Chapter 19

Acting As Though It Is Not Goodbye

Sally returned to the doctor's house with the bundle of fabric under her arm. She found the doctor in the kitchen, sitting, and being served by his new "wife" Jewel. As she stepped into the room she felt slightly uncomfortable.

"Where's Jack?" She asked the doctor, ignoring a snide look received by the homely creation.

"He's upstairs in your room." The doctor said while frowning. "If he opens the door for you, tell him that I have what he asked for, but I'm not going to do anything that's going to place me anywhere near that maniac."

Sally nodded and walked slowly up the ramp towards the door that used to be hers. When she reached it she leaned against the wood and knocked gently.

"Jack?" For a moment there wasn't any noise from the other side, then, she heard footsteps and the door opened for her. Jack smiled and stepped aside so that she could enter.

Sally stepped inside, feeling slightly odd as the familiar walls rose up around her. Behind her Jack closed the door. She turned towards him. He looked tired.

"I'm glad you got back alright." He said softly.

"Yes…well…he's probably still preoccupied." Sally said shyly. Jack shook his head and sat down on what used to be the edge of her bed.

"No. I imagine he's awakened by now. I don't think he's going to bother us." Sally watched Jack as he said this.

"Why not?" She asked while gently setting down the bundle of fabric.

"Because he knows we can't win." Jack said softly, while looking out the window. He sighed, then, upon looking back at Sally and seeing her expression, he smiled reassuringly. It didn't seem to help.

Sally's gaze had fallen to the floor.

Jack frowned and, for a moment, they were both silent. This was broken when the door crashed open. Both Sally and Jack turned towards the sound quickly. It appeared as though either Lock or Shock had kicked the door in after finding that Jack had locked it from the inside. Jack eyed them wearily.

"We got em, Jack." Lock said proudly.

"Yeah, it was easy, Murdock even walked RIGHT by us and didn't see us once!." Barrel exclaimed. Jack caught Sally's eye before standing.

"Well done." He said tiredly. "Please, if you would just take them downstairs and put them somewhere. I'll be down in a moment and we'll talk about what to do next." The three mischievous trick or treaters nodded and headed back down to the doctors kitchen.

Jack turned to Sally, who was watching him sadly.

"Do you really mean to do this on your own, Jack?" She said in a tiny voice, weighted down by sorrow. Jack stepped towards her and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Not alone. I have all of you to help me. I'm just…" She interrupted him.

"Going to do the most dangerous part!"

"I have to. If I fail it wont matter as much. If you, or anyone else were to get hurt trying to pull this off, I could never forgive myself. Besides…I'll be gone after tomorrow evening. I have to do something."

Sally pulled away from him a little. Hearing it was so much worse. If she hadn't heard it, she could almost convince herself it wasn't true. But, either way, she'd have to face it, whether on this evening, or on the next. Vaguely, she felt Jack touch her shoulder.

"Please don't worry. I believe that I know what I'm doing. You said you trusted me." Sally looked up at him quickly.

"I do, Jack…" She said softly. He smiled.

"Then I need you to sew. It must be done by tomorrow evening." She felt his hand leave her shoulder as he crossed the room.

"I'll be back up in a moment." Sally nodded and picked up the fabric from the bed to begin sewing. Down in the doctor's kitchen, the three trick or treaters and the doctor awaited Jack impatiently. Sitting a few feet away from the doctor's wheelchair, Lock, Shock and Barrel argued amongst themselves, while wrestling the bucket they were carrying away from each other. Behind them, the doctor drummed on the table edgily, while his Jewel attempted to serve him tea, which he testily brushed away.

Outside, the Pumpkin sun was setting, although the dark windowless room could not see it.

Jack descended the stairs carefully. By then he was very weak, for he was putting off wasting any more of the doctor's elixir before it was time. When he reached the bottom he eyed the small group wearily and pulled up one of the doctor's dust covered chairs, which he brushed off absently before sitting. He let out a sorrowful sigh before he spoke.

