literature

Darker Than Dark Chapter 7: Family Ties

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Jamie's POV

I open my eyes with the reflectance of a car mirror sending a beam of light right into my shut lids. I groan a little, looking up from my crossed legs. I had fallen asleep on the windowsill waiting for Sophie to return home. I remember watching the family movies with mom for a few hours. I must've dozed off sometime after my 10th birthday video. I look up at the sky. Still completely blanketed in white fluff. It looks like it's getting kind of late though. The sun is setting. I peer inside the water covered window. The television screen was black and the lights were off. I lift my head trying to see over the couch, I think mom fell asleep too.

I phase through the glass. That's a nice power to have. It takes a lot more energy because naturally we can touch certain objects such as the floor or books. The whole believing thing is a bit weird in its rules. I still don't quite understand it all, but so far what I get is, we can naturally touch the floor or ground, or wall. They're heavy. Well, we can't move them unless you use a loooooot of energy. I will admit... I tried it once. On an abandoned house on the edge of town. Didn't work, but I did make a hole. Small one, but still. As for objects, spirits can pick them up because it's inanimate. No life equals no belief. So, I can pick up objects, but they're really heavy. I mean a paperback book about an inch wide, weighs like 40 to 50 pounds for spirits. So, if I wanted to read something, turning a page is hard work. Not sure how that works. I never really liked science that much. Too many of the kids at school always tried to disprove Santa Claus or Tooth Fairy through science. And magic isn't an option to them. Anyway, we can touch everything living people can touch, but since they're so heavy for us, we really can't move much.

Phasing is a type of power spirits are given naturally. It takes energy, but we can force ourselves to pass through objects. People; however, are a different story. If someone believes in you, I've always wanted to try the phasing ability on them. I wonder what it would do, if you could still walk through them or not. And, I think by not believing, it's not use that's using the phasing ability but the living. They're phasing through our existence... If that makes sense. I don't know, just something I came up with in my spare ten years.

I peer over the couch. Yep, she's sound asleep. I take a deep breath and lift the blanket that's barely covering her and pull it up to keep her warm. I walk around and kneel by her... she was crying... I put my thumb to her cheek and watch it phase through her...

"I'm sorry I left you..." Standing there, I look over her face in an attempt to remember the last time she smiled... "I'll always be here for you... even if you can't see me... I promise..."

I put my hand against hers... feeling the warmth produced from phasing. It's weird... heat is obviously produced from it... but at the same time, you feel a bit of a chill up your spine. Its like you can feel the other person's aura or energy lifting off them, but at the same time you dont feel anything physically.

I look up at the clock. It's nearly 6:30. Sophie should have been here by now... she never leaves mom alone like this... not today... I frown, involuntary thoughts begin to race through my mind. Could something have happened? Did she get in an accident? Maybe she's hurt...

"I'll be back mom..." I walk over to the window and phase through. The day was finishing. I take off toward the sky, scanning the nearby area. Nothing. Not a being in sight. A few cars coming home probably from work, but that's it. I angle myself to move on toward the city. Maybe she was getting groceries. She always takes off work on this day, so she wouldn't be busy with that. Maybe a fan stopped her? But, I've seen her tell her fans she has to get home for this anniversary, so would've just explained today was important and left. Something has to be wrong. Her car was in the driveway, but she wasn't home. She would've tucked mom into bed if she was.

She always cooks breakfast, gets mom up, and asks if she wants to go visit my grave. Even though my body disappeared in the transformation... they still gave me a marked grave... Apparently when sophie returned to the lake with my father after having called the police, my body was gone and my mother had fainted. The police investigated and suspected my mother at first, after questioning and a collection of evidence, they find her alibi true and marked me as a murder case. They believe someone knocked my mother out and took my body. I know differently, but I'm not sure of the full story. I woke up later that day when the police were there. My mother was crying... when I tried to talk to her and sophie... when I tried to ask them why they were upset... they didn't respond... and then my hand passed through them... I panicked... I tried to grab they again and again, but nothing worked. I tried shouting, but nothing... I remember curling up in a ball and crying... I cried and watched them for hours... until nightfall when the Man-in-Moon explained what happened... He never told me the full story. Mom must've fainted... and he used the opportunity to save me... to change me into this.

I shake my head, snapping myself out of my trance. Grave. She must be at my grave... No... the only reason she goes to my marked grave in the morning is to coax my mother out of the house to visit me, to give her some closure. Sophie knows the real place I gasped my last living breath. She goes there at night, after mom's in bed. But mom isn't tucked in yet... unless I missed Sophie... maybe she already put mom in bed but she got back out... So Sophie might be at the lake. That's gotta be it. I change my direction, aiming my body toward the frozen pond of my memories. It was once Jack's home.. and my deathbed.. It had now become my home as well... I ride the wind, awaiting the return to my true grave.
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Bunnymund's POV
*"North! Bunny!" Sophie cries out from her silence.

"Stupid girl!" An angered voice speaks hushs the girl.

"Soph?!" I call out.

"he 'as the girl!" North points his sword to the darkened figure.*

"Oi! He's getting away with her!" I look toward the sky, trying to follow his outline.  "Soph! Hold on, we'll save yah!" I look toward North, who is slicing at twisting dust as it strikes.

"North, we can't fight this now, we have to go get sheila."

"What do you suggest? We're surrounded." North was right, we were. There was one option. My foot thumps the ground twice, opening a turning tunnel. My grip slips around the back of norths coat, as I toss him with all my might down the hole.

"Get the sleigh and get back here. I'm goin' after the girl!" The tunnel closes before he can reply. I scan the area, not an opening to exit from, and the darkness is closing in. I hold my weapon ready. Wait for it...  I dodge low as a loose arm reaches for my ears. Tapping the ground, I slip into a tunnel and close it behind me, opening another beside it and flying into the air. I hurl three egg bursts toward the enemy sand, causing the terrifing blob to disperse. My sight searchs the area before I begin my descend to the ground.

