Chapter Four

Justin's House

By the time Gregory got home he was nearly dry. After the Venison's explained what had happened to his aunt she became nearly impossible to be around. After a full twenty minutes of her compassion, apologies, and a light scolding about how she "Knew those kids were rotten from the beginning and that next time he should pay her some mind." (Gregory didn't bother to tell her it had been her fault he had wound up with them in the first place.) he finally was able to sneak up to his room.

He changed out of his damp clothing and into his pj's, and after turning down dinner he got under his covers and with his head rested on his arms, stared up at the ceiling. When it became painfully obvious that he was going to have trouble getting to sleep Gregory let his thoughts wonder to various things. His thoughts visited a variety of subjects; from his mother and father and his old town, to this new place he was becoming less and less fond of, and the stories that he was just beginning to hear that were connected to it. The stories were what stuck. No matter what he tried to think about, as the night got more and more silent, his mind kept wondering back to them.

Gregory turned to his side and let out a tired sigh. "Not much of a bedtime story, that's for sure." He whispered to himself. Still, Gregory was old enough to not be frightened by such tales, even if they swam around his head in the middle of the night. After all, towns like Kingston often had their array of fables and folklore attached to it's strange and mysterious past. It was almost a fact of all small towns. As though the townspeople inside them tried to compensate for the size, or their utter lack of animation by making up ghost stories. A lot of people would say that this was part of a small towns charm.

The adult part of Gregory's mind thought it was sort of foolish, but the kid part, which was still very much alive under his nearly mature exterior found an attractive fascination in the stories. Gregory tried to block this curiosity out. No one got anywhere in life by listening to fairy tales.

Though he disliked Jeff King, he thought the man had made a good point upon their first meeting. It was probably better to get the true history of the town by someone like him. After all, sometimes the worst source of information was that of the people who had been living in the town to see everything happen. Their minds often got confused after a while, and their facts got messed up in their excited tales of fiction.

It was Mr. Kings foreignness with Kingston that made him honest. He hadn't been attached to the town or the previous owner, and because of that, he didn't have to make up stories to immortalize them.

Gregory's eye lids suddenly felt very heavy. As he began to drift off to sleep, Gregory's thoughts of Kingston began to grow confused. Before they did, his last coherent thought was this;

'I wonder what Mr. King would think about all of the lights in the Pumpkin House turning on.'

Now, when someone thinks about something right before they sleep, they will often times be visited by such things in their dreams. Gregory had a lot of dreams that night related to Kingston and The Pumpkin House, but the one he woke up from at three o clock in the morning, the one that would keep him up for the rest of the night was the following:

He was back on King Lake (Skeleton Lake.) He stood about halfway across the Pumpkin Bridge and was looking down into the lakes murky depths. As he did, he thought he saw something deep in the shadows. Two points of light, like eyes, on the surface of a giant hulking shape. As he watched it grew bigger, It's massive form grew more and more visible. Gregory recognized what it was right before it burst through the water. He shut his eyes tight and squeezed his fingers into fists, which he knew would probably leave nail marks on his palms. When he opened his eyes his face was bathed in an unearthly light.

Slowly, the lights faded, until it was dim enough for Gregory to make out. Headlights. Behind the old circular headlights was the old fashioned car he had admired earlier that day. Now that the cars brights were off, Gregory could see the whole thing. He saw every detail of the car…save the driver, who still sat in the shadows. The passenger door opened. Jeff King stepped out.

"Gregory, it's your fault this car was in the lake!"

"But I didn't even see it go in, besides, do you even have to ask who's fault it was?"

"Blaming this on the Wayward kids is pointless, they both ran away, you were the only one here. Now face your punishment." He walked up to Gregory and grabbed him by the shirt.

"Where are we going."

"To the attic, boy." As he pulled him along Gregory vaguely saw a shadowy figure step out from the drivers seat.

"Wait, Don't trust him, he's not who you think he is." The man called out to them. Gregory felt a little angry at this.

"What do you mean I'm not who he thinks I am…you don't know me!"

Suddenly he was being dragged down corridors and hallways, all of them covered in shadows.

