Dream a Little Nightmare
By: Laney Sanchez
Note: First note of business: WOOOHOOO! 24 REVIEWS! Big thank you! I never really expected more than maybe 20 but 24 is just awesome. Let me thank people personally.
First Diamond Dragon, who sent me a nice e-mail. To Dragon, thanks again! You have no idea how much it makes my day to get an e-mail as nice as yours. I'll keep writing the story as long as you enjoy it and keep reading. Thank you so much! Your praise means a lot!
No Need To Know – Well, er…couldn't tell if your review was praise or criticism but thanks either way. I like both. As for Dr. F's sex life, I don't think Jack wanted to know either (he left there pretty fast!) XD
Cobweb I full plan on finishing the story so don't worry! Sorry for the cliffhangers! I promise I won't do it again *crosses fingers*
Ghostwriter thank you for the many reviews! Seems you really like the story? So many reviews…makes my head spin! LOL but a big thank you! =)
The anonymous blank person (sorry!! Just had no name! ^.^;;) well thank you for the comment. I think it's cute too. Actually, I had names for her in my head and I couldn't make up my mind…so finally I said "Hey! It'd be cool to just keep her nameless. She'd fit right in at Halloween town" so that's how that came along.
This also leads me to Suitcase! You do realize you got the 20th review? Well, if you'd like you can name Nameless. Just send me an e-mail if you got a name. If not that's okay too. It was just a little bonus for being the 20th reviewer. Thanks for sticking with the story through it's down time =D
Thanks again to everyone for that particularly. Got my AOL all fixed up now and so it should be good to go. Thank you all! So on with the story!
( \/ ) Chapter 11 ( \/ )
o Kidnap the … Mortal? o
The first thing that Nameless had looked at was the house itself. From the outside it looked like a lie. It was rather small looking with a single tower-like room reaching to the sky. The one room looked like it had constructed onto the house when the carpenter was drunk, as it was a bit lopsided and curvy. Nameless thought it lied simply because it gave off the impression of a little (yet somewhat eerie) house. Inside, it was much larger in scale. She briefly wondered how Jack had managed to pull that off before deciding that she'd have rather not known.
Poe walked ahead to the gates. Nameless stared at the gates. Her eyes scanned the gate thoughtfully. The bars were rather skinny. They were metal and upright in a narrow fashion. They had the insignia of a pumpkin at the very top. She thought they were rather appropriate for someone who was known as "The Pumpkin King."
Poe stopped to look at Nameless. He had to smile a little. Her curiosity was comical. Her eyes were wide, yet a hint of thoughtfulness gleamed within them. She seemed to crane her neck in every direction so, as to not miss one little detail. Finally she walked up to him, smiling like she had just found a brand new toy. Something that she couldn't wait to explore. Poe leaned down a little. "Relax. This is just the front of the house…" he said with a smirk and pushed the gates open with a groaning creek.
What Nameless saw, made her heart race as though she had just run a marathon. The town itself was rather small. To the normal, average human, it would be called "shanty." However, Nameless knew she wasn't like most people. She could see beauty in small and simple things. She knew when an item as simple as a moonstone mineral was magic.
And she knew this town itself was magical and beautiful. She first noticed the town hall which, was built so it looked like the building itself was reaching for the wispy gray clouds above. On it was a clock and a sign, which read "364 Days till Halloween." Nameless couldn't help but giggle. "They certainly are accurate…Guess there's no excuse for forgetting about Halloween" she thought in a whimsical manner.
Poe gave her a gentle smile. He would be lying if he had said that he wasn't growing fond of Nameless. Her fascination and curiosity was almost contagious. Even he was beginning to see the wonder in Halloween town. He was surprised he had never realized it. The abnormal atmosphere was its wonder.
Poe then noticed a few of its inhabitants. He had never really gotten along with some like the Mayor and the devil, but all the same, he was almost positive they'd have some sort of comment on Nameless' presence. He could almost HEAR the comments.
"Mortal?"
"How?"
"That's Jack's son for you alright?"
"How's this possible?"
"Can we eat her?"
Poe just sighed. For a moment he considered turning around and heeding his father's advice. However, apart of his heart was still very angry at his father for the secrets. Apart of him was wondering why he should listen if his father couldn't even be bothered to give him a decent answer.
