Chapter 7
THE ISSUE OF TRUST
BANG! BANG! BANG! "Dr. Finklestein! Open the door!" Jack yelled at Dr. Finklestein's door, "Open up! It's an emergency!"
Jack pounded the door a few more times. When there was no response, he pressed the side of his skull against it. He listened intently for any indication of occupancy.
Dr. Finklestein's voice yelled from inside, "Edna! Edna, get the door!"
Jack stepped back when he saw the doorknob jiggle. The door opened to revel Edna, Dr. Finklestein's homemade life partner.
She studied Jack for a second, and then turned to yell up stairs at the professor, "Honey! That nice skeleton boy is here to see you!" Edna had an annoying, loud voice. No body liked the sound of it except for Dr. Finklestein.
Jack muttered to her, "Edna, you know very well that I'm older than you."
Edna calling Jack a boy was somewhere on the top of his pet peeves list.
"Jack? Is that you Jack Skellington?" yelled Dr. Finklestein.
"Yes," Jack yelled back. He brushed past Edna and sprinted up the tall staircase, "And we have a bit of a situation," Jack made it to the top of the staircase. He looked down the hall at the surprising amount of rooms, "Professor, where are you?"
"I'm down the hall! Come into my laboratory!"
Jack jogged down the hall and through the open door. He abruptly stopped in the laboratory, and then threw the lab door closed behind him. He leaned against it out of breath. He was winded by the shock of losing Sally still circulating in his head.
Dr. Finklestein looked up from his work, "Jack, what's the matter?"
Jack was still trying to catch his breath, "Professor…we…have…a…problem."
"Come down son. Catch your breath."
"Okay…I'm good now, but enough about me. Sally has been…" Jack's sentence was cut short by the sight of an ice bag strapped to the back of Dr. Finklestein's head, "Professor, what happened to you?"
"Humph! A stupid, punk, girl-a human girl- kicked me in the back of the head! That low life attacked me from behind! Can you believe the nerve? Once I regained consciousness, I said to myself, 'Oh, that girl is going to get it! Just wait until I send my son-in-law after her! Then we'll see who's in pain! We'll see!' Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, haaaaaa!"
Jack made the wise assumption that Dr. Finklestein was talking about Sydney. He gave a nervous laugh, then cleared his throat, "Ahem, we have a bigger problem than that."
"Sure, everything's more important than poor Dr. Finklestein," the professor whined while rubbing his injury.
"Sally's been kidnapped," Jack spoke frankly.
"What!" Dr. Finklestein nearly rolled out of his chair, "Who did it? Where is she? Jack…Jack?"
Dr. Finklestein was talking to Jack, but Jack was ignoring him. He was looking off into space, listening intently,
"Professor, open the window."
"Why?"
"I have a bad feeling."
"Ah! Your skeleton senses must be tingling," Dr. Finklestein joked. Jack's face was serious and he wanted the professor to hurry it up, "Ha, ha, ha, ha…oh, whatever! It would have been funnier if you laughed."
"Whatever makes you open the window, Professor."
Dr. Finklestein stirred his chair to window and pushed open the old shutters. Jack walked to it and stuck his head outside. Far off into the distance, Jack saw Sydney dangling by a thread from his roof.
"Sydney!" Jack yelled. She couldn't hear him, not that it mattered, "Sydney! Hold on, I'm coming!" Jack turned to Dr. Finklestein, and he spoke demandingly, "Professor, do you remember those new gadgets you showed me last week?"
"That girl outside…hmmm…she's the one that attacked me!"
"Focus, Professor."
"Oh yes, the gadgets! I believe I have them in a storage cabinet somewhere, but didn't get a chance to test them."
"You don't have time now! Put the gadgets in a bag and set me up. We need to hurry! By the way, do you still have those old party costumes of yours?"
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The fishing line that had Sydney suspended several stories in the air had snapped. She plummeted down, kicking and screaming, "Agggggggggggghhhhhhh!"
Three feet before Sydney was to be slammed against the cobble stone road, a demon child grabbed her up under the arms and flew away with her. Sydney was relieved to still be three-dimensional, but her fear hadn't left her yet. She looked up to see this beast. He was a rough; gray skinned creature that had a tiny body, huge head, and larger wings.
Sydney gave a cry of disgust, "Gross!"
The creature pulled his eyes away from the sky to look at her. He flashed Sydney a smart-alecky smile, filled with razor teeth. In his juvenile voice, he replied, "Thank you."
Then, the demon pulled Sydney back a bit to see below them. They two were now well over Jack's roof.
"Brace yourself," he said to Sydney.
"What!" her eyes grew wide.
Suddenly the demon let Sydney slip through his tiny arms until he got from under her armpits to hold on both of her hands. Then, the evil little demon swung Sydney around fiercely in a circle, like she was Raggedy Anne. He swung her around until he lost his grip on both her hands and Sydney was flung into the air. He yelled out to her, "Look out below!"
