Chapter 3: Crazy

She awoke the next day feeling a bit less woozy. She saw a nurse pass by and asked for her assistance. "Did you hear that song last night? It was beautiful."

"What are you talking about? What song..."

"You didn't hear it?" She was sure she heard a man singing that night. Maybe... "Do you think I could be hearing voices? I mean, I did have a concussion..."

"I'll go get Dr. Brendt." She was second-guessing herself as he entered the room. That voice was so real... But hollow, like a... Like a ghost or something. Am I really going insane? What can I trust?

"Catherine?" Dr. Brendt rushed in, nearly tripping on a rolling table.

"I know I heard a voice singing last night, I know I did. But, you said that, well, I could have... Problems. Due to the concussion. Could I be, um..."

"I have heard stranger... But stay one more night, just in case it comes back. I'm sure you'll have no problem affording it." He smiled pleasantly with a small chuckle.

"No, I suppose not." She produced a half-hearted smile and he was satisfied as he left. I guess it wouldn't matter... Oh crap! My boss doesn't know! I'll bet he's furious! She immediately reached for the phone on the wall, feeling no dizziness left at all, and called him to tell him she hadn't run off... again. She left out the skeleton, telling the story about the imaginary deer, and also left out the part where she thought she was going crazy...

Back in Halloweentown, Jack was pacing again. He felt a sense of failure from the night before, and he didn't like it. He hadn't proven anything. Some small part of him was crying out for rebellion, unwilling to yield. If I only had access to that cauldron again, maybe I could at least know what floor... He kept thinking but nothing presented itself. He appeared to be stuck. And he realized she may not even be there anymore. The best he could do was visit the graveyard once more.

Once again he found himself in the graveyard with the hospital right behind him. (By the way, the hospital was put next to the graveyard, not the other way around. City planners had just run out of room by the time they needed to add a hospital. Builders pleaded, but there was nothing to be done. Unfortunate for the ones who went in to surgery, for choking on steak, and looked out to see a graveyard.) Jack crouched again, hoping to see her silhouetted in a curtain. He waited for hours, patiently observing each window. Finally losing hope, he began to sing once more, the same song, only out of boredom and the pang of failure. In glancing up one last time, he saw a figure throw open curtains in the top floor, at the far left window. He ducked, forgetting the song momentarily. Looking back, peeking to the side of the stone, he could tell they hadn't seen. In fact, it was a she, maybe even... It was! It was her!

Catherine searched high and low, desperately trying to find the source, only seeing the empty stare of angels and cold stone crosses. She pouted on the sill and quietly whispered, "I'm not crazy."

She returned to her bed, even more confused than before. She had no idea the joy and yet-to-be-seen pain she had just brought to one Jack Skellington.

Jack hurried back to his house, unaware of the eyes that had followed him home. As soon as he laid his bleached hand on his door, someone had grabbed the other. "What's-"

"Jack, we warned you." Dr. Finklestein was at the bottom of the stairs, the Mayor was the one grasping his hand, looking rather dismal.

"No, wait. You haven't met her-"

"And there's no need! Oh, you thought you were slick, sneaking out like that. Unfortunately, I was up late working on my latest invention, and I noticed you were gone. The cauldron showed me everything, Jack. I saw how your face cheered at her presence."

"But you don't know her!"

"Neither do you!" He frowned, seeing the determination in Jack's face. There was only one thing to stop him. "Jack. What happened to Sally?"

He was startled. What did Sally have to do with anything? And didn't Finklestein know better than to bring that painful memory up again? "She... I... Why?"

"Jack. She was unraveled and killed by a group of humans." In truth, it pained him to say it, but he had to know. He didn't wish to see his friend hurt.

"That's a LIE! ... And, besides..." He was taken aback by this claim. Sally had been missing for seven years... He just couldn't comprehend.

"Do you know what those mortals will do to you if they find you? They could pull you apart, bone by bone, not leaving a scrap of you left, not even for a coyote. They'll study you, cut you open to the marrow, just to see what keeps you undead."

"NO! No..." He looked away, knowing that Finklestein was intelligent, and more, his friend. "Just... Leave me alone." He jerked his arm away, retreating back to his lair a more solemn, wiser skeleton.

The mayor watched as he closed the door, and turned to Finklestein, "Do you think he'll listen?"

"Most likely, only a crazy man would go back after that."