Ok, I know I said I wasn't going to post any further chapters in this story until I was at least deeper into my other story…but after starting chapter seven of Pumpkin Town I realized I had a lot of blanks that I needed to fill before progressing on in the plot. Since I had already had pretty much all of the first couple of Chapters in this story planned out in my mind, I decided to post this first. This doesn't mean I'm going to update regularly in this story just yet. It's still going to progress rather slowly until Pumpkin Town is finished. I'd appreciate feedback for this, I'm not sure if this chapter sounds right.
Chapter One
Sally's Premonition.
When the guard had progressed to the front of the truck, Leaving fourteen prisoners unguarded, he was under the impression that his absence would make no difference. With this in mind, he had stayed up front for perhaps just a bit longer then he should have, and therefore, was quite surprised, not to mention dismayed when he saw only thirteen prisoners in the back when he returned.
Very rarely were the undead rebellious after trial. They didn't, after all, have much to fight the law for. This was of course after they had finally gotten this through there heads.
No, the most rebellion received by the dead occurred in people who had just perished, and people whose after life rested purely on a strong emotion which did not allow them to pass on. In these occasions, the Board of The Beyond, and the Head of the Underworld, and the chief executioner of wayward souls found themselves up to their eye balls (Always assuming they had eyeballs.) in chaotic supernatural happenings. These usually occurred in the mortal world, where manifestations under no circumstances were allowed to be. In light of this law, the Reaper could have said, that the board did a very poor job of carrying out there work. Spirits were everywhere among the living. There was no doubt about that.
Murdock, however, did not fit under either of the regular circumstances in which misbehaving occurs. He'd been dead for several hundred years, so one could not put him in a category with new and devastated spirits, and he certainly was not existing off of a negative emotion or "unfinished business" If one prefers that term. If asked, he would have said his after life was something of a card game. He played by his own rules.
Of course, no one had told the guard this. He just stared stupidly in the place where Murdock had been sitting, as though he expected him to suddenly reappear before turning to the other prisoners with a question in his gaze.
"What happened?" He asked softly, knowing he was as good as fired…which was not a fun thing in the world of the undead.
"Don't know." Said a very thin looking creature with purplish skin. "He just vanished."
"Like smoke." Added a very large zombie beside her, whose thoughtful eyes were shrouded in a heavy mask.
The guard removed his hat and wiped a clawed hand about his brow.
"Great…just great."
Beside the long dirt road that many waiting souls progressed down to the in between world of Limbo, a tall thin figure stood, leaning slightly on his left leg, and grinning madly as he watched the fading shadow of the prison truck…becoming very much of a phantom itself, against a red sun, that looked very much like it was on it's last legs. (But had in fact looked that way since the day it came to be.)
The figure quickly ducked behind a dead tree, that did not hide him well at all, and slowly tiptoed in the direction opposite of where the truck was going. He sang softly to himself as he did.
"Everyone here draw a card from the deck,
Careful now,
Edges like razor blades,
Try to make your fingers bleed,
All the little Kings and Queens,
Mouths wide open in frozen screams."
He did this for a while, quite enjoying himself, when he heard the far away sound of horses.
"Aw Charlie's coming to see if I arrived in Bores Ville alright." He said to himself. The words shot through his rather large teeth in a hiss. He crawled farther off the road into the many shadows the underworld housed, and lowered his thin body to the ground watching for the beast that was making the clopping noise. His singing did not stop, but rather, was lowered to a hum.
The Reaper had a good eye. And anyone, whether living or dead who doubted it was a fool. Just because a man had no eyes…was not any reason to assume he could not see very well.
He rode on the back of a black winged horse with eyes that glowed like red coals. They had a name for this beast. It was called a nightmare. Of the same sort that whisked children away in their sleep, bringing them to the Nether world, where if lost, their spirits would supposedly wonder the wastelands for an eternity, searching for their bodies. This one, however was trained personally by the Grim Reaper and was quite well behaved. He called her Tranquility.
The Reaper kept his eyes peeled out ahead of him…in case he might get lucky and spot the escaping form of his ex apprentice. He had little hope of doing so.
Beside him, on a white horse the head of The Board of Beyond rode quietly. He had said very little since he realized what a terrible mistake him and the rest of the board had made. Unfortunately he was about to make another, which would have probably landed him a spot in Limbo himself, for a good four hundred years if it had not been looked over by both him and the Grim Reaper. He had been told to watch the right side of the road. The Reaper was watching the left side with a deep concentration. If Murdock had in fact been on that side he would have been caught…and a great many unfortunate ordeals to come could have been avoided.
