A sort of lost/extended chapter from "Frozen Heart". It was a scrapped idea about Colleen moving to Burgess, meeting Jamie and the kids of her neighborhood. I decided I liked my original beginning.

Burgess, PA. 1990s

Jack Frost returned to his home, sailing with the wind above the small town. He zoomed across the sky over his hometown, whooping loudly full of joy. It was March, springtime and Easter was near, still he decided to give his gift of...

"SNOW DAY!" he shouted, snowflakes falling in his wake.

He ran light footed across buildings and cars, leaving frost and snowflakes in his wake and blowing freezing winds towards some people, making them pull their coats closer and shivering. He laughed with delight before flying towards the frozen pond...

Eight-year-old Colleen O'Shea had just moved to the new town of Burgess, PA. Once again, starting over. She looked at all the boxes. She couldn't do much since her toys and books were still packed away.

"Gram?" Colleen said bored. "I've got nothing to do."

Grandma Aileen, an elderly, yet spritely woman smiled. "Why don' ye go outside? Perhaps you'll make some friends," she suggested, speaking with a heavy Irish brogue.

Might as well since it's chaos her new home. Colleen grabbed her winter stuff and ran outside, walking around in her new neighborhood. Burgess didn't seem too bad. It was quiet, quaint, lots of children...Colleen sensed it could be a nice place to live. She never really had a place to call home. She hoped she could stay a little longer here...this time. No more moving. No more starting over.

While wandering down the street, she found a small dirt trail that lead towards a frozen pond. It seemed peaceful and serene. She stood near the shore, contemplating if it was solid enough to walk on it...

Jack Frost stood nearby, seeing the girl standing by the shore, looking at the sheer ice of the pond. She had blonde hair, plaited into pigtails that came to her shoulders. She wore a knitted green hat and matching mittens, a grey coat, a pair of jeans and navy blue boots.

She was about to take a step onto the ice. Jack knew the pond wasn't safe. He used the wind to blow her hat off in the opposite direction, away from the pond. Colleen cursed and chased after it...

Jack chuckled. "Pretty dirty mouth for someone your age."

"Stupid wind!" Colleen grumbled. Then shouted angrily, "Give me my hat back! You're not being fair!"

With a small laugh, Jack let it flutter down as if the wind was listening to her.

She was just about to grab her hat when she nearly knocked into someone. It was a
boy, about her age. He had chestnut hair and matching eyes. He was dressed in jeans, a tan flannel shirt, and a blue and red vest, wearing sneakers that were different. He looked curiously at the blonde girl with green eyes.

"Sorry," they both said. "Are you hurt?"

The two of them laughed and did the whole 'jinx, you owe me'.

"I'm Jamie Bennett. I don't think I've seen you before."

"I'm Colleen O'Shea," she said. "I just moved down the street. I live in the olive green house."

"Oh yea! I live two doors down from you. I saw a big, scary guy leave your house earlier. He was wearing an Army uniform or something."

"Yea. That's my Dad," she replied. "He's a lieutenant in the Army."

"Cool!" After a beat, Jamie lit up as he greeted his new neighbor and a friend. "Say, you want to play with us?"

Colleen was hesitant. She knew she probably wasn't going be here for long. Every friend she would make, she always had to say goodbye. Still it was better than having none.

"Sure," said Colleen with a smile.

"Great! C'mon over to my house. I'm gonna get my sled."

"Sweet! I would get mine if it wasn't packed away."

"We can share," he suggested.

"Cool. Thanks, Jamie."

"Whoo! Snow day!" said a voice behind them.

Two black kids with faces dotted with freckles. She could tell they're twins, except they're dressed differently.

"You're welcome," said Jack Frost.

Colleen's ears perked up as she heard...a voice...faint but she was sure it was there. She shrugged it off and turned her attention to the boys.

"Hey, Jamie," said one of them. "Who's this?"

"Oh, this is Colleen," said Jamie. "She lives two doors down on my street. Colleen, this is Claude and Caleb."

"Nice to meet you," said Colleen.

"Are you coming to the egg hunt on Sunday?" asked Jamie.

"Oh! I didn't know there was one," Colleen said. "I'll be sure to tell Gram. I'm sure she wouldn't mind bringing me after Easter Mass."

"Great!" said Jamie with a smile.

"I hope we can find eggs under all this snow!" said Claude.

They ran towards Jamie's house where he was reading a book about some monsters and creatures like Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and the like. He commented that Bigfoot hair samples and DNA were found in Michigan. Neither of the children noticed Jack following them. He landed gracefully on the mossy, rotting fence of Jamie's house, listening to their conversation with his staff over his shoulders as he strode on the boards of the fence.

"Here we go again!" groaned Claude, rolling his eyes.

