- I am so, so, so, so, sooooo sorry for not updating this in FOREVER. Like, fuck. Woah. Since Halloween just passed, I was in the spirit to continue writing this, and so, here it is.
- Again, I apologize for my blatant procrastination.
Chapter 4
Long after the night had seeped in through the mottled glass of her bedroom window, and long after she heard the doctor's boisterous snores even out into a fixed rhythm, Sally pried herself from her cot and threw her legs over the edge of her mattress. On wobbly legs, Sally managed to fumble her tiny hands under the bulging lump of deteriorated feathers and fabric that made up her pillow. She groped around in the dark for the rest of her supplies, accidentally pricking herself when her fingers roamed over the sharp jut of her sewing needle. Threading the needle through her hair, she quickly gathered the rest of her supplies and set them at the center of her cot.
She stood there before her bed, slightly unsteady on her feet, her fingers fiddling with themselves as she habitually bit at her lip. If this didn't work the way it was supposed to, she was in for a torturous punishment. She hoped Igor didn't decide to roam about in the dead of night, as he was prone to do, and accidentally discover her. If he managed to catch her in the act, she was surely done for!
With dread and uncertainty clouding her mind, Sally promptly steeled herself and forced her head towards the direction of her latched window. She stared at the moon that hung loftily about in the blackened sky, it's pallid surface glowing an ominous white—the moon was a beacon of hope, despite its dreary appearance, a hope that she couldn't waste- no, not when she was this determined. And farther out into the distance, her gaze anchored on the spindly tower looming over the cluster of gritty buildings that surrounded it.
The light was still on, as it should, and Sally let a small smile consume her lips. With a huff of determination, Sally reached for her supplies and set to work.
She hobbled over to her window and carefully unlatched it, guiding the hulking frame until it stood propped open, a gust of frigid air gliding in and caressing her course skin. Grabbing for her makeshift rope, Sally carefully guided it to a protruding screw and looped the rope around it, effectively tying it in place. She threw the rest of the rope out the window and poked her head out, watching the fabric fall until it dangled a mere two feet from the ground. Nodding her head, Sally meandered back to her cot and scooped up her spool of thread and picklock, placing it in a small pocket made from one of the many patches that decorated her dress. With the rest of her supplies accounted for, Sally swiftly turned around and shuffled back towards the window.
She placed her small hands at the window's ledge, her body leaning forward, as another gust of wind coiled about her face and fluttered her hair. She stared across into the distance, eyes trailing over the blackened skyline of the city's buildings, desire worming its way within her.
This, she concluded, was well worth it.
Sally lay on the ground, her back pressed against the earth as she stared up into the sky, a swell of elation quickly clouding her mind.
Not to say that her escape hadn't gone off without a hitch, although it almost had. Unfortunately, when she was halfway down the rope, her tiny hands couldn't support her weight any longer and she plummeted to the floor. This time however, she was prepared to sow her legs back into place. With a quickness that astounded even her, Sally pulled herself along the compact earth with her arms and groped around the darkness for her legs. Pulling them to her, Sally then shuffled her fingers through her hair and withdrew her needle, sticking it into her leg as she rummaged through her dress pocket for the spool of thread. Looping the blackened thread through the loophole, Sally set to work on threading her legs back together.
After a few moments of seamlessly threading the needle in and out through her legs, Sally finally pulled tightly at the thread and made a small knot, biting at the string until it snapped off. She put her supplies away and stared down at her feet with amazement, wiggling them for good measure. Everything seemed to be in place, and for that, she was grateful.
Sally took a deep breath and slowly got up from the ground, still a bit unsteady on her limbs, but she managed to right herself until she could stand without fault. She stared about her, eyes wide in amazement. The gnarled trees plotted on either side of her loomed into the sky and towered above her form, twisted branches sticking out from every which way. Sally smiled, noticing she was directly beneath the light of the moon as it illuminated her figure.
She stared off into the distance, the wind caressing her body, as she stared in anticipation at the city skyline. She felt like running towards it, felt like sprinting toward the city that held so many promises, so many new adventures, and just thinking about the prospect of it all nearly made her do exactly that, until she remembered that her feet weren't quite suited to run a marathon. She frowned down at her feet and slowly shook her head, before she looked up again and smiled.
She felt free; this was a sort of freedom that would have never been granted to her under the watchful eye of the doctor, and though she felt rebellious at the moment, Sally wanted to take things slow and soak in everything around her.
Sliding a glance towards the doctor's home, Sally took a breath and trotted along the grassy earth, her feet sinking into the occasional patch of mud and dirt. She wobbled along, her hair fluttering behind her and her legs very shaky, however despite being so unsure of herself, Sally never felt more alive.
More rotted trees popped up alongside her, and Sally couldn't help but smile up at them, glad to know there were even trees out here, despite their mottled appearance. The wind whispered through the branches and the moonlight danced along the ground, alighting patches of dewy grass and flickering across her stitched face. The cold didn't effect her, she wouldn't let it effect her, and as she hummed while traipsing over the land, her arms sashaying by her sides, Sally wondered where she would venture to first.
