The Brothers of Nightmare Shop
I must give credit where credit is due. This is partially inspired by Borgin and Burkes in Knockturn Alley from Harry Potter, the fanfic Playthings by The Magic Pocket Turtle, and Herbert West - Reanimator by H.P. Lovecraft, and perhaps a few other things as well.
And, of course, I do not own The Nightmare Before Christmas.
A big thanks to my awesome former roommate and my brother for help with the story and editing, respectively.
…
Gordon raised his hood against the icy wind and scuttled toward the cemetery. It might be Christmas day-correction, Christmas night- but there was no time to lose. The previous night had been one for the history books, some skeleton had impersonated Santa Claus and distributed objects of horror and mayhem. Chaos had ensued until the real Santa had taken them all back. This was a shame, Gordon reflected, because objects of horror and mayhem were exactly what he wanted.
Gordon Jeckl and his brother Samuel Jeckl ran a small oddities shop on the south side. At their very quaint little shop, they sold eccentric and macabre objects to individuals of unusual tastes. Most of their frequent clientele preferred to visit late at night rather than during the day.
The presents the skeleton had handed out would fit right in with their usual merchandize. Gordon had even heard mention from a neighbor's child about a vampire teddy-bear, why just last week the Lady McBeth had been asking about a killer teddy.
That is why tonight, Christmas night, Gordon was heading out to the cemetery where the imposter had supposedly landed with his camera in hand. He hoped to, at the very least, capture some eerie shots they could sell as prints, or if he were lucky, salvage something from the crash.
He counted himself lucky. Not only was the broken coffin-sleigh there (beyond repair, but providing some excellent photo shoots) but Gordon also managed to rescue a handful of the undelivered macabre toys. The haunted grey screaming doll should satisfy Mr. Serpentine's niece at least.
Most shocking of all, however, were the set of crypt doors under the angel statue in the center of the cemetery. The solid stone doors had been flung open as if they were a mere wooden cellar door.
….
Of course Gordon ventured inside, what kind of an entrepreneur would he be if he didn't? He thought that scenes from inside the crypt could create some quite nice prints, imagine his surprise when instead he came out into another cemetery entirely!
The statues that dotted this place were simply phenomenal; he especially liked the screaming man next to the chomping horse head. Gordon raised his camera and began snapping photos left and right. Was that a pumpkin patch-filled with jack-o-lanterns? What really left him breathless was the hill that spiraled into itself, how was that even possible? No matter, Gordon captured it all from every conceivable angle in the moonlight.
The moonlight was momentarily blocked by a shadow passing overhead. Gordon glanced up to see the silhouettes of a pair of witches fly past. Fumbling with his camera he finally brought it up once they were out of sight.
He wasn't too upset at his loss when he followed their line of flight toward a small town filled with black and grey color tones.
First he came toward the gate of cemetery where he had to stop and admire the ornate work. Gordon had long since lost track of how many photos he had taken, but he was far too excited to care. He had already switched his film at least once; nevertheless he couldn't be bothered to remember how much film he actually brought.
He crept toward the dark buildings on shaky angles and glimpsed another resident of this strange place. A bluish woman with long red hair walked past on shaky legs. Stitches covered her skin; she looked like a rag doll. Gordon managed to catch her on camera with the very last of his film before she stumbled out of sight.
Cursing his film for daring to run out, and himself for not thinking to bring extra, he was still too intrigued to go back yet. Carefully, Gordon followed the rag doll as she led him to the town center and a truly ghoulish fountain.
Along the way he glimpsed other residents, a corpse mother and child, some vampires, even a one-eyed mummy child.
While alarming, Gordon hardly felt fear toward these strange beings; he dealt with the occult on a daily basis and some of his dear clients were far more sinister. Gordon even glimpsed the skeleton who tried to take over Christmas in the town. The sighting convinced the shopkeeper to make a habit of visiting. The merchandize of their little shop was going to expand immensely, and bring in bags of money.
Grinning with gleeful greed Gordon finally slipped away and back to his shop.
….
