Thanks for reviewing, amiga. This chapter's for you….
Disclaimer: I do not own Jack, Sally, the Mayor, the Halloween Jazz Band, Lock, Shock, or Barrel. The Skellington offspring are mine. Steal them and die… although, borrowing with permission is allowed…
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Chapter Four
Paul's vision cleared, and he looked at the face of the person who had helped him to his feet. He blinked once, then twice, and then a third time in disbelief. It was the witch! Motion behind her caught his eyes, and he watched as a tall and a short shadow disappeared into the Halloween Town Square. Then he returned his attention to the witch.
"Are you all right?" she asked again, concern written all over her face.
Paul smiled slightly, pleased to know she cared. "I've just got a headache and a bump on my head," he said. "How are you?"
The witch smiled, and started walking with him down the alley. "I'm alright," she said, her voice subdued but buoyant. "I saw you leave your house this morning, and my brothers and I decided to go for a walk. Whatever happened to your family?" she inquired. "I thought you were with them."
Paul's smile faded away. "They're at the Mayor's house, holding a xylophone concert for him. I'd be there now, but a concert would have just made my headache worse. Father decided it would be alright for me to go home on my own." For a few moments, they walked in companionable silence, and then Paul spoke again. "You have brothers?"
The witch nodded. "They're both younger than me, but Lock acts like he's older. Barrel's just a fat nuisance, always eating lollipops and waking me up when I want to sleep," she said. She continued walking for a few moments until she realized that Paul was no longer walking with her. "What are you doing?" she asked, turning around to see him staring at her in shock. "Paul, what's the matter?"
Paul's mouth was hanging open, and his eyes were wide with disbelief. "Then you're Shock," he said, his voice conveying his feeling of betrayal. He started backing up, inching away from her.
Unexpectedly, Shock's eyes filled with tears. His words cut her deep, and his actions were tearing her apart inside as she realized he must think she had seduced him on purpose. Well, she had, at first, but there was something inside that was hurting her more than any physical blow could have, and Shock didn't think that she could pretend she didn't care about him any more.
"Paul, please, just listen to what I have to say," Shock began, walking closer to him. "I can explain."
Paul's eyes were narrowed now, and Shock realized that something was very, very wrong. "I don't want to hear it," he said, his voice hard. And as Shock tried to give him a hug, he twisted out of her arms and took off in the direction of his house, leaving her standing there with her face wet with tears.
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Paul flopped down on his bed after taking some worm's wart for his headache. How could he have been so stupid? She was Shock, the witch, the temptress, the evil daughter of Oogie. How could he have believed that she loved him? How could he have loved her? She was in her twenties! How could he have fallen for her?
Paul realized that he was crying, and the more he tried to forget about her, the more he remembered her hurt expression in the alley. She was just acting. All of Oogie's children were known for being good actors and playing off of other people's emotions. He was just one of many who had fallen for their tricks.
What would his father say? Probably something along the lines of, "I told you so," although in different words with a more polite phrasing. How could he have been so incredibly stupid? His body shook with sobs as Paul cried into his pillow, trying to force himself to believe that he never loved Shock.
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Shock sat on her bed, look at the Skellington house through her window. Her eyes were swollen from crying, and her eye-shadow was smudged and marred by her tears. Watching a window on the second floor, Shock saw a skeletal figure flop forwards, and realized that it must be Paul.
Paul…
He must be hurting so badly. And he must think she had intended to seduce and betray him to her brothers. Why was she hurting so much? She couldn't have fallen in love with him. And so Shock, just like Paul, tried to tell herself that she had never loved him. Except Shock knew the truth. And Paul didn't.
Angrily, she closed the shades and went up to the spare room at the top of the house. Her brothers never went there, and although it didn't have a bed, it did have a pile of old scraps of moth-eaten cloth and blankets, so Shock could safely fall asleep there. Before she collapsed on the clothes, she looked out at the Skellington house from the panoramic windows, but there was no sign of Paul.
And Shock drifted off into sleep, oblivious to the world around her.
