He'd been harboring her nightmares for a year now. The mere mention or sight of him would send Janice Stewart, a 9 year old girl, into another breakdown. It was as if the sound of his voice was implanted into her brain. Repeating the same thing over until it cracked her. It'd repeat 4 words to her that utterly haunted Janice since they day she came into Candle Cove and met him.
"TO GRIND YOUR SKIN..."
Janice would never forget the sight of him - it was implemented into her brain. He was tall and towered over her any chance he got. He had a strong yet lean frame, complimented with the rest of his bony body. He was an actual walking and talking skeleton. Possibly of a man in his early 30's. Janice had been told once in school that the human body has precisely 206 bones when they grew to an adult.
She actually remembered many things because of him. There was a drastic variation of skin tones to people, and that the skin was the biggest organ of your body. But there was one particular thing among the rest that she'd never forget. It was the nightmares that ensued when she was first attacked by The Skintaker.
The 9 year old girl recalled the memory very well. She'd been sailing with Percy to Candle Cove for the first time ever. The Laughingstock was urging the two of them to go into a particular cave. One that was infamously known to contain the most scariest of beings in there. It was all a trick to try and get Percy out of his anxious habits. But their trip worked far too well, because they got one step further and met Horace the Horrible and The Skintaker.
When Janice met the skeleton, she had a bit of fear at first. It was her first time witnessing something dead acting as if it were alive. And when The Skintaker welcomed them to the cave, that's when she caught onto it. The way he moved his jaw back and forth instead of up and down. The proper way. She asked him about it almost automatically, what with being the curious child that she is.
And that's when he said it. The line that was stuck in her head and was now screaming back at her.
We close in to Janice waking in the middle of the night, ruffled in her pirate blankets and Hello Kitty pillows. Her hair is a mess and her blue eyes are moist. It was yet another dream of The Skintaker hunting her down and nearly murdering her for the 37th time. She should've been accustomed to it by the point but it still scared the pee out of her.
In the dream, all he had said was his infamous line over and over again while he chased her around with a carving knife. The Skintaker was really fast. She witnessed him run one time in Candle Cove and that must've been mounted into her dreams. He'd end up getting a hold of her and would pin her down beneath his grasp. She'd tug and kick, scream her lungs out for Percy...yet all it did was make his death grip on her tighten. The skeleton would place the knife on the edge of her cheek and whisper to Janice something she can't remember.
And when he'd move his wrist to inflict the knife's blade on her, she'd wake up. Again and again until one of her good dreams finally came her way. Her safety.
She looks around her room now and notices that she's someplace else. The walls and floors are completely white. She takes a look down at her bed and sees that the blankets and pillows still have their color. The atmosphere here was...calm. She felt a very thin amount of moisture in the air that cooled her from the hot night she just endured.
Janice peels off the blankets from her figure and takes a weary step on the ground. There was definitely something there. It felt like carpet. The girl slips out from bed completely and starts wandering around. This vast, endless space made of nothing but white. She should be scared, but she isn't. It's more of a peaceful break from the endless nightmares she'd been having.
And that's when she sees him. He's standing there in the middle of the whiteness, staring and saying nothing from afar. He looks far more cleaner than the regular Skintaker. This one didn't have blood stained on his cape nor on his top hat. Janice couldn't help but eye the skeleton curiously. Her natural instinct was to scream and run for it...but this one seemed different. She couldn't have been awake - he'd have skinned her on the spot if she was.
She catches his attention when she takes a step forward. The skeleton doesn't move and only stares at her in silence. Janice takes his chance to take a few more steps and suddenly stops. There was at least a good foot between her and The Skintaker. The closest she's ever been to him voluntarily, might she add.
"Why aren't you talking?" She asks out of impulse.
He still remains silent. Janice eyed the 6"3 skeleton before she took another step forward. He still doesn't move. The little girl manages to get only a few inches away from him until she sees him stiffen. When she motions forward, The Skintaker instinctively reaches in his cape's pocket. The exact area Janice has seen him get his knife out many times before.
She flinches, and he eases. The Skintaker leans fully down until he is at her eye level. The mere presence of his skull near her head almost gave Janice a heart attack.
"Have you ever looked death straight in the eye?" He asks.
She has never noticed his small pupils before. The Skintaker she knew had circular eyes, from what she's seen afar...this one, however, had slit irises. His skull was clean and he smelt of laundry detergent. She was so used to the smell of rot and blood around the real one. These differences were giving her a new form of fear.