The results of his efforts were better than Gordon could have hoped for. Upon his return from the town on the other side of the crypt his brother Samuel had raised an eyebrow at Gordon's giddy excitement. The taciturn Samuel otherwise hadn't reacted as his sibling locked himself in the dark room with the film from his camera. Samuel usually just dealt with the customers during shop hours while Gordon was the one who collected and stocked the merchandise.
The next day not only had all the newly acquire malicious toys from the cemetery flown off their shelves, the prints of Gordon's photos had as well. When the last print copy had disappeared the brothers started a list of requests and promptly ordered more. The most popular photos were of the crashed coffin-sleigh, the spiral hill, and the rag-doll meandering down the cobblestones.
By the end of January their casual clientele had tripled and the brothers had record surges in profit. Gordon had returned with more film to the spooky town and learned its name as well as more about the Halloween residents. In his visits he wore a concealing trench coat and hat that made him feel and act much like a film noir detective. He kept mostly to himself and observed unobtrusively. When the residents asked him, and the curious ones did, he told them he was a wandering spirit who drifted from place to place. In the process he began to learn the habits and personalities of the monsters. Gordon captured moments of the rag doll detaching limbs or sewing them back on, the clown ripping his face off, and the disturbed Mr. Hyde with his miniature selves. He even photographed Jack Skellington, the very leader of the town. Slipping back after each visit, Gordon carefully placed a stick in the crypt doors to allow him to continue to visit. The Jeckl's slowly released new prints of the residents of Halloween to keep the fringe customers coming back.
…
Dr. Herbert West was a striking man with blond hair, blue eyes and a soft voice. He was also a regular visitor of the Jeckl brothers' shop in the evenings. The slight fellow wasted no time in examining the new prints of Halloween Town after his return from an extended absence from town. The prints of the rag doll and corpse family especially caught his eye.
Carrying a print of the rag doll reattaching her leg up to the counter West greeted the ever stoic Samuel before asking him, "is this photo real?"
"It most certainly is; my brother took those pictures himself."
West contemplated this before requested to speak with Gordon.
When Gordon arrived the doctor repeated himself "is this photo real?"
"Why yes, she is a living breathing rag doll."
Dr. West's eyes gained the uncanny, disturbing gleam that they often did. "I want her head."
"Wh-what?" That was certainly not what Gordon was expecting. He thought the man would question the authenticity of the prints, although West was always one of the more sinister guests.
"If what you claim is true than she is an inanimate object brought to life. Such an object I find utterly fascinating, and may hold a key to my research. I do not, however, want to deal with her entire body. Her head is the most essential portion and the part that I want."
When the Jeckl brothers just stared at him he added, "I'll pay whatever price is necessary."
Before a response could be formed Lady McBeth, another regular who evidently had been eavesdropping, added, "I would love an arm, why the Hand of Glory you sold me now seems so… inadequate." She slid in closer, "I'm sure you gentlemen could find regulars who would want the other parts, why I believe Mr. Serpentine is a tailor isn't he? I am sure he would be quite fond of her torso."
Gordon turned to Samuel to see what he thought of all this. The money was already dancing in his eyes, Gordon had to smirk. There were some things they always agreed on. Capturing a mere rag doll for a bit of cash fell on the list. Turning back to Dr. West and Lady McBeth he cleared his throat, "It will take some time to acquire the rag doll."
Dr. Herbert West gave a slight smile, "but of course. I'll give you my number for when you bring it in."
….
Capturing the rag doll, Gordon knew, would not be easy. Despite being a walking talking inanimate object she could still move and speak on her own. She might even have some level of intelligence. Plus, Halloween Town gossip was that the doll had been spending quite a lot of time in the company of the skeleton leader as of late.
His mind did briefly wander over the implications and consequences of capturing the doll. Except no one in Halloween Town knew where he was really from. Besides, once he had the rag doll he intended to chop her up and sell her parts as fast as possible. He might never be able to return to Halloween Town again, but Gordon figured he had enough photos to be developed. Despite the lack of new prints, the popular photos were not losing any admiration.
