Author's Note: Well, this is the last story. After this tale and a few parting words from Henry, Origins will officially be done. Of course, it never could have taken form in my head without the existence of The Nightmare Before Christmas. That came to fruition in the minds of others, not I. I'd name them, but I'm feeling an intense need to get this part of the story written. Just know I'm not the genius behind the original film and I think we can continue just fine. (Re-edit Comment: I loved writing these two chapters the most. All the character interaction just did it for me. How about all of you?)
I'm sure many of you are familiar with the town of Wolf Creek, Kentucky. Let me just say that William "Billy" Colby is not the only Halloween Town member, past, present, or future, who lived there. Sarah Anderson was a resident of Wolf Creek during her lifetime. She even attended college close to home so she could be close to her mother, father, and younger sisters. Sarah was a good girl under normal circumstances. That all changed a mere day before she left the mortal world.
— Henry Cadaver
October 30th, 1974
"Remember, class," the professor of the English class said as the class time came to an end, "Read A Streetcar Named Desire for Monday," he finished amidst a crowd of chattering college kids heading straight for the door.
"Professor?" asked a female voice that made the elder man's lips curl into a smile.
"In a moment, Sarah," as the rest of the class finally cleared out.
The professor of the English class looked to his desk and found Sarah Anderson placing a large stack of papers on it. She was a rather bookish girl, with her long red hair almost always tied in a messy bun and large glasses that seemed to magnify her brown eyes. At the moment, she was holding a pencil in between her teeth as she searched for one last paper.
"Here's the cover page, Professor Engal," she said as she passed him a sheet of paper.
"A Comprehensive Analysis of Alice in Wonderland," he read before looking back at Sarah, "I wasn't expecting this until after Thanksgiving Break."
"Well, I got a little bored the past three nights and decided to jump on it."
"You pretty much leaped on it, Sarah. I'm impressed."
"Thank you, sir. I'll have the Streetcar paper ready for you on Tuesday."
"Now, now. Take your time. I wouldn't want the star English Major to burn out. Especially with the play auditions taking place after Halloween. Which one is it this year?"
"Romeo and Juliet," Sarah said with a hopeful gleam in her eyes. "I've been practicing the balcony scene with Lisa for weeks."
"Let me guess, is she Romeo in these practices?" Professor Engal asked as another girl, a tall brunette in bell bottoms and platform shoes managed to walk into the classroom.
"Yeah. Being a guy's harder than they make it out to be," she said to the professor before turning to Sarah. "Class ended, Sarah."
"I know, Lisa. I was just turning in a paper. I'll see you tomorrow, Professor."
"Come on," Lisa said as she practically dragged Sarah out of the room.
"That was pretty rude, Lisa."
"You were taking forever. Derek's outside."
"Derek? You mean Derek Crane?" Sarah asked as her jaw dropped open.
"Yeah. He's handing out invites to his Halloween Party tomorrow. Seniors only, so there's no need to worry about any freshmen creeping up on him," Lisa said as they walked out of the building.
"He won't invite me, will he?" Sarah asked.
"He has to. You wrote his Hamlet paper in freshman year when he almost flunked out of the football team. If he doesn't remember that, well, one of these shoes will find a new home right up his-" Lisa said before she noticed something. "As I was saying, here's the host himself."
"Lisa? What are you talking about?" Sarah asked before she saw why Lisa had stopped talking mid-insult.
There he was, the Campus King himself. Derek Crane was six feet, seven inches of pure masculinity. His eyes were a dark shade of green that could pierce right through a girl's heart, and usually did. His arms seemed to be made for falling into, even sleeping in. He was a buff, blonde god among college students, and Sarah was one of his many worshipers. Right now, she almost bowed at his sight.
"Hello, ladies," Derek said in a smooth voice. "How long have you been coming here?"
"It's our fourth year here, Derek. Come on, you know us," Lisa said, receiving a blank stare from Derek.
"I don't exactly recall you," Derek said to Lisa before looking at Sarah. "Your name starts with an S, right? Sally?"
"Sarah," she said, blushing and looking down at her feet.
"Right. You haven't changed a bit since freshmen year. Here," he said as he passed her two invitations. "Bring your friend along, and don't be scared to dress up," Derek said, flashing a smile to the pair before he walked to the next group of senior girls coming his way.
Sarah and Lisa screamed their heads off the moment they got into Lisa's car. Derek invited them to his party? This was too much for any words to describe. A few screams and hugs could do better than words. At least, until Sarah remembered something when Lisa turned the corner to her block.
"Lisa, I can't go tomorrow night," Sarah said.
"If you say 'I have to study', I'm going to have to slap you," Lisa said.
"It's not that. It's Catherine's birthday tomorrow. She's turning ten."
