Author's Note: Guess who has spring vacation? Me! That means updates of what's left of this story and more new stuff. Excited? I know I am. First off, The Nightmare Before Christmas came to life through Tim Burton, Danny Elfman, Henry Selick, Disney, and Touchstone Pictures. It has an follow-up courtesy of the gaming company Capcom after a good twelve years. About time if you ask me. But enough about that, it's Henry's time to speak now. (Re-edit Comment: You gotta admit, Sally really is much better with a soul than as an empty shell.)

Sarah's death would be called a tragedy in the days following it. Her family had every right to call it so; she was a bright young girl with all the potential in the world. She still has it, just not in the mortal realm. Alas, they never found out that Sarah had been reborn. Her death was too much for them. If it is too much for any of you, then I completely understand if you wish to skim through the words faster than usual. If not, then I hope knowing the truth behind Sally's soul will give you a better understanding of the rag doll.

— Henry Cadaver

October 31st, 1974

"Catherine, honey, time to blow out the candles,"said a black-haired man amidst a crowd of children in Halloween costumes. "Catherine?"

"Over here, Daddy," said the voice of a little girl, dressed up as a black cat. "Already?" she asked when she walked up to him.

"You know Sarah has to go, honey. Come on, so we can take pictures of the both of you."

Catherine quickly scampered to the table with the large jack o'lantern-shaped cake with ten candles waiting for her. One by one, her sisters joined her for pictures with the cake before she blew the candles out. There was Emma Lyn, dressed as a witch, who handed Catherine a lanyard bracelet she made herself before their picture was taken. Then there was Marilyn, the sister who came up from Florida just to see her little sister on her birthday. She arrived wearing a white outfit, bunny ears, and a cotton tail, which showed up very nicely on the Polaroid. Her present to Catherine was to take her to Disney World the next vacation from school she had.

Then there was Sarah. In their first picture together, Sarah and Catherine looked like a mother cat and kitten. Sarah's arm could be seen keeping Catherine away from the flames on the candle. In their second picture, after the candles had been blown out, Kitty was seem embracing Sarah while holding an array of hand-knit jacket in her hands. Sarah smiled down upon her gently, not showing any signs being rushing to another place. After all, it was only nine o'clock, as the wall in the background read.

"Is Lisa picking you up, Sarah?" her mother asked as Sarah.

"Yes. She should be coming any minute now," Sarah replied as she looked out the window.

"Sarah, where did you find the time to knit all of those?" asked her father.

"In between studying and sleeping."

"Be careful, dear," her mother warned.

"I will, Mom," Sarah said when horn honks came from outside. "That's her."

"Come home before dawn, young lady," Sarah's father said jokingly as he opened the door for her.

"Oh, Dad, I'll probably be back in a few hours," Sarah said as she walked out of the house.

Sarah got into Lisa's car and waved one last time to her parents before her friend drove off. In no time, Sarah buckled her seatbelt and looked over to Lisa to see what she was going as to Derek's party. Lisa looked anachronistic as a 1920's flapper driving a modern car, but she pulled off the look well, from the sequined blue dress to the pearls dangling from her neck."Where did you get that?" Sarah asked Lisa, motioning to her dress.

"My grandma was a flapper back in the 20's. I figured this dress needed to see the public again. Ready to have fun, Study Girl?" Lisa asked.

"Do I have a choice?"

"Nope," Lisa said, chuckling when Sarah nudged her right arm.

"Fine, I guess I'll party. If I even know the meaning of the word anymore," Sarah said as she fixed a fallen cat ear on her headband, "Where is this Halloween bash anyway?"

"Derek's place. Well, his parent's place, they left for business. They won't be back until Sunday."

"Where's that?"

"Summersville. It's a half-hour away, so I suggest we put some music on and enjoy the ride."

With a good supply of eight-track tapes to sing along to, the ride to Derek's place seemed to be shorter than Lisa had mentioned. Sarah couldn't believe her eyes when they drove up to his house, or to be more precise, mansion. It overlooked all of Summersville and seemed to attract all kinds of people in costumes. The pair parked the car near others on the back lawn and entered the suburban palace like Halloween princesses.

"This guy's loaded," Lisa whispered to Sarah as they passed by an eclectic mix of college students dressed as toga-clad romans, cowboys, renaissance ladies, and only one as Elvis Presley.

"I guess he didn't need the football scholarship after all," Sarah whispered back to Lisa when they arrived at the open bar.

"Wish I could afford to let my GPA drop a million points," Lisa replied as she pounded her palm on the counter. "Two beers."

"Just one," Sarah said to the bartender, a John Wayne lookalike for the night. "Lisa, you know I don't drink. You shouldn't either, I hate driving your car."

"Hey, you only ran out of gas once."

