The Nightmare before Christmas

Chapter Two

No one knew what to do. By now, everyone had heard that Maddie had disappeared and they were searching everywhere for her with no luck. Piro walked up onto her car to speak on the speaker.

"We've got to find Maddie! There's only 365 days left till next Halloween!" Piro said

"364!" The werewolf corrected.

"Is there anywhere we've forgotten to check?"

"I looked in every mausoleum," the clown said

"We opened the Sarcophagi," The witches said

"I tromped through the Pumpkin Patch," Mr. Hyde said walking up with a pumpkin on his foot.

"I peeked behind the Cyclops' eye. I did! But she wasn't there," A Vampire said

"It's time to sound the alarms!" Piro said

A mummy kid sounded the alarm. Hector wasn't in town but he knew the sound of the alarm. Maddie was missing. But he couldn't worry about that right now. He was making soup for Gaster who was experimenting. The soup was finished, he just needed to add the Deadly Nightshade so Gaster will fall asleep for a few hours. The stuff smelled awful but he had just the thing to cover it up. Frogs Breath. But that wasn't a great smell either. He couldn't stand it anyway. Just to mask that smell, he put in some Worms Wart.

He then brought it up to Gaster who was still at work. Hector arrived with the soup and handed it to him. But he quickly noticed the Frogs Breath. He knows that Frogs Breath can mask the smell of Deadly Nightshade so he wasn't having any unless Hector had some first. He just said he wasn't hungry and knocked the spoon out of his hand. He used that opportunity to take a spoon from his sock that had holes in it so he didn't actually eat it. He proved, with this new spoon, that the soup was perfectly fine. So, he ate it all.

Back in the town, Piro was asking about any other places they tried to check when they heard the familiar bark of Max. And not far behind, Maddie on a snowmobile and some Christmas things in a sack. Everyone was happy to see their Queen had returned.

"Where have you been?" Piro asked

"Call a town meeting, and I'll tell everyone all about it," Maddie said

"When?"

"Immediately!"

So Piro called a town meeting. Gaster was asleep so Hector went to see what all the fuss was about. He sat on a branch of the hanging tree as everyone waited for Maddie to step on the stage. She stepped on stage as everyone got settled in their seats.

"Listen, everyone! I want to tell you about Christmas Town," Maddie said smiling as a light shone on her, 'there were objects so peculiar, they were not to be believed all around, things to tantalize my brain. It's a world unlike anything I've ever seen and as hard as I try, I can't seem to describe like a most improbable dream. But you must believe when I tell you this. It's as real as my skull and it does exist. Here, let me show you."

Maddie pulled the curtain back to reveal a tree, Christmas presents, a painted background of Christmas town, and almost everything Maddie saw in this new world.

'This is a thing called a present,' Maddie picked up a present, 'The whole thing starts with a box.'

"A box?" The Harlequin Demon asked

"Is it steel?" The devil asked

"Are there locks?" The werewolf asked

"Is it filled with a pox?" The Harlequin asked

"A pox. How delightful, a pox," The devil said

"If you please," Maddie interrupted, 'Just a box with bright-colored paper and the whole thing's topped with a bow.'

"A bow?" The small witch asked

"But why?" The tall witch asked

"How ugly."

"What's in it?"

"What's in it?" The two asked

'That's the point of the thing, not to know,' Maddie said

The Clown took the present from him, "It's a bat!"

"Will it bend?" the Stair Monster asked

"It's a rat!"

"Will it break?"

"Perhaps it's the head that I found in the lake," the Undersea Gal said

"Listen now, you don't understand,' Maddie said taking it back, 'That's not the point of Christmas land,' she put it down, "Now, pay attention. We pick up an oversized sock,' he does that, 'And hang it like this on the wall.'

"Oh, yes! Does it still have a foot?" Mr. Hyde asked

"Let me see, let me look," A smaller version of him appeared from his hat

"Is it rotted and covered with gook?" An even smaller version of him appeared too

"Um, let me explain," Maddie said, 'There's no foot inside, but there's candy or sometimes it's filled with small toys!'

"Small toys! Do they bite?" A bat child asked

"Do they snap?" A mummy child asked

"Or explode in a sack?"

"Or perhaps they just spring out and scare girls and boys," The corpse kids said

"What a splendid idea! This Christmas sounds fun! I fully endorse it! Let's try it at once!" Piro said

"Everyone, please now, not so fast. There's something here that you don't quite grasp,' Maddie said getting the attention back.

That got everyone talking among themselves. What is Maddie meaning by that?

"Well, I may as well give them what they want," Maddie said to herself, 'And the best, I must confess, I have saved for the last, for the ruler of this Christmas land is a fearsome queen with a cold and snowy personality. Least that's what I've come to understand. And I've also heard it told that she's something to behold, like a iceberg blue and white! And she sets out to slay with her rain gear on carting bulging sacks with her ice powers. That is, so I've heard it said. And on a dark, cold night, under full moonlight, she flies into a fog like a vulture in the sky! And they call her Elsa!'

Everyone clapped as the lights came back on and Maddie went to her Christmas scene and the curtains closed. Everyone loved the idea of this Christmas thing but they don't really understand what Maddie has seen.

"Well, at least they're excited but they don't understand that special kind of feeling in Christmas land. Oh, well..."