It was one of those days at Town Hall - when nothing seemed to be going right and apparantly nobody cared. Preparations for Halloween were continuing as usual, but not successfully. No-one knew what they were supposed to do, so, in their efforts to do something useful, ended up creating an even bigger mess. Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, was currently trying to fix their problems but wasn't having much luck at it.
"No no no, don't put that jack-o-lantern over there! Get that headstone to the graveyard, it's already been carved! No, it doesn't need fixing, now MOVE!"
This was pretty much the way it had been every minute. Not only that but people were constantly coming up to him and asking questions when he was trying to find the answers to them his own self. So he'd be saying one thing but everone else'd be on a totally different topic altogether. Needless to say, it was pretty tiring.
By 2:30 he was exhausted, and told everyone to go take a break. Finally he could sit down...enjoy the silence for a while...
"Hey Jack, I needed your final input on this..." The voice of the mayor cut into his daydream.
"Oh, go away," he muttered. "Just give me one minute of peace and quiet."
The mayor was a short little man, and his obeseness didn't make that any better. Yet he always wore this outrageously tall hat, just to make himself look taller. "I'm sorry," he replied quickly. "I'll go now..."
"No, I can't relax now that you've got me worrying about whatever it is." He stood up, his size contrasting horribly with that of the other man. Jack was over seven feet tall and as thin as a pencil, yet he moved with a special style, a certain gracefulness. "Go ahead and tell me."
"Well," he began, "I just needed you to give me your okay for the go ahead on these new projects we had planned."
"New projects?"
"Yeah, remember? Extending on to the southern part of the cemetary? Making repairs to Town Hall?"
"Oh, okay then. Anything for me to sign?"
"Right here." The mayor handed him the papers and a pen.
"Thank-you." Taking a seat at a nearby table the King of Halloween scrawled his name upon the dotted lines. "Is that all for now?"
"Yes it is. Sorry to have disturbed you..."
"Don't worry about it, just tell the rest of them not to be back until 3."
"Consider it done."
As soon as Jack was alone once more he got up and collapsed onto one of the many wooden benches lined up in front of the stage. With a groan he laid a hand on his head, staring up at the ceiling. What a day this was turning out to be. He couldn't remember feeling this bad since...since his son had died last November. It was the middle of February now, but it still hurt to be reminded of Ezra. He had attempted suicide upon hearing the news, but failed. Sally had told him that he was making great progress, though from the position he had previously been in.
"Jack? Are you alright?" He hadn't even heard his love come in. He shot up.
"Oh yes, fine. Couldn't be better. What makes you ask?"
"That is such a lie. Come on, I know you." She sat down beside him. "Having a bad day?"
"Very bad."
"I'm sorry, darling. Anything I can do to help?"
He sighed, shaking his head. "Not really, but thanks for the offer."
She frowned at him. "Jack, you're overworking yourself. I told you to take it easy and not get worked up over things like this."
"I can't help it though. You know how difficult this whole thing has been." He had a very bad depression problem, and was currently trying to get rid of it. She was helping him along, as were their three adopted children, Lock, Shock, and Barrel.
"Don't worry about it," she told him. "Just try and relax for a while, okay?"
"Are you my doctor or something now?"
"Yeah, and if you don't do what I say then you're gonna be in a hell of a lot of trouble."
"Really, now?" he asked in mock disbelief.
"And don't you forget it, mister."
"Don't worry, I won't." He gave her a kiss. "Thank-you, I feel better for some reason."
"That's great. Wouldn't want to have to kill you."
"I'm already dead."
"Yeah, but it depends on what your definition of 'dead' is. Only your former human self is; your spirit has never ceased to exist."
He laughed. "What is this, Philosophy 101?"
She pushed him teasingly. "Don't get smart with me, bud."
A mischevious smile crossed his face. "As you wish, my queen." Then with a cry he lunged at her and she shrieked with delight, leaping up and running from him. He got up and chased her, dodging benches and knocking over chairs. Her laughter echoed though the building, enjoying this little game. They often liked to do things like this, just for fun. "You can't beat me!" Jack called after her.
"I can and I will!"
"We'll just see about that." He began to run faster, beginning to catch up to her. Glancing back she saw him approach and tried to go faster, leaping over fallen objects. But obstacles were his specialty; leaping over a table he managed to grab hold of her arm, stopping her.
"That was envigorating," she said, gasping for breath. A pause. "Hey, do you realize what day tommorrow is?" She asked suddenly.
"The fourteenth, isn't it?"
"Yes, but something else very special as well. Do you remember what is was?" He shook his head, no. "The day we found out that I was going to have Ezra, three years ago."
"Goodness, really? Does time ever fly..."
"It's also when you proposed to me."
"Yep, right after you had given me the big news. I never even had a ring for you but I didn't care, all that mattered to me was that we'd be having our own child and I wanted to have the wedding before it came into the world."
"The ring you gave to me afterwards was certainly something else." She held up her hand, showing off the huge black diamond and 24 karat gold. "I know it must have cost you a fortune."
He smiled, laying a finger under her chin. "Anything for you, my sweet." He gave her a kiss. "You're the most wonderful woman I've ever known, darling. Never forget that."
"I won't."
Of course, all good things must come to an end. They were interrupted by two arrivals; Lock and Barrel. Sally groaned as her husband let her go. "Hey kids," he said. "How's things going for ya today?"
"Boring," replied Barrel. "There's nothing to do."
"There will be as soon as everyone comes back to work. I'll find something for you quite easily."
"I was afraid of that," Lock muttered.
The Pumpkin King just chuckled. "Hey, where's your sister?" he asked as he looked around.
"She had lunch with Malik today, so they're probably gone off somewhere."
"Ah. Somewhere. Certainly helps me out a whole lot. I wanted her here so she could lend me a hand, not galavanting around with that boyfriend of hers."
"Oh, don't worry about it," his wife reassured him. "That boy means a lot to her for some reason, but she'll get over him at some point. Then the girl will calm down a bit."
"I hope you're right, 'cause I'm really beginning to grow tired of this. I needed her assistance today, things would have gone much smoother had she been here."
"You're probably right. Talk to her about it later."
"I'll do exactly that."
"Tee hee!" squealed Barrel, skipping around the room. "Shock's gonna get in trouble!"
Jack just frowned. "You keep you mouth shut, this doesn't involve you." He stopped and crossed his arms grumpily, but didn't say anything. "Sorry, buster, but you don't need to get tangled up in all this. I'm simply going to tell the girl to lay off of that boy for a while, limit their time together."
"I think that some time apart would be a wonderful idea for the two, Jack. It'd give the rest of us a break."
"Thank-you, Sally, for seeing my point." The main doors swung open at that point and people began to return from their break. "Alright, time to get to work then. This time I'll show them how things are done around here!"
Shock and Malik laid on their backs on his front lawn, gazing up at the clouds as they passed by. "Look," she said to him as she pointed towards the sky. "That one over there looks like a jack-o-lantern."
He squinted at it. "It's a cat."
"How did you get that?"
"I dunno."
"Chock full of information, aren't you?"
"As always."
A slight chuckle escaped her throat. "You're a regular comedian."
"Sure am."
She rolled onto her side so that she could see him better. "Is something wrong?" she asked.
"No, I was just thinking."
"About what?"
"You and me, actually. We'll soon be going out for nine months, you know."
"Yeah. Should we celebrate it?"
"Of course! Only three more months and it'll be a year."
She bit her lip. "Do you even think we'll be together then?"
His jaw dropped as he rolled onto his side, staring at her. "What kind of a question is that? I most certainly do! Why do you doubt that we wouldn't?"
"Well..." She searched for the words she couldn't quite understand herself. "I guess it's just Jack, really. Keeps saying that we don't appreciate true love and that we're only going to end up broken-hearted."
He just laughed. "Ha, impossible! We're dead, remember? We don't have any hearts!"
"That's not my point."
"Then what is?"
She was silent for a second. "I don't know really," was her reply at last. "I just keep thinking about how he and Sally nearly got divorced there not too long ago. Their love is as deep as it goes, the bond unbreakable. But look at the huge fight they went through! What if that happens to us?"
He touched her cheek with his finger softly. "Stop talking like that, you're scaring me! I really like you, Shock, I mean really. Screw what they say, we know love when we feel it. And I know one thing; I love you more then you would ever imagine. No matter what they say, that'll never change. And even if we do part at some point I am positive that we are soul mates and will live the rest of our lives together and in happiness. Do you understand me?"
Her eyes were tearing up at this point. "That is so sweet Malik."
He cupped his hand underneath her chin, bringing her face closer to hers. She didn't resist as he kissed her, just closed her eyes and went with it. It was the first time either of them had ever kissed anyone before, and they never wanted that brief second to end. When it finally did, both were left speechless.
"That's my point," he told her.
"I like that point," she laughed. "You know, that's the first time I've ever been kissed. I mean really been kissed." A quiet laugh. "I remember when I first moved in with Jack and Sally. I'd just gag when I saw them do it. Never imagined doing it myself."
"Did I make you uncomfortable?" he asked her quickly.
"No way! You made me feel happier then I've ever been in my life. Thank-you."
"No problem." He got up then, offering her help as she rose. "Should we perhaps go see if they need our help?"
She nodded in response. "That sounds like a good idea." Linking arms they both set off together, towards Halloween's Town Hall.
By 3:30 Jack had managed to get most of that morning's blunders under control. No thanks to Shock, of course. He was just in the middle of checking a werewolf's job of pumpkin carving when she finally came in, that boy of hers at her side. A groan echoed through his head but he covered it up with a glare as the girl approached him.
"Hey," she cried cheerfully. "Need a hand here?"
He continued examining jack-o-lanterns, not bothering to look at her anymore. "Shock, I'd like to talk with you now in a minute as soon as I'm done here."
"Sure, no prob."
"Alone."
She knew what that meant. Trouble. "Oh. Want me to go sit down?"
"You'd better do that. Malik, you should go on home now."
"Yes, Mr. Skellington." The lad left while Shock sat down on a bench, swinging her legs. What was all of this about? Whatever it was, Jack sure seemed upset.
As soon as he had completed he walked slowly over to a corner near the stage, then beckoned her over with a finger. Gulping, she followed him.
"Uh...did I do something wrong?"
He could only shake his head with disapproval. "I never wanted to do this but I'm afraid I will have to. It has gone on far too long and I'm getting tired of it. Sally agrees with me as well, so I am not the only one who feels this way."
"What's going on? I never did anything."
"That's exactly the point. You left it all up to me while you went running around town with that boy."
She couldn't believe what her ears were telling her. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that from now on there will be a limit to how much you see him. This has got to stop, I tell you. Because you weren't here this morning, everything went horribly wrong. I was counting on you to be here, Shock, you promised me last night that you would be. Instead you ditched me, and I nearly had another nervous breakdown."
"Yeah, well when do you not?!?" she cried.
"Don't get like that with me, missy. This is for everyone's sake, not just yours or mine. Not only have you been ignoring your job here, but you've been ignoring the rest of the family. It's getting tiring never getting to see you anymore. And any time we do get to experience one of your rare visits, that kid you call a boyfriend is always there as well."
"You just wanna make my life horrible," she cried. "Just to see how miserable you can make me!"
"That's not it and you know it. From now on you will simply have to come and do your fair share of the work like anybody else."
