The Nightmare of Her Dreams 31

The woman dressed in white gasped in surprise at the deep, eerie tone of his voice and at the scrapes and scars that adorned his skeletal head. Of what she could see, his bones were a light dingy grey, not white. His hollow eyes revealed that he was weary, yet very wise. A skeletal smile then crossed his features.

"I am Charon, the Grim Reaper, as you could probably tell from the scythe." he joked.

"B-but if y-you're the Grim R-reaper…then that m-means…I-I am…"

"Dead? Yes, I'm afraid so my dear."

"H-how?"

"I'll make it short so you don't have to deal with anymore shock. You were hit by a drunk driver." he then shook his head, "Such a pity. I pick up more people killed in that very same way than anything else."

"I-I was w-what!? B-by who!?"

"Do you really want to know?"

She hesitated a moment before nodding her head.

"A young fellow, whom you know, that goes by the name of Daniel."

Her eyes widened and her pupils shrank to microscopic dots. She was about to collapse to her knees when Charon hastily grabbed her firmly by the arm, preventing her fall.

"Whoa, easy now." He made certain she could stand on her own before he let go. "All right, so you know how you died. Now it's my turn to ask the questions." he stated, "How did a mortal come about knowing Jack Skellington? That is who you meant when you said Jack, right?"

"Y-yeah. I've known him since I was a little girl, and I'm his heir to-"

"Wait, wait, wait." he hastily stopped her, his hollow eyes wide in surprise, "What's your name?"

"Amelia Brave."

"No…The Amelia Brave!? Princess of Halloween Amelia Brave!?"

"Yeah…that's me."

"That just can't be true! I didn't expect to pick you up until several decades down the road!"

"Well…I guess that make two of us. But how do you know about me?"

"Oh, forgive me your highness," he gave a bow and came back up to look at her, "I am a frequent visitor to Halloween Town. In fact, I'm a friend of Jack's. I'm sorry that I never had the opportunity to make your acquaintance before." he smiled in slight amusement, "I don't have much free time."

"That's all right and please, you don't need to bow or address me so formally." Amelia said sheepishly.

"I see, you're just like Jack in the way of "royal" manners." The reaper chuckled.

"Wait, why am I even having this conversation? I'm dead!" It was as though reality had finally set in on the princess, "Please Charon, does Jack know what happened!?"

"I'm afraid not." he shrugged, "My job is to guide souls into the next life, not to inform friends and family."

Amelia put her face in her hands as she became stricken with sobs. "Please! I must be able to say goodbye to him! Can I do that at least?"

"Well…I…" the Grim Reaper hesitated, knowing that the rule was to not allow the spirits to say their last farewells. But he didn't have to ponder over it too much when a bright light appeared in the sky above them. "Ah, it seems that you have someone from the other side who wants to speak to you."

The distraught young woman glanced at him and he pointed up, so she tilted her head toward the sky and saw the shining light descend to just a few yards away from them. Someone stepped through, but the intensity of the brilliance was too much for Amelia to be able to see. The light finally died away and standing before them was a young girl of no more than sixteen years old with dark wavy locks and wearing a white gown. She had pale skin and eyes as blue as the sea.

"Elizabeth…" the recently departed sorceress breathed in surprise.

"Hello Amelia, it's been a while." the Victorian girl smiled and approached her descendant. "I am truly sorry for your tragedy, but I have come to you as a messenger. You have been given a choice, Amelia Brave."

"A choice?"

"Yes," Elizabeth nodded, "to either ascend into the life beyond, or to remain on earth as one of the undead." Her demeanor changed to that of warning, "But, the latter has a catch. If you decide to remain, then you cannot step foot into the human world for one hundred years."

"It's quite a rare opportunity." Charon said, walking up beside Amelia. "The last soul I saw who was given this choice was Jack Skellington himself."

The sorceress looked back at Elizabeth who smiled warmly, her gentle eyes held a particular "knowing" and her descendant smiled back, her own eyes also holding a certain gleam.

"What is your decision?" the Victorian asked.

--

A tall skeleton man in a pinstripe suit with a bat-bowtie was crumpled against a tombstone next to a weeping willow tree in a small cemetery. He was crying, tears streaming down his bony face, and wailing in grief.

"I-It just can't be! S-she c-can't be gone!" he sobbed. "Amelia! Oh Amelia! Please come back! Tell me you are not dead! Come back to me so that I may hold you, tell you I love you, and never let anything like this ever happen to you!"

He folded his arms on top of the headstone and cried into them.

"I had only just told her I loved her…and now she's been torn from me!" he bawled, "I lost Elizabeth…and now…I've lost Amelia! I…I can't go on. If she isn't with me…then I have no reason to live." he choked, "She was becoming my very life, the very essence of my soul…Oh Amelia, why? Why? Why?" he repeated over and over. He felt his entire body begin to crumble from the grief. His heart had shattered with no hope of ever putting the pieces back together. The young Armonia was his heaven on earth, and now that glorious light of his life had suddenly been shut out, leaving the Atrum in a bleaker darkness than any he had ever encountered.

