Thanks to Bipolar Visionary, Saphire-lady, and BJXCBFOREVER for reviewing!
Also, to everyone who reads this, feel free to leave ideas for the story in a review. It was originally going to be a one shot, but certain people (aka the above reviewers) convinced me to keep going. I know what the next two chapters are going, but I am pretty open after that…
Sally waited until the door to the lab slammed shut before making her escape. She had considered using the Deadly Nightshade, but she didn't know exactly what it would do, and she hadn't been able to sneak out and ask Jack about it. Finklestien hadn't believed her claims that she hadn't snuck out, and had been watching her like a hawk for the past week. But she hadn't tried anything all week, and had been as obedient as Igor, the foolish little man Finklestien had made before her. She was glad she hadn't turned out like Igor. She at least, had been given a full brain. Probably, she knew, because Finklestien had wanted someone to talk to, not just a lackey, as well as something pleasant to look at while he did it. Unfortunately, Sally wasn't that interested in Science. But she knew that when he went into the lab, Finkliestien wouldn't come out for hours. She figured she might even have all day to spend with Jack, and maybe he could even show her around the town!
As a matter of fact, Jack had been sneaking off to the graveyard everyday for the past week for a few minutes at least, hoping she'd come back. That particular day he was just leaving, disappointed again, but just as he pushed open the gate, caught a reflection of red. He felt a grin spread across his face, and he turned to watch Sally slipping down the hill. She went out of sight briefly as she slid through the back gate and tiptoed through the graveyard. As she rounded a large stone, she thought she caught a glimpse of something by the front gate. She hurried down the hill and to the gate. Nothing was there. She pushed through a gap in the bars and looked up and down the wall. Nothing. She could have sworn she'd seen something…
"!" shrieked an unearthly noise, right behind her. Sally gave a loud scream herself and stumbled backwards, and was faced with Jack's skeletal, and now laughing face. "Eheeheeheeheeheeheeee!" He was practically bent over from laughing. "Oooh, your face!" he gasped. "Oh, I enjoyed that." Sally put a hand to her still chest. She knew that she didn't have anything other than a small stuffed heart, but she still somehow felt it beating at a million miles a minute.
"That…that was scary," gasped Sally.
"Of course!" said Jack, a little astonished at her surprised tone. "I am the King of Halloween. It's how I get my kicks. And everyone in town is the same. Just not as good as me," he added on afterthought. Sally began to grin. After the initial shock wore off, she had actually quite enjoyed it. "There you go!" cried Jack, seeing her grin. "OK, just be prepared for more of the same in town alright? And some of the citizens aren't all that scary, but if I tap your arm like so," he demonstrated, a light tap on her arm with his bony finger, "I want you to look scared OK?" She nodded. "By the way, did you use the Nightshade? I noticed you were kind of sneaking again." Sally shook her head.
"I was a little afraid. Would it really hurt him? Or kill him?"
"Sally, he's dead. All it'll do is knock him out for a few hours. Don't believe me? We'll stop by the witches house. They can tell you about certain plants and things." They were walking now, towards the town. Sally had to practically run to keep up with Jack's long strides.
The second Jack pushed open the gate to the town, he was accosted by a small man in a pointed hat and black suit. His face was grey and distressed, and a small button on his coat read 'Mayor.'
"Jack!" he cried, "Why must you do this? We have so much to PLAN! You know I can't do it on my own! I'm just an elected official! Come, come come!" he was walking backwards now, practically hopping with impatience.
"Calm down Mayor, I have been planning. I have lots of ideas of how to make this the best Halloween ever! I'm sure your plans are fine."
"Jack!" whined the Mayor, stretching the syllable out to last a good deal longer than it should be held. "Pleeaaaaase!" Here the Mayor waved a bunch of rolled up paper so energetically that he fell over backwards. Jack covered a laugh in a cough, and plucked the papers out of the Mayor's flailing arms. He looked a bit like a crab that has landed on its back. Jack stepped over him and kept going, but Sally paused, and then, after looking at the prostate Mayor a moment, bent and helped him up. "Thank you!" moaned the unfortunate Mayor. "My, what is your name?"
