Through The Hollow
Chapter 6
It had been about a month now from when Jack had first arrived in Halloween town. He had been able to find a high pay job. The only reason it paid so high, however, was for the fact that no other person in Halloween town wished to do it. Therefore it had been put off for a long time and there was much more to do than there should have been.
The job was hard and it took a lot of work and patience. Most of the townsfolk didn't have all too much and so they had not done it. The employment required Jack to wander out into the graveyard each day and dig up as many of the graves that he could. Once a ghost had appeared he would have to chart down the ghost's first and last name as well as how many siblings they had had when they were living, when they were born and when they died. The occupation took a great amount of work and Jack was always tired at the end of the day but he stuck to it like glue and always lived… well… died… up to the expectations of the mayor. Each day at dawn Jack would awaken and walk out to the graveyard with a shovel and his clipboard in hand. He would dig until noon, take a short break and then continue up until eight o'clock at night. The skeleton was exhausted each day when he came home and most of the time he had no time to eat and instead would merely drop into his floor bed and fall asleep then and there.
It was morning once more in Halloween town. The pumpkin faced sun was rising over the horizon and its shines were reflecting off the town. Jack rose his head to the window as he sat up in bed. He stretched his arms and yawned. He had been surprised when he saw how large his mouth could be and he had spent quite some time in front of the mirror looking at the many forms that he could form his mouth to. There were a wide variety and when he showed Yulee and giggled with delight saying that he looked very scary like that. Somehow Jack had felt proud at that moment.
Jack whipped the blanket he had on off and walked down the stairs from his tower into the living room at the base of his house. He had paid the full payment about a fortnight previous to that day but he continued in his job for it gave him a reason to see Yulee and talk with other people. By other people I am referring to the ghosts that he would question for his occupation.
The skeleton gripped the shovel that he used, which had been left by the door the night before, and took the clipboard off of the skeletal coffee table. The table had been bought not long ago because Jack found that he much enjoyed it for some reason and it matched the gloom that was his living room. But he didn't seem to mind the fact that his house had no joyous charm to it. He felt that it matched the way people used to look at him while he was still alive.
Jack took hold of the door's handle and pulled it open to be greeted by the warmth that always came to him in Halloween town. That fact alone surprised him for he had always thought the town to be cold with the hatred of people's hearts but it was warm each day and the townsfolk were kind to him. They weren't mean at all. It was only their job to scare people and that was not who they truly were. Jack closed the door and walked down the steps as he rubbed the sleep from his eye sockets. He crossed the town square. As usual, there was no one in sight. Although the people were very kind to him Jack found that he hardly had a chance to see any of them at all. Yulee had promised that she would convince the mayor to let him have a day off so that she could take him around the town for a good day or so.
Jack looked forward to that day.
He exited the town and wandered into the smaller graveyard. He followed along with the light of the lanterns illuminating around him. The endless bone yard would not be too far away. He leapt over a stone fence and spotted it. Jack walked forward he plucked a lantern off of the ground and put it up close to another. He placed his bony fingers upon the tab that was used to lift the candle and then held it up to the candle in his own lamp. The fire took hold of the wick and Jack placed the tab back in the lantern. He pulled his finger back in sudden surprise and placed it in his mouth. Although he was dead and he had no skin Jack found that he could still feel pain and so he acted as he would if he were to be alive. Carefully and cautious around dangerous materials.
Jack continued into the bane yard and went past the graves that he had done before. He found that he was slowly growing stronger. While he had been a scrawny man in life and was still scrawny he could build up strength and grow stronger as he worked away the days. Even if he could see no muscles he always felt that there would have been a difference if he had skin to show him the results. He was very pleased with himself.
He passed a great number of dug and re-buried graves that he had done before. In order to mark what ones he had done and what ones he had not Jack would always put a large X on the grave soil to show that he had already confronted the spirit beneath. Jack walked to the very last X and then continued beyond it to the next grave. He struck the shovel into the hard soil and pulled up a good amount in it. He pushed the dirt away and went form more. This process continued for quite some time.
Thunk
Jack lifted the shovel and put it to the side just outside of the hole. He leaned down, his feet still on the outside of the grave, and used one hand to open the coffin as his other steadied him. The lid opened and Jack's eye sockets met two rotted eyes with a rotten face. He sighed. "You should have come out of there a while back…" The person looked up and him and his eyes went wide with fear. The man screamed and backed up as far as he could. He met the side of the grave and immediately began to climb out of it. Jack stood up and watched the man try to get out. The walls were too high for him. Jack sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I don't get what's with you zombies. You always seem to get stuck in your graves."