"Amelia…" he breathed as silent tears cascaded down his skeletal face. He simply laid there, slumped against the grave which belonged to his first tragic loss. It felt to him as though his very soul was slipping away.

Between the spaces of his overlapped arms, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a light. He figured that someone from town had come looking for him so he tried to gather himself up as best he could and stood. As he blinked away the remainder of the miserable salty drops, the light behind him had begun to grow brighter and brighter. He turned to see what it was but it was too luminous for his hollow eyes to take in. Jack raised his arm to block the light, and then it began to fade away. The skeleton man lowered his thin arm and gasped in complete shock. He stood frozen, in fear that what he was seeing was only a hallucination.

There, levitating in the air was the sorceress whom he presumed to be dead, Amelia Brave. She was wearing her normal long silver gown, her circlet crown upon her head, and her eyes were closed as she softly descended to the ground. The young woman opened her deep oceanic eyes and met the astonished gaze of the skeleton man a few feet in front of her. Her bright blue orbs began to shine as a joyous smile crossed her gentle features.

"Jack!"

"A-Amelia…?" he breathed in disbelief.

The sorceress quickly ran up to him and wrapped her arms around him. The skeleton man took a step back as she suddenly hugged him. He hesitantly brought his arms around her and then reality finally set in.

"Amelia!" he cried happily as he pulled her closer, tightening his embrace. He rested his head on hers, tears escaping from his hollow eyes once again. "It's you…It's really you!"

"Yeah it's me." she said softly as she buried her face in his chest, not wanting to let go of him.

After a moment, Jack lifted her chin to meet his gaze before he quickly captured her lips in a loving, passionate kiss. Amelia felt the incredible joy he poured into her, understanding how happy he was to see her. She felt his hand become entangled in her light brunette locks so she deepened the kiss, letting him know that she was real and in his arms. A familiar warmth washed over them like a tidal wave and they held on tight as they were swept away by the sea that was their love for each other.

Reluctantly, Amelia pulled away from him to speak, but Jack beat her to it.

"I'm so happy you're alive!" he kissed her again, though no matter what he did, there was nothing that could fully express how glad he was. She smiled against his lips and kissed him back until they had to break away from each other.

"Jack," she giggled, "I'm trying to tell you something."

"Oh, sorry." he laughed sheepishly though kept his arms firmly wrapped around her slender frame.

"But, you saw what happened then?" she asked, noting his earlier words.

"Yes, I saw your parents crying as you were put in an ambulance." his saddened eyes brightened again, "But you're ok! You're alive!"

"Actually…I'm not."

"Y-you're…not?"

"No, I did die, but something happened." she smiled at him, "Something you told me years ago that would. I was given a choice between moving on to the afterlife or to remain here. I think you can guess what I chose."

Jack breathed in surprise but smiled at her and gently cupped her face with his bony hand. He then took in her appearance and noticed that her skin was paler, but nothing else had changed.

"So, that means you've chosen your Halloween Town form too, then?" he grinned.

"Yeah, this whole sorceress thing has really grown on me." she giggled, but then her smile fell a little, "But…there's a catch to staying here. I am not allowed to step foot in the human world for one hundred years."

"Hmm, think you can stand being with me in the realm of Halloween for a whole century?" he smirked.

"I'll manage." she smiled slyly and pulled him into another kiss.

--

Jack and Amelia returned to Halloween Town proclaiming the news that the Armonia sorceress was there to stay, she was home. Also, the two royals let everyone know that they were finally together, much to the dismay of Jack's adoring fans of the female persuasion.

Everything settled into a new sense of normalcy, with the skeleton man and the sorceress often seen hand-in-hand when they walked around town. Contrary to the Mayor's worry, Amelia was not a distraction to Jack when it came to preparing for Halloween but actually helped him, contributing many suggestions which both the king and elected official thought were good ideas.

It was now a few months since Amelia returned to Halloween Town for good, and there was something on Jack's mind that ate at him more and more as time continued to pass. One evening he was alone inside his tower, pacing incessantly back and forth with his hands behind his back and a worried expression across his skeletal face. His loyal companion, Zero, was floating nearby as his master fretted over something.

"I just don't know…What would she say? How will she react? I know that we love each other, but still…Gah why is this so hard to figure out?"

Jack sighed, stopped his pacing, reached inside his jacket and pulled out a small, black, coffin-shaped box.

"I know it's been only a few months but…" he trailed off as his mind tumbled with inner turmoil. After pondering for a few moments longer he slipped the box back inside his jacket and looked up with a determined expression. "Well Zero, wish me luck."

The ghostly canine nodded and gave him his signature smile.

'No turning back now.' Jack thought to himself as he descended the spiral staircase.