A/N : Thanks for all the reviews, faves and follows! *group hugs* ^_^


Popcorn, chips, various kinds of cookies, peanuts, tuna sandwiches, coke and ice tea. 13-year-old Jamie's hazel eyes wandered over the packed table in the living-room yet again to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything. By all appearances his catering was complete and ready for the start of an exciting night. Mrs. Bennett and Sophie were visiting relatives in another town over the weekend, so he had the house for himself. Originally he should have accompanied them but had been arguing with his mother and stayed stubborn until she gave in and allowed him to stay at home. What he had planned for tonight would turn out to be much more exciting than sitting between adults and listening to their boring discussions.

Scary movies were increasingly popular among his schoolmates but his dear mother didn't want him to watch stuff like that and since the only DVD player was downstairs in the living-room, which was occupied by her most of the time, Jamie had no chance. But now the perfect opportunity had come and he wasn't going to waste it. He had borrowed a pile of DVDs from his friends and the sun was setting already, silently announcing the beginning of the horror movie night. A sideways glance at the clock assured him that the visitor he was awaiting would show up any moment. Most of his friends knew the movies or weren't interested, but there was one person he could always rely on to keep him company.

A sudden gust of cold wind alerted him of said friend's presence and he grinned at the tall white-haired boy who had just entered the house through the open balcony door.

„Hey, kid!"

„Hey Jack! Ready for some fright?"

The winter spirit set his staff aside and flopped down on the couch, immediately noticing the amount of alluring snacks on the table in front of him. Naturally he didn't waste a single moment and grabbed a handful of popcorn.

„A few movies won't scare me, but go on, let's see what you've got." he winked while munching away.

„I'll take you up on that." Jamie spoke and knelt down next to the flat-screen TV where he had placed a pile of DVDs.

„Alright, we got 'Paranormal Activity', 'The Conjuring', 'Sinister' and 'Insidious'. Which one first?"

„Doesn't matter I guess, haven't heard about any of them."

The brunette teenager shot a disbelieving look at his friend.

„You haven't? Everyone has been talking about them!"

„Well, you know, I mostly hang out around children and the other guardians and none of them are into scary movies. Despite that, I can't imagine what should be so frightening, they're only movies after all." Jack shrugged and reached for a tuna sandwich.

'The Conjuring' is based on true events."

„Okay, then let's start with that one."


Barely two hours later the end credits rolled over the screen. In complete darkness, since any light would ruin the decent athmosphere, Jack and Jamie sat next to each other on the couch and stared into the void.

"Hhm...that was...a little disturbing...assuming it actually happened." the younger boy eventually muttered.

"Yeah...but just a little."

Jamie raised an eyebrow at the frost teen.

"Hey, we fought the Boogeyman, an alleged demon posession isn't enough to freak me out."

Feeling challenged by the cool statement the brunette youth put the next DVD into the player. He would succeed at startling the Guardian of Fun, at least a tiny bit.

After they had finished watching 'Sinister' and 'Insidious' Jamie's uneasiness gradually increased, but he tried his best to mask it. To his disappointment Jack still hadn't showed any sign of being bothered by the chilling scenes of demons, ghosts and murdering spirits. Most likely he had experienced worse things in his over 300-year-long life that no human could ever imagine. No wonder he wasn't going to get terrified by mere movies that easily. It didn't mean that Jamie was going to give up, though. While his desire to continue the horror night wasn't nearly as big as it had been several hours ago, Jack appeared to be as laid back as ever and devoured the remaining food on the table with relish.

„You scared, kiddo?" he smirked before taking a sip of ice-tea.

„Pfff, me? No way!" Jamie bluffed and nervously glanced at the last DVD.

He had heard about people being so horrified during the screening of 'Paranormal Activity' that they ran out of the theatre because they couldn't take it anymore.

„What are you waiting for? Wanna watch 'My Little Pony' instead?" Jack teased his friend smiling devilishly and reminding him of the day he had caught him watching the aforementioned cartoon.

„That was YEARS ago! And there was nothing else on TV and I was bored!"

„It was only one year ago and you looked pretty enthralled." the grin on the guardian's face grew wider the more Jamie's face turned into deep shade of red.

„Whatever. Let's watch this now." he muttered and successfully changed the topic.

