Unseeing but still feeling.
Jack didn't know her name; he couldn't even say he recognized her. The first time he saw the brown haired, brown eyed girl in the long clothe dress, he felt like he had been kicked in the stomach. Except it wasn't like when he had been walked through, the feeling that surged through him and made him forget to breath, was intense joy. He wanted to grab this girl, spin her around high above his head and make her squeal with glee. He moves a step forward but stops himself just in time.
He squints and studies her carefully, from her hair to the small mole just below her left eye and wracks his memory but as usual, all he gets is a headache. The feeling fades and he sits on the tree branch and waits. He doesn't have anywhere to be, he can spend a little time watching and following the little girl.
Over the next few days, he watched.
He sees her home, a small wooden cabin and sees what he assumes is her family. Her mother looks pale and sad but a glimmer of a smile is always on her face around the little girl and often she will hold her close to her in a tight embrace and after a minute she would let go with great difficulty. The father was a tall, strong man. He was quiet but his presence took up the room. He often led the family in their daily prayers and sat at the head of the table and nodded as his family discussed their day quietly. There were some evenings though when the man would take his axe, go outside and instead of chopping the fallen trees at the edge of the woods for the fire, he would sit on a stump, stare at the moon for a few minutes and then bury his head in his hands and stay like that for a long time.
Jack didn't understand it, but the more he stared at this family, the more he followed their lives, the more the ache in his chest grew. He found himself sitting outside, under their window, unshed tears as the mother put the little girl to bed and later on when she was alone he would hear her gentle breathing and on some nights, soft sobs.
The more he saw the family and realized he couldn't help the mother carry the heavy vegetables from the market like he wanted to, couldn't carry the firewood inside after the man had finished axing, couldn't sit with the little girl by the fire and tell her stories, he realized he couldn't stay in Burgess. He would have to leave his lake. He had stopped concentrating on the weather, a mild Winter season, devoid of fresh blankets of snow every few days, no windowpanes lined with frost. Jack wasn't eating, he had become obsessed and every day, the sadness in him grew heavier and he didn't understand why.
The family would visit a rock and the man would say a prayer of sorts while the woman would hold the little girl close to her. It struck Jack that something awful must have happened to make the family cry over a rock with a mark like the house of prayers had. He wished he could reach out to them and show them how to smile. Burgess was a tough town and the family worked hard like the rest of the community to get by. Jack wanted to point out all the fun they could have and all the reasons to smile, except it was getting much harder for Jack himself to smile.
One day the girl appeared by his lake. She was a little older but still very much a child. Jack silently urged her to come onto the lake, he willed her to roll in the snow and play on the thick iced lake.
It's safe, he thought. Come and play. Look what I brought you.
He sent a small, intricately shaped snowflake gently towards her and it landed on her pale cheek. She blinked and looked up; a small smile appeared on her face and Jack grinned, pleased to see something so genuine on a little girl that had become important to him. Then her eyes fell on the lake and she dropped to her knees and she began openly crying, shoulders shaking as her body was racked with her sobbing. Jack darted forward and knelt in front of her.
"No", he begged, "don't cry."
He reached forward to brush the hair away from her face but his hand passed through, he willed his body to provide the comfort he wanted to give her.
Just one touch.
As his hand passed through her, the girl shivered. He stayed with her like that for what seemed like a long time. The place of his birth seemed to really upset her and Jack clenched his hands as he realized the few days he had intended to observe her had turned into weeks. Jack felt like he may never be happy again. He didn't want to smile, he didn't want to laugh or play, he found he had become nothing more than a shadow. That night he left Burgess, signalling his absence with a strong blizzard.
When he returned, the century had changed. Gone were the little cabins, the town had become more industrial. His lake was still there and as he skated on the ice, he felt good to be home. The little girl and her family were long gone as well as the rock they had sometimes gathered around. Jack felt a fleeting sense of a missed opportunity on the thought that he would never see the family again but the heaviness that had plagued him last time he was in Burgess was gone.
It would be a long time before a child impacted him like that little girl had.
End.
Well hope you enjoyed. I have written a small list of the one-shot suggestions in the reviews and intend to tackle them as the inspiration hits. I'm looking forward to writing the claustrophobia fic! On the plus side I found a wifi place much closer to me so updates will be more regular. The reviews really keep me motivated and wanting to write more, quicker so really thankyou! I noticed a few typos in my stories and realize when I type I pick them up and then think I will go back and fix them but then I don't so now I will try and fix them as I see them. Please let me know of anything you would like to see, I am contemplating the idea of a Bunnymund discipline fic…
Wildkitkat
:3