Thalia Muse

Chapter 10- Stages of Grief

Jack's POV

I wake up back in my heated cell, but that wasn't the worst part; I've lost Thalia, forever. I'll never see her amazing smile or hear her musical laughter ever again.

I lay on the hot floor that seems to keep getting hotter the longer I lay there, and think about all the things we will never get to do together. We'll never go ice skating again; we'll never get to build another snow family. All these things, and more, keep coming to mind as I lay there, getting weaker and weaker by the minute.

Eventually, my mind starts to replay her death. As I relive every moment, I continue feeling even more useless. Maybe what Pitch said was right; maybe my magic, and in extension me, are a curse. Maybe I am too dangerous for people to be around. Maybe all I cause is destruction and death. But that's not really my fault… is it? Yeah, I was the one to make contact with Thalia; none of the others, but does that mean her death is really all my fault? Silent tears start to fall from my eyes, as I eventually come to the conclusion that it was all my fault.

The Shadows eventually come in and get me; I don't struggle when they switch my shackles, I'm too heart broken to even really notice. They drag me to the torture chamber and get me all set up for Pitch.

"What's this, Jackie? No struggle? No yelling?" I hear Pitch say from the shadows.

I remain silent as the Shadows start ripping my new sweater off of me in small pieces, so it will be impossible to fix. When my sweater is gone, Pitch takes a few minutes to look me over. My wounds are mostly healed, but there are a few sore spots left.

"So, Jack. How are you feeling about being the cause of poor Thalia's death?" Pitch taunts me.

I close my eyes, to keep the tears at bay. Pitch laughs at me, and I open my eyes in time to see Pitch pull out his black sand knife. I close my eyes tighter and wait for him to start slashing at my body, but that's not where I feel the knife. I flinch when I feel a stinging pain across my right eye, it's not deep enough to blind me or leave a scar, but it still stings a lot.

I gasp and move my head away, involuntarily. Pitch chuckles at my pain and proceeds to slash at my body randomly; opening old wounds as he goes.

Eventually, I black out form the pain and exhaustion. I wake up, back in my heated cell; I try to move, but I can't even move a finger. I start to feel angry, and not only at my predicament, but at Pitch most of all. He was the one who stabbed Thalia, he's the reason I was useless when he stabbed her; he's also the reason for my predicament. If he hadn't tried to take over, then I would never have become a Guardian, and then I wouldn't have had any believers that I would have been playing with the first day I saw Thalia.

I try to move again, and am met with some success. I don't know how long I have been lying there, but eventually the Shadows come back for me. I try to push away from them, but can't get very far before one grabs me and the other switches my shackles around. They drag me back to Pitch, but I don't go quietly this time. I yell and struggle as hard as I can to get away, but they only grip harder making me yell out in pain, and stop struggling until they've got me ready for Pitch; then I start to try and get loose from the chain while I wait.

"Well, Jackie, that was quite entertaining!" Pitch says as he comes into view, referring to my struggles.

"Pitch, this is ridiculous!" I yell at him. "You might as well kill me now! You've killed the one person whom I've ever really loved! There isn't any other really reason for me to live!"

"What about the children?" Pitch asks innocently.

I look at him confused. "They have the others, I'm not that important anyways…" I whisper.