"I can't believe you're doing this to me! Is it so horribly wrong to ask for a bit of time to relax?"
He grew quite upset at that. "Relax? You want to RELAX? How many times do you think I've wanted to do that? Nearly every day. But I've kept right on going to the best of my abilities, because it's my job to. You, however, just want to spend more time with Malik. You just brought up relaxing as an excuse, but it won't work."
"So what, though? I don't really care."
"But I do. You have been ignoring your family and your duties, and I want this to stop. Now just forget about him and do your work as you're supposed to."
She was beginning to cry. "You're so mean, Jack."
"Oh, don't go getting on with that rubbish. You should know that it doesn't work on me."
"Yeah, because you don't care!"
"That's right, I don't. Now come on, there's work to be done."
"No, I won't do anything that you say. And you know what else? I'm not even going to bother coming to this place any more, just watch me!"
He just shrugged, as if he didn't care. "Fine then, see ya. Get out of here if you're not going to do anything."
"My pleasure." She gave him an evil look before spinning on her heals and storming away. He barely reacted to all of this, just headed off and continued working. It didn't really matter to him what the girl said or did. He'd allow her a chance to come back to her senses. If she never, however, he would be forced to make Lock his heir instead. Of course she wouldn't be at all pleased over it but he needed someone to be there in case anything should happen to him. Halloweentown needed a ruler and someone like her just wasn't going to cut it.
Shock ran down the steets of town crying, not stopping for anything. Her eyes were blinded by tears yet she never slowed down. How could Jack possibly do this to her? How cruel and heartless was he? She would never go back to Town Hall again, ever. And she would never become the Pumpkin Queen, despite how much anyone begged and pleaded of her.
In her mad fury she hadn't even bothered to check and see where she was going. Checking now, it seemed as if she was headed down Malik's street. There was his house coming up there, and he was sitting outside on his front step.
"Hey, Shock!" he called, standing up and jogging towards her. "What's wrong?" She never slowed down, just kept going. "Please, stop and tell me what's up! I need to know, maybe I can help you."
At long last she finally came to a halt, still crying. "I can't believe Jack," she sobbed. "He's so horrible..."
"Why, what happened?" he asked as soon as he caught up.
"He...he says that I have to stop seeing you. I don't know exactly for how long but I have a feeling it'll be for a while."
"Oh no..." He gave her a hug. "This is horrible. He's trying to keep us from seeing each other! Can't Sally say something to change his mind?"
"No, Jack said that she agreed with him. Talking to her would only make things worse."
"Good point." He shook his head sadly, letting her cry on his shoulder. "I can't possibly imagine you being taken away from me. You know I won't let it happen."
"But what could you possibly do that I can't?"
A sigh. "I don't know. Oh, I wish there was some way I could fix this..."
"Me too...me too..." She sniffed, pulling away from him. "I've got to go now, before somebody catches me here."
"No, please stay..."
"I can't. Jack'll probably send someone up here to search for me and I don't need you getting in trouble. It'd only make the current situation much worse. Do you understand?"
With a sigh he nodded. "Yeah, I guess I do. But I never wanted it to end like this..."
"I know." She gave him a kiss. "Good bye."
"Good-bye."
Then before either of them could say anything else she ran off, her sobs echoing in Malik's mind. His Shock had been taken away from him, and there was nothing he could do about it. Tearing his eyes from the spot she had once stood before him he headed back into the house, slamming the door loudly.
"What's going on out there?" demanded a voice from the kitchen.
"Nothing, mother."
"Then don't shut the frigin' door so hard."
"Yeah, whatever." He collapsed onto the sofa, staring up at the ceiling. He lived with his mother, since his father had split the scene many years ago when he'd been but a child. Together they tried to get along as best they could, but it wasn't easy. He hated living here, it drove him insane. As soon as he turned eighteen it would be splitsville. And it seemed to him that his mom was always down his back, never leaving him alone. Truthfully she was simply trying to be a good parent and was doing the best job she could. He, however, just claimed that she was 'trying to ruin his life'. And no matter how many times she protested against that, it was always the line he'd use to win the argument.
"Malik, you still have chores left to do from this morning."
"I'll do them later," he called back. The chair could be heard scraping across the floor as she stood up, walking into the living room. He never even turned his head to look at his mom, just kept on gazing at the roof. Being a parent, however, Ms. Ghoulman could tell that something was wrong and felt immediate sympathy for her son. Sitting an the edge of the couch she patted his knee.
"What's wrong dear, you seem troubled."
"Nothing," he snapped. "I'm fine."
"No you're not, I know these things. What's the problem?"
He sat up slowly, running a hand through his hair. "It's so horrible..."
"What is it though?' No reply. "Something to do with Shock?" A nod. "Did you break up?"
"In a way," came the answer. "Jack won't let us see each other any more."
"Oh, that's too bad. I rather liked that girl, you two made a nice pair. Why did he go ahead and do this?"
"I don't understand it all myself really, I simply know that I'll never get to see her again..." He placed his elbows on his knees, holding his head. "Why did this have to happen?"
His mother just rubbed his back. "I'm so sorry for you, my child, I know how you feel. I remember something like this happening to me when I was a girl."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I was going out with this other guy when I was about 16. Can't exactly remember why but his mother said for some reason that he couldn't see me anymore and I never did. It was heartbreaking, and I never got over it for quite sometime."
He sat back up. "I just don't want to lose her this way, that's all."
She clasped her hands in front of her, looking at his face. It bore an expression that simply made her feel as if she could cry with pity for him. "You really care about her, don't you?"
"More than anything."
She bit her lip, wishing that she could do something for him. Wait...maybe there was. "Malik," she began, "would you like me to talk to Jack, see if I can change his mind maybe...?"
"I don't know," he said. "He's not exactly an easy person to talk to you know."
"Yeah, so I've heard. Never met him myself but I've been told stories. Apparantly he's supposed to be right depressed all the time. Is that true?"
He shrugged. "Kind of, yeah. Before Ezra was born he was pretty bad and only got worse when the kid died. He's getting better now, though."
"I see. Do you want me to try and speak with him though?"
"Well..." A long moment of silence while he thought it over. "Alright," came the answer at last.
"Whatever you can do, please do it."
She smiled at him. "Of course I will. Anything for my son."
Shock lay on her bed, sobbing quietly to herself. She hated Jack more then anything else in the entire world right now. How could he do this to her, did he feel no sympathy? Of course he did; for himself. That was the only person he really felt pity for, always sulking about his own problems. And now she was being punished because of that. Poor Mr. Pumpkin King couldn't cope with the stress of everyday life and decided to get his daughter to do it all for him. This just wasn't fair...
There was a sudden knock at the door. "Shock?" came a voice. "Can I come in?"
"Yeah, sure."
Sally stepped in, smiling meekly. "Hi there. How ya doing?"
"Been better," she replied blankly, rolling onto her back.
"Thought you might like to talk about what happened. Jack told me you were pretty upset so I decided I'd come see if you'd like to discuss anything..."
"There's nothing to discuss though. What's done is done and I can't do anything about it."
"You're lying to me. Tell me the truth; you're devastated. How right am I?" No reply. "Yeah, just as I thought. I really think that you're putting to much into this guy. I mean, you're letting him dominate your entire life and it's just not worth it. It's okay to care about him but you're really too young to get into such a deep relationship. Do you get my point?"
"No, everything you people tell me is all wrong. You don't know Malik like I do, so there's no way you can understand our feelings. I don't care how young I am or anything like that, Sally. I know what love is."
"But you're too young to fully appreciate it though. There are many years left to your life and you will find many other people. Don't waste it all on the first boy you meet."
"So I'm wasting my life now!" she cried. "Nice to know that you support me so much here!"
"Listen, I didn't say that..."
"But it's what you think, I know it!"
"Don't go twisting my words around."
"I'm simply saying what you're thinking, that's all."
"But you're wrong, all wrong..."
"I'm no fool Sally, so don't try and pull the wool over my eyes. I'm not going to believe you regardless of what you say."
"Shock, please..." she begged.
"No, I won't. You're just like every other adult. You pretend to be my friend and then you turn on me. Just like my own parents who abandoned me and my brothers, made us fend for ourselves. I bet you will to."
"I could never do that. Jack and I never would have adopted you if we intended on leaving you."
Shock refused to believe anything she was being told. "Get out of my room, just go. I never asked you to come in here."
The queen stood up, frowning. "You don't know what a mistake you're making, Shock."
"I'm making no mistakes, Sally. Just leave."
With a shrug she left the room, closing the door to softly behind her. The girl immediately flopped back onto the bed and began to sob all over again.
Shock never left her room until the next day, when Jack ordered her to come out. Reluctantly she did, trying as best she could not to make eye contact. Of course she knew that it was pointless to try and argue her way out of going to Town Hall that morning, so without making a fuss she went on. Never saying a word to anyone, of course.
It was nearing 12:30, and Shock was just in the process of counting jack-o-lanterns when Mrs. Ghoulman stepped into the building. What was she doing here? For a brief second the woman looked around, then headed towards where Jack was reviewing some of the blueprints for Halloween. He was obviously unexpecting her arrival and seemed very surprised. Shock knew why she was here though; to talk some sense into the Pumpkin King. And she could only hope that it worked.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Mr. Skellington. I truly admire you and the things you've done."
He just nodded. "Thanks. Well, I think I can guess your purpose here. To talk about Malik and my daughter."
"Exactly. I was wondering if there was perhaps something we could work out here, that will satisfy everyone."
"What do you propose then?" asked Jack.
"Well...a schedule maybe. You know, something that will split how often they see each other."
He shook his head. "No way. That girl has been devoting far too much time to him already, and it's high time she took some time out to be with her family and her duties here at Town Hall."
"But my son has been devestated without her, I simply want what's best for him."
"And I want what's best for Shock. I don't want her always with him, it's really beginning to ruin things around here. Yesterday was a horrible day, and it would have all run so much more smoothly had she simply been here."
"It was one time though!" she cried.
"No, more like the sixteenth. It's been happening far to often lately, madam, and I can't risk it anymore. The more she isn't here, the more Halloween is jeopardized as well as my own mental health. Please don't think of me as rude or anything, this is just the way I think it should be."
"I know, I simply ask of you to rethink this whole thing. You're making a big mistake here."
He was getting annoyed. "Listen, ma'am, I do not wish to discuss this topic anymore. Me and Sally have decided not to allow Shock near Malik again, and that is final."
"But what has he ever done? Simply care about the girl!"
He rolled up the blueprints and began to walk away. "The case is closed, Ms. Ghoulman. Have a nice day."
She simply crossed her arms and watched him leave. "Good ridance to you, sir." What a horrible man he was, so tempermental. Never even gave her a chance.
"Hi there," came a familiar voice. It was Shock.
"Oh hi dear," she replied. "Just trying to get a word through that skeleton's skull."
"Mighty thick, isn't it?"
"It's awful." She tsk-tsked. "I was only asking him if he'd give you a break, he didn't have to get so worked up."
"That's Jack for ya. I mean I don't want you to think he's mean or rude or anything, he just gets protective and cranky at times. Thanks anyway though."
"No problem darling." The woman simply sighed. "I had always wanted to meet him, but now that I have he seems to be a dreadfully impertinent character."
"Not always he isn't. Usually he's very kind and caring, but he's got alot on his mind lately." She glanced over at him quickly. "So how's Malik doing anyways?"