Much to Poe's dismay, he realized Nameless was already venturing out ahead of him. "Wait!" he called out. As he did, heads turned and gasps filled the air. There was nothing secret about Nameless' presence anymore. The habitants of Halloween town stared wide-eyed as if someone wearing bright pink with rainbow hair had walked in and began handing out lollipops and declaring "Happy Easter!"
Nameless could say nothing. Her voice was caught in her throat. She had never been good at big social events in her own world. Now she had to try and at least say "hello" to rather scary looking creatures. She swallowed and to her relief, she felt Poe rest a hand on her shoulder. "Everyone, this is Nameless," he introduced, keeping it simple.
The first to step forward was a small, rolly-poly boy. The odd thing about this child, or perhaps normal as normal could be in Halloween town, was the fact that this child's eyes were stitched closed. It then struck Nameless just exactly what she was looking at; a corpse child.
"What's she doing here?"
Poe smiled. "She's going to stay here for awhile…"
The child looked up at her as if inspecting her. Nameless couldn't imagine how this was accomplished with his eyes sewn shut. He poked her leg a little. "She's got such soft skin!"
Another then strolled over, similar to the little boy except that it appeared to be a girl, quite slimmer with gray mildew stained hair, held back in a raven black bow. She as well looked to Nameless with her threaded eyes. "She's thin!"
Finally the Devil and Behemoth stepped forward. They exchanged glances then proceeded to give their own observations about Nameless. "She's rather pink…"
"No more darker I think!" the Devil corrected, circling Nameless. Nameless had to admit that the attention was nice but at the same time it struck an odd chord in her heart. This same feeling made it near impossible to breath. Would they like her? Would she be approved? Or would they insist that she leave and take Jack's road of thought. At the moment, none of them seemed to care about any of this, except for looking her over.
"What have you here, Poe?" Poe turned to see the resident witch of Halloween town. Her sister tagged behind her, wide-eyed with gasping surprise. "A mortal, is it?"
Poe nodded and gave a look to Nameless. She seemed to be a little nervous.
"Does your father know about this?" the witch prodded. Poe just shook his head. Then gave the witch an annoyed little glance. He hated the fact that if he did anything, all everyone ever thought to ask was, "Is Jack okay with this?"
He scowled but stepped closer to Nameless, suddenly feeling very gutsy. He grinned a little and now placed both hands upon her shoulders. He allowed a dark, yet wide grin to spread across his face. "Yes…EVERYONE!" he called out. At this, the residents jumped back and for once, for perhaps the first time in his life, all eyes were turned to Poe. Including Nameless'.
"A mortal has come to town!"
~*~
Barrel and Lock scuttled along the shadows. They watched, as the stupid residents of Halloween town ogled the mortal, as if she were a prize-winning pumpkin for the most rot. Lock just made a sour face. "This isn't fair!! With all those people there it'll be impossible to snag her…"
Barrel gave his partner a weary look. "Maybe we should just forget it. We have what we needed right?"
Lock growled. "No!"
Barrel stood back watching Lock with a confused look. "Well, then how do we grab her?"
Lock glared thoughtfully. There had to be a way…
Barrel sat down with the sack in his hands. His wicked little eyes scanned the sack up and down, muttering to himself. "We could just run in and grab her. Or maybe we'll do something to scare her so she runs away from the crowd. Or we could tell Jack. Or even-"
Lock's face lit up and his grin became ten times more wicked. "That's it!" he screeched. He surprised Barrel so much that Barrel rolled backwards a bit. He rolled into the wall and landed upside down. He grinned like a madman at Lock, then suddenly frowned. "I don't get it…what's it?"
"I got the best idea! We'll tell Jack!"
Barrel opened his mouth to include the fact that he had actually come up with the plan, but Lock threw the sack at him. Barrel fell over and shook his head, still beneath the sack. Lock then proceeded to head off towards the Skellington household with a grin. Barrel nodded and stood, scuttling after Lock with the sack as fast as he could.
~*~
A small fist pounded on the door to the Skellington house with extreme urgency. Sally Skellington slowly opened the door, with a small creak. She was a little surprised to see the Mayor standing there, empty-armed and apparently terrified. It had always been the norm for the Mayor to pay frequent visits to their household to discuss future Halloween plans with Jack. He would show up, usually chock loaded with parchments and books. The fact that he had neither, made her very nervous. She bit her lip, already sensing that she could guess what he had to tell Jack.
