8 Years later
(Cyndra's POV)
I can feel the cold sting my skin, as I wake up with the rising of the sun. It it cool in my light blue bedroom. I had drawn up my blinds and parted my curtains last night, letting a cool breeze seep through my open window.
I sit up on my bed and look out the window. It was a winter wonderland outside. Snow piled knee high on the road, trees with white fluffy tops, ice patches made to slide around on, park hills ready for sledding. In fact, the wonderful snow was still falling. It was an amazing sight, a sight that can be matched by nothing I have seen yet.
It is still cold in my room as I get up and shuffle to my closet, half asleep from all of the reading I did the night before. I love to read, especially fantasy books. They talk of amazing and daring adventures of people like Eragon, Percy Jackson, Gregor, and Jack Frost.
They capture the very essence of my imagination and carve pictures and stories that can only be heard through the reading of these books.
Then I realize that the window and blinds are still open. I make my way over to the blue curtained window and shut it, along with the binds and the curtains, then quickly walk back to my closet.
From my closet I drag down my favorite light blue hoodie, a black t-shirt, and a dark pair of blue jeans. I wasn't going to school today by the looks of the weather.
I slowly change into my favorite clothes and step out into the hall. I feel like I am forgetting something, but whatever it is I can't place it.
I walk downstairs to the living room. There was a fire in the fireplace and a lovely smell drifting out from the kitchen. I wonder what the special occasion is, it must be good if such a lovely smell is coming from the kitchen, meaning I don't need to eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast.
I walk wondrously to the kitchen and dining room area. My mother, dressed in a blue dress and a ponytail tied with a blue hair tie, was making my favorite breakfast. Scrambled eggs, soft bacon, and a glass of grape juice. All of this sat on the dining table that was covered in a light blue tablecloth.
Ok, now I'm worried. What am I forgetting? I walk to the table, wracking my brain for a simple answer to to my question.
"Mama, what is today's date?"
"Honey, it's the 5th. Don't tell me you forgot your own birthday?"
Oh, so that's what I forgot. So, yes, no school on my birthday! Just like every year, since I was 6 and started school.
I sit down at the table and start eating my scrambled eggs, looking at the bacon as if I was saying 'that's right, you're next'. Well, at least I figured out why everything was in blue today.
My mother came to the table and sat across from me, starting to eat her own plate of food. It was a quiet breakfast, just like it was every year on my birthday. Everything in blue, breakfast already made, and sitting at the table with nothing to say.
I am the first to finish my breakfast, walking to the sink and rinsing my plate off, just as I do everyday.
My mother follows right behind me and puts the dishes away after she cleans them.
I start to walk back to my room to grab my baby blue scarf when my mother calls me back into the living room. As I walk in, she is standing in front of the mahogany colored wood coffee table that sits in between our blue couch and our television.
She looks at me expectantly and then moves to the side of the coffee table shouting "Happy birthday, Cyndra."
On the table behind her is large box wrapped in a blue wrapping paper designed with white snowflakes, and a silky ice blue ribbon.
It was sitting there, just waiting to be opened, so I run over to it, ready to tear the paper off and save the ribbon.
As I tear into the paper, I realize that a brown box was inside, so after the paper was off I open the box, too.
Inside is one of the few things that could make me smile. A new jacket. Darker in color than the one I have now, almost a bright dark blue, but it was perfect. As I reach down to pick up the jacket. I realize that underneath it is a small slip of paper that reads:
All area Dog Pound Certificate
Sierra
full blooded German Shepherd pup
6 weeks
Pick up date:
December 5th at 4:00 PM
I can't believe it. I just can't believe it. I turn fourteen and I get to finally have a dog. A german Shepherd puppy, nonetheless.
I run over to my mother and hug her so tight she says, "OK, ok, no need to suffocate me. Now go on and have some fun outside, I still have to go to work."
I released her from my tight grip, but continued to thank her as I rushed upstairs the change into my new jacket and grab my scarf.
By the time I came back down the stairs, though, she had already left.
I walk back through the living room to my front door, which I opened to reveal my icy, snow covered front porch.
