9
a/n ((IMPORTANT!!)) The character Victoria is not mine; she is property of my good friend Musically, who has so graciously allowed me to use her oc. Please forgive me, Musically, if she's not written perfectly. She's a great authoress too guys, you should check out some of her fics. Not to mention, if not for her reminder, I would not be writing this chapter.
I would like to thank all my reviewers out there, who have just been great, and we already said above, special thanks to my friend Musically.
"I can't believe that they're really doing this."
"I know, its so childish."
Sally and Suzy were conferencing as the rest of the town watched the scoreboard. Suzy looked worridly at the clock.
"Its near midnight...do you think something happened to them?"
Sally glanced at the time as well. "Jack and Jake have been going to the Human World for years...I'm sure they're fine." she said, more to convince herself than to calm Suzy.
Suzy laughed. "They're probably sitting down at a cafe somewhere, laughing about how immature this whole night is."
Contrary to Suzy's belief, Jack and Jake Skellington were not sitting in a cafe laughing. They were not laughing. They were not even in a cafe.
They were running out of time, simply put. There were but ten minutes left for Halloween night, and the score was tied.
Jake was desperate to win. He had moved from the ghettos to a ritzy, upperclass neighborhood. If the sign he read was correct, this was Blue Ridge, California. And the particular area he was wandering about in was Ocean View Estates, a gated community. The name fit, Jake thought, as he looked past a few mansions to see a strip of beach with sea water lapping at its edges.
The houses were more like personal skyscrapers, behemoth and impressive, but cold and emotionless. There was a great, olympic-sized pool in the center of the cul-de-sac, apparently for the resident's use. Four tennis courts lined up neatly beside it. Jake could tell the people living here had money...and had probably sold their soul for said riches.
He just needed one more scare. He picked the nearest house, a beautiful white, three-story mansion surrounded by a high, foreboding iron gate. He crept over the spiked fence like a spider on a web, silently and with deadly purpose. His small black shoes not making so much as a rustle in the crisp-cut kentucky blue grass lawn, he mounted up the side of the house, opened the window of the first-floor seamlessly, and slunk in like a shadow.
Jack Skellington was doing something he hadn't done in years...worry.
With ten minutes left, and the score tied, he suddenly wasn't feeling quite as confident as he had been the rest of the competition. Quite the opposite really...he believed that Jake actually could beat him...him, Jack Skellington!!
Jack straightened up. He gave himself a mental pep-talk.
And I, Jack! The Pumpkin King...Thats right, I am the Pumpkin King!!!
He had wandered into some sort of rich subdivision, from what he could tell from the dim light. The orange globes above his head...the streetlights, made him cast an abnormally long shadow...even for Jack Skellington, who measured near seven feet. He looked up at the night sky. It was a dark blanket with bright pinpoints of light, the stars, and a full, yellowing moon stitched in.
He needed a scare, badly. He randomly picked a mansion, one that looked the largest. Leaping over the fence, his plan was to climb up to the third story and enter through the window. About a third of the way up, however, he felt his bones tuning up. There would be a concert tomorrow.
Groaning from the ache in his bones, he settled for the first-story window and slipped inside.
Jake tiptoed on the plush, stark white carpet in the hallway. There were doors branching off on both sides of the hall, and he hadn't an idea which to try first. He decided to begin with the door at the very end of the hall, which had a light shining beyond it.
"That looks promising..." he muttered quietly to himself.
"No no no! Ooooh, its all wrong!" Victoria vented as she hit the backspace key.
She sat at the polished solid oak kitchen table, the blinking screen of her laptop staring at her expectantly.
The girl yawned, dark circles under her hunter green eyes. She wiped a lock of long, wavy, chestnut hair from her face. She hadn't slept all night, and wasn't planning to until her thesis for college was finished. Unfortunately, her writing skills seemed to have drained away with her cup of coffee.
She, unlike the children of the neighborhood, was not costumed. Instead she was wearing a vintage F.O.B. (Fall Out Boy) grey tee, with a pair of dark jeans.
Victoria was not a drinker, but at the moment a bottle of beer seemed like it would be a great comfort. Being twenty-one, legally she could reach into the fridge and get one. But she didn't dare, for she was certain any amount of alchohol this late into the witching hour would make her fall asleep, and she needed this thesis to be finished. She buried her head in her hands.
Which was just about the time she felt a finger of cold air trace down her neck. She turned, irritated that someone was obstructing her work, and came face to face with the skull of Jake Skellington.
Until next time my readers...please review and maybe it won't be such a hiatus like this time huh?
