Chapter Fourteen:
Garetty's Den
When Violet got back to her and Edwards house it was pitch black outside. She thought for a moment about going straight out to the tree house, but a fresh stab of pain decided for her that the house would be better. The thought of climbing into the wooden structure and sitting out in the cold October weather did not strike her as pleasant.
She sighed and walked up to the front door. It was unlocked, as it always was. Carolyn rarely remembered to lock it. Violet thought it was due to a secret wish that some captor should break in the house sometime and steal her and Edward away. Despite this, Violet locked it when she got inside.
The house was dark and as far as she could tell, no one was up. She walked in a little ways and looked to the right into an open room (Something she did every time she entered her house.) Her eyes fell on a large photo over the fireplace with her, her brother, and her father in it. Tonight, an uncommon sorrow washed over her. She tried to ignore it as she walked up the stairs to her room.
When she got to the top of the stairs, she turned left down the hall where her and Edward's rooms were and ran into her mother who was standing in the hallway with her arms across her chest. Violet groaned. She really didn't feel like putting up with Carolyn on this evening.
"Wow Carolyn, I really thought you'd be passed out somewhere by now." Violet said weakly, while giving her mother a dark look. Carolyn's lips thinned and without warning she slapped her daughter across the face. This hurt a lot more then Violet let on due to the numerous bruises on her face already. Still she forced a grin at her mother after the pain subsided a bit.
"You stupid, wicked girl!" Her mother said, obviously not pleased with her attitude at all. "I've already told your brother that as soon as I get the chance I'm looking up Behavioral schools! Either that, or foster homes, although I doubt any of them would take you!"
"Why? We didn't do anything!" Violet said a little angrily.
"Yeah right. Like I believe that you two were innocent in this. Whatever happened tonight was probably your fault, because everything is your fault! I'm so sick of it! I can't get along with anyone in town because of you two!"
"You can't get along with anyone in town because you're a drunk and everyone thinks you've lost your mind since dad died."
Carolyn glared at her daughter and slapped her again, and continued to do so as she spoke.
"Liar!" Slap. "This is…" Slap. "All…" Slap. "Your…" Slap. "FAULT!" Slap. The last time she went to slap her, Violet reeled back. Carolyn missed and stumbled a little awkwardly as she almost lost her balance. It appeared that she had been drinking a little tonight previous to their meeting.
Carolyn grinded her teeth absently and grabbed her daughter by the sleeve.
"Just get out of my sight and go to bed!" She shoved her in the direction of her room then walked slowly towards her own. Violet stuck her tongue out at her back, then put her hand on her cheek and walked into her room. She kicked at something in the dark as she passed it.
"Ow!" Violet stopped and raised her brow. She flipped on her light switch and turned towards her brother who was sitting on the floor of her bedroom.
"What are you doing in here?" She asked. "Isn't that Gregory's cat?" She added, in reference to a very livid cat which rested in her brothers arms. He nodded.
"Yeah, I caught the ugly thing in our backyard. It wath eating thuff." The cat clawed at Edwards arm. He cursed at it and let it go. Violet watched as it dodged under her bed.
"I don't care if that cat maims you, somehow your getting it out of my room." She told him. He ignored her.
"Did you get our thuff?" He asked. Violet cleared her throat and sat on her bed.
"Yes." She lied.
"Where ith it?" Edward asked, while standing up.
"It's…outside…somewhere." She said as she kicked off her shoes and peeled her socks from her feet.
"Well, get them, I left my favorite pocket knife at Juthins."
"Can't it wait, I'm tired tonight." She said angrily. Edward rose his brow.
"You did…get the thuff…didn't you?"
"Yes! I got the freaking stuff!" She threw her shoe at him. Edward dodged it, feeling a sharp pain in his chest as he did so.
"Chill out!" He said as he stood up, wincing as he did. "Jeeth, I jutht want to know where are thuff ith!" Violet sighed and walked out of her room. Edward followed her after a moment, watching her back in curiosity. Lately she had been acting very strange, not at all like herself.
Violet sauntered down the stairs and up to the front door, not entirely sure what she meant to do as she opened it. She stuttered at the entrance before she intended to walk out, instead, she took a small step back. Their stuff was lying on the front step. Edward joined her a second later. He leaned down and gathered up the stuff before tossing her a strange look.
"Why'd you put our thuff outhide the front door?" He asked. He rose his brow when he saw Violet peering out into the darkness bewilderingly.
"Violet?" She shook her head and looked at him.
"Because I felt like it. Come on." She picked up the remainder of their things and closed the door. Edward started to walk upstairs, when he realized his sister wasn't following him. He tossed a look back at her. She was standing at the door still, apparently in deep thought.
