January 24, 2013
It was a white-drowned morning in Burgess, the kind of morning kids squeal over and jump around for. It usually snows in the winter, but there are the days where there's no school because the snow is too piled up. These days are the happiest ones for Jamie Bennett, but only because he knows who decides to visit on these special occasions.
And, because of that, when he wakes up to the snowflakes dotting his window, he jumps out of bed to get dressed. He makes sure to grab his sled before hopping over to his little sister's room, excited to get Elsie out and about.
Ever since she moved in, she's been sitting on the blow-up mattress watching re-runs of classics, cuddled up with their dog, Abby, all day long. And, not that Jamie wouldn't mind doing that with her, but Elsie literally does nothing else. What he doesn't know is that it's a way for her to think about things other than her parents. She's supposed to be out looking for a job so she can move out, but she's not emotionally ready yet. She's one of those type of people to bottle up all her feelings and never let a tear slip.
It's honestly not healthy, but she's always been that way. You'd think she would've cried already, but not a drop has fallen.
"Elsie! Elsie!"
Jamie stuck his head inside Sophie's room, seeing the 2-year old sprawled across her bed with the sheets a mess. Typical Soph, he thought. "Elsie, get up!" He sing-songs, his hat sliding to the left as he steps over to his grumpy cousin cocooned in blankets. "It's snowing!"
"It snows every day," the once-sleeping teenager grumbles under the sheets, but before she could get another word out how she needs 5 more minutes (well, in reality it'd be hours), Jamie yanks the comfy duvet off.
"Hey!" She exclaims, snapping straight up to send a glare at the smirking 10-year old.
"It doesn't snow like this every day! Guess who's coming?" Jamie bounces on his toes, tossing the big cover on top of Sophie who, at the moment, seems to be unstirred by any of the racket going on in her bedroom.
Elsie just fell back onto the mattress, curling up into a ball so she could sleep again.
"Awe, El, please? We still haven't tried out my helicopter y'know," Jamie mused, rocking back and forth on his heels, hoping his cousin would at least keep her promise from almost a month ago. Sure, he was disappointed, but he too was mourning over the passing of two very important people in their lives. It was a tough few weeks, but with the help of his friends, Jamie got back into the game. It wasn't like that for Elsie, though.
She sat up slowly and lazily, leaning back on the squishy portable with her hands. Her eyes, dazed like a steaming and swirling hot cup of cocoa, squinted open with caution, eyeing the room until her gaze landed on her giddy little cousin. "Let me change," Elsie sighed, a puff of air appearing in front of her lips due to the cold. Jamie, as excited as could be, was glad she was going to finally meet Jack. He's told her all about Pitch Black's Nightmare attack and how he helped, and how he met the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, Santa, Sandman, and of course Jack Frost. Jamie explained the nicknames and how the Easter Bunny was "Super cool and like, 6 feet tall!", and how Santa Clause likes to be called North and that he has actual tattoos, and how Tooth has these mini versions of her that collect the teeth, and especially how Sandy doesn't actually talk. The boy talked in a jumble, but she always understood.
And unlike many people, Elsie wasn't lying when she said she believed him. In fact, she believes in all the people he had an adventure with. Her bedtime stories as a kid were about the four legends, how their most important job was to protect children. Jamie added Jack Frost to the list, but that was certainly okay. When she heard Jamie's story, she got pretty confused. Turning 15 meant thinking those were just stories to help her fall asleep, made-up tales that she believed in as a child. She never wanted to ruin it for Jamie, though; she knew how much it meant to her when she was a kid, so she passed it on to her younger cousin. Then she heard Jamie's story and boom- her mind was a whirl pool of mess.
Elsie had a theory to prove his adventure, so she got her 11-year old neighbor to give her one of his baby teeth. It wasn't a big deal, seeing how he always had his teeth knocked out in his hockey games, so the little guy didn't mind one bit. She hid it under her pillow, hoping the tooth fairy (or baby tooth- wasn't sure who would be more disappointed it wasn't hers) wouldn't care, and fell asleep. Right when her eyes peeled open, her hands went straight to her pillow, throwing it up quickly. The tooth wasn't there- she got excited for a moment- but then she noticed, neither was the gold coin everyone gets. When she went to go baby-sit her neighbor, though, he informed her he got an extra coin that morning.
And that's when Elsie began believing again.
"El! Hurry up!"
Her glossy hair was thrown into the usual swirl on top of her head, hoping the ear muffs covering the sides of her face doesn't slip off. With a swift movement, she had pulled on her boots and faded gloves, ready for a day in the snow. El wasn't actually very keen on the idea, but it's better than staying on that uncomfortable mattress all day. Scooping up the snoring Sophie, she made her way to the kitchen, wanting to grab a granola bar before heading out.
"Ah, nice to see you finally dressed in something other than your pajamas," her aunt smiled, then continuing to wipe off the counter full of crumbs. Elsie's eyes met the culprit who undoubtfully was the one who made the crumbs of the cereal box spill over.
"What?" Jamie mumbled, grinning widely after swallowing a spoon full of Lucky Charms.
The 17-year old just rolled her eyes playfully, snatching up a granola from one of the lower cabinets, pulling down the wrapper before biting some off. The morning was going well so far, and even though Jamie knew his cousin wasn't acting as happy as could be, he had a plan to get some fun into her system. He's tried before, but if he couldn't get her to cheer up, he knew who could.
"Why do you have your sled? I thought we were going to fly the helicopter," Elsie drawled out, quirking one of her defined brows after following the short boy out the door. His movements stopped for second, but turned around with a nervous smile.
