Background Info: Ok, just so you know Sally will not 'exist' in my series for reasons in the third story (yes there will be sequels.) Some authors do away with her by a freak accident or something and I decided I wasn't going to be that mean so I simply made an 'alternate universe.'
Disclaimer: I do not own The Nightmare Before Christmas (though I wish I did,) This is Halloween, or the English version of Wie Melodien Zieht es Mir.
And now, from the crazy mind that brought you Arikata's Story, Mystic Spirit Angel presents...
The Nightmare on Hallow's Eve
A soul wanders through a dense forest until she comes upon a circle of tall trees with an odd color of bark. She stands in the center, her figure is transparent. Her long white gown flows in a breeze that is not even there. Her hair that was once in an elegant bun hung down in loose, messy locks. Her skin is pale as is her hair. She turns toward you and softly, yet loud enough to be heard, she speaks.
T'was a long time ago, longer now than it seems
In a place that perhaps you've seen in your dreams.
For the story you're about to be told,
Began with a holiday world of old.
Now you've probably wondered about the holiday Halloween,
Such as, what exactly is the Pumpkin King?
Well you see now, one little girl found out,
What Halloween was all about.
And I'm here to tell you her story so great,
About when two different worlds met by mistake.
A young girl about the age of nine skipped along the sidewalk of a suburb street in the late evening with her basket in the shape of a smiling pumpkin swinging at her side. She had short, dusty blonde hair and bright blue eyes full of life. She wore a black, red, and orange dress of the scary kind while trying not to trip every now and then. The sleeves were long with tattered ends. Thin pieces of crimson red lining draped over the skirt which was flowing to give a haunting effect. Black boots that served as her costume shoes. As she was skipping ever so happily she was singing a melody with no words, just notes.
A grumbling boy of about twelve was trudging behind the cheerful girl. He wore dark, baggy clothing and had short, brunette hair and brown eyes that were on the lookout for something. He was very tall compared to the little girl prancing a few feet in front of him. It was easy to see that he was athletic for he had a slight tan, was quite thin, and had the beginning build of a cross-country runner.
The little girl ceased her skipping and stopped singing as she gazed at one of the houses on the block. "How about that house, John?" she asked the older boy addressed as John, pointing toward a house only a couple yards away.
He looked at the house in question, "That's a haunted house. Are you sure you're brave enough to handle it?" he taunted.
The girl became very nervous and shifted a little, "Y-yes I am! I'm a big girl now and I'm not scared of anything!" she tried to sound convincing but her voice faltered.
The older boy laughed at her attempt of courage, "You're just a little kid so quit acting like your big and tough like me." He pointed to himself in a prideful manner.
The girl glared at John and was about to speak again when two voices called to them.
"Hey John!" a stout boy with an average height in similar dark, baggy clothes called to them, he appeared to be the same age as John. He had sandy blonde hair with bangs that hung low, almost covering his green eyes which were shielded by glasses.
Also dressed in similar clothing, another boy next to the stout one was about the same height and age with the appearance of an average weight. He too had sandy blonde hair only cut short like John's with blue eyes and a round face. When they reached the skinny boy, the blue-eyed boy noticed the girl and began laughing, "You got stuck babysitting?" he laughed at the brunette haired boy again.
"Shut up Cody! I'm getting paid ten dollars an hour with this kid." John fisted his hands and looked slightly peeved at the boy addressed as Cody.
"Man I don't even get paid that much when I baby sit my sister." The stout boy with glasses complained as he shoved his hands in his pockets.
"That's because she's your sister, Trevor." Cody bluntly pointed out. "Who is this kid anyway?" he questioned the lean boy before him.
"This is Amelia," he gestured to the slightly confused little girl, "She's my neighbors' kid and they needed someone to take her trick-or-treating 'cause they had some party to go to."
"Man!" Trevor shouted with despair. "So when are we gonna…" He trailed off making an odd gesture with his shoulders as if to tell him what he was trying to say, "You know…"
"Yeah, I know. Listen this is gonna be the last house and…" a thought popped into John's head, "You know, Amelia here says that she's a big girl and can go into the haunted house. Do you guys think she's up to it?"
