CHAPTER 14

Memories

Jack and Sydney were riding in an old horse drawn carriage through the crowded, dirt streets of Thanksgiving Town. Everything looked like it was from the days of pilgrims and Indians; with the exception that they were all getting along. Jack wore a brown pilgrim disguise, and Sydney looked like Pocahontas. Despite Jack's pale, skull face, they blended right in. The two had just entered the village, unaware of the three stole ways in the back of the carriage: Lock, Shock, and Barrel.

"Wow, it's like we're in an Indian movie!" exclaimed Sydney, "Except the guys aren't walking around half naked," she suddenly noticed some fat guys drinking beer without there tops on across the street. Sydney cringed, "Well, the hot guys aren't."

"You know," started Jack on a completely different subject. He spoke while holding the horse reins, "I have a fuzzy feeling about this place, but I've never seen anything like it before."

"What's this 'fuzzy feeling' like? Is it mold?"

Jack raised a brow bone to her, "It feels…like home. It's a strong feeling too. Like I've actually walked these streets before, but it's my first time here."

"That's strange. How does this place relate to Halloween Town?"

"Not Halloween Town; something different, but familiar. It could be from my previous life. When I was alive."

"Waite a minute! You used to have a pulse?"

"I don't know. I don't even remember how I came to be. My late past is a complete blur to me."

"I wish my past was a complete blur."

"What do you mean, Sydney?"

"When I was a little girl, both my parents died in a house fire. I had no other living relatives or neighbors that would take me in. I had no one to care for me, and nowhere to live. I was alone. Trying to find a place that felt like home, I hitchhiked all over America. I was searching for that feeling that you have now, Jack, but I couldn't find it."

"The feeling, or home?"

"Both. I was caught three years ago for stealing food and was put into foster care. I kept running away from the parents they set me up with. I didn't want to be tied down to replacement parents, but the foster home didn't care. They started getting fed up with me. It eventually came down to this: go to Juvenal Hall, or stay with the roughest, toughest, most heartless of all adults, the Cartmens. They were proof that evil could take a human form. I chose to stay with the Cartmans because I thought anything would be better than jail, but I was wrong. In fact, they were only foster parents because they were paid a good deal of money to watch over the bad kids."

"I don't think you're a bad kid," Jack patted Sydney on the head. He made Sydney feel like he was praising her as a puppy. She thought it was funny, so she smiled, "How did you end up in Halloween Town?"

"I was…I…" Sydney had started to tell Jack. A fire in her throat wanted to burst out every word, every detail! However if Jack found out why she was really here, she would lose the valuable piece of information that she wanted more than anything and was being used as a means to control her. It was one of those 'you deliver, then I'll deliver' situations. But Jack couldn't know what she was up to, or the deal would be off.

"I…don't remember how I got here either."

"Yeah, right," whispered Lock. Shock smacked him hard as a means for him to shut up, "Ow!" he cried.

"What was that?" asked Jack.

He and Sydney turned to look in the back of the carriage. Lock, Shock, and Barrel were stiff and silent; pressed against the side of the carriage. Sydney had a feeling it was them.

"It's nothing Jack, really. Just some noise," Sydney turned back in her seat, "JACK, WATCH OUT!"

A beautiful, blonde, pilgrim woman had just walked out in front of the carriage. Jack sharply turned back in his seat. His strong pull on the reins caused the horses to rear up, neighing, and kicking their hooves in the air. The woman stopped right in front of them. She screamed and covered her face for protection, but it did no good. One of the horse's hooves made a violent blow to her head, giving the woman an instant concussion. Her body went limp and collapsed on the dirt road. Jack gave a final tug on the reins, and both the horses had calmed down. He and Sydney were stunned. They both feared that the woman was dead.

"Get a doctor," Jack told Sydney.

He sprang from the carriage, and ran to tend the woman. He placed his bony fingers on her neck, "There's a pulse. She'll be alright for now."

"Help! Help!" Sydney yelled to random citizens. They began to gather around the woman, "Could somebody get a doctor? Is there a doctor in the house?"

Jack had pulled the woman up on his lap. With a hand under her head, he stroked her hair, and whispered to her, "Please wake up. I know you're going to make it. Just open your eyes," he looked into her pale face and felt his sensation of home growing, "Do I know you?" Jack whispered the question to her, "Maybe you can answer a few of my questions," Jack closed his eyes and placed his hand on top of her golden locks. There was a quick flash of red under his palm that shot the woman's nightmare up Jack's arm and into his skull. It only took a second for him to see the entire dream.

His eyes shot open with astonishment, and his mouth muttered his summarized feelings, "Oh…my…god…" if Jack had eyes, they would have rolled back in his head as he fainted on his back. The crowd around the unconscious Jack and pilgrim lady grew larger and ever more curious.

"Jack?" Sydney was pushing her way through the crowd to Jack, "Where are you? A doctor is on his way. We should head out…Jack?" Sydney made it to the center clearing, where the two untouched bodies laid, "Jack!" she rushed to his aid. Sydney grabbed him under the arms and began pulling him through the crowd. He was extremely easy to tug, "He'll be fine folks, believe me! My friend here just had a little too much to drink at his daughter's 5th birthday party."

The men in the crowd nodded their heads in understanding, then all turned back to the injured woman.

That was close, Sydney thought.

She pulled Jack to an empty ally. Sydney made sure the coast was clear, and then lightly slapped Jack awake, "Come on you lazy toothpick, wake up."

"What…where…what?"

"Three very good questions," Sydney helped Jack sit up, "Jack, what happened to you?"

Lock, Shock, and Barrel had already crept out of the carriage, and where watching the pair from behind stacked crates.

"I saw the woman's nightmare. It was the most shocking nightmare I've ever seen!"

"She must have a pretty messed up mind to have scared the Pumpkin King.-"

"No! Let me finish! You don't understand! This nightmare was about me! I don't recall ever meeting this woman, but she knows me! In her nightmare, I saw my previous life! I saw how the holiday worlds were started, where I came from, who I was, who I knew, and so much more! I remember everything now! I remember!"

Over whelmed with excitement, Jack threw his long arms around Sydney, and gave her a squeezing hug. Lock, Shock, and Barrel gasped at this news. Even they didn't remember their mortal lives. Sydney raised an eyebrow. She struggled out of Jack's hug.

"Jack, you're choking me."

"Oh, sorry," he let Sydney go.

"So, tell me about this nightmare, Jack! Tell me everything!" Sydney begged, excited.

That same feeling was mutual amongst the spying trio, with their ears pressed hard against the crates, straining to hear.

"Sorry, Sydney," Jack confessed, "I can't."

Sydney's excitement, as well as Lock, Shock, and Barrel's, was extinguished by disappointment.

"Well, why not?" Sydney whined.

"I can't tell you about the nightmare, because there's too much detail. It would just be a lot easier if I showed it to you."

Jack placed his hand on Sydney's head.