"No leave me alone. I didn't do it!" He screamed to Mr. King as the man shoved him through a doorway. Gregory looked about him, examining his surroundings. It was a furnished room covered in dust. There was a window on the opposite wall of where Gregory was standing. By that window was a large chair that was turned away from him.

"Where are we?" Gregory asked softly.

"I think it's about time you meet Mr. Skellington." Jeff said and he reached out and turned the chair around. In it sat a terribly decayed elderly man. His eyes were wide open, the color black. And somehow, Gregory knew they could see him.

That was when Gregory woke up screaming.

The next morning Gregory felt terrible. He barely touched his breakfast and instead went right to work on sorting out his stuff. His aunt came to check on him a couple times, on both occasions he tried to drop the hint that he wanted to be left alone. He was tired and now utterly depressed. He had decided the previous night that he wasn't too fond of this town. He had already gotten picked on, the owner seamed like a total loser, and that car, which he had admired the day before was now spoiled for him as well. Since that dream, the car made him feel weird, like he had met it's driver, or like the driver was Hector Skellington. Why had it come out of the lake in his dream? Gregory tried to put it out of his mind. After all, it was just a dream.

He looked around briefly for the box that had had all of his favorite things in it, but couldn't seam to find it. He sighed in frustration. His aunt must have left it in the car. He walked out of his room and down the stairs to the front door, feeling very unmotivated to venture outside at this time. Part of him, a small part mind you, was a little worried about Edward and Violet. They did, after all know where he lived.

He stepped outside of his front door and looked about his yard. It seamed safe enough, so he crossed the yard slowly and opened the cars left side door. As he stuck his head inside the door, he began searching under the seats for his box. He didn't notice as someone came up behind him.

"Hey Gregory." Gregory let out a quick yell of surprise, which was cut off when he banged his head on the ceiling of the car. He pulled his head out of the door and turned around quickly to see who was addressing him. His wary look turned to one of irritation when he saw Justin standing behind him, smiling as though he hadn't just scared him out of his mind.

"What are you doing there?" The boy asked, smiling in a way that made Gregory oddly uncomfortable. He wondered briefly if Justin was trying to beat him up now too. He pushed that thought away on the grounds that he could probably actually beat Justin.

"Uh…nothing." Gregory answered, giving the skinny boy an odd look.

"Oh…well…that was something yesterday wasn't it. Those Wayward kids are awful…aren't they?" Justin said, while rocking on his heels and looking vaguely uncomfortable himself.

"Yeah…sure." Gregory answered, he stuck his head back in the car to continue his search, hoping that Justin would take the hint and go away.

"That water was cold." Justin said behind him. Gregory sighed to himself.

"Yeah, it was." He answered quickly. Finally he found his box, which was small and wooden. His father had given it to him when he was six. Since then he kept all of his most precious things in it. He backed out of the car and closed the door, trying to ignore Justin who was watching him curiously.

"What have you got there?" The boy asked.

"Nothing." Gregory answered as he began to make his way back to his front door.

"Wait up Gregory, I want to talk to you about something." Gregory stopped and slumped his shoulders. Why couldn't he just be left alone.

"Yeah Justin." He said, frustration ebbing into his voice. Justin didn't seam to notice.

"I was just wondering-" He was cut off by the sound of a rather loud engine. Gregory saw Justin's face change. Suddenly, he looked very confused. He swung around and watched as the same car Gregory had seen yesterday, and the night before in his dreams drive up the street.

"What's he doing here?" Justin said quietly, though not too quietly so that Gregory could not hear. Gregory looked at him curiously.

"What do you mean?" He asked, watching the car as it progressed towards the end of the street.

"He never comes back this early. He just left last night. Dad says he usually comes around once a month at the most." Justin said, turning away from the car as it disappeared at the turn. He shrugged.

"Anyway, what I was going to ask was whether or not you wanted to come over to my house and hang out or something." Gregory raised his brow. Justin hadn't exactly made a good impression on him the night before…in fact, he had really irritated him. He wasn't really so sure he wanted to suddenly start making friends with some one who was obviously spoiled and extremely pompous, not to mention loudmouthed and screamed like a girl.

