Once Upon a Nightmare

- Eighteen -

- Eighteen -

"Why do you want to get that filth a present?" Jane grumbled as she sat on her bed, leaning over her laptop.

"Because I think it would be nice."

"Nice like that kiss?" The night Jeff had kissed me he had told me not to tell anyone. He said it was to 'protect me', but I knew better. Jeff didn't want his reputation getting damaged. So naturally, the entire house knew by morning.

Sally giggle while she played on the floor with her bear, "I think it's sweet!"

"See? Why can't you be more like her, Jane?" I asked as I paced in front of Jane's bed, gesturing down to Sally.

"Because I'm not eight anymore?" She said without looking up, "What do you want to get him, anyway?"

"That's why I'm here to talk to both of you." I sighed.

"Get him duct tape to put of his mouth. Or what's left of it..." Jane mumbled.

"Oh, shush. You're such a pessimist." I growled. I sat on the floor in front of Sally, "Any ideas?"

"How about a new eye cover thingy?" She asked.

"Nah..."

"Video game?"

"No..."

"Lip gloss?" She giggled.

"Sally!" I exclaimed, unable to hide my own smile and furiously blushing cheeks.

"Oh! How about a new knife?" Sally asked.

I let the idea process for a minute before shouting, "Sally, you're a genius!"

"Cyan, he has like twelve knives." Jane said.

"They're all old and stained." I said, getting up, "Now get up, we gotta go out."

"Oh, hell no! There's no way in hell I'm going out into the human world in broad daylight!" Jane yelled as I tried to drag her off of the bed.

"Oh, come on!" I yelled.

"No! I look too abnormal!" She yelled back. I let go of her arm and stepped back to look at her. Her white skin made her black eye sockets look even darker. Walking over to her closet, I dug around until finally I found what I was looking for.

"Here," I said, shoving the sunglasses onto her face, "put these on."

She grumbled but did as I had said. She put the sunglasses on properly and went to the mirror. Very slowly I saw the tiniest hint of a smile form on her black lips. "Okay," she said, "I'll go with you and Sal on this little powwow."

Sally and I high fived and Jane continued, "But we're getting some more sunglasses."

Sally and Jane both grumbled when I said, "Deal, but we're not breaking into anything or murdering anyone."

~ Jeff's POV ~

Jack smashed the front door glass to the department store. We had already sent Ben in ahead of time to turn off the alarm system and he was waiting on the other side.

It was terribly cold that night. It was about three in the morning when we had left the house, and now that we were there, I wasn't even sure what I was looking for.

"Aren't there usually cops in places like this?" I asked as I walked through the shattered opening. As if on cue, a fat man dressed like a mall cop came running up to us.

"You kids are under arrest." He said between deep breaths.

"Jack," I said, "handle him."

"With pleasure." Jack said as he drew out his long, curved knife.

Ben, Masky, Hoodie and I left the two of them alone and continued into the store.

"So why are we here again?" Ben asked in a bored tone.

"Because I wanna get Cyan something nice." I grumbled. I didn't like

explaining this more than once. All three of them exploded into laughter.

"Jeff's gone soft!" Ben roared.

"I have not!" I yelled, shoving him into a display table. Even through the darkness I could see the smile on Ben's face. I was so close to smacking if off.

"What do you want to get her?" Masky asked after a while.

"I dunno. Something pretty, I guess." I honestly had never done this before.

"Well that's specific." Ben said.

"When was the last time you shopped for a girl, huh?" I hissed at Ben. He was getting on my nerves.

"Jeff, have you ever had any other girlfriends?" Masky asked in his shy voice.

"No, she's the- Wait, she's not my fucking girlfriend!" I shouted, making them erupt into laughter yet again. We continued to walk through the store, looking at different stuff, and nothing really caught my eye.

"Hey, Jeff." Ben said.

"What?" I grumbled.

"How about jewelry?" I stopped walking at Ben's suggestion and thought about it. I don't know what size of anything Cyan would wear, so clothes were out. I didn't know what she liked, either. Dresses? Shirts? But Jewelry. Women love that kind of stuff, right?

"That's not a bad idea," I said after a while, "come on."

"How about this one?" Masky asked me from the other side of the glass counter. We had found the jewelry department and I was on one side, picking and choosing what I wanted to see, and Masky and Hoodie were on the other, taking them out and showing.

Before I could answer, Jack jogged up and joined the group.

"What took you so long?" I asked.

"I didn't know mall cops carried guns." He said.

"What?! The great Eyeless Jack doesn't know something about something? Is this the sign? Is the apocalypse starting?" Ben said sarcastically as he was unclothing the mannequins.

"Ben, what the hell are you doing?" I asked. I should have come alone, I thought to myself. These people are getting on my nerves.

"I'll show you later." He said in a singsong voice. I rolled my eyes and turned back to Masky, "No, not that one."

As usual, without speaking Hoodie held a ring up to my face. It was gold with a purple stone in it, probably amethyst or something, but it still wasn't pretty enough. "No." I said.

"This?" Masky asked, holding up another piece. It was silver with multiple blue stones running down the chain.

"No. Look for something that-" My eyes stopped on it. I swung my legs over the counter and quickly slid the glass door to get inside the jewelry display. Hidden in the back, behind all of the silvers and golds, was exactly what I was looking for.

It was a simple necklace, with a thin gold chain, but the stones in it shined so beautifully. At the end of the gold chain there were a combination of Onyx and Ruby, each ringed in a layer of diamonds, that formed into the shape of a key. It was perfect.

"Guys, that the hell it that?" Jack said, pointing his black gloved hand at the ceiling, where there was a tiny red light blinking.

"Dammit, Ben! I told you to turn of all of the alarms!" I yelled, turning to see that Ben wasn't with the mannequins anymore, "Where the hell is Ben?!"

"Guys!" I whirled around to see Ben's small figure gliding towards us, sword raised, "We gotta go."

"What did you do, Ben?" I growled.

"We've got company."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Hey everyone. Well, sorry for this shitty chapter and my foul language just now.. Can you tell school is back?