The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin Princess - Fanfic Story 1

CHAPTER 4

I woke up to the sound of our doorbell, which had a spooky Halloween sound to it. I sat up and rubbed my tired eyes, realizing I had slept in my clothes. I heard the faint voice of the Mayor.

"Jack, you home?"

A few moments passed. I didn't hear Dad walking down the stairs. I didn't hear anything except the ticking of my clock until the Mayor knocked on the door.

"Jack!" he called. "I've got the plans for next Halloween! I need to go over them with you so we can get started!"

I still didn't hear Dad. I would've run down the steps to answer the door, but the Mayor wanted my father, not me. I remembered the last time I had seen Dad. He had disappeared behind a bare forest, and if he had returned he would've woken me up to let me know. Was he home? Had he forgotten to let me know?

"Jack, please!" the Mayor cried, and I could tell his happy face had switched. "I'm only an elected official here! I can't make the decisions all by myself! Jack, answer me!"

I heard him falling down the stairs, and I gasped and jumped out of bed. I rushed to my window and opened it, seeing the Mayor sprawled on the ground in front of the band members, his papers on the ground next to him.

"He's not home," the accordian player said.

"Where is he?" the Mayor asked.

"He hasn't been home all night," the saxophone player replied.

The Mayor groaned. I ran to the door and opened it. "Dad's not home?!" I cried.

"Where were you, you could've answered the door for him!" the Mayor said.

"That doesn't matter!" I snapped. "What matters is the fact that my dad's not home! Are you guys sure you didn't see him?!" I asked the band players.

"No," they said in unison.

"DAD!" I yelled. I knew, however, that it would do nothing.

I ran down the front steps and out the gate. I ran all through Halloween Town in search of my father. Never did I think I could run so far, so fast. I fell back on a wall, panting and trying to catch my breath. It was no use. Dad wasn't even in town.

Several hours passed. The townspeople searched and searched for my father, but they couldn't find him. Finally, we all met at the square.

My bones ached from all the running, and I felt sick.

"This has never happened before!" Stanus said.

"It's suspicious," Arwen said.

"It's peculiar," Sirena replied.

"It's scary," Zenshe added.

"Stand aside," the Mayor ordered, climbing on top of his car. "We've got to find Jack!" he cried. "There's only 365 days left until next Halloween!"

"364!" the werewolf corrected.

"Is there anywhere we've forgotten to check?" the Mayor said.

I would've asked questions, too, but I was too exhausted. While Halloween Town was small, it was still pretty big to me.

"I looked in every mausoleum."

"We opened the sarcophagi."

"I tromped through the pumpkin patch."

"I looked behind the corpse's eye. I did! But he wasn't there."

"It's time to sound the alarms!" the Mayor cried.

The mummy child spun the tail of a cat statue, and the cat began making an awful, loud noise. I sat down on the dusty ground. It was hopeless. Dad was long gone. But where had he gone? What was behind those trees?

Several more minutes passed of total silence. I felt sicker by the minute, not only from exhaustion, but from stress.

"Did anyone think to dredge the lake?" the Mayor groaned, breaking the silence.

"This morning!" Iron sighed.

I heard distant barking. I gasped.

"Hear that?" Arwen asked.

"What?" Sirena asked.

"Ssh!" Arwen ordered.

The barking came again.

"Zero!" I whispered.

"Zero!" Zenshe cried.

At that moment, Zero came up with Dad behind him. Dad was riding some sort of vehicle. It was green and white, and it had a tiny sled hooked up from behind it. But that didn't matter right now. Dad was back!

"DAD!" I yelled.

I found a few more ounces of energy, enough to run up to Dad and throw my arms around him. He hugged me back.

"Jack's back!"

"Where have you been?" the Mayor demanded.

"Call a town meeting and I'll tell everyone about it!" Dad said.

"When?" the Mayor asked.

"Immediately!"