Finite Immortality-The Beginning

Any help on this will be much appreciated!  It is a novel that I aim to publish one day, and I cannot thank you enough for any help provided.  :)  (And I'm new here, make me feel welcomed, perhaps?)

1 The Beginning

                  Cold air brushed through Sophie's hair as she balanced herself on the swings.  They creaked soundly as she swung back and forth, marring the peaceful silence of the night.

            Wordlessly, she grabbed the root beer from the wood ledge and took a good long gulp before setting it down roughly back on the surface, hearing the bubbles sizzling within.

            She sighed, and set her eyes back to the starry night.  She swung carefully for a few more seconds then stopped abruptly, combat boots digging into the soil on the playground.

            "Why me?"  She moaned, putting her head into her hands.  "Why me?"  She cried out again, sobbing slightly.  She scrunched her eyebrows together for a few seconds as silent tears leaked from her eyes and left a wet trail down her pink cheeks.

            Standing up, she hastily brushed a few leaves off her coat where the wind had blown them on earlier, then dabbed her tears off her face with her long, black sleeves.

            Look around to make sure no one else was present; she let out a quiet, frustrated scream into the sky.

            "Santa, you promised me.  You fucking promised me that everything would be better.  I've put that wish on my Christmas list for years—and I believe you, I really have no one else to fall back on, just please—"

            Another cold breeze nipped on the girl's nose, blowing her hair up and she tightened her grip on her coat as she shivered slightly.  She whipped her head back, "Oh, Jack Frost, not you too--"

            "Jack Frost?  Oh no, I'm definitely not Jack Frost.  That dude's way too cold and grumpy for my taste.  I'm old, but not that old.  This is very insulting."  A white haired boy said, frowning slightly as he said these words. 

            Alarmed, Sophie backed up a little and tried to find the sudden intruder. 

            Sitting in the mid air, the boy has his arms crossed and curved the corner of his mouth, pouting.

            Shifting his position, he let himself drop through the bar on top of the swings, directly on to one of the swings next to her.

            Sophie widened her eyes further more.  She couldn't even attempt a pitiful squeak to express her surprise.  This is pathetic.  Her vocal chords have failed her a long time ago.

            I bet my eyes are as big as frying pans, not just saucers.  She thought dryly to herself as she sat down on her swing once again in shock.

            The boy has stopped paying attention to her, swinging ever so slightly on the swing next to her.  Miraculously, the swing did not squeak at all for him.  He murmured something to himself, eyes downcast, and Sophie couldn't bother to provoke another reaction from him.

            All she could do was to stare at him shyly, ready to turn away at a moment's notice.

            I must be crazy, but the effects must have been flushed out of my system already!

            The white haired boy swung a few more times, with a higher interval each time, then promptly kicked against the ground, throttling towards the sky.  After getting up to ten feet, twenty feet, he spread his arms and let gravity take its toll on him.

            "Oh my gosh!"  Sophie screamed, watching him and bracing herself for the imminent impact.

            Unfortunately, she leaned backwards to better observe the boy, and she promptly fell out of the swing.

            "Oof!"  The wind was knocked out of her lungs.  A blush started to spread out on her cheeks, she was officially quite embarrassed by her own antics.

            "Ouch."  The boy commented in the air, wincing on her behalf.  "That must hurt."  He floated back up, completely disregarding gravity and all physics associated with it.

            Sophie scowled.  "So you're just going to float there and pay unwanted sympathy to me?  No thanks."

            Ignoring the pain in her butt, she get on her swing again, shielded her face with her hair, trying hard to hide her embarrassment before this, uh, rather cute boy.

            "Another person who likes to speak with himself or herself, eh?"  The boy commented, still comfortable with his spot in the sky. 

            "Talking with myself?  Excuse you, dumb ass, I'm talking with you."

            Jack looked around the empty playground as if he were trying to find another human being around.

            There was no one else.  Just the Moon, Sophie, the swings, and him...  So Sophie must be talking to him...

            Maybe she just likes to talk with the swings?

            For a second, his 'heart' did a gymnastic routine and he nearly shouted out with glee.  But then, reality set in and he reminded himself that it was impossible.  At least not normally, so that means…  She must be really, really off her rocker.

