Sally recoiled in shock and blinked several times.
"Y-you mean it?" she stammered. "Y-you're serious?"
Jack raised an eyebrow, but there was a faint smirk tugging at the corner of his lip.
"I'm always serious, Sally."
Sally's stared at him for a long time. Jack wondered if she had gone paralyzed.
Suddenly, out of no where, she lunged at him.
Wrapping her arms around his torso, she managed to knock over the teapot and push a large stack of papers off the desk. Jack only stiffened as he engaged in another hug with Sally for the second time today.
Boy, she was soft...
wait... soft? What was he doing? He was supposed to be uncomfortable with this situation. But, surprisingly, he actually felt rather pleasant. There was a nice warmth spreading through him.
Jack shook out of the dazed stupor he was in and looked down at Sally.
"Uh... Sally? Let me go please."
Sally gasped and snapped back so fast that she knocked another stack of papers off the desk. Surprisingly, Jack missed the feeling of warmth. That was odd.
Sally blushed in spite of herself and avoided his eyes.
"S-sorry Mister Skellington."
"It's... quite alright." he said slowly. And he meant it, though he was still wondering why hugs were beginning to become a normal thing in his life.
"It's just..." Sally said as she nervously bit her bottom lip, "I really needed this job."
She looked into Jack's eyes with such sincerity and appreciation that it made jack's pulse speed up a bit. She smiled.
"Thank you, Mister Skellington."
Jack marveled as yet another blush reached his face. What was this girl doing to him?
Coughing awkwardly, he resisted rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassed pride and shuffled a few random papers.
"Don't mention it, Sally."
Sally grinned at him again, and Jack couldn't suppress a tiny smile in return. Though they had only just met, it was plain to the both of them that they could get along well and enjoyed each others company. Not all of the awkwardness was out of the way, but they could start to relax around each other.
They were both ready to get started as a new team, with Jack being the commander and Sally being the soldier.
Jack extended his hand to Sally over the desk.
"Sally, I hereby welcome you as a new employee of town hall and my personal assistant. I'm expecting great things from you, so don't let me down."
Sally shook his hand fervently and saluted playfully.
"Yes sir, Mister Skellington!" she said excitedly.
They both stood comfortably for a moment and let the new found partnership wash over them. After several seconds, sally broke the silence.
"So... what now, Mister Skellington?"
Jack tapped his chin thoughtfully and wrinkled his nose. Now that he thought about it, he didn't really know where to start.
"Well... I guess you can help me finish up the paperwork I was doing."
Sally's eyes wandered over his desk and she tilted her head in confusion.
"What paperwork?"
"Oh, it must have gotten knocked onto the floor." he said as he looked at the fallen papers.
His heart suddenly dropped into his stomach when he saw the state they were in. "...Along with the teapot."
The large mass of papers had been reduced to a soggy mess. The tea had fallen right on them and soaked every single piece of work completely. There was no way they could be salvaged.
Hours of work. Gone.
Sally's eyes widened and she bent down to look at the ruined work. she winced and turned to Jack, her lip quivering.
"C-can we... can we save them?" she whispered fearfully.
"No. They're beyond salvation." Jack said stoically.
Sally wrung her hands and looked at Jack with moist eyes.
"I d-didn't mean t-"
"I know you didn't mean to, Sally. It's not your fault." Jack groaned as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "But this isn't good. I needed to finish that paperwork by tomorrow. And those weren't just any papers. Those came from over town. We'll have to go out and get copies of every single paper that was ruined."
Sally gulped.
"What happens if we don't get them in time?"
Jack sighed.
"Well, those papers were filled with tax information from the local stores and other businesses in town... all of that information goes through me before it goes to the IRS. If I don't turn them in, completed, then the IRS will assume that taxes weren't paid and begin an audit."
"An audit?" Sally questioned.
"Basically, the government will take away the properties that didn't pay their taxes."
Sally covered her mouth with her hand.
"How much time do we have?" she gasped.
Jack pulled a silver pocket watch from his lapel and clicked it open.
"From now until the minute the paperwork is due, we have eighteen hours. We'd better get moving."
Jack pulled his chair back and stood up, walking briskly to the door and throwing it open. Sally scrambled out of her chair and ran to catch up with him. Jack's heels made a loud click every time they hit the floor, and the only other accompanying sound was Sally's rapid, quiet footsteps as she struggled to follow.
Jack burst through the front doors and plowed right through the mayor in his earnest. The mayor was sent tumbling down the steps yet again and his new megaphone was smashed to bits on the pavement. Jack didn't notice and kept right on going.
Sally ran out the front doors and stopped to catch her breath. She spied the mayor lying motionless on the ground and wondered if he was alright, but Jack called for her and she had to leave him.
She caught up to Jack and ran to meet his pace.
"Where are we going, Mister Skellington?" she said between breaths.