Instead, much to his own luck, he was hidden on the left side of the road, where the board just barely missed him. It was a dreadful mistake, but the board had been lucky too, for it was never discovered by anyone, except Murdock himself.
When the sound of the horses died down, Murdock once again headed in the direction away from them. He sang louder then ever. The only living things that heard him were the gathering crows. In even these brainless birds his singing induced a shiver. In front of him a long dirt road branched off to the left just a mile from where he currently was. This road would take him all the way down to the holiday forest. He grinned. He could not wait to see his old friend.
In Halloween Town morning came in quite a different manner then it did in the mortal world. The darkness left, and many of the creatures that could not stand to be left even in the horrible orange light the Pumpkin shaped sun departed with it.
The sun did not fall happily on the cold ground, but rather would have made an observer quite a bit more uneasy then they would have been even in the dark. For in the mortal world, when someone sees a strange shape in the shadows that twists and changes along with their imagination until it turns into something terrible, they usually find that in the daylight, it's nothing so frightening at all, but rather, a coat hanger, or a mound of dirty laundry, or a chair. Contrary to this, when one sees dreadful shapes in the dark in Halloween Town and the sun lifts to reveal them for what they truly are…they usually wind up being exactly like what that person was imagining in the dark…or worse.
Of course this wasn't a big problem in Halloween Town because many of it's residents were just as frightening as the scenery around them.
On this morning very few of the residents stirred. The reason for this was that Halloween was slowly approaching and they had gotten to the point where early morning and midday rehearsals became late evening and late night rehearsals, and everyone needed to sleep in order to meet their cue during practice, for if they did not get the rest needed, they would sometimes find themselves snoozing during their lines. This was not taken lightly in Halloween Town…especially with Halloween looming near.
Not everyone was asleep of course. Behind the towering gates of the Pumpkin Kings abode, a single light was on in his bottom quarters. His tower was as dark as night. Jack tried to keep to a strict business of not allowing people to venture into that part of his house. He liked to think it was one of the few places he still got privacy.
Currently Jack was in the small kitchen area which rested very near his front door. He was sitting at a small wooden table with his chin resting in his palm, and listening to the mayor as he chattered on about the many problems with the celebration, all of which Jack did not find serious enough to drag him out of bed at three o' clock in the morning.
Speaking of which, Jack peered impatiently toward the corner of the room, where an ancient looking grandfather clock stood. The hands which traveled along it's face were that of a skeletons. The time was six thirty. This meant he had been sitting and listening to mayor for three and a half hours. In that time he had not heard a single thing which could not be solved in a few moments and with very little thought. He yawned.
"Oh, that's right, there's the pumpkins too. Someone took the ones that we usually stick up on the fence posts. We've been looking everywhere but…we can't seem to find them." The mayor said. His face had not changed back from the one of misfortune in quite some time now. Jack was about to suggest just taking normal pumpkins and re carving them when he heard a sound from behind him. He turned slightly toward the way in which he heard it. As he did a shadow disappeared from the door way. Jack smiled and let out a sigh of relief. Maybe now he could get rid of the mayor.
"My dear." He said loudly, getting a very confused look from the mayor, who thought for a moment that he was addressing him. "You can come in if you want, we're nearly done now and I assure you, you are quite welcome."
Sally, who had tried very hard to leave quietly when she saw Jack had company approached the doorway once more upon hearing Jacks voice. He had caught her, again. Every time she found herself in the middle of Jack's Pumpkin King dealings she tried desperately to leave before coming to the attention of those around her, but somehow he always caught her doing so. He was trying to encourage her to join in with the rest of the town…which she understood was suppose to be a helpful act on his part. Still, she met his intentions with a great amount of unease.
When she stepped into the room she kept her eyes on Jack, trying very hard to avoid the gaze of the mayor. Jack's skeletal face broke out into a kind smile.
"Good morning Sally, I trust you slept well." He said pleasantly, with an undertone of affection that she thought both her and the mayor caught.
