The Frozen Heart

Chapter 13

Jacks POV

"Wha-WHO ARE YOU?" I shout at the doppleganger, scooting myself backwards.  The boy in front of me does the same.

"You tell me first! Why do you look exactly like me?" The mystery boy shouts back at me.  I get angry and furrow my eyebrows.

"I'm Jack Frost and who do you think you are?" I stand up and tower over the boy, or me, or whoever is looking up at me.

He scoffs with wide eyes, "That's impossible."

I bend down to have only a few inches between our faces.

"Who...are..you?" I sternly ask with narrowed eyes.

"I am Jack Frost," he boy glares back at me, pushing me back as he stands up.

"Liar," I accuse.  I no longer tower over him because we are the same height, coincidentally.

"Look, get over it okay because something is definitely not right.  I know I am Jackson Overland Frost,  and I'd like to know why you and I look the same!"

"Hey, what's goin-" I'm cut off as I hear familiar voices from a distance.  It's them, Maysie and her dad. I've got to get out of here.

The Other Jack must've caught on.

"C'mon, let's figure this out later! Just follow me." And with that Jack sprints back into the forest.  I hesitate, but if somehow, this 'Jack' is like me in any way, I can atleast know I can trust him.

I follow his lead, into the depths of the forest. 

I'm running along, but I come to a halt as I hear a 'psst' a few steps behind me.  I carefully walk over to see (f/n) in the tree above and motioning me over to her.  I glance to the direction I was headed, but noone was coming back that way.  I look back over at (f/n) and walk towards her.

"Hey," I whisper, obviously flustered.  My eyes dart around as I try to make sense of everything.

"Hey, (f/n), that kid is pretty much an exact copy of me.  Why?" I ask considering she has a melancholic veneer about her.

"Because, Jack," She starts with a sigh. "We're not exactly, hm, home."

My anger has cursed me with a short-temper, "Can you please just get to the point and tell me exactly what you mean, (f/n)?" My outburst takes her back a bit, but she sighs and nods.

"You and I, we're in something similar to a parallel universe?" She says, almost like a question.

I throw my hands up, "That is impossible, will you EVER stop lying?" That's just a myth, there's not actual proof of 'parallel worlds'.

"No, Jack.  I'm not lying, I've only discovered it myself recently." She says to me, tears welling up in her eyes.  I stagger back, suddenly guilty of my anger towards her.

"Are you being serious? Here? Us? Now? A different world?" I ask in disbelief.  That was the last thing I was expecting.

"Yeah, you and I, we don't belong here." She has tears running down her face now.

"Does that mean that people from our world, have like a copy here too? That'd explain why there's another me." I softly chuckle, placing my hand on her shoulder.  She's shaking.

"In a simple way, yes. Oh, and Jack, there really is a Guardian type of organization.  They're truly is a Santa Claus, and-and a Toothfairy.  I truly thought they were our Guardians at first." She stammers out. "And I think, they're after this world's Jack, not you. I think you intercepted their plan with MAY-C, you getting caught in the middle of it except for him."

"How do you know all this?" I skeptically ask her.

"Because I went back, and Jack, I think they've caught me, because I constantly feel like I'm being watched.  I found out what the Man in the Moon really is." She hushes out a whisper with wide eyes that are looking everywhere, as if she were watching for a deadly predator lurking somewhere in the darkness.

"What? Tell me what you mean!" I accidentally yell out.

"He's-" She's cut off as she passes out, with open eyes.  It's like someone just flipped a switch, turning her off.  She's cold.

"He's what, (f/n)?! What were you going to say?!" I sob, holding her in my lap.  A beam of moonlight shines through the leaves of the tree canopy above, shining on (f/n).  The next time I blink my eyes, she's gone.

Not only is my only friend here, and my source of reality gone, but so is the vital information that she carried in her mind that could possibly have saved both of us, is gone now too.