Rachel and Sasha sighed as they sat at the airport, looking out the dark window to see all the pouring rain that drenched everything.

The girls had come back from a business trip using the airport and, just their luck, everyone in the Grant Mansion is out and cannot pick them up. And their vehicle for transportation has lost battery power.

Now the girls were stuck at the airport all alone on a dark, stormy night.

"When do you think someone will pick us up?" asked Sasha.

Rachel shrugged. "I don't know. Guess we'll have to stay here for the night or-" Rachel suddenly gasped.

"What is it, Rach?" asked Sasha, startled by the gasp.

Rachel was openmouthed as she pointed to the window. Sasha looked and gasped as well.

A white, transparent figure was staring right at them. It was a ghost...a ghost that was dog-shaped and had a glowing jack-o-lantern nose.

"Ruff! Ruff!" The ghost dog barked faintly.

"It's Zero!" Sasha said, standing up.

Zero went invisible and entered the airport without being seen. The girls were confused until Sasha's suitcase started rolling away on it's own!

"I think Zero wants us to follow him!" Rachel said. "Come on!"

Sasha managed to hold onto her luggage as Zero lead them all the way to the woman's bathroom.

Once the coast was all clear, Zero became visible.

"What's going on, Zero?" Rachel stroked the ghost dog's head. "Why are you here?"

"Look! There's a note in his collar!" Sasha removed the note from Zero's collar and unfolded it. "It's from Jack! It says, 'Dear Rachel and Sasha, you are herby invited to the Skellington house for a sleepover. Just read the poem on the back of the note. Screams and kisses, Jack.'"

"A sleepover at Jack's house?" Rachel's eyes lit up. "Sounds great!"

But Sasha wasn't feeling excited. "Um...I don't know, sis. We have to get home." She handed the dog the note but Rachel snatched it from her hand.

"What's the big deal, Sasha? We always hang out with Jack."

"Yeah, at the Grant Mansion when we call him or when he stops by for a visit." Sasha corrected. "Never at his house!"

Rachel chuckled. "Don't be a scaredy cat, Sasha. It'll be fun! Spending a night in the house of the Pumpkin King and ruler of Halloween himself!"

"And that's suppose to make me feel better?!" Sasha blurted out. "Forget it, Rachel! I'm not going to Jack's house! Who knows what kind of creepy stuff is lurking in there?!"

Rachel shrugged. "Okay, I'll just go over to Jack's house and enjoy the company of a good friend while you stay here all alone-"

"Okay! Okay! You win! I'll go..." Sasha sighed in defeat. If there's one thing she feared more than haunted houses and spooks, it's being alone.

Rachel smiled. "Alright! Hang onto your luggage! I'll recite the spell." She read the spell on the back of the note:

'Ghouls and ghosts and skeleton bones,

Wailings shrieks and eerie moans.

For tricks and treats and frightful fun,

Take us to the home of Jack Skellington.'

An orange glow came upon the girls' bodies. They disappeared on a bright light. When the light died down, they found themselves standing in front of Jack's house in Halloween Town.

Sasha gulped when she looked up at the spooky old house that rested atop a flight of steps. She knew there was no backing out now so she took her bags and followed Rachel up the steps.

Rachel grabbed the fake spider attached to the bell pull and gave it a yank. Sasha jumped a little when the doorbell screamed instead of chimed.

The door opened and Jack's grinning skull popped out. "Girls! You came! I'm so glad to see you again!" He hugged the sisters.

Sasha felt better as Jack hugged her. Even though he was a spooky living skeleton, Sasha loved Jack like a father.

"Thanks for inviting us, Jack." Rachel said. When she stepped inside, she couldn't help but swallow a little.

The inside of Jack's house could make anyone's hair stand on end. There were monstrous statues and horrific portraits of skeletal creatures hanging on the walls. Rachel could have sworn she saw a pair of tiny eyes flashing in the dark shadows before they disappeared.

Sasha rubbed her goose-bumpy arms when she saw a big black spider in the corner of the cobwebbed ceiling. "S-Sure is spooky in here..." she muttered.

"Why, thank you!" Jack said, putting a hand on Sasha's shoulder. "And my wife Sally does this all by herself!" he said proudly. "Let's get settled upstairs, shall we?"

Jack led the girls all the way upstairs to the skeleton's room. Sasha walked and gasped, jumping back in fear when she nearly ran into an electric chair.

"Ah! That's my electric chair!" Jack said, taking a seat. He flipped the switch and the torture device sparked and buzzed as Jack's body glowed with electricity. The sisters walked slack-jawed as Jack smiled the whole time he was being electrocuted.

The chair stopped and Jack was perfectly fine. He stood up and did a good stretch. "Ahhh! Really perks up the bones!" Jack chimed to his stunned friends. "I'll go change while you girls get settled in." He pointed to the other side of the room. "I have your beds all set up!"

Sasha's heart drummed a bit faster when she saw two coffins placed on the floor. "Those are c-c-c-coffins!" she squeaked.

"And they're really comfortable!" Jack said. He patted her back before entering his closet and closing the door.

"You doing okay, Sasha?" asked a concerned Rachel.

Sasha swallowed a little. "Y-Yeah. So far, so good."

Jack popped out of the closet in his pajamas and night cap. "I'll be downstairs making some warm treats."

Sasha began to perk up. "Warm treats?"

"That's right! Perfect for a cold, creepy night like this! I'll whip up some rot chocolate!"

"Rot chocoate?!" the girls said together.

"It's an old Skellington recipe!" Jack leaned in close. "The secret ingredient is fermented tombstone moss!"

Sasha felt her face turning green. "T-Tombstone moss?!"