They knew what he was implying. All three smirked and turned toward the timid girl. Trevor spoke, "Really? Only big kids are brave enough to go into that house."
"Yeah, are you sure you're not scared?" Cody added.
Amelia became fearful but tried to save some of her dignity, "We-well then y-you guys gotta go in with me…o-ok?"
"Of course," John spoke with an obvious fake smile, "we'll stay with you the whole way." As she turned toward the house in question, the three boys grinned with malice and they ushered her toward the spooky house. "We're right behind you." John said as they reached the door.
With a shaky hand, Amelia turned the knob on the door and gave it a small push. It creaked open slowly that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand straight up. She nervously fisted her hand and placed it on her mouth, which was something she always did whenever she was really scared. She hesitated to move forward until suddenly the boys shoved her in and shut the door. She shrieked in fear and immediately turned around and strived to pry the door open. The three boys held onto the knob keeping her in while laughing at her panic.
"What's the matter?" Cody asked the terrified little girl.
"I thought you were a big girl?" Trevor added.
"You all are big meanies!" she shouted from inside the house while still pulling on the door with all the strength she could muster. "Let me out! I'm scared, please let me out!" she begged the older boys to release her from the dark prison.
"Sorry! You have to stay in there until we say you can come out." John stated, "And if you're a good little girl and don't yell anymore, we may let you out early." The other two snickered.
"Please!" she gave up pulling on the door and continued to shout at them in her fright, "It's dark and scary in here and I wanna go home!" stomping her foot she started to sob but tried to keep it quiet, not wanting the boys to know she was crying.
Trevor whispered to the others that he had rope they could use to tie the door shut. He took one end and tied it to a nearby tree and handed the other end to Cody who tied it to the door knob. John made sure that the door was kept shut during the setup. All three laughed and walked away, while Amelia persisted on shouting at them to come back and let her go.
"With the brat out of the way," John stated, "now we can go pull pranks on everyone!"
"Yeah, ok who's got the toilet paper?" Cody asked while they all continued to walk away from the house.
Amelia was convinced that they were gone and were not going to come back anytime soon. Slowly, with blurred vision from her tears, turned to look at her surroundings. It was just an old house that had been abandoned a few years back and it was obvious that spiders had moved in from all the webs that hung practically everywhere. She squeaked in fear and, after building up her courage, ran through the house to the kitchen looking for another exit. Anxiously, she tried the back door but found it stuck and couldn't get out that way. She looked for a window but they were all too small. She ran back into the room that was once the living room and searched frantically for a way out. There was only one possible exit. There was a large window on the wall behind a couch that had rotted from being exposed to the weather for the window was shattered. It was far too risky to crawl through the window as it was because it still had many jagged and sharp edges from the broken glass. She looked for a small chair or something that she could use to clear away the glass. Finding none, she looked to the bookcase that miraculously still had a few books remaining. She was afraid to approach the shelf for it had many webs covering it. She took a deep breath and quickly grabbed a book before dropping it to the ground with a yelp of fear, cringing at the creepy feel of the webs on her hand. Amelia shook her hand rapidly to try and banish the unwanted feeling. She then picked up the book. It was a volume of an encyclopedia that had once been on the shelf. Caring little for the information that the book held, she stood on the couch and began to slam it against the glass, clearing it away. Finally, she made a large gap that she could easily slip through. She got off the couch to grab her pumpkin basket she had dropped and then stood back on the sofa. Once again she took a deep breath and dashed out the window landing on her hands and knees. Her heart was racing from the adrenaline rushing through her and was gasping for air in an attempt to calm herself down. Still trembling, she looked up and came to face the dense forest before her. The branches of the trees bore no leaves giving the night a creepy feel and the ghostlike glow from the full moon only made it the more terrifying. Between the forest and the group of boys, she chose the forest as the less frightening of the two.