"I'm…"
"Sally! Are you coming or not?" Jack strode back. "I thought you wanted to meet the witches." Sally gave a jump as the Mayor's face suddenly twisted from grey and anguished to happy and bright.
"Jack! This nice young lady just helped me up! Where ever did you find her?"
"Oh, just around," demurred Jack.
"I am staying with Dr. Finklestien," offered Sally. Jack tossed her a surprised look.
"Ah," said the Mayor. "I guess I'll only see you when you can sneak out then hmm? I know he keeps his guests close to home." Sally offered him a small grin. "Jack, I will be back at eight o'clock to discuss these plans!" said the Mayor abruptly. "We really must get going, there is only a month left till Halloween!" He looked worried again, but didn't switch his face. Jack sighed. In his mind he rolled his eyes. Of course, it is quite difficult to convey rolling eyes with only empty eye sockets, so he compensated by saying, in as exasperated a tone as he could manage, "I know. You've been reminding me daily they exact count of days, minutes and seconds left till Halloween. Believe it or not Mayor, but I do know what I am doing." The Mayor gulped.
"Sorry Jack, right. Right. I'll see you at eight." The Mayor wandered off.
"Did you have to be so mean?" asked Sally. Jack sighed.
"Probably not. But he doesn't need to keep reminding me. That's what the clock is for," he said, gesturing to the large clock which, along with the time of day, had, underneath, a sign that proclaimed "30 days till Halloween" in big letters.
"Ah," said Sally. "Still, he is just worried. You could be a little nicer." Jack gave a shrug.
"Sure. Hello Harlequin," he said to a small devil creature scurrying past.
"Hello, Jack. And you is your delightful young companion?" asked the devil, stopping and giving a polite little bow.
"Sally, this is Harlequin. Harlequin, this is Sally. She's staying with Finklestein." Harlequin gave Sally a sly grin.
"I hope you enjoy our Town. I have some additional ideas for Halloween Jack," he said.
"Eight o'clock the Mayor is coming by to discuss plans. Feel free to drop by." The little devil bowed, and hurried off.
They hadn't walked much farther when they came upon a small house in the shape of a pointed hat.
"I guess we've gotten to the witch's house," remarked Sally. Jack gave a small chuckle.
"Yes, not subtle at all are they?" He gave the door bell a push.
Double, double toil and trouble
Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble
Double, double toil and trouble
Someone's at the door
Sally blinked. Jack shook his head. "I keep telling them to change it. Mine's just a nice scream. But they like the theatrical…"he trailed off as a rather tall witch answered the door.
"Jack!" she said delightedly.
"Hello Gertrude!" said Jack, jovially. Sally had a feeling that Jack was still amused by Finklestien's infatuation with the witch, and his happy tone was concealing his desire to laugh out loud whenever he saw her.
"In a good mood again today Jack? You've been happy to see me all week." She blinked, and batted her eyes. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you had a little crush Jack," she giggled, more of a cackle really, but it was her version of a giggle all the same.
"Now, Gertrude," said Jack, and had to stop, because apparently trying not to gag at the thought of him being with Gertrude and at the same time not laugh at the look he imagined on Finklestien's face if such a thingever came to fruition was a thing much harder actually done than said, and he started to choke. Sally patted him on the back. Gertrude saw, and widened her eyes.
"Ooooh, I see. Who's this bit you've been hiding Jack? Not that I blame you, she's a catch." Jack looked surprised.
"Who? What? Oh no, Sally's just a friend. Actually, she is interested in plants and things." He looked at the doll next to him. "Specifically knock out plants." Understanding came into Gertrude's eyes.
"She's the one staying with Finklestien?"