Waving aside the minute concerns Gordon returned to planning. He racked his memory; he thought he heard something about the doll living with the mad scientist. Clearly if he was going to pull this off he was going to need to collect more gossip. It might even be easier if he took her apart when he captured her and stuffed her pieces in a bag.
Muttering to himself, Gordon retreated to the back room to work on his kidnapping plans while his brother attended the customers.
….
The fog rolled in thick over the graveyard of Halloween town. Good, Gordon nodded to himself, he could use this. Creeping his way toward town with his concealing trench coat and burlap sack the shopkeeper appeared as devious as his mission.
Luckily, Gordon knew his way around town by now and quickly made his way to the doctor's lab on the hill. He had seen the rag doll jump out her window to sneak out at night. Gordon just hoped the doll would want to wander this night. This would be his third night staking out the lab. He had missed her the other nights, but he was determined not to tonight.
Four hours and forty minutes later Gordon was ready to give up for the night when the front door opened and the rag doll walked out. She turned back to the open door and asked, "Is worm's wart all that we need?" A raspy reply answered her before she closed the door.
She was humming to herself as she wobbled down the hill when Gordon struck.
….
Boy, did the doll have a set of lungs. Gordon winced as the muffled wail from the bottom of the sack continued as he exited the crypt doors. Gordon vowed he would never take on a job like this again, if only to save his eardrums and nerves. Another shiver went through his frame at a stray thought of what could have happened. He was going to make Dr. West and Lady McBeth pay extensively for the doll parts. He hoped the Dr. in particular liked screeching, the doll had yet to shut up.
All in all he was surprised he had gotten away with the kidnapping at all; there were far too many close calls. He certainly would not be able to ever return to Halloween Town.
The first thing he had done upon grabbing the doll was to slip a knife through the stiches at her neck and pull her head off. Without her head, he had figured, it would be a simple matter to detach her other limbs and put them in his sack. Boy was he ever wrong.
Once he had her detached head in hand the darn doll had started screeching. Even worse her body moved on its own out the gate and toward the town center, leaving Gordon no choice but to chase after. Running down the road with a screaming head under his arm with a couple leaves floating down, Gordon tried to muffle the noise by covering her mouth with his hand. She bit him, so he stuffed some of her own hair in her mouth. It didn't stop her from moaning, but she was considerably quieter.
There were a few things on Gordon's side that night. First, due to the heavy fog, few Halloween Town citizens were out and about. Second, being Halloween Town Gordon had heard residents practice screaming in the night and hoped the doll's cries would be interpreted as such. Third, it quickly became apparent to Gordon that while the rag doll's body could move on its own, it still could not see without eyes. Once Gordon stopped long enough to stuff the head in his bag, the body reached out and stumbled around blind.
Grabbing the flailing doll, Gordon pulled out his knife to try and pull out some stitches while simultaneously dragging her back toward the cemetery. Thusly occupied Gordon didn't notice the tree with the hanging skeletons until he tripped over the roots. All the branches and skeletons reached forward and grabbed the dolls leg before Gordon could scramble up and grab the rest of her. For a few minutes a tug of war occurred over the body before her leg stitches broke and both parties were thrown back.
After that point Gordon was able to scamper off with her body to the cemetery and back to the real world. There he chopped her up further and stuffed the pieces in the bag, all the while listening to her head moaning.
Grumbling, the close calls making him more than a little irritable and jumpy, Gordon trudged the shoveled sidewalk back to the shop.
….
Jack hummed happily to himself as he stepped down the steps of town hall, finally finished for the evening. He idly wondered what Sally was up to, and with a mischievous grin decided to visit her. The fog which had grown thicker since he had entered the town hall swallowed him as he began his way toward Dr. Finklestein's lab.
"Jack! Jack!" The distressed voices of the Hanging Tree and his Hangmen reached the skeleton before he saw them. When he did see them the Pumpkin King rushed over to see what was distressing his citizens.
Speaking all at once the Hangmen and Hanging Tree informed him, "Oh Jack it was terrible!" "That Stranger was here again…,""Outsiders always cause trouble!" "…I knew he didn't belong." "Just look at Oogie Boogie, and now this!" "Sally's gone!" "Ripped to pieces!" "If I ever see that man again…"
"Slow down! What happened?"
