The Second Half of the Sky

Chapter 10

"Let's throw something at her," I suggested, searching my pockets for something to throw.

Jade put her hand on my shoulder, interrupting my search.  "Sky, crazy ideas like that are the reason that you make enemies so easily," she teased, although I couldn't shake the feeling that she was serious.  "We don't know her, she could be offended if someone threw a shoe at her.  She might get angry if someone wakes her up."

I glanced down at my shoes, wondering if throwing a shoe at the girl would work.  I decided that Jade would tackle me before I could even touch the shoelace, so I agreed with her.  "Alright, so are we going to let her rest?"

She quietly laughed.  "And leave without answers?  No, let me wake her up."

Jade took  a few steps towards the sleeping girl.  "Miss," she politely called out.  "Miss, I'm sorry to bother you," she said as the girl began stirring.  "But I'd like to talk to you if that isn't any trouble."

I stared at Jade, wondering how she had the patience to be so nice.  If it was me, I would've thrown my shoe at her and then tell her to get up.

The girl adjusted herself so she could see us.  She propped herself up with her elbow as she looked at us.  She had beautiful brown eyes with flecks of orange.  Leaves had tangled themselves in the freckled girl's long, curly auburn hair.  Her long brown dress hung hugged her body.

When I heard Leo sigh behind me, I rolled my eyes and turned to face him.  I expected that he was about to hug me from behind or walk to my side and put his arm around me, but I was wrong.  Instead, he gawked at the stranger, his eyes wide open and I think I saw some drool.  I elbowed him in the ribcage, snapping him out of his daydream.

"Ouch," he winced, covering his ribcage with his hands.  "What was that for?"

"Do you seriously drool over every girl you see?" I growled.

"Well, yeah," he shrugged.  "It isn't like I'm dating anyone because apparently, you're already taken," he defended himself.  "And no, I don't drool over every girl.  The first time I saw Jade, yeah, but Cole slapped me so hard I don't plan to anymore."

My fingernails dug into my palms as I tried to restrain slapping him.  It frustrated me, I didn't know why Leo's adore of the girl bothered me.  Well, I did know, but I didn't want to admit it.

Gods, Sky, what the Hades?  I asked myself.  You're dating Connor Stoll.  You aren't fake, you don't cheat, there is no way that you like Leo.  Gods, Sky, pull yourself together.

I turned back to the stranger to see that she was already engaged in a conversation with Jade.  Her eyes were bright and she smiled as though she knew us.

"It's been a long time since someone, other than me, has been here," she said. "Ever since Chorine got a little freaky with Poseidon and had a kid two thousand years ago, we've had another season.  He's really depressing and cold, I think that mortals call him 'Minter'?"

"You mean 'Winter'?" Jade suggested.

"Yes!  Winter.  Some people call him 'Jack Frost', I'm not sure why.  Anyway, there used to be three seasons: Spring, Summer, and me, Autumn.  Each of us got four months out of the year during the times of the Greeks and Romans.  But, after Winter was born, all of us had to give him a month.  So now each of us have three months," she sighed.

"Three months seems nice," Jade commented.  "I'd like three months to myself if I could."

Autumn laughed.  "Yeah, it is nice.  But, I used to have four months.  I miss those days."

The Doctor stepped in, grinning a greeting.  "Hello, I'm the Doctor," he said.  "If you don't mind me asking, where do you stay when your season ends?"

She spread her arms out and said, "Here, of course."

"Could you leave if you wanted?" the Doctor asked.

"No," she admitted, sounding sad.  "It's just really lonely here, I don't know how you got here.  But it's better if I don't know.  I wouldn't want to be tempted by an escape route nine months every year, you know?"

"Why can't you leave?" he asked.

"Well, this is kind of embarrassing.  You see, when Poseidon declared that his son would be a season, you can imagine that Spring, Summer and I were not pleased.  In a protest, we continued our old ways, each of us having four months to ourselves.  Whenever Winter reminded us that we are supposed to have three, we pretended that we had forgotten.  We acted as if we were incapable of changing our way."

"So you rebelled against the gods' wishes?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes, but we were loved back then.  People celebrated us, and we knew that they wouldn't like Winter.  Winter was cold and reeked of death, we didn't want him around.  But after he went to his father Poseidon and tattled on us, we were brought to court.  The gods decided that we would have to give Winter three months, but Winter was not allowed in Greece or Rome," she explained.  "That's why you don't see stories about Winter; he wasn't allowed in Greece or Rome."

"I don't understand why you can't leave here," I said.

"It's because the court decided that since we couldn't be trusted to not 'forget' that we had to be banished to a certain place whenever it wasn't our turn to shine," she explained.  "I do still get four months in Greece and Rome, but it's not nearly as satisfying as having an entire continent to cover."

"Why do all the trees look the same?" I asked.

"No one comes here, so I had no reason to make every tree unique.  Besides, when they're all the same, then each one has a nice branch to sleep on," she said as she jumped down from the tree.  "Would you guys like to stay for lunch?"

Author's Note:

In mythology, there are said to be only three seasons, mainly because there wasn't much of a winter in Greece.  So keep in mind that the whole story of Winter being a son of Poseidon and stuff is not in recorded history.  He was born after mythology stopped being written.  At least according to this story.