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"Where's Paul?" Sally asked Ron as she placed dinner on the table. She had made fried batwings, Jane's favorite, and no one had seen Paul at all once they had arrived after having lunch over the Mayor's house.
Ron shrugged, and picked some of the fried crust off of the batwing on top. "I dunno," he said.
Sally rapped his hand with a serving spoon. "Don't pick at the food. Go call everyone for dinner and find Paul." Ron nodded and brushed past Jack on his way up the stairs. "I just sent Ron to find Paul and the others for dinner," she said to her husband.
"Paul's sound asleep," Jack replied, giving his wife an affectionate hug while discreetly picking at the batwing crust. He popped it in his mouth before Sally could stop him. "I think he's just catching on the sleep he missed last night while getting a head start on tonight as well."
"He never sleeps this much," Sally said worriedly. "I think something's wrong, Jack."
Jack laughed. "We've reversed our positions on the matter, I see," he said, recalling their discussion the previous night. Their current conversation was cut short as Jane, Mary, and Ron pounded down the steps and ran over to the dinner table.
"Paul's asleep," Mary said officially. "I think he got all wore out walking home."
Ron snickered, and Jane elbowed him sharply. Jane had educated Ron and Mary on just why Paul might be so tired once she'd gotten Mary to divulge the news that Paul had been kissing a witch. Mary had found it amazing that it was possible to burn an amazing amount of calories just by kissing, and wouldn't shut up about it.
Jack gave his children a questioning look, but decided to take Mary's words at face value and led the family in grace.
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Paul awoke sometime after both his parents and all of his siblings had gone to bed. He snuck downstairs quietly, and made his way to the cold-box. He popped some leftover batwings into a container and placed them on burner of the stove just long enough for them to warm up. Then he placed them into a spare kerchief and tied it shut before quietly opening the door and walking out of the house.
The Halloween Jazz Band was playing by the gate, and they looked up as Paul walked by.
"Where are you off to, bone child?" asked the concertina player.
Paul shrugged. "No where in particular," he said, continuing to walk. His bony feet clipped against the cobblestones, the noise annoying Paul. He sighed, and with that sigh, he expressed the pain he was feeling, the exhaustion. No longer paying attention to his surroundings, Paul wandered into the graveyard and slumped against a tombstone near a small garden plot where deadly nightshade grew.
The waning crescent moon dimly lit the landscape as he pulled out a batwing and began to eat it as if he hadn't eaten in days. Once he had finished them, he relaxed, looking up at the stars and watched as they flickered and twinkled. Perhaps life could go on after all, he thought.
And then the cemetery gate creaked open. Oh, no. Please, no, thought Paul, immediately dreading this new arrival. It was too late for him to hide, so he looked down at his black and white checked kerchief and looked for crumbs. Footsteps walked towards him, paused, and then walked a little closer.
"Paul?" Shock asked, looking at the skeleton boy who was sitting on the ground.
"What do you want?" he asked quietly, not looking up. He could see the edge of her skirt and her feet peeking out from under it out of the corner of his eyes.
"Paul, listen to me. Look at me!" Reluctantly, Paul looked up. To his surprise, Shock's eyeshadow was smudged and marred, and it looked as if she had been crying. And the expression on her face- it hurt him to look at it, but he knew it must be showing what she felt, because no actress could ever fake that pain, that hurt that Shock's face was showing. "I know what you think, Paul," Shock continued, taking a step closer. "You think I wanted to get closer to you so that my family could get revenge on your family."
Paul folded up his kerchief and stood up, looking down at Shock. "And if I do?"
"But I don't, Paul. Maybe I did yesterday afternoon when we kissed. I wanted to do exactly that. But something went wrong with my plans, Paul. And now it hurts me inside to look at you, knowing that you think I want you dead. I don't hold a vendetta against you like my brothers do anymore." Shock took another step closer, bringing her almost up against Paul. "Please, Paul. Trust me. Believe me."
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I would have written more, but I have to go to bed as soon as the parents of the kids I am babysitting come home… so give me one review, and Chapter Five will arrive!