Dream a Little Nightmare
By: Laney Sanchez
Note: Can you look at that!! Yes! Look! Above this little rambling statement…Reviews 11! Some might not say that's a lot but it is to me. Every single review is great and thanks to all of you who have contributed. I got three people to thank. First…
Diamond_dragon thanks for the review! I relate to Nameless in that, I too, am too old for such daydreams and fantasies but my imagination is still spinning with crazy stuff! I'm glad you can relate to her and thanks for R&Ring. You rule! =)
Rocker Baby LOL! One question: Is it possible you want me to write more? Heehee (joking!)
And a big thanks to Suitcase who reviewed AND sent me an e-mail! That was so nice of you to take the time to comment on my story. It really makes a person feel good! I'm glad you consider it one of the best! It brings me endless happy giggles to know that you think I've written the characters accurately and that the new ones fit in! Thanks again! =)
Thanks to everyone! You all made my day and I hope I make this story just as enjoyable as it is now right until the very end!
( \/ ) Chapter 10 ( \/ )
o "Absolutely No One Can Know!" o
"I can't see!" Nameless griped beside Poe. She currently was walking with a large brown sack over her that fell over her body from head to toe. This had happened at Jack's request. She remembered the scene quite clearly.
~*~
"What do you mean by that?" Poe had said, seeming rather agitated with his father. Jack put a hand to his skull in a gesture similar to that which someone uses when they have a massive headache. "Never you mind that. Right now…" he paused, then stepped forward to inspect Nameless. "The important thing is that she's not seen. Not until I can figure something out…"
Jack tilted his head, as if examining her. It wasn't the first time he'd seen a mortal, but it certainly was a tad bit perplexing that this one wasn't shaking in fear at the very sight of him. Granted, he could see that she was nervous, but she lacked the fear that was usually accompanied with his presence. He tilted his head and the girl did the same. "What did you say her name was?" Jack asked, allowing his curiosity to get the better of him.
"Nameless," Poe and Nameless said in conjunction. Jack blinked in surprise then looked from his son and back to the girl. Jack then held out a single bony hand. Nameless reached out and shook it. She made sure to be gentle, less she somehow break the hand of her friend's dad. Somehow she gathered that the Pumpkin King might not like that too much.
Jack offered her a sympathetic smile. "Nameless, it's a pleasure to meet you and you must excuse my actions, but this is a very serious situation," he explained, looking back into her eyes. Nameless wasn't entirely sure how to respond.
Poe then stepped between his father and Nameless, breaking apart the handshake. "Father, what exactly is going on?" Jack eyed his son then put a hand on his shoulder. "It's best that I explain when we get home. As I said, the important thing is to not let anyone see her! Especially the Mayor!"
Poe snorted lightly in sarcasm before finally giving in to a light chuckle. "What can that bumbling little oaf do? Kick us in the shins?"
Nameless did her best to stifle a giggle. The idea was kind of humorous, even though she had no idea what the Mayor looked like. Jack shot his son a stern look and Poe immediately wiped the grin from his face. "Well, I still don't understand…"
Jack held up a single hand, motioning for Poe to wait. He scanned the graveyard carefully, until the exact item he needed came across his viewpoint. It was perfect! "Aha!"
Poe blinked and actually found himself, stepping close by Nameless almost as if to shield her. He loved his father but sometimes the ideas he got were a little scary. Poe wasn't exactly thrilled at the thought of his father testing one out on Nameless.
Jack slowly approached a short, squat and impish man. The stubbly little man had a round black, bulbous nose and his eyes were droopy, underlined with perfect dark circles. His clothes were patches and perhaps the most striking feature was his right arm, which out grew his stubby normal one. The right arm was scaly with long glinting claws that were an infectious black. Dirt was matted beneath them, which was appropriate, as he was the caretaker of Halloween town's beautiful graveyard.
"Another addition Dante?" Jack asked with a brief smile. Dante looked up at him, a bit annoyed until he saw just exactly who, it was that was speaking to him. "Jack Skellington, you rascal!" he gushed with a crooked and nasty smile. Jack smiled and nodded. "Long night?"
"Tedious!"
"Splendid news Dante!" Jack said, patting Dante's shoulder, though he had to lean down a bit. Dante nodded proudly then closed his eyes, upon relaxing. "Yep, another long haul. This one will be really interesting, I'm betting. You wait and see!"
Jack nodded again and tried to not rush the situation, though it was rather urgent. "Yes…yes…" Dante said pleasantly. Then suddenly his serene look faded and his usual sour faced look aimed itself at Jack. "So what do you want?"
