Jack Skellington and Sally were out scaring a few trick or treaters. Although it was summertime, they went out to scare kids in Gravity Falls, Oregon, since they celebrated Halloween a second time under the name of Summerween. This was their first time visiting the town, as they recently discovered the paranormal activity going on around there...and the fact that they celebrate Halloween twice. They didn't know why, but something was different about this peculiar town. Something about the people was strange. Nonetheless, all was fun and games until they inadvertently made a horrible mistake.

"Who should we scare next?" said Sally with her sweet voice.

Jack looked around the street and saw two children: a young boy and girl dressed up as peanut butter and jelly containers.

"How about them?" said Jack, smiling widely.

Sally nodded in agreement. The two slowly followed the children and hid behind some bushes. Sally detached her left hand, which crawled up onto the girl's right shoulder and tapped it. The girl turned around and gasped, causing the hand to jump off and scurry into the bushes. She followed Sally's hand, but the boy was too busy talking to a teenage girl with red hair to notice the hand and her disappearance. Sally's hand led the little girl down a dark path and soon into a shadowy forest. All she could see were trees surrounding her with tall shadows, and the only light that guided her way was the full moon, shining brightly with stars surrounding it. As she looked around, she realized the hand was nowhere in sight.

That's weird, where'd it go?

She looked behind a tree and saw Sally lying on the ground, "playing dead". She slowly backed away in fear, not because she was a rag doll, but rather because she was made of clay. Then, she noticed a shadow slowly growing behind her. She turned around and saw Jack stand up and look at her with a scary face. His eyes were pitch black and his smile was large, revealing seemingly sharp teeth. Terrified of the clay figures, the girl screamed and ran away with her bag of candy.

Sally got up off the ground, brushing herself off as the little girl left.

"Good job!" said Jack. "You were absolutely terrifying!"

"Thank you."

Jack put his arm around Sally as they walked away, but they came to a stop and saw the same girl screaming at the boy she was with.

"Ma-" the boy started.

The girl continued screaming.

"Mabe-"

She screamed again. The boy sighed with annoyance.

"Are you done yet?"

She let out a final scream.

"Yeah, I'm good now."

"What happened?"

She sighed.

"Oh Dipper, it was horrible! Some creepy clay hand climbed on my shoulder, took me somewhere dark and scary, and I came face to face with two scary clay figures!"

She was on the verge of tears as Dipper hugged her and patted her back.

"It's ok, Mabel. It's ok."

Jack and Sally looked at each other worriedly.

"I think we may have overdone it," said Jack.

Sally nodded in agreement.

For the first time, Jack and Sally felt sorry for doing their job. The thing that made them regretful was that they made Mabel cry, which was something that never happened in the past. They came out of the shadows and cautiously approached the kids, trying not to scare them. Jack got their attention and was the first to speak.

"Hello, children."

Dipper and Mabel jumped back, scared by their appearances, but Sally soothed them.

"It's ok, we don't mean any harm."

"You better not!" said Dipper. "If you hurt my sister, you've got another thing coming!"

Jack chuckled.

"No one's ever said that to me before," said Jack. "How queer...I'm impressed."

Dipper and Mabel calmed down.

"It's best if we speak where no one sees us," said Sally.

"How do we know we can trust you?" said Dipper. "You could be just like any other monster around here!"

"We're not from around here," said Jack, "so you can trust us."

They were still scared, but felt like the skeleton made a good point. The twins followed Jack and Sally through the bushes once more, to the same spot where Mabel got scared.

"Allow me to introduce myself," said Jack. "I'm Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King. This is my wife, Sally."

"Hello."

"I'm Dipper, and this is my sister Mabel."

"It's not a pleasure meeting you," said Jack.

Dipper and Mabel were confused by this and looked at each other.

"Pardon me," said Jack, "but that's how we talk back at our place."

He took a step back and let Sally do the talking, for she had a better way with words when talking to people like Dipper and Mabel.

"Listen," said Sally, "we're terribly sorry we scared you, but please understand that it's our job. You see, we come from Halloween Town."

