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Chapter Four
"Come on, Jack! Don't be a bunch of chicken bones!"
"Quit calling me that! I'm not scared. It's just...what if my dad finds out we're here?"
"Don't worry. We'll be back before he knows we're gone. You wanna show him you'd make a good Pumpkin King, right?"
"Well, yeah..."
"Then quit belly-aching and let's find that Bone Collector!"
"Grim! Wait up! Don't run so...Grim? Grim! Where are you?"
Once again, Jack shuddered back to reality. He sat limply in his electric chair, oblivious to everything around him. The sun was starting to set, casting an eerie glow in the twisted tower of Jack's house. He wasn't sure what bothered him more: that he ashamed himself and his title by his act of cowardice or how he treated Sally when she tried to help him. Zero, ever so faithful, floated over to his master and rested his chin upon his knee. Jack sighed heavily as he looked down at his deceased canine friend.
"Oh Zero..." he moaned, rising from his chair. "What am I going to do? I embarrass myself in front of the whole town, Sally's mad at me, and the one thing I'm afraid is running rampant in the Hinterlands. It's hopeless."
Jack walked before the tall mirror next his wardrobe and studied the dismal skeleton staring back at him. Once, that skeleton held such confidence and security. One of the most feared creatures in all Halloween. But now all Jack saw was nothing. Just a skeleton with shame and despair written all over his bones. He turned to look at the portrait of his father, Ichibod Skellington, standing over his fireplace. Now there was a Pumpkin King. Noble, majestic, sinister. There wasn't a living thing that could out-scare Ichibod.
"Bet you're really proud of your son now, huh Dad?" said Jack, hanging his head. "Face it. I've destroyed our name, our lineage. Some Pumpkin King I turned out to be."
"What, so you're just going to give up?"
Jack looked up to see if his father, who had been dust for ages now, had spoken to him. "Father?"
"Over here!"
Jack turned around to see that the reflection in the mirror was talking to him. Jack rubbed his eyes and looked again, making sure he wasn't dreaming. "What the...?"
The reflection chuckled. "Don't worry, you're not going crazy. This is just your inner self talking. That, or that pumpkin cider didn't agree with you."
Jack rolled his eyes. "Great. I destroyed my title and now I'm having a conversation with myself."
"Inner self," the reflection corrected. "Which brings me back to my original statement. Why are you quitting? You've been through hard times before and it's never brought you down."
"This is different. I was never afraid before."
"Oh really? So, you weren't the least bit scared when you faced Oogie Boogie and he had access to all those machines and torture devices? Or scared fighting that giant spider when it captured Sally? Or when the military..."
"Ok, ok! So I was a bit...stressed at those times, but this is entirely different. I want to fight the Bone Collector, I really do. But every time I think about it, I keep thinking about Grim and how I..." Jack fell silent, not wanting to rekindle the fire.
"You have got to stop beating yourself up over that. You were just a kid. There wasn't anything you could've done."
"My father knew what to do. He always did. Nothing ever scared him."
"Boy, your memory really is fuzzy. You mean you don't remember what your father said when he found you after he spent hours looking for you? 'Jack Skellington, don't you ever scare me like that again!' You really rattled his ribcage."
"But...I didn't try to scare him! And he wasn't scared for himself!"
"But he was still afraid. Loosing you probably scared him more than anything, but did that stop him from going to the Hinterlands to look for you?"
"No..."
"And why is that? Because you were more important to him than his fame and glory. And it's not like you haven't done the same. For example, when Oogie Boogie gathered all those bugs and grew to three stories high. You had to admit, it was frightening. So why didn't you back down?"
"Because if I had...then Halloween would've been lost forever. Everyone would have suffered under Oogie's reign. The townsfolk, Sandy Claws...Sally."
"Exactly! So what if you're scared of the Bone Collector? There's no shame in being afraid; it's whether or not you let it beat you that counts."
Jack fell silent as he finally listened to his own advice. Being afraid and staying locked up in his tower wasn't going to make the fear any easier to deal with. The only way to finally be at peace was to confront the Bone Collector once and for all. "You're right...I mean, I'm right. We're both right! I am afraid of the Bone Collector...but that's not going to stop me from protecting my town! But first, I got to patch things up with Sally, then we'll tackle this problem together."