Jack laughed a little, despite the urgency of the situation. That was Dante for you. He never missed a thing. He was rarely (if ever) present at town meetings, but somehow he always managed to stay on top of the news. He really was an intriguing person. Jack mentally reminded himself to ask Dante how he managed. Later of course…
"Well, I'm in a bit of a hurry and there is some items of important I need to get back to my house. Uh…think you could possibly…" Jack trailed off and his eyes drifted to the rather large, brown sack that Dante was dragging about. Dante smirked and looked directly at Jack. "Halloween directions already?"
"Exactly!" Jack said, holding up one finger.
"Rotten baloney!" Dante snapped. Jack winced. He mentally scolded himself for trying to sneak a lie past Dante. He knew full well that lying to Dante was like trying to get a play toy past Zero. It just didn't happen.
Jack frowned. It wasn't that he didn't trust Dante, but rather that, he wasn't sure he wanted to have to tell anyone and risk needless alarm. There was a strict rule that the door between worlds was closed at exactly midnight: The end of Halloween for this year. Then it would not open again until the following Halloween and Jack was almost positive that it was well past the hour of twelve. Sure, there was other ways to get through to the mortal world, but until he thought of a way, he'd just have to get the pair home where they'd be safe.
"Dante I really can't explain now, but if-"
Dante just gave Jack a knowing smile complete with crooked, slime green teeth. He then dumped the contents of the bag onto the ground. Legs, arms and a foot. The gruesome list went on and Jack found himself making a grimace. "He'll be an interesting one alright!"
Dante nodded and proceeded to hand over the sack. Jack smiled warmly at the impish man and nodded his head in gratitude. "Thank you Dante!"
Dante just gave a smile that might have made any normal person wretch. "Aw, go on now before I change my mind!"
Jack nodded and started off, waving a long, skeletal hand to Dante.
Meanwhile, Poe was steadily getting annoyed. Not only had his father's way of introduction been rude but also what was even more maddening was the fact that his father wouldn't tell him what was wrong. Poe didn't like secrets. In fact he loathed them. To know that his own father was keeping one, right that very moment, made him a little ticked, to say the least. Nameless glanced at Poe. She could sense his tension and it made her a little nervous. She really hadn't meant to cause trouble, but somehow she had known that she would. It was that bad feeling that had been at the pit of her stomach just before leaving.
Poe sighed helplessly and turned back to Nameless. "I'm sorry he's –"
Before Poe could say anymore, he was surprised to see a large, brown sack engulf Nameless. "Nameless!!"
"What's going on?!" Nameless shrieked, throwing a few punches, though it did no good due to the sack over her head. "Get this off!"
Poe looked up to see Jack standing there with a deeply apologetic look. "I'm honestly sorry about this Nameless, but it's just until we get home. Do you think you can walk?"
Nameless considered this. She didn't really want to walk around with a sack over most of her body, and not be able to see. Kind of defeated the purpose of visiting Halloween town. Besides that, the idea made her unnerved. She didn't want to fall through a hole or something.
"Don't be stupid," she thought to herself, taking a few steps forward. "There's not just holes laying ar-"
"Nameless!" Poe and Jack cried out in unison.
Before Nameless could even finish the thought, she felt the ground end and then she hit it once again with a hard thud. She winced in pain and it didn't help that the sack was still over her. Jack and Poe immediately ran over to the open grave she had fallen into. "Great idea father!"
"I'm okay…" she answered weakly.
"Well, we can't have the townspeople seeing her! What else are we going to do?"
Nameless stood shakily. She found that her legs burned with pain, but she could still stand.
"WE? There is no WE! If it were up to me, I'd stop making such a big deal and just take that stupid-"
"You don't understand Poe!"
Nameless tried to pull the sack off of her, but her head was spinning a little, which didn't make the task any easier. "A…little help…?" she asked weakly.
"Well then tell me!"
"Not here!"
Nameless sighed. She then promptly sat down, sack still over her head. She had a feeling this was going to take a little while.
~*~
So now, here she was. Being escorted through the town of her dreams, and she couldn't even see it. Someone had their arm around her shoulders to guide her, but she couldn't be sure if it was Jack or Poe. All she could see was her feet and dark, black, cobblestone street if she lowered her eyes. She could hear voices, all asking Jack what was in the bag, and Jack hurriedly explaining it was an experiment of Dr. Finkelstein's. That excuse seemed to satisfy curiosity, but Nameless felt a big indignant being called an experiment.
Finally, just when Nameless was beginning to get sick of the sour stench the sack provided, and of not being able to see, she heard a door shut behind her and she had proceeded to stop walking.
