The Burden Of Bad News
"Uhhhhh…" Sydney groaned. Her eyes were lazy with sleep. She tried to move, but couldn't, she was restrained by her spread wrist and ankles, "What! What is this!" The shock of being tied down woke her up completely. Sydney picked up her head and looked at her body, "Aaaaaaa…aaaaa…" she tried to scream at her sight, but she was too mortified to do so. Sydney was caught in a giant spider web! Her eyes darted around the room, demanding an escape route. She noted that the web was centered in the middle of a dark room. With a little straining through the dim lighting, Sydney made out the room to be a gothic living room, though she doubted anything "lived" here. Everything from the furniture to the décor looked twisted and dead.
Approaching footsteps echoed in the hall behind Sydney. She squeezed her eyes shut, afraid of what the mysterious creature may look like or do.
" Hello?" Sydney said. Her voice was thick with fear, "Are you here to help me?" The footsteps stopped. Sydney lowered her voice to an intimidated whisper, "Are you here to…hurt me?" There was still no response.
Why did I take this job? Sydney's thoughts whined. Why, oh good god, why did I take this job! I should have never walked so close to the river. If that damn dog had just-.
The footsteps started again. First they tiptoed slowly, cautiously. Then they sped up. They became a run that sparked a leap out of the creature, throwing him onto the unstable web. Has thrown weight upon it cause the entire structure of the cobweb to wobble in and out. This sudden attack sent Sydney into blaring screams. She never saw the monster with glazed, black eyes and sleek claws crawling towards her, but she knew something dangerous was there. Now the creature was positioned right above her head, but in the springing of the web, all she saw was his raised deadly, sharp hand.
Jack strolled into the room with a tray of drinks, "Diego, I doubt that the human will enjoy this fine blood here, so I brought-Diego, no!" Jack had just saw the screaming girl and Diego's attempt to strike. Not being able to aim good while the web was shaking, he struck the web. The entire cobweb split in half from the top of Sydney's head down. Sydney screamed as she fell towards the floor. Jack throw down his tray of drinks. He got a running start that powered into a slid on his knees that took him underneath Sydney. She fell backwards into his thin arms.
"Diego, what were you thinking?" Jack shouted, "You can't be so rough with humans! They're delicate and frail, especially the human girls," Jack looked down into the eyes of Sydney, her arms slung behind her head. He spoke softly, almost as if she were a child (which she wasn't!), "Are you alright?" She was breathing hard and still a bit shaken, but at least she wasn't screaming anymore. That could have been because she felt a warm sense of comfort coming from Jack. He wasn't the most calming sight in the most, but Sydney was receiving a friendly vibe from him that she could trust. She liked this creature. And had obviously forgotten that he was the object of her nightmares.
"Yes, I think I'll be alright," Sydney responded.
Diego, who was still clinging from the part of the web attached to the ceiling, dropped down to the floor. He walked over to Sydney. His strides were a medium pace of confidence and intimidation. He walked like he wanted his presence to make people nervous. Diego placed his dangerous hand on a bulge on her head. She cringed. After moving away some strands of hair, he pulled the bulge from atop her head. In a clutched fist, Diego brought down what he was holding to Sydney's eye level. It was a small black rat with fangs and a red devil tail.
"You got an infestation problem, Jack," Diego said coolly, "These things have three times as much poison as their size," Diego threw the rat out the open window. He sneered at the distance that it soared, and then went over to pull the rest of the cobweb down.
Wow, were Sydney's thoughts. He hasn't exactly made a good first impression. Him being the cause of this fking shot wound in my leg, but look at this, he's also cocky! With his tough, yet pretty Ewan McGregor voice, and sexy body. He's so ripped; I bet he looks at himself naked in the mirror. Freak, what kind of sane person does that…whore. And look at him easily ripping away the cobweb. He saved my life, but that was probably just an act to get into my-.
"Sorry I scared you."
"Huh?" Sydney was jerked back into reality.
