The humm of my old car felt like nothing compared to the beat of my heart. It was whatever o'clock in the morning and I was going to have to go home and explain to my parents why I was sneaking out so late with a boy. To say that my parents were going to confine me in my room was a literal understatement. However, exhaustion and I were pretty much besties at this point in time and she was starting to get the best of me.

Curled up in the passenger seat, my breath fogged up the window where I drew little smileys in the essence of my own body heat.

"It's really cold out here, huh?" Jenna asked to break the awkward silence. She had agreed to drive because she knew the immense amount of stress I was under having to face my parents like this. However, it didn't help to suppress the amount of guilt I had for even letting her take the wheel. Throughout this whole time, she had lost a blossoming love and I felt ever so selfish for not acknowledging it as much as I should have.

"It is chilly. Kinda almost feels like a...winter day-ohmygawd Jack."

"Huh? Jack?"

"Frost. Jack Frost. How could I forget about this? He literally just-"

"Wait, wait. Slow down. What?"

"Well, while this was kinda all going on....Jack Frost decided to come search for Peter. So yeah, Jack Frost is here. Just don't know where he's at right now because he sort of ran off and-"

"YOU LOST A WHOLE JACK FROST?!" She exclaimed, her eyes nearly bulging out of her head as she stared at me. "Laney, please tell me you're lying. Please, for the love of-"

"The road, Jenna! The road!"

Snapping back to reality, she grasped the wheel with what seemed to be a little too much force. Taking in a deep breath, her bloodshot eyes stared sternly out of the window. "I understand we have a lot going on and if I'm being honest...I'm not sure I can handle another crazy supernatural thing today." The corners of her lips fidgeted as if they couldn't tell what expression they wanted to form. In a way, this was all my fault and I had dragged her into it. Nothing would ever be able to suppress the hovering feeling of guilt that started to wash over me.

"Tell me about it," I grumbled.

"Sooo...I help you get past the parents and you explain all this Jack Frosty boy stuff tomorrow morning after we wake up from a hopefully very long sleep, okay?" There was a higher hint in her voice, a lighter tone that tried to make up for the shifting of the atmosphere. Even if I didn't say a thing about how sad I felt, I knew Jenna could sense it. The fact that she knew how I felt without having to say a word was a gesture that spoke for itself.

Though she literally had the entire world on her shoulders, Jenna always displayed that she was a woman of much strength and confidence. This situation was no different. Though Thomas was a loss we all were affected by, this woman had shown nothing but compassion and selflessness and that...well, I could never repay in any way. But it was a simple reminder to always keep her close because Jenna was, is, and will always be such a genuine diamond in the rough. There was no one else in the entire universe- Neverland included- that I could count on like her. And here she was yet again, trying to make the best of the horrendous situation we were put in.

"Deal," was all I managed to utter. In life, there were times where you wanted to talk and others where you wanted to be silent. At this point in time, my heart had so much to say but my lips didn't dare utter a single word. The carnal flesh was beautiful for that, for its sleep cycle. It was as if we could take on the world during the day and it was time to cast all worries and tears aside as we drifted into a lilac slumber.

And slumber seemed quite beautiful as I watched the silver stars dance and then fade to a blurred shine.

______________________________________________________________________

"Ohhhh my god, I don't know what's happening! Please don't hurt me! NOOO!"

If there was a word to describe what the crunch of car metal sounded like as it compacted, I'm sure I would've screamed it as I heard Jenna's earth shaking shrieks. The screaming sound of burning rubber accompanied Jenna's shrieking harmony and then was when I knew that something was terribly wrong.

My heart was racing as my eyes instantaneously fluttered open to a heap of ice smack dab in front of us. And then from my right side abrupted a burning sensation that was so intense that I could literally feel my skin crawling as if it wanted to escape from itself.

"WHAT IS GOING ON?!" Jenna screamed, staring at the mini titanic in the middle of the street. Tears dripped from her eyes as she screamed, "I'm so sorry, your car! I ran into it and I just-"

"Are you crazy?! You both could've been killed!" Screamed a familiarly annoying voice from the street.

And like everything else that had happened this night, I felt a fire rising up in me. However, I was quite shocked that this sensation didn't root from anger but rather from an attempt to release this excruciating pain coming from my side. Jenna's panicked squeals became nothing but a blur in the background as I wriggled my torso out of my seatbelt. A light scream came out of my mouth as the pain began to intensify, to throb as it seemed to only get hotter and hotter on my skin.

"Laney, what's wrong?" And when Jenna's eyes opened like a deer in headlights, that's when I knew something else was severely wrong. Great, just great. Tears trickled down from her expressionless face as she just stared blankly at me. "Y-your tummy is glowing."

Clawing at my side, a grunt escaped my lips. "What?"

"Your tummy is literally glowing-wait, more like your side but like-"

Approaching the passenger side window, a familiar frosty figure popped his head in with furrowed brows. "You could've gotten killed falling asleep behind the wheel like that!"

"I-I'm sorry," Jenna wailed as tears dripped down her face. If I made it out correctly, Jack's expression seemed to have lightened for just a second. There was honestly more of a probability that I was just seeing things at this point, but it was nice to think that there was another emotion he could portray besides pessimism. However, all thoughts were pushed aside when I could no longer contain the pained screams I had been trying hard to keep in.

"I'm just so tired and it's just been so much," she wailed as tears dripped down her face. "And her tummy is seriously glowing and I just don't know what's going on anymore. I just want this to all stop."

I couldn't really make out too much from then because my eyes were squeezing as I did my best to control the now stabbing pain that was coming from my side.

"Y-you're glowing?" He uttered.

"Well that's the first compliment I've gotten from you," I struggled to say. "Please Jack, please just make it stop! It's so hot that it feels like it's burning me!" My body was going limp against the burning sensation. The loudest scream erupted from my lungs as the pain on my side compressed and compressed. It's temperature rose every millisecond that passed by, whatever the wound was now feeling like it had a temperature of its own.

"Help her!" Jenna screamed at Jack.

"Listen, I don't know what's going on either I-"

"Wait, is it her birthmark?" Jenna asked.

"Wait, her-"

An unfamiliar voice came out from the distance. "Jack move! Now!"

As soon as Jack threw himself backward away from the car, I saw a blurred silhouette literally swoop Jenna out of the car which left me here alone and confused. Literally screaming from the top of my lungs, my hands clawed at my side which were burning at such an excruciating rate that it felt like someone was digging a million needles into my side.

"Make it stop! Please!" I wailed.

The sound of the passenger door jolting open startled me.

"Laney, honey," said a warm voice in the midst of this terrible pain. "This might sting a little, okay?"

Suddenly, a cold hand was placed over my birthmark and it felt like an icy patch was placed on my side. Tingling and bubbling, the burning sensation started to subside as pained wails escaped my mouth.

Nearly cooing at me, the silhouette tucked my hair behind my ear. My vision was now clearing up enough where I could just make out two translucent aqua wings with black trimming. There was no way to tell whether my exhaustion had turned into hallucinations at this point but these wings were some of the most beautiful creations my eyes had ever laid upon. The way that they were so large and glittered beneath the moonlight were enough to enchant any mortal's eyes and yet, there was such a powerful presence about them. So powerful that I couldn't help but take in a big gasp of air to expunge it in an equally as big scream.

"No, no, no, I'm not going to hurt you. I promise-"

And from a bit farther away I could hear the sound of my best friend's voice. "M-Mei? What in the world is going on?"

"Please," begged Mei. "We have to get out of here. Now."

© Lightning_Stryker 2020