"On the freeway."

"Ok, ok. This is my only one, then I'm hitting the buffet. How about you, Sarah? Sarah?"

By the time Lisa asked Sarah about any encounters with the buffet, she was already in another world. Derek had entered the room dressed most appropriately as a medieval prince. He smiled at his guests, played a most gracious host, and amazingly enough went in Sarah's direction. She tried to hide behind Lisa, who only pushed her right into Derek's arms. If Sarah wasn't so focused at yelling at Lisa at the moment, she would have enjoyed the feeling of Derek's arms around her. Then again, by the time she stood back on her own feet, she had lost any ill feelings whatsoever.

"So cats really do land on their feet," Derek said. "Did you find the place alright?"

"Lisa?" Sarah asked, not quite sure what to say.

"We found it fine," Lisa replied. "Nice place you've got here."

"Thanks. You wouldn't mind if I took your company away for a moment, would you?" Derek asked Lisa while he glanced at Sarah.

"Knock yourself out," Lisa said, ignoring the clear deer-in-headlights look Sarah gave her.

"Come on, Sarah. I think we should get to know each other a little better," Derek said to her as he began to walk ahead.

Sarah pouted at Lisa for a moment before she followed Derek. They walked out into the open air, where there was a cool breeze rustling the multicolored leaves in the Crane garden. Apparently, Derek had arranged for this place to be private, as there was no trace of anyone else there, not even a beer keg. Sarah could feel her heart begin to pound against her chest. As smart as she was, she could still fall into those dreams even the most jaded girls had from time to time. Would this be the night Prince Charming noticed her?

"You know, you really helped me a lot that first year," Derek said to Sarah. "I don't think I would have made it past first semester without you."

"It was nothing. A few quotes here, some independent thought there. Papers are easy," Sarah said before catching herself. "I'm sorry, I must sound so pompous."

"You don't. You're good at what you do. English to you is like football to me. That's an analogy, right?"

"That's right."

"See, our partnership is working out just fine already."

"Partnership?"

"Well, possible partnership," Derek started before clearing his throat. "Sarah, I haven't been doing so well on the field as I used to. The Dean's told me to pick up my grades or else I'll be off of the team and the college. He's been pretty lenient on me before, I mean, I haven't even picked out a major yet."

"Where is this going, Derek?" Sarah asked, for once not feeling awed by the local Campus God.

"I need you to help me. You know, write papers, take notes, kind of be my personal secretary."

"Is that why you invited me? So you could hire me as your receptionist?"

"Sarah, please. I'm about a quarter of a point from flunking out. I can't fail any more classes."

"Then drop the football and pick up some books. Look at you, everything in your life has been handed to you without a day's work. I thought you were actually worth talking to instead of some spoiled rich brat," Sarah said as she began to walk away from Derek.

"Wait," Derek said as he grabbed her right arm. "You could be my secretary with benefits, if you know what I mean. Come on, you'll be getting what every other girl on campus wants."

"Yeah, what they've already had," Sarah said as she wrenched herself out of Derek's grasp.

"You can't walk away from me, Sarah. Nobody says no to Derek Crane!"

"Then call me Nobody. That's all I ever was to you anyway."

Before Derek could say another word, a clap of thunder sounded across the sky. Sarah ran inside of the mansion, grabbed a stuffed Lisa, and led her outside to the car. The girls quickly drove away from the Crane house as it began to pour. At the first chance Lisa could get, she pulled over to the side of the road and asked Sarah what had happened. Sarah told her everything Derek had said, and Lisa had only one correct way to answer her.

"You did the right thing. If it were me, I would have slapped him too."

"Lisa, that's your answer to everything."

"It's a damn good answer if you ask me."

"Did I take you away from the buffet too early?"

"Nope. If you'd left me there sooner, I would have burst out of my dress. Let's go home, it's really pouring."

Sarah nodded as Lisa pulled back onto the main road and headed back to Wolf Creek. When they reached the outskirts of town, a most unusual thing happened. The windshield wipers stopped working. Without them, Lisa couldn't see a thing in the rain. She had to pull over again. This time, both girls got out of the car and tried to get the wipers working. They couldn't, so they did the next best thing. The pair tried to flag people down to take them home. However, in the rain and accumulating fog, that wasn't working.

"Lisa, go back in the car, you'll ruin your dress," Sarah said as she began to shiver from the rain.

"I'm not leaving you out here to flag all alone," Lisa said before Sarah ran out in the middle of the road. "Sarah?"

"I see someone," she replied, pointing to distant headlights.

"Quick, flag them down!" Lisa exclaimed.

"I'm trying."

"They're getting kind of close."

"That means they're going to help us, right?"

