The Queen of Halloween Town
Disclaimer: I do not, in any way shape or form, own the film 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'. All rights belong to Tim Burton, and others who made this film. Creative license has been taken.
A malignant scream echoed through every corner of Halloween town. It made every gravestone tremble, and every cockroach went to cover under stones and furniture. Children were frightened in a way unreal to them, and the adults hung their heads in sorrow, knowing who the scream was coming from.
Jack had locked himself in his study, where pieces of furniture were thrown over and glass was shattered in a painful and angry rage. His breath was raggedy as her stared at the broken mirror, his bony face staring back at him in a thousand separate views. His clothes were torn and dirty, and Zero lay by the sidelines, waiting for Jack to calm. He whimpered quietly, and Jack sunk to his knees, carefully stroking the dog and carefully picked up the pieces of shattered glass resting on the floor. He sighed. Placing a hand to his shirt to feel the ribs where his non-existent heart should lie, he sunk onto his bed and curled up to begin crying again.
Zero glided up to the bed and curled up next to his owner, careful not to disturb him. The animal was confused, completely unawares as to what was going on, but knew in his small ghostly heart that Jacks had been broken.
Far down the hill in the village, a black church bell rung, 29 times for every year the recent dead had lived. Real death was almost non-existent in Halloween town, those dead usually living on.
A small crowd gathered around a statue in the graveyard, a place that a week ago was filled with shrieking fear and laughter, but now, no sound filled the place. The air seemed hollow, and if you listened closely, you could hear the soft jingling of bells in the air. No one spoke a word.
The gray statue was that of the queen on Halloween town, a monument to her grace and beauty, a nightmare queen with hollow eyes. The carved in epitaph was simple, in a way that would always remind you that she was the beauty of horror in itself. Words that stood nothing to what she really was.
Sally
Your ghost is always
around the corner,
across the way,
haunting us
in our hearts
The queen of Halloween town
Jack stayed inside for weeks on end, and from the little village, the sounds of screaming, crying, and shattering glass could be heard from up on the hillside. Zero kept by Jacks side, ever hopeful for the day he would be his old skeletal self again. All was in ruins from fits of rage and sorrow, and things went on like this for months, Jacks not once leaving the house. When august came and the days grew hot, Jack finally emerged at midnight, when all were asleep, dreaming spooky dreams of next Halloween.
The moon was full, just like the night.... 'No, don't think about that!', he told himself. Zero silently floated behind him, wondering where he was headed.
He walked without care for a while, unawares as to where he was, or what he doing. After a while, he realized he was on the hill over looking the graveyard. the spot where it happened. He stood in shock for a moment before falling to his knees an burying his face in his hands. He lay there for a while, lost in his memories and drowning in tears, until Zero dragged him back up to the house on the hill.
The next weeks were spent locked in the highest room of his house on the hill. The villagers could see a light on in the room, but no sounds echoed from the space. Silence overtook the space and all the residents of Halloween town kept their eye, or eyes on the home, for fear that something terrible was going on.
Inside the long locked room Jack lay, with his head on his pillow and his mind on sally. The pillow was damp with a constant stream of tears, and he was sure he would cry until there was nothing wet left in him, and his bones shriveled into dust. His mind assured him that in a million years they would actually care enough to come up and see him, and by them he would be long gone, and only misery would be left to befoul this space. He was convinced that anything he did wouldn't matter, because Sally would never return.
Far below the Mayor had called a meeting of the town for concern of jack. With his pale face turned to face the crowd, he spoke into the microphone, sending a quiet over the gossiping crowd.
"As you all know, since the death of Sally, "disfigured faces hung in despair "Jack has been somewhat, ummm..." The mayor fumbled for words. "well, we are not quite sure. Most of you have noticed that he has not left his house in months. I would want to simply leave him to himself, but with Halloween coming up...." The crowd roared. "we simply can't do it without him. So the question is, do we disturb him, or do we, cancel Halloween this year." he said solemnly.
"So, all in favor of canceling Halloween?" said the mayor uneasily. All hands, paws, wings, tentacles, and the like stayed down. "Then its settled." spoke the major uneasily. "I will visit Jack a week before Halloween."
In the dead of night Jack crept out of the house to the cemetery. With Zero fast asleep, he tiptoes through the graveyard, finally coming to a stop at the large monument that marked Sally's grave. He stared up at the carved face, and brushed his fingers against her stone cold hands. He climbed up onto the larger than life sized model and sat in its arms, laying his skull against its palms and grasping its fingers as if they were the last things keeping him from death. He closed his eyes and remembered.
They were on the hill over the graveyard, on Halloween night. The moon was full and they sat together, staring at it, their arms around each other. Sally looked up at him with her big eyes. He leaned toward her, held her tight, and then it happened.
She slipped from the hill and fell, downward, toward the cemetery. Jack grabbed her small hand and held onto her as tights as he could. Her hand slid from his and she fell, down to the ground, and heard the thud of her body as it hit the ground, and he could instantly tell it was her end.
He had felt something brush his cheek just after she hit the ground, and he couldn't help thinking it might have been her ghost.
It was my fault, it was my fault, he repeated over and over in his head. With more tears flowing down his cheeks and chilling his bones in the fall air, he tumbled into a fitful sleep.
He woke in the arms of the immense stone doll. The sun was high in the sky, an all around him were the people of Halloween town. The whispers amounted to a dull roar, and as he shook himself awake he looked around, and realized where he was and what was going on. He stood up, scrambled down the statue, and elbowed his way through the crowd. Looking back only once on the people that were once his friends, he fled, down an alley and away from sight.
He slowed to a walk and put his hands in his pockets, his head hanging down. He watched black cats crawl from sewers, their whiskers wet and rats dangling from their mouths. He grew weary, and before long settled into a corner by a trash can, to sleep, dream, and forget.
When he awoke the alley was empty. He could see the clock tower rising above the buildings, and it was just striking midnight. A cat sat next to him, staring into his eyes. he scrambled up and set off to his home.
Tromping steadily, not changing his pace, not looking up from the ground, for fear he would see something reminding him of Sally. something tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped.
Standing behind him was a woman. A skeleton, actually. She had long, silky black hair still clinging to her skull, and she wore a beautiful burial gown. He face was sculpted, with high cheekbones, and her empty eyes help something beautiful in them.
"Hello Jack..." she said in seductive whisper. "We heard what happened to Sally." Jack looked down, afraid she would see his tears. "I can help you, free of charge."
Oh no.... His mind races back and forth, but his thoughts were clouded and again and again, Sally's face emerged in his mind. He needed to forget.
She walked word him, took his hand, and led him to the back seat of a hearse.
As he scrambled in, he kept thinking of sally. her face, he voice kept whispering in his ear. But the woman kissed him, and his mind went blank. For a while at least, he forgot.
A crow cawed at daybreak, and Jack awoke. The girl lay next to him, sleeping peacefully. He panicked. How did this happen? how could he do this to her? How could he betray her?
Oh Sally.
He reached into his wallet and deposited money on the seat before scrambling off. he knew it wasn't the girls fault. He sprinted head on up the hill and into his house.
He paced back and fourth for the rest of the day, crying and screaming and simply wanting it all to be over. How could he have made such a mistake, betrayed Sally? He had loved her, he would not have done anything to harm her. How could he have done such a thing?
He sat down and stares at his fingers. He knew he would never be able to deal with what he had done. With trembling bones he climbed up to the large window overlooking is backyard.
When the Mayor came to see him, he entered to find a shattered window and a pile of broken bones with Jack's skull on top, several stories down.
by. Ten-kih Ho-shih