The inner self smiled. "Good thinking! Then again...it was your idea." Jack looked back at his reflection to see that it had taken it's former shape as Jack's double. Satisfied with his newfound confidence, Jack headed downstairs.
A high pitched scream caught him off guard. It was his doorbell. Someone was ringing it frantically.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," Jack called to his visitor. When he opened the door, a black blur bolted between his legs and into his house. Jack turned to see it was Wicca. She meowed at Jack as if trying to tell him something. Hearing the cat, Zero quickly flew into the room and growled at the intruder.
"Not now, Zero!" Jack scolded, then turned back to the cat. "Easy there, Wicca. What's wrong?"
A tiny creature hopped up and down on Wicca's back. At first it looked like a spider, but on closer inspection Jack saw that it was a hand. Sally's hand! The tiny body part leapt upon Jack's table, making all sorts of hand gestures. Jack had a difficult time understanding what the hand was saying. "Sally's hand? Why aren't you with Sally? Wait, where is Sally?"
Getting frustrated, the hand looked around for anything to use to explain her predicament. The small hand the leapt as high as she could and dove into Jack's chest. Jack giggled as the tiny hand moved around his ribcage, then felt one of his ribs snap off. The hand leapt back out onto the table with the rib underneath her.
"Wh-what was that for?" asked Jack, recovering from his giggles. In response, the hand pointed frantically at the rib. "Ok, so you got one of my bones! What's the big...wait. You got one of my bones..." Fear overwhelmed Jack as the pieces started to fall into place. "The Bone Collector?" The hand curled into a fist and nodded vigorously. "The Bone Collector has Sally?" The hand gave an "ok" sign, then collapsed on the table exhausted.
A dark shadow fell over Jack's heart. Sally, his one true love, had been taken by that horrible being. Zero and Wicca cringed as they heard Jack's teeth grind together. Uttering a low growl, Jack stormed over to his closet where he fetched a glass jar. Opening the jar, the green glob leapt out of its glassy contents and attached itself to Jack's wrist. Jack silently cursed himself for not thinking of the Soul Robber before.
"That's it!" he said, hate dripping in his voice. "He took my best friend, attacked one my townspeople, humiliated me in front of everyone, and now he's taken the woman I love! I'm sick of running away! This is the last time the Bone Collector taunts Jack Skellington! Come on, Zero! We're going hunting..."
Zero barked happily as he, Wicca, and Sally's hand followed the Pumpkin King.
* * *
Jack stood before the entrance to the Hinterlands, slowly gathering his courage. That twinge of fear still lingered on his mind, but the thought of Sally in danger quickly overpowered it. Beside him, Wicca proved to be a useful beast of burden for Sally's hand. Jack gently picked up the hand and placed her under Zero's nose. "Come on, boy," he urged. "Pick up the scent."
Zero studied the hand carefully, his nose letting off a dim light. Aside from guiding him through fog and darkness, Zero was an expert tracking dog, better than any bloodhound. His nose worked like a metal detector: whenever he was near what he was looking for, his nose glowed brighter. Having Sally's scent implanted in his memory, Zero took off through the woods with Jack and Wicca (while carrying the hand) followed close behind.
They ran quite a bit before Zero stopped in a clearing. "What is it, boy?" Jack asked. "Did you find Sally?"
Zero looked ahead of him and growled, his nose glowing a dark red. Wicca felt the presence too as the cat's fur stood on end, uttering a low "Meooor..." Jack stared in the direction the animals were, but saw nothing except dense woodland. Swirling his Soul Robber, he inched forward, not taking his eyes from the spot. "Sally...?" he called.
WHOOSH!
Jack just barely dodged the sickle chain as it buried itself in a nearby tree. The chain grew taunt, then ripped out from the wooden prison. Jack looked up to see, once again, the Bone Collector standing before him, gripping the sickle chain tightly.
For a second, a rush of fear washed over Jack, but he quickly remembered the reason he was here and his confidence came seeping back in. "Zero! Wicca! Find Sally!" he ordered as he charged up his Soul Robber. Zero looked at his master with a forlorn expression and whined. "I'll be all right! Just go! Now!"
