jack asked, needing to know. He heard a muttered Good going, Bunny, from North but ignored it. Bunny looked like a deer in a set of headlights, he had said something he shouldn't have.
"It- er, nothing, don't worry about it Jack." Bunny said, wanting to drop the subject. Jack did not want to.
"All she did was slap her! Kids do it all the time."
"It's different Jack. Dawn regards certain spirits as… better than others, as more important. She thinks very highly of seasonal spirits – don't make that face – and a few other of the miscellanous spirits, there's a few of us that don't really have a category."
Tooth huffed, which dragged everyone's attention to her. It was rare to hear something negative from Tooth.
"Which doesn't explain why she is so nasty towards the girl. She has no category but her job is important; even if Dawn prefers to pretend it isn't a job that is needed."
That settled it, Jack wanted to know what she did. No matter what he argued, the others would not tell him quite what she did, just that it was important; to everyone, not just kids. The conversation died off when Tooth and Sandy left, followed shortly after by Bunny. Jack said his goodbye to North before shooting off through the skylight that North left open for the young boy; and flew off over the North Pole. How was Jack meant to figure out what she did? Was he meant to watch her work? How was he meant to do that when everyone kept saying she was hard to find?
The questions rattled around Jack's head as he floated around the world, being careful not to linger in the warmer places, it still felt a little raw. He couldn't decide what he wanted to do, nothing was holding his attention. He did hover a little longer than he should have over some overly dry looking bushland, and let some snow melt over the grass, keeping it a little more damp than it was. The air felt dry, and Jack could feel the dust clinging to his skin as he shot through the air overhead. Jack spent hours floating above little towns, big cities and the large expanses of land inbetween. What was he meant to do? Perhaps he'd go back to the North Pole and get some sleep, or maybe he could find Sandy and watch him work. Jack dropped into a tree and sat himself on one of the branches, leaning back against the trunk of the tree. It was in the park of a large city, in the middle of the city's entertainmnt area. Jack enjoyed the background noise of large cities; the hustle of people always having somewhere to go, and the noise of traffic that never seemed to stop, even late at night. He sat on the branch and watched the few people who walked past, it was late, and people were heading home for the night. A young girl ran under the tree, followed by two other girls about the same age. They were shouting, but it was playful, until an older woman grabbed one of the girls by her arm.
"You were asked to behave today, just to get through this." The woam said, her voice weak. Her face looked drained, she seemed to be carrying an immense weight on her shoulders. Jack tilted his head and climbed further down the tree to listen better.
"But Mama, I don't want to go see them!" The little girl whined; Mama coming out more like Mam-maw, which made Jack smile.
"Sweetie please, I need to you to help me get through this, then we'll be all done with them." The little girl thought for a second then nodded, and held the woman's hand. Curious about the pair, Jack followed them down the street, to a church. The two of them made it inside just asit began to rain; they made their way into the large building, over to a crowd that had gathered. Many of them were already sitting in the pews, but seemed to ignore the woman and young girl as they walked through the crowd, to the front row of seats. An elderly woman caught site of them, and narrowed her eyes, apparently upset by the two. The woman and child sat in an empty seat in the front row, and cast a polite smile at the elderly woman, which seemed to upset her even more. Jack stayed at the back of the room, leaning against a wall, as he watched the scene before him. It took some time for Jack to really catch onto what was happening. The room full of people in black attire, and the quiet music in the background, the man at the front of the room giving a great speech about how the deceased will be missed deeply. Jack had followed two people to a funeral; he had nterrupted something incredibly personal, and he felt awful. Jack moved along the wall, plannng to leave, when he bumped someone.
"Oh sorry!" Jack said, not thinking. He blinked, he bumped someone? Jack looked up from the floor, to see a pair of familiar, friendly eyes, and hair that was an off white, almost blonde. The girl smiled at Jack; she was leaning against the wall, watching the scene.
"Good to see ya kiddo." She said, patting the wall next to her. Jack moved to the spot slowly, before leaning against the wall again. Of course he had touched someone; it was someone much like him.
"Not where I expected to run into you." She said, her voice as friendly as ever. She didn't seem annoyed Jack had turned up.
"I kind of followed someone, I didn't know where they were going." Jack admitted.
"I saw you come in, you followed the woman and her daughter. Lovely family, all of them. Well, almost all of them but, the other one isn't an issue now." She said, motioning with her eyes at the casket in the front of the room. Jack had been avoiding looking at it, it felt strange to look at the box.
"Who was it?" He asked.
"The father." She answered, not looking away from the scene before them. Jack continued to watch as well, and heard the faint sounds of sobbing from the group. He felt movement next to him, and realised she had moved from the wall. Jack went to followed, but felt like he couldn't move from the wall; he felt incredibly heavy. He watched as she walked up the centre aisle of the seats. The crowd of people seemed to have slowed down, while she walked at a regular pace, with a clear goal in mind. He watched as she walked around the casket, and stood on the other side, and slowly raised a hand above the casket, holding her palm towards the wooden box. Jack felt an odd tug in his chest; like he needed something, badly. His body ached for something but it was too slow and heavy to get it; whatever it was. Jack accepted the odd feeling in his body, and let himself sag against the wall as he watched. He watched as a stream of light coloured sand, almost silver, rose from the open casket, and began to slowly form into a twisting circle around her hand. The sand slowed and soon rolled itself into a ball which she wrapped her hand around. Jack caught her eyes, then blinked. When his eyes opened she was gone, and a tall man stood in her place. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and another tug, which he followed. He followed her outside into the rain, his mind buzzing with questions he couldn't form with his mouth.