The man stopped. He turned and Jack could see long black hair tied in the back with a ragged piece of twine. It was a style that was coming into fashion while he was still alive. The man wore a green shirt and brown pants with only one shoe. His mouth was stitch together with thread. Jack knew that. A witch had done it to keep the man quiet from what he had seen and made it so that he could not speak in the afterlife either.
Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife. The man flinched backwards and fell onto his bum. The skeleton reached down and passed the knife to him. The zombie looked up to Jack with a confused expression but Jack merely placed a long finger across his mouth. The man pulled the knife along the threads. The worn material they were made of broke instantly and he coughed out dust as he breathed. The man coughed a few times and then looked to Jack. "It was Winifred that killed Harold! Not Paul!" Jack smiled. "Oh… I'm sorry. That's just came out…"
"That's alright. Now…" Jack pulled out his clipboard and his pencil. "I need your name, the amount of siblings you had while you were alive, when you were born and when you died." The man gave him the information he needed. "Billy Hill it is then. I am Jack. Jack Skellington." He outstretched a bony hand to him. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
He shook his hand. "Likewise."
"If you go on that way, following the lanterns," Jack pointed the way he had come, "then you'll come to a town. Perhaps you have heard of it. The Town f Hallows Eve?"
"I have heard of it. But that is naught but a fairytale."
"No. It is a real place. Now, if you are to head for the town then ask for either Leon or the mayor. Leon is the pumpkin king and the mayor will help you to find somewhere that you could live until you earn the money to either buy it or move."
"So I am to live here now?"
"It's either that or you wander into the forest." Jack pointed to the paint-spray trees.
Billy shook his head. "No. I think I'd much rather live in a house any day." Jack helped him out of the hole. Billy headed in the direction that Jack had said. The skeleton watched him walk away before he refilled the grave and went onto the next.
---
Billy looked forward. The lanterns seemed to stretch for a very long time. He sighed and then continued.
"You don't wish to walk that far?"
Billy stopped. He looked around him. The graves were silent as death and the sky was still. He was the only person that he could tell was there. Naught a leaf stirred and naught a person walked up to him. He flinched a moment with slight fear and then walked on.
"If you tell me where Jack is then I can take you right to town."
Billy stopped once more. He felt frightened but he spoke up nonetheless. "He's…" He pointed the way that he had walked where the lanterns met the horizon. "He's over that way. Now… Whoever you are… please leave me be. I do not wish to speak with anyone right now. Especially someone that I cannot see."
"Oh? You wish to see me?" Billy was pulled back suddenly. He felt his arm being pulled behind him. As he looked back he found that a black smoke that covered over his hand and stretched was enveloping him to his shoulder. He cried out in panic, desperately trying to free himself. But his effort was to no avail for the smoke enveloped him and he found that he was pulled far away from where he was. In what direction he was headed he did not know.
He opened his eyes.
Billy was standing in a town square unlike that he had ever seen before. He was seated on the stone edge of a winged-serpent's fountain and his bare foot touched down to meet cobblestones. He looked around at the strange buildings around him. "This is…"
"The Town of Hallows Eve as you may refer to it as."
Billy looked up. It was a pixie or… something relatively close to one. The creature was bathed in black fabric with stained, dark hair and skin as pale as the moon itself. The wings of the creature were torn and bony. It was the size of a mere child with naught but bare feet beneath its pant legs. She flew into the air and touched down in front of him. Billy flinched back and nearly fell into the flowing green that came from the serpent's mouth. The creature held his arm so that he did not fall in. He looked back to her. "What do you wish of me?"
"Nothing. You already answered what I asked of you." The child extended her arms far out to her side and jumped into the air as she spun around once. When she landed she placed a hand to the cobblestones with her other extended out to the side and disappeared in a tuft of black smoke.
Billy stood up and looked around. The streets were near empty. He could see one figure wrapped in the black of shadows. Billy walked up to the man. "Excuse me. Could you please tell me where I could find the man known as the pumpkin king?" The man looked up and glared at Billy.
---
"Boo!"
Jack fell backwards and landed in a coffin. The spirit that had been there floated out of the way seeing as it could not catch him.
Yulee was floating above Jack, a smile on her face. "Scared you!"
"There is a fine line between scaring someone and startling someone. You startled me."
Yulee frowned. She fluttered next to Jack. "How many have you done?"
"It's a new record. I've done twelve so far."
"Why are you so exited? You get better everyday."
"Yes, I know, but it should always make you feel pride when you accomplish something that you never thought you would. For example: when I was alive I was a very scrawny man with no muscles…"
"That hasn't changed."
"Regardless. I never thought that I would be this strong… Then again. That brings me back to the quarrels that I always had when Thomas was near."
