Chapter 6. Decisions...
Jack arrived back in Halloween town, the old zombie men still playing their tunes of instruments.
"Good morning everyone!" Jack said, and they gave him an unpleasant look.
"Shouldn't you be asleep?! It's the middle of the day!" One zombie said.
"I am the Pumpkin King, I can stay awake as long as I wish." Jack said. The zombies said no more and stopped their playing, sleeping at last.
A light fog strolled through the silent town, and Jack made his way to his home. Just in time too, in fact, before the Mayor could grab his attention.
"Morning gents!" The mayor said to the dead men as he climbed out of the little car, and walked up the stairs to Jacks home humming a tune. He rang the doorbell and waited for Jack to open it. When he didn't he rang it again and waited. "Jack! You home?" he yelled, and became impatient. This time he gave a knock on the door and put on a smile, ready to talk with his king. "JACK! I've got the plans for next Halloween! I need to go over them with you so we can get started...JACK please I'm only an elected official here I can't make decisions by myself!" The mayor whined. "... Jack! Answer me! AAAH!" and he lost his balance and rolled down the stairs.
At the moment Jack was too exhausted to pay any mind to the Mayor right now, and to be honest, he didn't care. He flopped onto his bed high up in his chamber with a sigh and looked over at an old dusty tree in the corner of his room, in which Zero was cuddling under. It was a Christmas tree, and for a second Jack couldn't believe that he'd even forgotten where he got it. It was many years ago but he could distinctly remember dragging it into his town on Christmas eve. He got up and walked over to it, picking up an old cracked ornament. He examined it and thought, trying to remember...and he did, just slightly. Driving a sleigh in the night and visiting houses...
'Sandy Claws...maybe he was right...maybe he does know me...' Jack thought. 'And maybe...I know him...' he thought with a smile, looking more forward to visiting the big man again. He put the ornament back on the tree and went back to bed, getting his rest...
( )( )( )
That night Jack awoke and called for Zero. He walked outside and was suddenly surrounded by all the dead. "Not now everyone! Get your rest!" Jack said as he tried to squeeze past everyone.
"Where are you going Jack? We still haven't discussed Halloween!" Said the mayor.
"I've decided otherwise!" Jack said, being followed by everyone.
"But sir, there must be an explanation for this!"
Jack stopped suddenly, standing on the fountain and gaining everyone's attention. "Gentlemen, listen well, I have decided to give you all a break from Halloween for one week, so sleep and dream of corpses in graves!" Jack said and retreated down the path with Zero.
"But wait, you must tell us where you're going!"
"To get some tea!" Jack shouted.
"But why when we could just drink blood?" Said a vampire.
"Because I need something fresher!" Jack yelled, and disappeared behind the hill...
He arrived that morning at Christmas town and knocked on Santa's door. The big man opened it and greeted Jack with relief.
"HO ho, ho, I see you've got time to spare!" said Santa as he let Jack in.
"I figured I'd better see an old friend." said Jack.
"You made the right choice Jack."
North led him into the living room and sat down, poring himself the freshly made peppermint tea. "Is there a flavor you hunger Jack?" he asked.
"No." Jack said.
North then had an odd thought that maybe, since Jack was just bones, the tea would go right through him and make a mess on the floor. North hesitated. "Can you...drink anything?"
Jack looked back at him, he was currently occupied by all the decorations on the mantle above the fire. He thought for a moment and shrugged. "I don't need too." he said. North looked down at the tea with embarrassment and disappointment.
"Maybe perhaps a couple drops?" he asked. Jack sat down opposite of him and held the tea with curiosity. "So..tell me about Halloween town."
Jacks head shot up with suspicion. "And how would you know about that?" he said.
North shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "I was just guessing, because it would seem to be a possibility you would live in a ...Halloween town."
"You've guessed right. You're free to visit anytime you'd like...as long as you're DEAD." Jack said with an evil smile.
"No no, I think I'll just stay here...but maybe, since I must be dead to enter your town maybe you must be alive to enter MINE." North said.
