An Uninvited Intruder
Chapter 2: An Uninvited Intruder
Jack couldn’t lie to himself, and wasn’t too surprised at the fact at that when he woke up the next morning Jack Frost, didn’t know where the hell he was. He’d been so used to hearing his mother yelling at him to get up, or his sister hiding in his doorway to see if he could hear her. He was listening for the sounds of his uncles North and Aster arguing over taking the “Sleigh” (North’s Car), or the “Tunnel” (Aster’s Car) to drive into town. He listened for his father laughing at the argument. The fact that none of the usual sounds were there to greet Jack with the sunrise, made the teen feel lonely.
But as little sound as there was Jack wasn’t going to let that get him down. He took a shower and threw on some stay at home clothes. From sun up to sun down Jack cleaned and unpacked. He hung the rest of his clothes up which were ordered, by color, patterns, and types of the clothing. His closet was walk in so he had plenty of room to the label each section. All the sections were specially carved into wooden plates so he could feel out the words with his hand and know what is what.
The same labeling was done in his kitchen, from food, to cooking and eating supplies. Jack even hand his book self and records labeled. Most of the labels wouldn’t be needed over time, for his long term memory would keep him up to pace with where everything will be and should be in the house. After working all day he made a small dinner, listened to some records and heading to bed, he had a few more days to have the house together before school started next week and he didn’t want to worry about his house.
The sound of scratching, no scurrying around was heard above him, is what woke Jack up the next morning. He groaned getting out of bed, and yawned as his feet touched soft carpet. After rubbing some of the sleep from his eyes, he stood still and listened. He could already tell it was something small, an animal of some kind. There were two of them, from all the noise. He grabbed the wooden staff next to his bedside and walked across the room to the door next to his closet.
Using the staff to feel his was into the entrance of the room, he stopped when the staff hit a small wooden beam. He lifted the staff and it landed on a wooden plate; he moved the staff up three times and took a step up what he realized was a stair case. As he walked up the stairs with caution Jack kept his right hand on the wall. Walking up the stairway he stopped feeling the smooth surface change to something harder and a bit colder in temperature. Jack walked up the stair case more, keeping his hand on the wall feeling the new material and even stopped to reach his hand up and see how high the obstacle was.
The wall passed his body height, it really caught Jack’s interest. So, he put the staff to the side of the stair way and turned too completely to face the new material. He placed the fingertips of both his hands on the chilly material, after feeling around a bit he knock on the new wall with his fists. He chuckled at himself, “Oh man,” he gave a sighed laugh at his actions. “It’s a window Jack,” he told himself, knocking on the large glass again. He wiped his hand across the glass and felt the dust pick up on his palm. “Whoa, a very dusty window, nice” he wiped his hands on his sweats and grabbed his staff. “More cleaning to do,” he slightly moaned heading back up the stairs.
The stairway came a strange end when Jack didn’t feel a door, but a marble floor after the last step. He used his staff to lead him around and make sure he didn’t bump into anything. He took soft and slow steps, even after s few minutes he realized there was nothing up here with him (well material objects wise). His senses quickly went into motion when he heard the running of small feel and felt the vibrations of two creatures running. His head moved every which way, fallowing the sounds and where they were coming from, along with where they were going.
After being lead in circles from the animal’s game of cat and mouse he paused to gather himself. After taking a deep breath and concentrating he could easily follow the sounds and chase them. Jack closed his eyes and spun his staff in his hand, facing the hooked end to the floor. Taking a similar stance of a hockey player he was ready to play. The first sound he heard he went after it like a hockey puck on the move. The critters were quick and nibble, but so was Jack. He was really enjoy this game till he ran into the wall, and stubbed his toe for the fourth time. On the fifth round, he thought he was close to what he now knew was a cat, and swung his crook only to miss, fall and slide across the room. His bear back made harsh contact with something skinny and hard. “AH! Shit!” he shouted in pain with his head on the ground and legs in the air. He lifted his head up to see what he slid into, even though he couldn’t see it. He groaned, closing his eyes and dropped his head back on the cold floor.
His eyes blinked opened hearing the soft meow of a cat. He could feel the felines sandpaper tongue, licking his face. “Ah, yeah, ok. I get it your sorry,” he sighed and groaned falling on his side, he shot up, when he felt something slimy shoot in his ear. He felt whatever was on his shoulder fall off. Rubbing his ear confused he looked around more to hear than see. The sound of what could have been some kind of lizard caught his ear.
He felt something crawl on his hand and lift it up to touch it, his eyebrows arched at the feel of the shaking creature, “A chameleon?” He questioned, the lizard made what sounded like a reply. Jack sighed rested his slightly aching head on whatever he hit. The cat’s furry head forcefully met Jack’s hand, as the feline wiggled his head under his hand, as the chameleon seemed to hug his other hand. Jack complied patting the cat’s head, and smiled at the chameleon, “your forgiven I guess.” The cat jumped into this lap and purred cuddling close the males bear skin. “Well aren’t we all loving, now that I got hurt?” he chuckled. “At least you care,” he shrugged and sat in silence with the two animals for a moment. “So, what exactly are you doing in my newly found attic?” he asked the cat. Than he remembered the feeling of the mouse on his feet, but looked at the chameleon. “Ah, you two were playing. What tag?” The chameleon replied. “Hmm, did you at least catch it?” he asked.
The cat replied with meow, and Jack laughed lightly. “Cool, are you guys done cause I’m done,” the cat purred louder and snuggled closer. “I’ll take that as a yes, Thanks I guess,” Jack said patting his new friends. As he rubbed the cats chin he felt a collar and a name tag. “So, you’ve got an owner. Ok, let’s see what your name is,” he said and pressed his thumb into the etched in name on the tag. “T. O. O. T. H. L. E. S. S. Toothless, huh so you don’t have teeth?” he asked and received a quick and painful bite on his finger. “AH! Ok so you do… so why name you Toothless?” he questioned, but put it aside. He pulled his hand up to his face, where the chameleon sat. “So, do you have an owner too, or are you guy’s new best friends?” Jack asked and the chameleon jumped off his and on the Toothless.
The cat meowed and the lizard squeaked together implying they knew each other, or at least that how Jack took it and nodded.
He stood up, using the object he hit for balance. As soon as his hand touched the surface of the object Jack instantly knew what it was. A small sad smile appeared on his face, as he slowly, and gracefully slid his hand across the object. “No matter where I go, passion will follow right Pitch?” he said to no one. He pressed his finger onto the small white key and received a high pitched ring. He winced at the sound, as it echoed around the room. “Could use a little tuning, but other than that sounds fine” he said pressing the keys of the piano down in the line, clearing them of dust.
His knee hit the piano bench, which was also covered in dusted. He heard Toothless meow and head motioned towards him. “Even though you did almost give me a concussion, you did help me find a treasure I will hold dearly, and cleared my house of rodents. For that I will give you a treat,” he picked up his staff and headed down the stairs. As he did he could feel the warmth of the sun shining through the window, he enjoyed the sensation before walking out the attic door.
Toothless was on his heel with chameleon on his head, by the time he closed the door. “How about some cream, and fruit? I could go for bowl of cereal, and a coffee.” He asked walking down stair form his room, through his living room and down the hall to the kitchen. The two pet’s agreed, Jack chuckled.