"Are you coming or not?" He asked, a little annoyed at his sisters behavior. She seemed to snap out of her thoughts and shook her head.
"No. Go ahead."
Edward watched her for a moment. He sighed in frustration then slowly walked the rest of the way up the stairs. When he turned left down the hall, Violet set down their things and walked silently down the hall. At the end was a door which looked as though it were not meant to beentered and hadn't been for some time. She crept inside into the darkness and the musty smell of dust and old paper.
She felt along the wall and flipped the switch that illuminated the tiny room, then slowly closed the French doors, which were usually never closed behind her. The stillness of the room was a bit unsettling, this effected her especially with the large photo of her father watching her from above the fireplace.
Violet tore her eyes away from her fathers and walked slowly across the room to her fathers desk, which sat against a window that was closed up with the blinds drawn. She sat down in an old chair,sending dust flying up around her and pulled up to the wooden surface of her fathers writing table.
She did not feel entirely comfortable doing this. No one had sat in it since he had died. This was made evident by the layer of dust over the chair and the desk itself. On its surface sat a large map of a building, obviously something her father had been working on shortly before he met his demise. Beside this, in a lovely frame, was a picture of her and her brother. Violet cringed at this a little, in disapproval of how innocent they both looked. She turned the photo over.
It was the photo beside that one which held her interest. It detained the image of three men and a boy who was about eleven years old. The men were her father, who stood in the center, Viktor Skellington, who stood to his right, Brutus Stiltz, on his left, and the boy, who was very thin and wearing a grin which almost mirrored his father's, was Jack Skellington. Violet had never met him or his father, she had been very young when Viktor died and his son disappeared. Still, she knew who they were because her father had told her.
Violet put her elbow on her fathers desk and rested her chin in her palm. She stared at the picture as though she were expecting it to do something. After a while her mind began to wonder and her eyes fell from the photograph.
Her head started to ache a little as several thoughts conflicted within it. On the one hand, She was still having a hard time believing that Gregory had gone into Pumpkin House, but could not figure any other way he had gotten the photograph. It made sense that the only other person who would have had it was a Skellington. She supposed that Justin could have gotten it somehow. She knew that his father had a lot of stuff that had once belonged to the Skellingtons. And that Perhaps Gregory and Justin were still trying to get back at her and her brother together.
Violet sighed and buried her face in her hands. That didn't make any sense. Why would Jeff want a photo of her father, Hector and Viktor. Besides, if Gregory was still trying to get his revenge, he wouldn't have actually brought their stuff back to them.
Then there was always the possibility that whoever he had seen at Pumpkin House hadn't been anyone of any significance and he just thoughthe had looked like Viktor Skellington. This made sense because Gregory hadn't been in Pumpkin Town for that long…how would he know what Viktor looked like…even with a picture.
Finally there was the alternative, a thing which she could not bring herself to believe and that was that Gregory had been telling the truth and had found someone. Jack Skellington perhaps? Violet shook her head vigorously.
"He's dead." She whispered to herself.
'No.' An inward voice responded. 'They just told you he was dead. He's not even burried in the graveyard here, who's to say he hasn't been rightthere in that housethis whole time.'
"That's impossible." And she thought it was, but Violet didn't think she'd get it off of her mind until she found out for sure.
She stood up from her fathers desk and walked across the room, back to the French doors. Her eyes had begun to grow heavy. She had made a decision…but was not sure if it would sound as good to her in the morning after she had gotten some rest.
As she left the small room, her fathers lifeless eyes followed her, that was, at least, until they were covered by darkness.
The next morning, when Gregory woke up he did so with a very strange feeling. He wasn't entirely sure what it was, but it did not leave him as he ate breakfast or started out to the school. The feeling was of mounting unease. If he had been the sort of person who believed in spiritual stuff, he'd probably think it was some sort of ominous premonition, but since he was not, he just tried to ignore it so that he could get through his day.
But anyone in town (For a great many of them did believe in spiritual stuff.) could have told him it would do him no good. He was feeling what they were all feeling. Something strange was happening. A thing which could not occur in ordinary Kingston. No, this was the sort of thing that could only happen in Pumpkin Town.
The rest of the town figured that something important was going to occur on the anniversary of Hector Skellingtons death. But for Gregory, things began to get strange on the morning of October 21st, when he came across Violet, who was waiting for him, on the way school.
He would not reach the Kingston School on that morning.
Sorry, this chapters a bit short…and it may be a bit badly written too, I'm not thinking too clearly due to a cold and a lack of sleep. Still, I hope you enjoy it. I'll update soon. Thank you for your reviews!
