Brooke: OYG (Oh your god (atheist)) I finally did another chapter. Whoo!
Zim: I AM ZIM
Jack: Christmas is coming soon…
Impmon and Fiendmon: …Whatever…
Through The Hollow
Chapter 8
The day was quiet in the morning once more as the skeleton rose from his floor bed and stepped into the sunlight that shone through the window of the top most tower. He was feeling especially good today for the soul reason that he would learn how to scare people in his new form. Usually that sort of prospect would not have thrilled him all too much. But the celebration and festivities of the town itself had brought out a newer side of Jack that he had not known too well. Although he had known that it was there in general he had not known that it was such a strong feeling that drove him on and, now, pushed him into the life of a skeleton, scaring humans on the night of Hallows Eve. Like each day the pumpkin faced sun shone its rays over the horizon as the skeleton revealed himself from the shadows of his home. He walked to the edge of town, shovel and clipboard in hand; ever watchful for a surprise from Yulee who had sworn not too long ago that she would scare him. There was a silence fog that hung in the air although he had no idea why. There was never any rain in Halloween town. But then the fog, most likely, added to the ominous ambience of the scenery and so Jack abandoned the concern from his subconscious.
Jack headed into the graveyard after leaving the boundaries of the city. Leon would come at noon but there was no telling when Yulee would come. He crossed the stone fence and walked across the moist dirt. He allowed the fog to disappear around his feet as he wandered through it and followed his markings to the last grave that he had done. It was a while but he was able to find the grave. The poor man had actually passed it and started one another. Only when the fog cleared did he notice that he was about ten graves ahead. Unfortunately he was on his second and so had to make sure that he had those graves finished before Leon came otherwise his process in work could be compromised by unruly organizations.
One by one he dug each grave, checked off each ghost, and sent one more zombie, by the name of Andrew, into town.
Yulee appeared not too long after. Perhaps a few hours into work. She had brought her very own shovel to help Jack finish the graves that he would have to do before the pumpkin king arrived. She helped him with his work and the process sped up greatly for she did not use only her strength but her magic too. With that at use it seemed like there were two Jack's working on the graves save for the fact that one of them was a girl, much shorter and actually looked like she could have been alive. Plus Yulee had wings and, of course, Jack did not.
They managed to finish a new record of 20 graves.
Jack did 16.
Yulee did 4.
They were both very satisfied with their work. Yulee more so than Jack for the fact that it was her very first day of grave checking and she didn't consider herself to be very strong most of the time. She was surprised when she finished her first grave and didn't feel too tired. Although Jack had done four by that time she still felt the pride well up within her person.
Jack looked to the sky.
It was noon.
He smiled and finished the burying of the grave that he had just done. He crossed the usual X mark on top of the moist soil and wandered to the stone fence where Yulee sat waiting. The skeleton sat down next to her and sighed. Leon was not there yet but they both new that he would come soon. The pumpkin king had promised to train Jack that day and they both hoped that when Leon made a promise he always kept it. He had kept the one he had made when he promised to join Jack and Yulee in their wander of the town not long ago so they both hoped he would keep his most recent promise.
He did.
"Hello Yulee, Jack." Leon appeared behind the fence in his stone colored chest plate and his bandana fashioning a white skull on the front.
Jack smiled. "Very festive for a training day."
"You think so?"
Jack nodded.
"Well then I thank you. I don't get too many comments on my outfits you know."
Yulee whispered to Jack. "That's because they all look the same." Jack smiled.
"Ok," Leon clapped his hands together and beamed at the two of them. "Where should we start off? It will have to be something that he will need to use on Halloween when we send him to the humans' realm. Think Yulee. What will Jack need most that night?"
Yulee rubbed her head. "Where should I start? There are so many that I can think of. The ability to summon the bats, controlling immobile objects, projecting illusions, possession of humans, summoning the dead, conjuring fears, seeing into the souls, finding the greatest fears of all in a person… I already covered mingling with people and Jack knows enough of modern English to help him commune better. He knows a fair bit of that stupid gangster talk that's popping up everywhere too. Umm… Maybe you should start with seeing into a person's mind. That way he'll have an easier time when it comes to bringing out what will scare them the most."
