Chapter Fourteen

A Night Of Contemplation

Barrel walked slowly into the graveyard. Against the yellow moon, the spiral hill was a great shadow twisting up from the cold ground. Occasionally the misty forms of ghosts would dart out of the graves and float listlessly through the breeze. Barrel looked about the scenery warily and wondered how long Murdock would be up at the Meeting Hall. As he wondered, someone grabbed his shoulder and startled him out of his thoughts.

Shock lowered her hood and cast a small scythe away.

"Alright we haven't got much time, so I'm gonna fill you in quickly." Shock pulled off the robe, pulling her own mask and witches hat out of the folds so that she was back in her regular costume. "Jack's alive, but he's about as capable of doing ANYTHING to that idiot as you or I am. And I think Lock might have been right about Murdock…he changed…he's…different." Barrel nodded.

Shock seemed to consider this for a moment.

"It's like he's…"

"Jack." Barrel interrupted. "He's Jack…you were with him weren't you? He was the tall hulking guy? You didn't ask why he was so weak?" Shock rose her brow. She knew Murdock had done something to Jack. She was there when Jack and the doctor had tried to find out what it was. But she hadn't asked why.

"He is Jack, Shock. He's half Jack and he's half himself. He stole his…life force or something." Shock's eyes widened a little at his last statement.

"The law…that idiot."

"What?"

"Murdock follows the law…he knows what happens when you take someone's life force away…that Moron!" She kicked at a grave, getting a loud protest from it's inhabitant. Barrel took a few steps back. Shock was a lot less likely to take her anger out on him then Lock was, but that didn't mean she wouldn't.

"Look…this…this law…Murdock sort of explained it to us…well…when I say explained I mean he recited an entire paragraph out of the…uh…manual for the recently…er…"

"Combusted, Possessed and deceased." Shock said wearily.

"Right…that. He said it…happened to people who died before they were supposed to." Shock nodded.

"Yeah. Unscheduled deaths, it happens all the time, the idiots who run the afterlife don't have any idea what their doing."

"So…when you take someone's life force away it…"

Shock sighed…she really didn't think they had time for this.

"When you follow the law…like I do, it means you carry your spirit with you into the afterlife. If it's taken away, you become a corpse…uh…like…a real corpse…the kind that just lies there."

Barrel nodded. They were both silent for a while.

"Anyway. The reason I had you meet me here was to ask if you or Lock have found anything out about him?"

Barrel seemed to consider this.

"I dunno…we usually try to stay away from him as much as possible. He likes purple…I know that." He looked down at his outfit in distaste at this statement. Shock glared at him.

"I know that stupid! I mean something USEFUL!" Barrel shrugged.

"He doesn't like ropes. He asked us to burn all of the ones around town." Shock raised her brow.

"That's a little weird."

"Uhh…that's about it, I think." Shock sighed and sat on top of a grave.

"Well then, we're finished, if that's all you can come up with." She said this a little nastily. Barrel shrugged. After a few minutes of complete silence he spoke again.

"He was here before wasn't he? I don't remember well…but he must've been right?" Shock nodded.

"He was the skinny guy that used to drive Oogie crazy." A hint of acknowledgement crossed Barrels face.

"Oh yeah. They weren't friends…but he used to come over to the Tree House to play games…and Oogie was the only one who could get away with anything under his watch…not because Murdock liked him…because…"

"He was afraid of him. They hated each other. Murdock Hated Oogie Boogie because he wasn't afraid of him and he ALWAYS won the games they played…and Oogie hated Murdock because he was the Pumpkin King instead of him."

Barrel nodded.

"I remember."

There was a soft sound behind them. Barrel turned automatically, expecting to see Murdock standing in the shadows and grinning. Instead, he saw Sally.

"Oh…right…meetings probably almost over." He said quietly.

"Great…" Shock said bitterly. "And you weren't any help at all…good work Barrel." Her voice was laced in sarcasm. Barrel gave her a dark look.

"Hey, at least you don't have to work under him." Barrel said with a sour note in his voice. He turned away from her and headed towards the exit of the graveyard. When he reached the gates he turned back with an inquiring look in his eyes.

"Should I tell Lock about this?" Shock shook her head.

"Not unless you're sure you can be ABSOLUTELY alone with him. We didn't find out much…it isn't that important." Barrel nodded and followed Sally as she headed back towards the town square.

From Sally's old window, Jack watched them go. He didn't want her to go back to Murdock, but he knew that she had to. A shadow fell across his face.

Behind him, a whirring sound could be heard coming up the hall. Jack turned towards the door as the doctor entered the room.

"I have the elixir, Jack. Take it quickly, you look awful." He handed Jack a small flask of shining green liquid. Jack took it gently from him and tipped the contents his skeletal mouth. He winced and put the empty container aside.

The doctor watched him carefully as he did so.