"Yes, quite well." She returned shyly, aware of the piercing look the mayor was giving her. She found, that even with just his two faces that could express emotion she was quite easily able to pick out how he felt about her by the air about him. She had the feeling he was rather wary and envious of her, this was an emotion she had picked up a lot from Halloween Town's many residents in the last several months since she and Jack had developed a relationship. They didn't seam to like the fact that Jack was paying so much attention to her. They found it as some what of a threat.
"Fantastic." Jack said. He stood up, an action that the mayor took with some devastation.
"Perhaps it's about time you go mayor. I'm sure your needed elsewhere." Jack said. The mayor looked up at him desperately.
"But Jack, there are still so many things which…"
"Can be solved quite easily…at another time." Jack finished. He stepped towards the front door. The mayor looked at him frantically before turning his gaze on Sally. In the moment he did she thought she saw something that was getting very close to detestation in his look.
"But the pumpkins Jack!" The mayor said, obviously trying to stall for some of Jack's time.
"Easy, just re carve them." Jack said, opening the door and leading the mayor out…not without some obvious force. When he was outside the door frame the mayor turned, fixing Jack with an exasperated look.
"We can't carve up any regular pumpkins! They already have designated places in the pumpkin patch!" He threw up his arms for emphasis. Jack appeared to think for a moment before smiling again.
"I have it, do we still have that tomb of masks?" The mayor looked at him uncertainly.
"I think so." He answered.
"Just take a dozen or so of those and hang them on the fence where the jack o' lanterns were." Jack said pleasantly.
"Are you sure that'll work…I mean…masks and jack o' lanterns are different things Jack."
"It'll look truly gruesome, I assure you." Jack said. The mayor looked as though he was about to say something else, but Jack cut him off.
"Farewell mayor." He said, before shutting the door on the mayors distressed face. From the other side Jack vaguely heard the mayor shouting at him through the door.
"Don't forget the meeting tonight Jack!" He called.
"I wont!" Jack cried back before bolting the door and spinning around to face Sally.
"I thought he'd never leave!" Jack said to her in a harsh whisper, in case the mayor was still standing outside his entrance. Sally smiled softly at him, not without amusement.
Jack's smile became more playful as he crossed the room and took her in his arms.
"I was sorry to get up so early this morning, you make the bed twice as difficult to leave." Sally blushed a little at his words. He kissed her forehead, sending a tingling sensation from where he kissed, which traveled down her body and ended up somewhere in her stomach, which was tied up in knots. Even after seven months of being with him, he still had this power over her.
Regretfully, she pulled away, and fixed Jack with an inquiring look.
"Jack, how did you sleep last night?" Jack's arms fell back to his sides.
"Fine until about three o' clock when the mayor started shouting up at me from the front door. Sorry about that by the way. It's something you should probably be getting used to." Sally fixed him with an uncertain glance.
"And your sure you've been sleeping well, aside from that…I mean?" Sally asked. Jack gave her a reassuring look and rested his skeletal hands on her shoulders.
"Since you've been here with me…wonderfully. If my sleep gets a bit off sometimes it's just because Halloween's coming nearer and I've got a lot on my mind." Sally gave him a small smile. Her face was shrouded with a tiny hint of doubt, but she thought it best to just let it go for now.
"But if your really worried about it, I'll get back to sleep right now. I have a few hours before I have to check around and see if things are going well." Sally looked a little relieved at this.
"Provided…" Jack started.
"Provided what?" Sally asked, looking at Jack with a question in her gaze. He smiled and put his arms around her.
"Provided that you come with me." Sally returned his smile, and allowed herself to be led up the stairs. This lasted precisely ten seconds, when suddenly, there was a loud and desperate hammering on the door. Jack dropped his arms in frustration.
"Oh bother!" He said loudly, before hurrying back down the staircase. Sally followed him, mentally wishing that he would just ignore who ever was there for once and look out for himself. Especially considering that usually it turned out being someone who did not have a very important reason for being there in the first place.
This time, however, Sally found this was not the case.
The mayor was standing at the door wearing his miserable face. A look of weariness passed over Jack's countenance as he looked down at him.
"I told you, mayor, the masks will look fine." Jack said, before the mayor began to speak. He nearly closed the door on him again when the mayor yelled loudly in protest.
"Wait Jack, this isn't about that." Jack opened the door a little wider and looked at the mayor impatiently.
"I've just received word from the vampires. Something terrible has happened!" The mayor said, his voice had an edge of panic in it. Sally noticed it and felt a sinking dread position itself behind her breast. She thought Jack must have noticed it too, for he no longer looked impatient, as wariness started to steal into his features.
