It's a Wonderful Nightmare

Part Three: The Lost Servant

The dungeon walls were cold and damp. Something green oozed from the bricks, faint candles illuminated the hallways, and the sound of dripping water never ended. While this scene was admittedly terrifying fun for a Halloween creature, it was still a prison, and that ruined the pleasure. Instead of shrieks of fright, moans and cries of sadness echoed along the walls of this horrible place. Jack was settled into the corner of his cell, trying not to show his anger. Santa stood outside the cell, ready to free the Pumpkin King with his invisible hands.

"There has to be somebody better off in this world…besides Oogie," Jack muttered at last.

"Have you checked around, Jack? There really isn't," said the jolly old elf.

"But there has to be some good that could come out of this. I mean–"

Then something metal hit the bars of the cell and Jack heard the voice of an old man from the chamber across from his shout, "Quit talking to yourself, boy!"

Jack concentrated on the form that was hidden in shadow and recognized it as Dr. Finkelstein, the resident mad scientist and his fiancée's very creator.

"Dr. Finkelstein?" Jack asked with a frown, "What are you in here for?"

The duck-billed scientist sighed and scrambled his brains at the unpleasant thought of his imprisonment. "For treason against the king," he answered. "I wanted my creations to be for good, not to become servants."

"Servants? So, Igor and…" Jack shuddered at the thought. "–Sally are servants to Oogie?"

The old scientist raised what would be his eyebrows and looked intently at Jack. "I'm surprised you know her name. Sally has been a servant all her life, and never is allowed to leave the kitchen."

Jack shook his head. He could not imagine his love working for that horrible monster against her will. This was, after all, the same rag doll that would frequently slip her creator a sleeping potion and tried to end Jack's Christmas disaster with a fog cloud like no one had ever seen before. Surely she would have outwitted Oogie Boogie.

"So sad…" Dr. Finkelstein muttered and turned back to the wall of his cell.

Jack turned to Santa and whispered, "I have to see her."

Santa sighed and looked away. "Jack, you're only hurting yourself. You won't like what you see."

"Please, Sandy," Jack said, "I want to see her."

Old Saint Nick sighed before carefully turning the latch near the wall that opened the dungeon door. "There's a passage into the castle down this hall. It's too small for me to get through, but you can get in."

Jack nodded and prepared to make a silent escape, but then Santa grabbed his arm.

"Just make sure you get back before time runs out, or else you'll never get back home," Santa said seriously.

"Okay," the Pumpkin King agreed before heading down the hall.

The prison guard, a malicious but still mindless Behemoth, never saw him creep by in the dark. Jack was too tricky for that.

Once inside the fortress, Jack knew that he had to watch his every step. His footsteps on the stone floors could give him away easily, and at every corner there could be another henchman of King Boogie waiting for him. He also had no idea where the kitchen where Sally worked was in this castle, and that made him all the more anxious.

Finally Jack caught a familiar face exiting a brown, battered door. It was Igor, Dr. Finkelstein's first creation, wearing all green and holding a silver platter that he tried to balance on his tiny palm. It didn't do him any good though, so he decided to place the offering to the king on his great, hunched back. While Igor was busy, Jack took the opportunity to slip through the door to the cooking chambers where the servants cooked buggy meals for Oogie.

There were ghosts and ghouls of all shapes and sizes, boiling, frying, and even baking insects for Oogie. Ghastly green steam filled the room. Jack carefully made his way around the strange ovens and pans, hoping to find her amongst all the commotion. He didn't hear her sweet voice once among the shouting and sadness in the room, and that made him lose hope.

Then a voice shouted to the back of the room, "-Ey, rag doll, that soup had better be done."

Jack looked to the corner of the room where the ghoul had shouted and finally saw her. Or at least he saw what was left of his love.

She was standing over a pot of stew, stirring rapidly. Her red yarn hair was pulled back into a net, and looked like it might have been cut back too. Her seams were a mess, as threads appeared to be falling out. She already had been such a fragile doll, and now she looked like the slightest touch would make her fall apart. The dress she wore was green like all the others', but tattered beyond recognition. Above all, her eyes were the saddest feature. They had once been so full of life and wonder, but now were glossed over with fatigue and sadness. She was just a shell of her former self.

Jack carefully approached this strange, zombie-like Sally. He wanted to say so many things, but he could only mutter her name. "Sally?"

The rag doll slowly moved her head to meet Jack's gaze, but when she saw him it was as if nothing registered.