"Come on, it'll be fun, I'll show you around afterwards….you know, in a way that won't land you in the lake when the tour is over." Gregory sighed.

"I guess." He said, looking at Justin suspiciously. Justin grinned. His grin made Gregory uncomfortable. There was something…out of place in it, like he rarely practiced or something.

"So, what are you doing right now?" Justin asked.

"Uh…moving in still I guess." Gregory answered, while looking at the box he still had clutched in his fingers.

"Well why don't you take a break." Justin said pleasantly.

"I don't know…"

"Aw come one, it won't hurt anything, you can finish later." Gregory sighed.

"Well, alright, let me go ask." He said. He turned around and walked towards his front door, wondering if he might just go inside and then neglect to come back out again. He wasn't feeling much like going over to Justin's house. He still had a lot of work to do and Justin seamed a bit…off. When he got inside his aunt spoke to him from his right.

"Gregory." She said. He turned around to find her gazing out the window.

"Who is that boy that you are talking to?" Gregory rolled his eyes and set his box down on an end table by the couch.

"His names Justin."

"Uh huh. He's not like those other kids is he…he doesn't look it but…you never know."

"I don't think so…actually he's kind of a dork." His aunt gave him a sharp look.

"Don't be rude Gregory, calling little boys foolish names is no way to behave." Gregory sighed.

"It's not like he can hear me." Gregory said to his aunt, in the process of sitting on the couch. His aunt frowned, and then without saying a word, went to the front door and pulled it open.

"You, Justin, come here." Gregory cocked his brow.

"What are you doing?" Gregory asked. Justin walked up.

"Yeah?" He asked, looking sort of out of place, or perhaps like he was in some sort of trouble.

"Why are you here Justin?" Gregory's aunt asked, a stern look on her face.

"I came to ask if Gregory wanted to hang out." Justin said. Anne gave Justin a strange look.

"How do I know your not some kind of hooligan?" She asked, putting her hands on her hips and taking on a authoritative stance. "Who are your parents in case you miss behave?"

"Well, my dad owns the town so…" Gregory watched sickly as his aunts look changed from suspicion to that of delight.

"Your fathers that nice man who greeted us yesterday?"

"I guess."

"Oh well, in that case I give you full permission to go Gregory, it would be nice for you to make friends with such a nice well behaved boy. And see he isn't a dork, his father owns the town." Gregory sighed, and gave his aunt a really irritated look. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Justin's smile freeze on his face, suddenly looking quite a bit more fake then it had before.

"Run along now." Anne said while picking up Gregory's small wooden box.

"I'll take this up to your room." With one last smile directed towards Justin she hurried up the stairs.

"Uh…" Gregory started, turning away from the direction of the stairway, and fixing Justin with a slightly apologetic glance.

"Sorry about…" Justin waved a hand in front of him.

"No problem, I get it all the time. Come on, lets go. If we hurry we won't have to run into my dad. He's been a bit nutty lately, what with Halloween looming close." Gregory looked at Justin with some interest as they walked out his front door and into his yard.

"Why's that?"

"Haven't you heard? This town goes nuts for Halloween. They have a huge party every year." Gregory nodded.

"Yeah…I think I did hear about that."

"Well, my dad gets really freaked out around this time. He wasn't always like that but…this town is kind of, you know….cracking him up."

"Oh." Gregory said. He turned away and looked off into the distance. Above the houses he could see the tip of Pumpkin House. Justin looked sideways at him, about to say something, but noticed his attention was elsewhere. He followed his gaze and unseen by Gregory, he grinned wickedly.

"Pretty strange place isn't it?" He asked while crossing the street, his own house was becoming visible. Gregory looked at him, then back up toward the house.

"Yeah." He said absently.

"Probably heard some pretty strange stories about the place huh?" Justin asked.

"Yeah." Gregory answered again. He looked away from the house and fixed Justin with a curious look.

"Have you ever seen anything? I mean…weird about the house?" Justin's smile broadened.

