mega: I'm going to make this author's note quick and put the disclaimer in it. It's finally here, the newest chapter. For those of you who were old patrons of this fic, I must inform you that I have redone it and the main character's name has been changed from Yoma Arikano to Allen Hershel. For the disclaimer, I don't own anything in here except Allen, his family, and the storyline. Everything else belongs to Time Burton, Disney, and Bryan Fuller. Enjoy!
"So this is what it's like," I said folding my arms, "This is how a holiday is run." I looked around me. Everywhere there were pumpkins and dim spooky lights. The moon was full and had such and eerie glow that it could only mean one thing. "So this is the real story behind Halloween," I said with a grin so big I wondered if it could be seen behind my mask. I walked down the stairs which were connected to the platform I had been standing on. In my hand I had a rolled up scroll. This was The List. Every single scream, trick, and treat was listed on here and I had been trusted with it. In fact I had helped come up with quite a few of the things on here.
"Isn't this wonderful Allen?" I heard the voice of my teacher coming from behind me, "The festivities are just about to begin! I haven't been this excited since we handled Christmas! You did a fine job with helping."
"Thanks Jack," I said turning towards the lean skeleton, "It's probably because of my teaching." I really meant that too. I had helped come up with a bunch of ideas, but they were all inspired by Jack's lessons.
"Alright everyone!" the Mayor said through his megaphone, "This is going to be our biggest Halloween yet!" His head flipped around to and revealed his more pessimistic side, "So we can't mess this up in any way!"
"I've heard of two faced politicians before but this is ridiculous," I said to myself.
"Oh Jack, this is so wonderful," a gentle voice said, "You did such a good job on this." I looked toward where the voice had come from and I saw the voice had come from the woman that looked like a rag doll.
"Sally!" Jack said as he walked over to her and put his arms on her shoulders, "You really think so? I'm so glad you like it." I began to get a little confused at this scene. I began to say something but Jack got to it before I did. "Oh, Sally, you remember Allen, don't you?" Jack asked as he led her over to me.
"Oh yes, you're Jack's apprentice, right?" she said moving towards me and held her hands together, "Jack has told me so much about you. You did a wonderful job helping him."
"Oh, thank you," I said with a smile that was hidden between my mask. He may have told her about me but I hadn't heard anything about her. Of course, Jack and I didn't have much time to talk in between lessons and by the time they were done I was so tired I went straight to sleep.
"Sally," yelled a one of the witches standing over by a cauldron, "Dear, would you come and help us please?"
"Coming," she shouted in response, "It was so nice to really meet you Allen. Good luck tonight you two." She walked off towards the witches, though she looked a bit unstable as she made her way there.
"Um, Jack," I began but was quickly cut off.
"Oh yes, you mean Sally?" he asked turning back towards me, "She helped me a lot during the whole Christmas mishap. She really was the one who fixed it all. Well, her and Sandy Claws."
"Sandy Claws?" I asked, thinking he must have meant Santa Claus. I let it drop though because I had a more important question. "Well yeah, but I mean," I began with a wicked grin, "Is she someone special to you?"
Jack looked a little embarrassed at this question. If he had blood in him I think he would have been blushing. "Well, actually," he said putting his hand up to his mouth, "She's my fiancé. We're going to get married in exactly three hundred and sixty-four days."
"So the king of Halloween got caught by cupid, huh?" I asked crossing my arms again. I found it kind of cute how he knew the exact amount of time until then. "You're even counting down the days." I could tell Jack was feeling really awkward because he did his best to change the subject.
"Oh, look at the time," he said, "We must get going! Do you have all of your things?" I knew what he was talking about. He meant my scare pack which I had hidden under my hat. In it, I had some of the new things that Jack and I had made. I nodded, pulled it out, and dug into it for one of my favorite things, the screamers. I threw one at the ground and it exploded with a shriek. "Save some of those for later," Jack said, "Tonight we go all out on these things." The scare pack was like a bottomless sack, it could hold anything but it didn't have that much. A bunch of screamers, some jack o' lantern bombs, and a couple of wind-up skulls. "All right everybody," Jack shouted as he walked up to a black carriage drawn by skeleton horses, "Let's get moving! This is going to be our most horrifying Halloween yet!" Both of us stepped into it and we took off through the forest.
Before I knew it we were speeding through the streets of the mortal world. All around us there were children in costumes and marvelous decorations. We began to slow down, still going at a steady pace, when I realized that no one seemed to notice us. "Jack, how come they can't see us?" I asked him getting my scare pack ready, "Shouldn't they be screaming at our very sight?"
Jack simply answered me with a question of his own. "Do children see the Easter Bunny leaving eggs on their lawn?" he asked, "Or do people in love see Cupid shooting them with his arrows? Our main job as holidays is to bring the spirit to them. Of course, when we want it to we can make them see us. Then we can put our own personal touches on things."
I was really starting to get the whole concept of it now. So I didn't see any harm in getting to work right away. As we passed through some of the neighborhoods I began pulling things out of my scare pack and starting throwing them out of the window. The sound of screams began to fill the air as my work practically took care of itself. "This is what it's like to be in charge of Halloween," I said as the carriage came to a stop. I still had quite a few of my tricks in my scare pack. I looked out the window and the area around us seemed familiar to me. "Wait a second, I know this place," I said staring outside, "This is my old neighborhood. That's my old house!"
"You miss them don't you?" Jack asked as I turned towards him, "Your family I mean."
