A/N: So I decided to add on to this chapter for those of you that already read it.
Warning: Contains child abuse.
The first fire memory Tooth found was little baby Jack. Tooth almost squealed in delight seeing Jack the winter spirit as a baby. She tried to crawl over to the fireplace that was keeping the house warm, but her mother picked her up before she reached there.
"No, Jacklyn. I don't think you'll like fire much if you touch it. Jackie and fire don't go very well together," she said. Tooth almost laughed. 'You have no idea how true that statement is.'
Clearly this wasn't what caused Jack's fear of fire. Tooth had learned that almost all fear is caused by something. Jack being afraid of fire because she is a winter spirit, now that she would have no problem believing. But as a human, especially a human in the 1700s when fire was used to light up homes and keep warm in the winter, there should be something that caused this.
The next one, Jack was a much older, probably ten. She was holding a flaming stick in her hand and was racing through the woods. 'What is such a little girl doing out at this time of night?' Tooth wondered.
It was strange for Tooth to see Jack like that. Not only was she a kid, but her skin had colour in it. Her usual white hair and icy blue eyes were both brown.
"Ollie!" Jacklyn called. "Ollie, where are you?"
'Ollie?'
Jack looked frantic. She shouldn't have looked like that, not at her age. She should be sleeping at this time, not running around in the woods, panicking.
"Jack!" A young girl's voice rang out.
"Ollie!" Jack started running towards the sound. 'Oh! Ollie must be Olivia, Jack's sister,' Tooth reaized.
Sure enough, Jack ran into a miniature versions of herself. Jack stuck the torch into the ground and fell to her knees, wrapping her arms around Olivia.
"Don't you ever run off like that again! When you start to wander into unfamiliar territory, you turn around and come home right away. If you want to explore, go with me. Don't go off by yourself like that! You scared me half to death!"
"You always go off by yourself," the younger girl whispered.
"I know, but I'm twelve and your six." 'Twelve? Wow, she's small for her age.' "Besides, how often do you see me get in trouble?"
"A lot," Olivia admitted.
"Exactly. Now come on," she said, getting to her feet and grabbing the torch again. "Let's get you home before mother and father get home."
The sister's starting walking towards the house. Inside, Jack could see a two shapes. Her parents were home. Tooth wrinkled her nose in disgust. Even from here she could smell the alcohol.
Clearly Jack and Olivia smelled it too. "Will I have to go under the bed again?" Olivia asked.
Jack looked panicked, and Tooth knew why. It was late. She should not be out of the house. Her parents would not be happy knowing that they were outside.
"No. I was worried that this would happen. I bunched up your blankets so it looks like someone is sleeping there. Father's too drunk to notice and if mother does, she won't say anything if she knows I'm home. But I don't want father to see you. It's warm out tonight. Sleep outside."
"But that's a punishment! Don't punish me," Olivia whined. Tooth sighed. Olivia was too young to see that Jack was trying to protect her.
"You ran off, Ollie. That means you need to be punished," Jack said firmly. "You're sleeping outside tonight. If you are quiet and don't make a sound though, I won't make you sleep outside tomorrow. Understand?"
Olivia looked sad, but she nodded. She went to the side of the house and curled into a ball.
Jack sighed and slowly walked into the house, praying that her mother hadn't already pointed out that both of their children were missing.
She opened the door. Her parents turned towards the sound and a look of relief flashed on her mother's face.
"Where were you, young lady?" he father roared.
Instead of answering, Jack looked at her mother. "You look worn out, mother. Maybe you should go to bed."
Tooth waited for Jack's mother to shake her head, to refuse to leave her ten year old daughter alone with her drunk father. To her shock, Jack's mother simply nodded and walked into what must have been the parent's room.
She knew she should be focusing on Jack, but Tooth couldn't help but look around her house. It was small. The house only had two rooms, so the children slept in the same room as the kitchen. The kitchen had a stove and counters. A table and four chairs was just beside where the mother would most likely cook. On the other side of the room, there was a fireplace with a rocking chair and an old couch facing it, but that was about it.
"I'll ask again. Where were you?" Jack's father yelled.
"Went out for a walk," Jack mumbled. Her father struck her across the face and she went reeling, crashing into the table.
Tooth cried out, but to her surprise, Jack didn't let out as much as a whimper. She simply straightened herself out and walked to the fireplace, placing her torch in it and letting the stick burn.
Her father grabbed her arm. "Look at me when I'm talking to you, girl. Should've had a boy instead of you. Look at ya. Scrawny, loud, troublesome and useless. Just a worthless little girl."
Jack looked her father in the eye, her face expressionless. "I'm sure you would have been much happier if I had been a boy."
"No, I would've been happier if I had a boy instead of you," he snapped. If his words stung at all, Jack didn't let that show. She just stood there and said nothing as her father rambled on, occasionally slurring his words.
It was after ten minutes of him yelling and occasionally striking Jack, she made her mistake. As usual, it was because she was thinking of her little sister who was asleep right outside of the thin walls. "Your going to wake Olivia, father," she said.
He paused, not believing that his daughter had just spoken up to him. Then he grabbed her arm and threw her to the ground, knocking over the rocking chair.
Horrified, Tooth rushed over to Jack, knowing perfectly well she couldn't do anything to help. This had happened over 300 years ago. Still…
Her father gave her a firm kick to the ribs. "I think I've been to gentle on you. You're a girl. You never ever speak against a man, you understand me?"
He grabbed the un-burned part of the torch from the fireplace and keeled next to his daughter. "I think it's time you learned a little respect."
"NO!" Tooth yelled. They couldn't hear her. 'Oh, please no. She's ten! Tell me you're going to put that torch back.'
