Welcome To Your So Called Insanity - Hugs.And.Kisses (best novels for beginners TXT) 📗

it was having me ignore them.

Jack stopped them as they started to walk out the door, catching Lock by his tail and tugging him lightly back in. "And one more thing- leave that no account Oogie Boogie out of this!"

The three of them had their masks on, but I could almost see the sickly sweet, obviously fake smiles on their faces that came through in their voices. "Whatever you say, Jack." Barrel chuckled.

"Of course, Jack." Shock added.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Jack." Lock assured him. I looked up to see that all three had one of their hands behind their back. I rolled my eyes as they ran out and Jack shut the door.

"Maybe those three aren't as bad as I thought." Jack mused to himself.

"You're joking, right?" I questioned. "They had their fingers crossed, all three of them!"

"Oh, nonsense." He waved it off. I shook my head, blinking away the tears that were starting to form. Just in time, too, because Jack walked over and looked at my picture. It was another one of the little projects he had me doing; a drawing of my ideal room, Halloween Town style. Honestly, I didn't know why, but I did it anyway, just to keep him happy.

Besides, it was better than drawing him in a Santa Clause outfit.

"Almost done?" He asked. I nodded, handing him the picture and standing up.

"I'm going over to Dr. Finklestein's for a while." I told him, walking outside.

He nodded, examining my picture. "I'll come and get you in a little while." I opened the door and walked out, slamming it behind me and going down the stairs.

I stumbled on the last step, falling on my hands and knees. I stood and looked at my stinging palms. "And now I'm bleeding. This must be a really great day." I muttered, walking off toward the Acid Works. After shoving open the heavy gate, I slid inside, making sure not to step on any of the doctor's many frogs that were hopping everywhere. I shut it just as quickly, making sure that none of the amphibians tried to escape. Dr. Finklestein's frogs weren't exactly normal; they could spit acid, hence why they lived in the Acid Works. Last time one had escaped, it melted the handle of the ax in Behemoth's head. He wouldn't come out of the Pumpkin Patch for almost two weeks.

I knocked once before walking inside. Dr. Finklestein would never hear me anyway. I climbed the winding ramp that led up to his lab, peeking inside. The skeleton reindeer Jack had asked him to build were lying on the table, lifeless. Well, technically, they were never actually going to be alive, but I'm not going to get into technicalities.

A whirring noise behind me made me turn around to see Dr. Finklestein. "Ah, Aubrey. I didn't hear you come in."

I smiled at him. "You usually don't." I moved to the side so he get to his work table. "So, no luck with the reindeer yet?" I asked.

"Not yet." He confessed, tinkering with one's skull.

I sat down in a chair sitting in the corner. "Well, you still have a bit… Christmas is still three weeks away."

Dr. Finklestein turned and looked at me. "Aubrey, Sally is in her room. You're free to go talk to her."

I smiled sheepishly at him out and over to Sally's door, not bothering to knock before running in. Sally looked up from her sewing machine and smiled at me. I grimaced at the red fabric before running over and climbing in her lap. She stroked my hair in an almost motherly way. "No luck, huh?"

I shook my head. "He's not even listening to me. Jack's taking this too far, Sally. He gave Boogie's Boys a 'special' job! Boogie's Boys!"

Sally wrapped me in a hug. Her fabric-like skin was a welcome change from Jack's stiff, bony hugs, which had become very rare as of late. "It's all right. Look." I slid off of her lap, letting her stand and walk over to her door. Peeking out and looking around, she pulled her head back in with a satisfied smile. Walking over to the center of her room, she knelt down and slid one of the floorboards away. Then, she pulled out a large bottle labeled 'Fog Juice'.

"What is it?" I asked curiously.

Sally smiled at me, almost impishly. "A bottle of Fog Juice. If I poured this into one of the fountains in the square, it would make a fog so thick that there would be no way for Jack to take off."

I grinned at her. "Do you really think it'll work?"

"I don't know, but we can certainly try, hm?" Sally said soothingly, smoothing down my hair again.

I nodded and rested my head on her shoulder. "Yeah."

.0o0.

The next day, I was helping Sally with some shopping at the Witches' Shop, considering Jack was too busy overseeing the development of the 'presents' he was going to deliver.

There was a loud commotion outside the shop. "What the heck…?" I muttered, running outside. I heard Sally shouting behind me, but I was already halfway to the square before she was even out of the shop.

Lock, Shock, and Barrel had ridden up in their bathtub, a large sack wriggling in it. The trio jumped off, running toward Jack. I, on the other hand, hid behind the wall that almost closed off the shop from the rest of the square. "Jack, Jack! We caught him, we caught him!"

Jack turned around, a delighted grin on his face. "Perfect!" He strode over to the bathtub. "Open it up, quickly!"

