Jack and Sally – You Take My Breath Away
The werewolf's howl echoed over the full moonlit sky that enveloped the macabre, dark, and frightening realm that was Halloween Town. The 3-piece roadside band stood silently playing their disorienting out-of-tune instruments as the many witches, monsters, and vampires passed by them, on their way back to their homes to plan more scares for the upcoming days.
And yet there was that house atop the precarious perch-owning hill that was different than all those homes combined, for it was the most twisted and chilling of all, belonging to Halloween Town's very own Pumpkin King, Jack Skellington. He was known as such for good reason, delivering the best of the best when it came to frightening anyone who crossed his path. It was all good fun to him, and his disposition was almost the opposite of the more morbid of his many neighbors, delighted in the many scares that he took part in.
There was only one minor difference here…the house, normally dark and filled with the shadows of upcoming frights, was now lit from the inside out by a burning fire.
Sitting on the tattered and stitched old sofa by the fireplace was not the skeleton man, but rather a young woman who might have been very beautiful once upon a time, and a shadow of that beauty remained in her lithe figure, her wide eyes and full lips, and the radiant skin that was stitched together in many places and quite discolored. Yet none of that mattered to the only one who she felt could understand her all these years.
Sally sat near the armrest of the couch, staring into the burning flames that made their way upwards with their bright orange and yellow glow. She couldn't help but sigh at the marvelous sight that she beheld from that threadbare old couch…it perfectly symbolized the feelings she had for that special someone who, after all these years, finally returned the feelings that still grew stronger within her unbeating heart.
Time and again, Sally cast her eyes to the spot where her love's tattered Christmas costume lay up atop the fireplace. Whenever she cast her eyes upon it, her spirit filled with joy, care, and slight fear of what might have happened had Jack not survived. However, the only thing she felt now was slight confusion, as Jack had been gone a long time, and the suit was no longer there. "Where could he have gone?" Sally asked aloud, yet almost to herself. It was almost midnight, and he was nowhere to be seen. Resigning herself to whatever might happen, she resumed the task of sewing together a tear in her already much-stitched dress, when there was an opening of the door.
In stepped in a very thin, skeletal figure dressed all in pinstriped black, with a white dress shirt underneath and a bat tie to top it off. However, this outfit was partially covered by the Santa Claus costume that normally lay untouched and almost revered at the top of the fireplace. In one bony yet smooth hand, Sally glimpsed a quite large casket-shaped box, the purpose of which was yet unknown to her. Even as it was quite large, it was still to small to be of the use that instinctively sprang to her mind.
Sally, I'm ho-ho-home!" Jack's voice sounded merrily through the house, almost unnaturally so. Even with his usually upbeat disposition, it was quite unusual to see him happier past that point. Something was up, she could sense it in her gut, but she disguised this feeling with a smile on her face as she went to greet Jack.
"Where were you, Jack? I was starting to get worried", Sally stated as Jack sprang the hat off of his skeletal head and hung it on the rack. Even as he stooped down to yank the boots from his feet, Sally still felt the need to stand as tall as she could just to get a glimpse of her love's face. But at this point, Jack was offering little more past that, those bare glances offering a shut mouth and…was that red in his bony cheeks?
"Come here, Sally…I have something to show you…" Jack led her back to the couch, where he then positioned the casket onto Sally's lap, the latches facing her.
"What's this all about?"
"Just open it", Jack replied quite shyly, and Sally proceeded to do so, undoing the latches and lifting the lid. Inside was another coffin, smaller in size to the first, but otherwise identical. At this, curiosity came back to her complexion, and she looked back up at Jack with it.
"Keep going, my dearest friend…there's more than two to go through", Jack explained almost enigmatically. Sally wondered what was going to happen, but she also trusted Jack with every fiber of her being, so she went back to the casket and opened it…and the one after that…and the one after that…and the one after that….
Finally, she got to the last casket after about a minute of opening, and lifted the lid for the last time. Instead of a casket, however, it held a ring of the darkest silver, designed to look like the wood of the tree that Jack had growing down by the front gate…the one she always said was her favorite. However, the top of the ring was what really caught her eye.
The pearl inside was deigned to look like the quintessential orb that decorated itself on every Christmas tree ever decorated, painted her favorite shade of red, and decorated with green and black glitter. It was the most beautiful ring she had ever seen, and her eyes began to cloud with slight tears of happiness, one hand placing itself on the area beneath which her unbeating, warming heart lay.
Sally turned to face Jack with a cloudy-eyed smile, whispering, "Jack….how sweet of you…" But it wasn't done there, as Jack inched closer to her with a smile and moved a hand toward the ring, placing a finger upon the top of the pearl with the slightest touch. Yet this was enough to open it, showing a small, almost snow globe-like scene of the two of them holding each others' hands and dancing around a Christmas tree to a simple, romantic, and holiday-themed tune.
"Oh Jack…it's absolutely beautiful! Wait…did you make this yourself?"
"I tried my best…but I had some trouble getting the mechanics of it right", Jack responded as the pearl closed back up, "so I got back in touch with Sandy so that some of his little henchmen might help me with it."
"Oh…." Sally set the ring aside before reaching up to place a hand on the back of Jack's neck. "Even so…this is the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me, Jack…"
Smiling as wide as his skull would allow, Jack whispered, "It's just another one of the many things I'd do for you, darling….other than scare you out of that rag dress of yours", he finished with a wink before they pulled each other into a loving embrace, her lips whispering and gently colliding with his, Jack's spectral dog Zero hovering above the scene with a sprig of mistletoe hanging from his Rudolph-like nose.
As they kissed, the snow began to fall outside their window, bathing the scene in the little help it needed to create the most romantic holiday scene that anyone in Halloween Town could have even tried to think of. It was not often that it snowed there, and when it did, it was looked upon as the greatest time of the day next to Halloween itself.
After a brief but blissful eternity, Sally slowly backed away and whispered against Jack's emaciated lips, "Merry Christmas, Jack Skellington."
"Merry Christmas to you, my dearest Sally", Jack whispered back with a smile, gently kissing away a joyful tear that had begun to fall from her eye, and finishing…"You take my breath away every day…"
I will find you…anywhere you go, I'll be right behind you
Right until the ends of the earth
I'll get no sleep till I find you to tell you that you just…
Take my breath away….
My dearest friend, if you don't mind…I'd like to join you by your side
Where we can gaze into the stars
And sit together, now and forever…for it is plain as anyone can see
We're simply meant to be….