The honk of a car horned in a blasting manner, it could be heard all over the neighborhood but the still and placid place remains undisturbed—it was almost near 1:00 A.M but the scenes of the event still dances freshly in their minds. The midnight wind blew frail.
A fully tinted black car partially parked on the side of the street, with a two-story apartment located meters opposite the vehicle. The grumbling of the machine was constant and continuous.
Merida pulled the lock and opened the door—made her way out while a pair of red high heels in her right hand. She can feel the smooth cold street at her sole, she decided to walk barefoot for a tingling sensation began to tickle her feet—a numb and painful one.
A window from the backseat slid down.
A man peered over.
"Mer," Hiccup called.
The redhead gazed over her shoulder, her curly hair started to fall out from the bobs and pins that used to secure it in place.
Hiccup smiled and gave a short nod.
"Goodnight."
Their eyes met for an instant. Their two orbs was drawn together—blue and brown until one of them shut hers, Merida blinked for a while, shook her head and painted a small short beam of smile.
"Yeah. Same with you, lass."
The car beeped again with Kristoff waving at her in the driver's seat, Hiccup waved also with Jack beside him, where he can be seen in a small yet clear manner, away from the window where Hiccup is. Jack offered a smile of goodbye.
They are the only one left for Rapunzel, Anna and Elsa had gone home already, knowing they live together in a single house.
Merida nodded as a response.
Then they drifted away—the car groaned to life as it increased for speed and friction. Merida watched them as they've finally vanished in the line of her vision.
She walked in—opened the door with the keys placed inside her small hand-held purse, the wooden door faintly creaked as she went inside, Merida closed the door using her back and headed the stairs up to her room.
She was, again, welcomed by another door. Merida groaned in frustration—her energy is drained and up to now, she'll only had realized, that she needed sleep other than anything in the world. She knows, all of them are tired and exhausted and to know, nobody had showed it during the party. It was blasted loud and alive during the occasion, sure, no one will feel it during that time.
Merida blinked again to fight off as sleep lured her whole body—to lay down the bed and finally drifts herself into blackness.
Merida scoffed through the keys and let herself inside. She closed and locked the door.
All the windows are closed—well, not all of them, one window were left open. The curtains are all dragged together and it was pitch black. Merida turned on one of the lights and widely unlatched the closet.
Merida worn off the dress and change into something more comfortable, she removed the clips from her hair and let it lay straightly on her back. She hanged the red dress from one of the hangers and finally, closed the doors of the closet.
She tucked in a warm and cozy sweater as she had worn inside a sleeveless shirt with her pajamas on. Merida moved her feet into the bathroom, she moved and another step...
Until she fully stopped, her hands idly and strongly holds the door frame. The curtain near the bed began to flutter and flapped in an absurd manner.
She watched through the edges of her eyes, Merida hadn't moved a limb.
She distinctly remember that she closed all the windows, all of them. Merida isn't too fond of leaving the room without securing any of her things or any expensive objects. Before going to the party, she would dragged all the curtains with letting no tiny shade of lights seeping through the spaces between. She wanted to come home, the dim and obscure aura welcoming her as she opens the door—Merida loved the idea.
The wind entered wildly in the room—it had gone cold and freezing, Merida pulled her sweater swiftly and tightly. She can feel the sudden raise of the hairs of her skin... goosebumps.
Without any doubt and further a do, Merida skidded through the space and shut the window off, it made a loud thud but she wasn't into it. She went straight to the bed and pulled the blankets and linens together.
Merida stopped—
There is a radiating golden light from not afar her—she closed her eyes and opened them again as it pierce them like a sharp needle pickling through her flesh, like a knife nibbling her neck. Merida blinked.
She threw the covers away and moved closer to the table.
The light did not faze at all, it was as if reflected by the moonlight or the darkness—it shone like gold or burned like fire.
Quickly, Merida picked all of the papers atop of it, the layers of scratch papers and coupon bonds that served as a covering that she had used before the presentation at school. The others fell soundlessly at the floor.
Her eyes widen.
Until.
Until...
Her knees felt weak.
A golden cylinder box welcomed her.
And beside it, lays an old and ancient medium-sized box where it is used to contain or secure the certain object inside. It was covered in dust.
Merida's fingers began to tremble—out of sudden startlement, alarm, dismay and total horror. Her feet did not move, not even a small timid step. Merida was glued on her location. Her eyes began to water.
"T-this..." She stuttered.
"I have seen this before."
Yes. Merida saw it—a familiar and similar feeling came in hunting her. An eerie flashback in the corner of her mind. Weeks back, during her first days in Norway, she had walked into an odd and ancient souvenir shop, rather, an antique store. Merida recaptures the flashes of events, and she remembers how truly she was impressed by various carvings of woods in the store, of how she would adore them, of how she would stare at them in amazement... of how she met an old elderly woman.
Her ragged and sewn clothing. Her large perfect golden earrings... her wrinkled and sagged skin, showing how ancient and long-lived she really is.
And she offered Merida this same object.
But she refused to accept it.
And now...
"No." She mumbled.
"I won't—just no. This does not belong here. I have no dignity to own this as mine."
She swiftly grabs the memory box—having no idea of what it contain or what power it possesses. Merida perceives it only as an old expensive decorative object. The very first time she saw it, she knew it is something that is worth of millions, the entire design can blow anyone. Merida is afraid, she admits it, she is terrified of what it will possibly do to her—harm her, bring bad lucks and maybe, change her fate. That is what she fears, no matter how she tried to drag the idea down; it left her in complete bare and burden. It is just... absurd and impossible.
Her slipper tapped against the cement as she travelled outside the apartment, heading through an open garbage rack. The night wind scraped throughout her body.
Her hands were angled as she lifts the box with all her strength and force, it weighs heavily, knowing it is purely made of gold and diamonds and by judging the current size of what she holds.