Minutes ago she had went to look for Poe and the human girl. She had found nothing. Empty rooms and silent hallways, but no Poe. She had rationalized that they couldn't have gotten too far, and therefore had held off on alerting Jack. Apart of her had hoped against any sensible hope that Poe would show up in a room that she had failed to check. Now, as she looked down at the Mayor, whose face had switched to the panicky, sad stricken face, she knew in her gut exactly where Poe was.
"Hurry! Get Jack!! We have a crisis!!" he moaned, twiddling his fingers in a nervous manner. Sally drew in a deep breath and nodded, turning from the door. As she ascended the steps to retrieve Jack from his tower, the gut feeling had grown worse. She stopped a few steps short before the tower entrance and closed her eyes. "Oh…Poe…" she moaned miserably.
~*~
Things had worked out far better than Lock could've hoped. That squatty and stupid little ghoul, the Mayor, had already been at the house, pounding away on Jack's door like a spook with a schedule to keep. Lock and Barrel had hid in the shadows and let the rest play itself out. They had seen the rag doll Sally, the same one who had nearly been cooked into a stew by Oogie, walk off and bring Jack to the door moments later. Lock had almost lost it in a fit of giggles when he had seen the shocked expression on Jack's face. He had elbowed Barrel and they had both snickered.
Jack had wasted no time. He had almost run to the town-square with the Mayor and the rag doll following close at his coat tails. This had brought them to the present. Hiding back by a wall, watching the scene with total glee. Jack's son, the weirdo, Poe had been getting a good yelling from Jack.
"He's lucky…" Barrel commented. Lock shook his head in agreement. In the past, whenever the trio had acted up and tried to pull some post Halloween pranks, Jack had always been there to partake in scolding them and scaring them out of their wits. Granted, Jack wasn't as scary as Oogie had been, but he was still not a fellow that you wanted to go and make angry.
Lock then noticed that the crowd had gathered behind and around Jack and Poe, who were quite busy arguing amongst themselves. The mortal girl had taken this time to step back. She looked rather guilty. Lock sneered. If he had been given the opportunity to cause this much trouble, he would've been rolling about in a fit of evil little giggles.
Lock glanced to his right then his left then slugged Barrel in the arm. "Let's go! Bring the sack!"
~*~
Nameless had remembered a great wave of fear and panic rising up within her heart when she had seen Jack Skellington stalking towards them both. Behind him had been a rather odd looking woman. She looked like the bride of Frankenstein or something similar, except that she was quite a bit prettier. Then behind her, had been a short, stubby little man with a pale, triangular face, which held an expression of grief like worry. She assumed that this had been the Mayor whom Poe had joked about earlier.
The moment Jack had approached them, she could tell he was upset. Maybe beyond upset even. Poe had pushed her behind him gently and gave her a look, which seemed to speak for it's own. It said "stay out of this." Nameless had done so.
"Poe Skellington!! I cannot believe you have done this! I specifically told you not to bring HER-" he jabbed a bony finger at Nameless and Nameless had shrunk back in shame. "Into the eye of the public! And what have you done?!"
Poe had clearly not wanted to get her involved, but Nameless felt as those she were every bit to blame as he was.
"Well you didn't even bother to give me an explanation-"
"I TOLD you that I would after I had told you mother!!"
"Well why shouldn't I be the first to hear about it anyway?! She's MY friend…"
At this, Jack had become suddenly quiet. Nameless felt a little flattered. To have someone defending her by calling her a "friend" was a definite first for her. It made her feel good but at the same time, it had succeeded in making her feel worse. She took a step back. She had begun to think of Poe as her friend as well.
"Well, if he's your friend then why'd you let him get in trouble smart girl?!"
She tried to block out the mental voice that was chiding her but it was no use. It was hard to block out the truth of things. She could have said something. She could have refused to go. She-
Before Nameless could think another thought, blackness covered her eyes and a stench filled her nose. It was the exact same stench of the sack from earlier. After a moment, Nameless realized that it WAS the same sack from earlier. She felt her feet pulled out from beneath her and suddenly she was falling forward. She remembered feeling her head hit the ground and then some pain, but that was it.
