Chapter Eleven:

A Nightmarish Wedding.

Sally was standing at the window, gazing into the darkness as the gloominess of her new bedroom stretched out behind her. She bit her lip and ran her stitched fingers over the cloth of her dress. It was extremely uncomfortable. She was used to the familiar stitching of her old raggedy dress that the doctor had made her. This felt…wrong somehow.

She turned and scowled as her gaze fell on a morbid full length mirror. In the foggy glass she touched the sleeve of her dress bitterly. It was a deep purple and nearly reached her ankles. It was also very tight and was made of an odd and rough fabric. She hated it. She hated her hair even more. Her long red hair was tied up in a loose bun. A black veil lay forlornly on her bed. She was not going to put it on. She felt tears welling up in her eyes as she set the dark veil aside and lowered herself onto the mattress.

She touched her hair and with a gentle pull the black and purple ribbons fell away and her long red locks fell down her back. Her eyes fell to the floor as she felt something tug at her heart. She gazed sideways at the veil. She had no idea how to get out of this. But she knew she had to somehow. The only man (er…ghoul…skeleton…anything.) she'd ever marry was Jack. If Jack was gone…then she would be with no one.

Sally laid back, deciding that she should probably get some sleep. Maybe, something would come to her in the night. She closed her eyes and allowed herself a brief escape from the cruel situation she was currently in. As she did, she fell almost immediately into a dream.

Faintly, she could hear a song playing as the pumpkin sun rose. It sounded somewhat like the wedding march. She felt a sinking feeling, that, in normal circumstances would not have been the usual reaction to the slow and joyous melody. She opened her eyes and, for a moment, did not know where she was. It was certainly not the Tree house. Her eyes fell on the familiar cathedral style windows and suddenly, she felt relief flood into her. It had all been a naught but a nightmare.

"Sally." Jacks voice filled the room. Sally felt her heart leap into her throat. She sat up and smiled at him as he closed the trap door and made his way over to her. He offered her his hand.

"Ready, my dear?" Sally gave him her tiny hand and allowed him to envelope it in his large skeletal fingers. He pulled her gently to her feet.

"Ready?" She asked softly. Jack grinned broadly and rose her hand a little. He reached into his coat and pulled from it something that shimmered slightly in the dim light. He placed it on her finger and then leaned over to kiss her. Sally welcomed it but shivered when he parted from her. Something wasn't right.

"Nonsense, my dear. Come." Jack said as he gently led her down the stairs of their tower. As he went he pulled some black roses from a vase they passed. "Here you are." He said with a grin. Sally took them hesitantly.

She looked down at her dress. It was the purple one that she had been wearing when… (She had fallen asleep)

"This is a dream." Sally said forlornly. Jack gave her an odd look and kept walking. His fingers felt leathery and rough. Suddenly she wanted desperately to pull away from him.

"Jack…where are we going?" She asked, her voice shaking a little.

"To The Town Square, my dear. To be married, remember?" Sally shook her head to herself.

"No…" She said softly. "I don't, when did you propose?" She felt a growing terror welling up inside of her.

"On Halloween, my dear…of course." Sally watched the scenery change as they neared the square. It was covered in all sorts of decorations. Jack let her hand go…a thing which she found to be a great relief.

"Alright, start the music." Jack said happily. He walked to the altar and spun around to face her.

"Walk, Sally." He said softly. Sally looked around at all of the usually dark faces of the Halloween residents. She rose the Black roses to her chest and slowly walked towards Jack. Something was tugging at the back of her mind, trying to bring something to her attention…something important. She couldn't grasp it. Before she knew it she was beside Jack.

Beside them a figure in a bright purple suit started reciting the wedding vows. (Being sure to leave out such things like, "In sickness and in health" and "Till death do us part.")

"Do you, The Pumpkin King, take this ragdoll to be your wedded partner in death for all of eternity?"

"I do." Jack said softly.

"And do you…Sally, take this corpse to be your wedded partner in death for the rest of eternity." Sally swallowed and took a step back, releasing herself from Jack's hands. He looked at her in a surprised manner.

"Sally?" He asked nervously. He looked sideways at the ghoul who had been doing the ceremony.

"This doesn't feel right." Sally said softly. "Something's wrong. I can't marry you." She started to back up further but was taken by the arms by two of Halloween Towns residents and pushed forward again. Sally looked at the residents in horror then cast a look back at Jack, who's face was contorted into something like anger. He grabbed her roughly by the arm.

"Say I do darling! Or would you rather spend eternity in pieces?" Sally tried to pull away from him again.

"Your not Jack!" She said as his face became absolutely terrifying.

"What do you mean I'm not Jack? Do I not look like him?" Now his voice had become different as well. Sally struggled in his grasp.

"Say I do, Sally! Say it!" He yelled at her. Sally shook her head desperately.

"No…never. I won't marry you no matter what you look like!" She screamed at him.

Jack scowled and then his features started to melt away. The world seemed to melt away with him, Until Sally was standing in the exact same place, but was surrounded by a group of miserable looking towns people, instead of Happy ones and Jack had become Murdock, who was staring at her in rage.

"You will marry me." He said. "You have no choice!"

Sally tried again to pull away from him, but could not.

"No. I hate you!"

"Harsh words, wouldn't you say? Especially after I even tried to give you your dream wedding…literally."

