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A month later
Jessica, Jack, Carlos and Sally were playing hide-and-go-shriek in the hinterlands (the woods with the holiday trees in it). Jessica and Carlos were doing the hiding and Jack and Sally doing the shriek/seeking (or more growling in a soft way as not to scare Jessica and Carlos).
Jessica and Carlos found the perfect place, a huge tree with bushes behind it, they found a passage into the bushes and hid there. Trying, with all their might, not to giggle, something hard, even for two super-smart three year olds to manage.
They heard footsteps and held their breath…
He walked through the forest, shadows following it like over-obedient dogs, silent over-obedient dogs. OH how he was looking forward to this he would break, no smash all those that had ever disgraced his family. He would break their hearts and ruin their lives, he would crush them and he would break the love that held them together. And it would start today, if he had been that sort of person the excitement would have made him giddy. He heard something in the bushes and if he could of he would have smiled.
The footsteps grew louder, Jessica’s and Carlos’s grins couldn’t have been bigger. The bushes parted, Jessica and Carlos looked up, and before you could say oh-my-god-whats-happened-cos-this-bad-guy-does-not-sound-like-Oogie-Boogie-our-regular-bad-guy (if you said that without breathing congratulations) the smiles fell. As their smiles had not been received by their parents, but by someone with only shadows for a face.
“Who are you?” Jessica was scared but she didn’t show it, her voice didn’t shake and she forced some innocent fascination into her small yet already strong voice.
“Who am I?”
“Yes that was the question, can you answer it please?” The please was even more forced than fascination but her parents had brought her up to say her please and thank yous. She would have actually liked to tell him to bugger off but decided that it would be best not to anger this guy.
“No”
“Why?” Carlos had replied this time not Jessica and his voice was dripping with venom, venom that may have endangered him and his sister further if they hadn’t already been in tons of it.
“Because it doesn’t matter who I am all that matters is that you are coming with me”
“No we’re not” Both Jessica and Carlos said this with Venom riddled voices, If this was going to be a pantomime style battle Carlos and Jessica were going to win.
Meanwhile Jack Skellington looked behind yet another tree, whilst Sally Skellington checked in the bushes over on the other side of the path they sighed, and looked at each other.
“Jack we’re gonna have to call them back”
“This is a serious damage to my reputation, outdone by my own 3 nearly 4 year old kids” Jack theatrically shook his head and Sally laughed.
“Come on lets go get them” Sally hugged Jack, this progressed into a deep kiss which would have carried on for a long time if Sally had not needed to breath.
Jessica and Carlos were still arguing with shadow guy.
“Yes you are”
“No-”
“Jessica, Carlos! We’re going home now!” Jessica called back, clear as a bell and with no breaks or falters.
“Ok dad we’re coming”
Shadow guy’s shadows twitched irritably at his fee,t dogs promised a chase then forced to watch that chase walk away without a scratch.
“I may not get you today, but I will, in the light of day get you, for I am no coward, and when you run too far from your parents, and they turn their heads I will have you” He disappeared in a plume of smoke.
Jack and Sally took it in turns to call for their children.
“JESSICA, CARLOS!”
“JESSICA CARLOS!”
“J-” Jessica slammed into her father mid-sentence whilst Carlos slammed into Sally. “Whoa there, slow down” Jack hugged his daughter, then fondly ruffled her bright red hair.
Sally comforted Carlos then asked him,
“What’s got you scared this bad?” Jessica tilted her head so she wouldn’t speak into her dad’s suit and answered for him.
“Nothing, just a shadow” Sally hummed a mothers hum of ‘I know it was more than just a shadow but I won’t follow it up’
But what both Jack and Sally did notice was that Jessica and Carlos hung tightly onto them all the way home.
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