I am soooooo sorry about the lateness in this update! I have been busy with finishing up with school and graduation and whatknot. Anyways, enjoy this chapter and sorry it is kind of short. There's a lot in it so maybe that will help even out the negativeness. And thank you for all of your supporting reviews! They make me so happy and determined to finish this piece. Just for the record, I'll be gone for seven weeks and I do not know if there will be internet where I am headed, so if there is no update in that period of time, you'll know why.
I WILL finish this story.
"I have become a computer obsessie," Kairi mused to herself in her barricaded room. She had been playing on the computer nonstop for about three hours; which is more than she usually spends time on electronics in two weeks. She had joined up on an RPG site that had taken up her time as an obsession to curb her Sora-obsession.
After coming home on that horrid day which continued to play over and over in her mind, she had set up a mini elevator that would send up food to her when she wished. Just lower the rope and within the given time, a bell would be rung and she would just pull it all back up and have a meal. Her walk-in closet connected to her bathroom. With all of these necessities in place, she was planning on staying in there for a very long time.
Her grandmother had attempted and failed to retrieve her from her bedroom. Kairi's reasoning was that she was not coming out until she was given a full explanation of her grandfather's actions and why she was not allowed to visit Sora back in Halloween Town. Even if she weren't allowed there, she would only need to go once to set up a new meeting area, perhaps behind another one of those mysterious tree doors. The one with the heart looked cute.
She soon learned that her stubbornness was inherited from her grandfather as he refused any sort of interaction that would even hint at the essence of "that boy." The given name of Sora was "that boy" since her grandfather was being unreasonable and only calling him by noun, not name.
Then again, everyone else was calling her unreasonable as well and that locking herself up in her room was not going to solve anything. Kairi rationalized that it would; she would give her grandfather the guilt treatment and eventually he'll cave.
Shame not many plans work out that way.
As much as Santa Claus cared for her and tried to speak with her from the mini-elevator that delivered her meals, he refused to change his mind. Using A Beginner's Guide to Spells, which is usually given to novice High Elves (like Selphie) she set up an invisible barrier around her doors and windows. Once an elf tried to come up through the elevator, but was frightened by Leonardo who had tried to bite the elf. No one was willing to harm the snake who had taken on an "attack dog" personality and gave up.
Kairi lazily turned to her DVD collection, tired of playing online and flipped through the selection. She didn't feel like watching anything, but what else could she do? Simply to say, she was extremely bored. A part of her wanted to go and invite Selphie, but that would show weakness and Selphie would most likely start to hound on her about what an idiot she was and that she was overreacting.
She had said it before, after all. Kairi furrowed her brows. To most she was overreacting, and she most likely was not handling the situation in the most orderly fashion, but what else could she do? The elves were all on high alert and even the gates of Christmas Town were being guarded at that moment to prevent anyone leaving or entering.
And what was the deal with not allowing her to hang out with her friend? She happened to like him! She flushed. For some reason she found that the longer she stayed away from him, the more he seemed to be festering in her mind. He had a hold on her and was not letting go.
Kairi put down her video case and wheeled her chair toward her large windows that opened up to the outside, giving her a view of all of Christmas Town. She stood up and with a sigh, pressed her face up against the glass. Figures of people, elves, and other living creatures playing in thick snow came into view, all having a joyful manner to their activities. She doubted any of them were separated from their friends. Kairi twirled to face her back to the playing citizens, it reminded her of the time Sora had introduced leaf piles to her and how you can have fun jumping into them.
At that moment, a knocking sound on her closed window caught her attention. Kairi hesitantly crept toward her window where, oddly, a small letter was hovering. Feeling agitated, she pressed her face against the glass, eyeing it distastefully. No doubt a letter from grandfather. She thought dejectedly. She was about to take down her curtains, when she noticed that no golden seal was present on the letter. All letters from the Claus family and all of the High Elves had golden seals present to show which were the First class letters in the mail. She opened her window, and reached out, receiving a hard gust of winter wind which blew in the letter.
She shut the window hurriedly and tentatively bent down to pick of the letter. Now up close, she was able to tell that it was made of rather loose papyrus that was easy to fall apart. She slipped her finger into the opening and opened the envelope and pulled out a note. Her eyes widened at the material written.
Kairi
Don't ask how, but I am waiting in the ballroom. Meet me there as soon as you can!
~ Sora
Kairi gaped at the paper in shock, and immediately tapped her hand to her nose, thankful for the ability of transportation that all in the Claus line possess. She disappeared from her room in a flash and found herself behind the large piano that was propped up against the wall. She peered from behind, rather confused to find no one present. Yes, nobody that lived here would be in this room since it will be a while until this room will be required, but she expected Sora! Kairi turned to the ceiling, half expecting him to be up there, planning to surprise her later. Nothing but glass paintings of small cupids and clouds.