"Excellent choice Yulee. We'll start with that then." He turned to his pupil. "You, my fine skeletal friend, are at an advantage when it comes down to that. You have no eyes and so no one can see your true fear." Leon tapped the ground with his foot and a large rock emerged from the ground underneath him. It rose up three feet so that he was above Jack and Yulee. Leon looked down at them. "Yulee if you would please turn to Jack."
She did so.
"Good. Now Jack. I want you to look into her eyes and tell me what you see."
Jack stared into Yulee's black eyes. At first he saw nothing. A vision of himself was apparently there from what he could see but there was nothing besides that. Jack stared in further, desperately searching for an answer that would please Leon. He had always been able to please the people that taught him the things he would need to know. But for Leon he found that he could not find what it was that he needed. There was nothing there except his own reflection. Jack sighed and turned back to the pumpkin king. It was the first time he had not been able to give a good answer to someone that was teaching him. "I can't see anything except my reflection sir."
"That's good."
"It is?"
"Yes. Most people can't see anything in Yulee's eyes t all. The fact that you can see yourself in the eyes of a dark guardian is a very good sign indeed."
Jack smiled.
Leon did as well. "You are a very impressive one Jack. I am proud to be teaching you. Now, to continue the lesson we will start by clearing your mind. You will have to learn to do this very quickly because when you are trying to learn the fear of a human there will be many distractions and so you will have to adapt to doing it quickly like a rabbit hopping. Ok?" Jack nodded. "Good. Now, I want you to close your eyes Jack and think of nothing but a black void. Then I want you to clear your mind of everything. Only when you cannot hear me can you know that your mind is clear. I will continue to speak as you attempt this so that you can tell when you are clear or not. I want you to kept your index finger up so that Yulee can tell if you can hear me or not alright?"
Jack nodded and closed his eye sockets over with bone. He erased the pictures that stayed in his mind for the moment and silently closed himself off from the rest of the world. His finger stayed up as he heard Leon speaking.
"I want you to remember, Jack, that this is a fairly important exercise…"
He tried.
"It can usually be simple to discover a human's fear from what they do or say but sometimes it is must more difficult…"
Jack felt his eyes tighten. He let them release and be calm again.
"Only during this time will you have to use this ability."
The skeleton could feel Yulee's warm breath close to him.
"Most humans are scared of trivial things like spiders, clowns and the dark. Over my time though I have found people that fear the most ridiculous things like healthy food, older siblings and their teachers…"
Yulee's breath began to fade. He couldn't feel it all to well. Hardly at all really.
"There was actually one boy that I came across in my younger years where he was afraid of chickens. I believe that his name was Dwayne…"
Jack had much trouble hearing Leon now. But he did not care about that all too greatly. He continued to ignore the world around him and close his conscious off to the rest of life. Or in his case, death.
"Jack… can you…"
There was nothing but silence now. Jack could not hear Leon speaking although he knew that he was. Jack could no longer feel Yulee's breathes of warm air although he knew that she was still breathing. There was no feel or sound of wind around him and the moist fog at his feet had become nothing to his, no longer existing, nerves. The skeleton felt nothing. There was no sound, no smell, no feel, no taste and nothing to see, although he didn't have his eyes open. Jack slowly let his finger lower down but he did not feel it touch the stone. He knew that it did though and he knew that Yulee could see. He knew what they were talking about and he was aware of what was happening around him but he was no longer a part of it. It felt, to him, as though he were watching it from a while away and when he looked he could even see his own form sitting on the fence. Yulee was waving her hand in front of his face and Leon was clapping with joy proclaiming that Jack was a wondrous student and that he would do great on Halloween.
Jack could see Leon step down from his rock and step in front of Jack. He snapped his fingers and said: "Alright Jack. That's enough. You can hear me again now right?"