            However, he had to try anyways.

            "Me?"  He tested tentatively.

            "Yeah, Mr. Ignorant Ass who Hangs In the Air."  She shouted back, unimpressed.

            He bobbed slightly in the air, licked his dry lips and tried again.  "Me?"  His rather cute eyebrows scrunched together.  "You can see me?"

            "Obviously."  The girl rolled her eyes.  "What?  You think you're invisible?  Well, fat chance, buddy, because I can see you perfectly fine."

            For a second, the boy was impossibly and deathly still.  The liquid time froze as if it turned into ice.

            Sophie's breath hitched in her throat as a huge wave of cold, chilling energy washed over her like a bucket of stunningly freezing water.

            Time went on again as she blinked and the boy let out a winning grin.  His excitement visibly grown as his bright aura flared a brilliant silver.  The white glow surrounded him and brighter energy tendrils began rolling off of him.

            As if blown by the wind current, they boy drifted towards Sophie at the blink of an eye and a whiff of mountain air caught her nose.  She looked around her and tried to pick up sighs that confirm that yes, indeed, she was in a dream.

            She pinched herself and resulted in a slight yelp.

            When she decided to look back at the boy, it was apparent that there was nothing but air staring back at her.  The scent was still there, but she couldn't see any trace of the glow any more.  "White haired weirdo?  Where are you?"

            The wind blew back at her in eerie response.  The owl lazily hooted at her.  Swings creaked and swung slightly back and forth.  Sophie missed the crickets’ creaking during the summer and the chirping birds.  The winter air is hard and brittle, and can be admittedly cruel at times.

            But there was no Boy in The Sky.  Sophie thought she was losing it.  Perhaps she was talking to the air the whole time...  Perhaps she was talking to her subconscious.  I might just take up Lucy's offer on seeing a shrink.

            "Boo!"  The apparition suddenly appeared behind her, blowing cold wind down her neck.

            "Ahh-eep!"  She screeched as she fell on her butt, again.  She scooted back through the leaves and the dry mud, away from the boy who just nearly scared her to death.  She does not fancy dying in such an indignant way.

            "You...  You idiot!  This prank has gone too far.  Go away!  I'll call the police if I have to!"  She stuck her hand into her pocket, fumbling for her phone.  The local teenagers have really gotten out of the hand.

            It was unlike them to target her as a victim, as she rarely come into path with them, and she definitely never spoiled their plans at all in her high school career.  Are they pranking even the most innocent by-standers now?  Enough is enough.

            She was done humoring them.  She glanced back up.

            The boy had an extremely surprised expression on his face; completely ignorant to her sudden outburst or the funny position she landed herself in.

            "It is true.  You can see me.  You can see me!  Prima!"  He threw his body back in the air and did a rather impressive backflip.  Sophie would probably be amazed if she was not as annoyed.

            She rolled her eyes and nodded her head, mocking his excitement.  "Yeah, yeah.  I know.  Amazing, woo-hoo!  Now get the heck out of here because I DIDN'T APPRECIATE THE SCARE!"  She stuck her hands by her hips, glaring at the boy, still floating. 

            He may be a mere hologram, programmed to react or controlled to scare her specifically.  The rich kids and the jocks always have the best and newest products.  Quite a few of their parents are professors, too.  She wouldn't be surprised if they have some high tech gadgets that are not released to the market yet.

            "Well.  Okay.  I apologize if you were frightened.  I just wanted to make sure."  The boy touched down beside her, expression changing suddenly, quicker than a blink of an eye.

            Sophie raised an eyebrow in return.  "Okay.  You make sure whatever.  I have to go home now."  She got up from the leaves, dusting herself off and turning.

            "But!  But I have to," Jack tried to say as Sophie started stalking away.  She knew coming out there to the park in dark was a bad idea.  She ignored the stuttering and protesting thing behind her and continued speed walking away.

            The next thing she knew, a glowing arm was sticking out of her chest.  "Ah!  What the hell—"  She would have screamed if she didn’t know that it was merely a hologram doing the trick.

            "Sorry."  The boy stood in front of her again.  "I had to get your attention."