"He misses you so badly that he often cries about it."
"Really?" Shock had never seen him do that.
"I know, it's so sad." She glanced down at her watch at that point. "I best be getting back now, he wanted me to let him know what Jack said as soon as possible."
"Alright then, bye."
"So long. And I hope that we can work all of this out soon."
The girl sighed pitifully. "Me too, Ms. Ghoulman. Me too."
Late that night Shock sat alone in her bedroom, gazing out the window. Malik's home could be viewed from here. All of the lights were off though, seeing as how it was 1 AM. This was all so unfair, how could Jack be this cruel? Why was she simply sitting here and taking it? What reasons were there not to just ignore it all and do what she wanted? She was the adopted daughter of a King, and nobody would force her to do what she didn't want to. Convinced she stood up and stode over to her bed, ripping off all of the blankets and proceeding to tie the ends together. No matter what happened, nothing could keep her away from the one she loved.
She was just about to lower her rope out of the window when her bedroom door flung open, nearly causing her to drop it. "Lock, what the heck are you doing here?"
"Obviously, I'm catching you doing something that'll get you into a whole lot of trouble."
She tossed her creation onto the floor, folding her hands together and putting on her most pleading expression. "Please don't say anything about this to anyone. Jack'll send me away, turn me into a human..." At that thought she shuddered. "You can't let anybody know about this."
He nodded. "I won't, but only because you're my sister."
"Ok thank you..." She embraced him tightly, causing him to gag. "Uh...yeah. So you're sneaking out?"
"Yep."
"For how long?'
"I'll be back by morning."
A nod. "I don't even need to guess where you're going. Just be careful, 'kay?"
"I will, don't worry." She tossed the chain out the window, tying one end to the bed. "See ya."
Then very carefully she swung her legs over the ledge, descending slowly towards the ground. Watching the whole time her brother watched, worried that she'd loose her grip and fall to the ground. But she held on tightly and placed both feet securely on the ground. She wove just to signal that she was alright before disapearing into the darkness of the night. Lock crossed his arms and watched her jog away. He hated to keep such a secret, but he couldn't rat her out. If Malik meant that much to her, then who was he to interfere with it all? Besides, the last thing he needed was for her to be angry at him. So the best thing to do was to just stay out of it.
Malik shot up in his bed like a bullet, sweating through his pajamas. Flicking on a lamp he wiped his brow, collapsing back down again.He kept having these dreams, where Shock was being taken away from him and there was nothing he could do. It was the same thing every time; a large shadowy figure in a pin-striped suit would sneer down at them before consuming her whole. Every time he'd awake exactly like this, praying that none of it was real.
He was just about to try and go back to sleep when he heard a tap tap tap-ing sound at his bedroom window. Probably just the old tree.Tap tap tap.There it was again! Jumping up he headed over to the window, peering outside. He nearly jumped out of his skin. "Shock!" he whispered. "What are you doing here?" She was sitting outside in the branches of the tree, smiling back at him.
"Can I come in?" she mouthed. Nodding he pulled open the window, letting her climb into his room. "Ack, climbing that thing his hard work," she muttered.
"What are you doing here?" he repeated himself. "You remember what Jack said..."
"Yeah, but do you think I'd listen to him? Nothing in this world could possibly keep me from seeing you."
He just grinned, sweeping her into a hug. "It's so good to have you back again." He gave her a kiss. "Missed you like crazy, you know."
"How could you not?"
"True." He let her go and she sat on the edge of his bed.
"I had to go in to Town Hall today," she grumbled. "That damn skeleton won't even allow me to be miserable in comfort."
"My mother says that she tried to talk with your father."
A shudder went down her spine. "Don't call him that, he's not worthy of the title. He's just a person who's trying to control my life. Unsuccessfully, mind you."
He nodded, sitting next to her. "This has all been so crazy. I was so afraid that we'd never see each other again."
"Unfortunately this is probably the only way we'll be able to, with me coming over like this."
"Who says that you always have to come here? Why don't I just come over to your place sometimes?"
She chuckled grimly. "Sure, if you really wanna get into trouble should ya get caught. If Jack knew about this, he'd flip., Your mom, however, most likely wouldn't say anything."
"Good point. We can still go out though, as long as we're careful. Why just sit here when we can have fun?"
A smile flashed across her face. "I like the way you think, Malik."
"I know, who wouldn't?"
"Don't let your head swell up too much there."
"Ha ha." At that point he got a sudden idea, leaping up. "I know something we can do!"
"What''s that?" she asked.
"Why don't we go out for a bit of a walk? It's a beautiful evening and I haven't been outside for nearly two days now."
"Great idea! Got anything we can wear that will hide our faces though, in case someone should see us?"
"I should have something here somewhere." Pulling open his closet he rooted around until he cried out "Aha! Here's just the thing!" He tossed her a black hooded cape, pulling one on himself.
"These'll do the trick."
"Perfect." She put on hers. "Now we can get out of here."
"Through the window?"
"How else?"
He bowed deeply. "As you wish, my princess."
"Thank you, loyal subject. Let us be off then."
Malik followed after, tracing the route she took down the tree. "Hey, slow down!"
"No, you hurry up!"
She was down in less then a minute and was starting to get annoyed when he finally managed to leap down. "Took ya long enough."
"Sorry, I'm not used to this 'active' stuff."
"Yeah, you're right. When I was with Oogie Boogie me and my brothers would do all kinds of wild things. Heck this is nothing! We'd try to behead each other and hold the odd hanging. And if we ever got bored we'd simply come in to Halloweentown and wreak havoc all over the place. I remember one time when we tried to burn everything down to the ground." A faint smile. "Man, those were the days. Course the mayor was petrified of us, he'd start to shake as soon as he saw us."
"I think he still is," her companion interupted.
"I wouldn't doubt that. Even Jack'd be scared when we were in the area, he'd demand that we were found an immediatley escorted back to our home. That was hilarious."
They both began to laugh. "What a bunch of fools! I'd think that the Pumpkin King should be a little braver than that."
"Sad, isn't it?"
"Very."
The two walked around until dawn, all throughout the Halloween forest and back again. Yet not once did their feet grow tired; just being with each other got rid of that feeling.
It was nearing 6 AM when they finally reached Shock's home. "This has been alot of fun," Malik told her.
"Yeah, it has. Wanna do it again tommorrow?"
"Sure, only this time I'll meet you outside your bedroom window."
"Right." A kiss. "Good-night," he whispered before dashing off. She just watched as he ran off, smiling to herself.
It was around 8:30 when Jack came to wake her up, shaking her lightly. "Come on now, rise and shine. Time to go to Town Hall."
"Oh, fuck off..." she muttered, shoving a pillow over her head.
"Not today. If you ever want to get to see Malik again, you'll have to do as I tell you to. And mind your language."
Inside she smiled but sat up instead, glaring at him. "I hate you, you know that?" she heard herself say. "No feelings for anyone besides poor old Jack."
"You know that's not true."
"Oh really now? Then why are you doing this if you knew how much it'd hurt me?"
"I'm only thinking about the well-being of Halloween here. Besides, your feelings right now are all wrong, and if I acted based upon them then I could be jeopardizing the holiday."
She snorted. "How so?"
"You play an awfully big role in the development of Halloween, Shock, and you know that. Without your assistance alot of things would go undone."
She sighed loudly. "Why can't you just do it yourself, you used to all the time before I was even born."
A nod. "True, and a very good point as well. But I'm more unstable now then I ever was then. The slightest little setback could set me off, and at anytime. But I know that won't happen as long as you're there to assist me. You're great at your job, and I guess I've come to rely on you."
"Do ya have to? I mean, can't you at least let me see Malik in the evenings?"
He shook his head sadly. "I apologize, but no. Lately you haven't even been spending any time with your family because you're with him all the time. It'd be nice to spend time together like we used to. Sally always talks about how she wishes you two could get along better."
"Then tell her to stop being so nosy. Anytime I just want to be left along she's always coming in here and trying to make me feel better."
"That's because she cares about you. You're her daughter, she loves you."
"I am not her daughter, and neither you nor her are my real parents."
"Yes, but we love you and your brothers as if you were our own. Sally knows all about your opinions of her, and it really upsets her. She often cries to me about it, telling me that you hate her and that she only wants to be like a mother to you. It really hurts, her, Shock, just like it hurts me when you say you hate us."
A moment of silence. "I really don't," she said at last. "It's just that I get angry and I can't control the words that come out of my mouth..."
He nodded. "That happens to me alot. Sometimes me and Sally will be arguing and I'll say something that'll really injure her feelings. Then I realize my fault and apologize to her, and things'll go back to normal."
"You two fight?"
"Of course we do. Why?"
"Well you seem so close, that's all."
"Yes, but you can love each other more then anything in the world and still fight. But if it's true love then you can simply apologize and it'll be over. It happens sometimes. Of course I hate when me and Sally fight because it wears her out so much. She can't take alot of that stuff, and neither can I."
Shock found all of this very interesting. "Do you argue often?"
"No, hardly ever. We usually make amends before it gets too out of hand."
"I see." She looked down at her feet. "Jack, I'm...I'm sorry. I guess I have been forgetting my duties lately. And from now on I'll focus on my priorities first and my personal life later. I shouldn't have let the two get mixed up."
A smile crossed his face. "I'm so glad you understand me. And as long as you're willing to stick to that, then I think we could work out an agreement here."
"Like what?"
He scratched his jaw. "Well, I'd be willing to allow you to see Malik again on one condition."
"Which is...?"
"That you'll limit the amount of time you spend with him and devote more time to your other commitments. Is it a deal?"
She extended her hand and they shook on it. "Deal."
"Now you don't have to spend every spare minute with your family, that's not what I'm saying. Once or twice a week though. I'd like it if you simply spent a little time with us."
"I understand, and I promise that I will."
"Great." He then glanced at her sheets, which were all balled together on her bed. Upon returning to her room Shock hadn't made an attempt to fix up her bed. "What happened here?" he asked. "Hurricane pass through while you were sleeping?"
A nervous laugh. "Uh--why don't you go on now? I'm gonna get dressed."
"Alright then, but be quick about it. We want to be at Town Hall by 9:00 and you still have to eat yet."
They got there early that morning, so Shock asked if she could quickly pop over to Malik's place and tell him the news. Jack told her that she could, but to be back within 15 minutes. After saying that it wasn't a problem she dashed off towards his home.
It was 8:50 when she knocked on the front door, Mrs. Ghoulman answering. "Oh, hi," she said as soon as she saw who it was. "Does your father know where you are?"
"Yes, and he doesn't mind either! Please, can I talk to your son?"
"Sure. I've been up for a while now but he's still asleep." She disapeered, running upstairs.
About two minutes later Malik appeared, rubbing his eyes. "Shock?" he exclaimed. "What the heck are you doing here, Jack'll kill you!"
"No he won't. Listen I was talking with him this morning and he said that we can see each other again so long as I limit the number of times I see you. Isn't that great?"
"Wonderful!" They hugged each other happily. "I guess we won't have to go sneaking away like that any more."
"No." She let him go. "I really didn't want to lie to him and Sally like that anyways. Would have made things even worse had they found out."
"Yeah. I'm so glad this whole thing has been worked out."
"Me too. I've gotta go now, I'll see ya later."