"What's wrong?" Jack asked.
"The Gate Jack, The gates been broken through." The mayor now sounded out of breath. He paused and waited for Jack's reaction, seaming to decide that if Jack was going to take it badly then there was really reason to panic.
A look of relief spread over Jack's face.
"Oh…is that all. Well it probably happens all of the time mayor, many of our residents aren't exactly careful around such structures." The mayor stared up at him for a moment, looking slightly perplexed. Suddenly, his face broke out into understanding (Or as well as it could have, given that he did not have many features to choose from.)
"Not that gate Jack, The Gate!" He said desperately. For a moment Jack's expression didn't change, then, when he understood what the mayor had said, it broke out into concern. Sally was standing in the corner watching both of them as they spoke, when Jack's face changed she began to worry. Jack very rarely looked worried or frightened.
"Impossible." He said, giving the mayor a wide eyed look. "It can't be…I mean…it isn't possible." Jack said, his words breaking off far too much for Sally or the mayor's liking.
"What are we going to do Jack?" The mayor asked him. Jack stood silent for a few minutes, then, much to the mayors obvious relief his look of concern relaxed.
"Well," He began. "First I'd like to take a look at it and see what has happened."
"Of course Jack." The mayor said quickly, as though he wouldn't dream of doing anything else.
"I'm sure it isn't a very big deal, it's probably happened before." Jack said, now with more confidence. The mayor nodded in agreement.
"You go on ahead, I'll be there in a moment." Jack said, giving the mayor a waving gesture. The mayor nodded quickly and head off back down the stairs. Jack turned towards Sally.
"I apologize Sally, I need to take care of something." He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead.
"What's wrong Jack?" Sally asked worriedly.
"Don't worry about it." He said before turning towards the door. He hurried down the stairs and headed toward his front gate. The Zombie band had stopped playing to watch his progression.
Sally watched after him for a moment with a troubled look on her face. Something didn't feel right at all. She didn't like it that Jack had looked concerned, even if it hadn't been for very long. Something serious had obviously happened and it troubled her that she had no idea what it was. After a long moment of consideration she hesitantly made her way down the stairs, and headed in the direction she had seen Jack and the mayor disappear off to.
The band watched as first the mayor, Jack, and then finally Sally headed off in a direction away from town. Unseen by any of the groups zombie like members an odd shadow stole into the gate, and crept up Jack's stairs.
"You hear something?" The groups largest member asked.
"Like what?" Came the voice of the head resting inside of the base.
"Like…whispering…or singing?" They were all silent for a moment.
"Nope." Said one of them, ending the conversation.
Moments later Jack was standing in front of a huge gate with a look of worry on his face. The mayor was standing on the other side, his face seemingly stuck in anguish. Jack sighed.
"Well…this is unusual." Jack said.
The gate was about thirteen feet high. It was spidery black and glowed eerily in the light of the Pumpkin Sun. Along the top were several swirls and webs, made finely out of black wire and bars. These went down to about the center where they came to an abrupt stop. That was where the gate was broken off. About three feet of the center was lying on the ground behind the mayor, who was looking at it uncomfortably.
"How was this done Jack?" He asked nervously. Jack sighed, while touching the bars.
"I'm not sure." He said. "brute strength I imagine. Perhaps by a zombie…they tend to be able to tear through anything."
"Even this gate?" The mayor asked hopefully. Uncertainty played on Jack's features.
"I suppose it's possible." He answered. He didn't sound like he whole heartedly believed what he was saying. The mayor looked about him before crossing over to where Jack was standing.
"Do you suppose we have an intruder?" he asked this quietly as thought the trees towering about them could hear what he was saying.
"I can only assume." Jack responded. "Why don't you go back into town and gather everyone up. Tell them that we have reason to believe there's someone here who isn't suppose to be, and to keep their eye out for them." The mayor nodded.
"What are you going to do?" Jack ran a bony finger over a place where the gate had been broken off.
"I'm going to have to call someone. We need to get this repaired…and no one here is capable of doing it right."