There! The man who has Sophie!

"You aren't gettin' away from me that easily." I land on my feet and take off in the direction of his flight. He's heading south. I may be fast but he has the flight adavantage. Dang it, North. The one time I actually want to ride in your sickening locamotion it's not in reach. I'm losing sight of them, they're too high up.

Who even is this daranged spirit, and what do they want with Soph? It can't be Pitch, he's been dead for years, but this boy... he could control the nightmaric dust. It doesn't make any sense. That silloette doesn't look anything like Pitch..... Who else could-......

"It can't be..." The spirit from ten years ago... Jack's killer... We had searched for him before but couldn't find a trace of him. Could he have finally returned? And to kill Sophie just as he did Jamie all those years ago... NO! Where the heck are you North?!

"Bunny!" I look up, yes! North came through. I jump up in the air, clasping my paw around the sleigh's foot. North grabs the back of my neck and pulls me up to the sleigh. I hate when he does that, but there's no time to complain now. We have to rescue Sopie.

"Jaa!" North calls to the riendeer, instructing them to hurry their speed.

"They're heading due South. We need to get higher or we'll lose them."

"Vverhk! Vverhk!" North directs the flying deer to gain height. He turns his round head over his shoulder to glance at me. "Hold on."

"WhoOoa..." I grip my nails into the fresh paint of the red sliegh as it makes for a 70 degree angle toward the sky.  Despite my discomfort, I kept my eyes on the speck that was quickly shrinking in size. "Above the clouds! Hurry!"

We can't let them get away. We won't let him take the life of another. Not Sophie. Determined, North and I chased the bugger. Up and above the clouds, we reached the light of MiM, but the figure was no where to be seen.

"Where did he go?!" I scanned the area frustrated. "He couldn't have just vanished!"

"Calm down, Bunny." North observes his surroundings. "There! That stream!"

My head turns to see the direction his blade points. A stream of clouds unnaturally being pushed above the calm blanket. That's him! He's just under the top few layers of white. North Instructs the deer to charge. And we begin the chase ones more. Following him just above the clouds. Sophie'll be drenched and cold after this... probably have frostbite. The air is thin enough up here to cause her to breath heavily as well at that speed. We have to get to her quickly. This chase has gone on for long enough! I grip my boomarang, pulling it from it's harness. I want to send it off toward the spirit but I might hit Sophie... My grasp tightens in my frustration.

Suddenly the stream disappears.

"He's gone lower!" I yell, not bothering to keep any stealth or surprise we might have left.

"Vniz!" North calls to his creatures. They move their body at a slight angle downward as north turns his riens accordingly. We begin to re-enter the cloud canvas. We can't see a thing with the clouds so thick, and the wind at this speed is limiting my hearing. I close my eyes to focus on any movement ahead of us. For Soph, I have to hear her... I have to..

"Bunny! Look!" My eyes open at the sound of North's words. I can no longer feel the wet touch of the cold storm on my face. We were out of the clouds, and far from burgess. Far enough to be clear of the weather spanning most of this part of the country.

"North, the man! And Sophie!" I look to him with deperate hope. He shook his head. "...No..." I speak aloud...

We lost them... How could we lose them. Soph was like a younger sister to the Guardians. We suffered the loss of both Jack and Jamie together... At times, we would visit her to see how she was doing in the first few years. A child like her, tramatized by our war against Pitch. She matured fast, faster than she should've had to. She had to grow up early to take care of her mother and deal with the fight between her life-givers. But still, she never lost hope. She always kept her belief in us, and has to this day. The other Guardians weren't as close as the two of us had grown. She was like a younger sister to me, a good friend. Each Easter, she'd seek me out. North thought it might be best if we leave her be in her adult years, it was unnatural for an adult to still believe in us and North believed it was because she kept meeting with us. So, we all agreed... not at first, but eventually. And we pushed her away. None of us went to visit her, but we all know she still believes.. She still searches for me in the park where we met each year. I hide eggs for her, and watch her from a distance, but I haven't interacted with her in 2 years. Now, I've let her be pulled back into this. She's been kidnapped and if only I had kept in contact. Maybe I'd have known... She was in danger.

I slammed my fist on the red paint of North's transportation. "Why can't I do anything right?"

North looks over to me, "We'll find her."
HAHA I HAVE DONE IT! I HAVE SOLVED THE RISE OF THE GUARDIANS SPIRIT LOGIC! Why can Phil the Yeti pick up books you ask?! Why can Jack touch the clock but hasn't tried to move physical objects to gain attention you ask?! Why can spirits phase through walls but not the floor you ask?! Ladies and Gents~ step right up to see the well thought out theory with no real life proof backing it! Psh, spirit logic would never work this way in real life, but who cares~! I've spent my life theorizing on a movie! Achievement Unlocked: You have no life.

Hehe anyway, I'm pretty happy with this. Oh no... but Sophie... couldn't be too good for her to be soaking wet from those clouds in the cold air like that. I hope she doesn't have other issues causing shortness of breath... 

Wow, this plot is getting heavy into real life issues... its gonna get heavier...

Also, got a little map for you guys that'll show the placements of everyone and how they all just missed each other: mak96k.deviantart.com/art/Dark…

All credit for characters from Rise of the Guardians goes to DreamWorks and William Joyce.

Cover Page and Index: mak96k.deviantart.com/art/Dark…

Chapter 1: mak96k.deviantart.com/art/Dark…

Chapter 8: mak96k.deviantart.com/art/Dark…

© 2016 - 2024 mak96k
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