"I-who-what?" Jack sputered, and she laughed. She rolled the little silver ball in her hand, before placing it into the pocket of a black coat she was wearing.
"I didn't realise he was going to do it so quickly, sorry kiddo, didn't think you needed t see the whole deal." She said, looking at Jack. She looked tired.
"He?" Jack asked.
"Death." She answered, and the word hung in the air around them.
Jack swallowed, not sure what to say, but she was already turning and walking away. Jack followed, without knowing why, and quickly caught up to her, falling into step beside her. The two of them walked down the sidewalk of the busy main street the church was on. The rain had grown even harder, small puddles had formed in parts of the sidewalk, which she stepped around. She wore tidy black boots with a small heel, and Jack noticed how tight the coat was at her waist before it flared outwards in a large skirt. Jack wasn't sure how warm a coat like that could be,with how much the skirt was flapping in the wind, but it did look nice. It struck Jack as odd to consider a spirit as stylish but, stranger things happened, he supposed.
"Is he nice?' Jack asked, wanting to break the silence.
"Who?" She asked.
"Er, Death." Jack felt silly saying it, but she laughed without it being nasty.
"He's alright, a little overbearing in the 'doom and gloom' and mysterious spirit way of never getting a straight forward answer." They turned onto another street, and continued to walk.
"Why were you surprised when he turned up earlier?"
"He normally waits til they're actually buried but, I guess he was as done with the git as everyone else." She said, then laughed. "Er, don't mention to the others about my language. Don't wanna get me in trouble.
"You mean, more trouble." Jack said, and had to smile at the look she gave him. It wasn't impressed but it was amused, and Jack enjoyed it. He was enjoying having someone around who was closer to his age; possibly.
"So, how long have you been doing this?" He asked.
"Doing what?"
Jack waved his arms around. "All of this, whatever it is you do. Hundreds of years, a hundred? How long?"
"Kid, I'm not even in the tens yet, don't make me think about the hundreds."
Jack didn't know how to response to that. She hadn't even been here ten years? Jack thought back to his first year, and his second, his third and every one after that til now. Three hundred years, and Jack seemed to remember each one. Not well, but each one seemed to feel slightly different. A flash of bright light ahead caught jack's attention, and he realised he had started looking at the ground as he thought. He looked up, and realised she had stopped walking, but was just staring ahead. They had found one of the city squares, which had been filled with food trucks and market stalls, and decorated with strings of bright lights. The square was full ofpeople going from stall to stall, and lining up at the food trucks. The air was a mixture of the smells of rich foods and the heavy scent of the rain that was still falling.
Jack saw her look over at him, her face stretched into a smile he usually saw on the face of an excited child; like the look they had on christmas morning. She wandered off into the crowd and jack noticed she dodged people, as if they would also bump into her. Something in Jack'schest tugged again, painfully. He had found out very quickly no one would bump into him, he wondered if she had as well. Maybe she simply fell nto human habits, or she wanted to avoid the feeling of someone walking through her. Jack didn't think it would be okay to ask, so he didn't. Rather he joined her in the crowd, and the two of them enjoyed the atmosphere of the little night market that had been set up. The rain let up until all that was left were puddles and a damp chill to the air. Jack enjoyed how much she smiled and laughed during the evening, it was so genuine.
The two of them noticed it at the same time, a child broke from their Mother's grasp and ran, laughing as they did. The child didn't notice the busy road, nor did the cars notice the child. A boy in his teens saw the child and without hesitation, raced to the street. Jack did not see what had happened, but heard the honking and shouts for help from other passersby. He didn't see her move, but he saw her standing near the street, moving into the crowd of people that had gathered. Jack walked over and stood nearby, not too close, so he could see what was happening. The young child was on the sidewalk across the street, cradled in their Mother's arms, while the young boy was laying in a heap on the street. A car was close by, both doors wide open, someone sitting in the drivers seat, face in their hands. She stood over the body, looking down the boy's limp figure, and Jack realised her eyes were closed. Jacknoticed the other person who was standing nearby, on the other side of the boy, and recognised the figure he had seen earlier near the casket.
"Child, I did not know you would be out tonight; I thought you may be resting after work earlier. Are you enjoying your evening?" The man asked, as if there was nothing going on around him.
Her eyes opened, and moved up to focus on the man's.
"You may leave, you are not needed this evening." She said, her voice flat. Jack felt his chest catch; she was arguing with Death.
"You are a gifted child, but this is not your job. Go, enjoy your evening." The man said, gesturing back at the market.
"No." Jack heard the whisper from her, as she raised her hand. Something like a bubble of air seemed to emonate from her, expanding outwards in a rush of still air that pshed against him, almost threatening to knock him over. He watched in marvel, and mild horror, as the boy's form began to convulse as he sucked in air in desperate breaths. The boy coughed as he struggled to breathe, paramedics reaching him in time to assist. Soon the boy was stable, though he had to be loaded into the ambulance. The three of them; Jack, Death and the girl watched from the side as the boy was loaded and driven away, the ambulance's sirens blasting through the air.
"I heard you struck Dawn." Death said, not looking at her.
"She deserved it." She replied back, not looking at him.
"I thought you may say that. You do not need to stand up for everyone. It's no-"
"Apparently nothing I do is my job. My job is boring, I need to do something besides it. Enjoy your evening Jack, I'll trust the wind can you get home." She said, and then was gone. Jack sighed, and looked a the sky.
"I don't even know what her job is!" Jack moaned out loud, surpised by the chuckle from death, before he too vanished.
"Spirits; useless lot." Jack muttered to himself, annoyed by the lack of what he had learnt.