CHAPTER 1: UNICORNS AND VISIONS
3rd person
It was pointless, holding on like this.
Frightened, cold, wet Samara Morgan treed water in the bottom of the well. Her fingernails were gone. Her mother had left her with no company but the garbage bag that was over her head on the way down. She had screamed for help as loudly as she could, scraping her throat raw in the process. Now, it was apparent there was no help coming. She would die. This well was going to be her grave.
But then…
A light… there, at the top. A man's voice was talking to someone.
"…Sally, watch this-" much louder, down the well, "HELLO!" the echo bounced off the walls, making it sound like there were many more of him than there were.
A woman's voice giggling.
Here! Now was her chance! She had to get their attention! She was here! She didn't want to die! She had to call up. C'mon, Samara, you can do it!
The man called down again. "I LOVE UNICORNS!"
More giggling.
What happened next, Samara couldn't quite explain. She took in so much air into her chest, she managed to push out the words with enough force to break glass.
"HELP! OH, PLEASE, DON'T GO! I'M HERE! SOMEBODY, PLEASE HELP ME!"
Jack and Sally looked at each other in astonishment. A child? Down the old, closed well? There hadn't been any missing children in Halloween town lately. Had there? Had she wandered into town and started playing in this old, open field? But then how did the lid close again.
Jack leaned back over the opening. "Who's down there?" he called loudly.
"Samara," replied the scratchy, shaking voice. "Samara Morgan."
The Pumpkin King handed his girlfriend his cell phone. "Call 9-1-1, will ya Sal?" she rushed a few feet away, dialed, and started talking into the phone.
"It's going to be ok, sweetie. Help's coming, hold on just a little longer, we're gonna get you out of there, OK?"
Samara started crying. "I don't wanna die!" she blubbered. "I don't wanna die! Not here! I'm only eight!"
"You're not gonna die!" called Sally. She turned to Jack. "They're on their way, they'll be here in fifteen minutes, but we'll have to keep her talking."
"OK. Uhh…" back to Samara, "Penny for your thoughts!"
"I'm gonna die down here!"
"Worst penny I ever spent."
Sally slapped him. "'penny for your thoughts'?! Seriously?!"
"OW-you say something, then!"
The rag doll woman leaned over the well. "Hello, Samara."
"Mommy?!" the little girl choked hopefully.
"No, dear," She admitted. "But we'll find her for-"
"NO! PLEASE, NO! NOT HER! I'D NEVER BE HERE IF IT WASN'T FOR HER!" a terrified gasp, enhanced by echoes, followed by the sound of her hands clapping over her mouth.
Jack and Sally eyed each other. "Um…" he called down, "what does that mean, darling?"
The sobbing started again. "Oh, no!" whispered Sally. "We can't let her cry, she'll get dehydrated!" thinking quickly, she called down, "My name is Sally, Samara. Sally Finklestein."
"I'm Jack," he piped up. "Jack Skellington."
Samara sniffled. "I never wanna go back."
"We won't make you."
"I don't like it in the barn."
"What?!"
"The horses keep me up at night."
Grinding their teeth, Jack and Sally continued telling her they wouldn't make her go back to her parents, help was coming, just hang on a little longer, dear, etc., etc.,
It seemed like hours until the ambulance came. When it did, zombie paramedics sent their arms down the deep, dark, dank hole in which the terrified child was trapped. After many hours of reaching with disjointed limbs, it was clear that no combination would reach her. "Grrrauggh…. Phrrreehh… muuuk." They claimed, which translated to, "we're still at least ten feet short!"
Then Jack got an idea. "I'm eleven foot nine."
Sally realized immediately what he was implying. "No, Jack. You're not going to have them grab your ankle and lower you down to get her. It's too dangerous."
"I went down God-Knows-How-many chimneys during the Christmas Incident."
"You weren't relying on rotting flesh and tendons to keep you from falling. Suppose you fall in! They won't be able to reach you!"
Samara let out a frantic wail.
Jack snarled at Sally when she tried to protest again. "Get me down there, Zombies."
Several minutes later, Jack was positioned just over the opening, Zombie Bill's fist holding onto his ankle. "Samara," he called down, "I need you to reach up as far as you can, so I can reach you, OK?"
"OK!"
"Oh, and, ah… you might be a little surprised by my appearance."
"I DON'T CARE! I WANNA GET OUTTA HERE, AND I'M SCARED AND I DON'T WANNA DIEEEEEE!"
"Okay, okay, Samara, honey, I need you to calm down. I'm on my way, reach up for me, OK?"
"…OK, I'm reaching!"
"Here I come!"
Jack dove gracefully through the hole, and started to fall.
Blackness. Nothingness. Falling. But then, Jack saw her tiny hands blossoming up toward him. Mimicking her position, he reached down, in perfect alignment to her hands. But, as he grabbed her, he was trapped in a flash of light.
Jack was singing. But, it wasn't his voice singing, it was a small child's. "'Round we go, the world is spinning. When it stops, it's just beginning."
He forced himself to look down. This was the body of an eight-year-old- girl. Pale, bare feet and hands (the same ones he gripped like a vice), a white dressing gown, and long, lank black hair.
"Isn't it beautiful here, Samara?" asked a kind female voice behind him. "So peaceful." He didn't have to turn around to know who this was. A tall woman with tanned skin and black hair up in a braided bun. He felt her rough, callused hand stroke his thick, raven locks. "I know things will get better."
Then, a black, thin layer of plastic covered his head. He heard her choking back sobs. "All I ever wanted was you." She whispered. Then, he felt himself fall. The same plummet he just took not moments ago.
Before the body could hit the water, Jack was pulled back to reality. The child he just had been was gripping his hands tightly, looking at him fearfully, with tears leaking out of warm, brown eyes.
"You're a skeleton." She told him.
"Yeah." He agreed. "Hence the name."
"Jack?!" Sally's voice called from above. "Jack, are you there?!"
He swallowed hard. "I'm here. I got her. Get us up, boys."
In moments, the plummet had been reversed. He climbed out of the hole, and noticed he was holding the tiny child toward the sun, warming her, returning her to the world. She coughed, sputtered, and began to shriek.
"It's OK," Sally assured her as she was loaded onto the gurney. "Samara, you're OK now."
As they drove away, Samara fell into shock, muttering, "it won't stop. It won't stop."
"I wouldn't worry about it, Samara." Jack assured her. "I'll make it stop."
END OF CHAPTER ONE!
