April Fools!

-A Nightmare Before Christmas Story

It was a chilly spring morning in the land of Halloween. The ghoulish citizens of Halloween Town were all feeling rather groggy and inattentive as they stood outside the City Hall after a full night of spooking and scaring.

"A meeting at this hour?" complained one of the four vampire brothers. All members of their quartet held a black parasol of sorts to shield themselves from the sun.

"Indeed," agreed a tall witch. She was one of the two residential witches along with her much shorter, portly, and stronger green-complexioned sister who stood next to her. "What is Jack thinking? We've had a long night of stirring up scares; we creatures of the night need our sleep!"

"Besides, Halloween is months away. What do we need a meeting on the first of April for anyway?" the smaller witch asked. A second later, a rag doll with chestnut red hair walked shyly into the crowd and looked around with a puzzled look in her eyes.

"There might be our answer," the taller witch whispered to her sister. She then called out, "Oh Saaallyyy…"

The rag doll Sally detested that voice. The witch sisters had come to be quite jealous of her newfound social standing as the sweetheart of Jack Skellington, the king of Halloween himself. That shrill call that they always used to address her seemed so artificially sweet that she was afraid of the possible hostility it held.

"Yes?" Sally asked the duo when she approached them.

"Ah dear," the taller witch said in the most fake manner possible. "You're so very close to Jack; well, naturally being his" She paused and cringed. "H-his…"

Sally finished her sentence, "Girlfriend?"

"Yes, that," grumbled the short witch. "We were just wondering if you might know why dear Jack is holding this meeting, Sally."

"Oh, I'm sorry, but I don't know what all this is about either. He never mentioned a thing about it to me." Sally paused too, and thought about that statement. "He's been acting so very strange lately, like he's ready to laugh for no particular reason at all about something. He even cackles at odd times of the day and I don't have a clue why he would."

"Hmm, very strange," the short witch pondered before she noticed something. "What's that you have there, Sally?"

Sally realized that the witch was referring to the basket that she was holding. "Oh, that's just a little something for Jack." She blushed and smiled with infatuation about her love. "I think it will help him with whatever problem he's going through right now. It's my secret weapon, you could say."

"How very thoughtful of you…" the taller witch mumbled under her breath and clenched her old, wrinkled fist.

All of the sudden, the mayor of Halloween Town got onto his megaphone up in the rafters of the hall to announce something. It screeched loudly at first, but it was over soon enough thankfully. "BLAST IT…" the mayor's voice said, then he cleared his throat. "Ahem, attention Halloween Town! Jack has announced to me that the meeting is now in session. Please enter the town hall!"

Soon after that announcement, the twin doors swung opened up and a short, spinning top-like creature stood in the doorway. "Please, come inside my friends," the mayor concluded with his largest smile.

The citizens of Halloween all walked inside tiredly. Sally soon followed the lumbering crowd of monsters, leaving the witches behind her. "Well, nice chatting with you," she said politely.

"Byyyye!" the witches chimed in unison. As soon as Sally entered the hall and was out of their sight, they both growled like dogs and got an uglier than ugly look upon their already hideous faces.

The corpse woman walked by with her grotesquely fat son on a leash ahead of her and her tall skinny corpse husband just behind her. She sighed at the witches, and muttered to them, "You girls really need to get over that."

Once everyone was seated inside the hall, the doors were closed and footsteps were heard echoing in the room. As the footsteps grew louder and more menacing, the crowd gradually quieted down and listened for the ghoul that was making such a delightful haunt. Once the air was more silent than the grave, the pumpkin king Jack leaped out of seemingly nowhere and landed on the stage. The crowd clapped for the tall, dapper skeleton as we walked up elegantly to the microphone.

"Well hello Halloween Town, and what a horrible morning it is, everyone!" Jack said enthusiastically. (Of course, dear reader, you know that in Halloween Land that horrible is the equivalent of wonderful in our world, so there's no need for that small explanation). When the clapping had ceased, he continued, "I've called you all here to make some announcements- he, ha, ha, hee!" Suddenly, Jack started to cackle.

