The idea for these next few chapters came from Randomly Talented. Thank you for all you great ideas and suggestions!
I also want to thank all of you for Following, Favoring, and Reviewing. As always if you have a song or story idea you'd like to see in this or any of my other one shot stories please send them my way! Thank you all again!
This chapter and the ones to follow, as the title suggests, brings up topics and stories about war and the effects it has on people. It will be emotional! I want to take this time to thank all the Veterans, and service men and Women past, present, and future. You are all amazingly brave. Thank you for your service and all you do for your country and it's people!
It was only natural that the next selection of unhappy memories that came rushing back to him would be the many wars he'd seen. Once again Jack faltered, feeling like he should pull his hood up and hide. He did not want to tell these stories, especially to kids! That's when the winter spirit remembered great grandpa had asked him about if he'd been witness to any wars last year. He looked up and met the old Bennett's eyes.
That's all it took, great grandpa Bennett stood and went to put his hand on Jack. "It's hard to remember, but we need to! To honor those who gave everything and so we can strive to stop it from happening again."
Jack looked down and gave a sad shake of the head. "I've seen too much! I've witnessed over 50 of them and each one has been horrible to watch. I could do nothing! Nothing to stop the fighting, nothing to help the wounded, nothing to comfort the families, and nothing to convince myself that I couldn't have done more!"
"Jack?" The scared voice made Jack's spin. His mood was being picked up on by the kids, he was scaring them.
Just great, he thought, now I'm hurting these kids. Some guardian I am.
More than a few adults were gathering around Jack now. He saw the tall tale signs of veterans, a tattoo here, a scar there, a limp, or a favorited appendage. But mostly the signs were from eyes that had seen more than they wanted to and people that had lived through battle. That's when he realized, he had seen a lot! More than most, in fact, but it didn't matter how many times or how much suffering. Each of them had the same things on their minds as he did. That hurt, guilt, and sorrow! Every one of these men and women now surrounding him knew and could relate to the things he himself was burdened by. Still…, he thought. Then finally out loud he said; "I just wish I could have done something!" Tears came with his words.
"You want talk about it?" Sophie surprise Jack, and the others, by coming and wrapping her little arms around the spirits leg. Her words, one of the longest sentences Jack had ever heard her say, were sincere.
"I don't know if that's a good idea." He told her honestly.
"We want to help!" Jamie spoke up.
"Yeah!" The kids and teens chorused.
Jack looked at the veterans and parents alike, asking with his eyes what he should do. Some of the mothers took the younger kids over to the side and explained that this was big people talk, and then distract them with games. Jack felt the adults had made a good decision. And not just because he didn't know the right answers to this situation. By five kids had a good sense of things, it was still easy to scare them but by now they had probably seen news reports or heard talk around town about harsh things and understood them to a point. This way maybe he could help give some of their questions some answers. Jack sat, and every one of his audience did the same.
"Well, what's making you sad?" The innocent/simple question had no easy answer. How do you approach this kind of thing with kids?
Jamie was the one who spoke next, breaking the silence. "Is it the battle between pitch and the guardians?"
"What?" Timmy asked.
"The guardians have been fighting pitch, the bogeyman, for centuries. Last year at Easter, when all the nightmares were plaguing us, the battle had almost been one by pitch. But Jack, the guardians, and me and my friends, turned the tide."
"Wow! So good won?"
All the kids chatted excitedly but Jack still didn't have any idea how to talk about what he had been trying to say before Jamie had jumped in. WAR. It was such a heavy topic. A tug at his sleeve made him look down.
"Uncle Jack? Is the fighting I heard about on TV the same as your battle? And who is the good guys?"
Jack smiled at little Tess, at age 6 she was inquisitive and had obviously seen the war news reports. Her question actually was a perfect way to get the ball rolling, so to speak. In his as caring and reassuring a voice as he could he told her; "No Tess, what is on TV is different from the guardians and Pitch's battle.