A large box caught her eye. Images of many stories and movies of boys popping out of various objects to surprise their girlfriends flashed before her eyes. With a tiny giggle she strutted up to the box. "Hm …" She sighed loudly. "What is this doing here?" She could have sworn she heard something from within the box. "Let's see …" She easily pulled on the lid and lifted it up. "Sora! I-!"
She stopped herself. An older man with a goatee and short, spiked hair rose from within. His face was long and pale and had a devilish look to it. He was dressed in a red three piece suit and it appeared as if some small horns were growing on his high forehead. He flashed her a toothy grin. "Good evening, princess." His tone was mocking.
"Who-who are you?!" Kairi demanded, almost tripping over her feet as she backed away. He took a large step out of the crate toward the red head.
"You can call me an acquaintance of Sora's …." He emphasized on "acquaintance" made Kairi frowned. Suspicion etched on her face.
"You know Sora…?" She murmured. The man shrugged and leapt forward. Kairi screamed, but was immediately muffled by another. Long, thin fingers with frighteningly long nails clamped over her mouth, gagging her with a cloth. A woman with a hooked nose and stringy hair cackled quietly. She murmured some nonsense words in a slight tune and Kairi felt her body go numb. She could not move!
"You know, I can see why The Prince would like such a pretty face like you …" The woman cupped her chin and tilted her head to both sides, getting a good look at her captive. "Such looks wasted …" Kairi's attempts to wriggle out of their hold were useless as her strength seemed to be sapped from her.
"Hee … told ya so …" Another voice cackled, revealing a skeletal man who looked as if he were undead. His small curls were frizzed and were much less appealing than the other man. "Guy has good taste." He giggled again. The woman rolled her eyes, muttering "moron" under her breath and levitated Kairi to the man with the goatee. He hoisted Kairi over his shoulder and nodded to the woman.
With a flash, they were gone, taking poor Kairi with them.
Kairi immediately recognized the dead, bare trees and grey skies and murky rivers when her eyes adjusted. She had been taken to Halloween Town! Perhaps they were taking her to Sora after all …but would it kill them to be a little gentler? She would have liked to ask them, but could not move and therefore, could not speak. They turned in the opposite direction, however, from Sora's large home, and instead detoured to another winding castle that appeared as if it would fall apart any given moment. A small elevator that appeared as if it could hold three children filled a hole in a tiny bridge. All in all, it was not in good shape.
How the little wooden planks on the bridge were holding them was beyond her as they marched into the house that smelled of rotting wood and mold. A large mail slot was the first thing that came into her vision, then large knives, kettles, mouse traps and dead animals also came into view. An old, empty bath tub, also sat rather randomly in the middle of the room. Kairi noticed feeling come back into her body after a moment and fell to the floor. The three figures peered at her as she lay sprawled on the ground. "Where's … where's Sora?" She asked.
"He'll be coming …" The taller man revealed yellowing teeth. Kairi cringed at the sight.
"Do you know when?" The woman groaned, becoming impatient with the clueless girl. The woman grabbed her by the roots of her hair and pulled back hard, forcing her to look up. Kairi kicked up her leg, in desperation and hit her in the kidney. She let go instantly and fell to the ground, clutching herself. The same numbness as before came over Kairi and she collapsed to the ground. The round man peered down at her.
"He'll be coming …" He the laughed in cruel hysterics. The older man sat up on a desk on propped his head in his hands.
"Let's give her to the Master for now …" With that, Kairi found herself being lifted up once more. The woman and rounder man opened up the nozzle to the entrance to the tube and slid easily inside. Her feeling returned once more and before she could do anything else, she was shoved down and slid on, into the cavern that belonged to a very dark being.
She landed ungracefully on a hard surface, which she soon realized was a metal table. Ropes came to life and pulled her arms behind herself and tied her arms together. A low laugh echoed throughout the large, dark room. "So you're the little doll face everyone's been talkin' about." Kairi looked around desperately, searching for the person who created the sound.
"M-me?" She asked tentatively.
"Don't give yourself too much credit, as far as I can see, all there is to you is that face of yours …" She flinched as bright lights turned on and she appeared to be in a room that resembled a large casino. She shivered, still unable to identify her captor. A rag appeared from no where. It was very tall and was checkered red and white, but musky in color and material. It had a round head and a dent for eyes and a mouth. "Do you know who I am, little girl?" She shook her head no.
The figure leaned back and laughed again. "That explains somethin'!"
"Where am I?" She asked in a small voice, trying to wriggle her hands free.
