Nonexistent (Rise of the Guardians)

Prologue part 1

Her feet hit the ground hard wth each step, her shoes making the layer of fallen leaves on the forest floor crackle with each pounding step. The heavy stone necklace around her neck pounded against her collar bone with each step as she sprinted through the forest. Her breath came in ragged gasps as she pushed herself to her limits. Sharp branches, whose leaves now lay brown and dead on the ground, snatched at her black hair and her long brown skirt as she fled through the woods, sprinting towards the sound of her brother's crying.

"Will!" She called desperately, but her voice came out as only a whisper because of her lack of breath. Her brother didn't hear her, so she kept running.

As she neared the small alcove in the trees where her brother hid, Alexandra Barrow felt a stab of sadness similar to the one her brother was feeling, though she hardly showed it. She was sixteen yeas old, practically a woman already. Alex kept her emotions well hidden, only letting others see her feelings in instances of extreme weakness. She was close to one of those situations now; with her brother pushing her away and her parents gone forever.

With a shaky, panting breath, Alexandra knelt in the bushes and crammed herself into a small hiding space she and her brother had used to play in when Alex was younger. She saw an unruly mop of black hair faintly in the shadows, and she wrapped her arms around her shaking brother. He sniffled and leaned into her, sobs beginning to rack his eight year old body. After her parents had gotten ill, Alex's younger brother, William, had become distant, pushing her away when she tried to talk to him, shutting everyone out of his life, and continuously building walls around himself that were previously impenetrable.

Alex's embrace broke all those walls down.

With great, heaving gasps, William cried into his sister's blouse as Alexandra stroked his back soothingly. No words were needed, all that Will required was the calming presence of his sister. They stayed like this for a number of minutes, the moonlight through the bramble thicket casting soft shadows and spots of white light on the siblings. It was comfortable in the little hollow. The small space and close quarters made Alex and Will feel safer than they had in a long time. In an effort to calm himself down, Will began to fiddle with the necklace clasped around his sister's neck, the amber colored stone cool in his small hand. The silver chain hung around Alexandra's neck, securing the heavy stone to her chest. It was all she had left of their mother. William's breathing slowly settled back to a normal tempo, and he had enough control to look into the watery eyes of his older sister. Both pairs of blue eyes met, and shared a simple understanding between the two. 'I love you. No matter what.'

William gave a watery smile and the siblings crawled out of the small space between the bushes. In the open air, out of that tiny space, the world seemed so much bigger, and more dangerous. A chill wind whipped through the autumn air, making Alex and her brother press against each other for warmth. The sixteen year old knelt on the forest floor, and her brother wrapped his arms around her shoulders, his tear stained cheek pressed to her neck.

"Will, shhh. It's okay, Will. We're going to be alright. You'll see." She assured him. The back of Alex's dress tightened in his fists.

"How can you say that, Alex? They left us. They promised they wouldn't leave us!" He cried, more hot tears running down his face. Alexandra leaned back as Will pressed himself against her.

"Will, you know as well as I do that they would never have gone if they had a choice. They couldn't help it. It's not their fault." She reassured him.

"They could have tried harder! They could have tried harder to get better! They didn't have to leave! They didn't..." he trailed off and took a shaky breath. "they didn't have to die..."

Will collapsed onto his sister, shaking with a new bout of tears. Alex kept hugging him, her thin arms wrapped around her brother's small frame. Between sobs, Will choked out, "What will we do now?"