Jack smiled. "But I'm still dead aren't I?..."
"Would you like to be alive, to feel the life you've missed for so long?" North asked, Jack said nothing and looked down in thought.
HE missing life? Jack didn't even remember it. Zero, who had been hiding behind Jacks chair suddenly came out and barked, startling North but not Jack.
"Ho, ho, ho, who is this?" North asked with a chuckle, finding the dog to be familiar. It barked again.
"Sit Zero." Jack said to the dog, and it obeyed. Jack pointed to the ghost and said. "Zero." to North. Jack didn't look one bit happy so far.
North reached out his hand to the dog. "Hello there," and he whistled. "Here boy-"
The dog growled and snapped at Norths fingers who immediately pulled back.
"ZERO! No!" Jack growled to the dog and threw one of his bones outside for the dog to go fetch. North looked disturbed by this. "Do I disgust you?" he asked North.
North said nothing but gestured to the tea. "Thirsty?"
( )
I shall not bore you with nonsense conversation so instead get to the point of this mysterious tea party. Jack did not drink a single drop but instead smelt a scent, an old but recognizable scent. It wasn't the tea or sweetener, but he guessed it to be poison.
"Are you trying to poison me?!" Jack demanded, throwing his cup away with anger.
"No!" North said.
But North told him what it was, and Jack didn't look one bit pleased. The life Potion, and North had planed to turn Jack back to normal.
They got deeper into talking and for the rest of the day North told him all about it, of why he was trying to give it to Jack, sometimes twice, and eventually, Jack had figured out what he was missing, what he craved, and how to get away from Halloween town for good, or...how to get rid of Halloween town for good...
He kept his desires no secret to North, if he was going to get Norths help he would have to know, yes, the Guardians had to know.
If only you could see the relief on Norths face...And the tears streaming downs Tooth's...
They made a plan and it was settled...
( )( )( )
Since North destroyed all of the potions that turned the living into the dead along with most of the cures, they had to find another way to help fix Jacks mistakes. They gave him a list of ingredients to make these cures and he was back off to Halloween town.
"Would you like to see it end?" Jack asked the Guardians before he left.
"What do mean Jack?" Tooth asked.
"Would you like to be there and watch it take place?" Jack asked.
"Why not." Bunny grinned back at the Guardians. They looked unsure, not knowing what they might see in this Halloween town.
"Wouldn't that look suspicious Jack? They'd know." Tooth said.
Jack shook his head and held up a gray powder. "Not unless you're a ghost." Jack said.
They looked at each other and wondered if Jack was trying to trick them. "You know the cures don't you?" Jack asked, already knowing the answer.
( )( )( )
They arrived back at the gates of the graveyard just outside of the quiet town. Jack looked back to the Guardians. "Now look, here are the rules, no screaming, no biting, no crying, no playing, no sneezing, and look suspicious." Jack said, the Guardians gave him a confused look. "I'm just joking. No these are the rules. Act like them, act like this is exciting and that this is your new home and that you can't wait to scare people and be a part of the crowd. Laugh and fly around, you know that kind of stuff. But mostly, don't try to attract attention to yourself. Just follow me." Jack finished. This made more sense to the Guardians, kind of. So far they were already disturbed that Jack lived in a place like this. "Stay in the shadows and don't get lost."
Jack brought out the gray powder and threw it on the Guardians, they turned into ghosts and felt more comfortable with their surroundings.
They entered the quiet town and Jack went over to the lab and rang the doorbell, putting up a finger to the Guardians telling them to be quiet as they watched. A minute later he heard a voice coming from inside the badly made building.
"The door is open!"
They heard.
"HELLO?" Jack yelled as he entered.
"Jack Skellington! Come in my boy!" Said an odd pale creature up stairs in a wheel chair.
"Doctor! I need to borrow some equipment!" Jack said as he climbed the stairs.
"Is that so? Whatever for?" Said the doctor, sounding displeased to have company.