"She'll have other birthdays you can make it to, don't worry."
"I don't think my parents will like me going to someone else's party when it's my sister's birthday."
"See, if you dormed somewhere else, this wouldn't be a problem."
"We wouldn't be friends if I dormed somewhere else."
"Good point," Lisa said as she stopped in front of Sarah's house. "Call me later, and say yes to Derek's party."
"I'll see," Sarah said as she stepped out of the car. "Thanks for the lift."
"No prob. Don't forget to call."
"I won't."
Sarah watched as he friend drove away before walked up to her house. The family's Great Dane, Duke, was lazily lying on the front lawn. He barely lifted his head to greet Sarah on her way inside. Emma Lyn must have tired him out before she went to school. Sarah smiled at the thought before she opened the door with her keys and found her mother vacuuming the living room.
"Sarah, honey," she said. "You finished early today. It's only one o'clock."
"Yeah, it was just English and an Education class today," Sarah said. "Need any help?"
"Actually, I need you to pick up Catherine's present at the antique shop. I found the cutest rag doll there."
"About that, Mom-" Sarah started before her mother rushed over to the kitchen.
"Catherine has been looking forward to tomorrow for a whole month. Even Marilyn's coming up."
"From Florida?"
"She says it's too hot down there to be fall anyway. She was all ready to leave when she graduated high school last year and now she's running back home. Bless her, but that girl never could make up her mind."
"I guess not," Sarah said in a slightly depressed tone.
"Is something wrong, dear?" her mother asked.
"I was kind of, um, invited to something for tomorrow night."
"Oh. Well, what kind of something is it?"
"A Halloween Party. I haven't answered it yet, Mom. I'll say no as soon as I get the chance."
"Sarah, perhaps you should ask Catherine. Maybe you can go to the party fashionably late. Don't fret, this can be talked out."
"Thanks, Mom."
"Sweetie, you have been a good girl for twenty-two years. Who am I to say no to fun that doesn't include books for once? Now go to the antique shop and pick up the doll."
"I'll be back in a few minutes, then," Sarah said as she left the house once again.
Since her father had driven the family car to work, Sarah had to walk to the antique shop. Thankfully, it wasn't too far away. When Sarah got there, she asked the clerk for the rag doll and waited a few minutes while she went into some kind of back room. When she came back, she held a doll no larger than any of Emma Lyn's old Barbies. It was made of cloth with red yarn for hair and had button eyes and a stitched smile. Sarah forgot she was too old to own a rag doll, that's how cute she found it. Catherine really would love it; Sally made sure to buy a box and gift wrapping paper before she went back home with the present.
When Sarah came back to her block, she saw that there were three men crossing the street to her house. One looked very studious with a clipboard and pen ready in hand. Another was a short fellow who had to run at a faster pace to keep up with the first man. The last was a man not much older than Sarah, who looked at the clouds for a minute before realizing he was lagging behind. Sarah ran up to the three of them before they could knock on the door.
"Excuse me, are you from a church?" she asked. "With all do respect, we're already affiliated with-" she started before the man with the clipboard looked right into her eyes.
"Are you Sarah Anderson?" he asked in a voice of authority.
"Yes. What's wrong, sir?"
"We're taking a survey."
"Who are you?" Sarah asked.
"The Cumberland Associates. We take censuses for the whole Cumberland Area, like Wolf Creek here. My name is Harry Carlyle. The man to my right is Gary Rothschild," Harry said as he nodded to the shorter man.
"How do you do, Miss?" asked Gary as he smiled broadly to Sarah.
"And Jimmy," Harry said as he turned to see that Jimmy was petting the Great Dane lying down on the yard. "Jimmy is our apprentice. His mind wanders," Harry said with a loud sigh. "We're here to ask a few questions."
"You can come in then. It's a little cold out here anyway."
Sarah led the three men into the house and sat them in the kitchen. She read a note on the refrigerator that her mother had left minutes before. Apparently, Emma Lyn had gotten detention for arguing with that Colby boy from down the street. It wasn't the first time, that boy and his friends were always up to something. Knowing her mother, Sarah figured she would be there arguing with Mrs. Colby for quite some time. It looked like Sarah would be answering all the questions for the survey.
"Well, gentlemen, let's begin," Sarah said.
"Where do you go to school, Sarah?" Harry asked as he positioned his pen next to lines on his clipboard paper.
"I go to Cumberland College. It's not far from here, I commute with a friend."
"Why do we need to know that?" Jimmy asked Harry, who shot him a glare.
"Because we do, Jimmy. Remember our briefing?"
"You only told me about Bil-" Jimmy started before Gary elbowed him slightly.