The beginning was rather slow and boring in their opinion, eliciting the question why it had been such a hit and been celebrated as one of the most frightening movies of all times. But when the first signs of ghostly presence manifested Jamie huddled on the sofa with his back pressed against the backrest, knees pulled to his chest and eyes fixed on the TV screen. He was so absorbed in it that he didn't perceive Jack quietly and carefully reaching for the bowl of chips and grabbing the biggest one he could find. A sudden loud crunchy sound disrupted the eerie silence of the darkened room. Next to him the young Bennett couldn't suppress a startled shriek when he halmost suffered a heart attack.

„If I didn't know any better I'd say you're a liiittle tensed up, aren't you?" the frost teen snickered.

„I was just surprised, gheez."

„Right." Jack nodded sarcastically.

Just as he wanted to say something else the movie attracted ther attention again when the main actress was suddenly pulled out of her bed by an invisible force. They continued watching the rest without further interruptions, even though Jamie wouldn't have minded if Jack had done something funny to ease the mood. Although he seemed relaxed and unfazed the winter spirit had to realize that those horror flicks left their marks. He wasn't scared, just...feeling increasingly uncomfortable. It was pitch black around them and the creepy entities on screen weren't exactly giving him a good feeling. But he wouldn't dare to let his pent-up tension get the better of him, let alone openly confess that a few movies were giving him the creeps. A single one wouldn't have been bad, but a night of watching one after the other successfully caused his paranoia level to rise to new heights.

When it was finally over both males wondered if the horror movie night had been such a good idea. And yet, they still acted tough on the outside, none of them allowing fear to tear down their dignity.

„Alright...now we're up to date. Though I guess there's a bunch of more flicks we don't know yet." Jamie explained while putting the DVD back into its case.

„Yeah, we should take a look at those someday as well." Jack suggested casually, pretending to have honest interest.

„If you still didn't get enough we could search for creepy videos in the internet." the brunette boy suggested before he could stop himself.

The guardian was inclined to reject the idea, given his state of mind, but as usual his curiosity got the better of him.

„Sure, why not."

Jamie mentally slapped himself and pulled his notebook out of his backpack which he had dropped on the big armchair next to them. The wind blew louder from outside and rain started to fall, first hundreds and soon thousands of drops unevenly splattering against the windows. Even the weather was mocking him now. With lacking enthusiasm he stared at the monitor as the computer was booting up, secretly wishing for an unexpected crash, a bluescreen, broken wifi or the likes. Of course the device worked smoothly and soon they were browsing paranormal websites. It amused Jack when they found a post about abrupt appearances of icy paths on streets which no one could explain rationally since coldness alone couldn't have caused it.

„Congratulations, you officially are a part of the paranormal that freaks people out." Jamie chuckled when he had finished reading.

„Doing my best." the blue-eyed spirit replied and gave his friend a crooked grin.

It was around 2 am, the storm had gotten worse, when they eventually landed on Youtube and watched real ghost footage. Basically the happenings were always the same, though it didn't make them any less haunting. Human-shaped shadows suddenly showed up from behind people, voices could be heard from other rooms but when they checked no one was there, items fell out of shelves, doors opened on their own and dark clouds wandered through buildings. Jamie gulped and felt his hair stand on end even more after each spooky scene. For Jack not all of them were scary, especially the moving doors and items could have been caused by spirits like him who just wanted some attention. But the voices and shadows were something completely different. If humans didn't believe in him he was invisible and inaudible to them. So what was it that they and everyone else were able to see and hear? Maybe there were really ghosts of deceased humans whose souls couldn't find rest and decided to stay on Earth and randomly startle the living. The thought was bothering him since even though he was a guardian he wouldn't have a clue how to deal with a ghost, let alone fight a demonic being should he ever encounter one. While he kept pondering his eyes kept darting around the room to make sure they were still alone.

Oh welcome, dear paranoia." he thought cynically.

At that precise moment rumbling made the two boys cringe violently and their eyes widen in fear as cold shivers ran down their spines. Terrified looks were exchanged before they nervously checked their surroundings. Most likely it had been just their imagination or come from outside where the wind was still blowing fiercely. Just then the sound repeated, this time without a doubt coming from upstairs.

„Y-you heard that, too, right?" Jamie stuttered.

„Yeah...let's check it out." Jack spoke without further hesitation, though he wasn't entirely convinced of this being a bright decision.

„Are you sure we should do that?"