"Sorry I scared you," Diego repeated, "You have to be quiet to catch one of those little suckers. I hope that didn't cause me to leave a bad impression of myself on you. I just figured it would be better to give you flowers after a quick scare then to have to leave them on your grave."
You see? Total conceded ass!
"Wait," Sydney interjected, "what is this place?" She looked up at Jack, who was still holding her, "And who are you?"
Jack helped Sydney up, pulled away some of the rebellious cobweb still sticking to her, and then made his dramatic introduction, "Why my dear, this marvelous place is Halloween Town! And I'm JACK, THE PUMPKIN KNIG! Ruler of all that you see! Arrrrrh,ha,ha,ha,haaa!"
What, you're living room? So you hail power of the Pair 1 reject collection. That's impressive.
Diego commented from across the room, "Yeah, if you don't know fear, then you don't know Jack! Pun intended."
"You may know of my young friend's name over there," Jack said to Sydney. He was pointing out Diego to her, "But I don't believe he's gotten his proper introduction yet. The young man's name is Diego; one of Dr. Finklestein's creations and a good friend of mine. Do you know the doctor?"
"We've crossed paths," Sydney said while rubbing her wound.
Diego blushed and gave a little wave, "Hi."
Jack motioned to Sydney, "And now, what's your name my dear?"
"I'm Night…Sydney Night," she paused. Sydney felt uncomfortable explaining herself. She didn't want to give out too much information that might backfire on her and cause her too give away her purpose here.
No, they can't know.
"Is that all?" Jack asked, "You can trust us," He touched her shoulder. Sydney slightly shuttered at that instant.
"Sure, but…er…I don't open up to many people. I'm just not used to people caring."
"That's okay. I think you'll open up when you feel comfortable."
"Uh…thanks," Sydney was relieved, and Jack's sensitivity made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Just then she realized something, "Hey, how did I get here? I thought the fall from the tree would have killed me."
"You'd fit in better if it did," Diego said sarcastically.
"Diego!" Jack snapped at him, "Could we please try to have a little more hospitality for our guest?" Jack turned back to Sydney, "What Diego was trying to say was that he rescued you."
"Really? He saved my life twice? But the last thing I remember was…was…"
What did happen?
"You went into the graveyard," Diego interrupted, "and climbed into a tree. You were up there for a while watching the Halloween Finale, then you just fainted. You suddenly fell from the tree into a pack of wolves. I caught you before you landed and fought off the wolves. Then I carried you up here to Jack's place. It was the safest place for you I could think of. It's been about two hours since then."
The whole time Diego was speaking, he had been avoiding Sydney's eyes, pretending to focus on the cobweb he was trying to detach. Him seemed a little shy, like when a boy meets the new girl next door, and instantly falls in love. That is, if that ever really happens. When he finished speaking, he looked up to meet Sydney's eyes. He gave a nervous, yet affectionate smile.
"Thank you, Diego," Sydney smiled back weakly and a little bit forced. Her fear of him was slowly melting away. Now when she thought of him, she thought, "I could take him."
"Anything for you, Sydney," Diego's smile was board now as he approached Jack and Sydney.
Jerk.
Jack leaned in next to Diego. He spoke in a teasing tone, "So, Diego. Were you fallowing Sydney in the graveyard?" A wide grin spread across his face.
"No, I wasn't fallowing her!" Diego lied, "I was looking for Sally," he added truthfully, but he had stopped looking for her when he saw Sydney.
"Yes, where is Sally?" Jack questioned to himself, "I tried to find her before we did the rehearsal."
Suddenly Sydney's eyes became shocked. "Rehearsal" echoed in her mind. She got a flash of the rehearsal in a hazy flashback fog. Sydney had forgotten everything since she fainted, but it was all coming back to her now. She looked up at Jack with fear. He was still talking to Diego about Sally's disappearance. She took a few steps away from him. Her hands were quivering. Her repressed nightmare of Jack came back in strobe-light flashes. Since their first meeting, just moments ago, Sydney had liked Jack. And it takes a lot to gain Sydney's interest of friendship. But now, she was terrified of him.