After a short while, she had found a path and absently began to follow it. She felt the air around her became stale and the darkness of the night seemed to enclose itself around her except the light from the moon that still shined even if a bit dimly. The stars faded into the blanket that was the night sky. The trees seemed to grow taller and the branches began to look more like arms with lengthy fingers reaching out to grab her. She quickened her pace as she felt the eeriness grow to the point it was suffocating her. She began to run in a desperate attempt to escape the terror that seemed to be trapping her within the darkness of the night. She felt as if time had stopped around her as she reached a circle of trees. She entered the circle of the trees that had a strange white bark. She found herself in the center and facing what looked like drawings on the trunks, one drawing per tree. She recognized the pictures as the holidays of the year and as she peered closer to each of them, she noticed that they all looked like doors. Out of curiosity, she reached out to the door in the form of a jack-o-lantern. She hesitated before suddenly jerking open the pumpkin shaped door and she came face to face with a hollow trunk. With curiosity still nagging at her in the back of her mind, she peered inside further. Finding nothing she backed out of the tree and without warning, a gust of wind encircled her. She noticed the wind was black as it enveloped her and began to pull her closer to the inside of the trunk. Fight as she may, it was no use and was pulled into the tree as she let out a scream. Her cry echoed and died away into the dark forest. There was no longer a trace of her ever being there.
She covered her eyes in hopes that it was only a nightmare and tried to convince herself to wake up. She landed with a thud as she was dropped by the wind onto the ground. She heard the sound of crunching leaves beneath her and opened her eyes. She was sitting in front of an old wooden sign that had white letters painted on it. Squinting, she read the words aloud, "Halloween Town." As she looked at her surroundings she noticed behind her was at the edge of a forest with dense trees, much like the ones she had been in before. Before her were hills that reminded her of the pumpkin patch fields she had once been to when she was back at home. Also, in the distance was indeed a town, which she presumed was the Halloween Town the sign was pointing to. A breeze blew and swept up a few leaves which sent them in a spiral motion towards a dirt path. She followed the path with her eyes and assumed it was the main road to the town in the distance. She got up, picked up her jack-o-lantern basket, and began to walk down the road in hopes of finding someone who could tell her where she was and how she could get back home.
As Amelia neared the town, she heard music, singing, and cheering. She ducked behind a few buildings and bushes as she made her approach to the main square where all the excitement seemed to be originating from. She could then make out the words to the song that the voices were singing.
This is Halloween, this is Halloween Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! In this town, don't we love it now? Round that corner, man hiding in the trash can Scream! This is Halloween Aren't you scared? Well, that's just fine Everybody scream, everybody scream In our town of Halloween I am the clown with the tear-away face I am the "who" when you call, "Who's there?" I am the shadow on the moon at night
In this town we call home
Everyone hail to the pumpkin song
Everybody's waiting for the next surprise
Something's waiting now to pounce, and how you'll
Red 'n' black, slimy green
Say it once, say it twice
Take the chance and roll the dice
Ride with the moon in the dead of night
Here in a flash and gone without a trace
I am the wind blowing through your hair
Filling your dreams to the brim with fright
Amelia had sneaked behind a large black cauldron and peered over the side. She gasped at the horror. She saw all sorts of creatures only seen in nightmares or heard in the scary stories told around a campfire. She thought such creatures where all make believe but she was seeing them for real. She wished she wasn't. Paralyzed from fear, she watched the monsters continue to dance and sing.
This is Halloween, this is Halloween Tender lumplings everywhere That's our job, but we're not mean In this town Skeleton Jack might catch you in the back Our man Jack is king of the pumpkin patch This is Halloween, this is Halloween In this town we call home
Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!
Halloween! Halloween!
Life's no fun without a good scare
In our town of Halloween
Don't we love it now?
Everyone's waiting for the next surprise
And scream like a banshee
Make you jump out of your skin
This is Halloween, everyone scream
Won't ya please make way for a very special guy
Everyone hail to the Pumpkin King now
Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!
