His Evil Half
Chapter 5: Vanessa's Memories
CRASH! North's sleigh crashed onto the ground. "Do we always have to have a bumpy landing at Saint Burgess?" Bunnymund grumbled, climbing at the back of the sleigh. North stumbled out too, rather disorientated and dizzy. Luckily, no one noticed, because they had landed on top of a building, and the person living on the top floor was coincidentally on vacation at that very moment. Vanessa quickly stooped down and helped up her friend Sandy before pulling him out of the sleigh. "'Kay, now what do we do?" Jack asked impatiently. Tooth hovered in the air beside him. "We have to search this place." She muttered, looking round. North finally managed to come to his senses seconds later. "We split up." He instructed. "Bunnymund, Sandy and I will head northwest. Jack, Tooth and Vanessa, you go southwest." Just great, Tooth thought in frustration. "Hey, that's where Jamie lives!" Jack exclaimed. Oh yeah, I forgot that. Tooth thought. Vanessa gave him a blank look. "Who's Jamie?" She said in confusion. "My friend." Jack explained. "Okay…" Vanessa answered, still confused. The six guardians turned. "Wait!" North bellowed, turning back round. "Yes?" Tooth said. North looked round. "Keep an eye out for Jan Frost and Eerie." He said in a low voice.
After this, they headed in the separate directions. Jack, Tooth and Vanessa flew from building to building, peering down at the streets to see. But there was hardly anyone. In fact, totally no one. Everyone had gone to sleep, so the streets were deserted. Still no sign of Eerie Black and his teenage accomplice, Tooth thought, zipping from here and there and checking every alley and corridor. She was going to fly back to Jack and Vanessa to inform them that she still hadn't found anything yet, but she stopped a distance away. Jack and Vanessa were talking away. Jack was smiling as he talked, and Vanessa was laughing. Tooth hid behind a wall and folded her arms angrily. Shouldn't they be checking for Eerie and Jan instead of chatting with each other? Her jealousy was growing just watching Vanessa giggling every few seconds. But that was only because Jack was telling her about how he met Jamie, and they weren't actually talking about anything personal. Unluckily, Tooth couldn't hear that. All she saw was a stupid bimbo wearing a pink hoodie with a quiver, two bows and white feathery wings trying to flirt with Jack. Actually, she knew Vanessa wasn't a bimbo, but she was only calling her that because she thought Vanessa was trying to make Jack like her. Okay, that's it. I'm going somewhere else to look. Tooth quickly flittered up and zipped over the building and onto another road. Little did she know that Jack and Vanessa were thinking a bit themselves as they talked. Why doesn't Tooth talk to Vanessa? Jack wondered. Does she have something against her? Or…maybe I talk to Vanessa too much? Meanwhile, Vanessa was kind of troubled as well. Maybe Tooth likes Jack, and I'm in the way? She thought nervously.
At that moment, Tooth was walking on a deserted road. Not flying, because she was still deep in thought about this conflict about Jack and Vanessa. As she was walking, suddenly she heard a person say, "I wouldn't stand there if I were you." Tooth gasped and looked up. "Jamie?" She said in disbelief. The young boy who had first believed in Jack Frost was walking towards her in his pyjamas. "What are you doing out here?" Tooth asked. "It's 1a.m. in the morning!" Jamie looked embarrassed. "I woke up in the middle of the night when I heard Jack and you fly past my window." "Oh. Sorry about that." Tooth said. Jamie grinned. "Never mind. I was hoping to see you guys again. What are you here for, anyway?" It took Tooth a few minutes to explain to Jamie about the new guardian, Eerie, and the evil twin he created. "Whoa." Jamie said. "Jack's evil twin? She's bad, I know, but I'd love to see that." "Yep." Tooth said. "And this new guardian? Sounds interesting." "It does." She almost wanted to tell Jamie that Vanessa was a bit threatening to her because she got along well with Jack, but she kept silent about that "But anyway, what's wrong with this spot I'm standing at?" Tooth asked, pointing below. Jamie quickly pulled her away from the road and onto the pavement. "Something happened here." He responded quietly.
Tooth was about to ask what, when there was a whoosh, and Jack and Vanessa landed beside her. "There you are!" Vanessa exclaimed. "Where were you, Tooth?" Jack asked, before turning to Jamie and saying hi to him. "Took you guys long enough." Tooth muttered. "Jack Frost!" Jamie exclaimed, hugging his legs. "You're back!" "Yeah." Jack smiled. Suddenly Vanessa tapped his shoulder. "Ahem." She snapped. "Oh." Jack realised that Jamie still couldn't see her yet. "Jamie, this is our new guardian, Vanessa Rose." Jamie finally blinked, and the teen came into view. "Hi." Vanessa said awkwardly. "Hi." Jamie said, a bit shocked. "Something wrong, Jamie?" Jack asked. "N-nothing." Jamie stuttered. "It's just that, she's standing on that spot." "Spot?" Vanessa stared down at her feet, and then she leapt onto the pavement next to Tooth. "What's with that spot?" Jamie gulped. "That's what I was about to tell Tooth when you guys came." The trio looked at one another. "Tell us." They insisted. Jamie hesitated for a moment before telling the story. "My mother has a friend. Her daughter was hit by a car at that very spot on the road a year ago and died." "I'm really sorry to hear that." Jack murmured. "Yeah." Jamie sighed. "She was around your age, you know." Vanessa felt a strange feeling go through her. "How did you know this?" Tooth asked. "I heard my mum comforting her as she explained what had happened." Jamie explained. "What happened next was weird." "What?" Vanessa prompted. "During the night after they buried her, her daughter's coffin disappeared completely. No one could find it anywhere." "Really?" Jack said in shock. Jamie nodded. "But the girl's mother didn't believe that the coffin had been taken. She believed her daughter was alive. For some time, people thought she was mad or something." "And now?" Jack asked. "She doesn't mention it so much now." Jamie sighed. "Wow." Tooth commented. "What a mystery."
"You said it." Jack agreed. "Come on, Jamie. Let's get you back to your home. I don't want Eerie to hurt you." "Okay." Jack, Tooth and Jamie all walked to Jamie's house. Vanessa followed close behind. The story seemed to repeat over and over again in her mind. A dark place, full of funny shaped stones. That's the earliest thing I can remember, Vanessa thought. And Jamie said the girl was around Jack's age…
Splashfire99: Ooh, could it be?