"That wasn't my dream wedding! You make a lousy Jack!" She screamed in the midst of her struggles. Murdock grinned and grabbed her by both of her arms.

"Funny, I would have thought I'd make a pretty good Jack, considering that everything that was essentially Jack Skellington is mine now. His town, his bride, his life…" He leaned over towards her and whispered into her ear. "His skill and soul. Everything. I know where he is, Sally. That's right, he's alive. But I don't worry about him because he is nothing now! But perhaps you do still. I could end him right now…if I wanted….unless…" He touched her bright red hair. "You say 'I do.'"

Sally stared up at the man in horror.

"You…took…Jack's…"

"Everything. I took everything from him that is worth anything. You see…it's almost as though your marrying Jack after all." He laughed wickedly.

A tear ran down Sally's cheek.

'No…' She thought to herself. 'It's not the same at all. You said you got everything from Jack that was worth anything…but I think you missed the most important thing.'

"I do." She said softly. "For Jack." Murdock's grin widened.

"Excellent."

"I pronounce you husband and wife…" One of the residents said glumly. "You may now kiss the bride."

Murdock leaned over quickly and kissed Sally before she had the chance to dodge it completely.

"You've made the right decision." He looked around the audience, Sally took time to notice that it was very small. "Well. Not everyone was here. We shall announce our marriage at tonight's town meeting. Allow for the whole town to participate in our new found…joy." He grinned.

"I have work to do. Lock, Barrel. Take her back to her room until this evening." The two boys exchanged a look and then rolled their eyes absently. They placed the chains around Sally's wrists again. This time she did not fight it, but stood still in anguished defeat. She allowed herself to be led away.

Unaware of all of this, the doctor looked at the bright purple cloak that he had sewn together. Satisfied as he pulled it from the sewing machine. He slowly wheeled out into the library where Jack had been sitting up and thinking for much of night.

"Jack I've finished, but you'll have to…" He stopped as he realized that his words were going unheard. The skeleton was fast asleep with a large book dangling from one of his bony hands. The doctor sighed and put the cloak on the chair beside him.

"I don't know how your going to pull this off Jack…and I doubt that you can stop him now. But I hope you can prove me wrong." He wheeled out of the library, leaving the previous Pumpkin King to his sleep.

He started to head back down to the lab when the eldest trick or treater barged into his front door and nearly scared him to death. (er…well…you know what I mean.) He glared at her.

"That door was locked! Several times, with several very sturdy locks! How did you get back in?" Shock shrugged.

"Didn't seem all that sturdy to me." She tossed a mask onto the kitchen table and placed, for some reason, a large stick beside it.

"What are those things?" The doctor asked bitterly.

"For the old bonehead. Where is he?"

"Asleep upstairs. Leave him alone!" The doctor warned. "I have experiments to work on. You will not touch anything!" He said sternly to the girl , who rose her brow and shrugged. He tossed her a suspicious look then wheeled down into his laboratory.

Shock waited until he was out of sight, then she grabbed the mask and stick and headed up the stairs. When she got to the library she kicked the door open and started to nudge Jack with the stick. He flinched then woke up, dropping the book as he did.

He sat up and yawned. Then cast an aggravated look towards the girl.

"Can I help you?" He asked bitterly.

"Your stuff is ready." She tossed him the mask and leaned the stick against his chair. Jack nodded towards it.

"What's that for?" He asked, while trying the mask on.

"Walking stick, what with the way you've been moving around, you'll probably need it." Jack sighed and grabbed the robe.

"Good point." He pulled the purple fabric over his head and looked down at his feet in satisfaction. It fit perfectly. He raised the hood and grabbed the walking stick.

"Excellent." Jack said softly. "Alright then, now all I need is something to cover my hands." He gazed thoughtfully at his bone fingers.

"Hmm…bandages I think. That would be believable." He headed towards the doorway. "I'm sure the doctor has plenty."

Shock shook her head before following behind him.

"There's no way this is gonna work, Jack." He paused and turned towards her.

"None the less, I must try…" Jack started. Before he got any further Shock shook her head.

"No, I mean your posture. Walking stick or not, your still taller then anyone else in town. Lean over or something." Jack gazed at the stick and tried to lean over as much as he could. He was dismayed to find that he could not do it as well as he had once been able to. Before, he had been quite flexible. Now he was only able to lean over enough so that he was a few feet shorter, and only when he was leaning on the stick for support.

"Eh…" Shock said briefly before heading down the stairs. Jack frowned and stood back up to his full height.

"It'll just have to do." He said to no one in particular. He followed Shock down the stairs, aware that the meeting to take place that evening was drawing ever nearer.

There we go. I actually have about half of the next Pumpkin Town chapter done as well. But I got stuck and then frustrated, so I started working on this story again. Because of my current place, I may continue to update on this story, but I should have the next Pumpkin Town chapter up soon.

To Megan W. : Glad you liked the picture. My email address is If you have non review messages for me, you are quite welcome to send them here (Although, I don't really mind them on the review page.) This is for anyone who wishes to have it, although, in order to have it, all you have to do is look for it on my profile page. Also, if any of you are interested, I would very much like to post more pictures on my website and would appreciate some fanart that you might have. If you wish to send some. Send it to the above address along with you name (Or nickname, or whatever.) so that I can give you credit for it. Or…you can just ignore this message and my email address. Your quite welcome to do this as well. 

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