Welcome To Your So Called Insanity by Hugs.And.Kisses (popular romance novels TXT) 📕

of half-smiled. Jack sighed. "But since it IS Christmas, I suppose I can let you off the hook."

The three of them looked utterly dumbfounded, then grinned. "It should be Christmas more often!" Barrel laughed.

Aubrey laughed softly. "You know, for once I agree with them." Jack shook his head, smiling as he set Aubrey down and walked over to the Mayor's car. Sally followed, but Aubrey looked back at the trio standing behind her.

"Aren't you guys coming?"

Lock gave me a 'you're joking, right?' look. "Why?"

"Well, you guys are pretty much the town heroes. There's got to be some kind of reward for that, dontcha think?"

The three of them looked at each other. Jack chuckled. Aubrey knew just how to push Lock, Shock, and Barrel's buttons, which was probably why they started fighting most of the time.

The mad excitement of the town when they saw that their Pumpkin King was almost overwhelming for everyone, save Jack who was used to it by now. Aubrey laughed as Lock, Shock, and Barrel blushed when someone started up a cheer for them, but they returned the favor by cackling madly when Sally scolded her for it. The band started playing happily, and it didn't take long for a song to start.

"Jack's okay, and he's back, okay! He's all right, let's shout, make a fuss, scream it out, whee! Jack is back now, everyone sing in our town of Halloween…"

Jack smiled as he looked down at the citizens from the steps of the meeting hall. "It's great to be home!" He called, causing another cheer.

Aubrey looked up at the ever-full moon and gasped. "Jack, look!" She tugged on his pants leg and pointed up. This, of course, meant that everyone turned to look as well.

"Ho-ho-ho! Happy Halloween!" Santa called.

Jack's grin widened and he waved to the spot crossing over the moon. "Merry Christmas!" As Jack waved, small, white flakes began to drift down from the sky.

The citizens of Halloween Town, having never seen snow before, were immediately confused, and murmurs of 'what's this?' rose throughout the crowd.

"What's this? What's this?"

"I haven't got a clue."

"What's this"?

"Why it's completely new!"

"What's this?"

"Must be a Christmas thing."

"What's this?"

"It's really very strange." Aubrey laughed as the citizens immediately adapted to the new condition, and hockey games, snow 'angels', and snow-monsters were begun. Then something cold hit her in the face, and familiar cackling filled her ears. Aubrey wiped the snow off of her face and glared at the perpetrators.

"Oh, that's it! Truce over, I hereby declare WAR!" She shouted, leaping down the steps and gathering up a snowball to chunk at Lock. It hit him in the side of the head, causing him to yelp and wipe the freezing substance off. Shock and Barrel laughed harder, until Aubrey hit them both as well.

Jack chuckled as the four of them disbanded any 'alliances' and began to just hit whichever one happened to be closest to them. This lasted for another ten minutes, until all four were exhausted and red faced, too tired to run or throw any more snow at each other. The skeleton stopped watching the four children as another figure caught his attention; Sally, slipping into the graveyard unnoticed. He followed after her, shutting the gate silently behind him.

"I'm… going to get you…" Shock panted, glaring at Aubrey. "Just as soon as I can feel my fingers."

"Yeah right." Aubrey giggled, rubbing her hands together, trying to warm them herself. "What I wouldn't give for a pair of gloves…" She muttered.

"Wimps." Lock teased, not looking cold in the slightest.

Aubrey, Shock, and Barrel all looked at each other. "Another truce?" Aubrey inquired.

Shock and Barrel nodded. "For now." They replied, gathering snow in their hands.

Lock stepped back nervously. "Uh, guys? What are you- HEY!" He yelped, holding his arms in front of his face for defense. But, this only lasted for another minute or so, exhaustion still present in their half hearted tosses and threats.

"Okay… I am in serious need of a nap." Aubrey groaned, leaning back up against the fountain.

"Careful, my precious Jewel." Dr. Finkelstein's voice cut through the air. All four got on their knees and looked over the fountain to see the good doctor being wheeled out of his lab by what looked strikingly like a female version of him.

Lock blinked. "That's creepy."

"That's REALLY creepy." Aubrey agreed. "Hey, where's Sally?" She questioned, looking around.

Barrel pointed at the graveyard. "She and Jack both went that way about five minutes ago." They all were silent for a moment before scrambling over to the gate and squeezing through the bars.

"Ewww…" All four muttered as they saw Jack and Sally sitting atop Spiral Hill with their arms around each other.

"Hey Lock," Shock grinned, "Betcha can't hit Jack's head from here." She held up a snowball temptingly.

The devil grinned evilly, taking the snowball after he pulled out his slingshot. Aiming carefully, he let the snowball fly.