"Tomorrow evening is when we're going to try to pull this off. I just want to make sure that you all know what I want you to do. Lock, Shock, Barrel; I want you to take the things you gathered today and head out to the tree house early tomorrow evening." At this point he was interrupted by Lock who stood up suddenly.

"Hey! No way, we aren't going back there!" He said in a defiant voice. Jack held up a skeletal hand and narrowed an eye socket sternly. Shock, who was sitting next to the older boy, grabbed him by his shirt and yanked him back down.

"It's the only way." Jack explained. "When you reach the tree house, I want you to go down to Oogie Boogie's game room and find the controls. Take care of all of the things, which need to be done and then wait until Murdock enters the lair before turning on every single device you can. I only need two of you for this."

All three of them looked at each other, as though challenging the other to back down.

"The third will take the doctor's new device out to the square where Murdock and the rest of Halloween Town will be. Hide somewhere until I give you the cue to start it up. Doctor, your work is done already. You may go." The doctor nodded, as some of the edge in his attitude left him. At least HE wasn't in any danger.

"What are you going to do?" The doctor asked, as he turned his wheelchair towards the ramp.

"I'm going to lead Murdock to the tree house…but I'm counting on the distraction and rope to give me a head start. This could work…but if it doesn't…" Jack eyed the room despairingly. "Well…I apologize. Then you are on your own." He stood shakily and headed towards the ramp.

"I suggest you three work out who's doing what and then get some rest." He said to Lock, Shock and Barrel before ascending the ramp way.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Back in the dreary walls of her former chambers, Sally worked on the sewing she had to complete before the next evening. It wasn't hard, she had already finished half, and that was only because her mind was on other things.

Behind her, she heard the door open and shut. Her eyes grew sadder, but she did not look up from her work. Not until she felt Jack's bony fingers run gently through her auburn red hair. She offered him a faint smile. And then returned to her sewing. She didn't feel him leave her side.

After a minute or two (Thought to her, it felt longer.) Jack shifted and then, to her confusion, gently pulled her fingers from her work, before sitting down next to her on the crudely made wooden bench. She looked up at him bewilderedly. She opened her mouth to speak, but he spoke first.

"You know Sally," He started conversationally. "Ever since I first met you, I have wanted to learn how to sew." He smiled warmly at her with her tiny hands enveloped in his own. Sally blinked and looked down at half finished work.

"I should finish this." She said sadly. He touched her chin and tenderly drew her gaze to him.

"From the looks of it, my dear…a short break will not hurt." He said, while nodding to the already partially completed work. She looked down at her work once more and then back to Jack, who was gazing at her patiently. She smiled and removed the fabric from the machine, replacing it with a bit of extra fabric left over from a previous project, which, seemed to Sally was from a different life.

"I doubt you'll learn much…what with so little time…" She broke off sorrowfully. Jack, it appeared was not daunted by her words.

"That's alright." He said calmly. "How do I start?" She took his large skeletal hands in her' and tried to teach him how to sew.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Reaper passed the desk in the waiting room with Murdock's file under his skeletal arm. The teen at the reception desk gave him an impassive glance as he walked out of the building, before returning to the magazine she was reading.

Outside, a hearse was sitting at the curb. The Head of The Board was leaning against it with a vicious looking cigar between his teeth. (The end appeared to be on fire…and, whether he knew it or not…so was the Head of the Board of Beyond.)

"Put yourself out, and come with me. Where's my horse?" He said suddenly as the Head slapped the small flames burning on his dry chin and the lapel of his white jacket.

"Oh." The board began while throwing the cigar to the ground and stepping on it. "I thought this would be faster, sir." The reaper gave him a dark look before moving around to the passenger side and directing the old zombie to drive.

"I hate riding in these things, there so noisy." He said bitterly as the corpse got behind the wheel and started the engine.

"It's built so it is perfectly silent, sir." He said carefully, trying not to get on the Reapers bad side…but EVERYONE knew a hearse was supposed to be silent.

"Exactly.' The reaper said without falter. "It let's off the kind of silence which is so DREADFULLY loud. Not like normal silence at all!" The Head nodded.

