Once Upon a Nightmare

jack's story

xix: jack’s story

“Stop playing with your food.” An adolescent girl—maybe thirteen or fourteen—reaches over and swats a boy’s hand. Tendrils of light, like glowing pieces of wind, swirl on the plate in front of him. Her bright pink hair is thrown back in a high ponytail. The boy sticks out his tongue. His black hair and wide dark eyes tell me this is Jack, a very young Jack. Maybe five years old.

I’m guessing the girl is Hina. She rolls her eyes. “Why do I always have to babysit you?”

Jack slumps his chin on his fist, staring sullenly at the table. Hina pretends to ignore him, but watches him from the corner of her eye. Finally, she sighs.

“Okay.” She takes the abandoned swirls of joy from his plate and sucks then in rapidly through her nose, releasing them out her mouth in a sparkly belch.

Jack squeals with delight.

“That’s disgusting,” she reminds him, though she’s fighting a smile. “I only do it because your immature sensibilities require it.”

“When’s Mom coming home?”

“She said she won’t be back until later tomorrow.”

She tucks him into bed, leaving a soft-hued lamp on which Jack immediately shuts off after she leaves. He draws the curtains on his window closed so his room is completely dark. Then he sighs happily. He feels better in the darkness.

He wakes before Hina and slips out the door without her noticing. It’s morning, and the sun shines brightly as it peaks in the east. The farther horizon is light purple, almost lavender. Jack catches his breath. Every morning in Merrymount is beautiful. He knows this, because his mother tells him. Look what a pretty day it is, she would say. But the sun makes Jack uncomfortable. Whenever his mother catches him hiding in the shadows, her face lines with worry and she drags him out, saying something like, You look like a Nightmare in the dark, Jack, or Even I’m scared of you like that, and I’m your mother.

If Ren saw him, he’d say, You’re a natural.

And that makes Jack feel good, though he’s not sure what he’s so natural at.

They live on the outskirts of Merrymount, away from the city. Jack heads toward the woods and stops partway down the hill their little cottage is on. At the bottom of the hill, Jack sees Ren. He wears his white cloak, the one that means he’s on official business. When he wears the white cloak, he doesn’t say anything to Jack. He doesn’t smile when he visits them. He makes notes and watches Jack as he eats the joy his mother got for him.

Without the cloak, he teaches Jack scare tactics when his mother isn’t looking—and kisses his mother when Jack isn’t looking.

Other Dreams surround Ren, dressed in similar white cloaks.

Then someone shifts positions and Jack sees his mother kneeling in the middle of their white circle—kneeling in front of Ren. Her hair is loose. Even from this distance, tears are visible on her cheeks, reflecting the light of the rising sun.

An awful, clawing feeling enters Jack’s stomach. Something bad is happening. He rushes down the hill, but trips. When he pushes himself back up, Ren is looking at him, panic on his face. Ren shakes his head in warning, but Jack doesn’t stop.

“You know the law,” one of the white cloaks says. Jack is still too far to reach them, but the words are easily heard in the still air.

“He isn’t a Nightmare,” Jack hears his mother’s small, pleading voice. “I’ve only fed him joy, I promise.”