"I'm conducting a series of experiments!" Jack said, stopping at the top of the stairs.
"Perfectly marvelous! ...curiosity killed the cat you know..." said the doctor in a warning voice.
"I know!" Jack said.
"Come on into the lab and we'll get you all fixed up." said the doctor as he rubbed his metal skull and led Jack to the lab. The Guardians secretly followed them.
( )
Back at Jack Skellingtons house he and the ghost Guardians put together the ingredients and chanted the magic into the liquid and dust, depending on the result they needed. It was tricky, squishing a berry under a magnifying glass sucked as did the wrong ingredient slipping into the recipe. Jack was the one putting it together, and the Guardians just showed him how to do it, (While looking through all of his stuff without asking.)It took him days to make enough of the condensed magic, at the same time wondering if what he was doing was what he really wanted, and wondered if what he was doing was the right thing to be doing to all of his dead friends.
'After this you won't have any friends Jack, they'll realize that I tricked them, deceived them, they'll hunt me down and sever my head!' Jack thought wondering if The Guardians would too once he was alive again, but if so he knew he probably deserved it, after all of the lives he tormented and hurt...even killed.
He stopped in his potion making and sat there thinking of all the possibilities that he was sure to be reality. After awhile the Guardians noticed him sulking.
"What's wrong Jack? Did something go wrong?" Tooth asked. Jack slowly shook his head with a sigh.
"No, it's alright, I..." Jack said, and continued to carefully put together the potions, slower this time. The Guardians weren't fooled.
"Jack tell us what is the matter?" North asked.
"When this is all over, nothing will be at peace, they'll hunt me down and so will you." Jack said, his back turned away.
"Jack...we never planned to hunt you." Tooth said.
"Lies! I know you would, by how many lives I've harmed you would, you're the Guardians of childhood! You're here to kill the enemies! I am an enemy! Can't you tell?! And now I'm their enemy too." Jack said.
"Jack this might be so, but you are also Guardian." North said.
"Me? No." Jack said. "That was a long time ago, and I QUIT!"
"You didn't quit mate, that potion changed you. Once this is all over you'll be Jack Frost again, not this skeleton that looks nothing like that winter boy." said Bunny.
"Sigh, you're right, but can I trust you not to hang me or throw me in a dungeon?" Jack asked.
"Well we won't hang you but we might put you in dungeon not throw you in a dungeon." Bunny smirked jokingly. Tooth elbowed him in the ribs.
"Bunny don't make jokes like that!" Tooth warned. She cleared her throat "No we won't do any of those things Jack, we're not the kind of people who'd do that to our friends."
Those words gave Jack some relief, but could he trust them?...
( )( )( )
A few days later Jack was finished. He gathered up an armful of potions and hauled them downstairs by the door. until all of them were stacked nicely for unison. 'I hope I'm doing this right,' Jack thought. 'and the right thing.'
The ghost Guardians were currently asleep but were woken up by loud noises outside, and for a second they thought that Jack had started without them. He told the mayor to call for a town meeting and all of the monsters gathered around and went inside the city hall, all were excited to see Jack again. But he frowned.
The Guardians swiftly flew downstairs to gather up the potions and deliver them to the city hall, in the meantime Jack was giving his speech.
"Thank you everyone for coming. Unfortunately I have some bad news." Jack said. Everyone gasped and became worried.
"What happened?!"
"WHAT HAPPENED?!"
"Are we being attacked?"
"Is Halloween going to crash?!"
A few monsters said.
"Now not so fast, there's something you don't quite grasp." Said Jack. "I also come with good news though all the same it's something you'll realize to be unpleasant." he sneaked a look towards the Guardians progress, but they weren't ready yet.
The monsters shouted with glee at the word "Unpleasant"
"One day, I entered a room with objects so peculiar
They were not to be believed, all around,
things to tantalize my brain!
It's a world unlike anything I've ever seen.
And as hard as I try I can't seem to describe
Like a most improbable dream.