Instead of answering the Hangmen rattled their bones as the Hanging Tree solemnly lifted a single bluish cloth leg, leaking leaves, up to Jack.
Jack carefully lifted the offered appendage, a chill running through his bones, "This is Sally's leg; what happened to her?"
Hanging Tree spoke, his deep voice haunting, "The Stranger, Jack. He took Sally."
Jack's expression darkened considerably.
The Hangman to the farthest right continued, "We saw him go through the portal in the cemetery, Jack."
Another Hangman spoke, "You know we can't leave Halloween Town, except on Halloween."
"Otherwise we would have followed him."
"Jack, as the Pumpkin King, you can go."
Jack broke in, raising a skeletal hand, "I fully intend to fix this, and bring Sally back, mark my words."
….
Sally glared at the blond man as he attached a variety of instruments and wires to her head. He had yet to remove the gag, the horrid man who had stolen her, placed on her.
She felt someone poke the arm the woman had bought from the kidnapper. Twitching her phantom fingers, in the unknown location, she tried to grab the offender, but failed. The doll kept trying to slap the woman who bought her arm, or at least knock over a vase or something.
The rest of her – torso, left arm, hips, right leg – still sat in pieces in that darn burlap sack. Only her left leg remained in Halloween Town where it belonged.
Wrinkling her brow as she concentrated, Sally twitched the fingers of her left hand, trying to find the pocket in her dress where she kept her needle and thread. The task would be more than a little difficult being in so many pieces and not being able to see said pieces, but Sally was focusing all of her will on the task.
The blond man stuck a probe up her nose and Sally lost all her concentration, her arms flopping instead of completing the tasks they were assigned. She sent her fiercest glare towards the man, and he finally acknowledged her… with a sadistic chuckle.
….
Standing in the graveyard Jack whistled for Zero, his hand cradling Sally's remaining leg as he waited.
Zero floated up with an enthusiastic bark, ready for a game. Instead upon seeing his master's serious face the poor ghost dog whimpered in distress.
Kneeling Jack presented Sally's leg to Zero, "Now, Zero, I have a very important task for you. Sally is lost and I need your help finding her."
The ghost dog took his time taking in the doll's scent, making sure he had it right before glancing up at his master and barking. A sinister grin curled on Jack's face.
….
Gordon gave out an exhausted sigh as he helped Samuel close the shop for the night. At least the doll's head and arm were gone and the brothers had quite the hefty sum added to their bank accounts. Despite this Gordon had an uneasy feeling of being watched. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep well that night, if at all.
After Gordon had locked the door he returned to find Samuel humming happily as he counted their profits from that night. Samuel met his brother's eye with a twinkle, "We made six months' worth of profit in one night, thanks to your deal with West and McBeth," and Gordon couldn't help smile at the success.
Samuel looked back at the money in his hand and continued, "If we continue to sell the parts at this rate that doll is going to make us very rich."
"Oh, is that so?"
The deep echoing voice made both brothers stare wide eyed at each other, shivers running down their spines. Turning slowly toward shadows at the back of the store Gordon strained to see something in the dark.
Samuel reached over and flicked the light switch for the back part of the store. Nothing was out of the ordinary; Gordon gave out a sigh of relief.
Turning the light off again, Samuel snorted dismissively, "It's been quite the night; we should get some sleep."
Gordon turned toward him to agree but gave out a shriek instead. An impossibly tall figure with a malicious grin stretched across his skull stood directly behind Samuel. As Samuel spun around the skeleton seamlessly slipped into the shadows.
Still searching behind him Samuel cursed mildly, "Damn, Gordon. I don't know what has you so high-strung, but cut it out. You're unnerving me," spinning to face his brother again, Gordon watched as Samuel's eyes widened and he took an involuntary step back.
Before Gordon could react he felt a set of skeletal hands rest on his shoulders. As he jerked to get away the hands tightened unbearable and held the man in place.