"Alright. I'm on it Jack." The mayor said before hurrying off towards town. As he did Jack stepped across the gateway. He could only presume that this was the place where people ended up when they went through the doorway in the holiday forest, though he had never been through that particular doorway himself. If this was true, whoever had come into town had come from one of the roads into the forest…probably the one near that which took the dead to Limbo. That wasn't a good thing. That meant that something had gone wrong…
Jack's eyes narrowed. He tried very hard not to remember details about his life…or…death, whichever term worked best, these days. Still, memories from earlier on in his demise came back to him with a gust of autumn wind.
"This can't be done by just anyone…" He said quietly to himself. "Even with brute strength…a person would need a tool…something very powerful…and very dangerous." His train of thought was broken of by the sound of a twig crunching. He turned swiftly in the direction of the sound and came face to face with Sally, who looked embarrassed and quite guilty. Jack relaxed.
"Sally." He said, his voice taking on a slightly stern note. "What are you doing out here?" He walked back through the gateway, heading in her direction.
"Sorry, Jack…I was just…worried." She said softly. Jack stopped in front of her.
"Well it could be dangerous out here…you need to be careful." He took her arms gently in his hands.
"I don't want anything to happen to you." Sally looked up at him boldly.
"It wont." She said. "I was just worried about you…"
"You don't need to worry, I'm sure this can be straightened out easily enough. Until then I'd really feel much better if you didn't wonder out by yourself." He saw a hurt look in her eye and added something else quickly. "Not just you, I don't want anyone wondering off by themselves. I have no doubt you can take care of yourself…but I'm not quite sure what's going on yet…" Sally nodded.
"Now, I have to meet the mayor and the rest of the residents in town, do me a favor and go back to the house…" Sally interrupted him.
"Why can't I meet in town with the rest of you?" She asked a little defensively. Jack smiled.
"As I was saying…" He continued. "Go back to the house and look under the mattress of our bed, there you will find something that looks very much like a hand mirror, bring that to me." He kissed her on her brow.
"You know you're a resident in town now Sally, I wouldn't dream of keeping you away from experiencing anything anyone else in town has the right to." Sally lowered her gaze, feeling a little ashamed. It hadn't been the first time since she had started living with Jack that she had found herself thinking of him as being in the same position Dr Finkelstein had been. She often forgot that he not only gave her plenty of freedom, but encouraged it a lot more then even she could sometimes handle.
"Sorry."
"No need to apologize. Just please do this favor for me and bring me the mirror." He turned and started to head back to town.
"And don't linger," He called back. " Outside that gate Halloween town ends, I don't know quite where that road goes, but now that the gates fallen there's no telling what could come down from that direction."
Sally watched as his form disappeared in a clump of autumn trees. She turned back towards the gate, a nasty chill ran down her spine as she did.
The way The Gate was broken like that…dreadful, like something out of a mad mans dream…She was just about to turn around and put the terrible apparition behind her when she heard a faint whispering. She turned back towards the gate quickly, as if to catch whatever source was responsible for the small bodiless sound.
Around her a great many autumn leaves were picked up from the ground and carried about in a lazy circle along with the wind.
Suddenly, with a high whistle the wind picked up and the leaves began to fly towards her. As they did, Sally was faintly aware that they had begun to change. She watched in horror as they grew longer, and as their ruffled edges straightened themselves. The reddish and orange color of dying leaves seamed to drain away from them until they were almost completely white.
Cards, hundreds of them, where the leaves had been. They slapped violently towards Sally, hitting her in her outstretched arms and face. All of them held the same image, that of a crazy looking man…the caption above him read JOKER.
Without realizing what she was doing, Sally threw her arms out in front of her in a receiving gesture, with her hands cupped together as though she was expected to be given something. Sally was vaguely aware that a card had landed in them perfectly. As though it was meant to be there. At the same time the wind died down. She opened her eyes hesitantly, and fixed them on her cupped hands. A single card stared up at her. The image on it was the same, but the words were different.
This one read JACK. No sooner had she read the words when the card imploded, becoming nothing but a pile of ash. She stared at it for a moment, a feeling of dread spreading throughout her.
As the wind began to carry it away, Sally closed her hands over it and shut her eyes tightly.
A few minutes later, when she was finally able to open her eyes again she looked about her curiously. The cards were gone, becoming leaves once more. She opened her hands. All that was left was the crumpled carcass of an autumn leaf.
This could be REALLY bad. Please tell me if you thought my writing got lazy. I'm posting it like it is now, but I am perfectly willing to change it if it doesn't seam to be written quite right. Thank you for your reviews.