"You guys saw that video," said Jamie. "He's out there."

"Yea. That's what you said about aliens," said Caleb.

"And the Easter Bunny," added Claude.

"The Easter Bunny IS real!" insisted Jamie as he grabbed his sled.

"Oh he's real alright," answered Jack, even though he knew they couldn't hear him. "Real grumpy, real annoying...and REALLY full of himself."

"What do you think, Colleen?" asked Claude.

"Oh," Colleen said, blushing. "I believe if I can see it or touch it, then I know it's real."

"You believe in the Easter Bunny?"

"Certainly," Colleen replied. "He leaves eggs. That's enough proof for me."

"What else do you believe?" asked Jamie.

Aside from the usual (Santa, Tooth Fairy, Sandman and the Easter Bunny), she loved to to imagine there were magical beings from her grandmother's Irish stories: fairies, brownies, elves, leprechauns, even sprites and spirits. Yet she had a feeling if she told her new friends this, they would think she was a baby or a weirdo.

"Lots of stuff," she said nonchalant. "Santa, Tooth Fairy, and the Sandman."

"Me too," Jamie chimed in.

"You guys believe anything," said Claude with a giggle.

"C'mon! Are we sledding or what?" Caleb whined impatient.

They were just about to take off when...

"Jamie! Hat!" said Jamie's mom from behind, putting it on his head. "You don't want Jack Frost nipping at your nose."

"Who's Jack Frost?" asked Jamie.

"No one, dear," said his mom. "It's just an expression."

"HEY!" shouted an offended Jack.

Colleen heard that faint voice again. She looked around to see where it was coming from. But she didn't see anyone.

"What is it?" asked Jamie.

"I thought..." Colleen began, but stopped herself. She didn't want to embarrass herself in front of her new friend, thinking she was weird for hearing voices. "Never mind. I thought I heard my Dad for a minute there. But I guess not."

Shrugging, they headed towards the park with the twins ahead, eager to start playing. Jack hopped off the fence, scooping up a handful of snow.

"Who's Jack Frost?" Jack mimicked Jamie.

With an impish twinkle in his blue eyes, he scooped up a handful of snow to form the perfect snowball. Satisfied with it, he blew on the snowball until it turned a shade of magic blue.

"You never heard of Jack Frost?" said Colleen.

Jamie shook his head.

"You know 'The Christmas Song'?" Colleen said. Then sang: Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose...

"No."

"Oh. Well, Gram told me stories about Jack Frost."

"What kind of stories?" Jamie asked curiously.

"Mm, just that he's a winter spirit that paints frost on windows and leaves, brings snow at winter time, and his breath is an icy wind. Just be careful not to offend him though."

"Why?"

"According to the legend, if one offended a winter spirit, he would freeze you solid..." Colleen continued. Seeing Jamie's worried look, she lightened the mood. "Well, you have to make him REALLY mad. Most of the time, he's a playful trickster. Gram told me his snowflakes were his kisses."

Jamie smiled. "Yea? Why's that?"

"I dunno," she said. "Maybe when they land on you, they feel like a soft, cold kiss from him." Colleen felt embarrassed that she told him this. "It's...kinda stupid, I know."

"No, it's not," said Jamie. "That's pretty neat. Your Gram must be a great storyteller."

"Oh yes. Mostly she tells stories from Ireland, her home."

As they headed towards the park, Jamie introduced Colleen to his friends...then he grunted, stumbling forward. There were remnants of snow dripping off the back of his clothes.

"OK!" he said laughing. "Who threw that?"

"Well, it wasn't Bigfoot, kiddo," Jack said smiling, landing in the snow near the group of children.

Just then, Jamie made two more snowballs and threw them at Pippa, a girl with red hair and Monty, a blonde haired boy with thick glasses, knocking them over.

"Jamie Bennett!" Pippa complained, wiping the snow off her face. "No fair!"

"You struck first!" Jamie said.

Suddenly, Colleen was struck in the cheek by a snowball...she felt something tickle and began to laugh. There was more piffing as snowballs were thrown.

"Free for all!" cried Jack, tossing a snowball at Jamie.

And so the battle had begun. There were mingles of laughing and piffs of snowballs being tossed. Jamie used his sled as a shield against the oncoming snowballs.

"Alright, who needs ammo?" said Jack, waving his staff, conjuring more snowballs.

Whilst during the fight, Colleen saw a flash of blue...squinting a bit as she wiped the snow off her eyelashes...there was a tall teenage boy with white hair in a blue sweater, carrying a stick, running swiftly among the children. She didn't remember seeing him before. She was just about to say something until she got struck with a snowball by someone...now she was having too much fun to care.

