There was no way I had anything left to let go of, I set the bucket down keeping it close. I sat up slowly letting my feet dangle off the side of the bed. The room was small, holding only a bed, night stand, and dresser. There were no posters or pictures on the walls or anywhere to be seen to tell me whose room this could be. All I could remember was deciding to walk through the park on the way home from the party, after that my mind struggled to make sense of events that happened. I let it go for now, I could always try and remember more later, but for now I had to figure out where I was.
I moved forward slowly until my bare feet touched the cold floor. I flinched at the cold before putting my feet flat on the floor and stood up taking a step away from the bed, not going too far in case I lost my footing. I hadn't noticed but I was still in my dress from last night. With one hand on the bed I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as a wave of nausea rolled through me, along with a memory. The memory of lying on the ground with a silhouette in front of me before passing out.
As I stood there focusing on my breathing I heard the rattling of the door knob shortly before hearing a small squeak as the door to the room opened. I opened my eyes to see the same silhouette from my memory. I froze where I was as they made their way into the room, it was Jack. He was carrying a water bottle and froze in the doorway when he saw me standing next to the bed. We stood like that for a moment before he made his way into the room and held out the water for me. I slowly, and reluctantly, took the water from him. I didn't realize how thirsty I was until I took a sip and fought the urge to chug the entire bottle right then.
"We have some food ready too, you can ask any questions you have while were eating." Jacks voice was even and calm as he spoke. I nodded and took a step to follow him out of the room and stumbled bumping into his back.
I took a moment to regain my footing, putting my palm flat on his back to help a bit. "I apologize, I cant seem to walk strait yet." I stayed where I was for a moment when I felt Jack take my hand and placed it gently at his elbow. When I want to take a step forward he matched it and we walked slowly out of the room together, Jack leading the way down the hall way and to an open area with the kitchen and dining area.
There was laughter that caught my ears, along with the smell of pizza coming from the oven. The laughter subsided when they noticed the unfamiliar face coming into the room. Jake led me to the table and pulled out a chair for me to sit. Once I sat down Jake made his way to the others and opened the oven to take out the pizza and brought it to the table. The other two brought plates and the pizza cutter. A plate found its way in front of me with a piece of pizza on it, "Its a bit like having a hangover, the grease and carbs will help you feel a little better." It was a man that spoke, he didn't look any more than 22 years old. He kept his face clean shaven and his hair was kept short, he looked as if he belonged in the military.
I nodded and took a small bite of pizza and realized how hungry I had been. As I started to eat more the woman that was at the table finally spoke up as well. "You don't realize how hungry dying makes you until you get that first bite, am I right?" The room went quiet as I swallowed my next bite of pizza, setting the rest down on the plate.
"What do you mean? Am I dead?" The silence continued for a moment after I asked my questions. Jack wasn't the one to answer them either it was the other man.
"You aren't dead, but you almost died." He paused trying to find the right words, I waited patiently and took a bite of pizza giving him time to form his sentences. "We are, special. Each of us is considered some sort of legend, Jack Frost." When he said the name he pointed to Jack before continuing. "Mary here would be equivlant to the tooth fairy. My thing would be Easter but you can call me Kyle. There are more of us but we each have our own schedules, we aren't normally together like this." He stopped and continued to eat his pizza, letting me process this information.
I finished another bite of pizza before asking my next question, "Who would that make me?" I let the question sit as I finished my slice of pizza and reached for another as I drank some more water. I looked at each person in turn, memorizing their faces since I knew I wasn't going to be able to talk to anyone else about what was going on. Who would believe me anyway. While my thoughts started to wonder I was brought back when Mary started speaking.
"You would be Mother Nature. We are able to pass on our abilities to another person under the right circumstances, when they are about to die." She was so matter of fact about it that it made me wonder if she didn't regret making the decision to take her second chance. When I thought this my mind finally managed to remember everything that happened. Before I knew it I was crying with three people I barely knew staring at me not knowing what to do about the suddenly crying teenage girl that just remembered how she died, and what she had agreed to for a second chance at life.