Chapter 1 - The Letter

Gracie and her friends walked out of their high school. It was raining confetti. The girls turned around and saw a big sign on the school. It read; Have a Great Summer. See You in the Fall. "Oh we will." said Gracie.
"Gracie wake up the light changed!" yelled Melissa. "Huh what oh!" Gracie then slammed her foot on the gas petal. "What were you dreaming about now." asked Deseree. "Yesterday." said Gracie. Just the previous day Gracie and her friends graduated from their sophmore year in high school. "Oh." said Kelsey. Melissa, Kelsey, and Deseree were Gracie's friends for as long as she could remember (well technically ever since 4th grade) and the girls did everything together; shopping, getting drivers lisences, and their favorite thing, go to Halloween Town. Melissa was the sporty one of the friends, she loved every sport known to man and was good at every sport known to man, she had long blond hair that was always in a ponytail and had fair skin. Kelsey liked soccer but was the musical one of the group, she has long blond hair and fair skin. Deseree is the only one of the group that is African American but that doesn't matter really because these girls' friendship goes beyond skin color, she also has short black hair but always wears black hair extensions. And Gracie is the insane Tim Burton fan of the group, she has long, frizzy, brown hair and fair skin. "Boy I'm so glad our all of our parents decided to take a month long vacation to Hawaii." said Deseree. "Remind me again why didn't we go?" asked Kelsey. "Because we will be having our own vacation at Halloween Town." said Gracie. The girls have been going to the burtonesque town of Halloween Town ever since they were 10 years old. In Halloween Town the girls were great friends with the pumpkin royal family which included; Jack Skellington, a very tall skellington who tried to take over Christmas in the year 1993. It was that Christmas that brought Gracie and her friends together, Sally Skellington, despite the name Sally isn't a skellington she is a living ragdoll she only got the name because she married Jack in the year 1999, and their kids; Ann, Kim, Michael, and Vince. "Yea with our parents gone we won't have to worry about getting caught." said Melissa. "And we will have more time to work on Halloween." said Gracie. Then Gracie drove her car, well tecnically it was her dad's but he gave it to her to use while they were away, into the garage of the brick 2 story house. Despite the toys that were never played with, the garage was rather empty because her mom's mini-van was gone. Gracie and her friends got out of the car and went to the trunk to get the suitcases. Then they walked to the door and opened it. Inside Gracie's dog Abby greeted them. Abby is Gracie's shelty dog, she has long brown fur everywhere except her neck which had white fur. "Ok you can unpack later now we gotta go to Halloween Town." said Gracie. "Thanks again Gracie for letting us stay the month at your house." said Kelsey. "Hey thats what friends are for." said Gracie putting her right hand out. On her hand was a red cloth bracelet. When the girls met in 1993 they made these red bracelets from the scraps of cloth that Jack left behind when he was shot out of the sky. "Ok." they said in unison. Then they put their hand on top of Gracie's. Then a portal appeared where the window was. The girls, including Abby, walked inside and they found themselves in a circle of trees that had paintings on them. The girls ran to the pumpkin one and turned the triangle nose and in a swoosh of leaves the girls and dog were dragged into the tree. Moments later Gracie and her friends landed in a pile of leaves. They got up and brushed off the dirt from their black Halloween Town dresses and ran into town. On the way to their friend Jack's house they were stopped by the monsterous citizens of the town so that the girls can approve certain items for their Halloween. When that was done with the girls walked up the long twisting stairs that led to Jack's house. "Hey Mel get up here!" yelled Deseree. Melissa was at the bottom the stairs by the mailbox. She quickly closed it and ran to catch up with her friends. Then the girls entered the house. "Its finally summer!!" said Gracie as she sat down in Jack's chair, she started to twirl it around. "These next three months will be the best of our lives." said Deseree. "I know." said Melissa. Gracie continued to twirl the chair as she sat in it but it stopped suddeny. Gracie turned around and saw a very tall skellington who had large holes in his head for eyes, he was wearing a black and white pinstriped suit and on his neck was a bat bowtie. "Let me guess, you had too much java this morning didn't you?" he asked. "Oh hi Jack. And to answer your question nope I didn't have any java this morning. I'm just happy that summer vacation is finally here." said Gracie as she got out of the chair. "Ok now I'm dizzy." said Gracie trying to walk but ended up falling onto the couch. "Well yea you have been spinning in that chair for 2 minuites." said Kelsey.
"I don't get it. What makes this summer different from the others?" said a voice. Everyone turned around and they saw a ragdoll with long red hair and a patchwork dress. "We already told you Sally." said Gracie. "Yea our parents are gone for the entire month of June." said Melissa. "So we get to stay in Halloween Town without worry of getting discovered." said Deseree. "Yea." said Kelsey.
"Yea Gracie and her friends are here!!" said a voice. Everyone looked up and they saw 4 kids. 2 girls that looked like they were 5 years old and 2 boys who looked like they were 4 years old. The first girl had a skellington face that was covered in stitches, she had long red-orange hair that had a purple headband in it, she wore a long purple dress similar to Gracie and her friends'. The girl next to her had the same face but had long black hair that was in a ponytail on the very top of her head, she wore a black leotard and over that was a red poncho. Next to her was a boy skellington that looked exactally like Jack, he wore a blood-red hoodie that had spikes around the hood that was over his head, the hoodie also had a black spider on it, he also wore black jeans that had tons of chains on them. Next to him was another skellington that looked exactally like Jack. He wore an orange and black striped suit, the stripes were going in a //// direction. In his hands was a bat toy that was similar to Jack's bat bowtie. The 4 skellington kids ran down the stairs. "Hi Ann, Kim, Michael, Vince." said Gracie and her friends in unison. "So Ann are you practing your parts for Halloween?" asked Kelsey. "Yes I am." said Ann (she's the one in the purple dress). "Hey Kim when can I be expecting my Prisoner of Askaban book back?" asked Gracie. "Oh very soon I'm on the final chapter." said Kim (she has the poncho). "All you do is read." said Michael (he's the one in the hoodie). "And the books you read are scarry." said Vince (he's the one with the bat toy).