Lisa wasn't quite so sure about Sarah's reasoning. At the speed that car was going, it couldn't possibly stop to help them. Yet Sarah was there flagging it down. It didn't seem to be pulling over at all. That's when Lisa figured it out- the fog! They weren't going to pull over. The fog was obstructing the driver's vision. Lisa jumped out to drag Sarah back to her car, but by then it was too late.

The driver, a man in his forties on his way home, slammed on the brakes far too late. He winced as he felt the impact against his windshield. As soon as the car stopped, he got out onto the road to see if who, or what, he had hit was ok. He found a girl dressed as a flapper, getting up with a few scrapes and bruises.

"Are you crazy?" he asked in bewilderment.

"My wipers stopped working. We couldn't see a thing in the rain without them," Lisa said as she got up.

"We?" the man asked, his face turning pale.

"Sarah." Lisa said to herself in a dark tone. "Sarah? Sarah?" she called out before she found her friend. "Oh my God!"

"Is she-?" the man started to ask, rushing over to see the second girl.

It was too late for her. Sarah had taken most of the pressure of the crash upon herself. Her skin was cut up from the glass, and Lisa could feel that a lot of her bones were broken. Lisa could even make out a very faint pulse. However, there was one thing she couldn't feel- her breath. Lisa tried to give Sarah CPR, to make her breathe again, but it was all in vain. By the time any help got to that foggy road, it was too late. Sarah Anderson had passed from this world, leaving behind a crushed family, a broken-hearted best friend, and a man consumed by grief. It was truly an accident, a tragedy that stole away a young genius' soul.

As for who stole that soul, he was carrying it around the streets of Wolf Creek in the pouring rain. Henry still had to meet up with Jack. He seemed to be taking this particular soul very seriously for some reason. In Henry's arms, Sarah's soul moved about in its 'sleep'. Apparently, it didn't realize it had left the body yet. Henry sighed to himself, growing impatient with Jack. That is, until he saw a young boy run past him, screaming his head off about a skeleton. Needless to say, Jack was right on his trail.

"What are you doing?" Henry asked, watching the Pumpkin Prince stop in his tracks.

"Oh, I'm just, um, watching the soul," Jack said, chuckling sheepishly.

"I'll yell at you when we get home," Henry said as he formed a dark portal around himself. "Let's go, before she wakes up."

"Yell at me? But you don't even know what I did yet."

"I can tell it's something big, Jack. I can just feel it."

Jack decided not to argue any further and followed Henry through the portal. It was the fastest way to get the soul from the Real World to Halloween Town without it waking up. Besides, walking into the woods in all that rain and mist wasn't too appealing to Jack and Henry anyway. As to where they ended up, it was right in Doctor Finkelstein's laboratory, as expected. The Mayor was waiting for them, and apparently relieved when they arrived.

"Whew, good to see you again. It's hard trying to keep the doctor out of his own lab," the Mayor said.

"You can let him in after we give the body a soul," Henry said, looking to the doctor's rag doll, which was currently lying down on a metal table.

"How long will that be?" the Mayor asked.

"Right now," Henry replied, placing the soul right on top of the body.

The three men watched as the rag doll body absorbed the soul. She began to twist and turn about, as if having a nightmare. Her head shook and she began to breathe heavily before sitting straight up and opening her eyes. They now had black pupils, a sign of life, intelligence, and right now, fear. When she got a good look at the three surrounding her, she yelped a bit and curled up against the wall. She closed her eyes and rocked back and forth, muttering all the while.

"I don't think she's improved that much," the Mayor whispered to Henry, his face changing to show his disappointment.

"She's scared. It's natural for her to be after all she's been through. Jack, talk to her," Henry said.

"Me?" Jack asked. "Are you sure?"

"Cooperate now and I won't yell at you so much later."

"Alright," Jack said, watching the Mayor and the Pumpkin King leave to fetch the doctor.

The Pumpkin Prince sighed to himself before walking up to the curled up doll. He had trouble finding what to say to her to make her feel better. "Welcome to the Afterlife" was a bit much and "Hey, you're dead" seemed a bit too insensitive. This was tough. At least, until Jack realized that the best way to talk to this girl was to make her feel comfortable instead of scared.

"Hey," Jack started, watching the rag doll jump and move away from him. "It's ok, I won't hurt you."

"Who are you?" she asked before looking down at her hands. "Who am I?"

"You're Sally."

"I am? Are you sure?"

"I'm pretty sure."

"Why do I have so many stitches? Why is my skin blue?" she asked before feeling her hair. "Is this yarn?"

"I think so. The doctor can probably answer those questions," Jack said.

"Who is he?"

"He's your creator."

"He is? Oh," Sally said, not hiding any disappointment in her voice. "Well, I wouldn't have minded if you made me. You're nice. Not that the doctor isn't nice, I don't know him. Or do I? I'm so confused. I don't even know your name."