„No, but sitting here frightened is not how I want to spend the night." the older teen told him confidently and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

„I bet it's nothing. Oh, you might want to switch the lights on again, though."

The brown-haired boy nodded and made his way towards the light switch. A click could be heard but the room, as well as the rest of the house, stayed pitch black.

„Uhm, Jack? We have a problem." the young Bennett gulped with a trembling voice.

„Seems like the power went off, must be because of the storm."

„But your notebook is still working."

„It runs on battery."

„Oh...great. This is typical. Well, whatever, let's see what's up there." Jack said and grabbed his staff, just in case.

Slowly they walked up the stairs, each step inducing a weak squeak, with Jamie staying close behind his best friend. When they had reached the top floor another noise made them flinch, it sounded like something had been knocked over. And now it was clear where exactly it came from.

„My room...why did it have to be my room?" Jamie whined and followed the guardian towards the door.

They pressed their ears against it and could hear something ravaging inside. Combined with the howling wind it became even more disturbing. Jack took a deep breath as he placed his hand on the knob, preparing himself for the worst.

„Okay, you ready?"

„No." Jamie whispered hoarsely but in spite of that the door was wrenched open the next moment.

He nearly choked on a scream when a small shadow flew straight towards them, avoided a crash at the very last second and vanished in the corner of the room. Jack reflexively stepped back into the hallway, almost knocking the younger boy over in the process.

„W-what was that?"

„I don't know..." the frost teen answered flustered and gazed into the room.

The curtains moved in an eerie dance on the sides of the open window. Everything was engulfed in darkness since the moon was hidden between thick rainclouds and couldn't lighten up the gruesome night. It was difficult to distinguish anything except blurry shadows. Once more they saw something dart across the room before it became silent again. Was the Boogeyman responsible for this? Was it one of his Nightmares, just considerably smaller due to his diminished powers? Or was it a ghost, a demon, a spooky entity? If so, how dangerous was it?

Cautiously Jack walked through the doorframe again, feeling his heart beating in his ears, and stared at the spot where the shadow had disappeared. He aimed his staff at it and all of a sudden it dashed out of the darkness and straight in his direction. Both him and Jamie yelped out as he shot at the attacker and froze it solid. A sharp thud assured them that the Guardian of Fun hadn't missed his aim and they heaved a sigh of relief as the threat was apparently defeated. With restored curiosity Jack knelt down and reached for the chunk of ice but it was still too dark to recognize anything. The brunette boy almost tripped over a robot toy which had fallen down from a shelf and walked towards his nightstand to look for his flashlight half-blinded. Finally he had found it and joined his friend's side, the light illuminating what he had so bravely struck down. There, beneath the blueish ice, they could detect wings, a beak, and black feathers.

„A bird?" Jamie stated the obvious.

„You killed a bird."

„I didn't kill it, I just froze it." Jack defended himself.

„Well, it doesn't look alive anymore."

„It is, we can put it in the microwave and it'll be fine."

„Are you kidding me?"

„Do I look like I'm kidding?"

„I...don't even wanna know." the 13-year-old gave in and closed the window.

„That's what I get for always keeping it open for you."

„Oh, now it's my fault? As far as I recall the horror movie night was your idea."

Silence filled the room, cerulean and hazel eyes glaring at each other. The longer they tried to maintain their angry expressions the harder it got stay serious. All of a sudden the twitching of the corners of their mouths turned into fits of laughter and resulted in them lying on the floor holding their bellies.

„We're such heroes, aren't we?" Jamie chuckled and brushed a tear away.

„Totally! Screw Pitch, crazy demon birds are the new menace."

„Jack Frost, the Spirit of Winter being afraid of ghosts...oh the irony!"

„Oh, shut up." the frost teen retorted and playfully punched his shoulder.

„Maybe we should rather watch some comedies next time, though."

„Yeah, sounds like more fun." Jack agreed and stood up, staff in one and chunk of ice in the other hand.

„Come on now, we gotta unfreeze this little bugger."


A/N : Don't put animals in the microwave, kids! Just saying. XD

I'm a huge fan of scary movies and anything concerning the paranormal, but when I stayed at a friend's place and we watched ghost footage all night long...well, it got kinda disturbing, eliciting paranoia and not really peaceful sleep and such. Still perfect inspiration for writing. ;)

As usual, reviews are VERY appreciated! ^_^