"Yeah, bye." She dashed off, leaving him standing there on his own. He suddenly gave a loud cry of joy before running back into the house, slamming the door shut.
"Malik, what was that all about?" called his mother.
He hurried into the kitchen, grabbing a glass and pouring up a drink. "Shock is aloud to see me again! Isn't that wonderful?" He downed the juice.
"Oh, that's terrific! What brought her father around to that decision?"
A shrug. "Who cares, as long as I've got her back!"
"I'm pleased that you're happy, son. But don't celebrate for too long; you still have chores you didn't do."
"Aw, mom..."
"Hey, rules are rules you know. Get em done and you'll be off the hook."
"Oh, alright." He gave his mother a quick peck on the cheek before hurrying up the stairs.
As for Mrs. Ghoulman she simply sat there amazed and unblinking, touching the spot where the lad had just kissed her.
Later on that day Sally, Lock, and Barrel joined Jack and Shock at Town Hall. Today things went very well. Twice as much work was done then originally intended, but that didn't leave any time for a break. There was still lots to be done before Halloween.
At around 1:30 Sally was instructed by Jack to go and gather two or three pumpkins to be carved. She told him that she would and headed off towards the graveyard, where they grew. It was a ten minute walk from Halloweentown, and it was her favourite site to visit. It was a marvelous place really, with headstones hundreds of years old and a hill that seemed to curl at the end. During the full moon she loved to just climb up that hill with Jack and sit on the edge with him, gazing up at the sky. That had been where they had first fallen in love, on a snowy Christmas Eve. That had simply been a mistake though, and the last time Halloween had recieved any of the cold white powder. Too bad though; she had loved the way it sparkled in the moonlight.
Upon arriving there she headed directly for the pumpkin patch, located in the northern area right by the fence. Pumpkins grew year-round here, so they weren't in a big rush when harvesting season came around to carve them all. Now she began to hunt for the perfect few to bring back to town, scouring the area.
"Hello there Sally," came a sudden, unfamiliar voice. She spun around, startled to find a young man standing there. The stranger was tall and very thin, with black hair that parted in the centre and wisped around his face elegantly. He wore a black suit and cape, and a top hat lay perfectly tilted on his beautiful head. On his hands were white gloves, that finished the ensemble perectly.
"Excuse me, but have met?"
A faint smile played across his lips as he shrugged. "We might have."
"None of these games. Who are you?"
The smile faded from his face. "I'm greatly sorry if I startled you in any way, my dear. I come here today in need of your help, or else I fear that Halloweentown will be doomed."
"Okay, but that still doesn't answer my initial question."
"Ah, yes, Please excuse me. The name is Lock. Lock Skellington." At this point he took off the hat and bowed deeply, then took her hand and kissed it. She just laughed scornfully.
"That is highly impossible."
He stood up, replacing his hat. "And why not?"
"Well, there's only one person with that name who lives around here, and that's my son. Besides, the Skellington family tree records no other Locks in its entire history."
"That's because the two of us are one and the same."
"What?"
He nodded. "I knew you'd react like this. Listen closely to me; I am the Lock you know, except from the future. I have travelled back in time to enlist your help in saving your...our...town."
"I can't believe any of this. Why should I?"
"Perfectly understanable. Why should you indeed? Some stranger mysteriously pops out of no-where and makes claims that are simply too impossible to be real. How ridiculous."
"Exactly what I was thinking."
The strange man laughed. "Yep, you're definately the Sally I knew as a boy."
She rolled her eyes. "You can't prove to me that any of this is true."
He didn't reply to that, just reached into his pocket and pulled out a pocket watch. It seemed very old, perhaps an antique. Wait a minute, that was no antique! She had seen that thing hundreds of time before, it was...Locks.
"How did you...where did you..."
"Hey, it's mine. There's no other way I could have gotten it."
She didn't know how to react. "I'm not quite sure if I believe you now or not."
"Oh, you'll believe, trust me." At that he opened the watch, grabbing her hand. "Close your eyes, this'll only take a second."
The last thing she saw before the darkness closed in on her was a brilliant flash of light, and then all was silent.
She opened her eyes to find herself still in the graveyard, the young man next to her. Something was different though, something was wrong. The place was in ruins, that was what! Everything had been totally destroyed! The headstones were cracked, the pumpkins were smashed... even the fence had been torn down. A gasp escaped her throat. "This can't be the same place I just was," she muttered.
"Oh, it is," came the reply. "Just 250 years in the future."
"Good gracious...what kind of monster would do this type of thing?"
The stranger didn't smile any more. "That's why you're here, Sally. Come, there is more to see."
He headed out through the main gates, walking down the path towards town.
"Is all of this real?" she asked as she walked beside him. "Can all of this be true?"
"It most certainly is. I'm sorry, but it is."
She said nothing more, just continued on in silence. This was definately Halloween; all of the scenery was too familiar. It looked like a storm had torn through here though, that's how bad it was.
Ten minutes later they finally saw it. Once a proud kingdom ruled under the hand of Jack Skellington, Halloween was in ruins. Buildings looked as if they had been burnt several times over and the entire place was in shambles.
"No...how could this have happened?"
She recieved no reply, the man continued to walk on. Upon reaching the main gate he squeezed through the bars, allowing her to come through after him. Immediately a cry of horror escaped from her throat.
It was far worse in here then out there. Bodies were strewn everywhere, the bodies of her friends. The mayor, Dr. Finklestein...everyone she had ever met or known. Signs of a great battle remained, a war lost.
"Now do you believe me?" came the voice from beside her.
Feebly she nodded. "Yes, Lock, I believe. Oh, how could this have happened..."
"I know, I can hardly believe it myself. But come along, there's still more to see."
"More?"
"Unfortunately."
Together they began to head up towards what had used to be their home, but was now a pile of ruble on the ground.
"Please, tell me what happened here."
Lock nodded. "I will. It was five years ago, and life was pleasant. My and my siblings had grown up and moved out, living happy lives. I had a wife and my own daughter before it happened, but I lost them both."
"I'm so sorry, I never wanted you to feel the pain of losing someone you held so dear to you..."
"Don't be sorry, please." A sad shake of his head. "They were my life, I loved them more then anything else. But one day something came to our little town, an evil power. It went by the name of Darius and he was a vampire, a very powerful one at that. Never have I seen such strength in anyone, not even Jack. So this one day he comes into town and demands to see the King, but he was refused access. He began to blow things up so eventually Jack had to come out anyway. This total stranger proceeded to demand that Halloweentown turn itself over to him, but of course was told to go home. Well, one event followed another until one day we went to war. We lost greatly, despite our numbers. After seeing that there was nothing left of Halloween to control Darius left, and I have no idea where he is now." He sighed pitifully. "Nearly everyone was killed that day."
"Besides you?"
"Besides me."
"But what about about Jack?"
"That's what I wanted to show you." They had reached the house and were now walking past the place that had once been home. He led her over to a small corner of the yard, where two grave-shaped lumps of ground laid.
"What-what is this?" she asked cautiously, dreading the answer.
"This," he said. "Is the final resting place of your husband and yourself."
'Impossible, it can't be...not like this. I had always envisioned sharing a headstone with my dearest Jack, of being put to rest in the graveyard underneath the hill. Instead...this. There's nothing even here to tell who it is!"
"I had to bury you myself, and it was the best I could do."
"You had to do it?"
"Everyone else was gone. I've been trying to bury them all but it's hard work."
"Oh my dear Lock..." She hugged him, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Oh, you're like Jack in so many ways. I can't possibly let any of this happen, I can't. There must be something I can do."
"There is."
"Like what?"
He pulled away, grasping her shoulders. "It is your duty to save Halloween, Sally. If you don't then it will be gione forever. Darius currently lives in your world, alone and far from the boundaries of town. You must find him and stop his evilness, before he can carry out his plan."
She nodded. "I will, Lock. For your wife and children."
"Thank you." He released her, pulling out the watch once more. Then he poked it into her hand, clasping her fingers round it. "Take this. If you ever need me just hold it tight and think of me."
"Alright. But one last question."
"Fire away."
"Out of everyone living in Halloween, why did you pick me?"
A shrug. "One simple reason really. You possess a gift, the power to recieve messages from the future. You're the only one with it."
"So I was the most logical choice, seeing as you're from the future and all."
"Yeah."
"But how can you prove I have the abilities you say I do?"
Lock scratched his chin. "Sally, do you remember the whole Christmas thing there when Jack tried to kidnap Sandy Claws and deliver the presents himself?"
"Yes..."
"And when you saw that vision of the burning tree?"
"Uh-huh..."
"There you go then, message from the future."
"Really?"
"I wouldn't lie to you. Now get going, you have important things to do."
"Right." She kissed him on the cheek. "I won't let you down."
"I know you won't. Good-bye."
And with that Sally opened the watch, disapeering in a brilliant flash of light.
She found herself back in the Halloween graveyard, the one that wasn't yet destroyed. Had all of that really happened, was Halloweentown in fact doomed? It had to be; in her hand was still clutched the pocketwatch. This was no game; she had to go tell Jack about this, now! Right after she got those pumpkins first though...
Sally burst through the doors of Town Hall, tossing her loadful onto a table. "Finally, you've returned!" Jack cried. "What took you so long?"
"Oh, it's horrible, darling, absolutely terrible! You'll never believe me but somehow I was visited by Lock from the future and he told me that we're all going to die a horrible death if we don't do something to stop it soon..."
"Whoa, whoa, calm down," he told her. "Now, try this again."
"I thought it was all a dream but it wasn't...it was real. Something awful is going to happen and we must stop it!"
"That's a good one!" he cried. "Come on now, stop joking with me, we've got work to do."
"But Jack, I -"
"No need for these games, now go along."
Frowning she headed off, furious with him. Why was it that anytime she told her husband of anything like this he simply laughed her away? It had happened before, before that whole Christmas incident a few years back. After she had recieved the vision she had proceeded to tell him about it. He'd misunderstood and thought that she was somehow talking about her task and tried to convince her that she'd do a great job. There was a simple explaination for the man; he never took things seriously at the right times. Sighing Sally plopped down into a bench, wishing she could get Jack to believe her.
"Hey, what's up?" came a voice from next to her. It was Malik.
"Oh, hello there. Nice to see you again. Shock is quite pleased that you two have been reunited."
"Yes, so am I." The lad cleared his throat, sitting next to her. "Um, I couldn'rt help over hearing what you were saying over ther and..."
"Oh geez, you probably think I'm crazy as well."
"No, no I don't. In fact I believe you and want to know more."
"Really?"
"Yeah. If there's something out to destroy my home I want to stop it."
A smile crossed her face. "Thank you." She let it fade and told him exactly what the grown-up Lock had told her, about Darius and what he was going to do. He listened attentively, nodding and saying "Mmm-hmm" in all the right places. When she had finished he simply nodded.
"So now it's your duty to get rid of this guy?"
"Apparantly."
"And you're sure he lives around here?"
"So I was told."
"Great. In that case I'll help you to find him."
Sally was unsure of that idea. "Are you sure you want to?"
"Positive. But lets not share it with anyone, they'll only create problems."
"That's probably a good idea. You saw Jack's reaction."
"Mmm-Hmm." Malik looked deep in thought.
"What're you thinking about?" she asked him.
"Well, how do we find out more about this guy? I mean, where does he live and all that?"
