Suspicion, Tension, and Oblivion
Haunting noises of all kinds erupted with jubilant triumph once the classic song came to a close.
Jack's last Halloween as king had finally ended.
'Out with the old, in with the new…' Kenneth thought grimly as he imagined himself endeavoring to entertain this critical crowd while his misery slowly consumed him with each and every performance.
He slumped against the side of a nearby jagged fence and watched as all the members of Halloween Town poured into the center of the square.
The hungry mass swarmed around Jack, eager to congratulate him on a job well done. And once every monster had surrounded their object of praise, the cries of gayety abruptly turned into cries of admiration that were all directed toward the thrill of the evening.
Sally patiently waited for all the excitement to die down on the outskirts of the square in her exuberant state. She seemed to emanate a glow of enthusiasm while a smile danced upon her stitched lips and an admirable gaze overtook her enormous eyes. She stretched her sewn limbs and strived to catch a mere glimpse of her beloved through the frightful crowd, but even though her attempts were in vain, her brilliant and lovely aura never faltered.
Finally after much waiting, or contemplating in Kenneth's case, there was a break in the mob and Jack's tall skeleton form was revealed. He was wearing a Sally original: a standard black suit with patches of white pinstripes, checkerboard patterns, and white swirls and circles that irregularly overlapped in a sinister pattern. To top it all off, the suit was complete with spider cufflinks and his classic bat bow tie to finalize a look fit for a Pumpkin King.
As if his sockets were drawn to the spot, Jack's gaze locked on to Sally's radiant form. Her smile grew wider and her eyes overflowed with adoration as she looked back. That terrifying expression that Jack could easily sustain melted at the very sight of her affectionate, moonlit face. He returned a grand, love filled smile just before he was whisked away into another trivial conversation with monster admirers.
Sally let out a small elated sigh and turned toward Kenneth.
"He will meet us back at the house", Sally said surely in her soft dreamy tone, "let's go." Side by side, they slowly began to walk up the archaic stone path to Skellington tower. "Now you may explain yourself", she spoke lightly as she looked up at her only son.
Kenneth cleared his throat.
"For the record, my tardiness was not my fault", he stated as a-matter-of-factly.
Sally raised an eyebrow in obvious amusement.
"I'm serious this time!" Kenneth exclaimed, "I arrived just when the song began and I would have been in town square sooner if not for all the constant disruptions, AKA all the crazy creatures that belong to this insane asylum!"
A booming laugh sounded off from behind causing them to both jump and whip around to see a small group of town's folk all looking their way.
"Ah Ken, we were jus havin a lil fun with ya!" bellowed the tentacle haired demon that scared him earlier.
"We really didn't mean to make you mad", the creature with snake-like fingers spoke earnestly.
"Ken, I believe your participation along with your father's made this our best Halloween yet!" the mayor proclaimed in his most official and animated tone.
"We whole heartedly agree!" the witches chimed in.
"Oh and to think about what is to come next year when you are King! Oh it will simply be horrible! I can't wait! We must start planning now if you want to be as grand as your father Ken…" the mayor went on and on excitedly, and what was about to turn into a Halloween planning session was thankfully stopped by a certain ragdoll.
"That will have to wait mayor" Sally said hurriedly as she tried to prevent the hours and hours of planning agony, "Kenneth must dine with his family first."
"Oh alright, tomorrow then!" the mayor boomed evidently not phased and happily bustled away.
Sally sighed.
"Oh well, let's just get out of here before we're dragged into something else" she said as they both turned to continue toward the house.
"See? What did I tell you" Kenneth spoke in a victorious tone while his mother just stifled a giggle.
As they strolled on, the dark, crooked tower came into view. Their ominously imperial manor was nearly a straight shot from where they walked, but the perceptive ragdoll decided that their conversation was not quite over.
"How was your visit to the human world?" she inquired innocently and tilted her doll-like face up at him once more.
Warmth: indescribable, exhilarating, and wonderful warmth rapidly coursed through Kenneth at the very thought of her. His normally philosophical expression grew dramatically soft as he could barely contain this... this feeling he could not quite describe.
"It was very nice", Kenneth whispered in a low, gentle voice.
Sally, still looking up at him, eyed his involuntary smile suspiciously.
"And what made it so nice?" she asked sounding intrigued as she smirked sweetly and watched him closely.
At this, Kenneth's whole countenance abruptly altered.
"Oh! Uh… I mean… just nice to scare some humans that's all!" he spoke much too loudly with his usual fake enthusiasm and laughed nervously.
Sally's brow furrowed as she let out an almost, almost, inaudible "hmm" in her suspicion.
The patched up doll then proceeded to look on, obviously lost in thought.
All of a sudden as they reached the gates to their towering abode, a black fog came out of nowhere and blanketed the cobblestone ground.
"What the…" but before Kenneth could finish, a hauntingly eerie laugh of a young woman encased the area.
"Ah… You thought Halloween was over did you?" the sly voice hissed in a smooth tone, "Oh no, the fun has only just begun!"
Kenneth exhaled sharply as his impatience got the better of him.
"Would you knock it off, Irene? I would like to go inside please!" he shouted with fake civility "Besides, you don't scare me anyway."
"Oh, is that so?" Irene's voice cooed all around in a mocking way "Let's test that theory, shall we?"
Then she was everywhere, her voice echoing wicked laughs from every imaginable direction. Kenneth found himself whipping around again and again in order to locate the devious demon. The black fog only made the circumstances worse as it took to new heights and enclosed the mother and son. Irene's ongoing laughter grew closer and closer to the point where Kenneth could feel it right in his ears.
He could not breathe.