"You don't know where you are?" Kairi shook her head no. "I'll tell you, you're in a lot of trouble that's where." He leaned forward so she lay on her back on the table. "I am Oogie Boogie." Kairi gulped loudly. "Yes," he stood up straight. "You're probably wondering 'but how? That fly guy is dead!' I know I'm right!" Actually, Kairi had never heard of him, but seeing her current situation she decided to say nothing that could possibly upset this thing. "It's all thanks to those subordinates of mine, found one of my bugs that, that damn Jack Skellington forgot to get rid of." This caught her attention.
"Jack Skellington? As in, the Pumpkin King?" The rag-monster scrunched up his face.
"Don't say that name; Pumpkin King is hardly a fitting name!" He grabbed her by the rope that was holding her hands together. He lifted her up angrily and held her arms above her head. She wriggled her wrapped up legs, but they were too tight to loosen. Oogie Boogie hung her up on a coat hanger attached to the wall. "That no good Jack Skellington tried to kill me," he sniffed loudly at that. "And all that Lock could find was this old rag to use to contain all my bugs." He pulled at the material. Kairi wrinkled her nose.
"Bugs?" He opened his mouth and a snake in place of a tongue hissed at her. Her eyes widened and she screeched. He laughed.
"Oh, now I'm seeing why that pipsqueak likes you, you have a wonderful scream!" He cupped her chin. "I may just end up keeping you instead …" He smelled of something putrid. "I'll kill off the pipsqueak and keep you; what a dreadful idea!" He cackled.
"No!" Kairi wailed. "Please, don't!" His laughter was upset her further.
"You're too funny, doll face, just like Sandy Claws …" He said with a thoughtful expression. Sandy Claws? Did he mean …?
"You mean my grandfather?" She asked hoarsely. How did he know him? Her grandfather has never been in Halloween Town before that time he met up with the Pumpkin King, right? "How do you know him?!" Oogie Boogie stopped.
"Grandfather? You mean that ugly, old guy is related to you?" Kairi nodded slowly. "Tell me, is he still kickin'?"
"Uh, yes …"
"Haha! This works out even better! He'll blame it on Jack, no doubt! And with the pipsqueak--ooh! It'll be a full blown war! How dreadful, indeed!" Kairi gaped. A war? Why would such measures be taken? "It's quite fun to manipulate minds like theirs. They all have one-track minds, they do." Kairi wriggled again; she was losing circulation in her arms.
"I don't understand … have Jack Skellington and my grandfather met before?" Oogie lifted her up and carried her from the coat hanger.
"Yeah, the old coot once almost had his holiday taken from him; Jack was losing inspiration and tried to take over Christmas!" Kairi stared. How come she had never heard of this? Surely this couldn't have happened too long ago, right? "It was about twenty years ago. Not long after, my subordinates found my one remaining insect and bound me to this rag! Mm-mm! Revenge is sweet!" He cackled. "They really are stupid, they even fell for my trap when I kidnapped the old coot's wife!"
"You did what?!"
"Yeah, he came storming into Halloween Town and thought that Jack did it. I then decided to spice things up and took Ms. Sally away… that rag doll tried to escape several times, but I had her contained. Witches are mighty handy with them's magic." Kairi took this all in.
"They … blamed each other?" She asked tentatively. Oogie Boogie hoisted her up on a chair and brought her arms around in front of her. He then grabbed some rope and bound her to the chair at her arms, waist and legs.
"Yeah, them buggers didn't even register the idea of them being played, too angry with the other, rather funny, actually." He screwed up his face in annoyance as he lifted her up and connected her to a hook hanging from the ceiling. "I would have kept them longer but that fumbling idiot, Barrel slipped up and suspicion arose that I may be back-I had Shock and Lock do a mind wipe and let the ladies go." He walked away onto a control platform and the rope holding her rose into the air. It then moved across the room and lowered rather close to a boiling toxin. Kairi gagged at the fumes. "Nobody knows I'm back and I'm gonna keep it that way, then I can do my work without interruption!" He faced the girl. "Now don't get comfortable, doll face!"
Kairi bit back a "don't worry, I won't" as a retort and instead looked away determinedly. Her eyes then popped open in realization at what Oogie Boogie had indirectly been saying all along. "Wait-Sora? Where's Sora?!" He now had her full attention and her cerulean eyes were filled with panic. The monster turned back toward the captive girl.
"He ain't here, yet, girlie." He shrugged. "But it won't take long … since he's going to have quite the," he gave her a rather perverted once over. "Motivation …" Kairi shivered involuntarily. She soon concluded a moral that could have been used at the beginning of this chapter ….
…… Hiding from the problem at hand is not the way to come to a solution.