"All I know is that he lives far from town," came the reply. "That's all that Lock told me."
"We could ask around, see if there's any records of him."
Sally leaped up, recieving a sudden idea. "I know exactly where to look. Jack's office!"
"His office? Why?"
"Because in there is a record of every person who has ever lived in Halloween, from the earliest days to now. Problem is we can't get in without the key and my husband won't allow anyone else in there besides himself."
"Not even you?"
"Not even."
"So how do we get it?"
A smile slowly formed on her face. "Don't worry about that, I can handle it. I'll get it tonight and then we can look for the information tommorrow. But you'd better just let me go in after it. If Jack found me in there he probably wouldn't be as angry at you."
"Alright. I'll come in to Town Hall tommorrow as well, just in case you need anyone to cover for you."
"Sounds like a plan." She glanced over at her love. He was eyeing her suspiciously. "Well, nice talking to you," she said, trying to make it look as if nothing was up."
"Yeah, bye."
Quickly she headed over to the pumpkins, beginning to carve them. Jack wandered over to her table, leaning against the wall.
"What was that all about?" he asked.
"Oh, me and the boy were just talking about this whole thing with him and Shock, that's all."
"Ah. Foolish me, I thought you two were both making some kind of plans or something."
"Foolish indeed. I simply informed him that his time with our girl would have to be limited because we want to spend some time with her once in awhile."
"I believe you. You're my wife, of course I would."
Sally just smiled, not dsaying anything as she worked away. She wanted to tell him about this but there was no way she could. If she was going to save Halloween then she would have to lie to him, even if she didn't want to.
Sally waited until Jack was asleep before getting up and getting the key. She knew very well that he had two sets of it, the real one and a spare for just in case. One he carried in his jacket pocket and the other was kept in the desk. The last one was what she wanted. Standing up quietly she tiptoed to where the small little desk was located, pullin open the bottom drawer. Therre wasn't much in there; a few spell books and such. There was one thing, however; a small black box. She pulled this out, removing the lid. There it was; the spare key. Clutching this in one hand she put its container back where it belonged, poking her prize into the front pocket of her dress that she would wear the next day.
Jack woke in a particularly dismal mood that day, the worst he'd been in for a while. What a killer of a day it was going to be.
Sally noticed this as well and grew concerned. This could jeopardize all of her carefully made plans. She'd have to exercise extreme caution today.
Her concerns turned out to be correct; it was another one of "those" days. Luckily Shock was there though, and her presence helped to keep things somewhat under control. Jack was still feeling horrible, however, and spent most of his time sitting down and groaning. His wife tried to cheer him up but to no avail; he was simply in a horrible mood.
It was at around 2:00 when Sally finally decided that it was time to go in search of the hidden information. While Jack was up on the stage with the mayor attempting to find a solution to one of their many problems Sally pulled out the key and headed for the office, making sure first that nobody was looking. When sure she unlocked the door, disapeering inside.
The room was large and spacious, and it seemed to match Jack's depressive personality perfectly. Heavy black drapes were pulled tight over the windows, not allowing any light to leak through from the outside world. She had to turn on a light in order to see anything. Thus done she found that the entire place was a visual shrine to everything that meant anything to Jack. Pictures of him and Ezra, of herself and the other kids. Some of his deceased parents, and others of people she didn't recognize. There was one portrait of a little skeleton boy, sitting on the kitchen floor of his mansion with his ghost dog, Zero. A broad grin was on his face, one she had never seen on Jack before. Looking around the room she saw the same dog, curled up in a basket. The mutt looked at her for a second and yawned, lying back down again.
Sally headed over to the desk, where there were piles of paper stacked up high. Sitting in the plush leather chair she picked up a framed photograph of the same little skeleton, this time with his father Robert. Together they appeared perfectly happy, and the heir to the throne looked perfectly content. Those had been the happy days. After his father had died though, things had never quite been the same. It was obvious now how much the man had meant to him.
Setting the picture down she began to rifle through the papers. Plans for Halloween... bills... nothing at all useful to her. Perhaps there was something in one of these drawers. Sally pulled one of them open, peering at the contents. A couple of spell books, not much else. Same thing with the others, except for the last one. In this one there was a big white book, certainly very old. Sally took it out and read the title carefully; The Skellington Family Tree. She opened it up, flipping through the pages. All of Jack's descendants were listed here, from the earliest to the most recent. Nearer to the back she found the name Robert Skellington and stopped, reading it through. Said here that he had died at 617 years of age, cause unkown. Husband of Naomi and father of Jack, the heir. It also listed the exact date of death; February 20th. That was only 4 days away. Maybe that was the reason Jack was so melancholy lately, he could be feeling upset over the death of his dad. She slammed the book shut then, putting it away. This wasn't getting the job done. Obviously this desk contained no information. Maybe there was something over in that room over there. Standing up she headed over to the door, pulling it open and stepping inside. After shutting it once more she flicked on a light, pleased with what she had found.
Four different filing cabinets stood against the far wall, each lined up side-by-side. She walked over to the one labelled L-R, hauling it open. Yes, this was it! After finding the name McVampire, Darius, she pulled it out, glancing through it quickly. It said here that he had been born in the year 1723 and by his teens he was already a criminal. Attempted to kill the Pumpkin King and was charged with treason, sentenced to hang for his crime. Somehow he escaped though, and was never seen since. Gee, what a wonderful guy. She closed the cabinet and was about to leave when she was struck by another idea. Heading over to the one labelled S-Z she tugged it open, searching for something. At last she found it; Skellington, Jack. Sally sat down on the floor with the file, crossing her legs. What did it say in here about her husband? Born on October 13th, 1492 to Robert and Naomi. Royal heir to the throne, he became King at age eight. Victim of chronic depression... commited to a mental institution at age 156? She hadn't known about that. It also said that he was a very unstable person and had attempted suicide numerous times in the past. No wonder he acted the way he did.
That was when she heard it; the slamming out the office door as somebody entered, collapsing into the chair. Peering cautiously out through the window she wasn't surprised to see Jack. He had picked up the picture of him and his father, gazing at the older man sadly. Then with a cry of anger he threw it at the wall, letting it shatter into a hundred pieces. Zero jumped out of his peaceful slumber, whimpering. "I'm sorry, boy," his master apologized. "Didn't mean to scare you like that." A sigh. "What is it with me, boy? Why can't I just be normal? Sally wants to help me so much but it doesn't work. She thinks I'm making progress but really I'm not. I'm as bad as I was before. I'm growing tired of this life again, I feel like a failure." He pulled out a rib and tossed it to the ghost dog, who began to gnaw on it. "You know, in four days it will be the 500th aniversary of my father's death. 500 years! Yet I've never been fully content with my life, not even when I met my wife or my son was born. And then when he died it only made things worse. Seems like anytime I truly care about someone they go and leave me. Luckily Sally hasn't, but she almost ended up divorcing me. Thankfully we're still together or I guarantee that I'd have succesfully killed myself by now." He paused for a moment, looking around the room. "Why can't I ever be content in life? Why'd things ever have to turn out like this? I know why; it happened when dad died. I felt so horribly upset, as if it were my fault. I still do. I mean, the last thing I ever said to him was that I hated him. Can't remember what the fight was about, all I know was that it happened and I've regretted it every day since. I ran away from home that evening, before the mayor found me and said that my father was on his death bed." A shudder. "Death bed. Never did like the term. My poor parents both died so young, and I have no idea why they did. I never even knew my mother, she was gone before I was two and a half. I have brief memories of her, though. A warm, friendly person, always smiling. Sometimes she's giving me a bath, other times playing with me in the living room. Every time though she's telling me how much she loves me, how much I mean to her." He stood up, walking around the room and looking at the pictures on the walls. Stopping at one of himself and Sally he stared at it for a moment. It had been taken during the wedding reception, and they were dancing across the ballroom floor. Her long black dress fluttered in the breeze while the tails of his jacket flapped behind him, both gazing lovingly into each others eyes. He could remember that moment so well, just being so dearly in love with his new queen. And his son, who grew inside of her. Ezra...his dear little boy. The tyke had died so suddenly, it wasn't fair. Why should he be forced to live when he didn't want to, when a child had passed away so early in his life? It just didn't seem right.
At that point there was a sudden knock at the door, startling him. "Who is it?"
"The mayor," came a voice. "Shock needs your assistance out here."
"And you can't deal with it?"
"I've tried my best, Jack, and we're really beginning to make progress. We need your help though."
"Can't you just leave me be for a minute or two? Just a bit of time to myself?"
"I--I'm sorry, sir," he sputtered. "I didn't mean to offend you."
"Ah, don't worry about it. I'll be out in a minute." As soon as the mayor had left he groaned, laying a hand on his head and leaning against the wall for support. "Well Zero, this is my life. For over 500 years I've tried to cope with it but that has proven to be impossible. I have known true joy at times, like when my son was born. And I still have my wife, who keeps me from doing the unthinkable. But I guess life simply didn't intend for me to be truly happy." Tracing his finger across her face in the picture he left, closing the door behind him.
Inside the little room Sally sat, listening to it all. Her poor Jack...how she wanted to comfort him right now, to hold him and say that everything would be okay. But then he'd know that she'd lied to him and had entered the one place where he could be alone. And she didn't want to disapoint him like that. He meant the world to her, she couldn't betray his trust like that. She already was by breaking in like this, but at least he never knew about it. If he did it would only make him worse then he already was. Glancing through the window she made sure that he was definately gone before picking up Darius' folder and stepping back into the office. Shards of glass from the broken picture were scattered across the floor but she tiptoed across them all, walking over to the door and peering out to ensure that no-one was looking in her general direction. Once positive she crept out, checking to see that she had closed the entrance behind her. It was. Without being seen Sally headed over to where Malik was working on building new headstones.
"I got it," she told him. "Everything on McVampire."
"Great, so you got the key."
"I did, no problem. I'm just gonna look over it all tonight and you can see it after, alright?"
"Sounds good to me. Then we can develop our plans farther."
She nodded. "Right. You can meet me outside Town Hall at noon. Oh, and one last thing."
"Yes?"
"Thanks for your help on all of this. I don't think I'd be able to do it myself."
"No problem." With that she took off and Malik was left by himself once more. Picking up the carving tools he continued to chip away at the headstone. He was glad to be helping her with all of this. After all, somebody had to help save Halloween. And that was exactly what he planned to do.
Sally found the perfect place to hide the file; underneath the bed matress. Jack would never think tro look there if he discovered that it was missing. And what were the chances of that happening? Pretty dim.
Jack returned home with Lock, Shock, and Barrel at around 5:30. "What happened to you today?" he asked. "I looked and the next thing I knew you were gone."
"Oh, I wasn't feeling very well so I came back to take a nap."
"Are you okay now?"
"Much better."
"Great. Here, let me cook supper tonight."
"No, I can do it--"
"Not if you aren't feeling well, no. Even if you feel on top of the world, I still want you to rest. Besides, I like cooking. I find it relaxing."
"Well, alright then." She took a seat at the kitchen table while he pulled ingredients down from the cupboards. "What're you gonna make?"
"Rat stew, your favourite."
"Also your secret recipe."
"Yep, passed down from generation to generation of Skellingtons. Course both my parents were dead before I could learn it so I just discovered it in one of the old cooking books." She could hear the bitterness in his voice. "My father was a great cook. Whipped up gormet meals for supper every evening."
