No One Loves the Cold-Jack Frost

No One Loves the Cold-Jack Frost (on hold)

"Don't go too far, and be back soon.... oh, maybe you shouldn't go at all."

" Come on, Jane! It's winter! As in WIN-ter!"

Jane Marie Blackthorne laughed at the boy in front of her. She shook her head disapprovingly, making her loose brown curls bounce with an almost-youthful joy. The woman was barely twenty and yet...

She was the only family this boy had.

"Jack, I'm just worried. I don't want you getting lost, especially not on the eve of the eclipse," she reminded as she looked up at the sky.

The boy scoffed. "You're so superstitious Jane. The stupid old moon has nothing to do with anything!" he protested as she raised an eyebrow. This boy, Jack, as she christened him, was very important to him. He was a candle in the darkness, the first crack of dawn in the morning, he was everything. She didn't want to lose him.

"Be back by sundown and play nicely with the other boys okay?" she begged. The one thing that she wanted for Jack was to have friends, but the little orphaned misfit couldn't seem to get along with the other village boys and their families. That was how he had no choice but to go to Jane for help.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Before Jane met Jack, she had been working as a prostitute for a living. She had a cosy little house on the outskirts of the village, far from the proper villagers' sights. Nobody ever ventured this far, except for the lustful and improper men. One cold and ominous night as Jane was reflecting on her life, there was a knock upon her old wooden door.

"Excuse me?" a small voice rang from behind the door. She sprang up from the small fire and hurried to the door.

"What are you doing in the cold? Come on in!" she said as she opened the door to a little boy of about ten years old. He smiled up at her with the biggest brown eyes she'd ever seen. He seemed to possess all of her favourite traits; blond hair, brown eyes, red freckles splattering on the backs of his hands, and an evenly tanned skin. He boldly walked into her one-room cabin and sat himself in front of the blazing fire.

"My name is Jack! I'm and adventure-er-er!" he announced with the same smile.

She laughed. "I'm Jane, Jane Marie Blackthorne. I'm not an adventure-er-er."

He looked confused at her reply and crawled over to her. He motioned for Jane to bend over and whispered into her ear, "Everyone is an adventure-er-er. They just experience different adventures."

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Pain. That was what I felt when the snowball collided with the back of my head.

"Hey circus freak!" the husky, deep voice taunted. I turned to glare at the tormentors as I massaged my head, trying to ease the pain.

"What do you want, Richard?" I asked coldly, making sure every bit of my harsh tone would be felt. Richard and his cronies were all the same. They were village boys and I was an adventurer. I wasn't like them. Not one bit.

They had dirty brown hair while mine was blond.

They had sly green eyes while mine were brown.

Their skin was pale white while mine was richly tanned.

They were short while I was tall.

They had complete families while I had Jane.

They had hard-earned money while we church donations.

They were boring while I was different.

"Oh... I was just thinking that maybe you and your freaky prostitute mother would consider leaving Rockbrook forever," he spat the words like they were venom from his mouth. The words deeply stung my heart as I rolled my eyes and sauntered over. I easily towered over Richard and his friends as I was 5'10 and they were barely 5'2.

"Richard, Richard, Richard. You little-" BAM. I fell over when another snowball smacked me straight in the face. I lay there, slightly dazed from the hit, letting the antagonizers surround me. There were five of them; Richard, John, Peter, Owen and Michel. They stood over and leaned in, making me feel trapped.

"Nice going, dumbass. Now what do we do? John smacked Michel's arm. Michel thought John was trying to intimidate him and accepted his challenge. Soon enough, they were caught up in their own little fight, totally oblivious and distracted. I seized the chance and ran off.

"He is getting away!" I heard Owen shout. My heart pounded faster and faster as I made my getaway. I knew I could outrun them. Come on Jack, you can do it! Jack be nimble, jack be quick...well you get the idea.

Snow and ice whizzed past my head as they made failed attempts to hit a moving target. I kept running until all was.... silent. I turned around and the village boys were about ten feet away, staring at me with open mouths.

"Jack... come back here..." Richard whispered.

"Why?" I hissed in annoyance as he pointed at my feet. I looked down. I was standing in the middle of a frozen fishing lake. I froze. Carefully, I took a step back and balanced---

CRACK!

I looked up at the boys for the last time and fell through the ice.

A/N:

hey!!! HCB here and this, my tacos, is my latest project. y'all probably hate me for making it when i still need to update DLLJ and OLR but i couldnt resist! shoutout to my amazing editor (do you see what she did to my writing? FABULOUS!!!) yall should fan her and just die over her k? k. @firestarsfairylights