"Oh Jack I got you the mail." said Melissa as she handed Jack a letter. "Thank you Melissa." said Jack as he opened the letter. "Well I'll be." said Jack when he finished the letter. "Let me see." said Gracie as she took the letter out of Jack's hands. "Hey!!" said Jack trying to get the letter back. "You'll get it back when I'm done with it." said Gracie. Then Gracie cleared her throat and read the letter.
"Dear Jack,
I'll be coming into town tomorrow for a week long holiday. I'm hoping I can stay at your house. I just can't wait to see what you have done to the town while I was away.
Sincerly,
Zack." read Gracie.
"Who's Zack?" asked Deseree. "He's my brother." said Jack. "NO WAY!!!" said Kelsey. "You have a brother?!?!" asked Melissa. "We have an uncle?!?!" said all the twins in unison. "He's not just a brother, he's my identical twin brother." said Jack. "Should we be worried?" asked Gracie. "Ha ha very funny." said Jack sarcastaly. "How come he doesn't live in Halloween Town?" asked Melissa. "He left Halloween Town many, many, years ago to persue his dream to become a pirate." said Jack. "Cool I'm related to a pirate!" said Michael. "He's a pirate like...like...Jack Sparrow?" said Gracie. "Who?" asked Jack. Gracie then told him about the movie Pirates of the Carribean. "Let me guess. Its a Tim Burton movie." said Jack. "Nope it just stars Johnny Depp, who played in a lot Tim's movies." said Gracie. "And thats the only reasion why Gracie dragged us to see the movie." said Deseree.
Then Sally grabbed the letter and read it to herself. "It says he's coming tomorrow." she said in a soft voice. "Hey we gotta clean this place up then." said Melissa. "Good idea. You four clean your rooms and my friends and I will take the guest room." said Gracie pointing to the kids. "And I'll be up in a minuite to make sure you don't mess anything up." said Jack. Then everyone except Jack and Sally went upstairs. Jack walked up to Sally and put an arm around her. "Are you ok with this?" he asked. "Oh you mean Zack. I think I'll be ok." said Sally. "I know he made fun of you a lot when we were little and if he tries anything funny around you I'll..." said Jack. "Its ok. Who knows maybe he's changed. And its not like we can stop him from coming anyway. I'm gonna clean the kitchen." said Sally as she left the room. "Ok I'm gonna go upstairs to check up on the cleaning." said Jack as he went upstairs.
Meanwhile upstairs Ann walked into her room. Her walls were painted a light purple, she had a black 4 poster bed in the middle of the room, and off to the corner by the window was a set of child-sized drums she got as a gift from Gracie and her friends for Christmas. She walked by her gray nightstand and grabbed a feather duster and started to dust the room madly. Meanwhile in Kim's room, Kim's room was painted a midnight blue and her bed was a white canopy twin-sized bed, Kim walked by her bookcase, that was filled with many books, a good half were given to her by Gracie and her friends for Christmas, and grabbed the book Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban and opened it to the final chapter. She read the book as she picked up the toys on the ground. In Michael's gray room, Michael sat on his black twin-sized bed and threw darts at a big Oogie poster, then he walked by his guitar that Gracie and her friends gave him for Christmas and started to pick up the clothes that were scattered on the ground. And in Vince's room, Vince walked up to a weird lantern, he opened the latch and inside was 3 candles, Vince lit a match and lit the candles, he closed the latch and looked watched as images of bats danced on his green walls. Vince was scared of many things but he wasn't scared of bats. He blew out the match and sat on his normal-sized bed and started to polish his black recorder that Gracie and her friends gave him for Christmas.
"AAAAA...CHO!!" said Gracie. "Jack when was the last time you dusted this bookcase?" asked Gracie in between sneeses. "Well, I haven't seen this room ever since Zack left. So I guess 29 years." said Jack. "You haven't seen your brother in 29 years?!?" asked Melissa as she put new sheets on the bed. "Dang thats a long time." said Deseree as she organised the bookcase. "Where is your family?" asked Kelsey as she put new cases on the pillows. "Well my dad, Thomas Skellington died 30 years ago and my mom Lisa Skellington died 29 years ago." said Jack sadly. "Oh my, I'm so sorry." said Kelsey. "Its not your fault. I'll tell you how they died another time now we gotta clean this room." said Jack. "Good idea." they said in unison.
"Ok we're done." said the girls in unison. Then Gracie walked up to the bookcase and grabbed a photo album. "Can you show us a picture of Zack?" asked Gracie as she put the book on the bed. "Sure." said Jack as he oppened the book. After a few seconds of looking through the book he stopped. "Here's a picture. But its very old." said Jack as he showed them the picture. "Hey he looks like a skellington version of Will Turner." said Gracie. "Let me guess, Pitares of the Carribean?" asked Jack. "Yup." said Gracie. "Hey who's the older twin? You or Zack?" asked Kelsey. "Its obivious." said Deseree. "Yea Jack's the older twin." said Melissa. "If he was the younger twin then he wouldn't be pumpkin king." said Gracie. "Actually Zack's the older twin. See one month after Mom died Zack was supposed to be crowned king but he dissapered the night before. I'm the only one who knows where he dissapered to." said Jack.
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