Janice tries to stop shaking. "I-I don't know..."
"Well, you're doing it right now."
He chuckles, which gives the little girl the final message that this was not the real Skintaker. The one in her nightmares - that was her enemy. Not this clean skeleton standing right in front of her. Their voices sounded a lot alike, though. It was somewhat nice to hear that deep tone laugh.
"Tell you what..." He suddenly clasps his gloved hands together. "Let's have a tea party. You can sit there and I'll sit here."
The Skintaker steps to the side and reveals a small, pink table behind him. Small plates and stacked cups were placed in the middle. Janice made the sight of her teddy bears and pirate plushes that were taken from her room. She recognized the worn stitches and crayon markings on their shirts.
The skeleton suddenly sits at one of the free chairs. His tall stature made him stick out like a sore thumb. He gently tugged his cape underneath the table and motioned for Janice to sit at the chair across from him. Janice decides to give this tea party a chance and obliges, scooting as close to the table as she can.
The takes a peek inside the cup placed next to her plate. In it was some sort of black liquid that smelt far too old. Janice made a disgusted look and placed the cup down right away. A couple of cookies were stacked on her plate as well. They were her favorite: raisin.
She eyes the skeleton across from her suspiciously. "Did you poison these...?"
"With what?" Was his response.
Janice realized he had a point. They were surrounded by a vast, white room. She goes against her judgement and starts eating the cookies slowly. They tasted far more delicious than she was expecting. This was weird...were you supposed to taste food in your dreams?
She shrugged and decided to take a sip of the tea. She soon spat out the liquid and coughed. The Skintaker quietly wipes the rest off from the table.
"I knew it!" She pointed at him accusingly. "You're trying to kill me!"
"It's black tea. Not supposed to taste good."
Janice scrunched up her nose at the thought. Black tea? Percy only gave her the occasional green or iced tea. Even though they tasted awful, they were somewhat bearable compared to what she just tasted. Janice settled on not having any tea and stubbornly pushed her cup to the middle of the table. The Skintaker took it and dumped it out to the side casually.
"I thought it'd be nice to catch up with you." He placed the cup back down. "It's been awhile since your last visit to Candle Cove. They're awfully worried about you."
"They? Who's they?"
He places a gloved hand to his jaw in thought. "-What is it? Peter? Perry? No, no. Percy. Yes, that's it."
Janice stared at the skeleton suspiciously. Granted, she hadn't heard The Skintaker talk much before. But there was no way he could have forgotten their names. Percy once told her that The Skintaker was one of the few masterminds of the whole Cove. He never forgot anything. At least, according to his reputation.
She sat back in her chair rather smugly. "What's my name, then?"
"Janice Stewart." He replied instantly.
The 9-year old girl and the 6 foot skeleton stared at each other silently. She was taken aback by his immediate answer, especially from the fact that he got it right. The thought of him knowing her name so well gave the little girl shivers. She decides to think about her friends back at Candle Cove, and for how long she has been gone.
It is visible to see that Janice is upset. She suddenly frowns and a tear comes to the end of her eye. The Skintaker saw it but didn't quite do anything about it. He took a bite of one of the cookies and watched as its crumbs tumbled to the white floor. Janice involuntarily let out a sob and exasperatedly hit her head on the kiddie table. The Skintaker held his tea cup high so it didn't drip anywhere.
"I can see you're upset." He finally commented, setting the plastic down. "Do you really miss Candle Cove?"
"No!" Janice glared at him. "I miss Percy and The Laughingstock...they were so good to me...And they loved m-e-e..."
The Skintaker tilted his skull curiously. "Well, I love you-"
"You don't love me!" She pointed a small finger at him accusingly. "You try to kill me all the time! To get my skin! I tell my friends about you at school and we all agree that you're a weirdo! Percy is the one who loves me. He protects me when I'm scared a-and he's always there for me."
Her hand started trembling, so Janice set it down on the table. She turned her head away from the skeleton and continued to cry rather obnoxiously. The Skintaker is also visibly upset, as he doesn't like hearing children cry. Not out of sympathy, but because it was annoying. Janice's cries sounded like she was trying to suck all the oxygen out from where they were instead of legitimately showing sadness.
"-Your skin, Janice." He shook his skull, leaning closer to her. "I love your skin. Not you - you're not worth my time. Your skin, however...is one of a kind."