"Thank you, Gary," Harry said before continuing. "Sarah, how would you describe yourself in three words?"
"Three? Well, I would have to say family-oriented, studious, and modest. Did that make any sense at all?" Sarah asked, feeling her cheeks grow red.
"It did, don't worry," Harry said with a grin. "Have any plans for Halloween?"
"Not very sure ones, to be honest."
"That's alright," Gary said. "Honesty's the best policy."
"So I've heard," Sarah said, noticing that Jimmy was fidgeting nervously. "Are you alright?"
"Fine," Jimmy said, getting up and holding his right hand behind his back. "Mr. Carlyle, Mr Rothschild, can we retire to the restroom for a moment?"
"Where would that be, Sarah?" Harry asked.
"First door to your left in the hall."
The three men hurried to that door in a group. Sarah found this quite odd, as she had never seen men go to the bathroom in a flock. She decided to creep over to the door and listen in on what conversation they were having. She was about to be very surprised.
"Jack, I know it's hard for you, but can you please act normal?" asked what seemed to be Harry's voice.
"I'm sorry. This disguise isn't working for me. My right hand's showing," Jimmy's voice said, or rather, Jack's.
"He's got a point there, Henry," said the third voice, that of Gary Rothschild. "We know Sarah's a marked one and she'd work just fine for the doll, why are we doing all of this?"
"I just have to be absolutely sure. Tomorrow night is my last soul, Mayor," the voice of Harry, or was it Henry, said. "After this one, Jack will be in charge. He's on duty tomorrow night too, as a matter of fact."
"Of all the souls you give me it has to be one in great danger of being lost," Jack said.
"That's because you overdid your spookiness for the past seven years and have him disliking Halloween. You'll do fine, don't worry. What matters now is Sarah."
"Are you sure we can't just leave her alone? She seems very nice, Henry."
This was enough for Sarah. Whatever these men were planning, she was going to have no part in it. She took a bobby pin from her bun and unlocked the door with it. She turned the knob to find three completely different men than those who entered. There was a very short, portly man with a tall hat whose head turned around the second the door opened. There was also a corpse staring at Sarah in surprise, and not a good kind. Finally, there was a suited skeleton who, after overcoming the shock of being discovered said one word: Boo.
That was enough for Sarah. She ran out of the house screaming her head off without looking back. It was only until she bumped into her mother, Emma Lyn, and Catherine that she calmed down. After telling them there were strange men in the house, Emma Lyn stormed in to check, since she was quite the bold young girl to begin with. It turned out that if there were men in there before, they were gone now. Sarah was beside herself with embarrassment. She could not possibly have imagined the whole thing, could she?
"Are you ok, Sarah?" Catherine, a small-framed girl with black hair and green eyes, asked when she gave her oldest sister a glass of water.
"A bit shaken, Catherine. Thank you," Sarah said as she took a sip, " I need to ask you something. Would you mind if I left your birthday party early tomorrow?"
"Why? Did Derek ask you out?"
"How do you know his name?"
"Emma Lyn taught me how to use an empty glass against a wall to hear people talk."
"That girl," Sarah said before getting back to the subject, "Well, he did kind of ask me out."
"You can go then. But not until after we blow out the candles, ok?"
"It's a deal," Sarah said. "You know, when you fall in love one day, you'll understand all these things."
"Yeah, but I'd rather just watch tv now," Catherine said.
"Go ahead," Sarah said as Catherine left her side and Emma Lyn quickly plopped down on the couch. "You have to stop fighting with those boys," Sarah said to her.
"They started it," Emma Lyn said. "That Billy Colby is such a moron. Him and those two dumb friends of his."
"What did they do?"
"They said my butt looked big in my bell bottoms. They had it coming."
"The nerve of those boys. Did you give any of them black eyes?"
"Not this time," Emma Lyn said, sighing as their mother called the girls to dinner.
Sarah would eat dinner, call Lisa, and eventually forget about those three strange men who came to her house. Besides, she had to find a good costume for Derek's Halloween Party tomorrow. There had to be something she could go as that wasn't dorky. That's when she came up with an idea. With black jeans, a black shirt, and the right accessories, she could go as a cat. Not over the top and not cheesy at all. Sarah would have the best night of her life tomorrow. Well, that's what she thought.
Present
It's amazing how things tend to work out. In two nights, the Mayor, Jack, and I had to collect one soul and watch over another. It was hard work, but we managed to pull it off. Sarah was a nice and lovely girl, so it was difficult to take her away from her family in that particular stage of life when she had so much to aspire to. Unfortunately, I never planned when to take souls, I just did. That rag doll of the doctor's just needed a soul so badly, and from what I've heard, Sally's having a soul has worked out rather well for Jack.
— Henry Cadaver