"Finally…" Poe muttered. Immediately the sack was whipped off of her and she what she saw nearly took her breath away. It was a house, about the size of her own. In front of her, was a single, metal spiraling staircase, though it wasn't large or grand in scale. Her feet stood on a black furred rug, which seemed to actually wiggle as she took a step. She looked to the right, seeing what must have been the living room. It had a few tall, gray, and rather gothic looking chairs. At the far end of the room next to a grand window was a portrait of Jack himself. He had a rather silly grin on and Nameless found it hard not to smile.
For a moment, all Poe and Jack could do was watch. Nameless' curious stare to everything around her was rather cute. For Jack, it was like watching Poe again for the first time when they had brought him home. Jack found himself smiling and momentarily forgetting the urgency.
Nameless walked over to a mantle on the wall, where there was some pictures and a rather creepy looking, stuffed black cat with it's fur sticking up, mid hissing and eyes wide. The funny thing was that it looked so real. Nameless gently poked it with her hand and jumped back as she saw it look to her, then jump down. It lost the wide- eyed stare, but its fur still stuck straight up. Nameless could only stare in awe, then smile as wide as she could. "This place…" she paused, staring around. "It' AMAZING!!"
Poe actually grinned in a fashion similar to his father's. Jack, on his part, smiled as well, though rather proudly. He wasn't above a compliment. "Yes, well I'm glad you like it Nameless. Feel free to explore anywhere in the house. Don't be fooled. It's actually a lot bigger than it seems," he said with a smile. Then his smile faded and he looked to Poe. "I'm going to find your mother and we're going to talk about what needs to be done."
Suddenly the grin faded and he shot his father a skeptical look. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong with her exactly?"
"Not yet. Not until I find a solution! Then I'll explain everything. But Poe," his father stopped, turning to give him perhaps the most serious look he'd ever seen his father have. "Whatever you do, do not take her in public. That is a strict rule,"
Poe gave his father a look that went from surprise to a little bit of aggravation. "Why not?! All I want to know is WHY?!"
Jack gave his son an extremely stern look that left no question. "I said I'll explain later Poe! Now just listen to me and understand that absolutely NO one can know! I promise to explain it later," he said, walking away into another room of the house. Poe couldn't help but give the spot where his father stood, a stony glare. He had never been as mad at his father as he was now. Nameless had stopped ogling the room and had seen the tense exchange between father and son. Poe gave her an apologetic smile, which quickly turned rather dark. The smile startled Nameless a little. She didn't like it on Poe.
"Well, if he won't explain what's going on…then I refuse to partake in his little state of worry. Come on Nameless!" Poe said in a rather jolly way. Nameless blinked for a moment then took a step back. "Alright, wait just a minute!"
Poe turned to look at her.
She smiled a little coyly and turned her expression to Poe. "I've broken a fair share of rules in my life too. I've cut classes, stolen, and all that good stuff. Nothing big, but it's rule breaking. However, I really, REALLY do not think it's a good idea to go and make your dad angry…" she said, wincing a little at the mere thought of seeing a skeleton, who was known as the Pumpkin King, angry. Poe just laughed a little. "Let me worry about my father…"
Nameless still looked a little nervous. The familiar feeling in her stomach had returned. Poe suddenly gave her a calm, reassuring smile. "I brought you here to show you Halloween town and by god I'm going to keep my promise!"
Nameless couldn't help but smile at that and she nodded. Apart of her of her was absolutely screaming with excitement, while another part of her, a big part, was hoping she wasn't making a serious mistake.
~*~
"Did you see that?!" Barrel asked, staked out with Lock by the side of Jack Skellington's house. Lock just nodded his wicked little head. "Yeah! A real live fleshy!"
"Yeah! Here in Halloween town!" Barrel said with a devious smirk upon his little face. It was then that the door opened. "Quick shut up!" Lock snapped shoving Barrel down as the pair walked past. First it was Poe Skellington, Jack's son. Then it was the very same mortal Barrel and Lock had seen while looking through the window.
It had been their intentions to go a gather "supplies" for Oogie's resurrection. They had been ordered (courtesy of Shock) to go find a large, brown sack. They had found one that wasn't really large, but it was brown and it was a sack. Lock had the perfect plan to snatch the sack from the old windbag, Dante, until a certain skeleton had ruined his plans and took it for himself!
However, that had just been the slime on the cake. The real surprise had come when Barrel and Lock had followed Jack to see a real live, mortal. A mortal in Halloween town!
Now, here they were and the circumstances couldn't have been more perfect. The door to the Skellington residence had been left open and upon the floor, the brown sack they had been trailing. Lock looked to Barrel and sneered rather nastily, removing his mask. "A fleshy, I bet she'd make a good snack for Oogie when he comes back!"
Barrel eagerly nodded his head. "Yeah! He'd be real happy then!"
Lock then shoved Barrel forward without question. "Good! Then get the sack! We got work to do!"
