megafan505: Hello everybody out there! I am starting to redo all of my fanfics. This is the first one that I'm working on. The name I had for my character before just didn't really appeal to me so I decided to change it. Well, here's the disclaimer!
Disclaimer: Today I'll be doing the disclaimer by myself. I couldn't get anyone famous to do it on such short notice… too bad. Oh well! I, megafan505, do not own anything in this chapter, with the exception of Allen and the storyline. Everything else either belongs to Tim Burton or Disney. So without further ado, I present chapter one of the redone version of "The Pumpkin Apprentice."
For all my life I needed longed for something new, something different. Now I finally have this thing that I had been longing for, but can this really what I wanted? My name is Allen Hershel, and the answer is yes. This is my story. I am just a mortal, or I was, living a normal boring life, my parents were never home and my little sister was always at some daycare center. Sometimes I would run off and they would never notice me at all being gone. I liked it that way. Although I never did anything bad, I would never get in trouble for leaving at all.
One morning in October, when my school was on fall break, I went off into the forest by myself. There had been some rumors about that forest, like if you went in you would never come back. Perhaps I should have listened to these rumors, is it too late to turn back? I walked nearly all day, and by sunset I reached a place with trees with doors on them. They were shaped like symbols from holidays. They all had their own unique charms, but none of them really appealed to me. I looked around until finally, one caught my eye. A Jack-O-Lantern shaped door. Halloween had always been my favorite holiday, even though the government didn't consider it a real holiday, so naturally I sort of gravitated towards it.
I walked up to it and tuned the knob. At first I saw nothing but darkness. I turned away and began to walk off when suddenly a cool breeze blew through and orange, red, and yellow leaves swirled around me. The wind grew stronger and I fell backwards, into the dark abyss of the tree. As I fell, I could hear faint music and the only thing I could see was the door closing. I landed with a thud in the middle of a graveyard. It was a little creepy, but I didn't mind. This type of thing was just my style. I felt in a bit of Halloween spirit so I opened my backpack and took out my costume I had worn last year which still fit me fine. I had it with me because I had planned to try it on in the middle of the woods. There wouldn't be anyone there so no one could make fun of me if I looked stupid in it. Not that I really would care what they thought, I was happy doing what I wanted. It was a phantom. I had a top hat, white gloves, and a tuxedo all with the mask. I left my backpack there with my normal clothes and anything that would attach me to my real life. I looked straight ahead and walked through a crooked, steel gate.
As I passed through I heard music starting up again. I couldn't believe what I saw. There were people, no, monsters and creatures all around, preparing for what looked like a Halloween festival. I walked by and saw a large man with an axe in his head carrying a wheel barrel full of Jack-O-Lanterns. I also saw three children dressed up in costumes and many other creatures doing decorations. On a stage I saw a man, triangular he was with an extremely tall hat and a megaphone. On his suit there was a ribbon that read "Mayor". "Splendid work everyone!" he said, "Jack will be most pleased". What I saw next was odd, his head spun around. Before he had a happy expression on, now he had a pale face that was frowning, "Don't forget about the town meeting tonight!" he said.
"Could this be what I think this is?" I asked myself, looking around puzzled. "This seems like a town of Halloween". A tall, slender shadow crept over me.
"That's right!" a deep chilling voice said, "This is Halloween Town!" I turned around to see the figure, which appeared to be a skeleton. There was fear in my eyes, although none could see it behind my mask.
"You're a skeleton!" I said aloud. It had been the first thing I had said to anyone since I arrived in this place.
"A skeleton?!" he asked harshly, "I'm no ordinary skeleton! I'll have you know that I am Jack Skellington! The Pumpkin King!"
I looked at him with a confused look, "I'm sorry but what are you talking about?" I asked him. None of this made any sense to me.
"You're new around here aren't you?" said Jack leaning over to my level, which was not that far bellow him. I nodded and rubbed the back of my head.
"I should be going now", I said as I tried to head off for the Graveyard, even though I had no idea how to get back.
"No, please, stay!" he said putting his bony hand on my shoulder, "You could help us with this year's Halloween!" He turned me around and we headed for a tall house, almost mansion size that was on the edge of a cliff.
"YOUR HOUSE IS ON A CLIFF!" I shouted.
"So?" Jack asked with a puzzled look on his face, "It wouldn't matter if it fell after all we are already dead". We walked up to the door and went in. I hadn't realized what he had said until we went inside.
"Wait, what do you mean we're already dead?" I asked pulling of my mask.
Jack gasped, "A human!" he shouted looking straight at me, "How could you have gotten here? Oh no, not the Holiday Forest again!"
I slowly turned around, facing my back to the thin figure. "Well, now that you see I'm not dead I guess there's nothing I can do," I said as I made my way toward the door, "Like I said before I'll be going"
"No, wait!" he said, "I must admit you even had me tricked, and I'm the Pumpkin King. In fact, when I saw you I thought, this guy could strike fear into the hearts of even adult mortals. How would you like to become a resident of Halloween Town?" I looked at him with an odd look.
"Look Jack", I said part of me wanting to say yes, "I would love to and all but like you said, I'm mortal"
"I can fix that", he said. Music began to play and Jack began to sing:
I call upon the powers of Halloween,
Of the holiday worlds which have been unseen,
To change this human, mortal child,
Into a ghoul, untame and wild
I order this by Halloween,
For I am Jack the Pumpkin King!
When he finished singing the room went dark and I saw a small orange light. I had to squint just to see it. I couldn't see Jack anymore. The light grew bigger and bigger until it took up most of the room. I ran up to where the door was to try and escape but it wouldn't open, "Jack!" I shouted, "You can stop now!" I closed my eyes as the light consumed me. A few moments later I opened my eyes and everything was back the way it was before. "Very funny Jack", I said putting my hand to my face, "Now if you'll excuse me". I felt my face and noticed my mask was back on, "That's odd", I said as I tried to pull it off. But no matter how hard I tugged on it, it wouldn't come off, "No way", I whispered to myself.
"Welcome to Halloween Town", said Jack, "Our newest citizen!"
mega: Well, that's it for now. I hope you all enjoyed the revisions! Don't worry about the shortness. I got a little bit more literate since I wrote this fic so any new chapters are most likely going to be longer. See you then!