"Word certainly travels fast," laughed Jack. It certainly did. No sooner had the Mayor wandered off he had started telling people of the pretty girl staying with Finklestien. He never was much good at keeping secrets. "But yes. I am showing her around." Gertrude nodded.
"Come in dearie. I'll set you up right." The three of them ducked into the witches house. They spent the next hour and a half looking at different plants and books and what kind of plant was a good poison to knock someone out with and what plants made for really good soup or seasoning. Jack was rather bored. He didn't eat much, and when he did he didn't really care much for taste. He was more into presentation himself. But Sally was fascinated. Unlike Jack, she and Finklestien had taste buds, and she loved the taste of good food. They left the witch's house with several books on the various plants that grew around Halloweentown, and one even had a section on some of the plants to be found in the woods around it.
She met a lot of people that day: a clown that could take of his face and spent a lot of time riding around on a unicycle (rather badly I might add), she met a fish like creature who was swimming in the fountain, a werewolf, and they even slipped into a dark house which turned out to house four sexually ambiguous vampires. When she asked, Jack said that he didn't know either, but didn't think it polite to ask.
The clock struck five, and Sally gasped. "Oh dear, I should be home, I have to fix Dr. Finklestien's dinner!" She started hurrying towards the town gate, Jack loping easily beside her.
"We'll get there in time Sally, don't…" he stopped suddenly, both in his sentence and in his tracks. A dark shadow had fallen over the path.
"Well, well, well, what have we here? I Ragdoll huh? Oooh, hello, beautiful."
"Hello Oogie," said Jack with distaste.
"I wasn't talking to you, Skeleton Man," sneered Oogie Boogie, the rather recently displaced King of Halloween. "I was talking to this delightful treat," on the word "delightful" a snake had darted out of and then back into his mouth. Oogie Boogie was shaped a bit like a rather deformed shadow. He was white, and seemed to be a Burlap sack sewn over some other horrible shape. Jack wasn't entirely sure what Oogie's true form was, and he didn't want to know either. Oogie had some sort of control over creepy crawlies of every kind, and seemed to sometimes almost leak bugs. Which, Jack thought, might have been truly excellent, and very useful, and definitely something he very much approved of, if it hadn't been Oogie.
"You leave her alone Oogie. Go bother someone else."
"But she's so interesting Jack. She's someone new. And we all like new things, don't we Jack?" It seemed to Sally that this Oogie person was saying two things at once, but she wasn't sure exactly what he meant. All she knew, was that he gave her the creeps, and she wanted to get as far away from him as possible, and then stay away. Then there was the fact that Oogie was the only one that Finklestien seemed to hate and fear equally. He didn't seem to like Jack much, but that was probably more because Jack was so much younger than the Doctor himself. Oogie, however, exuded…well, a darkness that she hadn't encountered in any other citizen of Halloweentown. He had a malevolent feel to him, and she could easily picture him viscously murdering someone and enjoying every moment of it. Plus, she didn't like the way he looked at her. Like Jack, he didn't have eyeballs, but also like Jack, she could sense him looking at her. Unlike Jack, she could see that Oogie wanted to do terrible things to her, and that he would if he got the chance. Jack was glaring at Oogie.
"Out of our way Oogie," he spat. "Don't make me fight you." Oogie gave a rather terrifying laugh, not scary in the way that Jack's delighted cackle was scary, but a laugh that seemed to begin somewhere in the bowels of hell itself, and rife with evil incarnate. The Boogieman gave an ironic little bow to the being that had taken his crown, and stepped out of the way. Jack walked Sally up the hill to Dr. Finklestien'
Next Chapter—Halloween. And brief backstory on Oogie Boogie
I tried to keep him in character, but I wanted it to be a bit darker than the actual movie. I tried to portray him as being completely evil, but with a smarmy, used car salesman appearance and manner. Sally sees beyond it because she is very perceptive, but Jack just gets vague feelings of distaste for Oogie, because of his unfortunate habit of hurting things on purpose.
Review and critique please!