Love Guardians

Jack's List Of People Who Forgot

 ELSA WAS LONG OVER the little incident of hers by the time they got to the hill. They both discussed who won and who lost and they decided that it was a tie; it would only be fair that they both won. They sat in the snow letting the silence encase them as they watched the stars in the sky. After a few minutes, Elsa got tired of the annoying yet comforting silence because she wanted to talk. So, she turned her head to the boy and said, “So, what is your name?”

  He started laughing and she stared blankly at her. He turned to her and his laughing died down a little, “You’re serious?”

  “I can’t really not know your name forever.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yes, seriously!” Elsa exclaimed.

  “Ja–” he was about to say, but was interrupted by a gold light. It was like a gold mist had appeared in the sky all the way from the stars, it pouring all its light into the dark sky that was clear just a second ago. It was like gold sand in the sky, seeming as if it defied gravity like the same ends of a magnet repelled each other. A mound of golden dust was in the sky, and it seemed as if it was the only source of light in the sky because it exceeded the brightness of the stars. From afar, Elsa could only vaguely make out the image of a small, gold man on the tiniest motes of dust. It was only then she realized the golden dust was coming from him.

  “But – uh –” Elsa spoke incoherently, unable to make a proper sentence because she was too caught up in amazement and the beauty of what was before her. She turned to the boy, “How did I not know of this?”

  “You’re oblivious.” He shrugged.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Should I spell that out? Okay. Y-O-U, apostrophe, R-E O-B –”

  “I know what you said,” She retorted, waving her hands in the air as a signal for him to stop, “But what do you mean by that?”

  He sighed. “Everybody is a little oblivious of the world and what’s around them sometimes. I know a lot about people being oblivious.”

  “Why do you know a lot about people being oblivious?”

  “Wow,” he said and turned his head toward his kind-of-friend who was the Sandman, evidently trying to avoid Elsa’s questions which were beginning to become annoying. “That’s beautiful.”

  Elsa took a sharp intake of breath in annoyance. “I command you to answer my question.”

  He stared blankly at her. “Nobody commands me.”

  “Who is ‘me’ supposed to be?” Elsa questioned him rather rudely, crossing her arms after using air quotations.

  “Nope.” He said nonchalantly. Elsa threw her hands up in frustration and was surprised about what he did next.

  He turned to her and, in one swift motion, he cupped her face in his hands and looked at her with wide eyes and eyebrows furrowed. “My name is Jack. See if you can remember who I am; then I’ll put you on the list of people who actually remember and know me.” Jack laughed bitterly. “That is a very short list, indeed.”

  After that, she shut up. Jack, Jack, Jack, she kept repeating in her brain. Elsa recalled hearing that name before but yet couldn’t exactly place when and where. Jack stared at her blankly for a few minutes and she shrugged. “Haven’t seen you before; how do you expect me to remember you?”

  “The thing is,” Jack sighed, looking at her sadly. “You have seen me before. Unfortunately, you’ve made it to the longer list.”

  “Is that bad?”

  He didn’t reply but just continued watching Sandy in the sky working his magic and letting people fall asleep in their peaceful dreams about whatever children thought of rather than the terrifying nightmares Pitch would give them. After the light died down and Sandy was on his way toward different parts of the world, they sat in silence for what seemed like an hour. Jack startled Elsa – who was reminiscing about the days she and Anna were children and played in the snow – by standing up and starting to walk away. All he said was “don’t follow me” but a few seconds later he turned around and shouted, “Yes, it’s bad!”