"The library. It's closest." he said quickly.
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As the pair reached the library, they were both out of breath.
Jack bent over with his hands on his knees and heaved several times. He took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He offered it to Sally, who accepted the cloth and sneezed into it..
"Sorry." she sniffed as she handed it back to him. "Some dust got into my nose while we were running."
"It's fine... I'll just have my grandmother embroider me a new one."
That is, if she ever comes back to life...
Dismissing that afterthought, Jack and Sally walked up to the entrance of the library. Sally, unlike Jack, noticed that it seemed dark inside.
"Um, Mister Skellington?" Sally asked as Jack headed for the door.
"What is it, Sally?" Jack demanded as he neared the door.
"I think the library is-" she said as Jack attempted to push open the door and instead smacked right into it. "... closed."
Sally winced as Jack cursed and rubbed his aching nose. He took a step back and experimentally pushed on the door.
It was locked.
Jack cursed again, making Sally gasp and cover her innocent ears.
"Dammit! The papers I need are in there, but its closed, of all days..." Jack said as he began pacing and tapping his chin.
Sally waited patiently, unsure how to help, as Jack thought hard. He began slowly walking the circumference of the library and Sally trailed behind.
"If we could just find a way inside..."
There were no open windows. No visible ventilation shafts.
Jack briefly considered breaking a window, but he doubted he had the strength for that. And even if he did, he wouldn't. He was no common thief.
Jack mused over his options as Sally followed reverently behind, offering silent support. Jack walked the entire perimeter and came back to the entrance.
"Well, I've got no ideas. We'll be standing here for hours unless I can figure out a way to get us in." Jack sighed.
"You know," Sally said, "had I known we were coming here today, I would have returned the books I borrowed."
Jack stared at Sally and cocked an eyebrow.
"And how, may I ask, would you return your books if the library was closed?" he asked somewhat sarcastically. It was uncharacteristic of him to be sassy, but he was in a bad mood.
Sally's eyebrows knitted and she puffed her cheeks out in annoyance at his sarcasm.
"Well, sir," she huffed exasperatingly, "I would have just used the return slot."
Jack frowned and turned to where Sally was pointing.
"Return slot?"
Just to the side of the door, There was a handle sprouting from a metal square on the red bricks. Jack's eyes widened and he sprinted over to the return slot.
Pulling on the handle, a compartment opened towards him. It was similar to the mechanism on a mailbox, whereas you put contents in the compartment, closed it, and then the contents spilled into a container.
Jack's heart dropped. It was much too small for him to crawl into.
But...
Jack's head slowly swiveled to look at Sally, who caught on to what he was thinking and began to sweat profusely.
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"Are you sure this is a good idea, Mister Skellington?"
"Of course it is. I'm much too big to fit in there."
Sally was uncomfortably balled-up and inside the return slot, waiting for jack to push in the handle and send her into the library. She looked scared and her eyes nervously darted around.
She had never been a fan of small spaces, and wasn't particularly thrilled at the notion of rolling into the little square of darkness that awaited her.
Jack noticed her discomfort and felt bad for putting her in this position. He tried to empower her for the task ahead.
"Hey... I'm counting on you, okay?" he said quietly.
Sally's eyes fixated on his reassuring expression and it visibly calmed her down. She took a deep breath and gave him a determined look, her bottom lip thrust out and eyes hardened.
"I'm ready."
Jack nodded and slowly pushed the handle in, little by little cutting off sight of Sally. When the slot was fully shut Jack heard a faint tumbling coming from beyond it. This was eventually followed by a muffled oof, along with several crashes and an eep. There were several moments of silence, then quiet footsteps going farther and farther away.
Jack ran over to the front door and waited with anticipation. His breath hitched when he saw a silhouette coming into view behind the glass.
The door slowly opened to reveal a ruffled looking sally with her hair bun askew and a smirk on her flushed face.
"Too easy." she said smugly as she blew a strand of hair off her face.
She raised her hand for a high-five, which Jack just stared at in confusion.
"... What are you doing?"
"It's... It's a high-five." she said.
"I don't know what that is."
"Didn't you and your friends ever high-five as kids?"
"I didn't have friends. Now c'mon, we've got work to do." he said as he pushed past her and ran into the building.
Sally stood there for a moment with her hand still raised, then sighed and followed him inside.
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The two city hall employees walked through the maze of bookshelves in deafening silence. There was an eeriness lingering over everything, including them.
Jack, of course, was right at home. Sally, however, was getting the chills.
"You know, normally I love books, but right now they're kinda givin' me the creeps..." she whispered.
Jack ignored her and kept leading them through the library, trying to locate some kind of office. If the lights were on it might have been easier to navigate the vast archives, but in the dark it was near impossible. Jack kept taking wrong turns and putting back in places they had already been.
"This is hopeless." Jack whispered. "I can hardly see a thing and we're getting nowhere."
