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Elizabeth looked nervously around the large ball room. Her hands shook and her heart raced. She tried to convince herself there was nothing to be nervous about. She wouldn't have to kill anyone. Not tonight at least. Her gaze darted to her right. A girl about her age smiled at her.
"What's wrong?" the girl asked, revealing her fangs when she talked, noticing Elizabeth's shaking hands. Elizabeth tried to put on a smile, but she knew that it wouldn't fool anyone. The girl giggled. "Are you nervous? Me too. I can't wait to meet him!" 'him' understood to be Derek. The pumpkin prince. "I'm Kiko," the vampire introduced herself with a smile, extending her hand to Elizabeth who shook it cautiously.
"I'm Elisabeth," she told her. She looked over the vampire. She had long black hair that curled gently at her shoulders, and wore a fancy grey dress that showed off quite a bit of her flawless skin. 'Why did oogie have to pick me?' Elizabeth found herself wondering. 'Why not this girl? She's certainly prettier than me. She would have a much easier time catching the pumpkin prince's eye.'
"Maybe so," Oogie whispered to her, reading her thoughts. "But she didn't step into my little trap, now did she?" he asked. Elizebeth frowned at this, cursing herself. She was pulled out of her moment of self hate, though, when she heard a sharp intake of breath next to her.
"There he is!" Kiko told her excitedly. "Isn't he handsome?" Kiko swooned. Elizabeth looked quickly towards the door and saw the pumpkin prince walk in. Kiko was right. He was handsome-or at least, what she could see through the mask he was wearing was handsome. Just looking at him made her smile...until she felt a familiar pain course through her again.
"Have you forgotten your mission?" Oogie Growled.
"no," she whimpered back, balling up some of the lengthy orange fabric of her dress in her fist.
"Good." He told her, and the pain vanished as quickly as it had come. Elizabeth titled her chin upward, gasping quietly for a breath. She suddenly realized the music that filled the room. It was a quick and upbeat tune played by the small corpse band in the corner. She felt as if she had recognized the tune, but quickly dismissed the idea.
A tall vampire walked up to her, extending his hand down to where she was sitting. He had an awkward smile plastered across his face.
"Would you like to dance?" he asked. Elizabeth looked at his hand, then at him.
"No thank you," she told him quietly, looking at down at her feet. The vampire, looking slightly defeated, started to walk away until he heard a high-pitched squeal from behind him. He spun around to be nearly toppled over by Kiko.
"Deren!" she shouted, flinging her arms around him. "I didn't know you'd be here!"
"Neither did I," he smiled, putting a hand around her corseted waist and taking her towards the middle of the room to dance.
Elizabeth looked to either side of her. She was the only one sitting now. This was fine with her though, she liked being alone. It always gave her time to think to herself, though it didn't work out that way now, since Oogie censored all her thoughts.
"Ask him to dance." Oogie ordered, "him" being understood as Derek.
"No." she told him firmly with her thoughts, "If you were half a gentleman, you would know that the man should always ask the woman first in these matters."
"I don't care!" Oogie argued. "I'm tired of waiting."
"Well, you ought to get used to it!" she told him, forgetting the consequences. Sure enough, her face suddenly felt as if it had been slapped. She did her best not to flinch, not wanting to give Oogie the satisfaction.
"Don't you ever talk back to me!" he yelled. Elizabeth felt a sob in her throat. What had happened to her life? Was she to be controlled and abused forever?
She sighed, and started to obediently get up from her chair when she found herself face to face with the pumpkin prince. She stumbled backwards slightly from surprise, but caught herself before he noticed.
"Would you like to dance?" he asked. Elizabeth to either side of her. She was the only one around. He had to be talking to her.
"I...uh...," Elizabeth froze. Why was she so nervous anyway? He had probably only asked her because she was the only girl not already dancing with someone. But then why was her stomach knotting like it was?
"Say yes," Oogie hissed.
"Yes!" Elizabeth spurted out quickly. The Pumpkin Prince's grin widened and he held his hand to her.
"Great!" he said, and Elizabeth took his hand. He led her towards the center of the room, and placed his free hand gently on her waist. She glanced down uncomfortably at his hand, then placed her own on his shoulder as all the other girls had done. Then they started to dance. Elizabeth's mother had taught her how dance when she was very young, but Elizabeth hadn't danced since her mother died, and had forgotten most of the steps. She tried her best to keep up with Derek, counting "1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3," in her head, but before long she tripped over her own feet, and wound up on the floor. She felt Oogie hit her a few times for her fumble, and she could suddenly feel herself choking back tears.
Derek didn't seem to think it was so horrible that she had fallen, though. He helped to her feet and offered her a warm smile.