"What's that about?" Sally thought aloud as she sat near her friend the Hanging Tree. It was never like Jack to laugh during his own meeting.

"He, he, hee…" Jack chortled and then said, "Ahem, first of all, I'd like to announce my resignation to the Halloween throne."

"WHAT?" The entire crowd shouted. Some members of the ghoulish group screamed or howled in sheer terror, some of them stood still in purification, and Sally was one of the monsters who gasped. Their great pumpkin king was resigning? It seemed so impossible.

Jack interrupted their terrible response with another. "And, he, he, s-second… ha, ha, ha!" Jack laughed and waited eagerly for the crowd to quiet down. He was laughing so very coarsely that he could hardly say anything, but at last he shouted, "April Fools!" Then he began a laughing fit anew. The crowd was so confused by that comment that they could hardly do anything but mutter to themselves until Jack spoke up again. "April Fools is a new holiday that I believe Halloween should try to celebrate," he explained. "All we have to do to celebrate it is prank one another with a joke. Now you've all been April fooled!"

No monster knew quite what to make of Jack's words and stayed very quiet, but then Sally started to laugh in the back of the hall. Her minor chuckles soon turned to a fit of great laughter. She realized that Jack had just fooled everyone in town into thinking that he was resigning his throne. It took a few moments after her understanding, but soon everyone else caught on and began to laugh as well.

"It's brilliant!" the Mayor shouted into his megaphone. "What a horrible holiday!"

The witches whistled to Jack, the wolf man howled a long, chuckling howl, and applause from every corner of the hall came to what remained of Jack's ears. The skeleton smiled and placed a bony finger to his chin. At least this time the town did not need an explanation for one of his delightful discoveries.

The meeting was over fairly quickly, as Jack had nothing other to announce than Halloween progresses and such. The monsters all left the Town Hall fairly delighted, leaving Jack alone backstage after the meeting. A sound in the hall caught him by surprise, for then he knew that someone else had stayed behind. "Hello?" he called curiously. Just then Sally emerged from the meeting room and came backstage toward Jack. "Oh, It's you Sally," Jack greeted her with a bony grin and held her hands in his own. "And what did you think of this April Fools Day meeting, my dear?"

Sally suddenly brushed Jack's hands away and gave him an angry glare. "Well Jack, I thought it was quite cruel of you to trick everyone like that. After all, we really took you seriously!"

"Oh," Jack replied with confusion. "Well, I'm sorry. I only meant it as a harmless little trick. You know I'd never leave my town behind."

"Do I?" Sally snapped and turned away from Jack. "Maybe I'm tired of these ridiculous things, Jack. Maybe I don't want to be around you all the time anymore."

"What?" Jack yelped uncharacteristically. If there was one thing that Jack was fearful of, it was losing lovely Sally. "Oh dear Sally, please forgive me! I never would've meant to hurt my people, especially not you," he pleaded and reached for her hand. It was a desperate attempt to catch her eyes and make her have a change of mind, but it was an utter failure as she refused to look at him. "Please Sally."

The rag doll stayed turned away from the skeleton, and did not look back at him, but a muffled sound began to come from her. It was something similar to crying or… laughing. At last, the girl turned in Jack's direction and laughed hysterically. It was very bizarre indeed, even for the king of strange and screams to watch. Then, after a breath of undead air, Sally declared, "April Fools!"

"Eh?" Jack muttered and thought about what Sally said. He then recognized the prank at hand and chuckled along. "So, you aren't leaving me then?"

Sally finished her laughing and once again took Jack's hands. "Oh Jack, you should know I'd never leave you."

"Do I?" Jack asked before gently pressing his lips to his rag doll girlfriend's. He had to admit one thing to himself. I guess I'm lucky to have the smartest girl in Halloween.

The End