(To Skeleton The Wanderer.): Hehe, thank you for the grammar advice.
(To everyone.) I apologize to anyone reading my stories if my terrible grammar wrecks them in any way. I consider it an improvement on my part that you can even read the story in the first place. I used to have really horrible grammar habits. (Like uh…leaving out periods and paragraphs and capital letters.)
I'll try to watch it more closely. Thank you for reading my stories, and I really appreciate your feedback.
Chapter Four:
An Offer They Can't Refuse
The Meeting Hall was full of impatient people when Jack entered. He sighed and headed to the front of the room, where his podium stood, looking like a tired bit of equipment to Jack at the moment. He climbed the stairs and looked out at all of the curious faces.
"What's going on Jack?" The mayor asked.
"I have an announcement to make." Jack said over the scattering noises of curiosity and unease about the room.
"Did you inform the authorities? When will they get here?" The mayor questioned. Jack shook his head.
"We can't reach the outside, no one is coming." There was an outbreak of worried comments throughout the room at this.
"But what about the intruder, what if he's dangerous?" Someone asked from the back of the room. Jack sighed.
"He is, that's what this meeting is about. The ghoul who broke through the gate earlier today goes by the name of Murdock Manifesto. Some of you may remember him. He used to be The Pumpkin King here."
"But Jack…" Said a witch in the corner. "You're the Pumpkin King." He nodded.
"Yes, I am now. He used to be."
"But…" Said another. "You've…always been the Pumpkin King." Jack shook his head.
"I haven't." The mayor looked at Jack bewilderedly.
"Of course you have Jack, for as long as I can remember anyway." The crowd agreed."
"Well, I haven't." Jack said, he sounded aggravated. Sally slipped into the room unnoticed, and stood in the back, watching Jack, and waiting for him to finish his announcement, so she could talk to him.
"Jack, you must have hit you head or something I…"
"Look…" He interrupted loudly, getting a startled look from the mayor. "I haven't! Now stop wasting my time, and let me get on with this!" The crowd fell silent. A ghoul and a vampire shared a nervous look.
"He is here! We are alone! I'm telling you this to warn you that he is dangerous! If he speaks to you, do not listen, he lies! If you see him don't confront him!" A mummy in the far left gathered his courage and spoke in a tiny voice.
"What will you be doing, Jack."
"Yeah…how are you going to fix this?" Asked a werewolf. Jack was quiet for a moment before answering. To the crowd, he suddenly looked almost impossibly tired.
"I need to find out how to get rid of him, or at least stall him off for as long as I can until someone from the outside comes to find him. Just remember what I told you." He stood up to his full height and exited the stage, eyes followed him as he went, and a quiet confused chattering broke out throughout the hall. As he neared the back of the room he saw Sally, and noted, nervously to himself, that she did not look happy at all. Apparently, there were a few things scarier then an intruder and himself.
"Sally what…" She grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him out of the room.
Outside, Jack found himself, for the first time in a very long time, to be entirely speechless. Sally was looking at him coldly.
"Um…" Jack started, Sally didn't let him get any further.
"I want to know what's going on, Jack. And I want to know what's wrong with you…" She still had his wrist in her hand. "I'm not letting go until you tell me." Her look softened a little, and Jack saw a great lot of worry there where the anger had been. He felt a little ashamed.
"Alright." He said softly, shaking her loosened hand from his wrist.
"But let's at least walk towards the doctors, and try to get away from everyone else. I don't want them to hear." Sally nodded and followed Jack as he led her away from the Meeting Hall.
Back at Oogie Boogie's Tree House, Lock and Barrel were going through an array of various torture devices they had stuffed in a cabinet on the far side of the 'play room' and occasionally using them on each other, whenever the situation called for it (Which was actually quite often.) when a earsplitting sound interrupted their concentration (Or whatever concentration they needed to poke and prod each other with sharp objects.)
"What was that?" Lock said, while in the process of trying to stuff Barrel into a large human shaped box with sharp and infectious looking spikes lined along it's walls. Barrel shrugged and took the opportunity to slip out from under Locks grasp. He backed away from the bigger boy a little and grabbed a nearby pitchfork in case he tried to pursue him and try it again.
