Whoot! Contest of DOOM!
And even better, it's Nightmare Before Christmas! Squee!
Okay, all the JackSally shippers are going to lynch me, but here it goes!
Roll it, Louie!
"And
sit together, now and forever, for it is plain as anyone can see,
we're simply meant to be."
Jack leaned in and took the beautiful rag doll in his arms. She fit perfectly, just as he'd always imagined. They kissed.
A deafening pause held the scene for about five long seconds.
"Annnnd…cut! Okay, folks, that's a wrap! Great job, everybody!" Mr. Burton called, enthusiastically slapping Behemoth on the shoulder. The large dead man was currently in a whispered literary discussion with the three Mr. Hydes.
Sally wasted no time in disentangling herself from Jack. She smoothed down the front of her dress as Mr. Burton came over to the Pumpkin King.
"By the way, thank you again, Jack for granting us permission to use your town as the set. It really adds to the realistic feel!"
"Not at all, Mr. Burton; I hope this will be good publicity for the holidays!" Jack said.
"Well, we'll begin cleaning up and be out of your way by tomorrow morning. You'll receive your payments when the movie comes out!"
"Good bye!" Jack waved to the retreating figure of the "real" man. He noticed Sally looking off into the direction of town.
"Uhm…say, Sally?" Jack asked the pretty rag doll in front of him. "Would you like to go out for a drink? I know a very good place…the werewolf runs it…"
"Oh…I'm sorry Jack," Sally said, not really looking that sorry. "I promised Ichabod that I would meet him."
"Oh…well. Another time then?"
"Mmm, I'm going to be out of town for a while," Sally said, already heading toward town. "It was…fun, Jack."
Jack watched Sally walk toward the town. He sat down on the hill and watched the yellow moon, absent-mindedly petting Zero.
The vampires and their animal magnetism. They always get the girls.
Meanwhile, a Christmas elf ran smack-dab into the scarecrow sign.
"Halloweentown," she read slowly. She skipped along the path of the graveyard into town. The elf, whose name was Kesy, began singing.
"What's this? What's this? There's no color anywhere.
What's this? What's this? There's bat wings in the air.
What's this? I can't believe my eyes, I must be dreaming, wake up, Kes, this isn't fair! What's this?" the pretty, pointy-nosed elf sang joyously.
"What's this? What's this? There's something very wrong! What's this? What's this? There's no one singing songs!
What's this? The streets are lined with little creatures laughing!
Everybody seems so happy! Have I possibly gone daffy? What is this?
What's this?
There aren't children throwing balls here, instead they're throwing heads
They're busy scaring humans and everybody's dead!
There are webs in every window! Oh, I can't believe my eyes! And in my bones I feel the dark that's coming from inside." Kesy leaned heavily against the town hall. Suddenly, her eyes popped open.
"Oh, look: what's this? They're cooking eyeballs now, they eat!
Why that looks so unique, inspired! They're gathering around to hear a story, roasting entrails on a fire.
What's this?
What's this?
In here they've got a little corpse, how queer
And who would ever think
And why?
They're wrapping it in bandages. They've got tiny skulls on strings! And there's a smile on everyone!
So, now, correct me if I'm wrong: this looks like fun! This looks like fun!
Oh, could it be I got my wish?
What's this?" Kesy slipped into the corpse child's bedroom.
"Oh my, what now?
The child is asleep, but look, there's something underneath!
A ghoul, a witch here to scream and scare them or ensnare them, that little cozy thing insecure inside his dreamland
What's this?" The elf slipped back out the window, to hear the child give a delighted cry of "Uncle!"
"The monsters are all here now and the cookies can't be found and in their place there seems to be frank terror all around!
Instead of music, I swear I can hear screaming in the air! The smell of fear and flies is absolutely everywhere!
The sights, the sounds! They're everywhere and all around! I've never felt so good before!
This empty place inside of me is filling up!
I simply cannot get enough!
