Chapter 1; One Glimpse

While running in the woods, young Jack sees something very strange and yet, very familiar at the same time. Human!Jack, set before the movie

The young boy, Jack, turned his attention to the sky. To his greatest delight, it began to snow. It had snowed hard all week but he didn't utter a single complaint. The boy loved the cold. He laughed as he ran with his arms outstretched. At one point, he stopped and stuck his tongue out. Jack's favorite season was winter, and he loved it when it snowed. He ran and ran until he found himself at the little frozen pond that was close to his house. He sat down and watched the frozen water. Jack longed for a pair of ice skates. He wanted to be able to fly across the ice. Though the lake was deserted now other than Jack, he'd come here on the winter holidays to watch the older skaters and learn everything he could learn about the sport. For years he had skates on the top of his Christmas wish list. But instead, Santa always got him something different.

"You are too young to skate. Maybe when you are older I will ask Santa to bring them for you," his mother always said when Jack asked about it. She was right of course. Jack was still only around the age of ten. She didn't want him to get hurt on the ice. But that didn't make Jack want them any less.

For a second, Jack was a little disappointed. But he quickly shook himself out of it. "No need to dwell on something I don't have yet," he thought to himself. He stood up and brushed the snow off his clothes. Just then, something caught his eye in the frozen lake. He looked at it and gasped. His reflection was gone. Instead, he saw a guy that was much older than him. He looked to be in his late teens. His short hair was the same length as Jack's, but instead of his regular, dark brown color, the reflection's hair was as white as snow. He wore a blue, hooded, long-sleeved shirt. His light brown pants were the same as Jack's, but they were ripped at the ankle. His feet were bare. The stranger's eyes were icy blue, unlike Jack's brown eyes. The stranger in the water looked so alien, and yet, so familiar somehow. It was like Jack had seen him before, but he couldn't place where he had seen him.

Experimentally, Jack raised his right hand. To his surprise, the stranger did the same thing. Jack blinked a couple of times and rubbed his eyes. When he opened them again, the pale teen he saw in the lake was gone. Instead, he saw his normal self again; the brown-haired, brown eyed kid Jack always saw when he looked into a mirror.

Jack looked around. No one was watching him, or spying on him. He looked at the sky and saw it was getting late. His mother would be wondering where he was pretty soon. Jack started to run back to the house, but he stopped short and took one last look at the lake. He bent down and took his shoes off. He tied the laces together and slung them over his arm. In truth, he loved the feeling of the snow between his toes much more than he liked them hidden in shoes. Jack smiled as he turned and started to run again.

Later on, Jack lay in his bed wide awake. It was probably around midnight, but Jack couldn't sleep. He listened to his little sister's soft breathing in the bed next to him. He couldn't stop wondering who that other boy he saw in the ice was. He had decided not to tell his family about it. Maybe when she was older he would tell Pippa, Jack's little sister, but she was too young to understand complete sentences. If you ignored the eyes, hair, age and clothes, the reflection almost looked like Jack for some reason. Then his eyes widened and he sat up straight in bed. His sister turned in her sleep. Maybe the teen in the ice looked like Jack because that was Jack. Jack didn't understand how, but maybe is hair and eyes change color later on. Jack shook his head and lay back down. Maybe he didn't have all the answers he wanted yet, but he was sure he would figure it out soon. Right before Jack finally fell asleep; he'd made himself a promise that he would never, ever forget the day his reflection changed in the ice.