"Maybe it's Shock." Lock said, looking grudgingly at the doorway. "I can't believe she left me here with you for this long.! And she went off with Jack!" Barrel nodded in agreement and set the pitchfork aside.
"Yeah, but I don't think Shock can make a noise like that." Barrel said.
Lock paused and glared at Barrel, who had resumed going through a box of rusty spear heads. His hand paused at the edge of the box when the sound happened again. This time, both boys recognized for what it was. They shared a look of alarm.
"Someone's messing with Oogie Boogie's game room!" Lock said, his voice was ebbing with certain disbelief. It had been several months since Jack had unraveled Oogie Boogie, but between Lock Shock and Barrel, there was still a certain understanding, and that was: Oogie Boogie's Game Room, or Lair, if one prefers it, was off limits!
"It couldn't be Shock, could it?" Barrel asked, while half pulling off his mask and looking nervously towards the old pipe where they used to deliver food to Oogie Boogie's lair. Lock shook his head.
"Better not be! Come on!" He half dragged Barrel out of the play room.
When they were on the small, and very unsteady looking bridge that led into the upper part of the Tree House, Lock stopped and peered anxiously into the crack where a couple of the floor boards were missing. He looked at Barrel.
"If we go down there, technically, we're not in the Game Room." Lock said. Barrel nodded in agreement.
"Great…" Lock said. "You can go first." With that he pushed Barrel into the hole, who let out a cry of rage, which turned into an 'oof' as he hit the ground. Lock leaned over the hole.
"How does it look?" He asked Barrel, who was grumbling below his breath.
"Fine!" Barrel answered. He grinned wickedly and grabbed the side of the cage that they usually took around the Tree House. "You can come down now." Lock nodded and jumped down himself. Barrel pulled the cage forward so that it was underneath Lock when he landed. As he did he let out a cry of pain and Barrel burst out laughing.
Lock pulled himself off of the cage and charged Barrel down, who didn't try too hard to block him off because he was still laughing too hard, and felt that it was worth the pain anyway.
Lock hit him across the face, as he did his mask flew off and landed in the corner. He was about to hit him again, but caught sight of the crack in the wall that led down to the lair, and stopped. He let Barrel go.
"I hear someone." He said, and inched forward to the crevice. Barrel went to the corner and got his mask, then rejoined Lock, who was peering anxiously into the darkness. A soft voice was coming out of the blackness, sounding like the wind when it passed over something that makes it groan and whistle. Both boys shared a look of worry, then leaned forward to try and hear the voice better. Whoever it was, was singing.
'No more hiding under mattresses
Or slinking in the dark,
Hiding in the closet'
Of the children that he marks…
No one will find him calling their
Name beneath their bed…
He can't do anything about me…Because the Boogie Man is dead'
After the last line whoever it was laughed coldly. Lock and Barrel backed away from the crack in the wall at the same time.
"That isn't Shock." Barrel said quietly. Lock shook his head and looked up at the hole where the bridge was.
"Let's go and wait for her to come back, then we'll find out what we're going to do about this intruder." Lock said. Barrel nodded and they both started back up to the bridge. When they got up, Barrel looked nervously towards the gate that led into town from the Tree House, making a mental note that it was open slightly, and wondering if Shock and Jack could have done it, or if it had been someone else. When he turned to follow Lock back to the Play Room he ran into someone head on and was grabbed by the waste, beside him Lock was in a similar predicament, but was putting up a much better fight. It stopped when both boys were flung to the ground violently. They looked up.
Hovering over them, his face inches away from there's was a terrible looking apparition, who was grinning like a mad man. The grin was bad, but the worst part about him was his eyes, which were uncovered as he took his hat off. They were huge and covered in red veins which winded through them looking like blood had spilled into his whites. Both eyes were discolored, one was bright red, and the other was yellow and they both gave one the feeling that they were peering out from a head that was creating terrible things. Lock and Barrel gaped at him for a moment, then, when their initial shock wore off, Lock's face hardened.
"Hey! We don't let people back here, so bug off!" Lock said. The man's smile wore off a little and he replaced his hat.