Soon, a snowball struck a big girl with a pink sweater. She turned and growled in anger, bringing the snowball fight to a halt. Colleen looked around for that teenager. Where'd he go? He was just here about a minute ago.

"Crud!" said Pippa cringing. "I hit Cupcake!"

"She hit Cupcake," Monty said, pointing at Pippa.

"You hit Cupcake?!" Claude said nervously.

Jamie hid under his sled. Cupcake glared at him as if it was his fault. She was about to nail Jamie with a snowman head...only to get pegged square in the face by a snowball. The kids were shocked at who had the nerve to throw a second snowball at her. They all asked amongst themselves if they did it, which they all denied. Colleen looked in the direction of where the snowball came from and...there was the teenager, perched on the top of a G-shaped branch in a squatting position. He balanced so perfectly on his bare feet, his toes curled around the branch.

Just as Colleen was about to call him out, she got pelted with a snowball by a laughing Cupcake. The fight continued for a few minutes. Then the kids of the neighborhood began to chase each other, yelling in delight...just lost in their fun times with the winter.

"Whoa! Slippery!" Jack added, creating ice on the hill.

Soon, Jamie slipped and landed on his sled, disappearing down the hill towards the town, yelling loudly.

"Jamie, what are you doing?" Caleb shouted.

"That's the street!" Pippa cried.

They chased after him, worried that Jamie was going to get hurt. As they ventured into town, they watched in awe as Jamie slid through the town on an icy path...dodging people walking, cars slid on the ice, honking. Then after hearing a honk from a snow plow, Jamie was directed towards a snow pile, going airborne...

"AAHHHH!" Jamie shouted...

...and landed in a pile near the statue of Thaddeus Burgess.

"Yea!" Jack cheered, quite pleased with today's adventure.

The group of children ran over towards a fallen Jamie, worried. With a slight stumble, Jamie shot up with the widest smile on his face.

"Whoa!" said Jamie excited. "Did you guys see that?! That was amazing!"

He was interrupted when a couch rammed into him, knocking him clean off his feet.

"Whoops!" Jack said with a cringe.

Concerned, the other kids gathered around where Jamie was lying on the ground. His arm shot up in the air and and showed them a tooth.

"Cool! A tooth!" he said with a wide smile with a huge hole in the front.

"Dude!" said Claude. "That means cash!"

Now everyone was talking about the Tooth Fairy. Jack was bummed.

"Oh no," he moaned. "No!"

Dark clouds formed as he became mad that the Tooth Fairy stole his thunder.

"Wait! Hold up, hold up," Jack called in protest. "What about all the fun we just had? That wasn't the Tooth Fairy! That was me!"

No one seemed to hear him. Everyone was going home for cocoa, complaining that it was cold...just a mingle of jibber jabber. Snow flurries began to fall and it got colder. Jack hopped with the wind, blocking the path of of the jabbering kids.

"What's a guy gotta do to get a little attention around here?" Jack muttered.

Jamie walked right through him. Shaken, he sighed in resignation and disappointment.

While walking amongst the kids, Colleen saw the blue sweater in her peripheral vision...making her stop in her tracks. She whipped her head around and saw the white-haired boy again. His head was lowered; she watched as he took a few steps before leaping in the air. Her eyes widened in amazement. Could this be...a magical being? A fairy? A spirit? She had to find him.

"Hey! Wait!" Colleen shouted.

The boy didn't appear to hear her. Colleen jogged after him. The neighborhood kids turned around when they heard Colleen yelling...and saw her taking off into a run in the opposite direction. She was looking up at the empty sky.

"Hey, Colleen! Where are you going?" called Jamie. She didn't seem to hear him and kept running.

"What's with her?" said Pippa, raising her eyebrow.

"I dunno. We should go after her though," said Jamie. "She is new here. She might get lost."

Colleen just followed the boy in the blue sweater. He was heading towards the pond where she first met Jamie. Who was he?

Jack Frost landed on the frozen pond. Three hundred years of trying to be seen and to no avail. Why did nobody see him? What was he doing wrong? Why was he even here? He dragged his staff along the surface of the pond. He was so overwhelmed with frustration, anger, disappointment...tears began to prick his ice blue eyes. He refused to cry. After three hundred years of being invisible, he learned to put his hurt feelings aside and try to find new ways to get noticed. Though he was used to being invisible, it still bothered him. He just wished someone would see him.

He found a small, dark spot amongst the rocks. Pressing his back against the stone with a sigh, he slumped down, shutting his eyes, curling up and pulling his hood over his head. A small tear rolled down the crease of his pale nose, freezing...his thoughts were interrupted by a voice.

"Hello?"

