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An eerily cool shiver ran down Jack’s spine. Odd. He thought to himself as he tried to adjust his eyes to the darkness around him. He trembled more from the growing cold, his warm-toned hands shaking in front of him as he tried to feel around the long and narrow hallway he’d been walking down for, who knows, how long. Warm-toned hands? Warm? Jack’s movements came to a stop. He could see his shallow breaths as the temperature continued to drop. Slowly, his gaze dropped to his hands. They were a soft, light olive color. His knuckles were dusted a harsh red from the cold.
I… I-I’m alive… I’m…
Jack’s thoughts are cut off by a sharp hiss that leaves his lips. The cold is starting to become unbearable. He can’t die again; he’s finally back to his original self; he could see his sister again! His body shudders as he forces himself to continue walking down the dark hallway. If I just reach the end, I can see her again… He thinks to himself, a weak smile on his lips as they start to turn white from the low temperature.
What feels like seconds, minutes, or even hours—Jack really can’t tell—passes by. His limbs are sore in a way they haven’t been for years, and that same miniscule smile still rests on his frostbitten, nearly blue face. He winces in pain, tears threatening to fall down his cheeks but almost freezing in their ducts, almost willing to give up. His vision blurs and shakes as he watches his breath in the air. Just as his arms start to fall from fatigue, his stiff and frozen fingers drag against what feels like a door frame in the deep darkness. He sucks in a painful breath—a weak gasp—and forces his body through the ajar doorway.
For a moment, he wonders why there’s no door. Or why the wood feels so sharp and jagged. Thoughts of his family push his questions away, as he’s nearly blinded by a soft light that shines directly onto his face. He quickly turns away from the light; his eyes are met with blue, lifeless ones. The air in his lungs suddenly seemed to disappear, leaving him clutching the brown poncho covering his shoulders and chest. He takes a step back, and his movements seem to flow so much easier than usual.
A better view of the lifeless body is granted to him. Deadly pale skin, which was befitting of the—supposedly—dead male. Dark brown hair, half of it seeming to have been bleached a stark white. Mutilated and torn apart limbs and skin and guts, covered in relatively fresh markings akin to that of fish teeth. The body had the brightest blue eyes that were almost inhuman and froze his core. A dull and frosted blue sweater flowed as if being blown by the wind on the corpse’s body.
Jack gagged at the sight.
It all seemed so familiar, though. As if he’d been here before.
Bright blue eyes… Brown hair turning white… The dull, frosted blue sweater…
He sucked in another harsh breath, gasping for air as panic built in his chest. He cried in pain, the sound never escaping him as he thrashed around. His limbs felt weightless as he moved, splashing around in what he recognized as freezing cold water. He was drowning.
No, no no no, not again please-
A silent sob wracked through his body as he flailed in the deepening water of the frozen lake. His limbs flailed desperately, making useless attempts to resurface. The panic built up more. His chest tightened. Dots of darkness, starting from the corners of his vision, grew into larger specs. Another soundless sob left him as his tears finally fell—they froze on his frostbitten cheeks—and everything went dark again.
Jack gasped in harshly; his breathing quickened as he took in more air that he didn’t need. His eyes darted around the dark room as he hoisted himself with weak arms to lay against the closest wall. Tears continued to flow out as he pulled his legs up to his chest. It was cold. But not in an unfamiliar way.
He looked down at his blue, frosted sweater. His snowy hair obscured the upper edge of his vision as he looked down.
Sickeningly painful sobs rumbled through his chest, his face contorting in pain with each cry as his arms hugged his legs closer to his chest.