"I see…" The man said. "Your stupid…" The man said simply, making Lock look at him in half rage and half offense. "But…not quite as stupid as I hoped you would be." He finished. He pulled a charm out from his neck and looked at the two boys, scanning over their faces.
"And neither of you is the one I'm looking for." Lock and Barrel looked at each other, then glared at the man fearlessly.
"You were the one in Oogie Boogie's lair…" Barrel said.
"We don't like it when people go in there." Lock said, his look was full of warning. Murdock looked at both of them in amusement.
"I remember you, you're the Boogie man's little henchmen. Well he's dead now and I'm willing to give twice of what he gave you if you start working for me." Lock looked at him oddly.
"What are you talking about, Oogie Boogie never gave us anything, he made us work for him, we did it because if we were working for him we knew he wouldn't ever be after us."
Barrel took a nervous step backwards after Lock said this. After he did Murdock's face began to changed, as he grinned his teeth grew sharp and longer, and beneath his hat his eyes glowed a fierce red. He flung both arms out, making both of his black and purple striped sleeves rip as his arms got longer. By now Lock was trying to back up to, but to no avail, both boys were grabbed by the color and pulled forward.
"Exactly! And to you I induce TWICE of what he ever executed! So…" He let both boys go and began to withdraw back into his original appearance. "Do we have a deal…or…would you like to see another demonstration of the imbursement you will be receiving." Barrel swallowed, and shared an agonized look with Lock who agreed silently. Years and Years working for Oogie Boogie had only ended months before, and they were already being forced to work for someone else.
"That's what I thought. Now, there was another one. Where is she?" Suddenly Lock looked up.
"Jack!" Murdock narrowed his eyes.
"Excuse me?"
Lock grinned wickedly.
"Shock's with Jack." He said. Murdock looked frustrated for a moment.
"That blasted…I can't wait until he's reduced to dust! No matter, she'll have to come back eventually, when she does, we'll be waiting for her." He grinned again and grabbed both boys by the shoulder.
"Come on boys, we have planning to do." They didn't move for a moment. Murdock gave them a challenging look and leaned forward.
"I said…come…on." He whispered dangerously. Both boys exchanged another look, then, defeated, they led him back to the Tree House.
The trip to the doctor's house was a quiet one. Sally found herself nervously playing with her fingers, and constantly looking at Jack, who was keeping a little bit in front of her for most of the way. When they finally reached the door Jack stopped and gave Sally a small and not very reassuring smile. He knocked on the door, and then dropped his hand to his side and waited quietly. Sally decided to break the silence.
"Jack." He looked at her. His countenance was brimming with unease and uncertainty, two things that looked very foreign and wrong on his face, like they had gotten there by mistake.
"Are you alright?" Jack smiled weakly and took her in his arms.
"Listen Sally, I love you, and-" The door opened and the doctor peered out. He gave Sally and Jack a quick look over and rolled his eyes.
"I thought we agreed you wouldn't say anything to anyone!" Jack parted the embrace.
"I haven't said anything yet." He said.
"Well, why is she here?" Sally stepped forward in determination.
"I want to know what's going on." The doctor shook his head.
"This isn't any of your business, Sally." She didn't back off.
She was about to say something else when Jack stopped her by grabbing her gently by the shoulders.
"It's alright." He said to the doctor, who looked at him in aggravation
"I want her here." He said. The doctor looked back and forth between them.
"Fine! But if she gets in the way…" He didn't finish, but turned around and headed back into the house. Jack motioned for Sally to follow. She did so quietly, looking at the floor in a sort of embarrassed manner. Jack watched her go in, then looked down the street across town. He wondered briefly where Murdock was hiding out. Maybe if he could find out early, he could get him before it went beyond his power. He shook his head and walked in the door, hoping that the doctor knew what he was doing and that his concoction would turn out better then some of the food dishes he preferred.
Hurray, I got one more chapter in before Spring Break officially ended! Unfortunately the next week is going to be insane, and I'm going to have absolutely no free time, so I can't possible update again until at least Friday: p Oh well. I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm grateful for the feedback!