            Sophie bit her lips to refrain herself screaming at him once more.  The new gadget, she admitted grudgingly, is pretty cool.  She'd trade her sister for one of these cool hologram thingys to make her own doppelgängers. 

            "Now you have my attention, spill.  What do you want?"  She tapped her boots impatiently against the leaved covered ground.

            "...  I don't know."  The boy seemed to be at a lost.  He put his hand over his glistening silver hair.  "I hadn't really thought about that yet."

            Sophie rolled her eyes.  She turned around, lost, and finally settled her death glare to the swings.  "Guys!  Not funny.  Quit this right now.  Go pick on someone else...  Like Bobby or Mikey or something.  I've got to get home."

            She trained her eyes to the swing set.  No movement.  No jocks bursting out of the bush and saying "Haha!  Even the fearless Miss Perfect can be scared out of her wits!"  No robots-controlling nerds coming out and insulting her for nominations of the people to be picked.  No secret police bursting out of there and accusing her for what she did a few weeks ago.  No psychologists chasing her down the street with therapy either.

            No one was around but the boy who was still staring at her blankly.

            He blinked.  "Hello?"  He waved his arms around her face, one of them dangerously close to going through her face.  "Did you bring your friends here?"

            "No."  She scowled.  "Unless you count my root beer."

            The hologram stayed still for a moment, then asked, "Does root beer taste good?"

            "What?"  Sophie was completely caught off guard.

            "Does root beer--"

            "I know what you said!" 

            "Okay..." He held his hands up, no need to be so touchy.  "I was just asking if—“

            "Root beer tastes good."  Sophie replied.  "How is this even relevant?"

            "I was just curious.  Never tasted that before."  He shrugged.

            "Yeah, maybe that's because you are a hologram?"  Sophie deadpanned.

            The white-haired boy pursed his lips and pouted.  "I am not a hologram."

            "Then what are you?"

            "A ghost."

            Jack definitely did not expect the outburst from Sophie after she acquired the knowledge.

            "You?  A ghost?  Ha ha!  What do you take me as?  A seven year old with a lower-than-average IQ?"  Sophie laughed a bit more.  "Terribly sorry to disappoint.  But I am a functional sixteen year old with an arsenal of well acquired knowledge to boast.  You, sir, are not a ghost."

            Jack frowned.  He did not like the girl's denial on what he was.  He would know.  He had been in the same state for nearly seventy or eighty years.

            "Ghost.  I am definitely a ghost."

            "Hologram."  Sophie threw it back at him with a sing-song voice.

            "Jack the ghost.  Since 1925."

            Sophie rolled her eyes.  "Yeah right.  Because eighty some years old men sure look like immature seventeen years olds who haven't hit puberty yet."

            "I so have!"  He said, wincing when his voice cracked towards the end.

            "See?  Point A demonstrated."  Jack growled irritably as Sophie was taken back by the over-exaggerated reaction.  "Touchy much?"  She echoed his earlier words.

            "Either way.  I'm still taller than you are."

            "How childish.  Five feet six is not that impressive to beat.  You're what?  Five feet nine, five feet ten?  Loads of boys are taller than you are."

            He pouted.  "I'll pretend I didn't hear that and let it slide because I am too happy right now to care."

            "Holograms can be happy?"

            Jack let out another frustrated groan to himself.  "Why don't you just believe that I am a ghost?"

            "Because ghosts don't exist?"

            "Well, do holograms have free will?"  Jack said as he demonstrated his flight powers to her.  "Wouldn’t they flicker or something?  Do they have auras?"

            "No."  Sophie admitted.  "You could be controlled by Jake or Ryan...  Or, or..." Her voice failed her.  "Fine.  I'll humor you.  You are a ghost.  Can you just let me go home?  I'm tired."

            Jack contemplated.  "Fine.  But expect me tomorrow.  I have to find out why can you see me."

            "Stalker.”

            Sophie finally had her wish as she dragged her body back to her room and collapsed on the bed quietly.  No Jack.  I won't be seeing you tomorrow.  It'll all be nothing but a dream when I wake up...  And you certainly will be gone by then...