"Aggggggghhhhhhh-umf!" Sydney's screech was cut off by her pained grunt. She had landed straddled on the back of a witch's broomstick that had flown by.
"I got you my pretty!" the witch remarked to Sydney in her scratchy voice. While speeding through the air, Sydney clenched the straws of the broom to stay on. Recklessly the witch turned in her seat to examine Sydney. She had her fingers to her long chin, and her eyes squinted at Sydney in examination.
How can she be so careless! We must be going like 80 mph! She's not even looking at where we're going! Hey freak, stop looking at me and watch the road!
The witch had a horrible wart-covered face, and a humongous nose. You could probably put two of each animal on that nose, and sail them through a flood.
"Hmmmmm…you are a pretty one," the witch began.
Does everything have to come on to me in this world?
"Your noise," the witch continued, "is the cutest. But it'll look even cuter on me. I'll put it right next to the one I already have," the witch reached for Sydney's face, grinning an ugly smile of excitement.
"Sick! Sick! Sick!" Sydney cried. She leaned back to avoid the witch's hand, but ended up doing a back flip off the broom into a flat roof, directly below them. Sydney fell about ten feet before landing on her own two feet.
"Shizsit! I've never been able to do anything like that before!" Sydney looked down to examine herself, "I don't recall my muscles ever being this buff," She bent over and squeezed her larger, more firm thighs and calves. Sydney had new feminine sized muscles, "I like this! This is way better than being the flimsy twig I was. But how did this happen?"
While Sydney pondered the origins of her new muscles, a long, stealthy hand from below crept up the roof ledge. It wrapped its snake-like fingers around her ankle, and then with a single yank, pulled Sydney off the roof.
"Whoa!" Sydney cried out surprised. She was now dangling again, this time upside down by her ankle, as a monster with spiders in his hair, held her from his window.
"Hey! I got a human by the foot without even hiding under her stairs!"
"Proud of that? Well nice try, but you should have got the other foot too!"
Sydney swung her free leg upside the monster's head. At this point, Sydney wasn't scared anymore, just annoyed. Nobody here accepted her! Why? She accepted them. Sydney was starting to feel like maybe hadn't really left Earth at all.
Guess I'm on my own, thought Sydney. It's just no different from my world.
The monster reared his head back, roaring in pain from Sydney's kick. Sydney grabbed the windowsill next to her head, just as the monster released her of his grip. Her body swung towards the wall. She stopped herself from slamming into it by putting her feet against it. Then she pushed off the wall with her legs, flipped backwards, and landed sturdy on her feet again. She was now in the middle of the plaza.
Dude, this is getting weird, she thought. But I like it! Hey, the pain in my leg is gone. The poison must have worn off. Sydney shifted her weight on her feet. Something feels a little funny though. She took off her pink and black vans to inspect her feet.
"Oh…my…god…AGGGGHHHHHH!" Sydney cried, "These aren't my feet! These are hands! Long, smelly hands! They kind of look like monkey fe-"
"There she is!" Sydney's train of thought was cut off. She looked up to see an excited mob of creatures rampaging toward her. Each had an evil sneer of joy. They all wanted to have their fun with the only human in town, "Get her!"
This didn't surprise Sydney, "…damn it."
Sydney dropped her shoes, turned her heels, and ran for toward the fountain. The mob was gaining on her, but Sydney was finding it a lot easier to run now with her new feet. Configuring the distance from where she was to the point of the statue on the fountain, Sydney thought she could test out her new acrobatic powers.
Here goes nothing.
Using her new strength, Sydney took one 6-billion-dollar-leap into the air, her legs doing bicycle kicks as she soared. She stayed suspended for several seconds before landing on her feet precisely atop of the statue's curved back.
The statue under Sydney's feet immediately stopped regurgitating water and spoke to her, "Wow, I can't believe you just made that jump! You're an impressive little human."
"Hey, what the-? Oh, now the fountain's talking to me. Are you out to kill me too?"
The mob had caught up and was slowly crowding in around the fountain. Evil satisfaction of victory was vibrant on their hideous faces. They made sure their pace wasn't too fast just to be able to bask in the helpless mortal's fear of death.
The fountain spoke to her again, "Well, as often as I have people hanging off my necks, it may surprise you that I don't very much like it."
Sydney was becoming irritated with what little help she was getting from the fountain, "Just, what are you implying?"
"Oh, nothing you'd care about. But I do believe that this is where we must say good-bye."
"What? What are you going to do?" Sydney was getting nervous.
"After all, we need to make you one of us."
Oh, my god! They're going to make me into a monster! Sydney suddenly got an image of herself being mutilated and tortured until she looked like…Michael Jackson. And this time, there wouldn't be a Thriller dance.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Sydney released a blood-curtailing scream. All of the monsters stopped where they were, just basking in one of their lives many pleasures.
"Statue thing," Sydney pleaded, "please help me! I beg of you!"