She halted in her steps and stared across at the town once again, so much closer than it had been before, and off to the side, emerged the crooked tower with the single light, standing stark against the town's outline. Should she visit the tower, or the rest of the town first? It was a difficult decision to make; for one, the excitement the town promised made her all the more eager to plunder and explore it, and on the other hand, that looming tower resonated with her heart, even though she didn't quite have one—it was a figurative heart, nonetheless. The tower had been the inspiration for her little nightly escapade, it had been the motivation she needed to muster up the courage and bravado to actually enact her plan, and in a way, the tower had been her single friend, silently encouraging her from afar, always there regardless of it's distance.
"I wonder if I'll meet the Skeleton Man tonight," she wondered aloud, hope alighting within her. Even though she felt she couldn't actually handle an encounter with him so soon, she still hoped to perhaps catch a glimpse of him, even if he didn't notice her. Such a thought didn't sit well with her and she frowned, staring up at the moon one final time before drawing a breathy sigh.
If he never noticed her, then so be it. The Skeleton Man was a fascinating being—she had spent most of her free time fantasizing about him, dreaming up scenarios where she would accidentally stumble into him and he would catch her from falling, and then they'd introduce themselves and become merry friends, and…those were just pure fantasies, nothing more. He was a regal being, a bit troubled from what she could tell, but somehow he emanated an aura that was quite intimidating, as if no one could quite penetrate his stature. Perhaps she was thinking too much into things, yet Sally couldn't help but let her thoughts stray towards the skeletal figure she had only encountered those two, measly instances.
She hoped there would be more in the not so distant future.
With her mind set, Sally meandered on.
She trotted across the cobble-lined streets, her tiny feet making small clipping sounds that echoed beyond her. Stone walls stood erect on either side of her, their hulking forms adding to the gloom. The cobbled stones beneath her feet were gray, and the walls surrounding her were gray, and it seemed that everything in her line of sight was shaded that same, monotonous grayish hue, however as she walked further along, a spot of color added to the dreary spell.
Bright orange pumpkins lined the cobbled road, glowing designs and spooky faces carved into their fronts, and as she trotted past them, they smiled at her, missing teeth and all. A tingly pool of warmth situated within her belly and suddenly, she felt humble.
Sally stared about her in wonder, her mouth agape and her eyes wide and quivering as she took in the sights of the Town Square, or what she assumed was their Town Square, either way, it looked to be a place where townspeople might congregate. She wasn't surprised to find the streets hollow and void of life, given the time of night, and for the most part she rather liked it that way—she wasn't sure if she was ready to meet new people yet. So lost in her musings, she accidentally stumbled into an intricately designed spider web, the silver tendrils looping through her hair and cascading across her face. She hurriedly disentangled herself from the silken strands and noticed a lone spider resting on her arm. Carefully, she scooped the tiny thing into the palm of her hand and set it on the stone wall beside her.
"There, little one," she whispered to it, smiling as it scurried away into the night.
As she continued forth, mist and fog trekked across the atmosphere, coiling about her skin and making it damp. She felt heavier as she hobbled along the road, momentarily seeking support from a nearby stonewall that had wooden signs plastered to it- she silently cursed the doctor for making her skin so susceptible to trivial things such as the weather.
She scuffled along the Town Square, mesmerized as she trotted past a deformed fountain that spewed a corrosive green substance. She grimaced at it as she walked by, and in the next second, she let out a small shriek when a loud noise sounded from beside her.
Spooked, she wearily turned to the side and stared up at a massive wooden structure, a hefty blade situated at the bottom—she assumed the blade had dropped from the very top of the mechanism and had crashed to the ground. She had never seen such a contraption before and she could only guess at what it was used for.
Sally shivered.
As she moved further along, leaving the small Square altogether, Sally noticed with a steadily growing sense of awe that more and more buildings began popping up alongside her, the structures towering into the night, and Sally couldn't help but suppress a shudder. She noted that there were only a few lights on within the buildings themselves, and she was grateful there weren't any stragglers staying up into the wee hours of the night.
Seconds passed into minutes, and Sally was still traipsing about in the dark, soundly guiding herself along by the moonlight and the occasional flickering pumpkin. She peered into the distance and squinted her eyes, making out the shape of a gangly pole with dingy wooden signs tacked to it. When she got to the post, Sally stood in front of it and silently inspected the words scrawled haphazardly along each sign. One read Mayor's Office and it pointed East, while another read Town Hall, pointing in the opposite direction, and when she came upon the sign tacked to the highest point of the post, Sally immediately stood to attention.
The sign wasn't wooden; that she noticed immediately, and was embossed in an elegant orange cursive that was slated across a polished silver placard.
"Pumpkin King," she breathed, her whisper dying in the wind.
She stood there before the crooked post, her head tilted loftily to the side—who would want to be a king of pumpkins? It didn't sound very kingly; the fairy tales she glimpsed at in the doctor's library painted a very different picture, one of lace and thrones and glittering crowns, and not of pumpkins. She puckered her lips and furrowed her brow—whomever this Pumpkin King was, by the looks of it, he seemed to be highly revered by the townspeople, if his elaborate placard didn't point that out already.
Sally sighed and made her decision.
The placard had pointed North, and really, Sally was too intrigued to give up such a tempting quest. And so, the timid little rag doll turned round and trekked North, oblivious to the looming tower that forked out into the distance, the same direction in which she was heading.
- Please leave a review if you can, they're very much appreciated and they inspire me to write more often instead of procrastinating, which is the norm for me! :D