"Let me guess," said Dipper, still wary, "you make Halloween happen back there."

"You catch on quickly."

Jack and Sally walked through the forest as Dipper and Mabel followed.

"We do our best to be scary," said Jack, "because that's what Halloween is all about. After all, there's nothing like a good fright!"

"Normally we don't feel sorry for what we do," said Sally, "because people like it when they're scared. But then we were walking away and saw you crying. Making children cry isn't something we like."

Mabel blushed a little.

"I see you're not too fond of monsters," said Jack.

"It's not the look that scares me," Mabel spoke up.

Jack and Sally turned around, confused.

"We get attacked by monsters all the time, but we're used to it. It's just that Mabel's afraid of clay people," said Dipper.

"I've been afraid of them since I was little!" said Mabel. "And after I fought an army of them, I'm twice as scared!"

"Once Grunkle Stan showed her a movie with evil clay figures and she hid in the laundry basket for days!"

Jack and Sally laughed.

"But why would you be so afraid of something so harmless?" said Jack.

"Because...they're pure evil! Stare into their eyes and they'll feed off your fears! Their faces are made of nightmares and crawl inside your mouths when you talk!"

Jack and Sally looked at each other. Mabel's fears seemed extreme. They bent down on their knees and did the unthinkable: rid Mabel of her fears.

"You know why you've been afraid of those clay figures for so long?" said Sally, putting her hand on Mabel's shoulder.

Mabel shook her head.

"Because you're only familiar with the bad ones. Unfortunately, more clay people have gone bad back in the day like Oogie Boogie-"

"Don't even mention his name!" said Jack. "That no-good gambling bug-monster almost killed you!"

"Reminds me of the Summerween Trickster," said Dipper. "He was made of candy everybody hated."

"Anyway," said Sally, "you may not know this, but many clay figures are actually nice like me and Jack."

"Then why haven't I found any yet?" said Mabel.

"Because we prefer to stay hidden. It's the only we can be safe from humans like you. I know you're scared, but know that when you get to know people like us, there's no reason to be afraid."

"Remember that we never mean any harm," said Jack.

Mabel heeded their words of wisdom as they kept walking through the forest.

"Where are we going, anyway?" said Dipper.

"You'll see," said Jack.

"You know," said Mabel, "you're not so bad after all."

"See?" said Sally.

The four of them stopped by seven trees, each containing a unique and brightly colored door.

"What is this place?" said Dipper.

"Every holiday has their own town," said Jack. "Ours is Halloween Town, which is behind the door with the jack-o-lantern."

"Hey," said Mabel, "there's one for Christmas! And Thanksgiving! And Easter!"

"I tried to take over Christmas once," said Jack.

"I'm sure it didn't end well," said Dipper.

"Actually it did," said Jack. "Sure, we almost got killed, but if I never thought of taking over Christmas, I wouldn't have realized how much Sally's love truly meant to me."

Sally smiled and found herself blushing as Jack held her hands in his. Then he opened the door with a jack-o-lantern on it and out came a ghost-dog. For once, Mabel wasn't filled with terror at the sight of the clay figure, but was rather in awe.

"Awww, he's so cute!"

She petted the ghost-dog, who let out a happy bark.

"This is Zero," said Jack.

"Hey," said Dipper, "you didn't run away for once!"

"You're right!" said Mabel, gasping. "Oh my gosh, that means I'm not afraid anymore!"

She looked at Jack and Sally.

"How did you do it?"

"We have ways with words," said Jack, "especially Sally."

"Oh, Jack!"

"Well, we best be going before everyone worries about us."

"Will you guys come every Summerween?" said Mabel.

"Of course!" said Sally.

"Bye guys!" said Dipper.

"See you next year," said Jack, "and have fun trick or treating!"

Dipper and Mabel waved goodbye to Jack and Sally, who disappeared behind the door. As they walked back to the Mystery Shack, there was no doubt that a beautiful friendship had just begun.


The end! I hope you enjoyed the story and have a happy Halloween!