"Hmmm…why should I?"
"Because, underneath your cold, cement body, there exist a heart. You deny its there. And you can't ignore its call to save an innocent."
"Wow…I haven't heard something full of that much crap since one of the jazz players played his bass constipated."
"Hey!" The jazz player cried form the crowd.
"Sorry kid," the fountain went on, "But I'm gonna need a better reason."
What the Hell!
"Fine, save me you gay fountain, or I'll pee in your pure water!"
"You'll what!"
"That's right, I'll be a fountain too!"
Sydney's subconscious was shocked. You'll what! You are SO bluffing, aren't you! If that's not an empty threat, than I'm going to give you menstrual cramps from Hell every month! I mean it!
Sydney whispered to herself, "Jesse, my mind is a bitch."
The fountain looked up at the sky, "Hey, I just put together a plan! Don't ask questions, but I think I understand what to do. Put one arm straight up in the air and count down from five."
Sydney raised an eyebrow to the fountain, but when she looked at the mob of monsters, she saw that she was all out of options.
Sydney obeyed and counted down, "Five…four…"
Suddenly all the monsters slowly drew back. They looked above Sydney's head with gasping expressions.
"…three-eee!" Sydney was gone. A flying object speeding by, pulling her off the ground and sending her with her rescuer into the sky had grabbed her hand. Sydney was dangling several stories in the sky once again. This time by…Jack! Yes, Jack. Jack had been set up with a flying skeletal to come to save Sydney. Once he slowed down his pace, he slung her onto the back of his reindeer. Sydney clung tightly to Jack's back. She was too distracted by the fear of falling into the mob, than to be afraid of Jack at the moment.
Jack's face was filled with excitement, "Yeeeeeha! Sorry I was late, I got sidetracked talking to Diego. Boy, things sure have gotten lively since you arrived!"
"Pun intended, I'm sure," Sydney said, still a little shaken, "Where are you taking me?"
"We're going on a quest to save Sally! We'll meet up with Diego once he gets the Halloween Town residents settled down over their excitement. I just hope it doesn't take too long for him to find us. But for now, it's just you and me. The nightmare chronicles of Jack and Sydney!"
Sydney gasped and her hold around Jack loosened. Images of Jack terrorizing her flashed through her head. He noticed Sydney's reaction. He was a little offended by it. Jack placed a large hand over her hold on him. His touch felt like rough plastic.
Jack spoke to Sydney with reassurance, "I know I scare you Sydney. Sometimes I even scare myself. I'm not that hot to look at. And I know humans fear me. But the point is I can't help it. I can't change who I am. In fact, I like who I am," Jack paused for a moment to consider his words, "I can't change, Sydney, but I'll make a deal with you. If you respect me and give me a chance, I'll promise to never hurt you and to always protect you. No matter what I do, my actions will never have bad intentions toward you, never," Jack didn't get a reply from Sydney. Jack gently squeezed her hold, "Please Sydney! You can trust me. I trust you."
Sydney was gazing down below. The view of the mob was growing smaller and fading into the distance. Jack flew them over a forest of skinny trees. He stopped the reindeer so that they would hover, "Well, Sydney…are you coming or going…going with me?"
Sydney thought for a minute, "You know you need me to communicate with Oogie Boogie, right?"
"I figured as much."
Sydney thought some more, "And you're okay that Oogie Boogie gave the list to me to give to you?"
"Hey, shooting the messenger won't solve my problems."
"And you don't even care how I got here?"
"I'm curious, but you'll tell me if you feel like it."
Wow, Sydney thought. He really does trust me. And he did save my life, but who hasn't done that today? Maybe I miss interpreted my dream of Jack. Maybe its not a warning of him, but means something else. What then? What does it mean?
"Alright Jack," Sydney said, "I'll go with you. We'll both save Sally."
"I hoped you would."
Jack tapped the reindeer in the sides with the back of his heel. The reindeer galloped through the air once again, over the woods.
"Sydney, do you trust me?"
There was a brief silence, "We'll see."
I guess I was wrong about this place, whispered Sydney's thoughts. There's at least one person that accepts me.
Sydney held Jack tighter as they galloped on the air. She leaned into his slim back.
I need to stay awake. I must be alert. I don't trust you Jack and I probably never will.
Sydney fell asleep.
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On the ground, the mob of monsters, though disappointed, began to scatter back to their lives. Once the crowd had cleared out, the base player of the jazz band stood alone looking at his feet. In a nonchalant fashion, he walked up next to the fountain.
"Hey Mike," the jazz player said to him.
"Yeah Russ?" the fountain replied.
"That whole comment that the mortal said to you…you know…about being gay? You don't…you don't think she knows anything, do you?-"
"Russ, calm down. We're fine. There's no way she could have known."
"Are you sure? Cause if my band found out-"
"Russ, no one knows about us. I promise."
"Okay! Okay! I understand…so…you doing anything tonight?"