"You're a wonderful cook too, dear."
"Yeah, but it's not the same." He began to mix things together in a large iron pot. "I'm sorry, I guess I just had a bad day."
"Why don't you tell me all about it?"
"Well, things just didn't seem to wanna go right for me. By 3:00 we managed to get things under control but I've been down in the dumps all day."
"Anything I can help you with?"
His back was turned to her as he prepared the food, but she could tell that tears were in his eyes. "No, I don't think so," came the reply. "A lot of anger and bitterness, mainly at myself."
"Yourself? But what have you ever done?"
"I...I can't really explain it to you," he said. "I know what I'm feeling, but it can't be put into words. Know what I mean?"
A nod. "Yes. Believe me, I understand better than you'd think." She rose from her seat, walking over to where he stood. She turned him around to face her, holding his hands. "Why don't you talk to me? I know there's more here then you're letting on."
He just shook his head. "No, don't fret over it..."
"Please, Jack. Don't make me worry about you."
He smiled at her softly, before glancing up at the ceiling. He blinked out fresh tears, trying to keep his voice under control. "I'm just going through a lot of personal issues lately. In four days it'll be the five hundredth anniversary of my father's death, of my own coronation. It's just making me think a lot." He looked down at her, allowing her to wipe at a wet spot on his cheek. "Christ, I miss him so much, and the last words I ever said to him were 'I hate you'. What an asshole I was! Oh, Christ..." He flung his arms around her shoulders, allowing her to hold him. "Oh, Sally, I miss my parents so much, I never even knew them! I hate being the King and I hate this life and most of all I'm just sick and tried of it all! I wish they'd hurry up and stop teasing me with death!"
Her heart broke, but she stayed strong. "Jack, don't get like that on me," she warned him. "Last time you went on like that, you tried to kill yourself. I won't let that happen again. Goddammit, Jack, I won't let you widow me when I love you so much. What happened wasn't your fault, it never has been. You have to realize that Jack. And no, you don't hate your job. It gets frustrating, I know, but you are the King. It is your born duty. And you're damn good at it too. You know it."
A chuckle as she let him go. "I am, aren't I?" he said. "A damn fine ruler." A kiss. "As always, you have come to my rescue. Thank-you, my queen."
"Jack, you are my husband and I would do anything for you. You're the most important thing in my life, the only thing I need. Whenever you need me, I'll be here for you. Do you understand me?"
A weak smile crossed his face. "I do, thanks darling. Now why aren't you sitting down?"
"Because I don't need to." She embraced him. "You worry me, Jack, you really do. I just wish that there was some way I could help you..."
"But you already have, my dear, can't you see that? Do you know where I would be without you? I'll tell you; nowhere. And you know why? Because I'd be dead." He placed a finger under her chin, looking into her eyes. "You give me a reason to live, a cause to keep going. Never forget that." They shared in a kiss. "I love you."
"That doesn't stop me from worrying about you. Every time you get like this I'm afraid you're going to go and attempt suicide again, like before."
He shook his head. "No, those days are over. As long as I have you I don't think I'll have to do that." Another kiss. "I just wish that I could be a better husband to you instead of always being so miserable. You must get tired of it."
She shook her head. "No, that's not it at all, Jack. I married you because I knew that we belonged with each other. We share a love unlike that of anyone else, one I could never dream possible. Whenever I look at you my heart swells up with such a great happiness that nothing could ever destroy that feeling." She held his hands in her own. "We had a child together, and together we watched him die. In my opinon, to go through that and still be able to hold on to each other only proves that you were meant to be. So I hardly think that your melancholiness is going to change any of that."
"Thank-you, Sally," he said to her. "I've always been able to count on you for advice. Anyways, I'm going to finish making this stew."
She released hold of him, sitting back down in her chair. "While I sit here, put my feet up, and hope that you'll clean up the dishes as well."
The Pumpkin King lauged heartily. "Don't count on it. Instead I think we should give that task to the kids."
A smile formed on her face. "You get the greatest ideas sometimes, you know that?"
"I know, I'm the best."
She snorted. "Yeah, course you are. A legend in your own mind."
"Ha ha, very funny."
Sally was pleased to see him happy again, even if it was just for a while. He'll get depressed once more guaranteed, but she'd be right here for him. No matter what, she would never leave his side when he needed her.
That night while Jack was asleep Sally decided that it was time to look through Darius' files a bit farther. Pulling it out from under the mattress she checked to make sure her love wasn't going to wake up before looking inside of it. Then very carefully she opened the folder up, beginnning to read it through. From what it said here that McVampire was a criminal by his teens. Attempted to kill the Pumpkin King, got away, blah blah blah. Born in 1723 Darius appeared appeared to have quite a record against him. Lots of pety thefts, some gang-related activities. He and Jack apparantly had quite the grudges against each each other. Childhood friends they had a falling out one day and McVampire became determined to rule Halloween once and for all. His method of doing so, however, had nearly cost the life of his former best-friend. He had challanged Jack to a battle using only their own powers. The bitter King agreed but was severly outmatched, for Darius had cheated in one of the most cold-hearted ways imaginable. After killing one of his most trusted hitmen he drained the man of all his powers, using them as well as his own. Jack had to be hospitalized for nearly two weeks, the entire time McVampire in custody. Upon release the King had demanded that the man he had once loved like a brother die. But the prisoner had excaped his cell thanks to his fellow gang members. After the largest man-hunt in Halloween's history Jack finally had to give up, posting warnings for all of the citizens of town to watch out.
A shiver went down Sally's back as she turned the page. This guy was serious trouble. Next to her Jack rolled over, smiling peacefully. Must be a nice nightmare he was having, cause he kept chuckling in his sleep. She let out a sigh, touching his face with the back of her hand softly. Her husband was the most important thing in her life, and she would do anything to destroy Darius if it meant protecting her love. Even if it meant sacrificing her own life.
Sally met Malik the next day outside of Town Hall at approximately 12:00 the next day. Nodding towards him she held up the folder for him to see.
"Let's go to my place to discuss this," she said. "No-one's there right now so we'll be safe from eavesdroppers."
"Sounds good to me." They made the journey towards the house, not saying much in general. Ten minutes later they had reached the front door and she pulled out her key, allowing the boy to step inside. He marveled at it's size (which he did every time he entered the Skellington residence). "It's much larger then my house. Our spot is so small, but we make do with it."
"Yeah, it's a great place alright. You can come into the kitchen if you want. Feel like something to drink?"
"Ummm.....got any tarantula venom?"
"Sure, want some?"
"Thanks." He took a seat, accepting the glass as it was handed to him. Sally then passed him the file for him to read. After taking a few minutes to read it over Malik nodded. "This guy isn't gonna be easy to deal with."
"I know, but we will somehow."
"We don't even know where he lives though."
A sigh. "Yeah, that doesn't help much. No living relatives, no siblings...it's as if he never existed."
"And there's not so much as a hint as to where he could possibly be. How will we ever find him?"
He shrugged. "No idea. Is there a way you could possibly contact Lock again?"
She scratched her chin. "There might be, yes...see before I left he gave me a watch. Open it up and it should bring me back to him."
"Will it work?"
"Hopefully, I'll give it a try."
"Great." He was silent for a second. "Question is, what will be do to get rid of Darius?"
"Destroy him, of course. What other answer is there?"
"Well do we neccesarily have to harm him?"
"There isn't any other way. He has killed before, Malik; he won't hesitate to do it again, and he will. In fact he'll get us all, even you. Even Jack."
He gulped. "I guess you're right. I just wish there was another way. What if someone found out we had murdered someone?"
"No, not murder. We are protecting Halloweentown. And besides, no one even believes us; how can we be accused of killing someone whom no-one thinks exists?"
"Still though, it kind of scares me. I mean, there's a madman living probably within a few miles of here, who has murdered in cold blood before and nearly defeated the Pumpkin King. Doesn't that put second thoughts into your head?"
She shrugged. "Well, yes, but I won't let that stop me. I am determined to save my family, to keep my town from being totally demolished. And nothing will prevent me from doing that, not even Darius."
"Gee, you're braver then I am. Even so, I'll still help you in every way I can. This is my battle too."
Sally smiled at him. "That's the way to look at it."
"It's the only way to look at it."
A chuckle. "I guess so. Anyways, I think we should go and pay Lock a visit now."
"You can do that?"
"If the watch works properly, then yes."
"Do you still have it though?"
"It's upstairs in my room, I'll go get it. You can come as well."
"Cool." This would be his first time seeing the master bedroom. Standing he followed her up a long, spiral set of stairs, which seemed to go on forever. "Geez, does this thing ever end?"
"Yeah, it's a bit of a climb alright. We're currently heading up to the tower, also the master bedroom." When he thought it'd never end it did, making way for the room above. Stepping inside after Sally, he was taken aback by the incredibleness of it all. The room was simply enormous! A king-size bed sat against one wall, with black sheets and a matching canopy draped over it. Against one wall were 4 or 5 bookshelves, each crammed with literary wonders by authors like Shakespeare and Tolkein. A fireplace sat on the opposite one, above which was a picture of the entire Skellington clan, including poor dead Ezra. Red velvet curtains hung from the window, which provided him the most wonderful view of Halloween. You could see everything from up here! Town Hall, the graveyard, even the curly hill! It took his breath away.
"Amazing, isn't it?" Sally asked, reading his mind.
"It - it's beautiful," he managed to stutter. "I wish I had something like this..."
"Yeah, that's what I thought upon my first time seeing it. Jack takes it for granted though, seeing how he's lived with it for over 500 years."
"I think it's remarkable."
"Me too." Heading over to the dresser Sally picked up a lovely black box, decorated with engraving of bats and spiders. Opening it up it began to play a very familiar tune; the Pumpkin Song, which they sang every Halloween once the King had returned home and that year's big night had successfully been pulled off. Pulling out a gold pocket watch she held it up for Malik to see, closing the lid of the box and silencing the music. "Now, close you eyes," she told him as she grasped his arm. "This will take but a minute..."
Once the darkness had subsided Malik was surprised to find himself standing amongst a pile of black ruble where the Skellington mansion had previously. Presently he grew upset. "What happened to it, it was right here a second ago! All of Halloweentown has been destroyed!"
"Yes, I know that. We're in the future now, after Darius ravaged our home."
"It's so horrible...how could one man pssibly do something like this?"
"That's what I wanted to know myself. But we mustn't stand around here, we must go see Lock."
"Where is he?"
"Just over there." She raised her arm, pointing to the other side of the yard. There stood a tall young man standing over what looked like two graves. Suddenly he looked up, pleased to see Sally. He jogged over to the two of them, a smile across his face. "Let me guess; you need help?"
"Kind of," she replied. "We were just wondering if you could give us a bit of a hand here."
"No problem." He then looked down at Malik. "Hello there, nice to see you again."
"Uh...hi."
A laugh. "Don't worry, I'm the same Lock as before. You know, Shock's brother?"
"I know, it's just kind of weird."
"Yeah, I know. I mean, here you are as a kid again."
A frown. "Thanks."
Sally chuckled. "It's nice to see you two bonding but we have a holiday to save. Lock, can you help us or not?"
"Yes, I can."
"Then you can give me some information. First of all, where does Darius live?"