It was still snowing and the landscape was absolutely beautiful. Just as pretty as it was was I woke up, just much more clear, now that I am standing right in it. Even the cars were still coated in the icy cold white precipitation. I walked through the ankle deep snow in my yard. There is a special place I like to go on my birthday, and it isn't far from my house. It has a stunning nature depiction and I love to be right up in a tree looking at it. I walk down my street to the heavily wooded area that most people don't even bother with. That's how I know there will be peace and quiet, and that I will be left alone. I reach the woods and walk through the trees, paying careful attention to where I was going. Under the trees, the air was even cooler and the sun was mostly shining down through leaves. Yet it was perfect.
I keep track of the place I was going by leaving certain marks on the trees that show me the way.
The thick underbrush and trees thin as I walk into open ground. I climb up into my favorite tree and look out and around at my surroundings. Just below and in front of me is a frozen lake. On either side of the lake are trees topped with white snow. In the distance I can make out a mountain standing tall and mighty in it's own elegance. I love coming here. It reminds me of when I was 6, how I still make the same wish on my birthday every year. I stare down at the lake. It is fun to slip and slide around on it, but for now I just want to observe this peaceful scene. It is always the same on my birthday. The snow, the lake, the trees, the mountain.
It all makes coming to this spot worth it. I look back up at the clouded over sky. It is amazing, the things I get to see on my birthday. I just wish I had a friend, someone to talk to. All the friends I had at school moved away, and now I have trouble trying to make new ones. Most people are just too loud and boisterous for me. I prefer to have quiet when I work and sleep. I guess that's why I come out here on my birthday, to get exactly that. I just wish I had someone to share it with.
I lay down on the tree branch I'm sitting on. It is quite comfy sleeping in this tree, with no noise and being surrounded by a beautiful sight. I close my eyes and begin to feel myself drift when I hear a soft thud. It came from the direction of the lake. I slowly open my eyes and sit back up, searching for the source of the sound.
I find it. On the lake stands a taller teenage boy with white hair. He's wearing a blue hoodie, the same color as my own, and a pair of brown pants. He carries what looks like a weird staff with a curved end. I watch as he wanders around the lake. He walks weird, as if, as if something were missing. And then I see his feet. He's barefoot! On the freezing lake!
I jump down from my tree landing agiley on my feet, not a sound is made on impact. I walk towards the lake and the strange boy. If he's barefoot, maybe I can help him with something, he looks kinda lonely. Like he needs a friend.
I see him turn towards me as my foot strikes the ice of the lake, making just enough noise to make it audible. I see him look surprised, as if he didn't expect anyone to be here. I stop a few feet away and just stand there looking at him. He has blue eyes, exactly the shade of blue that is my favorite color. I realize that I had started smiling, I decide to say something.
"Hi, I'm Cyndra."
He looks down at the ground before answering.
"I'm Jack."
"How are you, Jack? You look like you could use a friend, and I don't have any."
I see him smile. His teeth are perfectly white and they seem to sparkle like freshly fallen snow.
"Yeah, I could use a friend. I haven't had a good friend for a while. And the ones I do have are too busy to have fun on a good snow day like this."
Now it's my turn to smile.
"All my friends moved away, and I have trouble making new ones at school."
"Why? Who wouldn't want to be friends with a sweet girl like you?"
"I... I don't talk to other people very much. I get shy, but if someone ever needs a friend, I am willing to get past that so that they aren't lonely. You just looked so sad down here by yourself, and I was watching you walk around on the ice barefoot. I was wondering if maybe you could be my friend." I feel my cheeks warm a little, turning the light pink of a blush.
Jack smiles at me. "I can be your friend if you want me to be."
I can feel my face brighten at his words. He was kind to be my friend.
"But why are you by yourself, barefoot on the lake?"
I could tell that that was something he didn't want to answer." I'm sorry, I guess I shouldn't have asked. I'll just let you be if you want."
"No. No, that's quite alright. I do this every year. I come to this lake. I come to this town. At night the stars are beautiful and the moon shines brightly. But, I mainly come because of something that happened 8 years ago. I visited someone, and it changed me forever. I never saw them again, though. I am always too afraid to try. They might not even recognise me now."
He frowned down at the ground, making me wonder what had happened.
"Jack, why are you so sad? What made you afraid that they won't recognise you?"
I could tell that this hit the same type of nerve my earlier question did, but he answered it anyway.
