My Guardian

Chapter 14 - Skates

So I said goodbye to Dad after tucking Ciara back into bed. North, Tooth, Sandy and Bunny took my things to the Pole for me after I left dad. So it was just Jack and I walking to the frozen lake in the snow. It wasn’t that cold now. The sun was just beginning to rise and the sky was painted pink, purple and orange. There were clouds everywhere, saying that today would be another day where it might snow. Oh the weather of Burgess, you can’t not love it. It may have crazy weather, because it’s pretty much like this every day of the year. Even in summer it’s still cold! But that’s okay. The cold never bothered me anyway. It was only the start of February, but still.

“Hey Jack…” We were heading for the forest now.

“Yeah?”

“What do you think will happen after I discover my centre? Do I just go home and continue living my life? I mean, I’d love to stay with you guys forever, but I’m going to grow old and die eventually, while you’ll live for eternity. I could discover my centre tomorrow! Then I’ll just go home, grow up, get a job… get married and have kids maybe! And you’ll just keep doing what you do,” I asked. I had been thinking about that since the first night I met them and they told me the plan.

“I dunno. What the moon said to you; Jack and Search… they must mean something. And no matter how long it takes, I’m going to help you figure out what it is,” he insisted, helping me jump over a fallen log.

“There are so many things I want to know! What’s this special something…? What did the Moon mean when he said what he said…? What’s my centre…? Are my centre and the ‘special something’ the same thing…? Why does Pitch want to know so badly…? I really want to know,” I said.

“And we’ll find out. But for now, live in the moment. We’re doing this for you Belle. Not for ourselves and most definitely not for Pitch!” Jack chuckled as the clearing came into view.

“Well thanks. For being here,” I smiled at him.

I strapped on my skates as Jack stood out on the ice waiting for me. Looking up at him, leaning on his staff, I couldn’t help but giggle at how cute he was. Standing up, I suddenly remembered how heavy these were! They weren’t majorly heavy, but they were heavier than shoes! So I walked over to the edge of the frozen lake and Jack walked up to catch me if I were to fall over. I shot him a quick smile to say thank you. Before I got to the edge though, I stopped.

“What?” Jack asked, concerned.

“Nothing! I don’t usually just step on…”

“Why not?”

“Because, I’m more likely to fall over.” I know it may sound weird and impossible, but for me it's true.

“What do you do then?” I hoped he would ask, in fact I was counting on it. I measured the distance from here to the lake to be about eight feet. Just enough.

Placing one foot in front of the other, I began to run up to the ice. Jack looked terrified as I leaped out, landing perfectly on the ice and gliding on one foot for a few feet before spinning back to him. Yep, I had a running start to jumping onto ice. I don’t really know why I did that… but I always had. I found I fell over less often than just stepping out. You shouldn’t try it though. The first couple of times I did it years ago, I fell over and hurt my behind. Yeah.

So I waited for Jack to catch up. He raised an eyebrow at me surprised and flew over. That made me wonder…

“Can’t you skate?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Well…” he landed beside me and leant on his staff.

“Not really,” he pulled this half guilty face.