Samuel bolted for the locked door at the front of the store. As he fumbled with the lock Jack, who was still holding Gordon in place, spoke, "Zero, fetch."
A misty blur grabbed on to Samuel's leg and yanked the man away from the door just as his fingers closed around the handle.
"Now then," Jack wrapped one arm around Gordon in a chokehold as Zero dragged Samuel back over to them, "Where is Sally?"
….
Sally shrieked as another jolt of electricity was forced through the probes attached to her head. She didn't know how he accomplished it, but this man was terrifying her. Electricity had never bothered her before; after all according to the Doctor it had been crucial in bringing her to life.
The sadistic smile on this man's face as he listen to her screams made Oogie Boogie's threats seem like child's play. The man finally removed the probes from her, although Sally loathed his hands coming near her she gladly welcomed the relief brought when the probes were removed. Damn this man, he kept her so preoccupied that she had made no progress with reconnecting her other body parts. In this brief pause she tried to take stock of herself and was startled to notice the majority of her body, still in the sack, felt like it was being carried again. She really hoped those rotten brothers hadn't sold more of her, at this rate it'd be forever before she could pull herself back together.
"Let's see what you are made of."
The blond man's voice grabbed her attention and made her eyes widen in horror, as he leaned down closer she spat at him.
He froze, "now that wasn't very nice."
Sally mustered up her fiercest glare, "Just you wait 'till Jack gets to you!"
His expression twisted in curiosity, "Who is Jack? Your creator?"
"Jack, the Pumpkin King, is the scariest being you'll ever meet. He'll send you to the darkest depths before long."
A snort answered her, "I am the Doctor Herbert West and I have been researching how to bring the dead back to life for years. I hardly believe in ghost stories, what could this 'Jack' possibly do to me?"
Sally's face became grim, "There are worst things then death." After a bit of quick thinking, "How do your 'test subjects' feel about your research?"
And for the first time Sally saw the slightest flicker of apprehension cross Dr. West's face. Scowling the man grabbed a chunk of leaves and yanked them out of her neck.
Despite the suffocating feel of losing her leaves, Sally felt the slightest victory at scaring her captor.
….
Lady McBeth delightedly sat in her parlor observing her newly acquired living hand. She had placed the piece next to her previous Hand of Glory, which she strongly suspected was made entirely of wax, on the coffee table. As the woman sat she mentally categorized and sorted into which room the hand would make the best impression. Her late husband's study, she finally decided; on the bookshelf behind his desk.
As the lady of the house decided its fate, the bluish hand would occasionally flail around and try to reach around itself. However, the way Lady McBeth had the arm in a narrow vase prevented too much movement.
The widow sighed in disgust as she remembered how her butler and maid had fled their duties, and her household, upon observing the moving detached arm. The spineless servants would need to be replaced. It was becoming so hard to find good help these days, first after the mysterious circumstances surrounding her husband's death she had to replace them all, and ever since that she kept having to replace them as they periodically up and fled.
The door opened startling Lady McBeth. Before she could speak a polite male voice asked her, "Tea, my lady?"
Turning toward the voice, Lady McBeth jerked and stared wide-eyed at the impeccably dressed skeleton offering her a platter with a cup of tea on it.
The woman opened her mouth and tried to speak, but only managed a series of distressed noises. The skeleton carefully placed the tea cup on the coffee table before her.
"No? Well then, perhaps I should let the maid tidy up?" He gestured to the side where a bluish stitched up body of a woman dressed as a maid stood. The maid was missing her head and right arm. "The maid seems to be missing something, no?" Jack glanced around before plucking Sally's arm out of the vase, "let's return this to her, shall we?"
The display frayed the last of Lady McBeth's nerves and she fainted back into her seat.
….
Sally, barely conscious, watched detached as West lifted her head up. Her voice was hoarse from screaming, she could barely keep her eyes open, her mind felt fuzzy from leaf-loss, she just wanted to fall into oblivion. Instead the "Doctor" lowered her head slowly into a glass cylinder containing some sort of cold liquid. Sally's teeth started chattering as she bobbed near the center of the liquid.