"Uh, we're going to stand on it while flying the helicopter..?" Jamie tried, wincing when her questioning look increased. "Yeah! It's for standing, duh Elsie!"
"You do realize you forgot the helicopter, right?" Now her hand was on her hip, her bun sagging to the right from her head being tilted to the side.
Jamie's face fell for a second, but he quickly regained his chill posture. "Psht, woops!" He laughed forcefully, "I guess we'll just have to sled then." He paused, only to see his cousin's stature unchanged. "Okaylet'sgo," he sputtered out, grabbing her hand.
I'm being kidnapped by my own 10-year old cousin, Elsie thought in her head, scoffing silently, what a way to go.
Jamie's hat had dipped forward through his struggle, so maybe he couldn't see clearly, but he knew where he was going. Elsie, on the other hand, had no clue. His small hand tugged hers while complaining how they needed to get there faster, her lips becoming chapped from being straight-faced the whole time. She was not going to make a comment. She was afraid that if she did, it'd be way too slap-worthy for her liking. With all this emotion cramped inside of her, her moods were mostly grumpy and boring. No more outrageous pranks on Jamie's neighbor, no more piggy-back rides through the house so Soph could pretend she was a horsie, and not much smiling to go around. Anger was her escape, which wasn't any more healthy than never releasing those feelings.
The walk (more like drag) wasn't so long, but when they reached their destination, Jamie's feelings were much different than Elsie's. His were excitement and you could tell by the bouncing he was doing, but hers were confusion and, at the same time, wondrous curiosity. It was a pond- a frozen over pond- and, sure, it looked cool with all the giant rocks surrounding it like a wall along with gigantic trees, but Elsie refused to give in.
But it was so hard.
Her lips were twitching and she forced herself not to run around yelling how awesome it is. She wanted to feel the wind brushing against her cheeks and she wanted to step onto the ice so badly.
"Jack?!" Jamie called to the breeze, stepping forward as his head whipped around with possibly the biggest grin he's worn all week. His dumbfounded cousin just watched him try and balance himself on the ice, still calling the name, but sometimes he would add 'Frost' to it. El wasn't dumb; she knew who that was and she also knew now what Jamie meant that morning. No, it doesn't snow like this every day, but that's only because Jack Frost makes it happen rarely anymore. She twiddled with her fingers and shuffled her feet in the snow, making mini snow angels, smiling smally at her creation. Her thoughts were on Jack and how busy he must be now, but at the same time, what would he be bustling about for? Winter was only one season of the year, she reasoned, although-
"Elsie! Helloo? Anyone in there?" Her shaggy-haired cousin was waving his hand in front of her face, his grin still in contact but he still looked a bit concerned.
"No, I'm just a mindless zombie looking for blood to drink!" She exclaimed, grabbing both his arms to hold him there as she growled and pretended to bite his neck all over. He struggled and giggled and yelled for help, but she knew no one would even-
"This is actually fun to watch! Sorry kiddo!"
Elsie froze. Pulled away slowly from her giggling cousin. And kept her eyes trained on the ground, not risking it. She's not stupid, as was mentioned before, so her mind made up for her that the deep voice and care-free chuckle was from a pale 300-year old guy with white hair.
"Awe, come on!" Jack whined, picking up his staff from leaning on it, his feet padding against the ice as he walks towards Jamie and his interesting cousin. Jack only visited once in November, wanting some free time to have snow ball fights and sled through town before Christmas. Jamie mentioned how he only told one person what happened in the spring, and that was okay to Jack since the brown-eyed 10-year old explained thoroughly that he trusted Elsie with all his heart. It's not like it was a secret to be kept away in a closet, but it was the fact most people made fun of Jamie for still believing in the guardians that bothered Jack. He didn't want his buddy to be teased for some stupid reason.
"I came all this way for nothing?" He gasped, putting a hand on his chest to feign hurt. "I thought you said your cousin was fun."
Elsie scoffed in her head, but on the outside, she was quiet.
"She's usually fun," Jamie said thoughtfully, tilting his head so he could see his big cousin better, curious as to why she was suddenly the old Elsie he knew and loved for a moment. "But.." he started, turning his body around so he could give the confused Jack a sorrowful look. The gelid boy, stuck at age 17, was told why only minutes ago when she was lost in her thoughts. He knows. But for a second there, he forgot.
"Right," he muttered, twirling his staff in the air before shooting his old friend a smirk. "Let's see if we can.. change that. Jamie? Would you pa-lease step to the side for a minute?" That he did, with a knowing grin on his face.
"Go easy on her, Jack!"
Elsie's head snapped up from that. Her eyes, as much as she didn't want them to, met his teal ones which, in all honesty, looked mischievous and confident. She took a bit to eye his tall stature suspiciously, noticing how- even though he's tall- he's albeit slim. Blue hooded sweater, tattered light brown trousers, bare feet, and a wooden staff? Yep. Definitely the way Jamie described.
"What are you-"
Within a time span of a few seconds, Jack had her on the small sled, hovering above her to get a better look at his bud's relative. "Calm down, you worry wart," he snorted, taking note of her terrified expression before another smirk stretched upon his pale pink lips. Elsie just tried to regain her dignity while he started saying something- she just didn't really listen. Her mind was too busy noticing the most unimportant things to distract herself. Like how his hoodie strings are uneven, which could be a slight pet peeve of his (since she just saw him trying to fix it), and how he has frost collecting around the ring of the collar. It was pointless, and truthfully it wasn't worth it to see those things when the sled started moving.
"Hang on tight!"