Lock and Barrel tugged open the string tied around the mouth of the bag and out shot… a very large pink rabbit? Who was carrying a basket of eggs… the Easter Bunny? What were Lock, Shock, and Barrel doing with the Easter Bunny in a sack?

Jack frowned. "That's not Sandy Claws."

In that moment, I realized that Jack had finally gone over the edge. Santa? He'd hired Boogie's Boys to catch SANTA?

"It isn't?" Shock asked.

Barrel looked over at the rabbit. "Then who is it?"

That question was answered by Behemoth, who the bunny was sniffing curiously. "BUNNY!" He yelled, not purposely scaring him into leaping back into the sack with a startled 'eek!'.

"Not Sandy Claws." Jack restated, motioning to the quivering bag. "Take him back!"

Lock shrunk away. "We followed your instructions-"

"We went through the door-" Barrel offered, trying to be helpful.

Jack put his hands on his hips. "Which door? There's more than one! Sandy Claws is through the door shaped like this." He held out a cookie in the shape of a Christmas tree.

Shock turned to Lock, smacking him with her mask. "I told you!"

Jack, who was obviously getting very annoyed, turned away. When he turned back, he was making a face that terrified me from yards away, letting out a terrible roar. The three stopped fighting, Lock and Barrel hiding behind Shock, who spread her arms out somewhat protectively in front of them. After glaring at them, he turned toward the bag in their bathtub. "I'm very sorry for the inconvenience sir." He apologized politely. Turning back to Boogie's Boys, he ordered, "Take him home first! And apologize again!" They nodded, running off, the tub following them. "Be careful with Sandy Claws when you fetch him. Treat him nicely!"

"Got it!" One, Lock, I think, called.

"We'll get it right." Shock added.

"Next time!" All three chorused.

As they disappeared on the turning path beyond the gate, Jack turned back to the citizens standing around the square. "All right everyone, let's all get back to work! There are only a few weeks until Christmas!" Everyone cheered and went back to making their 'toys'.

I bit my lip and buried my face in Sally's dress, tears burning trails down my cheeks.

"This time… this time…" The song began behind me.

I had to get out of there before I broke down completely. "I'm going home." I told Sally, sobbing as I ran off. The song followed me, all the way out to the Hinterlands. And of course, I couldn't see very well because I was crying, so I ended up tripping. Over what, I don't know, but I did, and I could taste blood in my mouth. I sat up, wincing as I fingered my split lip. That was going to hurt in the morning. Standing, I looked around. After a year, I'd pretty much figured out how to navigate the confusing Hinterland woods. But since I hadn't been paying much attention to how I'd been running, I was lost.

Looking up, I watched the crows. They were all flying directly to my left, which meant that's where the door was. I followed the bird's path from the ground, watching them leave back to their usual roosts once I'd reached the door. With a sigh, and after wiping as much of the blood off my face as I could, I turned the pumpkin's nose and hopped through.

I was right; the first thing I felt when I woke up was my throbbing lip. I touched it gingerly. Pulling my fingers back, I examined them closely in the dim light. 'Well, at least there isn't any blood.' I sighed and snuggled deeper under my flimsy sheets, closing my eyes, even though I knew I wasn't going to get anymore sleep.

But I couldn't even fake sleeping, for a second later, the lights in our room clicked on. Letting out a groan, I placed my pillow over my head, but it was rudely yanked away a moment later. "Aubrey." Sandy's voice whispered next to my ear. I groaned and swatted blindly at her. A thin hand grasped my wrist. "Aubrey, I know you're awake. Please. It's important."

I sat up as I realized that Sandy's voice was trembling terribly. "Wha's goin' on?" I asked, yawning a little.

"Dr. McIntire died last night."

I froze mid-stretch and stared at her face, her emerald eyes wide with terror. "Say what now?"

"He died last night. It was from internal hem… hemorging…"

"Internal hemorrhaging?"

Sandy nodded. "Yeah, in his brain."

My breath hitched in my chest. Do you want to die, Aubrey?

No, but I wish you would.

"They said that it must've been happening for weeks. He was complaining that his head hurt and just keeled over. Betsy, you know, the girl down the hall who thinks she's a bird? Well, she woke up and saw it and she had to be sedated, but she woke like half the building up while they tried to calm her down."

I'm sorry; I seem to be getting a migraine. You can go. 'Oh my god…' I thought, clutching my sheets, my nails digging into my palms through the thin cloth. I took a shuddering breath. "I killed him. It's my fault."

"What?" Sandy asked. I hadn't realized that I'd spoken.

"I killed him." I repeated. "I wished he was dead, and now he is."

"Aubrey… you didn't kill him. It's not your fault." Sandy pulled me to her chest and hugged me tightly. "There's no way you could have done anything."

For some reason, that didn't make me feel better.

The next day, we had a new doctor. His name was Mitchell Anderson, and he didn't look much younger than Dr. McIntire had been. His orange-red hair had streaks of silver in it,