The little girl wiped her tears, her sobs slowly ceasing. Her blue eyes are moist as they travel over the Skin Taker, and one last hiccup remained of her fit. The skeleton took another drink of his tea before pouring it out to the side and watching it vanish within thin air. The beauty of fantasy and imagination...though Janice was starting to question if this was her dream at all.
Janice looks away from him and pouts. "You're still mean! I shouldn't have had this tea party with you!"
The Skintaker finds this rather amusing, dumping one of the cookies into his tea. "How disparaging. I'd have assumed you'd enjoy my company."
She cringes as she watched the skeleton take a bite of the cookie. It was much too soggy now...she found it rather disgusting. Cookies and tea? She'd rather have cookies and milk. Grown-ups always confused her...though, she wasn't sure if she could even count him as a grown-up. She didn't really know what he was.
"Why?" She sticks her tongue out at him.
"Because your friends are no longer here," He replied nonchalantly.
Janice's mouth goes agape at this sudden news. She withdraws her tongue back in her mouth and sits forward in surprise. Her friends...gone!? That didn't make any sense! It couldn't...it wouldn't!
"Y-You're lying!" She points a small finger up at him.
"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. But you wouldn't know, would you? You've been gone for so long that...well, anything could happen, Janice."
He gets up from his chair and suddenly walks over to her. The little girl has no time to run away because, at the very next moment, he has his hands on the sides of her chair. His large, skeletal hands underneath that layer of skin...They were bigger than her face. She shivered at the sight and felt her body grow cold when his fingers went onto her shoulders. She felt the presence of his skull above her but feared to look up.
"Let's play a game of hypotheticals," He suggested.
"H...Hippo...w-what?"
"What-ifs." The Skintaker rolled his eyes. No one ever knew the word. "As in...I'll say something that could be true or could be a lie. If you get one of these right, I'll take you back to Candle Cove."
"Back to..." She narrowed her eyes in thought. A smile temporarily widened on her face. Seeing her friends would mean everything! But...at what price? She suddenly frowned. and looked up at him. "What if I get them wrong?"
"Then you'll have to answer one of my questions. I'm curious about you, Janice. It's been such a long time, after all."
"-But you won't kill me?" Janice blurted out. She smacked her hands over her mouth as soon as the words left her lips. She hadn't meant to say that! Would he murder now, since she mentioned it? Her eyes went over to him as she quivered in fear.
The Skintaker scoffed. "If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it already. Let's start."
He removed his gloved hands from her chair and placed a sharp finger to his jaw in thought. Janice shook in her chair. She is perturbed, and clearly confused that The Skintaker, of all people, would wish to play a game with her. It certainly was no hide-and-seek...but if he kept his promise, she could go back to Candle Cove!
"I skinned your friend," He suddenly stated.
Janice couldn't help but scream, suddenly faced with the death of her friend, but got glared at by the skeleton. She quickly shut her mouth and gulped nervously. Did he mean Percy? That was awful! Her...her friend was gone! She refrained the urge to cry as she asked him weakly.
"Y-You...you did?"
"Wrong. He's still alive, unfortunately."
He circled around her chair until he was standing in front of her. The Skintaker suddenly crouched down until his skull met with her eye level. It was such a change to see him looking at her like this. For a moment...it seemed like he was sincere. But Janice refused to believe such a thing.
"How old are you now?" He asked. She bit her lip.
"I'm 9."
"Nine," He repeated with disappointment. "Alright, next one. The Laughingstock still speaks."
"Of course she does!" Janice defended. She knew her best friend's ship well! If this was a way of tricking her, he horribly failed. Instead of pleasing her with a "you're right", the skeleton only passed her an amused look and held a hand to cover his teeth.
"She's dead now," He replied. "Dreadful storm, from what I've heard. Your friend has a new ship. Onto the next question-"
"W-What!?" She asked. "The Laughingstock is...she's gone? But Percy would never...! She...! I..."
"Like I said, you've been gone for a long time. Things don't always remain the same, Janice. People change...people die. Besides, I'd much rather a child like you hears about it rather than having to witness it."
Tears formed in her eyes. She opened her mouth to sob until the skeleton pointed a finger at her. She closed it reluctantly and turned away from him. She shut her eyelids tightly as she felt the tears start to warm her face. A child her age has never cried so quietly. But that was the best Janice Stewart could do now; mourning the death of a dear friend...
"Thank you for telling me." She says weakly. The skeleton eyed her for a moment until he shrugged.
"It's nothing to thank me for. Here, have another cookie."