"Are you alright?" he asked. Elizabeth nodded. Derek put his hand back where it had been on her waist. "Here, let me show you how," he said, lifting her hand to where it had been on his shoulder. "Mirror me," he told her, stepping slowly so she could easily follow. "left, right, back. Right, left back, spin" he prompted her softly, twirling her around. She tripped again as she spun, but Derek caught her before she fell too far.
"We don't have to dance, you know," Derek suggested.
"good," Elizabeth laughed. She noticed Derek was still holding onto her and felt herself blush beneath her mask. He still kept a hand around her waist as they walked outside. It was dark. If it weren't for the few candles burning near them, they wouldn't have been able to see anything. Elizabeth leaned against a wall, watching the flames on one of the candles dance.
"I don't believe I ever caught your name," Derek stated, looking hopefully towards her.
"Elizabeth," she told him. He smiled and leaned next to her on the wall.
"I'm Derek," he told her.
"I know," she replied. There was a long silence as Elizabeth thought. "What is it like?" she finally asked.
"what is what like?" Derek asked, confused.
"What is it like to be you? To live in a big house with your family? To have everyone know your name?" She asked. Derek groaned.
"I would trade it for anything," he sighed. "It's the kind of life where you don't have any choices," he told her.
"I know what you mean," Elizabeth muttered bitterly.
"Your parents control you too?" he asked seeming relieved to have someone to relate to.
"no, it's...just a guy, and he's....he's....a lot worse than my parents ever were," Elizabeth said. Derek's face dropped
"Oh! I didn't know you were....um...already seeing someone," Derek said, feeling slightly hurt. "I guess I shouldn't have asked you to dance." Elizabeth stared at him bewildered for a moment, and then she realized what he meant.
"Oh, no! No! I'm not seeing him!" Elizabeth nearly yelled, because the thought of having any sort of romantic involvement with Oogie repulsed her so much.
"Oh, now it wouldn't be that bad, now would it?" Oogie taunted. Elizabeth ignored him.
"Oh," Derek said. He sounded relieved. He opened his mouth to ask another question, but quickly decided against it.
"Oh, look how late it is!" Elizabeth said, "I...should probably be going..."
"So early?" Derek asked. Elizabeth nodded. "Well, could I have one last dance?" Derek asked.
"I guess that couldn't hurt," Elizabeth said. Derek beamed and took her hand, leading her back into the ballroom where the corpse band played a slow, and solemn song. Derek held Elizabeth closer this time. Much closer.
"Will I see you again sometime?" he asked.
"Maybe," Elizabeth teased.
"Tomorrow?" he asked. Elizabeth's smile dropped, remembering Oogie. This poor boy. All this could end in was his death.
"Sure," she told him, with a small sigh. He didn't notice her sudden change of heart.
"Meet me at sunset-at Spiral hill," he whispered in her ear. She smiled.
"I'll be there," she whispered back. He beamed at her, stroking her dark hair. His fingers traveled to her mask, tracing the small jewels that decorated it. His thumb dipped under the edge of the mask, and he started to pull the mask away, but Elizabeth pulled her head away before he saw anything the mask had been hiding.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly.
"I have to go," She told him, then turned and hurried out of the ballroom.
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"Good Job," Oogie congratulated Elizabeth as she took off her mask and examined her face in the mirror.
"Shut up!" she told him bitterly, taking a wet rag and holding it to her black eye. "Look what you've done! I'm bruised and cut all over because of you, and I can't wear a mask to hide it tomorrow!"
"That's life, Doll face," he told her. 'no', she thought, 'It's death,'
(A/N: Dear readers. Sorry it's taking me soo long to upload. things have been really hectic/crazy/tragic. my uncle died last week. My grades are slipping. I've been moping around and hugging trees....weird crap like that.
fun fact:: When I originally came up with this story about half a year ago (seriously. I saved this plot for a long time) the story was going to start out with this chapter. It wasn't untill I started to write this story that I realised that it would be easier to understand if I gave some back ground. Also, The creature posessing Elizabeth wasn't Oogie at first. It was just a random demon bent on taking over Halloween. It wasn't untill telling a ff buddy (skellingtonslover) about the story that I realised Oogie would be better. This story was originally titled "The Enticing dancers of the pumpkin ball" since Elizabeth was at first going to be an entertainer (dancer) at Derek's party.
Here is what I wrote about the story as soon as the idea popped into my brain (I wrote it down in a small NBC notebook I carry in my purse)::
"That's him" a voice inside her head informed her as a man about her age walked in.
"He's so handsome," she sighed. The voice grew sharp.
"Have you forgotten your mission?" She felt a tight grip on her heart.
"No, no!" she screamed inside her head, putting a hand to her chest in pain. "I can do it." she gasped as the hand released it's grip on her.
:::::::yeah. that was lame. I tried to put a little of that into the chapter just for fun. ta ta for now.)
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