Oogie Boogie's Prisoner (Jack x Oogie Boogie Fanfic)

Chapter 2

"What can I do to make you more comfortable?" Oogie Boogie asked.

Jack at last moved. "Comfortable?" he repeated, unsure of the meaning.

"How about something to eat? I have some snake and spider stew."

Oogie Boogie pulled Jack up by the arm; not roughly, but more of a ragdoll that lacked weight to stand on its own. He carried the skeleton to the dining room, where he was sat down and offered the bowl. It was warm, coming from a big pot that nobody had known for nobody had known Oogie Boogie so intimately as to see his kitchen. Jack lifted his spoon up from the bowl, examining the broth and floating bits of meat. Oogie Boogie watches him as he drinks sloppily from his own bowl. Jack blinks slowly at his spoonful of soup, watching as the broth slides off and he's left with only a chunk of snake tail and the folded up legs of a spider. Oogie Boogie opens his mouth, his tongue stretching below to peck out the remnants that weren't swallowed with the broth.

"Why are we doing this?" Jack speaks at last.

"What do you mean," was the reply.

"I am upholding my part of the deal, now you do uphold yours: where is Dr. Finkelstein?"

Oogie Boogie slurps up the last of his soup; it went down with a sickening slosh. Everytime he opens his mouth, the bugs inside are crawling all through and are wetted by the broth, and he does not chew with his mouth closed.

"You really want to know?"

"Do not tease me, Oogie. You may keep me here, do whatever you wish with me, but at least let me know that my friend is safe."

"Safe," Oogie Boogie repeated, reveling in the word; snickering and uncaring of what it means.

Jack slams his spoon down into his bowl. It splashes in defiance; his expression determined, fueled by his morals and dedication. His own misery, he can survive and find escape. But Dr. Finkelstein, a friend, it is cruel that he is to suffer this fate.

"Don't you want to eat first, boy? Awfully rude of you."

"I have no appetite."

Oogie Boogie rises from his chair, standing over Jack who felt then to be so small.

"I'll be fair to you, boy. You ain't got a choice whether you want to be fair with me, but I'll tell you now what you already know, in case you already forgot: you belong to me. And I think you should eat."

Jack looks down at the bowl. It looks more disgusting than it had before; his stomach boils to think that it should have to swallow it, but will or by force; and contrary to his own hunger. He slowly curls each of his fingers around it and digs them deep into the crooked wooden spoon. The broth sits like a reservoir. Deciding then to partake in the broth is more than simply eating; it is a sick play of power. Jack, should he take a sip of the broth, surrenders his freewill to Oogie Boogie. He thinks more so that refusing to swallow this pride would only further jeopardize his friend- who he is unsure is even alive.

"Dr. Finkelstein first." Jack said, "Just let me see him and I will do as you wish."

Oogie Boogie smiles. It was crooked and meditating. Oogie seized the bowl of soup from Jack and gave him a look that seemed to say: Follow. Jack got up and followed the villain. The soup splashed with Oogie's uneven, heaving steps from his body built up of rags and bugs. In the roulette wheel chamber, there was a door not far from where Jack stood and lost his freedom, and it was locked by a beetle interlocking their claws at the latch. It came off with a click and scuttled away. Jack quietly observed, unknowing yet of what to expect and which of his many fears will be revealed to be true in the recesses of Oogie Boogie's terrible lair. The door opened slowly; it was built of a solid metal and creaked, nearly screaming, and it trembled at the hinges. The door went silent. The light from within shone out at Jack and Oogie. And Jack could see that Dr. Finkelstein was alive. Oogie Boogie made step into the depressing recess and set down the bowl of soup. Dr. Finkelstein looked up from his work; he scratched at the inside of his brain and groaned. Oogie Boogie looked over his shoulder. Oogie was not a recognizable shape then, but a shadow that overwhelmed the whole of the otherwise dark chamber and the only feature which it possessed was a wicked face built up of sharp creases and malice. Dr Finkelstein ate the soup, quickly lapping it up as if he hadn't eaten and this lukewarm broth was a feast. Jack's heart was beating with terror. He is unsure if he would have felt more satisfied to see a deceased Dr Finkelstein with limbs stretched from their sockets and left to hang with peeled flesh from the ceiling of Oogie's lair than so desperate as lick scraps with a pathetic, dry tongue.

Oogie Boogie leaves the Doctor in his own lonesome, shutting the door with a terrible slam which echoed and rattled through the gambling chamber.

"Ain't I fair to you, Jack?" Oogie said at last. Jack was startled at the words.

"What are you going to do, now?" Jack took a step back.

"I'm gonna do the best I can." Was the reply.

Oogie grabbed Jack by the hand, and Jack flinched at the touch. The roughness of Oogie's cloth scratched at Jack's bones and tore at him with their uneven weavings. Jack could feel every elaborate weave, and every individual bug crawling within the rags of Oogie, which made up the whole of his terrible being, and Jack shuddered. He trembled at the joints, his bones rattled at no will of his own, and he could no longer create a false image of bravery. Oogie led Jack through the heart of the lair and into another door, it was another recess which only traveled deeper into the cave; even this short distance, the air was more chill and nitre filmed over the hard rocks. The door opens and the contents of the room cannot be made out for it lacked light and the light from the chamber did not dare to reach.

"I don't want to go in there," Jack said. "Don't lock me in here."

Oogie Boogie, still holding tight onto Jack's hand, brought it close to his lips. He pecked a kiss upon the back of it.
"I will see you in the morning."

"Don't lock me in here!" Jack screamed, he was consumed by the dark. Oogie Boogie let go of his hand; the absence of the disgusting rags and bugs horrified him more. "Please dear God, don't leave me alone in here!"

The door shut. The latch clunked and something else clinked; things that Jack could not hear over the volume of his own shouting. His screams were not answered, he yelled until his voice was sore, and yelled even more as it was the only thing to disrupt the silence. Jack ran his fingers over where Oogie Boogie had kissed him.