"Wait," Sally whispered, "Is that where the papers might be?"
she pointed to a door several feet away that Jack hadn't noticed. He jogged over to it and peered through the darkness to read the plaque. It said employees only.
Jack tried the door handle, which didn't budge.
"It's no good." Jack sighed. "It's locked."
"Hold on." Sally said as she pulled a paper clip. "I can pick the lock."
"You... you can pick locks?"
"Yep. Pretty handy, huh?" she said smiling and twirling the piece of twisted metal.
"Yes. It is pretty handy. Which only further makes me wonder AS TO WHY YOU DIDN'T USE IT WHEN WE NEEDED TO GET THROUGH THE FRONT DOOR." he whispered loudly.
Sally's mouth gaped in realization and she sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck.
"Oh... I guess I forgot." she said embarrassingly.
"YOU FORGOT?"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I just-"
"No, just... just focus on unlocking the door, okay. Just... do that." he whispered somewhat angrily.
"yes, sir." Sally whimpered.
Jack felt a bit bad for scolding her, but she needed to learn from her mistakes. He wasn't going to allow things like forgetfulness to get in the way of work.
Sally pushed the twisted paper clip into the keyhole and jostled it around a few times. Several clicks were heard and the door swung open.
Entering the dark office, Jack looked around trying to find what he was looking for. Spying a file cabinet in the far corner, he rushed over to it.
Pulling it open and sifting through the contents, he found what he was looking for and gave himself a mental pat on the back.
Turning to Sally, he raised the papers in success.
"Alright, we've got them. Let's get going." he said triumphantly.
He was about to leave when he noticed that Sally's head was hung low and her hands were gripped tightly in front of her. She looked up at him with moist eyes.
"Mister Skellington, I- I really am sorry for forgetting. It's just that sometimes things escape my mind and I don't mean for it to happen, but it does and I don't want you to think less of me because-"
Jack halted her by raising a hand. He sighed.
"Sally, it's okay. I'm sorry I lost my temper. I don't think any less of you for forgetting. In fact, many people in this situation wouldn't have gotten as far as we did. And we only got this far because of you. You've already proven your usefulness and I wouldn't have wanted to be here with anyone else."
Sally blinked in surprise and then blushed profusely.
"Y-you really think so?" she whispered.
Jack smiled.
"I'm sure I've said this before, but... I know so."
Sally smiled back at him and pumped her fist into the air.
"Alright, then. Let's go, I'll lead the way!" she exclaimed as she marched out of the office with her fist held high.
"Careful, you it's dark and there might be a-" Jack whispered as Sally bumped into a large bookshelf and landed on her butt.
She moaned and rubbed her sore behind as the bookshelf began to wobble dangerously. Jack ran to her and helped her to her feet. They stared in horror as the monstrous shelf began teetering more and more violently. Jack turned to Sally and shouted as books began to rain down on them.
"I TOLD YOU TO BE CAREFUL!"
"I'M SORRY, I DIDN'T SEE-"
"FORGET IT, JUST RUN!"
They both began screaming as a shower of literature poured down. They sprinted for the door as the rest of the bookshelves began falling like dominoes. Several times they had to pull the other out of the way to avoid being smacked by a book or being crushed by a shelf.
They saw the door dead ahead and put in one last burst of speed to reach it before the last bookcase tilted over to flatten them. They dove through it and hit the ground rolling, coming to a stop on the grass.
They both lay on their backs breathing heavily as a cloud of dust wafted from the inside of the dark library. After several seconds the door snapped shut, cutting off the cloud of dust and erasing all evidence that they had ever been there.
Jack looked at the library and groaned.
"I can never go in there again without feeling guilty." he to know one in particular.
"At least we got the papers, Mister Skellington." Sally said trying comfort him.
Jack glanced at the paperwork clutched tightly in his hand and gave a small smile.
"Yeah, we did." he said as he got up.
Sally followed suit and brushed herself off. They were both covered in dust, which was fine for Sally because her clothes just looked awful to begin with, but Jack's suit was certainly a mess.
"Sorry about the suit, Mister Skellington. You can take the cleaning bill out of my paycheck, if you want." Sally said sadly.
Jack just chuckled and shook his head.
"Don't worry about it. It was just a suit, and I have plenty more. We're both safe, and that's all that matters." he reassured her.
Sally smiled in respect and admiration for her new boss. Though he was an awkward, creepy, slightly uptight social reject, he was slowly growing on her. Jack was equally proud of his new assistant. In a situation she hadn't been prepared for, she had come through and made good use of herself, following orders without question. She had messed up, but no one was perfect on the first day. She had done well regardless.
"Don't relax yet, Sally. We've still got work to do. Next on our list is the bar on Slimy Green Corner."
Sally arched her eyebrows and smiled as she saluted Jack.
"Aye-aye, sir!"