"Nope, nothing at all. I'm pretty convinced that that house is just a house. The towns people here just like their stories. Nothings ever happened as far as I know." Gregory nodded, looking relieved, and perhaps a little disappointed. Another thought came to him as they crossed the street again and came to Justin's driveway.

"Hey Justin?"

"Yeah?"

"How did Hector die anyway?" Gregory asked this question in what he hoped was a normal voice.

"Uh…I think it was something like…he died somewhere in his attic…from a heart attack or something." Justin answered, not sounding particularly interested in the subject. Gregory nodded.

They had reached Justin's front door.

"There wasn't anything…odd about his death?" Gregory asked curiously, already hoping for nothing.

"Well, they said they found him in a sort of weird position." Justin started, he had tried the knob, but it must have been locked, for he now was searching through his pockets, for What Gregory assumed was his key.

"What was that?" Gregory asked.

"Um, he was sitting in a chair or something by the window. Like…they couldn't even tell he was dead…There found it." Justin said triumphantly while pulling a shiny brass key from his pocket. He looked up and his expression changed.

"What's wrong with you…" he started, looking a little alarmed. "You look like you've seen a ghost or something." Gregory thought he must have looked very white. He felt terrible, like he was about to pass out or something.

"Uh…" For a moment he considered sharing his dream, then he seamed to remember who he was with and he pushed that thought away.

"No, I'm alright, just must have…got a small wave of dizziness or something." Justin nodded while opening his door. He stuck his head in and looked around.

"Ok, it's safe…my dad must not be up." Gregory nodded and stepped into the house.

"Wipe your feet, the maid gets sort of weird if you don't. She wont say anything, but she'll stare at you every time she sees you. It gets really annoying when your trying to eat." Gregory rose his brow.

"Ok." He said, feeling as though he just wondered into some sort of insane asylum. He wiped his feet and came all the way in.

Justin's house was huge. The interior looked out of place in a town like Kingston, as though it belonged in a much bigger and nicer neighborhood.

After getting a few steps into the room, Gregory heard the sound of footfalls on the stairs.

"Oh great." Justin said under his breath, but so that Gregory could hear.

A moment later a very thin woman walked into the room. She looked very pale and stern. Gregory was reminded of the sort of school instructors one was most unfortunate to get sometimes.

"I swear that man gets more and more stupid every day. Hello Justin." The woman stopped in front of the two boys and fixed Gregory with a stony look.

"Who is this?"

"this is Gregory, mother. He's new in town." The woman looked at Greg for a moment longer then looked away as though she could care less. Gregory decided he didn't much like her either.

"Your father has been sitting up in our bedroom all morning, he's been staring at that stupid house again. He about had a heart attack when that horrible car drove up the street. I swear if only he had." Gregory watched Justin's mother uncomfortably. He had already decided she was a very ugly woman, not for any particular reason except for the terrible look on her face, it made her look old and foolish. He sometimes thought that such a look could make even a slightly attractive woman look quite homely.

Justin must have seen his look, for he was suddenly wearing a quite embarrassed look on his own face.

"well, um, me and Gregory are going up to my room now. See ya mom." He said, while grabbing Gregory by the wrist and pulling him along after him. They started up the stairs.

"Why does your dad hate the guy who owns Pumpkin House so much?" Gregory asked, casting one last wary look at Justin's mother.

"Huh? Oh…I don't know. I guess it's because he sort of lives in my dad's town but my dad doesn't know any more about him then anyone else does. He's sort of paranoid." Justin was leading him down a long hallway. On his right, Gregory saw something that made him stop.

Hanging on the wall was a large somewhat old looking map. Gregory examined it thoughtfully. When Justin saw he wasn't following anymore Gregory was vaguely aware that he was giving him an impatient look.

"What are you doing?" The boy asked, annoyance edging into his voice.

"Is this the town?" Gregory asked. Justin walked up and looked at the map himself.

"Yeah. It's old, my dad got it with the deed."

At the top the words Pumpkin Town were crossed out.

Kingston, the map now read in an almost childish scrawl. Gregory found it a little odd that Mr. King would ruin an obviously antique map just to write his own name in cheep marker.