Jack perked up, blinking away the beginnings of tears. He lowered his hood and turned his head towards his left. There was the blonde girl, standing at the lake. He remembered her name was Colleen. She appeared to be looking for someone...? He stood up and remained hidden among the rocks to listen, getting closer tentatively.

"Please!" Colleen called. "Don't be scared. I just want to know who you are. I saw you at the snowball fight."

Jack's heart was pounding wildly when he heard this. Someone could see him? Exhilaration was bursting through his body at the very thought that someone actually could see him. He was trembling from head to toe with pure excitement, clutching his staff tightly.

The girl's eyes darted amongst the rocks, looking for the white-haired boy, listening carefully for any sounds. She was so sure he came this way. She remembered that Gram told her that magical beings were often mistrustful of humans and hid from them.

"Look," Colleen said. "I promise you that I am a friend. I just want to know if you're real. I won't tell anyone about you."

Jack was just about to show himself to the girl...until the neighborhood kids showed up. They saw Colleen, talking to thin air...calling for...someone?

"Colleen?" said Jamie breathless. "Who are you talking to?"

"A boy," Colleen said turning her attention to them. "I saw him come here. He's around here somewhere."

Everyone looked at her like she had lobsters coming out of her ears. Raised eyebrows. Blank expressions.

"Uh...what boy?" asked Pippa.

"You guys didn't see him?" Colleen exclaimed incredulously. "He was a teenager. Tall, wore a blue sweater...had white hair."

Jack listened to the conversation. So the girl named Colleen did see him! He was overwhelmed with excitement. The kids look at each other, shaking their heads and shrugging in confusion. They clearly didn't know what she was talking about.

"We didn't see anyone like that," said Monty.

"It's true," Colleen insisted. "I saw him. He...was in the street earlier. He flew this way. I know he came here."

"Looks like someone had way too many snowballs to the head," commented Claude.

"Weirdo," said Caleb, shaking his head.

Some of them did agree. Jamie frowned as he heard his friends' comments. But he looked unsure.

"You...you didn't see him, Jamie?" Colleen said desperately.

"Sorry," he said shaking his head. "Hey, y'wanna come over and have some hot cocoa?"

"No thanks," she said embarrassed. "I'm gonna head home as well."

"Alright. See you around, Colleen."

After walking away, she heard a few of the neighborhood kids talking.

"Where'd you find this weirdo, Jamie?" commented Claude.

"C'mon, you guys," Jamie defended. "It was a snowball fight. There was a lot going on. Maybe she thought she saw someone."

"Well, I certainly didn't see anyone else," said Pippa

"Sounds like a bunch of crazy talk if you ask me," said Cupcake.

Colleen felt so embarrassed. She had made friends and in just one day, they thought she was...weird. Perhaps she just shouldn't bother making friends. It's not like she was going to see them again. Probably leave again in who knows what amount of time. One minute she could be moving in and the next, it's time to go. New town. New home. Another clean slate. Starting over.

Still, hearing them laugh and calling her crazy bothered her. Why didn't anyone believe her? Come tomorrow, she would have to face everyone at school, the rumor would spread around about Crazy Colleen who saw a white-haired teenaged boy. She burst into a run, feeling tears prick her eyes...

Jack saw the whole scene. He frowned, feeling sad. He watched as the girl ran home, crying. He followed her until he reached her house, sitting on a tree.

By night time, Colleen was in bed. She sat up in the dark, unable to sleep. She was still shaken that nobody believed her when she saw that boy. She hugged her knees, lying her head on them...consumed by confusion, embarrassment, and loneliness.

Sighing, she got out of bed to sit on the window seat, resting against the pillows. She looked out the window at the full moon. A shooting star ripped across the sky.

"I wish I had a friend," Colleen said. "I just want a friend...someone I wouldn't have to leave."

Tears formed in Colleen's evergreen eyes. Already new in town, she missed her old home. Her friends. She never had a place to call home. Though the chaplains assured her she would get used to her new home whenever she moved, Colleen didn't think so. It just wasn't fair! Why couldn't her Daddy just say he didn't want to move anymore? Why couldn't she just stay in one place for once?

It was just upsetting. She couldn't stand it anymore. The constant moving. Her Daddy being away. Her Mom in heaven. The loneliness. And now her new friends rejected her. She already hated Burgess. Colleen wanted to scream...but it stuck in her throat. Unable to keep down the overwhelming feelings, Colleen buried her face into a pillow, sobbing until she fell asleep.

Jack watched from the tree. He got closer, seeing the girl was fast asleep at the window; her eyes were puffy and red, her cheeks were wet. She had been crying. After the scene he had witnessed today, he wanted to comfort her. She seemed lonely...like him.

"I'll be your friend," he said; his cold breath frosting the glass. "I hope you can still see me."