I want it, oh, I want it, oh, I want it for my own!
I've got to know!
I've got to know!
What is this place that I have found?
What is this?"
The elf ceased her joyous rampage to let the name roll off of her tongue.
"Halloweentown."
She looked left. She looked right. Kesy took off her elf hat and ripped the silly pom-pom off of the pointed end. She turned it inside out so that the darker inner fabric splayed out. Kesy bent the tip, plunked it on her head, and ripped the pom-poms off of her shoes.
Then, she went to find a house, a soup bowl, and a book of potions.
Jack sighed as he looked out from his tower. The same old Halloween Town stared bleakly back at him. And instead of his expected (and routine) melancholy feeling, he was attacked by boredom.
Jack had never been bored before. He was either acting for Mr. Burton, or preparing for the next scare. Jack walked down from his tower, hoping that there he might find a cure for the nagging boredom.
Unfortunately, nothing in his lower rooms really presented itself as interesting. Maybe a walk through the town would do it.
Or not. Jack was still bored after he had walked through every street, boulevard, and back alley. He had hopped from green cobblestone to green cobblestone, black cobblestone to black cobblestone, and brown cobblestone to brown cobblestone, earning several odd looks in the process, and still nothing screamed, "Not Boring!" at him.
That is, until he tripped over something.
"Excuse me!" Jack looked around to see who was talking.
"Who? Is that you?"
"Uh, no? I'm down here." The something that Jack had tripped over jumped up and waved its arms.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to trip over you. Are you alright?" The little woman leaned back slightly to be able to see him. She seemed to be about two feet tall. And squeaky. "You're not from around here, are you?"
The tiny woman stared at Jack, then, her eyes still on him, she pointed to her dark green and –inside out? - pointy hat. "I'm a witch."
Jack bent from the waist to look the so-called witch in the face. She leaned away from his face slightly. He looked long and hard into her green eyes, and identified the unmistakable look of magic, and happy malice.
"Ah," he said, "so you are."
"I am! Wait a minute…I am?" The witch looked confused. "You're the first person to tell me I'm not not a witch."
Jack blinked three times, closed his eyes and shook his head, blinked, and nodded as he got what she was trying to say.
"Umm…excuse me? Could you please lean back? I'm about to fall over," the witch said.
"Oh, sorry," Jack said, as his spine snapped ram-rod straight again. "Well, then, good luck with… witching. Oh, and there's a town meeting tonight, at midnight. You should come." Jack smiled awkwardly.
"Of course, Mister…."
"Skellington. Jack Skellington."
The witch's eyes widened, so much that she had to blink to keep them in her head. "Jack Skellington? The king of Halloweentown?"
"Unless I've been usurped."
"Wow."
"I'm sorry?"
"Let me rephrase that: woooooowwwwwww. You're…not…that scary."
"I'm insulted!" Jack pulled a face of mock indignation.
"Sorry. Uh, sir, do you know somewhere where there's available housing?"
Jack thought. "Perhaps above one of the shops, or in the residential area…the residential area is probably cheaper."
"Money isn't an issue."
"Ah. Then above one of the shop is a good bet for if you want to be in the center of things, or the residential area for privacy, or you could buy a shop and set up there."
"Thank you. I appreciate it. By the way, my name's Kesy…Mc…Claw."
Kesy scampered off, carrying a soup bowl behind her.
The pumpkin king smiled, clasped his hands behind his back, and walked back to his tower to read. Boredom was no longer an issue.
"The milk of a blue apple…" in the soup bowl.
"Four sprigs black parsley…" in the soup bowl.
"A half-ounce of spider blood…" in the soup bowl.
"Stir four times clockwise…" stir, stir, stir, stir…
"And drink." Gulp. Sproing.
"OW! I hit my head on the chandelier!"
So there you have it. First chapter, much more to come! (Mostly because the las bit probably didn't make a lick of sense, but still...)
Review and I'll have the next one up soon!