Chapter Thirteen:

In His Touch

It was getting late. For the past hour Murdock had been talking about his plans for Halloween. At first, Jack had tried to pay attention, despite his already preoccupied mind and his falling weariness. Now, he was finding difficulty in keeping himself upright, never mind doing it and paying attention to the mad mans ramblings. Jack cradled his head in his hands for a moment. He was exhausted. Beside him, Shock tugged frustratingly at his cloak. Jack ignored her.

"Jack!" The small trick or treator whispered furiously. Jack sighed and raised his head.

"I'm going to sneak over towards where Lock and Barrel are. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone!" She hopped down from the seat and crouched between the benches. A moment later she was gone. Jack eyed the stage for a moment. Murdock was sitting on the edge.

"And I think we've been far too generous to the trick or treators…" Murdock was saying. Jack frowned and cast a look towards the door. He couldn't sit there much longer. He had a nasty feeling that if he did, he might start losing limbs and stuff. He could either hope that Murdock was almost finished, or he could try to leave the Hall then. He decided to wait a little bit. If things got critical he'd have to depart.

Shock crouched in the shadows and crawled under various benches towards Lock and Barrel, who were watching Murdock with something like hatred on their faces and were therefore, entirely unaware of her. That was, until she slid into the seat beside them. Barrel looked at her in surprise. Lock, who was holding the chain connected to Sally's collar, was still staring up at the stage.

"What-" The younger boy began. Shock cut him off.

"Meet me in the graveyard after this meet breaks up." She said shortly. Barrel tried to peer under her hood.

"Shock?" He asked quietly.

"Yes! Now shut up and just do as I said!" She whispered at him furiously. Barrel nodded. He cast a look over his shoulder at Lock.

"What about…" Shock shook her head.

"Murdock would notice too easily if he was gone. It'll take a while for him to notice your missing. Your not as important." She hopped back down off the seat.

"Hey!" Barrel said in an offended manner. Shock had already vanished. He cast a sideways glance at Lock, who was still blissfully unaware of their conversation. His eyes fell on Sally and he was startled to find her looking at him. Her eyes left him and she looked meaningfully into the far back corner of the room. Barrel rose his brow and followed her gaze. He reached the place where she was looking in time to see Shock crawl back into her own seat. His eyes shifted to the hulking figure beside her.

He looked back at Sally with a question in his eyes, but she had looked away, back up to the stage.

Murdock had straightened to his full height and was grinning, his teeth appeared to glisten in the faint light. Where as the shadows gave them the illusion of sharpness.

"Well, this shall be an interesting Halloween. Now, line up…everyone…and I shall assign you your task for the holiday."

A couple of the residents exchanged looks at this.

"Uhh…" Started a vampire. "Ve normally do the same tasks every years. It has been that vay for a very long time."

Murdock tossed him a dark look.

"Well…it has now changed." He said softly. "Now line up."

He turned around, away from the residents of Halloween Town, and walked gracefully to the back of the stage, where he spun around with a flourish that sent two very different emotions running through Sally's heart. One was rage, which was directed at the loathsome specter due to his theft of grace. The other was a low and sorrowful longing to be able to see Jack standing up there in his place, using his own defining elegance.

She sat bitterly as everyone around her stood and moved slowly towards the stage. Murdock scanned their agonized faces with something like pleasure written across his own. It was clear that he was enjoying the sorrow he was causing them.

In the back of the hall Jack waited until there was enough people in between the benches so that Murdock's view of the far back corner was as obscure as possible. Jack and Shock shared a look. Jack nodded towards a nearby candle meaningfully. A moment later it went dark. The change in lighting went unnoticed by most everyone in the room. And as shadows overtook the back of the hall, Shock and Jack snuck silently towards the door.

Sally caught their shadows in the frame of the door. She threw a brief look towards Murdock, who was viciously ripping a corpses arm from their body. The only apparent reason for this was that the man was not wearing purple. Sally shivered. She didn't think she could spend another minute in the company of that phantom.

As though her thoughts summoned him over, Murdock left the confused corpse to mourn over his lost arm (unlike Sally, he did not have the skills equipped to re attach it.) He grinned, happily at her (As though she had not just watched him rip a mans arm off.) and ran one of his hateful leathery fingers over her face.

"You may take your leave now, darling. When you return to the Tree House, you will move your stuff…" He paused and his grin widened. "Well…I suppose you have nothing. Just move your pretty self into my chambers. I will meet you there when I am through here." He nodded at Lock and Barrel who stood and directed her out of the Town Meeting Hall.

Sally shuddered and bit her lip, willing her imagination away so that she might not be able to think about what spending a night with Murdock would be like. She held back the miserable tears that were threatening to run down her cheeks. She had to keep her mind clear. She only had one shot…she had to be focused when the opportunity came up.

Before Murdock reached the stage he turned and called after them.

"Barrel." The youngest boy turned around nervously and returned slowly to the front of the room.

"Er…yes?" He asked hesitantly. Murdock gazed at the door as Sally disappeared through it.

"I have a job for you. I want you to go around the Town Square and collect all of the ropes you come by. Bring them to me when you are finished." Barrel nodded and started to leave. Murdock grabbed him by the arm, making the boy let out a nervous cry. "That includes those on residents." He said, while casting a distrustful eye towards the hanging tree, which was shuffling past several of Halloween Towns residents and causing several cries of protest to those he ran over. Barrel nodded in relief. He hurried out the door.

Lock and Sally were halfway down Town square when Barrel caught up to them and grabbed Lock by the shoulder. The older boy turned around and looked at him curiously.

"So what'd you do?" He asked bitterly. Barrel shook his head.

"Nothing. He wants you to collect all of the ropes around town. Leave them in his quarters for him to find later this evening. I'm supposed to take Sally back to the Tree House." Lock looked at Barrel suspiciously.