Jack saw from the corner of his eye socket how Sydney was looking at him. He turned to speak to her, "Sydney, is something wrong?" There was genuine concern showing on his skull and in his voice.
"No. Nothing," Sydney lied in an almost whisper. She slipped her hands into her pockets to keep them from shaking. In one of the pockets, she felt a folded piece of paper.
"Huh?" She pulled out the paper and unfolded it to read. Her face turned paler with every word she read.
Oh…my…god, were Sydney's thoughts. This paper is the soul purpose of my mission. How the Hell could I have forgotten about it! My reward, my precise information was almost lost to my damn stupidity! I must not fail.
"What do you have there, Sydney?" Jack questioned.
"It's for you," Sydney handed the paper to Jack.
Jack was a little surprised by this. He began to read the paper aloud. As Jack read through it, his face grew more and more enraged:
Dear Mr. Jack Skellington,
By the time you have read this letter, I will have already captured your pretty little rag doll. She is safe…for now. If you ever wish to see her again with all her pieces, you will deliver to me my list of demands:
Easter Bunny's egg
Leprechaun's gold
Santa's suit
Turkey's tail feather
Cupid's arrow
The Pumpkin King's heart
Yes Jack, number six involves. You have until midnight of October 30th to meet all of my demands. I will get to you information later about the exchange. And don't try anything sneaky Jack, because I will know.
Your nemeses for eternity,
Oogie Boogie
(PS) Jack did you really think you could get rid of me just by breaking a few seems?
There was a hard, cold silence. Sydney could feel the hate vibes radiating from both Jack and Diego. She had almost no idea what was going on, but she knew better than to ask. A small noise was starting to stir. It sounded like rustling paper. Sydney looked around for the source. It came from Jack. The letter shook in Jack's quaking hands. His mouth tightened. Heated fury filled his eye sockets. Jack threw his head back and unleashed a powerful, infuriated, evil roar! "Rrrrrrrraaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!" The dim lights inside flickered out, and lighting outside exploded behind him, causing his shape to become a black figure of horror.
Jack's outburst terrified Sydney. She toppled backwards onto the floor. She was frightened and tried to crawl away on her back. Diego didn't think anything of Jack's roar, but he finally noticed Sydney cowering. He rushed to her aid. Kneeling next to her, with one arm wrapped around her for comfort, he put a hand over her eyes and whispered in her ears, "Claim down. Its okay," Then he turned his head and yelled at Jack, "Jack! Jack, stop!"
There was instant silence. The lightning stopped and the dim lights flickered back on. Jack froze in his position. He slowly lowered his head to look at Sydney and Diego on the floor a few feet away. Sydney was cowering in Diego's arms. Jack's expression showed that he had just acknowledged a major mistake.
He spoke softly, "Sydney, I'm…I forget that…I'm sorry."
Sydney was hugging Diego tightly with her head buried in his chest, something that she told herself she would never be tricked into doing, but he was the closest thing to security that she could find. Jack bent down and placed a hand on her back.
He spoke softly again, "Sydney? I didn't mean to," Jack felt her body give little jolts, and he could hear her muffled weeping in Diego's chest.
Jack was used to scaring humans, however he didn't know any of them personally. He took an instant liking to Sydney. From the moment he saw her, he felt the vibe that they would form an interesting friendship. He never intended to hurt her, physically or emotionally, despite the fact that she was a mortal.
Jack sighed and went to the door, "Diego, I need to go see Dr. Finklestien. I have to get some supplies for our journey. We only have seven days until we meet Ooggie's deadline. Would you mind staying here and looking after Sydney until I get back?"
Sydney shot up her head to look at Jack.
Huh? But where are we going?
Diego looked puzzled, "But where are we going?"
