Chapter four
We meet Sally
Sitting slouched in the electric chair, Jack rubbed at his temples. The meeting had been a disaster. It hadn't gone as he'd planned at all. After the initial protests, Jack managed to calm them down by agreeing to stay on as Pumpkin King until they found a suitable replacement.
"Oh Zero, what have I let myself in for?" he patted the ghost dogs head. Zero leapt from where he was floating on the floor and curled himself up in Jack's lap.
The beginnings of a headache throbbed in Jack's sockets and in his temples. The meeting was playing over and over in his mind and he couldn't help but wonder what Lock, Shock and Barrell were up to. They never went to Town Meetings unless Oogie sent them. That meant Oogie Boogie had to be planning something. But what?
Jack pinched the bridge of his nose in a vain attempt to relief the pain.
"I think a good night's sleep is in order, don't you Zero?" Jack's question was met with a faint snuffling sound. He opened his sockets to see the little ghost dog fast asleep on his bony knee. Smiling gently, Jack lifted Zero carefully can carried him up the stairs to his basket.
He was just setting him down when a harsh scream ripped through the house, waking the sleeping dog.
"I really must get a gentler sounding doorbell." He stroked Zero's back. "Sorry boy. You go back to sleep. It'll probably be the Mayor. I'll deal with him and then head to bed. Good night boy."
He was half way to the door when another scream sounded. It echoed in Jack's skull, making the pain in his head increase. Holding his head in one skeletal hand, Jack quickened his pace towards the door.
"All right! I'm coming!"
Conscious of being in his nightwear, Jack grabbed his bed robe on the way past the coat stand. Wrapping it round himself, he opened the door in time to stop the doorbell sounding again.
Rubbing his sockets, Jack yawned. "What can I do for you May-"?
Opening his eyes, Jack saw it wasn't the Mayor standing there. With a groan, Jack looked down at the three little figures standing before him.
"Oh no."
Sitting in her room in the scientist's laboratory, Sally gazed absentmindedly out at Jack's tower. His light was still on, which meant he was still awake. That wasn't unusual for him. For many nights now, Sally had sat and watched Jack pacing back and forth across his tower, unable to sleep.
What was unusual was the fact Jack was nowhere to be seen. If Jack was awake and out of bed, he would either pace the tower floor or stand and stare out at Pumpkin Town from his window. Tonight though, Sally couldn't see anything.
She was about to unlock the window when she heard voices in the hallway. It was the Doctor and his new creation. Leaving the window, Sally darted for her bed and dived under the covers. She did not want to be caught out of bed again.
Sally longed to leave this place, to get away from the controlling Doctor. She wanted to be with Jack.
"Tomorrow," she muttered. "Tomorrow I will leave." She listened as the voices faded away and rolled over to look at the moon. "I'll go see Jack in the morning." She yawned once, turned out the light and fell asleep.
Outside, on the street below, three figures crouched low in the bathtub, watching as the light in the room above dimmed, then disappeared.
"Right," one of them said, leaping out of the tub, "come one."
A/N: hey everyone. Thanks for all your reviews so far. Sorry not much happens in this chapter, I will write more next time. I've been busy doing my film studies work, but I felt guilty for not writing another chapter so I took a break to write this one. Read and review please! Go on…you know you want to...