He nodded. "Ah, I forgot to tell you that. About 100 kilometres outside of Halloweentown inside an old run-down shack. You can't miss it, it's the only one within miles of the area."
"Yeah, but how the heck do we get out there? There's a total of one car in town, and that belongs to the mayor."
"Borrow his vehicle then."
"Me? Drive? I've never so much as taken a lesson! And why would he consider letting me use it?"
A shrug. "Because you're the queen. Tell him you're on top secret buisness and you need to use it."
"Then he'll only get suspicious."
"He always is. Or you could just steal it and bring it back later."
"STEAL IT?!?" Both she and Malik cried.
"We can't do that!" exclaimed the lad. "What if someone catches us? We'll be dead, Jack'll kill us..."
"Not if he doesn't find out though."
"Which he most likely will, knowing our luck."
Sally raised a hand. "Listen, I have a very simple solution to all of this. Why not ask him for a ride?"
"Let's just forget it," the boy quipped. "Find an alternate route or something. I mean, surely there must be a spell that can get us there."
Lock shook his head. "There's no spell, but you could maybe use the watch..."
"The watch?" Sally cut in.
"Yes, the watch. It can be used to bring you to different places in time, yes, but also to different locations if used properlly. I'm not quite sure if it works though..."
"Who cares, tell us how to do it!"
"Well, I believe all you have to do is slip it around your neck and say three times the location you desire to go."
"Sounds more like Dorthy from the Wizard of Oz," Malik laughed. "There's no place like home, there's no place like..."
"Very funny, kid. No, this is not like Dorthy. Instead of clicking your heals three times you must..."
"Think happy thoughts?"
"NO! No happy thoughts! Would you please just listen to me?" Sally pinched the lad, making him wince. He didn't say anything though. "As I was saying, you must also know the language to speak it in."
"Language!" the queen proclaimed. "And which one would that be?"
"Ummm.....well that's the funny part. You see when I first got the watch it included a whole book filled with the words in English and what they were in the other language. Thing is I kind of..." He hesitated.
"Well...?"
"I lost it."
"WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!"
"It kind of got destroyed when I was wrestling with Barrel one afternoon and got burnt in the fireplace..."
"And when was that?"
"Uh---can't tell ya that, it'd reveal too much about the future."
She closed her eyes, clenching and unclenching her fists. Then an idea struck her, and her eyelids snapped back over. So in my time it'd be in the future?"
"Yeah, I guess....."
"Wonderful! All I have to do then is get it from him...err...umm...you."
"And you won't need to kill me!"
"Only if your child self can't find it. In which case, yeah, you're as good as dead."
"Oh that's comforting. Thank-you."
"No problem." Glancing back at the open watch Sally nodded. "Thank-you very much for your help, but we must be getting back now. I'll see you later."
"Good-bye now."
Then grasping hold of Malik's arm she shut the watch once more, disapeering into the same darkness as before.
When they looked again they were both back in the master bedroom, in the exact same places they had been before. The lad let out a long, slow breath.
"Wow, that was pretty cool. Were we actually there?"
"Uh-huh. Now we've got to go find Lock."
Nodding his agreement they headed back down the stairs and left the mansion, heading back to Town Hall. Upon arrival five minutes later they looked around for him, scanning the crowd for the familiar red devil's suit. Nothing.
"Where could he be?" pondered Sally. He was here before we left..."
"Maybe out playing somewhere, I don't know. Ask Jack."
Not a bad idea. Instructing Malik to stay where he was she walked over to where the great Pumpkin King was busily at work, setting up scaring routes for that Halloween. "Dearest, have you seen our eldest son around anywhere?"
He appeared startled by her appearance. "Oh, what? Um, I think he's off somewhere with Barrel, the graveyard I think. Any particular reason?"
"I just needed to ask him something, love, that's all."
"Okay. Sorry I can't be more of an assistance to you, sweet, but I'm fairly busy today."
"I know, just wondering." She gave him a smile. "See you at home."
"Bye now."
She hurried away quickly, finding Malik and motioning for him to follow. "So did ya find out where he is?" he asked.
"Jack told me perhaps the graveyard, but he wasn't entirely sure. If we can't find him now, though, we'll get him later."
"Right."
Five minutes later they had reached their destination, and were relieved to see the two brothers chasing each other around the pumpkin patch.
"Lock, Barrel!" Sally cried. "Get out of there, you're going to destroy the harvest!"
They stopped, grinning meekly. "Sorry," said the youngest. "We were just having fun."
"Yeah, and your means of having fun could have killed all these pumpkins. But no matter now; Lock, I'd like to speak with you a minute." He just glanced at his brother, who gave him a look that asked, what did you do? Catching this the queen shook her head. "You're not in trouble, we just need something from you. Now come along back home."
He nodded, waving good-bye his sibling and trotting along after her and Malik. "What's all this about?" he questioned.
"There's something you own, but we need," the woman replied. "Do you own a watch similar to this?" She pulled it out.
"Hey, that's mine!"
"It depends on your way of looking at it, but not exactly. Now, do you recall an instruction manual coming with it?"
"Uh....I think so. Why?"
"Because I need it. Can you find it for me?"
"If I spend all night looking for it, yes."
"I guess you'll just have to do that then."
He groaned. "Awww, do I have to?"
"Yes, it's very important. I can't explain it to you, but if you can't find it then Halloween is doomed! You must do this for us. Please?"
Confused as he was, there was no refusing. "Oh, alright. I'll do it. I have no choice really."
She gave him a hug. "Thank-you so much, you don't know what a huge favour you're doing for me. For everyone."
"Yeah, and I still have no idea what's going on here. Like how did you get my watch?"
"I already told you, this is not the same one. Well it is, but it's not...oh, I can't explain it! All I know is that the one you're talking about is still at home."
"You're sure?"
"Positive."
"In that case, how'd you find an exact replica of it? My father got that when he was a kid, and it's an original. No other copies were made of it."
She sighed. "Listen, it's a very long story so please don't ask questions. You will recieve no answers."
"Does he know about it?" He motioned towards Malik.
"Yes, but only because he's assisting me. I don't need anybody else knowing about this, alright?"
"That's no fair!"
"It's perfectly fair, now get moving. You've gotta get me those instructions."
"Whatever."
She grabbed hold of his shoulder. "One last thing. DO NOT tell Jack about this. I tried to tell him but he only thought I was crazy. If he knew anything else he'd lock me away, so please keep this as silent as possible. Okay?"
"Um...sure."
"Thank-you. Now let's keep going."
They came to the house a few minutes later. Shooing Lock to his room Sally got her and Malik each a glass of snake venom, collapsing into a chair.
"I certainly hope that he can find it," she breathed. "It's nearing noon now. If he can't find it before bedtime then I'm just going to say that he doesn't have it."
"What if he doesn't?"
A shiver. "Then we're all going to die. I don't really want to think about that though, it's too horrible." She glanced over at the boy; he appeared very bored. "Oh, why don't you go on and do something? This can't be very entertaining for you."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, don't worry. I'll send for you at Town Hall if anything turns up."
"Okay then, see ya later. Good-luck."
"Thank-you."
He left, leaving her alone. She decided at that point to go see if she could provide Lock with any assistance. Rising from her chair she headed for his room just down the hall from the kitchen. She knocked on the closed bedroom door. "Hey, can I come in?" No reply. "Hey, anyone in there?" Nothing. She went on in, to find the boy siiting on his bed, the same gold watch in his hand. He gazed at it's shiny surface, oblivious to her presense. "Why aren't you searching for the manual?"
That woke him out of his daydream. "Oh, what? Sorry, I was just thinking."
She sat next to him. "About what?'
"My real parents, the ones I had before you. See this watch? I think I said already that my father gave it to me. That's not the whole truth. He actually stole it."
"Stole it?"
"Yeah, that's what he did for a living. Stole stuff. Lots from Jack. I don't know where he got this from, but whoever it was is probably dead by now. He took the instruction booklet and all." A sigh. "Mom and dad weren't exactly wonderful to me and my siblings, ya know. When we were only little they sent us to work for Oogie Boogie. We'd stay in a little treehouse over his lair, doing his evil bidding whenever he wanted us to. In the evenings we'd return home to our parents, but they didn't care about us. It was as if we didn't even exist, they didn't love us. That's when they left, just ran off to the human world. After that we grew up on our own, living in the treehouse. That's why we were such troublemakers; the things we were taught to do growing up. But I'm glad I'm living here now, with you and Jack. I thought that living with Oogie Boogie made me happy, but it didn't. It only made me miserable."
"Are you happy now, though?"
A smile formed on his face. "Of course I am. I never even liked our real parents. They were mean and didn't bother with us. But you're different. Thanks."
"No, problem. Now, let's get finding that booklet."
It was after supper when they found it. "Sally, I've got it!"
She cried out in her joy, pulling away from her love and racing down the stairs. She found the lad in his room, holding up a large white book. Use and Care of Your Watch, it read. "This is it!" she cried. "You've found it! Oh, my dear boy, thank-you so much! You don't know how much this means to me!"
"Um....I'm guessing alot."
"More then you'll ever know!"
Jack entered at that point, leaning against the door frame and smiling. "My, you look happy."
Sally simply grabbed his hands and began to swing him around the room. "I certainly am, dear, for my fears have been put to sleep! We're going to be fine!"
"And how long have I been trying to tell you that?"
She stopped, breathing hard. "Yes, but I know it now. Everything's going to be fine!"
A shrug. "I'm still not following along exactly, but that doesn't matter. As long as you're not upset any more."
"Oh, I'm far from upset. I couldn't be happier!" A kiss. "I'm hungry, I should eat." Pulling away she jogged towards the kitchen, singing a merry tune. Jack and Lock were simply dumbfounded.
"Do you have any idea what any of that was about?" The boy asked.
"No clue whatsoever."
The next day Sally was the first one up, getting a shower and heading downstairs. Pouring up a bowl of cereal she sat down to read it while looking through the newspaper. A while later Jack came down as well, adjusting his tie.
"My, you're up early," he said upon seeing her. "What's the occasion?"
"Oh, I'm off to battle the forces of evil today."
"Ah, have fun then." He sat down at the table next to her with his own cereal, just as she finished her food and jumped up. "You're really zooming about here, aren't you?"
"Oh, no time to sit and talk, dear. I have a town to defend, lives to save."
"All in a days work, eh?"
"Yeah, nothing too out of the usual." She poured up a cup of cold coffee, downing it quickly. "you think I'm crazy, don't you?"
"Well, not crazy exactly..."
"More like slightly insane?"
"Uh..."
A laugh. "Don't worry about offending me, I don't really care. Hell, I'm probably more screwed up then you think. No-one knows."
It was at that point when the three kids found their way downstairs. Yawning, they began to get themselves some cereal. "Morning Jack, morning Sally," muttered Barrel.
"Hello you three," the King replied.
"Be right back," Sally declared suddenly as she dashed up the stairs. The trio of kids just watched her jog away.
"What's her deal?" asked Lock.
His father simply shrugged. "Who knows?"
A few minutes later she reapeared, carrying the little instruction manual in her hands. "I'm off folks, see you later." She gave them each a kiss. "Be back before supper."
"Dear--"
"Sorry Jack, can't stop now. There's no time to delay!" With that she exited the house, hurrying along on her way to Town Hall. Frowning Jack stood up, putting away his dishes.