"Nuh uh…what are you trying to pull?" Barrel grabbed him by the collar. For a moment this startled Lock beyond words.

"Look, just do this now. I'll tell you everything later, ok?" He looked at Barrel, then cast an annoyed look towards Sally. Finally, he growled in frustration and stomped angrily away.

"Am I the only one who hasn't gone completely nuts? First Shock…now Barrel! I swear!" He kept grumbling things as he ripped a rope free from one of the fences. (Ripping part of the fence along with it.)

Barrel turned towards Sally and shoved her chain in her hand.

"You better be back by the time Murdock returns or he's going to skin us both alive. I gotta meet Shock. I trust you know the way back on your own."

"Thank you." Sally said softly. She smiled sweetly at him. Barrel crinkled his nose in disgust in return and hurried towards the graveyard.

Sally gathered in her chain. She fingered the ring on her finger for a moment, then, after some consideration she tried to pull it loose. She decided that she did not want to see Jack while wearing a wedding ring. Unfortunately, after a few tugs it became apparent that the ring would not come loose. She frowned, then, deciding that it was best to hurry, she tugged instead at the stitches along her wrist. The hand with her wedding ring on it fell onto the crooked cobblestones of the Town Square. She wished that she could free herself from the collar around her neck, but that would mean taking her head off…and all things considering, she wasn't sure that was such a great idea.

She watched briefly as her hand crawled down the road, then, she headed shakily towards the doctors house. If she would have had a mortal heart, it would have been beating frantically.

Shock and Jack had reached the graveyard several minutes before. Shock turned towards Jack.

"Can you make it back to the doctors one your own bonehead?" She asked him with her brow raised. Jack nodded.

"I think so." He said wearily. Truthfully, he wasn't sure, but he was still proud enough not to admit that. Besides, it was important that Shock got the chance to talk to one of the other two Trick or Treators. Jack hadn't picked up a single useful thing during the town meeting. And what with the way he was currently feeling, he wasn't sure that he'd get another chance to attend another of Murdock's meetings to remedy this.

Shock nodded and headed into the cemetery, leaving Jack to struggle along his way. He braced himself against the fence that ran outside his own house, casting brief and longing looks at it. Part of him, the sorrowed miserable part that had come out a moment after the Christmas incident had failed so bitterly, told him to make one last climb up to the tower. Lay down on his familiar bed and wait until he turned to dust. The sensible part shook his head sadly. Maybe afterwards. Right now he had to try and stop Murdock, no matter how hopeless it seemed. Suddenly, much to his own distress and alarm, his legs gave out. He let out a cry as he fell to the ground.

After a moment of disorientation, he tried to hoist himself up, using his walking stick. He got almost all the way up before falling again. For a moment, Jack Skellington almost panicked, a thing that was not familiar to him in the least. He grasped at the fence desperately and pulled himself up to a sitting position. He needed to rest for a bit, that was all.

After a few minutes he managed to calm himself down. His eye sockets were closed. Deep in the back of his mind a voice shouted out in warning. It tried to warn him that this was how the living died of exhaustion. They just rested their eyes for a moment and then…

From far away someone touched his shoulder gently. Jack struggled out of his slumber and forced his eyes back open. His head felt remarkably fuzzy, as though it were full of a thick fog.

"You have to get up. Please!" Jack woke up the rest way as Sally's voice broke through the haze. He grabbed at her hand, feeling a consuming warmth rush through his otherwise always cold demeanor. For a moment he marveled at how he had memorized all of the stitches in her hand, and how right and at home it felt resting in his own. Then, with some regret, he pushed it away and tried once again to hoist himself up.

He would've failed if Sally had not wrapped her arm around his waist and helped pull him up. Jack stumbled against her as she helped him slowly down the street. They were both silent.

Jack fumbled through his mind for something to say to her, but, for the first time in his life, could think of nothing. A stab of pain and hatred struck him in his frustration. He would make sure that Murdock was stopped…if it was the last thing he ever…Jack sighed and lowered his head.

When they reached the doctors house Sally lowered him onto the steps. He gazed sadly at the ground and sighed inwardly. He could feel Sally's eyes on him, but he wasn't ready to look up at her yet. He was glad for the mask that was shielding his face.

Sally stood on the bottom step that led to the doctors door. Her eyes washed over the hulking figure before her. His Posture was not Jack's, he had no skill, he was not graceful, he was not confident, and he had not the inspiration or fierceness that Jack encompassed…but his touch was Jack's.

She reached out with one tiny hand and paused as her fingers brushed up against his mask. Then, after a grief-stricken examination of the way he was carrying himself at the moment, she drew her hand back a little. She thought of Murdock and her face hardened as her hesitation became surety. She leaned forward and grabbed at his disguise. One of Jack's skeletal hands reached up to ward her hand away. She removed his mask before he was able to stop her.

For a moment they stared at each other. Sally's eye's widened. She had seriously thought that she would never see him again. Jack opened his mouth to say something but was cut off as Sally threw her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder. He returned her embrace after a moment. For the first time since he had lost his abilities he forgot about his troubles. Sally was in his arms. That was all that mattered.

Hmmm…this feels a little fluffy…tell me if I get carried away with that (I tend to sometimes.) Argh! Charlie in the Chocolate Factory came out today. I couldn't see it because I have no cash so I decided to update on this story instead. I hope you enjoy the chapter…it didn't go quite as planned…but I'll work it. I'm eager to get to the end of this story (Only because that's the only real part I'm absolutely sure of…and I don't want to lose my train of thought.) Updates soon! On all my stories. (But I'm thinking I should definitely work on Special Keys For Special Doors next.)

Thank you all very much for your reviews! I really appreciate them!