"What are you doing here?" she near-whispered. Clearly she was not used to speaking up.

Jack lost any words that had been in his head, only muttering, "Sally…"

For a moment, the sheer sadness in the rag doll's eyes went away, only to show fear and apprehension underneath. "H-how do you know my name?"

"It's me," Jack said desperately, "-It's Jack."

The rag doll blinked. "You're the…pumpkin farmer, right?"

"I-yes. But, Sally, you must have met me once before. Don't you remember me?"

Instead of answering, Sally backed away from him. "Y-you were p-put in the dungeon this morning…"

Risking a scream of terror, Jack grabbed her by the arm. "Sally! Sally! Please, recognize me!" he pleaded.

Sally did not make a fuss at all as Jack begged her to remember anything. He could see, to his horror, that the part of his love that had given her so much spirit was gone in this different world. She was definitely not his Sally.

"I-I don't know you," was all she said.

Jack wanted to hold the servant rag doll close and tell her that she would be all right more than anything in the world, but he knew that it would only terrify her.

"Of course…I had you confused with someone else." He let her go and turned away, preparing to leave.

"S-sir?" the rag doll stuttered.

Jack turned back again to look at her. Her sad eyes looked back into his, and for just one second, his Sally was staring back, trying to escape. Just as soon as she appeared though, the true Sally vanished into this wounded soul. Suddenly, Jack remembered what he had to do.

"Don't worry, Sally," Jack said as he clumsily escaped the kitchen and upset all the ghosts and ghouls, "I'll free you! I promise!"

"The prisoner!" some demon shouted from behind as he ran back towards the passage down the hall.

"Seize him!" cried another voice.

"Hee-hee! We'll get 'im alright!" came a closer, familiar cackle.

The unseen pursuers soon made themselves visible. Lock, Shock, and Barrel appeared, riding in their trusty bathtub. Jack was quick enough to run ahead of them and get into the dungeon, but he knew that they were close behind. When he found his way back to his cell though, he was met with a strange sight.

There was Santa Claus, but he was almost transparent now, like a ghost. And the closer Jack got to him, the more see-through the jolly old elf became.

"Sandy Claws, I want to go back!" Jack pleaded.

"I'll try, but time is running out," Santa said as he searched his hat for any remaining magic.

Jack could hear the trick-or-treating trio running into the dungeon now. He hoped that Santa could cast the spell before they caught him.

"Jack!" Santa yelled, interrupting Jack's thoughts. Jack gasped, for now the jolly old elf was nearly invisible. "…We're out of time," he said.

"No…" Jack said, reaching toward the faded apparition. "Surely there's something you can do? Please, Mr. Claws, I need to change it back."

Santa reached an invisible hand out to Jack and patted his boney hand. "There, there. Soon enough, you'll forget all about this and stay here. We'll both forget."

"Why?" Jack asked, "Why would we forget?"

"Well, Jack, in this world, you never became the Pumpkin King. You never went exploring, and you never found Christmas Town. Our holidays never met, and once I go away, everything will begin to lock permanently. No one in Halloween will remember Christmas Town ever existed…not even you."

"And that's why no one could see or hear you!" Jack exclaimed, understanding. "You never existed here!"

"That's right, Jack. That's right…" Santa said, his voice fading into nothing with the rest of him.

And just like that, Santa was gone. Vanished without a trace. Jack knew that he would be stuck here in this alternate world forever. He would never see the loving citizens of Halloween again, he would not be able to free Sally from her slavery, and the holidays would forever be separated. He crouched down in his cell and held his skull in his hands, waiting to forget.

"Jaaack!" Shock's demon voice called form down the hall.

"Please," Jack muttered to himself, "Please let me go back. Please…"

"Ooh-ooh! King Oogie's gonna be ma-ad!" Barrel cackled right outside his cell now.

Jack paid the onslaught of demon children no mind though as he pleaded, "Please, please, let everything go back to how it was. I'm sorry for my mistake. I want to be the king again! I want to be king again! Just please…"

And just as Jack shut his eyes and wished as hard as he could, the dungeon became silent. A bright flash of light and snowflakes danced around him, and he tried not to look into the spell that had somehow been cast as he felt himself being sent somewhere.

And when Jack's eye sockets finally allowed him to see where the spell had taken him, he couldn't have been happier to see tombstones and hear ghostly cries from beyond the grave in his whole afterlife.