Wicca zipped by Jack, then meowed at the ghost dog who reluctantly floated away from his master. Taking one last look at his beloved master, he sniffed the air and found Sally's scent.
* * *
Sally struggled against the ropes that bound her to the tree. As hard as she tried to wiggle out, the ropes were too strong. Luckily, she was able to remove her hand as the Bone Collector was tying her up. He saw the hand scurry off, but paid no mind to it. It was as if he wanted Jack to know Sally had been captured. The rag doll shuddered as she recalled how the Bone Collector looked at her after he had bound her to the tree. She had tried to see his face, but the hood didn't allow it. Before he left to wait for his prey, the Bone Collector took Sally's face in his hand and turned her head side to side. She felt he skin crawl when he tickled her chin with his long, bony finger.
Sally's head dropped, exhausted from the strain. "It's hopeless..." she said quietly. Just then, a familiar bark caught her attention. She looked up to see a faint glow among the trees. Her heart raced as the glow grew brighter. "Zero! Over here!"
The ghost dog floated happily over to Sally, licking her face. Sally couldn't help but laugh. "It's good to see you too, Zero!" She then felt something warm and soft rub against her legs. It was Wicca, purring with delight to have found her friend. "Wicca!"
Leaping off from the cat's back, Sally's hand scurried up the tree and started to work at the ropes with the help of Zero while Wicca clawed at the knots that tied Sally's feet. "Hurry, you guys," she said as she once again struggled at the ropes. "We have to find Jack!"
* * *
Jack had faced countless foes before, but none of them like the Bone Collector. The Soul Robber had been an excellent weapon for Jack, each swing literally an extension of his body. But the Bone Collector's sickle chain was almost identical in attack power. Each blow Jack gave, an equally strong counterattack followed. Sweat poured down Jack's skull, but he didn't back down.
"Come on!" Jack cried, whipping the Soul Robber. "Is that the best you've got?"
The Bone Collector said nothing as he twirled his sickle chain, then fired it at Jack. Luckily, the skeleton dodged, but not by much. Jack felt the cold steel strike his arm, breaking the bone. Jack tumbled to the ground. He lifted his arm to unleash the Soul Robber, but found it was no longer there, along with his hand. He looked over to see his hand lying on the ground with the Soul Robber wrapped around it, pulsing. Jack got to his feet and tried to get to his weapon, but was stopped when a force grabbed him from behind. It was the sickle chain! It wrapped itself around Jack, flinging him up against a tree. The sickle chain circled the skeleton a few more times before the blade buried itself in the wood. Jack was trapped.
Dazed, Jack opened his eyes to see the Bone Collector standing before him, gripping the chain tightly in his gloved hands. The monster stood there, looking at the petrified skeleton as his tattered robes blew in the wind. A low laugh came from underneath the hood. "At last...after all these years, the great Pumpkin King is my grasp. It's been a long time, hasn't it Jack?"
Jack tried to squirm out of the hold, but it was too strong. "No!" he cried. "Let me go, you maniac!"
"Come now," the Bone Collector said softly as he gave the chain a sharp tug. "Is that any way to treat an old friend? I thought you'd be happy to see me..."
"Why would I be happy to see a heartless creature like you?" Jack shouted, fear creeping back into his voice.
The Bone Collector chuckled, sending shivers down Jack's spine. "Oh Jack. You haven't changed a bit. You were always so dramatic, just like your father."
Jack stopped struggling to look at his oppressor, clearly shocked. "You...what are you talking about? Who are you?"
"Jack, I'm hurt. You mean to say you don't recognize me? Has it been so long? Here...maybe this will help."
The Bone Collector reached up and pulled down his hood. Jack's jaw dropped so low it almost unhinged itself. It was a skeleton! His skull was slightly longer than Jack's and in terrible condition. Near the back, part of his skull was missing and a long crack ran down the right side of his face, overlapping his eye socket. Jack prayed that his eyes were playing tricks on him. "No...it can't be," he whispered.
"Good to see you again...old friend," said Grim.
Chapter:
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