Everyone hail to the pumpkin song
Amelia then saw a scarecrow with a pumpkin for a head arrive on a straw horse. It had a worn, tattered red jacket with legs made out of straw. It then grabbed a torch, set itself on fire and began to dance. Everyone was cheering and singing. She heard the names "Jack" and "Pumpkin King" several times and presumed that the scarecrow was whom they were referring to. The scarecrow then dived into the stone fountain which had a green oozy liquid instead of water coming from the statue of a fearsome creature's mouth. It was then that Amelia saw what she considered to be the most frightening thing she ever saw in her life up to that point. A skeleton in a black pinstripe suit rose out of the green slime. Her pupils shrank into practically microscopic dots as she watched "Jack" being praised by the creatures. She willed her legs to move but she stayed frozen in her place from fear. She could only continue to watch the scene before her. Everyone had ceased their singing and they were now cheering for The Pumpkin King. He seemed to be congratulating them on their Halloween as "our most horrible yet."
She almost let out a squeal of fright as she watched the king walk towards the cauldron. A cat had jumped onto a trashcan lid behind her making a rather loud noise, startling the cowering girl. She leaped out of her hiding place and found herself standing before a slightly surprised Pumpkin King.
After a brief moment of silence, he grinned, "Hello there fellow creature of the night! Who might you be and what brings you to our town of Halloween?"
Feeling absolutely lost and scared now even more than she had been, she opened her mouth as to either reply or scream, but nothing came out. She paled and then took off like a bullet speeding out of town.
The tall, slender skeleton stood there baffled and very confused as he watched her run toward the direction of the gate that eventually led to the cemetery.
He was then distracted by a stout man with two faces and a tall top hat calling to him. "Jack! Come, come. We're going to start giving out the awards!" the overly excited man shouted to him.
"I'll be right there Mayor!" Jack shouted back as he walked back into the square with one last glance in the direction she had gone.
Once the award ceremony began, Jack grew bored very quickly. He stifled a yawn as the mayor handed an award to a vampire on the platform. As the next was handed out, he decided he would make his escape. Being as agile and quick as he could, he made his exit. Curiosity got the better of him as he decided to follow the path the girl had taken earlier. He wanted to find out who she was, where she was from, and why she was here. He had always found outsiders very fascinating. He left through the old, rusty gate and walked up and down several hills before finally coming to the cemetery gate. As quiet as he could, he opened it and walked in slowly, looking and listening among the graves for the little girl. He soon spotted her curled against one of the many tombstones with her arms folded across her knees, her head buried against her forearms and an orange pumpkin basket beside her. He inched closer and could make out small sobs. He didn't want to frighten her so he hid behind a nearby statue and waited.
Amelia was indeed crying as she was huddled against the cold, slightly angled, and smooth stone. The worst of her crying was over a short moment before. Now, only small sobs escaped her. "Why…why can't I…be brave?" she managed to speak in between her weeping. "Like John? He and…the others are…are just meanie faces! The kind that…that like to pick on little kids…like me." She took a deep breath to calm herself as well as to form sentences properly. "I wanna go home. I don't like this place, it's scary." She hugged her arms attempting to comfort herself, "I wish I wasn't so scared. I bet John and the others aren't scared of monsters like me."
Jack's eye sockets widened, showing his surprise as he was hit with realization. A human had wondered into Halloween Town! 'I've never met a human before without scaring them half to death.' Jack thought to himself. 'This little girl seems to be very intriguing. Imagine what new kinds of tricks I could learn from her!' he was very eager to talk to her but knew that she was fearful so, rather impatiently, he waited.
Amelia looked up to the eerie yellow moon with a wishful look in her eyes, "Please," she began, "someone, make me unafraid. I don't want to be scared anymore but, I can't do it alone."
As Jack heard her words, ideas sparked in his skull on how he could trade her ideas for his helping her to overcome her fears. He was about to make himself known when her voice stopped him in his tracks.
A soft, melodic song came from the timid girl. She sang a song with no words at first and as her confidence in her own abilities grew, so did her voice. She added words to her lulling song.