He grabbed the last one from the plate on the table and turned to hand it to her. The image of it touching human skin made Janice sick to no end. But she didn't deny it as she slowly took it from his grasp. In the midst of her crying, she ended up taking an unconscious bite and chewing it casually. The taste was nearly perfect. It was as if the flesh he was wearing was perfectly clean...
"My next question was if you have any friends," He said. "But if you're not comfortable with it, then you don't have to answer it, I suppose."
Janice looked up at him and wiped her few tears away. He was giving her a choice this time? It really shouldn't harm anything if she told him, so long as she didn't give names...he couldn't even reach them if she said anything, anyway, right? The girl ate the rest of the cookie and wiped her hands off on her shirt.
"Well, I have only a couple...a boy my age I kind of really like and a girl who likes to talk with me during class..."
"Alright. Here's another one: I poisoned that cookie I just handed to you."
She froze and widened her eyes in surprise. She quickly tried to find any trace of poison or yucky taste in that last cookie...but couldn't recall anything. The aftertaste was actually nice. She looked up at the skeleton and hesitated on answering.
"You...You couldn't have...because you were being nice."
The Skintaker stared at her with a rather conflicted look on his skull. Janice started fidgeting with her fingers worriedly. If she was wrong...that'd mean she would be dying very soon. And if she was right...then he was actually acting humane. Janice wasn't sure which option was better. The skeleton finally answered her.
"You're right. There was nothing wrong with that cookie."
She beamed. "So, you'll take me to Candle Cove now?"
"That was the deal...so I'll stick to my word. But you're going to have to do some work. I can't exactly take you there myself."
"Work?" She repeated rather solemnly. "What do you mean?"
He ignored her question. "And when you get there - I won't be there. You're going to see me again, but it's not me. And he's not as nice as you witnessed me now. You understand?"
"No, I don't!" Janice cried helplessly.
The skeleton suddenly grabbed her. She gasped and started to kick him, but froze when she felt him place her just behind his skull. Her legs naturally wrapped around his neck bones as her hands clung onto the top hat he wore. She cringed at the touch of human skin but nearly fell backwards onto the floor. He quickly grabbed at her legs and ushered her forward so she was sitting comfortably.
Janice blinked and realized the position they were now in. He was...giving her a piggy back ride? Why? This was so unusual! And his grasp wasn't tight or suffocating. It seemed as if he was legitimately hanging onto her.
"I've made it into your dreams," He started to explain. "You've been alone for so long because you left Candle Cove, Janice. You wanted to befriend even the worst of your nightmares - that's how I'm here. But I am not a being to imagine; I'm completely sentient no matter where I go. But the me you're riding right now...is not the real me."
She nodded during his explanation, as if she understood everything completely. "Because...Because the real you is mean and kills people?"
"Yes." His grip suddenly tightened. "I will be in your nightmares until the end of your life. Never confuse your dreams with reality. You'll die if you do. And I advise you not to like me; I love no one."
Janice felt a lot less scared now. He was no threat to her anymore. and she knew that now. She actually felt a lot taller. If she were back at Candle Cove and on his shoulders now, she could probably see islands over the horizon! Despite his depressing and scary warning she should adhere, Janice actually felt quite giddy. She started kicking her feet and laughing.
"What in hell's name are you doing?" The Skintaker asked from beneath her. She looked down at him with a smile.
"I like to think of the best of you," She admitted. The skeleton stared at her blankly and grunted.
"Look at me a minute from now and see if you can tell him the same thing."
Before Janice could inquire, the skeleton grabbed her from his shoulders and suddenly chucked her below into the whiteness. The little girl screamed as she saw his figure get smaller and smaller by the second. The whiteness soon escalated into darkness. She came into contact with something soft a moment after, and she heard the sound of seagulls.
When she opened her eyes, she found she landed right in a cove. The water reached up to her toes gave her chills. She felt the icy temperature climb up her leg and jumped back instinctively. When she was on both feet and looking around frantically in pajamas, she realized she was exactly where he promised to take her:
Candle Cove.
And in the distance, she could hear the screams of Horace the Horrible. When she looked up, she found his small finger with a sword held in hand. A tall skeletal figure was behind him now. The real one, she knew. His blood-stained cape and the circular irises...and certainly the bloody, carving knife he held in his right hand. His look was murderous and he was rushing over to her like a madman. The same man who haunted her nightmares and caused her constant anxiety.
The real Skintaker she knew.