"Ah, yes, the silence of the dead." He said. As they began to drive there was a thoughtful silence. (Well…of course there was silence…but this was the sort of made silence, where one can almost hear people thinking to themselves.)

"So you found something, did you?" He asked the reaper, after a moment.

"Yes, I think so…but first I need to be sure. We need to be quick, though. There's no telling what he has done already."

XXXXXXXXXXX

It was clear that Jack was not naturally talented when it came to sewing. She had tried to teach him first how to thread a needle. He had poked himself several times before she did it for him. After that she had tried to teach him how to weave in and out of the fabric, which he had done all right at before his fingers got tangled in the mess of thread which soon turned from a neatly chopped line to a mass of knots. She had then tried to get his fingers out…and…somehow only managed to get her own hands tangled with his.

Jack had given her hands a wide-eyed look when they had knotted with his, which had made her laugh. He had smiled warmly and had leaned forward and kissed her. The only way the moment could have been any more perfect was if they both didn't feel the shadow of the following day approaching. For Sally found that every time he made her smile, the chill would reach her heart first and the hateful thought would flicker into her mind before she could stop it.

He wont be here tomorrow, you know. This is the last night.

This was followed shortly by the realization that his enthusiasm and happiness was mostly a show just for her. He was tired. She could tell. The only reason he wasn't resting was because he was forcing himself to sit up and act warmly and be with her…because HE knew it was the last night too.

Finally, after another forty five minutes of sewing (They had managed to get their hands untangled.) Jack had managed to make something simple. (That would probably fall apart easily enough if someone tugged lightly at the thread.) Sally hadn't really paid much attention to what it was…she just watched him. His posture was weakening.

She smiled gently and touched his hand.

"You should rest now, Jack." She said softly. He looked up at her and smiled sadly.

"Yes, I probably should." He said wearily.

He removed what he had sewn and tried to stand. Sally helped him up and over to the bed. He lowered himself into the covers and grasped Sally's tiny hand lightly. Feeling the tears close she kneeled beside him and kissed his forehead. This seemed to surprise him a little.

"I love you Jack." She said in that sort of voice meant for saying goodbye. Jack gave her an odd look before smiling and pulling her close. He sat up on his elbows and wiped a stray tear from her eye with his bony thumb.

"My dear. Certainly you can finish your sewing tomorrow, for now, rest with me." He kissed her. "And please don't talk as though I'm already on my death bed." Sally gave him a staggered look, before allowing him to pull her into the bed with him. She laid her head against his chest and sighed.

"Jack, you never get worried about anything." She said sorrowfully.

"I do." He replied. "But tonight Murdock is not near, I may sleep in as late as I wish without the mayor waking me, and I have you. Right now, that's all that matters." He said as he gave her the almost childishly made heart he had sewn for her. She took it and smiled, allowing herself to be pulled into a deep kiss.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Murdock rested his chin on his pale thin fingers and gazed towards the horrific rooftops of the structures in Halloween Town. Inside, he felt the voices of past victims growing more and more silent. He didn't like it. They weren't going, no, certainly not. They couldn't. But the spirit…what was left of the beings that he stole away were growing…excited.

"He can't do anything." Said Murdock, mostly to himself and partially to the voices within him. "He's weak, his town his mine…he has no power…the ropes are burned." He muttered to himself under his breath. After a moment where he felt he had thoroughly convinced himself that it was impossible for Jack to do anything, he smiled.

"That's right. Try your worst, Jack. Then I can finally be rid of you once and for all."

Now, the town slept. It would be less then twenty-four hours before everything began…and everything ended.

Yup…only one more chapter. Only one more submission. Chapter – and the afterward and then this story is over. Wow. I'll probably finish it in the next week. With thanksgiving weekend coming up I'll have plenty of time.

Until then you'll just have wonder whether or not Jack will die and think all of the possible ways this story will come to a close.

Sorry, I really don't mean to torture: ) I know the way it ends and I really hope you all enjoy it. I've known how this story was going to end since the day I started writing it…which is why I was so comfortable with making things SO bleak looking.

LOVE!