His eyes wiped across the surface. He found his own house, Justin's house, then, finally his eyes landed on Pumpkin House. For a moment he just stared at the tiny square that was suppose to represent it, but obviously did it no justice on the plain vague paper, as he did, he was aware of a nagging feeling in the back of his mind. Something he had heard someone say that didn't fit. He shrugged and turned away from the aged parchment. Justin's look of aggravation quickly faded as Gregory continued to follow him.

They got to the end of the hall where Justin's room was and Justin opened his door. The sunlight hit Gregory suddenly, momentarily blinding him. After his eyes adjusted he saw why. The blinds on the window had been torn down. Justin's room was a mess. Gregory raised his brow, he had pegged Justin King as a neat freak, given the rest of his house and the way he carried himself.

"Sorry it's a bit messy, I tore it apart yesterday looking for something." He said, his voice sounding perfectly pleasant.

"Must've been something important." Gregory said, while brushing a cardigan off of a chair before sitting down in it.

"Yes I suppose. Well, Gregory, where do you come from?" Justin asked, before sitting down on his bed.

"Uh…somewhere else." Gregory answered. He was examining some scratch marks on the walls. He shifted uncomfortably.

"Oh…well it's alright, you don't have to tell me."

"Uh, it was called Sleepy Hallow. You know, sort of like the story, only not quite spelled the same. It was bigger then this, but not too big." Gregory said. Justin nodded. He didn't seam to be very interested in the information, which Gregory thought was a little strange considering he had asked the question.

"So those Wayward kids, their pretty irritating huh?" Justin asked. He now fixed Gregory with a look that made Gregory feel extremely uncomfortable, like he was watching him closely, to see if he would respond to his question correctly. Gregory shifted again.

"Yeah…yeah I guess they are." Gregory finally answered.

"Kind of a rotten way to come to a new town huh?" Justin said, looking like he was trying to be sympathetic, but failing miserably at it.

"Yeah. It wasn't much fun. Listen, I have a lot of work to do, maybe we could hang out later." Gregory stood up. Justin didn't seam to notice, he just kept talking.

"It'll only get worse you know. They'll make your life miserable. They've already singled you out. Like me."

"Singled me out?" Gregory found this information extremely unfortunate.

"Oh yes. First it's the lake, then it's stealing stuff from you, knocking over your mail box, letting out your tires, tripping you down the stairs, letting out all kinds of embarrassing information…"

"But they don't know anything about me?" Gregory started. Justin shook his head.

"Doesn't matter, they'd just make it up. Look Gregory, I invited you here for a reason. You seam like a pretty good guy. I'm giving you the chance to get back at Edward and Violet. To stop the harassment before it really begins, to beat them at their own game. If we work together, we can pull it off." Justin was standing now, and his voice was getting intense and very business like.

"I don't know…"

"Come on, it's either this, or get tortured for as long as you're here. They don't let up. It's a sport for them. I want to play their game, but up until now no ones been willing to stand up to them!" Gregory recoiled from Justin, and fixed him with a startled look. He seamed sort of crazy.

"I'll think about it." Gregory said, backing towards Justin's door. Justin watched him as he did.

"Good, think about it. But remember, things will only get worse. They need to be stopped."

When Gregory got out of Justin's room he let out a sigh of relief, and hurried down the hall.

He was about to the stairs when he saw the map out of the corner of his eye. He stopped suddenly. Of course! That was what had been bugging him. He approached the map and found Pumpkin House in the far corner. About an inch in a half behind it on the surface of the parchment was a long red line. The boundary line. It was on all of the sides of the map, marking off where the territory of Kingston ended.

The day before Jeff had said that the person who owned Pumpkin House didn't have to tell him his name, that he had privileges because he lived 'right on the boundary of the town.' But according to the map that statement wasn't true. Pumpkin House was well in the boundaries of Kingston, by a good forty or fifty feet at most. If Jeff King truly owned Kingston then he should have known who lived in that house. Whoever did would have to pay him some sort of property taxes, and Gregory thought those sort of things had to be signed with some sort of name. Even if it was a false or made up one. He frowned. It didn't make any sense. Why had Mr. King tried to conceal that information…did he just not know about it. No, Gregory didn't think that was possible, it was his town, and it was right here on this map which hung right here in his own hallway.