"Shock, keep an eye on your brothers. I'm going to go see what she's up too."
Sally arrived at Town Hall a couple of minutes later. A few people were here already; the mayor, a witch, not many though. Malik had yet to arrive. Good, that meant she had a few minutes to study the book without fear of Jack or anyone else discovering anything she hadn't intended them to know. Flipping through the pages she found what had been desired; the title read Word Translations. This was just too good to be true! So what did she want to say? Something like "to the house of Darius McVampire." That'd work. So "to the house" could be said as "Meek-a no" and "of" could be said as "way-na." Meek-a-no-way-na. Perfect!
"Hey, Sally, I'm here!" came a familiar voice. Malik had arrived. She stood up, jogging over to him. "I got the book, all that's left to do is go!"
"Let's do it then; to the graveyard, we'll be safe there."
They set off quickly, going as fast as their legs could go. "I just thought of something," said the boy. "How are we going to kill him?"
"Very easy," came the reply. "Darius is a vampire, right? All we have to do is subject him to the sun and he's ancient history."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course! He can't survive the UV rays if he doesn't have the proper equipment to deal with it. Got my point?"
He wringed his hands together nervously. "What if this Lock from the future is nothing but a fraud? What if he is McVampire? It could all be a trap so that he'll be able to kill us all."
"That's the stupidest plan I've ever heard. He's going to kill us all anyways, why risk our surviving? Don't worry about it, I know what we're doing here, alright?" nod. "Good, now let's keep going."
Neither of them saw the shadow that followed them.
Upon arrival at the graveyard a few minutes later, Sally pulled out the watch and slipped it onto her neck. "Here we go then. Are you ready?"
A gulp. "I don't know. What if something goes wrong? I don't know about all of this...what if Jack knew?"
"Jack refuses to believe, so I don't think we really need to worry about him. I tried to talk to him about it but he only thought I was crazy. Anyways, he's got more important things to do. Now, are we going to do this or not?"
"Yes, it's now or never."
"Alright then." She cleared her throat before beginning. "Meek-a-no-way-na. Meek-a-no-way-na. Meek-a-no-way-na!" As soon as the words had vacated her lips the sky began to grow heavy with dark clouds, a faint rumbling being heard all around. No more then 5 feet in front of them something else began to happen; a blue light was mixing and taking shape, into what looked like a door way. She gasped slightly.
"Do we just step inside?" the lad asked, his voice trembling.
"I - I guess so. There's not much else we can do." She took a deep breath. "Let's do it." Holding hands they slowly stepped into the strange portal, allowing the light to engulf them.
Neither noticed as a dark shadow slipped in behind them.
Sally and Malik found themselves now standing in front of an old run down shack. It was quite drab and depressive-looking, exactly what you'd find in Halloween.
"Do you think this is it?" the boy asked.
"Yes, I know it is. Now all we have to do is find him, come on." They tip-toed to one of the windows, peering inside. That must be him, sleeping in his coffin. "What are we waitng for?" she asked. "Let's go!"
A strong hand suddenly clamped over her shoulder, not Malik's. She gasped. One of McVampire's gang members? "Don't worry, it's me," came a familiar voice. She spun around to see - Jack. "What are you doing here?" she exclaimed.
"Keeping you from killing yourself, that's what."
"You don't understand though-"
"I understand perfectly well. Your visitor, whoever he was, told you that Darius is going to destroy Halloweentown so you are going to destroy him. I know, Sally, but this is not going to work. You see, this man is no ordinary vampire. Sunlight cannot destroy him. He's too powerful for that. The one way you can get rid of him that will work is to drive a stake through his heart. That'll do the trick."
A nod. "A good plan, but where do we get a stake?"
"Easy." He walked over to large tree that stood nearby, hauling off a branch and tugging away some of the sticks. Then after filing the tipdown a bit he held it up prominently, for all to see. "This'll do it. Malik, I give you the task of plunging it into McVampire's sorry flesh."
He acceptepted it nervously, as if it would bite him. "But--how do I do that?"
"Don't worry, I'll distract him for you. You will know when the time is right."
"How--" He never got a chance to finish the question. The Pumpkin King tood up and walked to the front of the cabin, standing in silence for a moment. At last he spoke.
"Darius, come out. Your dark deeds are over."
"What the--?" came a voice from inside. The door suddenly flew open, revealing a tall figure in a black suit. He wore a cape with a high collar, and his dark hair waved in the breeze. Quite handsome, actually. Pity he was evil. A frown was on his face. "Oh, it's you. What do you want with me, I've. already been exiled. See, here I am far from your precious little town. What else can you possibly do?"
"It is my full intent to destroy you now," came the answer. "You know as well as I do the plans that still exist in your brain. Right now that's all they are - plans. But I will put an end to them before they become anything else."
"Come on, don't you remember what happened last time you tried to destroy me? I nearly killed you."
"But you didn't."
"Yeah, and the only way you actually managed to win was by banning me. Out here though you can't do that. It's just you, me, and a battle to the bitter end. What do you say?"
Jack looked about ready to spit at him. "May the worst man win."
His opponent just laughed. "You won't be so confident when you're on your knees begging me to spare your useless life."
With that they both leaped at each other, but the Pumpkin King already had a plan built. When Darius reached out he ducked behind him, grabbing his arms and preventing him from moving. "Now, Malik, do it now!" he cried. "Stab him!" The poor lad was unable to move. "There's no other chance! Kill him!"
"I - I can't," he stammered. "I can't do it!"
"Please," said Sally. "We came this far, now take it the extra step. The power is in your hands!"
That seemed to give him the vote of confidence he needed. He took a breath and gave a war cry, diving at McVampire. He was about to make the fatal plunge when the evil vampire gave a sudden jerk, pulling both himself and Jack to the ground with a hard thud. The stake missed it's target.
"You fools!" Darius cried. "Do you really believe that you can destroy me that easily?"
He climbed to his feet, walking over slowly to the boy. With one hand he picked him up, hoisting him above his head. "Stupid child, thought he could win. I'll show you a lesson or two!" He tossed Malik into a tree, causing him to slump to the ground in agony. "That's what you get for plotting against me. Tell me, Jack, do you have any other little cohorts around here anywhere?"
Sally popped out from her hiding spot then, glaring at the enemy. "How dare you hurt him like that," she breathed. "He didn't deserve it."
"My dear woman, he did in my way of thinking." He paused for a moment before beckoning her over to him. She glanced at her husband, who simply mouthed yes. Better do as he said then anger him. Standing in front of him now she could feel his eyes glancing up and down her body, satisfied. He walked around her slowly, continuing to observe her. "Yes, you'll do nicely. Get rid of this rotting pile of bones and you'll be all mine."
"You can't destroy my husband!" she cried. "I love him!"
He just raised an eyebrow,. "Husband, you say? All the more reason to."
"You wouldn't dare," she hissed.
He simply chuckled, stopping behind her. He massaged her shoulders gently, shaking his head. "I wouldn't hesistate to. Not for a second. After what he's done to me it would make me so happy to. What's your name, darling?"
"Sally. My name is Sally."
"Ah, Sally Skellington. Nice ring to it, don't you think?" He leaned closer to her, breathing down her neck. It sent shivers down her spine. "Wouldn't you much rather it be Sally McVampire?" She tried to whirl around and slap him, but he caught her arm. "No, love, you won't be doing that. See, you're my bait now, I'm simply using you to get at Jack."
"You cold-hearted bastard..."
A grin. "Flattery gets you no-where." He began to play innocently with a strand of her hair, laughing while her love fumed. "I might not look like much living in a shack like this but I am more powerful then you would ever believe. I could give you whatever you wanted...certainly more than that other guy could ever provide."
"Yes, but you could never give me the love I need."
"Ha!" He pulled her closer to him suddenly, kissing her against her will. Try as she wanted it was impossible to break free of his grasp. Upon ending the kiss Darius had a devilish smile upon his face.
"Listen, there's a lot your 'darling' hasn't told you. Like about how he nearly killed me..."
"You almost killed him though!"
"And how he exiled me."
"You had it coming."
"And how he killed the girl we both loved because he didn't want me to have her."
That stopped her. "Jack--what does he mean?" He never said anything. "You didn't end someone's life over something so pathetic!"
At that he broke down, collapsing to his knees and clawing at the dirt. "Oh, Sally, I admit it! I was young and stupid, I didn't know any better! She was my first true love, but both me and McVampire wanted her. She -she told me that the only one she desired to be with was him so I - I had her burnt at the stake. I framed her for treason and had her burnt at the stake. Please Sally, I've tormented myself over it all my life, it's always burdened my spirit. I knew it was wrong but in my anger I only wanted to hurt Darius. Please--I'm sorry."
She couldn't resist him as she tugged away from her captor, running to Jack's side. "I believe you darling, and I understand." She looked back up at the cold-hearted monster. "It'll take lot more then that to turn me away from my husband. It doesn't matter to me what he's done, he knows the difference now. Besides, I care about him too much to abandon him like that."
"That's not my point though! He took away the one thing that mattered to me; my one true love. Now he's found his, so he doesn't really care anymore. He did once, though! Oh, you should have seen him as she died, smiling with glee."
Sally only hugged her sweetheart tighter. "I won't let you convince me otherwise of what I already know, McVampire. Try as you wish, you'll never succeed. I won't let you."
He simply smiled. "In that case I'll simply have to kill you both. As the couple sat on the ground and trembled in fear he raised his finger slowly, that demonic smirk still on his face. "So long, Jack, you were a great friend. Too bad it couldn't have lasted."
Images of his life began to swirl through the Pumpkin King's mind...the deaths of his parents, marrying his wife, the birth and death of his son...now he was going to die. He sobbed, clutching Sally's arms as he prepared to join his mother and father in heaven. What a miserable way to die...
"NO!" came a sudden cry, and a sudden blur flew by their faces. Before they knew what had happened Darius was laid out on the ground, the wooden stake through his heart. Above him stood Malik, breathing hard. "Well," he said. "That's over."
"Wow," muttered Sally. "I thought we were goners for sure, thank-you."
"I had to do something, I couldn't simply allow him to kill you like that. "
Shocked stillness. "I guess we should get back then," Jack announced. "I think I'll just...give everyone the rest of the day off. We deserve it."
His wife smiled as she stood up, bringing out the watch. "Sounds like a wonderful plan to me."
Two weeks later everything had been forgotten. That fateful day with Darius had long since been cleaned from their memories, and life had gone back to normal. Shock and Malik were still girlfriend and boyfriend, while Jack and Sally allowed them to visit as often as they wished (a small token of thanks to the boy who had saved their lives). Barrel turned 11 years old and had a wonderful birthday party, including a beautiful cake and all kinds of friends. The time came around, though, for Sally's annual check-up with the doctor. And there were plenty of things she intended to discuss with him.
It was around noon when she returned to Town Hall, where Jack was busily at work. "Hi dear," he said upon seeing her. "How did it go?"
"That's what I wanted to speak with you about, love. If I could just pull you away from your tight schedule for a minute..."
"I'm kind of busy right now, sweet."
"You're not going to want to put this off, I promise."
He turned away from what he had been doing, facing her. "Okay, you've got my undivided attention. What's up?"
A large smile was on her face as she delivered to him the news; "Jack, I'm pregnant."
And he promptly fainted.