The rack was clearly open, waiting to receive what is to be thrown away.
Merida heaved a deep breathe—
The wind howled and turned into a sharp sting of coldness. It pricked through her bare skin, in her face and in her hands. It felt like a tap of needles at her naked back—painful and throbbing.
The red head nervously turned her gaze all over the silent and sober neighborhood as she sensed the sudden change, the vast drop of temperature and her instinct might also tell her the difference. The wind swiftly passed through in an indifferent pace.
Her heartbeat rose.
Merida quickly stared over the left as a shadow deliberately hid through the group of tall bushes, Merida had not grasped the chance of clearly seeing the shape of the shadow—either it is in human form or other shaped-like creatures. It was vast as lightning and quick as a travelling bullet.
She stared at the opposite side of the street. The air she breathes began to thicken.
"Hello."
Merida stuttered.
"A-Anybody there?"
A nightmare passed through the corners of the streets. It shone with the gleaming light from the lampposts and blended together with the dusky blackness of narrow and timid spaces.
Within a sharp snap in her thoughts, Merida loosely dropped the box over the open mouth of the garbage rack. Her steps fastens as Merida headed into the vicinity of the apartment, she can feel the warm temperature inside her room as she closes the door behind her.
She drew deep constant breaths, trying to calm herself down and rest her back at the wall.
Merida dropped her head down as she brought her arms together with her thighs. She gaped upwards—her ocean blue orbs widen.
"No, no, no." She whispered.
The familiar box was sitting atop of the table, without any scratches or any distinctive missing piece. It was unbelievably returned to her without anyone putting it there in the specific place, there is no one here with her. She knew.
No one.
"I threw you out! With m-my bare eyes, I saw you. I dumped you into a garbage rack."
Merida almost shouted, her voice cracks between lines. Her eyes struggled the attempt of stopping the silvery tears to fell—out of wrath, outrage, denial and fear. She don't know. Merida feels she was like, as if, placed inside a game and she was the game piece. Being played onto, controlled by someone and she finds herself hardly being thrown into an abandoned land.
"This," She pressed.
"This is sorcery. Whoever tries to trick me or play games with me, I can say, I am not going to be completely fazed by it."
Merida stilled on her location.
She gave the box an unending stare.
She stepped one—or two.
The box was sitting right in front of her, entertaining her, trying to pry her over. Merida heaved a sigh. Her fingers were still trembling wildly but she managed to open the cover and confidently snatch the memory box in her hands.
It shone in her skin, the diamonds twinkled in her radiant blue eyes. The trembling seized down. With curiosity, Merida pressed the surface where the diamonds are splattered onto... but nothing happened. She applied pressure to any spots—maybe, to crack open the box; but to her surprise nothing happened.
Nothing.
Until, she made a move, she turned the memory box over at one end, at the edge of the box; a halo and mixture of colors twirled onto it. Like a combination of various colors in a painting, beautiful and captivating. It shivered—and formed into a stature, rather, a picture of someone.
The same shape of face, contour of eyebrows and nose, curvature of lips and freckles over the cheeks.
She peered through it...
And she saw herself.
Merida Dun'broch.
****
All the furniture were thrown off—scattered around with broken glasses onto the floor. The lamp fell from the night table, the chairs stumbled upon each other, there were broken mugs; sharp glittering glasses stuck between the tiles, the blankets were folded in a mess. As if the room was robbed by dozen of criminals that escaped the prison jail. The windows were left open.
"Please." He plead.
"Just stop this madness. Whatever this is, I just wanted to be freed from this horror."
He laid idly on the floor, his back touches the wall, his head were gaped down with strands of white hair covering his eyes. Silhouette covered half of his upper face. His jaw tightened and sharped.
"Just stop... Please." Jack uttered softly with his eyes closed.
All his energy were drained out, his skin was loosing its color and shade. He was tired after all this misery he started to be placed into, like he was being punished of something he knew in his heart, he never did. It was like, as if, Jack had taken all the weights on his shoulder—the overall burden of his own humanity and decision. He had grown tired against it.
His suit were ripped off, the bow tie were half-tied around his neck, the inner polo were crumbled, his hair were uncombed; as if he had gotten himself into a fight against a group men—without success on his side.
The time he arrived home, the same thrilling and jolting energy kicked his muscles, sending lightning to every ends of his limbs. Jack can freshly remember the time he experienced it firstly, it almost killed the hell out of him. It was painful, he thought and terrifying and dreadful. Jack promised himself that he will not ever be experiencing any of these occurrences for the upcoming weeks and days, even months.
But he was ultimately wrong. He took it entirely for granted.
Jack closed his eyes and savored the cold electrifying air inside the apartment, almost freezing his system off just like during winter.
He slid into the darkness and calmed himself.
Jack breathed, his chest moved slowly.
And at the walls of his apartment, a wide enormous sheet of ice showed—glittering and shining like one of the diamonds. Tiny frail cracks can be audibly heard as it travelled in an immensely slow rate. At the ceiling, small sharp ice were formed—hanging onto the corners, others fell onto the floor; making a brief thud sound as it broke into smaller pieces.
And Jack's hand... were cold and pale and trembling.
Jack lips trembled.
He opened his mouth—
"Please."
The two began to feel the wrath of his vengeance—Pitch's vengeance. And whatever it is, it is going to be filled with nightmare...
and chaos.
****
Author's Note:
Actually, piles of ideas starting to get into me. A lots of ones, and I hope, I can finish this book before the opening of the semester again. But I wanted to give you all big gratitude and thanks for supporting this book, the one's who'd dropped by to comment and give compliments, who had read and voted—that, indeed, helped my skill of writing and boost my motivation.
Thank you very much!
Lots of love :)