West ignored her; Sally had to admit she preferred when he ignored her to when he decided to taunt her. He was currently fiddling with some sort of contraption that Sally was sure she wanted to know nothing about.
A knock sounded on the basement's door. West stopped what he was doing to glance perplexed at the door. The knocking repeated. Slowly Dr. West left his instruments and opened the door.
"Good Evening," Sally's eyes widened, that was Jack's voice!
Straining to look to the side Sally could only see the side of West's face. Dr. West only appeared mildly surprised at Jack's visit. Sally could not see Jack at all.
"Are you the Pumpkin King I've heard about?"
"Indeed."
West smiled sardonically, "you supposedly are the 'scariest being I'll ever meet.' I must say, thus far you are a severe disappointment."
"Am I indeed?" Jack's voice only sounded mildly curious, "well, luckily I happened upon some old friends of yours who said they wanted a word."
Sally blinked in surprise as Dr. West paled considerably and tried to slam the door. The door caught on something and Jack's arm wrapped around the door frame as he shoved the door back open. Behind Jack appeared several worst for wear individuals. One was dressed in an army uniform and still sported battle wounds, another appeared to be an elderly professor his suit was smudged with grave dirt.
West dashed away and began throwing objects in his wake. Jack and the others followed into the room, but Sally felt her eyelids grow impossibly heavy. Trying to watch the scene unfolding in front of her she didn't consciously realize when her eyes blinked shut the last time.
….
It was some time later that Sally blinked her eyes open. The first thing she saw was a single bright light bulb in a dismal grey room. On second inspection she found she was strapped to a familiar lab table with all her body parts reattached. Her first thought was overwhelming joy at being home; too bad she could not reach the straps to get her off the table.
As if summoned by her thoughts the solid metal door creaked open and Jack poked his head through. "Ah, you're awake!" He took two strides over to her side. "I was just seeing to our newest residents. It has been quite a while since Halloween Town has gained a new citizen, let alone three!"
Sally blinked at him, she felt like she was missing something, "new citizens?"
"You must meet them!" Jack proceeded to unstrap her from the table with barely contained energy, "Dr. Finklestein has kindly agreed to house them, in his cages in the basement, while they adjust to their new…conditions."
When Jack reached his hand out to pull Sally off the table, she resisted slightly to try and get some answers before his enthusiasm overtook him again. "Jack, what do you mean?"
The skeleton swung his head around, his face uncharacteristically solemn, "I'm glad you're alright Sally, this whole mess gave me quite a scare."
At the honesty behind his eye sockets Sally reached out and wrapped her arms around his skeletal frame. In response Jack rested his head on her hair.
After a moment Sally let him go to look up at him again. He smiled, "Just imagine if they gave me a scare how well they'll fit in here."
Sally gave him a confused look.
Jack gently wrapped his fingers around her hand and tugged her after him. "I couldn't just let them go after what they did to you. Lady McBeth and Gordon and Samuel Jeckl have been brought here to be Halloween Town's newest citizens. They are here to adjust to their new states, of course."
"New states?"
Jack just tugged her along down to the dim dusty dungeon, where the resident doctor normally kept…disagreeable experiments.
Down there behind the bars were three figures. As Sally peered at them to try and get a better look Jack stepped forward and gesture dramatically toward the first one.
"Gordon Jeckl is the new wandering spirit," Indeed, his form did shift listlessly never settling in one place behind his bars.
"Samuel Jeckl is our new living statue," the other Jeckl appeared to be made of stone.
"And Lady McBeth will soon be a banshee," Jack gestured wildly toward the third figure who appeared to be silently screaming, "We need to work on her voice, she should be shrieking soon."
"What about West?"
Here Jack's expression fell slightly, "his old friends wanted time to catch up with Dr. West. I'm not sure if he'll be joining us." The skeleton smiled at Sally, "we don't have to worry about him."
"Right." Sally let the matter drop for now and glanced around at the new residents. Stepping toward them she introduced herself and let her hard feelings go as she made sure the new citizens were comfortable.
…