Jack let out a yelp and jumped up as something cold and wet smacked him in the back of the head. He turned to see Lock, Shock, and Barrel jump behind one of the gravestones, as Aubrey had hidden before Lock had hit him. He grinned. "So that's how you want to play, huh?" He ran down the hill, scooping up several snowballs as he did.

"Crap, run!" Lock yelled, running for the exit. Shock and Barrel weren't far behind him, but Aubrey chose the safer route and ran up the hill to sit next to Sally. The rag doll shook her head and hugged Aubrey close.

"That was very brave, what you did." Sally smiled, stroking Aubrey's hair.

Aubrey shrugged, laying her head on Sally's shoulder sleepily. "They aren't so tough…" She murmured, her words slurred.

Jack walked back up the hill, smiling at the half-asleep Aubrey. "Hold on. You haven't gotten your Christmas present yet."

She sat up, blinking the sleep from her eyes somewhat successfully. "You got me a present?"

Jack blinked, somewhat surprised she thought he hadn't. "Of course I did!" He laughed, scooping her up. "Do you think I made you do all those drawings for nothing?"

Aubrey's eyes widened. "You mean…?"

He smiled. "Come on."

"Oh, Jack! I love it!" Aubrey squealed as Jack opened the door to reveal her present.

Jack smiled. "I thought you would. If you ever decide that you want to stay, you're always welcome here, Aubrey." She smiled with a happiness that Jack had never seen in her before, then ran over and began to bounce on the bed.

"All right, all right, let's get you home." Jack admonished, catching her mid-bounce.

"Aw…" Aubrey whined as Jack carried her down the stairs. "Bye Sally." Aubrey reached over and kissed the doll on the cheek. "I won't keep Jack for too long." Sally looked at the floor, an embarrassed smile on her face.

"That's enough out of you." Jack said, ruffling Aubrey's hair playfully as he walked down his stairs.

Aubrey laid her head on his shoulder, smiling mischievously. "You know I'm never going to let you live this down, right?"

"Yes, Aubrey, I know." Jack sighed, somewhat happily.

When I came to in my room, the first thing I heard was, "Aubrey! Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, way-" It was about then that my hand shot up and covered Sandy's mouth.

"Why are you sitting on me?"

Sandy rolled her eyes exasperatedly and pushed my hand away. "If you had woken up earlier, you would know." She climbed off of me. "It was all over the news."

"Oh, you mean Jack's Christmas takeover." I said calmly.

She nodded. "Yeah. What happened?"

I opened my mouth to tell her, then saw the pile of boxes in the corner. "I'll tell you right after we open presents."

It took about fifteen minutes for us to completely eviscerate the poor boxes that used to contain our gifts, which were now either strewn across the floor or shoved into the back of the closet (the latter happened to be the gifts from my mother and brother), and for me to explain the crazy events that happened last night.

"Wow. So, what, have you four made up or something?"

"Tch, no. We'll go back to hating each other tonight." Under my breath, I added, "I'll get Lock for shoving snow down my shirt."

Sandy sighed. "Ah, young love."

"Oh, yuck! How can you even suggest that me and… and that little…!" I stopped before I was forced to say a particularly bad word.

Sandy laughed. "Okay, okay. I was just kidding, calm down." Her eyes traveled behind me and she tilted her head, confused. "Hey, there's something under your pillow."

I turned around to see the corner of something black and somewhat shiny standing out against my white sheets. I crawled over, pushing my pillow to the floor to reveal a box about the length of my forearm and about five inches thick wrapped in a shining black wrapping paper. I'd seen that paper before…

Carefully, I pulled off the paper and opened the box, then gasped. Inside was a small doll. "Oh, Aubrey, that's so pretty!" Sandy gasped.

I pulled the doll out gently. She had pale skin and silvery white hair, with bright red eyes and pale, smiling lips. As I held her in front of me, I noticed the feathery white wings protruding from her shoulders. That's my eyes fell on her clothes; the smooth black dress with a spider web pattern on it and flowing, tattered sleeves. It was the costume Sally had made for me on Halloween.

"Hey, there are notes in here." Sandy said, pulling the papers out of the box and handing them to me.

I unfolded the first one. In neat, tiny letters (obviously Sally's) it read: 'To Aubrey, my little angel. Love you always, Sally.' "Sally made it for me…" I said softly, touching the doll's felt skin. I unfolded the second note, curious as to who had written it. As I read it, I started to laugh.

"Who's it from?" Sandy asked curiously.

I giggled. "Here, I'll read it for you. Aubrey, I believe that since you and Sally tried to do me such a great favor, you deserved to receive this special gift. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed delivering it," Here I had to look up and grin at her, "Santa Claus."

Sandy snatched the note out of my hands and stared at it for a moment, before looking up at me with a pout. "You get to have all the fun."

I just laughed.


Chapter 6