"Well, I guess so," I said back to him as I began to think about them, "It's mostly my little sister, Eve. I love living in Halloween Town, but I never got a chance to say goodbye to them."
"You can do that now," he said as the doors on both sides of the carriage flung open, "Though you might want to take off your mask first." He got up from his seat and began to walk out. "You can go right this instant actually," he continued, "I've got a little bit of personal scare to take care of. You have The List right?"
I reached into my scare pack and pulled it out. "Wait a second Jack, what do you mean take off my mask?" I asked as I handed The List to him, "Don't you remember, it's stuck on me because you turned me into a phantom."
"Oh really?" he asked as he slipped it up his sleeve, "Why don't you try taking it off right now?"
I put my hands to my mask and slowly pulled it away from my face. "What the…" I said in shock, "But I thought that."
"When we are in the mortal world, we can change ourselves into mortals as long as we never actually died before. You can do this and so can any other creature that never had a moment of their own death," Jack said petting the skeleton horses, who soon took off, "It helps us to blend in for the really big surprises. You can go spend some time with your family now. You just need make sure to get back to Halloween Town by midnight, so you might want this." He tossed me a small wrist watch with bones as the hands. I strapped on the watch and was about to ask him why I had to be back by then but he sped off before I got the chance.
"Happy Halloween Jack," I muttered under my breath. He must have been so excited to get out like this. After all, he only got that chance once a year now. The other three hundred and sixty-four days he spent in Halloween Town. I stuck my mask in my scare pack, made my way up to the door, and took a deep breath. How would I explain this to them? What would I say? I finally got the courage, after what seemed like forever, to ring the doorbell.
"Alright, let's see your amazing costumes," the voice of my mother came from inside. She sounded enthusiastic, but I could hear just a slight bit of sadness hidden under it. "Happy…" she began as she opened the door then she just stood there in shock, "Allen?"
"Trick or Treat," I said with a melancholy look on my face. She immediately dropped the candy and embraced me in her arms.
"Oh Allen where have you been?" she asked as she began sobbing, "Why didn't you come home? We thought you were dead!" I almost wanted to laugh at how true that was, but this wasn't the time for that. As I looked past her I could see my father and Eve sitting in the living room staring right back at me.
"I'll tell you all about it," I said and we headed inside. And so I told them about it. I didn't leave out a single detail. Through most of it they looked at me as though I were crazy. But I could tell that at some points they believed me. They were always the type of family who would believe what I said. I didn't take advantage of it very much, but this looked like a perfect chance to see if they really would believe me.
"Big brother, you're going to stay home now right?" Eve asked me, looking up with her big hazel eyes, "We miss you." I looked away from her and looked at my parents. They had a slight look of disappointment on their faces, but their look was mostly relief.
"I wish I could, but I'm going to have to leave soon," I looked at the watch which told me I had fifteen minutes to get back to Halloween Town, "Very soon actually. I just came to say goodbye." My father stood up and loomed over me.
"You, young man, are not going anywhere," he said, "You had us all scared to death. You'll be lucky if we even let you go back to school when it starts." I was afraid that he would say something like that. I had to get away soon, or who knew what would happen. Jack told me to get back by midnight for a reason. I didn't know what it was, but it had to be important. I reached into my scare pack and pulled a screamer from it. I tossed it to the other end of the room where it exploded and let out a yelp. My family all looked over towards it and I quickly sped to the window.
"I'm sorry," I said as I climbed out, "But I really have to go now. I promise I'll come back some day."
"Big brother! Wait!" my sister shouted as I ran off towards the woods. I could hear my parents yelling for me as well but I did my best to ignore all of them. I ran into the forest, sobbing as I realized that I may never come back. There was no guarantee that I would see any of them again.
I was almost at the clearing when I bumped into something about the same height as me and fell over. Actually, it was someone, not something. "Hey watch where you're going kid," a female voice said to me.
"My name isn't kid," I said wiping the tears from my face and picking up my scare pack, "It's Allen." I looked up to see a blonde girl who looked about twenty with a curious look on her face.
"Allen?" she asked as she pulled out a something yellow from her pocket, "Is your last name Hershel by any chance?"
I got to my feet and looked at her strangely. "How do you know my last name?" I asked her, "Never mind. Just leave me alone." I didn't have time for this. I had to get back to Halloween Town soon. I walked past her and she reached towards me.
"Lighten up," she said as she brushed her hand down my back, "It's Halloween." As she did this I felt a strange chill. I ignored her and picked up my pace. My watch told me I had only two minutes left. I could probably make it if I hurried! I began to run when my leg got caught on something and I tripped. My scare pack went flying and landed out of my reach. As I started getting up I heard a strange cracking sound. I turned my head to the side and I saw a huge shadow falling towards me. I closed my eyes and braced for whatever it was.
When I didn't feel anything after a while I opened my eyes. What I saw struck terror in my heart. It wasn't the good fear of Halloween that Jack and I loved. This was true horror. I was standing up now, but lying in front of me was a huge oak tree with a body crushed under it. I moved closer to see the body and I realized that it was me.
mega: Whoa! Cliffhanger huh? For those of you who watch Dead Like Me, you know what just happened and probably figured it out toward the end. For the rest of you, it will all be explained in the next chapter. Don't worry, it won't take me forever to get it up. In fact, I may have it up by the end of this week. Also, sorry to all of you who got those alert e-mails a ton of times. I had to keep editing to keep editing the chapters because everytime I read them I found something wrong. I fixed them now though. Well I'll see you later!