Jack and Jackie | First Day Frost
“Jack!! Jack!!! Let’s goooo!!!!”
Jack smiles. His little sister, Emma, is pulling on his arm, skates in hand. “Alright! Alright! I’m coming.” He replies, ruffling her hair.
“You two be careful, now.” His mother warns. “Be careful of any thin ice.”
“Don’t worry, Mom!” Jack insists. “We’ll be fine!” The pair leave and race for the lake. It appears frozen solid. Jack helps his sister to lace her skates, then ties on his own. “You ready?” He asks, standing. He offers her his hands.
Soon, they are skating and having fun. They throw snowballs at each other as they pass the snow banks, Jack’s just s little bit more accurate. The fun comes to a quick stop when the sound of cracking ice is heard. They both freeze. Jack sees that the ice around him is solid and fine, but the ice around Emma’s feet...
“It’s ok!!” Jack says, acting quickly. He sits and takes off his skates and crawls as close as he dare to his sister.
“Jack... I’m scared.” she whispers.
“Don’t be scared. It will be alright! Let’s have some fun instead.” Jack says. “When I count to three, I want you to jump. Leap towards me like we are about to play leap-frog. OK?” She nods and he grabs a branch that is hooked at one end. “One.... two.... THREE!” Emma leaps and Jack draws her close with the stick. Emma is now safe, but the force of Jack’s heroic act pushes him onto the very cracked ice and he falls in.
He can hear the screams of his sister, but they are soon silenced, the cold settling in quick. He feels something within him stirring, and a warmth spreads through his body. The last of the air begins to escape his lungs when his body and the water around him freeze into a solid mass. Then everything goes dark...
All of a sudden, there is a bright light. Breath floods into his lungs and he awakes with a start. He feels funny. He looks around. He is in a bright, white room with many strange things surrounding him. He can remember nothing. It is as if he had never been in this world. There is one thing he does remember, his name: Jack.
Jack is surprised when he hears voices. He is startled when a man comes in, looking at him and checking his wrist. “I see you are awake. That’s good.” The man says.
“Where am I?” Jack asks. “What are these... things?”
“You are in the hospital.” The doctor explains. “You are lucky to be alive. We found you encased in ice not too long ago.”
Jack is perplexed by all of this, and it makes him nervous. “I want to leave.” He says firmly, not wanting to trust the strange man.
“I’m afraid you can’t do that. You have to stay here so we can run some tests and make sure you are OK.”
“No! I want to leave! NOW!” Jack says in a panic. He slams his fists down and ice sprang from him. He is confused as to why it happened, but it felt normal, so he doesn’t give it a second thought. While the doctor is standing there in shock, Jack springs from the bed and runs from the room. He hears people shouting and begin to follow him, but he ignores them. His only goal is to get out of there. As he runs, he feels panic swell inside him, and he wills it to go away.
He hears people falling behind him and risks a glance back. Where he had stepped are small patches of ice in the shape of feet, small frosted tendrils spreading in all directions from it. He turns back to see that he had made it to the exit and pushes through the doors. It is snowing outside, and picking up by the second. Since he had just woken up, he did not think it weird for a snow storm to have appeared out of no where in the middle of July.
He hears more people spilling out behind him and just wishes himself away. Wind blows and picks him up. He shouts in surprise, before realizing that the wind was doing what he wanted: taking him away from the hospital. He breathed a bit more easy once he felt he was safe, and wills the wind to set him down. He is exhausted, and collapses as soon as he touches down.
He hears the crunch of snow and looks up quickly to see a car up ahead. Someone steps out and comes over to him, asking him if he is OK and if he could walk. He nods that he is OK, and tries to stand, but it too weak. The person who was speaking with him helps him to stand and walk over to the car. Jack wonders if they are about to take him back to the hospital and looks around as if to make a break for it.
“Now, Jack.” A voice says. “There is no need for that.”
The person helping him was a woman, and the voice was that of a man. It had sounded like it was inside his head. “How do you know my name? Who are you?!” Jack asks, panicked again.
“There is no need to bee afraid. My name is Professor X.” They reach the car and the door opens to reveal a bald man smiling up at him. “I am going to take you to my house for gifted students. I think you will find you rather fit in there.”
After a long car ride and a lot of explaining, Jack feels possibly even more confused than before. However, he now knows that he is different and from the past. Possibly long past. He is a mutant, and is at this school to learn about his powers and to train them. There are a lot of kids milling about the yard. The Professor had encouraged him to try and make friends. Jack is so nervous, that his hand had a layer of frost on them and there are snowflakes forming and falling from his hair. He sees a girl around his age not far from him and decides to try and say something.
“Um... Hello? I’m uh... Jack.” He says shakily.