"Jack Skellington," he said, extending his right hand to her.

"Nice to meet you then, Mr. Skellington," Sally said, taking his hand in hers for a moment before shrinking back and blushing a bit.

"You can call me Jack. Being formal's a bit boring at times."

"So, you're a skeleton?"

"Yes. Being dead has advantages. I can take off my head, want to see?"

"Not yet," Sally said, feeling a bit nauseous at the thought. "Does that mean I'm dead too?"

"In another world, you would be considered dead. Here, you're reanimated, born again."

"Wow. I never thought that could happen."

"Anything can happen here," Jack said with a grin that took up his whole face.

Sally would have asked Jack more questions if the raised voice of an angry elder man hadn't interrupted them. Doctor Finkelstein wheeled himself into the room while raging over the nerve Henry had at giving Sally a soul. It was preposterous. It was out of the question. Then, when Doctor Finkelstein actually got a good look at Sally's capacities, it was the best idea Henry Cadaver had ever had.

"Hello, are you the doctor?" Sally asked, getting used to the strangeness surrounding her.

"Sally! You can speak!" Doctor Finkelstein exclaimed.

"Am I not supposed to? I'm sorry."

"No, no. It's amazing. I can actually have conversations with you instead of having to wipe drool from your chin."

"I drool?"

"Not anymore, you don't."

"What if I do by accident? Will you be mad at me?"

"You have curiosity, compassion, intelligence, cognitive skills galore! I could never have imagined this for you in my most precise calculations. We have to celebrate."

"Wow, I've never seen him so happy," the Mayor whispered to Henry in happy surprise.

"Makes the whole 'Sally Doesn't Need A Soul' speech almost tolerable," Henry whispered back.

"Especially since we don't need to hear it anymore."

"What are you two babbling on about? Is there still anything from the Halloween festivities left over? This is an achievement in science that must be celebrated," Doctor Finkelstein said.

"Boogie's Boys stole most of the candy and took it to their hideout on the outskirts of town," Henry sighed. "I'd get it back, but I figure I shouldn't be rounding up outlaws on my last nights before parting."

"Last nights before parting?" Sally asked. "Where are you going?"

"Oh, that's nothing for any of you to worry about yet. Come now, I'll bring up a bottle of cider and we'll toast," Henry said as he left the room for a moment.

"Oh, no. You don't have to do all of that," Sally said, wringing her hands nervously.

"Of course we do," Jack said. "You're the newest member of Halloween Town."

"You all are very nice."

"Found it!" Henry exclaimed, returning with the cider and cups and began to fill them. When he made sure everyone had a cup of cider, he started a short toast. "I would like to make a toast to beginnings."

"Beginnings?" the Mayor asked. "But this is where we all ended up at our ends."

"Yes, well, every end is a new beginning. On All Soul's Day, I'll meet the end of my reign and Jack will begin his. May God help you all."

"Hey!" Jack exclaimed.

"I kid. That is another beginning I am sure will be very fruitful. To Sally, and her afterlife with a new outlook. To the Mayor, may he begin to make decisions for himself."

"I'm not sure about that," Doctor Finkelstein mumbled to himself and the Mayor smiled widely.

"To you, Doctor Finkelstein, and your many future creations and an afterlife with a housebroken lab assistant."

"About time too," the doctor replied.

"And of course, to the future, the ultimate beginning. Tomorrow is another day, another chance to start anew, and it always comes, whether or not we want it to sometimes. Here's to all of us, to tomorrow and the many days to come."

That was something they could all drink to. Not long after that, Henry, the Mayor, and Jack left the laboratory. Doctor Finkelstein took Sally to her room and wished her a good night, still happy from her advancement to intelligence. Sally walked over to the large window overlooking part of the town. She could make out Jack's figure dragging its feet a little behind Henry. She smiled at it before she backed away from the window and mentally scolded herself.

Sally had hardly been in this place for an hour and she was already obsessing over, of all things, a skeleton. Well, he was a nice skeleton, with a sense of style, humor, and a very handsome smile. Sally stopped her thoughts right there. She figured a good night's sleep was what she needed to rid her mind of Jack. As she closed her eyes, she could still see that skeleton, laughing and smiling at her. This time, she didn't scold herself at all.

Present

Sally adjusted very well to Halloween Town, better than I think anyone expected. It's a shame I couldn't spend all that much time with her before I left. Timing, for once, wasn't on my side when it came time for me to go. It was a tradition that had to be honored; when the new Pumpkin King was given the title, the old Pumpkin King had to leave Halloween Town. I'm sure you are wondering where I went, but I am afraid that is a story that cannot be summarized in a blurb such as this one.

— Henry Cadaver