"AHH!" I screamed as I bolted up. Drops of sweat slid down my face. I breathed heavily. I held my head with my hand and took a couple of deep breaths. I climbed out of bed and put on a zip up hoodie. I walked quietly down the stairs and put on my pair of Uggs. I opened the front door quietly and walked outside, the cold crisp air giving me comfort. I took out my phone and looked at the time. "3:15, great, why does it have to be the time of night everything goes bad" I mumbled under my breath. I stuck my phone back into my pocket and took a deep breath. I watched my smokey breath pillar out and evaporate in the air. I looked up the street at the hill there. I choose to walk up there and enjoy the cold air. It always seemed to calm me down. As I walked, the teen from earlier popped into my head. /Who was he?/ I wondered as I continued to move up the hill. I soon reached the base. A whistle sounded from behind me. I turned, my blonde hair swinging into my face and cover my right eye. I saw the boy in the blue hoodie from before. He was staring at something from behind me. "What are you looking . . ." before I could even finish my sentence he had a hand over my mouth in a flash. He looked at me with his ice blue eyes and put his index finger over his mouth, signalling for silence. I narrowed my eyes, but held my tongue. He removed his hand and pointed up the hill. I turned to see a black horse there. It was stomping at the ground, neighing angrily. He lead me to hide behind a snow mound.

"Don't let them hear you. That's your nightmare. When it hears your voice, it can easily track you down for . . . him," the boy shuddered at whatever his thought was, "let me handle it." With a smirk, he disappeared. I looked over the mound and saw him flying towards the nightmare with a staff in his hands. He shot out ice from his hands. He hit the nightmare and it neighed loudly. I watched it turn towards him and look at the boy with dark, cold eyes. It charged at him. The boy dodged and threw more ice at it. My eyes widened in surprise. I rubbed them, and looked back. The scene was gone. I shook my head, thinking that my mind was playing tricks on me.

I sighed and stood up. I pulled out my phone and looked at it. 4:00 am. "Sh|t" I cursed under my breath. I started to jog down the street, back to my house. I crept quietly down to the basement and pulled out my laptop. I logged on and opened the internet. 'Nightmare' I typed into the search bar. I clicked the first link and started to read the article.

"Nightmares are horses that are the essence of a bad dream. They are created by the Boogeyman, or known as Pitch, who is the monster under the bed that many children are afraid of.

When the person has a nightmare and wake up and speak, Pitch can use the nightmare to track down the dreamer for his own needs or purposes." I read out loud to myself. I looked to see a link at the bottom. 'The Guardians' I clicked it and found a page with more links on it. I read the pages on The Toothfairy, The Easter Bunny, Santa Clause, Sandman, and there was one more link, off on it's own. 'Jack Frost.' I clicked on it and looked at the article.

"Jack Frost is a free spirit.He comes and goes as he pleases, bringing winter in his wake. He can control the weather, fly, and create frost. He is considered a Guardian but has yet to become a full Guardian because he has yet to discover his true potential.'

I looked closely at the image. The boy looked like the mysterious boy I kept running into. I sighed and minimized the web browser and opened up Autodesk Sketchbook Pro and started to sketch out the boy. I sketched out a full body picture along with a couple head shots and tons of poses and positions. I glanced at the clock, 5:00 am. I sighed and saved the file and opened it up in Photoshop. As I continued to work, I heard footsteps from upstairs.

"Sky?" I heard a voice call.

"Hm?" I said loudly. I heard footsteps come down the stairs. I glanced up to see my dad.

"Whose this?" he asked.

"I don't know" I said with a shrug.

Dad laughed, "How can you not know? You're the one whose drawing it" he teased. I shrugged as he took a seat next to me. "Whoever he is, he looks awesome" Dad chuckled. He stood up and grabbed his laptop and tablet and set up next to me. We had a daughter, father bonding time; learning from each other. Nine 'o' clock rolled around and we paused to go up stairs to eat breakfast. I finished and went back downstairs. I sat down in my seat and looked at the screen. Above the full body picture were the words, Jack Frost written in beautiful hand writing. I looked around and saw a frosty hand print on the glass door. I got up and placed my hand gently on it. The hand print was much larger than mine. I blinked and looked at it. There was a hand on the other side of the glass. I looked up and I was met with a pair of ice blue eyes.

took a step back in surprise. We looked each other up and down. He opened the door; a rush of cold air came rushing in. He took a step inside and shut the door.

"You're very lucky your nightmare didn't see or hear you" he said, leaning against the door. Frost began to crystallize on the glass.

"And?" I said with a shrug, taking a seat in front of my computer.

"It could have killed you" he said seriously.

“Do you think I'm scared of a horse?" I asked.

"It's not just any horse," said the boy as he stood up and walked over to me, "It's a nightmare. They can kill you like that" he said, snapping his fingers. He sat down next to me, giving off cold air. He looked at me with his blue eyes, searching for something. I looked away from him and turned my attention back to my drawings. The boy looked over my shoulder at them.

"And why should you care about whether or not it kills me?" I asked; he stayed silent, thinking. "I'm not worth it" I said.

"No, you are worth it. In fact, you are special. Very special, more than you can imagine. I can't tell you what and why exactly, but your specialness intertwines with your destiny" the boy explained, I snorted.

"I am nothing special, the only things I am good at are writing, drawing, snowboarding, and dancing . . . maybe rambling on, but there is nothing special going on in me" I said, gesturing to my whole body. The boy thought for a moment, and then pulled out a piece of paper and a pen.

"Write a note to your parents saying that you'll be gone for awhile. Don't tell them why or where you're going. Pack a bag, I'll come for you tonight" he said, standing up.
"I don't even know you, you can't expect me to go running off with you in the middle of the night" I said. He paused and turned to face me. He smiled a playful grin.

"I don't expect you to come willingly" he said, grinning. I gasped.

"You wouldn't" I said.

"I would, so I suggest you write that letter and pack before I come tonight" he said opening the door. He shut it as I ran towards him. I looked out to see that he was gone. I sighed and trudged back to the couch. I sighed loudly and rubbed my temple in frustration. I looked over at the paper and pen. I reached over and grabbed the items. I clicked the pen and began to write.

Dear Mom, Dad, and Mattie,
I know this is sudden and totally out of the blue, but I have to go. I can't tell you where or even why. Don't worry about me and don't go looking for me. I'll be fine. If anyone should ask where I am, tell them I'm visiting an old family friend. I love you; keep me in your prayers.
I love you guys.
Sky.

I went upstairs to go grab my laptop bag. I brought it back down and put my laptop, tablet and sketchbook in there. I carried it upstairs to my room and packed some clothes in there along with a brush and some other toiletries. I sneaked out to the garage and took two boxes of Cheese Its and some bottles of Simply Lemonade. I placed them into my bag. I heard my parents call me down for dinner. As I ate, I stayed quiet throughout dinner.

"Are you okay?" asked Mom.

"Yeah, just fine" I said, starring at the half-eaten food on my plate.

"You don't seem fine" Mom said.

"I’m fine, just not that hungry, that's all" I said.

"You sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Okay" she said and the room lapsed back into silence. I finished my dinner and cleared my spot. I walked up the stairs to my room and collapsed on my bed. I buried my head into the pillow. I turned my head and looked at the door. My eyes grew heavy and I fell asleep.