Just Let Me Die

Chapter 1: The Darkness of Pain

"Oh, no you don't." Connor growled as Jack tried to wrench free. He drove his fist into the Winter Spirit's stomach, hard.

Jack would have slumped to the ground if Bolt and Crash, the Lightning and Thunder Spirits, hadn't been holding him upright. The breath whooshed from his lungs, the woods around him spun in a circle.

"Come on, Connor!" Summer whined, tossing her blond hair. "You're going too easy on him." 

Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up-

Connor glared at her. "C'mon babe," The Autumn Spirit said, "You know I'm only getting warmed up." The sun reflected off his red-brown hair, his eyes the red color of the fallen leaves.

Bolt, who controlled lightning, had pale grey eyes and purple hair. Crash, who was in charge of thunder, had black hair and irises. Both were strong, muscly, and heartless. 

All of them were.

Jack tried once again to get away. He didn't want this. He didn't want to be afraid of coming outside. And he didn't want it to be because of these four. The thing was, though, they were smart. No matter what, they would find him.

"Quit trying to escape, you." Summer said, her pink lips forming a sassy pout. "You know you'll only make it so far before we catch you again."

"Give... Me... My... Staff... " Jack gasped out each word, his chest heaving from exhaustion.

"Shut up," Connor curled his hand into a fist, and aimed at Jack's face. Jack tried to duck, but Crash grabbed a handful of his hair, forcing his head up, forcing him to see it come.

"Stop moving," He said nastily. 

Connor threw his fist forward, smashing Jack in the eye. He drew back and hit him again, this time in the nose. A crackling pain sparked across his vision before flaring to life, but Jack didn't let it show.

He would never let it show.

"Let us have a turn, Connor." Bolt said, "You always make us hold him."

"Please, you guys get to go even more than I do," Summer snapped, "If anyone gets to mess with him next, it's me." Her pink eyes narrowed.

Jack could have laughed then. Here they were, wheedling for their turn to hurt him. Fighting, quarreling, like kids did over the TV remote or whose turn it was to pick a movie. 

But he didn't laugh.

"Shut up, guys." Connor rolled his eyes. "If anyone gets to go next, it's Summer, because she's my girl."

"Ha!" Summer stuck out her tongue at the other two spirits. Bolt glared and dug his fingers into Jack's arm, as if it was his  fault.

"Let go-" Jack's breath hitched in his chest as Crash kicked him in the shin. "-of me!"

"Let's see," Summer tapped her chin with a pedicured finger thoughtfully. "What can I do that's plenty of fun?"

"Don't use my Center that way!" Jack cried, anger jumping up inside him. Connor made a furious noise in his throat, starting forward, but Summer glared at him and he held back.

"Your Center, little Guardian?" She sneered. "Of all people, Manny chose you. The one he ignored. The one he never spoke to. The runt of the litter, if you will. You're weak. Sad. Pathetic. And yet, he chose you. He gave you believers."

"That's-" Jack began to protest.

"You know, all Elemental Spirits are in the same... Let's call it a family. Just like all the elements and seasons are linked, so are we. Think of Manny as the head of the family, like the father." She smiled cruelly.