Gregory was struck with another idea. Perhaps the man was some sort of big shot, like everyone in town seamed to think. Maybe he preferred to not be seen, and Jeff King was just keeping his information secret for him. Sure, that made sense.

Gregory pulled away from the map and walked back down Justin's stair case. He decided not to think about it. What Jeff King said didn't concern him anyway.

By the time Gregory had left the house he had decided not to take Justin up on his offer, the boy seamed a bit nuts.

After getting home he continued with his work, pushing everything else to the back of his mind.

At least…for the time being.

The story of Hector Skellingtons death;

As told by several of the towns residents, particularly of the child variety and most often in front of a roaring campfire.

The day was October 23, four days before the big Halloween celebration. Ordinarily Hector would be about, ensuring the towns decorations and wishing pleasantries to the residents themselves. This year, the town found his behavior quite odd, because although they had seen him about he had not yet put up his own yearly decorations. Most of the town assumed he was up to something special, and did not question the change in his behavior.

Three days before Halloween, Hector didn't show up at all. Some of the town was worried, but most just shrugged it off. Hector was a very depressed man. Because this was common knowledge the town grew quite used to his periodic bouts of misery, where he would lock himself in his house and talk to no one. They were all quite sure he would show up on Halloween regardless.

Two days. Many of the town began to think he had fallen ill. Hector lived alone since his sons had grown up and left him. He had had a wife, but she had already passed on. Because of the fact that Hector had no one with him, no one could precisely tell the town whether or not he was all right.

One day before the big celebration. Some of the towns people tried knocking on his door and ringing his door bell. They gave up eventually. They debated whether or not they should just break in, but these plans fell away immediately when someone said they could have sworn they saw a light in the attic turn on. Everyone turned away from Pumpkin House relieved. They decided not to bother him any further, knowing that he hated to be bothered when he went on one of his bouts of dejection.

It was Halloween and Hector Skellington had not yet made an appearance. Finally the town decided it was time to take action. This had never happened before.

Upon picking Hectors many locks, which had proven quite difficult they ascended his stairs. When they reached the attic it was locked. The lights were obviously off. Two of the larger members of the group beat the door down.

Hectors favorite chair sat up against the window, his feet could be seen under, the chair was turned away. Someone called to him, but he did not answer.

Finally someone stepped forward and went around the chair, for a moment they continued to say his name, when that person finally realized what was going on, Their words dies in their throat.

"He's dead." The woman, for it had been a woman said to the rest of the group. They all walked around the chair, as though they could not believe such a thing without seeing it for themselves.

'At first', described some of old timers who had been there, 'it was as though he wasn't dead at all. His head was rested on his palm, he was wearing a look of quiet contemplation, nothing in his face suggested death, as though it had come upon him so quickly…that he didn't even have time to be surprised by it.' Hector was buried that evening in the town cemetery, under the most lovely grave they had. Two weeks later his son was scheduled to come and claim the town, as stated in Hectors will. The younger mans name was Viktor, he had a son of his own who was nearly grown, about 17 or 18 at the time. Of Hectors two sons, Viktor and his son visited the town the most, they loved it about as much as he did.

No one was quite sure what happened after that. Viktor didn't show up on the day he was suppose to receive the deed to Pumpkin Town. He was written up as missing when no one could find his whereabouts.

Several months after he did not make his apointment, Viktor's body was finally found. To the towns complete horror and utter surprise, he was discovered at the bottom of Skeleton Lake. No one had even seen him enter Pumpkin Town.

Viktor's son, Jack made his fathers funeral. He left town at a later date because another complication arose with what remained of his family. Because he was at that point the legal owner of the town, according to his grandfathers will, he was seeked out to recieve the deed.

He was never found.

Hurray, the chapter is done!

Well, the next one should be coming soon, I hope this one was alright.