"And maybe we'll have spider web cookies!" Jack suggested. "I'll gather the cobwebs!" He took off while the girls felt queasy.

"Arf! Arf!" Zero popped through the floor and flew around Rachel. He wanted to play.

"Why don't you play with Zero and I'll talk Jack out of making those...treats?" Sasha suggested.

"Good idea." Rachel said. She giggled as Zero licked her cheek.

Sasha left the room and walked down the steps to find Jack. She felt a chill from an invisible draft. She shivered, but she had to be brave.

"Jack?" Sasha called out as she set foot at the bottom of the stairs. She nervously walked further into the dark room. She saw something white at the corner of her eye and squeaked, jumping back in fear.

It was a picture of a bride. A ghostly bride holding a bouquet of dead flowers. She was all white and had empty black eyes, that were dripping tears of blood.

Sasha shivered from her head to her toes. "So creepy!"

"Whaaaaaaat?! Creepy?!" The ghostly bride screeched as she came through the painting and started crying her bloody tears.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Sasha screamed and ran down the hall in terror. She tried to hide in one of the rooms, but when she opened it, she gasped seeing a room full of antique dolls.

The dolls slowly turned their heads toward Sasha...

Too scared to scream, Sasha ran off. She wanted to get out of this haunted house.

OOF!

Sasha bumped into something white. Thinking it was another ghost, Sasha was about to scream. But looking at the face of the white figure, she stuffed her scream inside.

It was only Jack.

"Sasha?! Are you alright?!" Jack put his bony hand on Sasha's forehead. "You look pale."

Sasha tried to speak, but overwhelmed with fear, she almost fainted in Jack's arms until the skeleton gently slapped her cheek. "Sasha! Sasha! Hang in there! You're age now! Don't go fainting on me!"

Sasha was able to stay conscious. But she was mentally exhausted from all the terror. Jack held Sasha and gently sat on the floor together. "Are you okay, Sweetie?" asked Jack, tucking a lock of Sasha's hair behind her ear.

Sasha shook her head, implying no.

"Scared?"

Sasha nodded to say yes.

A regretful look came upon Jack's face. "I should have known better." he said sadly. "I'm sorry...for scaring you so much. I wanted to invite you girls over because...I was afraid."

Hearing this, Sasha raised her head and turned to Jack in shock. "What?!"

Jack sighed. "You see, Sally and my children are on a trip with Dr. Finklestein to look for new specimens for experiments. And when my family's isn't here I get lonely and...I'm afraid of being alone."

Sasha couldn't believe her ears! Jack Skellington, the scariest, spookiest skeleton in the world...was afraid of something?!

"You are?!" Sasha said.

Jack nodded. "I know I have Zero, but...sometimes that's not enough. When I felt alone, I thought about you and Rachel, the sweetest, most wonderful humans I know. So wanted you both over to have some fun. But-"

The Pumpkin King was cut off when Sasha suddenly hugged him. To his surprise, Sasha looked up at him with a warm, fearless smile. "If that's the case, you could have just told us from the beginning!" She giggled as she snuggled into Jack's chest. "We're always here for you, Jack. To be honest, I thought you only invited us just to scare us silly. But I was wrong. Very wrong."

"Oh, Sasha." Jack stroked the girl's head. "I would never do such a thing. Sure, I spook you once in a while. But I would never go that far!"

"Yeah, I see that now." said Sasha. "I'm sorry."

Then Jack got an idea. "I don't think you're sorry enough!" he said playfully before tickling Sasha's aides.

"AAAH! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Sasha laughed. "NO! Don't tickle!" She tried to curl up to protect herself, but Jack's thin fingers still tickled her.

"Tickle, tickle, tickle!" Jack teased. "You need a good tickle!" His hands reached her stomach and Sasha exploded with laughter.

"EEEEEE! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! THAT TICKLES! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

After a few minutes of tickling, Jack decided to stop. "I think you're feeling better now."

Sasha nodded weakly. Jack picked her up and carried her back upstairs. "I'm glad you invited us, Jack." said Sasha.

"You are?!"

Sasha nodded. "You're more than just a spooky skeleton, you're family and we'll always love you. And to tell you the truth, we were pretty lonely before you sent that invitation."

Jack smiled before entering his bedroom. He and Sasha laughed when they found Rachel asleep in her coffin bed with Zero snoozing on top of her stomach.

"Guess Rachel and Zero played themselves to sleep." Sasha said as Jack set her down.

Jack let out a yawn. "I was going to make some snacks, but I'm just too sleepy."

"Yeah, me too." Sasha took out her pajamas and went into Jack's closet to change. She came out fully dressed. She watched Jack pull his bed out of his fireplace, then she looked at the two coffin beds.

"Huh?" Jack saw Sasha with a pondering look. "What is it, Sasha?"

A smile came to the girl's face. "I have an idea!"

Jack smiled as he tucked himself in. Sasha and Rachel's coffin beds were moved on each side of Jack's bed.

"There! Now this is more like it!" Sasha said. "It's like one big family bed!"

"A wonderful idea!" Jack ruffled Sasha's hair. "We truly are closer than ever!"

Sasha chuckled rather nervously. "Yeah..." She scooted a little closer to Jack. "I could use a bunk buddy..." She looked around the room. "I know your house is harmless, but...I'm still a little scared."

"I understand, Sweetie. I'll be here to scare your fear away. I am the master of fright, after all!" Jack tickled her neck. "And I know for a fact that fear is afraid of laughter!"

Sasha giggled in ticklish laughter. "Jahahahahack!"

Jack stopped tickling and put an arm around Sasha before falling asleep.

Knowing she was safe all along and in the company of people who are always loving, Sasha fell soundly asleep.

This wasn't like the sleepovers she was used to, but it certainly was memorable.