(The point of veiw had returned to Lini.)
…“Go to sleep Lini.” said Jack to a little girl with white hair. “I’m not sleepy.” “Will you go to sleep if I sing you the song you like?” The little girl looked thoughtful, and then said, “Okay!”…
………………………………………………………………
When I opened my eyes I found nothing but darkness. I tried to move only to find my wrists were chained to the wall behind me. Squeaks and scuttling noises suggested the infestation of various pests that crawled invisibly around me. My head hurt, my wrists hurt, and I wanted to throw up. Side effects of whatever spell he used on me. I had no idea how long I’d been there or where I was, but the walls were cold and slimy. It may sound childish, but I wanted my mom. I tried using magic to get the too tight cuffs off but only succeeded in creating a few sparks that didn’t put a dent in the overwhelming darkness. I couldn’t stand it; the silence was starting to get me. I started singing a lullaby Dad used to sing to us if we couldn’t (or wouldn’t) get to sleep.
“… close your eyes, and let the darkness overtake you; let the day time escape you, and let the nightmares take you to the dark land of dreams…”
That’s all I remembered of the song having not heard it in a long while. If I ever got out of here I’d ask Dad to sing it to me again. I wondered if my family was looking for me. Surely if Oogie had enough time to take me here; they’ve had enough time to notice me missing. If, no, when they come for me I am going to tell them how much I love them all and how sorry I am for getting into this mess. Then a bright light was suddenly shone at me burning my eyes. I covered my face with my hands trying to block it out while a horribly familiar voice boomed, “Finally awake are we Ms. Skellington?” My eyes adjusted to the light and I saw my surroundings. I recognized it instantly to be the abandoned place under the tree house. The place was huge. I was on some sort of platform overlooking the center of the room. From the bottom I was easily visible. The over-sized gambling machines were rusted and filthy and the lights only half lit up. As I’d suspected various bugs and rodents had completely taken over. “What do you want with me Oogie?!” “That’s Mr. Boogie to you, and I couldn’t care less about you.” He looked somewhat thoughtful and then said, “So, the bone man married the ragdoll, and this is what they made…one can’t help but wonder how they made anything at all. He doesn’t have a…” “Eewww, I don’t want to hear about this you pervert!” “Anyway that’s not important. I’m about to get my revenge. You see, when he comes here to save you my warriors will be waiting” Another spotlight came on revealing a cage full of huge, hideous, bug-creatures doing their best to chew their way out. “I suppose I must thank you for the book, or else these creatures wouldn’t have been possible.” “So what?” I said a little more weakly than I was going for, “Dad can get past anything you could make.” “Ahhh, but it’s not about ‘if’ he gets past them, he probably could, it’s about how fast he can get past them.” “What do you mean?” “I mean if he can’t get past them before the time runs out he is going to watch you die a most horrible death.” “You’ll never get away with this, villains never do” “You watch too many movies. Anyhow, we have a little business to settle before he gets here.” “What kind of ‘business’?” “You are going to roll the dice twice, the first will tell me how many warriors to release, the second will tell me how much time Jack’s going to have to save you” He threw a pair of dice at me witch I just barely caught. "and you said 'I' watch too many movies..." I mumbled. Since I had no choice; I rolled the die. First I rolled a three but he wasn’t happy with that so he stamped his foot causing the dice to change to twelve. “That’s not fair! I rolled a three!” “I never said the game was fair.” I rolled the dice again getting a six. “Perfect!” the monster said. “Six minutes!” “Six minutes! How’s he gonna fight twelve bug-things in six minutes!” “He’s not. People used to say I was a gambler, but it’s not true; I never gamble. I never take the chance that I may lose…”
