Believe in Me

Nightmares

September had come and gone, each day dragging out with boredom. And each day, Jamie would stare out the window in hopes to see the swish of a sheapard's cane or the flash of blue that indicated his friend was there to visit. "You promised.." He said quietly, turning from his window. The excitement he got every day was starting to die down as even his determined mind was losing hope. The dissappointment was turning to anger fast. This ALWAYS happened. He closed his eyes and laid his head down on the desk in the darker corner of the room, not bothering to turn on the lights since the sun hadn't quite yet set and lit up the room well enough for his caring. As the brown eyes locked shut, his mind swooped back to the past.

He sat on the floor of his living room on Christmas day, waiting eagerly to open the presents that Santa had brought. "There are so many this year!!" He shouted with glee, looking down at his little sister. "Present present present!" She giggled back, squealing in happiness as she rolled to her back, kicking her feet up into the air. His mother smiled, setting down a plate of  cookies on the counter just out of the growing boy's reach. "Now now, you two, hold on a bit longer," She said with a smile. As if on cue, there was muffled stomping down the carpeted staircase, a man in a pinstriped suit rushed down the stairs at a surprisingly fast pace. His eyes were brown like Jamie's but he had blonde hair streaked with the grey of stress and adulthood. "Can we open them now, Dad?" Jamie said, jumping up. Sophie tried to do the same and fell back down, starting to tear up. Their mother rushed forward, picking up the small girl and holding her close, rocking the todeller's cries away. The man crouched down to the boy's level, smiling but holding a sad look. "Sorry, Jamie, but I just got a call. I have to go out for work. Just wait a few more hours, I promise." The brown haired woman stopped her rocking, eyebrows furrowing together in confusion and unhappiness. "Albert, its Christmas of all things, why on earth would work call you in?" The man sighed, tugging his dark blue tie, the tie Jamie had bought him for the last Christmas, a little tighter. "That's what I need to find out. I'll be back before you know it." He gave the woman a kiss on the cheek, slightly masking her uneasiness but it still showed through green eyes. "Alright.." She muttered afterwards. Sophie looked up at her daddy, reaching her hand out and wrapping it around his finger. "Daddy, dont go," She whimpered, her bright eyes starting to glisten with the wetness of tears. The man glanced down, then back to his daughter with a weak smile. "I have to, Soph, but dont worry. I'll come back soon, I promise you." With that he pulled his finger from the girl's tight grasp, rustling her already messy hair a bit then turning back to Jamie. "You too, okay, son? I'll be back before you know it, then we can open presents like you've been waiting for." Jamie looked down but nodded with a small unsure smile. "Okay, Dad, we'll wait for you." The mother and children watched as the man rushed out the door, listening for the slam of the car door. Jamie watched from the window as his father drove off..

His eyes snapped back open and he pounded his fist on the desk. They ALWAYS promise! He remembered so well how long he had trusted for his father's return, he still was waiting a year later. Jack was probably the same for all he knew.. The boy sighed, rising from his chair and sulking to the bed, pulling himself under the blankets and tugging them over his head. "I hate promises.." he mumbled, squeezing his eyes back shut with tears of anger and frustration forming.

Jamie had rough dreams that night. Dreams that he found Jack years later, wondering with sorrowed hopes where the spirit had been all that time and getting a snarl of an answer, rejected, Jack shoving him aside and walking away. "I never cared about you, I just needed someone to believe in me and you were the most gullable," He spat in the boy's prolonged nightmare. Jamie awoke with the deep feeling of rejection carving its own pit into his heart. "Jack wouldn't say that.." He whispered. 

"Are you so sure?" A voice replied with a sneer. 

Jamie darted up, eyes wide as his eyes flew around the room for the source of the voice. It was a familiar voice but he hoped it wasn't who he thought it was.. no.. it wasnt possible. Jack defeated him, he was gone, broken. But the voice was real, and so was the figure standing at the left side of his bed, stepping out of a pool of shadow outcasted from the moonlight's gleam.  Pitch Black stood at the side of the boy's bed, smiling down at him with patience and satisfaction, a look that looked nothing near well with those silvery gold eyes, the grey skin pale as chalk, and the rugged teeth that glinted in the moon's sight. "Jack killed you," Jamie said, trying to reassure himself more than trying to be bold, keeping his wits and bravery as he slowly inched himself off of the bed from the other side to get away. "Oh no, dear boy, you have that quite wrong," Pitch laughed back, amused at the shock of the child but not so pleased with the lack of fear in the room. "In fact, Jack helped me. All that time I spent powerless and alone gave me room to think. I'm much stronger now and with a decent plan." Jamie couldnt believe it. The nightmare king was standing in his room right now, his dark charm of a smile stabbing into his widening eyes. "I can't be so lenient this time, I want to win.. I want to be strong again, I want the guardians crushed under my feet," The dark man continued on, pacing the shadowed part of Jamie's darkened room. The boy inched away each time Pitch grew closer, his heart thudding faster in his chest. "But you knew that.. after all, aren't you angry at one of the guardians too?" Jamie looked down. Sure Pitch would know fear but.. how would he know that Jamie was angry? It couldnt have been obvious, the boy rarely spoke about his problems to anyone. He usually didnt have any up until now. "Jack Frost.. isnt he the source of both our disappointment? Anger? I understand how it feels to be upset about that, Jamie, you dont have to hide it from me.." 

"Shut up!" the boy shouted, his eyes sqeezing shut to try and block out the sight of the spirit of darkness hovering and slowly pushing him into the corner, advancing closer and closer. "Shut up? All I'm trying to do is help. Jack ruined me, just as he's hurting you." Jamie wanted quiet, he wanted to not hear these words, actually starting to fear that he might soon believe it. He was all but happy with Jack Frost, not mad enough to want pain on him, still loving him like an older brother, but angry all the same. Pitch Black smiled at the silence that followed his statement. "Keep in mind that I'm on your side.. Jack lied to you, Jamie, you can never trust anyone so much as you did or it'll happen yet another time. I thought I should bid you farewell.. hopefully those dreams you've been having convince you a little better than I can?" Jamie rose his head at this. So Pitch was the one who made him dream that.. his eyes narrowed, fists clenching at his sides, but before he could think of the words through the overemotion filling his head, the nightmare king laughed and sunk back into the puddle of shadows as if he was never there. Jamie stood in silence, staring at the place where the dark lord once was before pacing to the window and peeking out. The moon was full, glowing like a flashlight and turning the blackness of the night to a midnight blue. "He cant be right.. can he..?" He said quietly, hoping as much as he could that he could keep his belief up.. Jack would come back.. but at this point, Jamie wasnt so sure anymore. Not a cloud was in sight, the air was warm, there wasn't even a 10% chance of snow on the news.. The kid sighed, tucking his head back into his folded arms on the window ledge and closing his eyes again. Jack wasnt going to come.. Pitch was right. The room got slightly darker and the light of the moon seemed to dim down just slightly.