"Thomas? Who was he?"
"A man who claimed to be envious of me."
"What about him?"
"Each day when he saw me and found that there were no people near by he would challenge me to a fight. I would always win and yet he had muscles whereas I had none at all. It was quite unnerving for a while. Then he decided to 'get ride of the problem'."
"He's the one that killed you?"
Jack nodded.
"Well he doesn't sound like a very nice person, now does he?" Yulee and Jack were surprised by the fierce voice. They turned their heads to a near stone fence. Leaning on it with his arms was the pumpkin king, Leon. He was holding his elbows and his knees were locked out so that he was practically bending down. But the fence was just high enough so that his back would stay straight when he looked at them. Today his chest plate was a plain white but less so than his worn bandages. It was hard to tell his facial expressions from behind his covering but at that moment Jack could tell that he was smiling. Leon had on a purple headband that wrapped around his head and allowed two long strips of fabric to hand down far below him close to his knees. (Sound like anyone? If not continue. If so laugh.) His plain, black eye stared out from above and below the gauze dressings. "Killing you because you were better than him at a few things? He doesn't seem sound in the head if you ask me…" Leon tapped his head a few times.
Jack pulled himself up and smiled. "Good day to you Leon."
"Is that a dark guardian with you Jack? You should know by now that I don't much care for them in my town. I believe that she is breaking the law."
Yulee flew directly up to him. She landed on the brick and Leon jumped back a little with annoyance. Yulee frowned and glared up at him with her hands on her hips and her legs crossed. "With all due respects your highness we are not really in Halloween Town so I am not truly breaking the law. If I am outside of the city boundaries then I am free to do as I please. As long as I do not come past Spiral Hill's boundaries then I am not in town and, since I am far from the boundaries, I am not in town and not breaking the law."
Leon's eye closed with joy and he laughed. "You are a very perky little one. So much to say for someone so young. Perhaps I should lift the ban on dark guardians entering the town. Your company would be great and I am sure you could lift the dreary glow that envelops the town." Leon extended his hand and patted Yulee on the head. She remained still with her arms crossed and then sat down facing Jack. Leon looked a little hurt in the eye. He leapt over the fence and sat down next to her. "Oh, yes. I am sorry for banning your kind. Let's just say that I was never quite fond of dark guardians whether they were tricky kind or whatever." He pulled Yulee close and rubbed her head as he held her neck with his arm. "Come on child. You have to laugh at some point. I'm not as stuffy of a king as people think me to be."
Yulee laughed. Jack smiled at seeing her happiness. He waved good day to the spirit he had confronted and piled the dirt back into the hole that he had dug before crossing the few graves over to the fence and sitting down on the other side of Yulee. Leon let her go and seemed to smile at Jack. The skeleton smiled back. "So, they all say that you are a terribly scary one Leon. Would you mind if you showed me? I'm a little rusty."
"You? Rusty? Perish the thought Jack. You're a skeleton and I have heard that you were quite scary in your times when you were alive."
"It was mostly my eyes that did the scaring. All I would have to do would be to stare."
"Oh, I see. No eye means no fright is that correct?"
"Yes."
"Well, I can't allow that to happen to one of my subjects. I'm feeling rather good today." Leon rose from his seat on the fence and looked back to Jack. "What if I were to teach you some skills at scaring humans every once and a while?"
"That would be greatly appreciated Leon."
"Yulee is it?" Yulee nodded. "I want you to teach Jack to speak the same English as humans of today. You know, the English littered with slang. I am hoping that by the time I have finished with Jack he will be able to go into the human world and scare for the first time. He will be the very first new comer to do so. Would you like that Jack?"
"Oh, very much sir."
"Then it's settled! I shall teach you what I know so that you'll be the first new comer to go to the real world!"
Yulee was so happy that she jumped into the air and flipped twice. "That would be great Leon! You must be feeling very good today!"
"Well, let's just say that I found a good amount of spirit."
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Brooke: Ok, next chapter done. Oh, and guess what peoples. I'm doing an article about fanfiction for my school newspaper.
Jack: Yes. But it's due Monday… Today is Saturday… You still haven't gotten back any answers for the e-mails that you sent out and you haven't started the main plot of your article.
Brooke: I have too! I was thinking it all over when I got the assignment! I've been running ideas through my head!
Impmon: Ya. Sure you have… Heh heh
Brooke: (Frowns) Well… I'll be on the computer doing chapters so I'm sure I'll do it on time and if I don't I'll write it during French class. I already did grade nine French. Remember? I went into extended.
Impmon: Oh ya. So you get a year of relaxing and plain doodling in French then?
Brooke: Yep! And for everyone that still has to do French… Suckers!