It pulls at me, like a melody,
Quietly through my mind;
It blossoms like spring flowers
And wafts away like a fragrance.
But when it is captured in words,
And placed before my eyes,
It turns pale like a gray mist
And disappears like a breath.
And yet, remaining in my rhymes
There hides still a fragrance,
Which mildly from the quiet bud
Can be summoned forth by tears.
He was entranced by her voice and the music, Jack found his mind wandering and felt like he wasn't even part of his body anymore.
Any trace of Amelia's crying was now gone as she finished the song. She looked up at the bright moon that seemed to no longer glow of eeriness but of comfort. She gave a deep, yet happy sigh as she watched the stars glitter in the black sky. She heard the crunching of leaves behind her. With a gasp, she turned around and once again came face to face with the Pumpkin King.
She screamed.
Once she had finally ceased her high-pitched shriek she realized he hadn't moved at all. She took better notice of what he looked like. A black pin-stripe suit with a collar that looked like a bat and he had no body so to speak, only bones. He didn't have any eyes either but you could still see expression on his face, but instead of a face it was a skull. She questioned herself how could a skeleton be standing before her alive? She looked closer at the expression held on his pale face. He didn't seem like he even noticed her, almost as if he was trapped in his own world. 'Wait,' she thought, 'did I do that to him? Maybe…' she stood up before the skeleton man. With a shaky voice, she spoke, "Y-you silly Pumpkin King," remembering his title, "You sh-should never listen to me sing."
Her rhyme broke him of his trance. Jack shook his head and then placed his bony hand upon it. Finally, he noticed of the still frightened little girl before him. He gave her his signature grin and a bow, "Hello, my name is Jack, The Pumpkin King. I'm pleased to meet you." He stood back up to his full height and offered his hand to her for a handshake.
Nervously, she placed her hand on her mouth, unsure if she should trust him. She looked at the extended hand in front of her and then back up to him and his smile. Timidly, with her other hand, she grasped his in which he gave a gentle shake. To her, his hand felt very cold and strange, she couldn't quite place the feel of the bone.
"And who might you be?" he asked, beaming at the little girl as he let go of her hand.
"I…I—" she found herself at a loss of words for a brief moment, "I'm Amelia."
He nodded, "And where might you be from?" He looked to her with much curiosity.
Her hand yet again went up to her mouth and she looked down to her boots. She shifted a little and began to tremble. She was still very fearful of the skeleton before her. "I…I'm from Samhain…where am I exactly?" she asked looking back up at Jack.
Slightly taken aback, he answered, "Why you're in Halloween Town of course!" He had shouted a bit loudly with enthusiasm.
"I know that." She said quietly, "I mean where am I? All I know is that I got here through a tree."
"A tree?" puzzled, Jack placed his hand on his chin in thought. "Did this tree have a picture of a smiling pumpkin on it?"
Her eyes widened a bit and hastily nodded her head. "Yeah, there were other trees with other pictures on them too." Hope began to rise within her.
"I knew it!" he swung his arm in front of him with sudden understanding, "You came here through the Holiday Doors. So, you're a human from the human realm right?" he questioned with a slightly puzzled yet curious look on his face.
Slightly shocked, her eyes widened and nodded her head once again.
"Ha! I knew it all along!" as Jack's enthusiasm continued to grow he waved his arms about in animated gestures and moved around excitedly, "Imagine the possibilities! You must tell me all about your world."
Amelia gave him a quizzical look, trying to understand his sudden outburst of happiness. "Um…so I'm in another world?"
He stopped his parading and turned back to her, "Yes, so to speak." A light bulb seemed to have just clicked on within his mind. "Of course!" he lightly hit his head with his hand, "That explains why I was hypnotized."
More confused than ever, she cocked her head to the side, "Huh?"
He put his hands over the area where his diaphragm was supposed to be and let out a rather high-pitched cackle. His laugh caused her to take a few steps back in her ever present fear.