"Do you want to hear a story? A story about a little girl and her hero? A story I heard once?"
I can tell he wants me to hear it. I can feel that it is important that I hear this story, like it was going to tell me something that can possibly change everything. I can feel it, all the way to my bones, that this was important.
I nod my head. " Of course I would. I love stories, especially the ones my mother would tell me on the night of my birthday."
I see him smile as if this tells him something that he very dearly wanted to know. I can feel myself start to smile as I see him get ready to tell the story. I sit down on the soft snow and watch as he sits on the ice, trying to remember how to start whatever story it was that he wanted to tell.
"One day, a little girl was playing outside with her friends..."
I hear him tell me the story, the exact story, my mother told me when I turned 6 years old. The very night I started making the same wish over and over for my birthday. I can feel every molecule in me vibrate as I realize that the very story he was telling me, was my favorite story, the only one that I remember from when I was younger. He had somehow heard my mother's story. It was a weird feeling.
He finished telling me the story, at last slipping into silence.
I look up at him, shocked. How did he hear my mother's story?
"Cyndra, are you alright? You look as if you have seen a ghost, you're paler than me."
"It's just... It's just... My mother told me that story. I was six years old, sitting in front of my fireplace, eating cookies and drinking eggnog. All I wanted was to see my heroes. I just wanted to meet them. They meant everything to me, and I made a wish that night. The very wish that I wish every year for my birthday."
I start to say my wish, " I wish that one day,-"
And Jack finishes it, with a shocked expression on his face. "- I will meet all of my heroes and the guardians. Especially Jack Frost, my very, very, favorite."
"H-how did you know my wish?" I am a little scared that I had met him now, since he knows so much about that night.
"Because I was there when you wished it. Do you still believe in your heroes?" He smiles at me. making me think he already knew the answer to that question.
I speak my answer very softly, almost hoping that he wouldn't hear it."Of course, if I didn't, there wouldn't be much else to believe in."
His smile widened, showing his perfect teeth again. "When you made that wish, you changed me. I didn't think that 'Jack Frost' could be anyone's hero, much less yours. I thought I was alone and that no one cared anymore, until I found you that night."
"Why would you think he couldn't be anyone's hero? You can't possibly know who he is."
"Now that is something I very much do know. I know him quite personally, in fact.'
"How?"
"Long story." There it was again, that reluctance, as if there was something he still didn't want to tell me.
"Okay then. I guess I should get back home then." I turn around to find my favorite tree. From there I could find the other trees that marked my passage home.
Jack, grabs my shoulder. I turn and face him. He looks distressed that I am leaving. It is weird, I don't even him, and he doesn't want me to leave.
"Cyndra, please stay. I think we can be really good friends. Come sit with me. I know of just the tree that could do for the job."
He smiles and grabs my hand, as I nod my agreement to stay. I did need a friend after all, and although he was a bit weird, he certainly would make a great friend.
He drags me over to my favorite tree. He lets go of my hand and I climb up to my favorite branch, the one that has the perfect view of everything around us.
And from then until around noon, we sat and talked, about him, about me. We laughed and had sympathy for each other. In the end though, I had to leave. I did have a new dog to go get. As I climb down and start walking away from the tree, I hear Jack run up behind me. I turn around and face him.
"Happy birthday, Cyndra!" It was only loud enough so that I could hear, but I could feel my heart beat faster. I was grateful for my new friend, and he had wished me a happy birthday.
I walked over to him and encased him in a giant bear hug. I didn't know him very well, but he seemed surprised at first before settling into hugging me back. I let go of him and began to turn around, when I think of something.
"Jack, are you doing anything tomorrow?"
"No, why?"
"I was just wondering if I could meet you here tomorrow. I don't have any friends, and with all the snow and ice, I doubt we will have school tomorrow."
"I can certainly meet you here tomorrow. You can count on it." He winks at me. I still think there is something weird about him, but he must be just like any other teenage boy.
"Thanks." I smile. It's great to have a friend again. It beats having to be lonely all of the time.
I walk off towards my house, thinking of Sierra, my soon to be puppy, and Jack. I can't wait for tomorrow. I'll even bring Sierra.
Smiling at the thought of it, I return home.