This would be her very first Halloween away from Doctor Finklestein. Sally sat patiently at the end of her bed, idly swinging her feet back and forth, toying with her red hair. She could hear Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, clamouring about in the room above with Zero barking happily. Last Halloween she was stuck making Doctor Finklestein soup and poisoning him with Deadly Nightshade so she could glimpse Jack's triumphant return from his Halloween adventures. This Hallows' Eve, she would be going with Jack—out to terrify children, women men, anyone who dared to cross their path this night. Sally tugged a loose string that held her hand to her wrist.

"Sally? Sally?" Jack called as his footsteps echoed down the stairwell. He appeared in the doorway dressed in the familiar Scarecrow costume. His favourite. "Are you ready?"

"Almost Jack," she tied a knot in the loose string and then cut off the excess. She seemed uneasy.

The Pumpkin King sat beside her, his long, long legs stretched out in front of her, his arm draped softly around her shoulders.

"What's the matter, my ragdoll?" he asked kindly, squeezing her shoulder, smiling a soft skeleton grin as he called her the nickname he knew she loved to hear.

"It's really silly," Sally stared at her little feet.

"Won't you tell me?" Jack leaned into her, coaxing.

"Jack, I'm just not sure I'm scary enough to go with you tonight," she said, still studying her little feet. "You're the Pumpkin King and the scariest of all Halloween Town. I'm just a ragdoll, falling apart at the seams," she paused to tug at a loose thread at her knee. "I mean, truly, what I am going to do? Let my limbs unravel and run after everyone?"

"That's not a bad idea," Jack smiled. "But the rest of you won't have much fun."

Sally forced a smile. Jack thought she was joking. It didn't bother her too much, but she wasn't joking. Perhaps she wasn't quite experienced enough. After all, Doctor Finklestein never let her do anything…and this was only her second Halloween, and the first time she'd be going out to scare children.

"But Jack," Sally tried again. "What is scary about a ragdoll?"

"I think you're very scary, Sally," Jack took her small hand in his long, bony fingers. "You represent the nightmare every little girl has about their dollies. What if, when the millions of little girls turned their backs or fell asleep, what if all their dollies turned into ragdolls that look like you and could walk and talk on their own, with limbs that could function on their own? Why, they would run into the night screaming!"

Sally smiled a bright smile that tugged at the stitching around her ruby red lips.

"I would be scary then, wouldn't I?" she beamed up at him.

A wicked skeleton grin grew on Jack's skull

"Yes, Sally," Jack nodded encouragingly. "You would be nearly terrifying. I bet girls will have nightmares about you for years to come."

Sally threw her arms around the Pumpkin King, nearly toppling both of them backward onto the bed. Jack tenderly kissed her forehead, her cheek, then finally her lips.

"That's the nicest thing I think anyone has ever said to me," Sally breathed when Jack parted from her lips, his long bony fingers tangled in her red hair.

"You will always be terrifying to me, Sally," the Pumpkin King breathed into her hair.

"And you scare the daylights out of me," she winked.

"Wonderful!" Jack stood, pulling Sally to her feet and up against his chest. He set another soft kiss to her lips. "Let's go have the greatest Halloween EVER!"