He calmed down, "Forgive me, it's just the fact that you're a human explains everything!" seeing her puzzled expression he explained, "Any human who wonders into Halloween Town immediately becomes the costume that they are wearing."
Amelia looked at her outfit, she didn't feel or seem different than how she was before.
He kneeled to be eyelevel with her, "So tell me, what are you?" one eye socket seemed to grow slightly larger, implying that he was raising his eyebrow if he had any.
"I'm supposed to be a sorceress." She replied meekly, avoiding his gaze.
"Ah, that explains even more! Your song had put me into a trance. If you had ordered me to do something I probably would have." A thought occurred to him, "How exactly did you break the spell?"
"I…um…just made up a rhyme." She spoke, still very timid.
"This is marvelous! You'll fit in just fine." He grinned literally from ear to ear.
Still not quite following, she tilted her head again and gave him a confused look. "Fit in? Fit in where?"
"Why in Halloween Town of course!" he exclaimed cheerily.
Her eyes widened and pupils shrank. The idea of going back to that place of monsters and ghouls brought her fear back full force. She backed away shaking her head and putting both of her hands to her mouth. "No, I don't wanna go back to that scary place!"
Jack stood up to attempt to reason with her, "Come now, I am the Pumpkin King therefore the scariest creature of them all! If you can stand up to me, what's stopping you from facing them?"
She pondered his question and she couldn't find a reasonable answer, "Well, I'm still kinda scared of you, but you're only one person. Not a whole town."
"Hmm…" Jack took a moment to think before coming up with a solution. He snapped his fingers, "You said it yourself that you wanted someone to help you overcome your fears. Well, I can help you." Seeing her disbelieving expression he continued, "I promise you that I can. You know, to be fearsome you must be fearless and I am the most feared of all!" he placed his hands on his hip bones as to make a point, "So don't you tell me that I don't know how to overcome fears."
Amelia shifted her weight from one foot to the other while looking away in thought. Her gaze then met his. She could tell that he wasn't lying to her and he seemed to be trustworthy, "Alright, I'll accept your help."
His wide grin returned yet again, "Good! But I do have one condition."
Amelia hadn't expected there would be an obligation to his offer.
"I'll help you conquer your fears if you agree to tell me all about how your kind celebrates Halloween." He stated.
For the first time since she had arrived, a small smile graced her lips, "I agree."
"Shake on it?" Jack extended his hand.
She took his hand in hers, sealing the deal.
He released his hand from hers, "Now, no one else can know where you are from and that you're really a human got it?"
She gave a curt nod, "But why?"
"Well…" he trailed off, unsure of what to say. He sighed, "Most of the citizens do not trust humans and…it's rather hard to explain really." He put a finger to his mouth in thought, "How do I say this…" he made his mind up, "There's a belief that if humans find our world as well as the other holidays then havoc would arise and the holidays would be no more."
"What!? That's crazy, everyone loves the holidays." Amelia denied the impossible belief.
"Think about that, what would happen if adults from your world found Halloween Town. What do you think they would do to us?" he inquired.
Like he had asked, she thought over his question, and didn't like what she came up with. Children would rejoice if they found the holidays but the adults? They would probably jump to conclusions and who knows what they would do. "I see…so what are we gonna do?"
His ever present smile returned, "A cover story of course! You will be a sorceress from far away who has come to…" he hadn't actually thought that far on what her cover would be. He looked at her and was struck with inspiration, "I know! How about your "parents" sent you here under my care to become acquainted to Halloween for you are going to live here someday. They believe that you will one day become a fearsome sorceress of Halloween!"
"Sounds good to me." Amelia nodded.
"Splendid! Come now, I'm sure the Mayor is at his wits end by now." Jack grabbed her hand and began to lead her to town. She followed, albeit a little reluctantly.
Some info on my characters: Amelia is actually based off of myself as a nine year old. I was shy and scared of anything remotely spooky, though I had the curiousity that killed the cat. The three boys at the begining aren't real people but they do represent the bullies that I grew up with, though they were never that mean.
Thanks for reading!