He was falling, falling into the never-ending darkness. The cold pressed in, filled his lungs with icy shards that threatening to burst from inside his body. He strained to see through the murky darkness. He opened his mouth to call out, but it filled with tar and muck, it slid down his throat and like an anchor in his stomach it pulled him down. As he sank, struggling against the bonds that held him there, and just before the darkness took hold, he heard someone laugh.
He woke with a start, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he tried to catch his breath. He closed his eyes, and tried to calm himself, focusing in on his breathing to steady himself.
In and out, in and out.
His heart pounded against his chest, ready to burst out. Sweat plastered his brow and his hands shook as they searched for the familiar warped wood of his staff.
In and out, in and out.
Eventually, when his breathing calmed and his heart steadied, he opened his eyes. Squinting against the sun, he stood up and stretched. Another warm day was there in greeting. The wind whistled past, making ripples in the long grass that surrounded his pond. A frog poised on a nearby rock let out a croak and a butterfly danced among the flowers now in bloom. Jack sighed, this was such an early spring, and surely the others would have to take notice of his absence. Unless, of course, they were too consumed with their own responsibilities to notice Jack's disappearance.
Jack toyed with the idea of going to Sandy about his dreams. They had only been getting worse recently, and if anyone could help it would be the Sandman. But Sandy would probably just chastise him for interrupting his work; after all, he did have millions of childrens' dreams to tend to.
He pushed the idea aside. He could deal with the nightmares more than he could deal with the disapproving stares from the other Guardians. He had cared for himself for so long before; he didn't need their help just for some silly nightmares. With Pitch destroyed, the nightmares couldn't be his doing anyway. The Guardians would laugh at his concern, they're just nightmares, and how much harm could they do?
"Plenty of harm, if placed in the right situation."
Jack spun around, searching for the source of the voice.
"Who's there," he said tentatively, unsure if he was just hallucinating from his lack of sleep or if he was in real danger.
"Oh I've always been here, Jack. Just took you a little longer to notice me than I anticipated."
"Who are you? Where are you?!" Jack's heart started pounding against his chest again; the sound of blood rushing through his ears filled his head.
"You know the answer to that, Jack," the voice was growing louder, and an unmistakable cackle echoed in the woods. Jack knew who this was; he could never forget that voice.
"Pitch! Where are you?" he shouted out, unsure of where the bogeyman may be hiding. All the shadows of the forest seemed to close in; anyone could be concealing the threat.
Then a whisper came out of the darkness, it wasn't hiding in the woods, but instead seemed to be inside of Jack. It chilled him to the bone and sent shivers down his spine. "I'm right here."
The sky went black and the shadows condensed into matter. It all pressed in on him, threatened to crush him. Jack collapsed to his knees, struggling to catch his breath.
In and out, in and-
dun dun dunnnnn! hope you enjoyed it, i hope to get the next chapter up tomorrow, maybe even sooner.
special thanks to AyameKitsune, for leaving an awesome comment!
please keep reviewing!