He did not move. He assumed that Leon had done something to bring him back to the rest of the world but nothing happened. He remained standing not too far away and remained watching the scene.
Yulee fluttered into the air and tapped him on the skull a few times.
Jack's form, from his own view, wobbled and fell over the back of the fence.
Leon and Yulee panicked. The pumpkin king leapt over the fence and leaned down to him. Yulee set herself upon the stone and held each of her elbows with a hand. Her arms were crossed. Jack walked over and looked at her worried face. When he glanced down Leon was above him body and was looking into his eye sockets. Jack didn't know what he would find in there. Jack had no eyes so he couldn't see into his soul.
He stepped closer to his body and was immediately engulfed in a pool of swirling black that sucked him in close. Then he saw an awful lot of the dark. He found that he was seeing a lot of black ever since he died.
Jack opened his eye sockets and looked at Leon. The mummy smiled behind his bandaged and Yulee sat down, relieved.
"You gave us a scare there Jack," Leon stood back up. "Why didn't you speak with me? You should have been able to hear me after the spell I cast."
"I wasn't here…" Jack stood up and brushed himself off as Yulee and Leon raised eyebrows at him. He caught their stares and pointed to where he had been standing when Leon complimented him while he was in his trance. "I was over there and I was able to see the entire spectacle from that spot."
Leon rubbed his chin. "Really?" His left eye went wide and his gripped Jack's arms, just below the shoulders with joy. "My god dear boy! That was soul projection! It took me years to figure out how to do that and yet you discovered how without even knowing about it! What you have is an amazing gift m'boy! You are a very lucky skeleton Jack."
This made him smile a stitched grin at his teacher. A compliment from Leon was considered an honor to the people of Jack's new home and so he took it as such as well. Yulee flew into the air and did her usually happy spin before fluttering to his side and hugging him around the neck. "Wow Jack! That's amazing! I can't believe that you can do that!" She turned to Leon. "Do you think that Jack could be your successor?"
What portion of Leon's rotted face that could be seen went from its moldy gray to a strange, ghostly white. He rubbed the back of his head at the question. "Well, I suppose that it would be possible but I don't think that it's likely for quite some time. I don't exactly intend to die again you know. The first time was good enough for me and I don't much feel like doing it again."
Yulee smiled. "That's true. Dieing a second time is troublesome. But I don't have to worry about that!" She laughed and spat at them both. "I can die again and again!" She did a flip and then landed on the stone fence. "Until I find peace I can do whatever I want!"
Jack raised a brow. "You seem pretty 'at peace' to me."
Yulee went white. She hurried to him and cupped her hands over his mouth. "Don't say that out loud! I have way too much fun here and I don't want to leave!"
Jack pulled her minuscule hand away and smiled at her. "Ok then. I won't say it out loud."
Yulee smiled.
Leon sighed. "Can we please continue with our lesson now?"
"Yes. Sorry."
"Not a problem Jack."
The skeleton turned to his teacher and braced himself to learn of Halloween and the many ways to scare a human. For some reason he was looking forward to it a lot.
---
Brooke: We had a lot of people go white in this chapter.
Jack: Yup. So? Is there anyone else that we have to recognize for their reviews?
Brooke: Yes. We have a review from musically. I'm glad that you enjoyed my story so far. I always love to see when someone does. So thanks to all of you.
Zim: Hey look. Neon-Dusk's name changed. Now it's CherryProductions.
Brooke:… Anyways… I'm terribly sorry that it took me so long to update this story again after I finished the seventh chapter but our electric bill was spiking from my constant time on the computer and so I had to use the computers at my school to complete the chapters, which made it take a much longer time. But I did it at least. Once again, sorry.
Batty: She doesn't own the 'Nightmare Before Christmas' main story. Just this one here.
Zim: You should have said that at the beginning of the story…
Brooke: You're an idiot… I dislike idiots… Especially around Christmas time… Fry him Fiendmon.
Fiendmon: With pleasure (lights blue flame on fingertip.)
Impmon: Don't forget me. (lights red flame on fingertip.)