"Did you find anything, Jack?" There was a hopeful look on his face. The tall skeleton shook his head wearily. There was a far away look in his countenance as he stared back out the window into the night. The doctor followed his gaze and a tired look crossed over his facade, masked by his dark glasses.

"She'll be fine Jack. Believe me, no man can keep her if she doesn't want to be kept!" There was a hint of venom in his voice. "I think you have more important things to worry about right now. You can't go to another meeting. That's for sure."

Jack nodded sadly.

"I hate to say so Jack, but if you don't think of something soon…I mean…really soon…we're out of luck. I only have enough Panax Ginseng and Bromelain for two small vials of elixir…and with the speed of your decay…that only gives us…three or fours days…at the most." Jack lowered his head.

"I don't know what to do." He said softly. "I can't even think straight anymore. My memory's are even starting to get fuzzy."

"Well…it doesn't hurt to try…although…I'm beginning to wonder if it makes any difference at all." He turned in his chair and wheeled out of the room.

After he left Jack rested his head on his skeletal hand and his eyes swept over the dark room. They paused on Sally's sewing machine again. He sighed.

"If only he wouldn't have broken that mirror…then all of this…" His thought was brought to a halt. Jack sat up, starring at the sewing machine as though it had just done something spectacular. He left his chair and crossed the room, stopping at the spidery contraption. A bit of thread dangled off of it, illuminated lightly by the full moon. Jack touched it.

"Of course…" He whispered in the silence of the room. From downstairs he heard the front door opening and closing. He looked at the door to Sally's room. It was standing open slightly. He pushed it gently until he heard it catch, and without a second thought he pulled a large chair in front of it.

In the corner, Zero was laying on a bit of a bed that Jack had made up for him. Jack crouched down beside the ghost dog and nudged him with one skeletal finger.

"Zero." The dog awoke and stared at his master groggily. "I need you to do me a favor, boy."

He stood up and crossed over to an old wooden table, picking up a bit of old parchment as he did. Zero followed him, watching him curiously as he grabbed a quill and dipped it into some suspiciously blood colored ink, before scrolling a quick not onto the ancient surface.

"I want you to go to the graveyard and tear a bit of Deadly Nightshade loose from the old grave." He said as he wrote. "Then, you will go to the tree house and find Sally. Don't get caught! Then…" He put the finishing touches on the letter and read it though, silently. He nodded, pleased and quietly tucked the note into the dogs collar. "You will make sure she reads this. You must not return until tomorrow evening. AND DO NOT RETURN WITHOUT HER. I think I have an idea…but I need some time to myself to think about it."

Zero looked up at him and barked. Jack smiled and pet his dog affectionately.

"Good luck." The dog dodged around the room for a moment before darting out the open window. Jack stood by the window for a moment as he left, before shutting and locking it as well. He turned and nodded. Now no one could bother him.

He crossed over to Sally's old bed and lowered himself into the shadows, a look of concentration flooding into his features.

As the meeting came to a close, Murdock stepped into the night. His heinous eyes set in front of him in a look of demented fixation. Anyone who saw those eyes could tell that terrible ideas were brewing behind them. He masked them with his hat, casting his pale face in a mirage of shadowed sanity and headed towards the tree house.

Every once in a while he would stop to pull an old decoration free for no apparent reason. Sometimes he just stopped and stared at something for a while. As he neared Oogie's Lair, he did this while looking blankly at a crypt that was sitting by the fence.

"Quiet." He said to no one in particular. There was silence for a long minute…and then, anyone who might have been watching him would have thought he had suddenly lost his mind. He reeled back and kicked at the crypt violently. "I SAID SHUT UP!" He seemed satisfied and started to head towards the tree house, still conversing with himself.

"I'll need silence from you Barrigan if you want to ever see the light of day again. And Marie and Contralline. Why can't I hear Jack! I have his bloody life force! Where is he?"

When he reached the elevator into the large tree he stopped talking to himself and walked through the wall of the cage lift. He could have easily gotten to the top by himself. But he wasn't in any mood to be somewhere quickly. Something was going wrong. He could feel it.

When he finally reached the top, he stepped out of the cage and headed silently towards his room. In the distance he could have sworn he heard the sound of barking. He looked around…and then after a few minutes of complete silence, he shrugged and continued toward his quarters.

Finally. I have been having so many problems with developing this part of the story. I think I've got it now. I have the ending planned out and the afterward…I just need the rest of the in between stuff. I think I may actually finish this story before Pumpkin Town, though. It seems like I can get to the ending of this one much faster. I can't wait! I've had the ending planned out before I even started WRITING this story. Sigh.

Sorry it's taken so long. I meant to update sooner, but I was on vacation and then for the last couple of days I've been sort of on one train of thought. (I saw Phantom Of The Opera at Ohio Theatre a day or so ago and I've been freaking out over it ever since…I love Phantom of The Opera.) Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Thank you for your reviews! Updates Soon!