He could not think as her unbearable voice filled his skull, and the blinding fog choked at his sinewy body. He could bear it no longer, he was about to scream. Just as he nearly lost it however, what felt like a small stitched doll hand violently grabbed Kenneth's wrist.
And so, he sky rocketed in absolute fright.
Evidently pleased, the doll hand released his bony arm and Irene Skellington snickered in victory.
"Gotchya" Kenneth's notorious little sister triumphantly spoke as the black haze cleared and revealed the youngest of the Skellingtons.
She was a rag doll just like Sally only with a light mint green complexion and short inky black hair that poked out in all different directions. She wore a ragged dress with torn off sleeves and vertical black and white strips that unevenly stopped about knee length. Though Irene greatly resembled their mother, there was something in her air that seemed more devious and sinisterly striking. Mischievous as ever, she looked up at her skeleton brother with her head cocked to the side and an impish smile on her dark purple lips.
"Admit it" she insisted in her amused manner as her head tilted more to the side and her grin grew more twisted. Kenneth's displeased expression did not change.
"Sure" he spoke irritably as he scowled down at her "May I please enter my house now?"
"Fine mister crotchety" Irene said tauntingly as she stepped out of his way "I was only trying to lend you some holiday spirit, no need to be so touchy…"
Kenneth made a grumpy "hmph" noise in response.
"Well, who's ready for dinner?" Sally finally voiced in, trying to ease the tension in the air.
Sally began to prepare what looked like a Christmas dinner with a massive roast turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, several vegetables, and of course, Pumpkin pie. Kenneth every year implied that it was somewhat bizarre to have Christmas food on Halloween, but every year Sally insisted that Jack should have his favorite kind of meal on his holiday.
While she continued to make Jack's beloved "Halloween" feast, Kenneth and Irene sat awkwardly across from each at the grand dining room table in silence.
"So…" Irene started, determined to make him talk "Where were you this evening?"
"I was there for Dad's entrance" Kenneth defended "But I could ask you the same thing…"
"Oh please, I was there!" Irene snapped irritably "I was just hanging out with some of my friends, but of course you wouldn't understand that considering you don't have any friends…"
This comment struck a nerve. Kenneth immediately slammed his skeletal fists on the table as he jolted up in response.
"Well at least I'm not some stuck up slut who only cares about herself!" he roared across the table.
"What did you call me?" Irene yelled in a rage as she rose from her seat.
Overhearing the commotion, Sally runs in with an unfinished pumpkin pie in her hands.
Instead of the sweet soft spoken mother they all knew and loved, Sally had transformed into a terrifying beast that could give even the Pumpkin King a run for his money.
"I have had it with the both of you acting this way towards one another! If you two don't knock it off right now, so help me… I promise if you guys ruin any part of this dinner, I am going to make this the most horrifying and miserable night of your lives" she slowly snarled with a clenched stitched jaw and infuriated beady eyes.
This immediately got both the siblings attention as their own faces transformed into tense, terrified expressions.
"Got it?" she spoke forcefully as her deathly stare locked on to both her children.
Without hesitation, Kenneth and Irene shrunk back into their seats and simultaneously said "Yes Ma'am" in clearly frightened voices.
The anger seemed to dissolve only slightly from her face as she responded "Good", and the terrifying beast then returned to her lair without another word.
The siblings relaxed in their seats, relieved.
"I think you were right Irene" Kenneth spoke as if the squabble never happened "Halloween is not over yet."
"Yeah, no joke" Irene replied, apparently still shaken by her mother's vicious display.
"There!" the sweet, lovable Sally had returned as she elatedly eyed her meal masterpiece on the dining room table. Even Kenneth himself was quite impressed with the exquisite dinner that lay before them while Irene on the other hand appeared to be more interested in one of her loose arm stitches.
"It looks great Mom" he spoke genuinely while a smile graced his face, "I'm sure the man himself will love it."
"Oh, I can only hope" Sally said blushing and beaming at the thought.
The doll then turned her attention entirely toward her uncommonly happy son.
"You seem very happy this evening" Sally stated still smiling and appeared to be analyzing his expression.
"Just happy to be home and surrounded by Halloween" Kenneth attempted his father's dynamic tone as his true happiness was once again masked.
His mother's large, magnifying eyes continued to study him as if she was once again lost in thought.
An outstanding rap at the door quite assertively made itself known.
"He's here!" Sally squealed giddily, all pondering forgotten, and whooshed away into the front room while Irene calmly trailed behind her.
Relieved from his mother's prying eyes, Kenneth relaxed his tense and untruthful stance and slowly entered the front room.
"I'm here!" Jack's dramatic voice sounded off, and the towering door immediately swung open as if a grand show was about to begin.
If there ever was a skeleton who could appear regal, it would be Jack Skellington hands down. Thin as a rail and right in the doorway, the skeleton seemed to radiate an air of natural grace as his sockets scanned across his imperial dwelling and over the heads of his relations. After he appeared to be finished, he closed his "eyes" and took in a deep, savoring breath to bask in the glory of his royal domain. Finally once his sockets reopened, there Jack stood in a stance ready to take on the world and looked down on his family only to smirk at his wife's reaction.
"Welcome home" Sally breathed as she looked up into his majestic face in absolute bliss.
Jack's skeletal smile only broadened in response, and he pulled the door shut behind him.
"It's great to be home" he spoke tenderly as he approached his Queen and almost possessively put his arm around her, "How are my two favorite kids?"
The two young adults replied simultaneously; Kenneth with a very unenthusiastic and unconvincing "Never better" and Irene with a very indifferent "Can't complain".
"Oh come now, where's that Halloween spirit?" Jack asked them animatedly and was evidently unaware or unconcerned with his children's attitudes as he briskly changed subjects, "Which reminds me… How about that splendid Halloween feast?"