Jack's eyes widened. "Please, father! I'm sorry!" she pleaded. "Please, no!" He rolled her onto her back. She squirmed and tried to wiggle away, but her father was strong.
She let out a scream when the flames hit her dress and burnt through to her back, but quickly shut her mouth. She jerked away from him only to have him grab her leg and placed the torch on her leg.
Tooth was crying now. So was Jack, but ten year old made nothing more than muffled cries. Her father pulled the torch off of her and put it back in the fireplace. Then he gave a strong kick to her gut and walked into his room.
For a while, Jack just laid on the wooden floor, crying into her arm. Almost no sound escaped, she made sure of that. Then she managed to drag herself to her bed and she pulled off her dress.
It was ruined. The burn mark on it was obvious. Jack looked sad, but not for the reason most would think. She was sad because she only owned three dresses, and now she only had two.
Jack started to tear up her dress. A large strip she wrapped around her middle to cover the burn on her back and a smaller one she used on her leg. Then she curled up on her bed and fell asleep.
Tooth knew that she had seen what she wanted to see. Jack had been afraid of fire because her own father had purposely burned her as a punishment. A punishment for going out in the woods alone and finding her lost little sister because her parents were out getting drunk. Well, he father at least.
What else did her father do to her?She felt herself get yanked into another memory.
"JACKLYN AND OLIVIA OVERLAND! GET IN HERE!" a voice roared.
The two girls that were playing in the field at the time, froze. The girls looked the same age as they did in the last memory. Olivia glanced at Jack in fear. "Papa sounds angry. What did we do?"
"I'm not sure. But whatever he says, let me do the talking, okay?"
Olivia nodded and the sisters raced into their house. Their father was waiting for them and he looked furious. "Well? Which one of you was it?"
"What do you mean, father?" Jack asked.
"Someone left the eggs on the table instead of putting them in the cellar. Now, I paid good money for those. Money that we don't have a lot of. Which one of you left them out?" he demanded.
Giving her sister a glance, Olivia was about to open her mouth to own up. Jackie hadn't even been in the house when she took out the eggs. She was too busy caring for the sheep. Before she could say anything, Jack nudged her to the side. "It's my fault, father. I left them out. I'm sorry."
She turned to her little sister. "Olivia, get rid of the eggs. They are no good anymore. Then feed the sheep for me. Don't come in here while father and I are talking, understand?"
"But it was-"
"I said, understand?"
Olivia shut her mouth and nodded. Then she grabbed the spoiled eggs and ran outside. Jack turned and faced her father. He was taking the belt off of his pants. "Turn around and lift your blouse, Jacklyn."
Jack bit her lip and did as she was told. She felt the sharp SNAP of the leather and metal hit her bare skin, and she bit her tongue. After five, she had to hold onto the table to stop herself from falling. Tooth wanted to yell at the man. This was barbaric! He ended up giving his twelve year old daughter thirty lashes before he finally stopped.
The girl's back was red and her knuckled were white. She let her blouse fall over her back again and faced her father. He struck her across the face, hard. To Tooth's dismay, it looked as if Jack was expecting that.
"Learn your lesson, girl?"
"Yes father."
"Good. You need to be behave better than you normally do if you ever want to find a husband. If no man will except you by the time you're sixteen, I'm tossing you out. Understand me?"
"Yes father. I understand."
"Go help your sister then. And don't you be telling your mother about this when she gets home. You're enough of a burden as it is. She shouldn't have to be worrying about you, which she probably will. Heaven knows why."
She only nodded then hurried out to help her sister.
The last memory, Jack was much older. She looked almost the same age she did currently, maybe a bit younger. She and her mother and sister were all wearing black dresses. They stood over a grave. Her mother and sister were both crying. Jack looked very sad, but no tears fell. Tooth couldn't blame her. Obviously her father had died, but she had gotten beaten badly by him. She wasn't all that surprised she didn't cry
Then it pulled her a few months into the future. Jack kissed her sister goodbye and walked out the door. She ran into town, to the town bakery. 'She got a job,' Tooth guessed.
"Hi Mr. Froth," she said cheerfully.
"Jacklyn, so glad you're here. I need you to run out and grab some flour for me."
"Uh, sure. Yeah, I can do that."
"Great." The man opened the oven to pull some bread out. Tooth saw Jack flinch at the fire, but she managed to keep her composure. She instead took a step back and waited.
"Here's some money for it," Mr. Froth said, handing some to her. "Hurry back. I want you to be able to bake bread as well as me by the end of this week, so we have no time to lose."
"Right. Okay, I'll be back soon," she called and she raced out.
Smiling, Tooth knew she wanted to see more. She wanted to see the good memories Jack had. After seeing her in the memories, Tooth was fairly certain she would never look at Jack the same way again. The girl was strong, even at a young age, and she was kind at the same time.
But, despite that, she knew she shouldn't. Jack didn't know she was poking into her memories. She most likely didn't even want Tooth to see them. The least Tooth could do was respect that.
She pulled herself out of the memories, and just sat there for a while, collecting her thoughts. Then she put the teeth away and flew back to the Pole.
North greeted her. "Tooth. Jack left a few hours ago. Something about needed to give Alberta snow? I don't understand why, it's July there, but I suppose if she wants to give Alberta snow, she's going to give it snow."
Tooth nodded but didn't say anything. "Well? Did you find what you were looking for?" he asked.
"Yes. I did."
"And?"
She looked at him. "And we can't help her. Not with this. But I don't think she needs us to. All we can do is be there if she needs us." She smiled. "She's strong. Stronger than me, that's for sure. She's going to be fine."
Again, thanks general yumi for the suggestion. If you have a suggestion, leave me a review and there's a good chance I'll use it. Hope you all enjoyed!