But you must believe me when I tell you this
It's as real as my skull and it does exist.
Here, let me show you." Jack said. And he pulled a string making the stage curtains pull to the side, revealing stacks of colorful bottles.
"What is it?"
"Let me see!"
"Let me look!"
"Is it filled with a pox?"
"A pox. How delightful, a pox."
"Is it slimy and stinky like gook?"
"But why?"
"What's in it?"
"WHAT'S IN IT?!"
The monsters chanted.
"There's a point for you not to know." Jack said.
"Will it bend?"
"Will it break?"
"Perhaps it's the blood I found in a brain!"
"Now if you please.
It has something to with Halloween and the deceived souls at my feet.
But if you'll hear I have something to behold. For the meaning of these Potion bottles.
They are made by a fearsome King with a deep mighty voice! Who makes them in his deep cold shop.
Though he doesn't understand what they'll do, but will turn you into a boiling brew!
And deceive your mind to believe what's not right, which is why I bring these here."
"Let's use them at night!"
"Or on Halloween night!"
"Perhaps we could use them to scare girls and boys!"
"Or use them on girls and boys!"
"What a splendid idea.
These potions sound fun!
Why, I fully endorse it
Let's try them at once!" said the Mayor.
"Well, I may as well give them what they want...
And the best, I must confess, I have saved for the last!" Jack yelled. He gestured for the Guardians to come out and they grabbed different potions and spread them around the room. "Drink up everyone there's lots to spare, and many to scare, plus these will do good to you!" Jack said. The monsters sniffed and drank the potions, unaware of what was about to happen...
They all suddenly began to shift and groan and fall and fade into dust.
"JACK! What's happening?!" the mayor yelled with fear. And he suddenly became a normal man.
Some died, some faded, some became normal and some became the animals they once were. Jack and the Guardians watched with wide eyes.
Finally they were no longer monsters and many were gone. Most became sick with disgust and after a few minutes went by, they all remembered and their minds became clear. They all started to look at Jack, the Pumpkin King who had done such awful things to them...
( )( )( )...
In the far distance Jack could be seen being chased by many pissed off people carrying pitchforks and fire. Jack was trying to run as fast as he could, but with his long legs he got away quickly, being followed by Zero and the ghostly Guardians...
They found the North Pole, safe at last, and the Guardians all showered in the opposite dust that had changed them into ghosts.
And luckily Tooth had found Jacks cure and was ready to give it to him. Jack owed them all his deepest apologies for what he had done.
"Jack, I know, that...well, you may like to be like this but-" Tooth said, playing with her fingers slightly, not sure if Jack had changed his mind of going back to normal.
"I know what your going to say, and you're right. I've made up my mind to be normal again. I've realized that being Jack Skellington isn't what I truly want, and to be honest, it probably isn't even me. I'm just a dumb skeleton without a brain!" Jack said.
"No, your not, it's just the potion doing this to you, trust me." Tooth said.
"Your right, I never did think like this, thinking so stupidly." Jack said, Tooth nodded and handed him a bottle. "What's this?" he asked.
"Please be Jack Frost again." Tooth said. Jack realized that this potion was his cure and he smiled. Taking the bottle he drank down the liquid, a few moments went by and Jack suddenly changed back to his normal self again.
He wavered back and forth dizzily and fell over. Thinking strait again he remembered all of the crazy things he'd thought of as Jack Skellington. He looked up at Tooth with wide eyes and she smiled, but not for long, because Jack was so disgusted with himself and shocked he screamed to high heaven.
"W-what did I do? What was I THINKING?! *sniff sniff* and I stink! Why do I stink?!" Jack yelled.
"I could get you some tomato juice?" Tooth offered, totally understanding the smell.
"No no I need a bath, and a long one." Jack said, and quickly marched off to have the largest bath of his life.
'Same needs to happen for everyone...' Tooth thought...
The end!
I hope you enjoyed this story, there is another short alternate version of this too. It's called the same thing, Jack Frosts potion accident. :)