"We're going to save Sally!" Jack turned through the door and then slammed it shut behind him.
Diego and Sydney ran to the balcony to look over the ledge at Jack several stories below. From there, they saw him run maximum speed to Dr. Finklestien's tower. When Jack disappeared from sight, Diego and Sydney just kept gazing out into the night. Sydney's eyes traveled from Jack to all the other glorious sights of the town. Diego's eyes traveled to Sydney.
Diego swallowed hard, "It's a lovely night tonight."
Sydney turned to look at him, moved to the furthest side of the ledge away from Diego, then looked back out at the town, "Yeah, sure it is," Sydney was desperate to change the subject, "Diego, who's Sally?"
"She's my older sister. I guess you could call he "the queen of Halloween". But that's because she's Jack's lover."
"You mean she's Jack's wife?"
"What's a wife?"
"You know, someone a man is married to?"
"What's a married?"
"It's when a man and a woman…well…it's when two people who either love each other very much or want the other person's money and property vow to spend the rest of their lives together through holy matrimony."
"Oh, that's why we don't have married!"
"Why?"
"Because it's holy. Holy things don't exist here."
"How come?"
"I don't know. They just end up going up in flames. It's kind of cool to watch though."
"Well I'd hate to be in Sally's shoes, or whatever. Spending the rest of my after life with that freak, Jack Skellington!"
"Hey," Diego snapped, "if that was supposed to be insulting, don't say it anymore."
"Sorry!" Sydney snapped back.
Diego hesitated. He spoke with a claim tone this time, "Look, Sally and Jack are very happy together. And if you knew Jack, you'd see why. He's actually a terrific guy."
"Sure he is," Sydney replied dully.
Neither she, nor Diego noticed a small hook on fishing wire dangle down from the roof. It slowly lowered itself, and then stopped behind Sydney's waist. It began to make a small swinging motion towards Sydney. Within seconds, it had caught her in the back of her pants. There were noises of quiet bickering coming from the roof. Diego jerked his head up in alert. His pointed ears were twitching, "Sydney, do you hear that? It sounds like-"
"Look, Diego, you seem like a nice guy and all, but I'm into humans. I'd totally make an exception a vampire though, but I just don't see it working with a rag doll. I like your gothic style though."
Diego's eyes grow wide, "Sydney!" He tried to grab her in his arms, but was too late. Sydney was yanked into the air. Her body was suspended half way between the balcony and the roof. She was slowly being pulled upward.
"Aggghhhhh! Diego, save me!"
Diego leapt up from the balcony onto the tower wall. He began to climb it like he was Spider-Man; pulling himself up by the cracks. When he made it to the top, he used his arms to catapult his body over the wall and onto the roof.
He spoke angrily at his find, not the least bit of breath lost, "I knew it!" Diego pointed at the mysterious trio, "Oogie's cretins: Lock, Shock, and Barrel!"
Lock, Shock, and Barrel were the little trick-or-treaters of Halloween Town. They wore simple costumes, and had mask made of porcelain that looked almost identical to their own faces. The trio was struggling with a fishing pole, the same pole that was dangling Sydney from the roof.
Lock spoke sarcastically, "Well thanks for the introduction, Diego. We know who we are. Now be useful and help us pull this human up!"
"Why are you fishing her? Couldn't you just come through the door?"
The gang hesitated, "Hmmmm…NO!"
"Fine, but what are you three up to?"
Shock snapped, "We don't have to tell you anything!"
"Why, you little-!" Diego made his way towards the three kids.
"Look!" Lock interrupted, and was pointing at the fishing line.
Everyone turned their heads to look at the fishing line, and their jaws dropped. The line was slowly breaking.
"What, what's going on?" Sydney questioned. She looked up to the break in the line, "Oh, no. Oh…no!" Her eyes were pathetic and scared. They began to water. See looked to Diego, and whispered a desperate plea, "Please…help me."
Diego's fear could only allow him to mouth out his answer, "I can't."
The line snapped.