✔️Jack Skellington x Reader - Afraid

The Dog of Spiral Hill

You sat in the cafeteria like every other day at school for lunch. The spitballs that hit your face and back and the harsh whispers of terrible words just part of your routine. Students would also come up to you every once in a while, only to pull your hair or kick your legs or whisper 'freak' into your ears. And of course, it was only natural to give a noticeable jump or jerk with every spitball that landed or any blows that brought the slightest pain.

After lunch, the rest of the school day was the same as every other. No spitballs or violence, but rude comments and gestures definitely. Even from the teachers. But no matter how upset and frustrated you became, they were nowhere as bad as your foster father. Everyday you dreaded going back, from the time you left and the time you came back.

No sooner had you walked into the door, your father threw a huge, fat book at you that would've hit your face if it wasn't for your jumpiness (is that a word???) "You're late!" His voice boomed. 'Yeah, by a few minutes.' You thought with a scowl. "Don't look at me in that tone of voice, young lady!"

"It would actually be 'don't look at me with that tone of emotion' if you think about it." You whispered. (BTW, anyone else hate it when teachers and parents say that? I always respond with that to them because tone of voice doesn't fit right.... Sorry. XD)

"No dinner for you tonight!" He yelled. "You are here to do my work, that's it! I don't have to feed and house you, y'know!"

"Fine by me! It's not like I asked to be sent here!" You said lowly before running up to your room in the attic. You knew he would just abuse you later, but you would rather have it when he was drunk. He is actually more violent when sober, believe it or not.

Eventually, you had went downstairs and did your routine. Chores, this time no dinner, abused, sent to your room. You were sore, your whole body ached. Laying on your bed, you turned to the small dusty window and felt your eyelids grow heavy.

Looking out at the calm city, you began to see snow. You became paralyzed with fear as you heard the screams of a little (gender of sibling) and saw the silhouette of a sleigh in the night sky. On it was the skeleton Santa, the striped snake, and the wounded duck with the black thing flying behind it that was....barking?

You awoke from your dream with a jump. You had been having similar dreams every since, but some were worse than this one, so you got lucky. You were about to sneak downstairs for a drink when you heard the barking again.

Turning to the window, you saw a flying dog with a glowing nose that looked like a pumpkin. It had a whitish tint, but appeared to be more see-through than anything. It barked at you, causing you to scream. It was a ghost! A ghost dog was at your window, staring at you! And it was smiling!

You quickly covered your mouth, desperately praying your foster father didn't hear you. You stared at the dog as you saw its ears droop and heard it whine. It actually looked a little cute, but you didn't dare open the window. Taking a glance at your calendar, you saw it was only a month before Halloween. That dreaded 'holiday'.....

'Aw heck no! It's almost Halloween and there's a ghost dog at my window? No thanks. I choose my life.' You thought as you closed the curtains and went back to bed, ignoring the whimpers.

~~~~~~~~

The next day at school, you couldn't stop thinking about the ghost dog. It was intriguing, of course, but there was something odd. You had felt so weird when you saw it pouting. For once in your life you hadn't felt scared. You actually felt a little....safe. But still.... Could that dog possibly be the one who would save you? If not, could it take you to that someone?

You went through your daily routine of misery once more, but this time, at night, things went worse than you ever expected. Your foster parent threw his empty glass at you, hitting you in your shoulder. The shards flew everywhere, cutting your arms, hands, and even the side of your face. He then continued on by kicking and punching you.

Eventually, he ran out of the room only to come back a few seconds later with a small gun. He fired three times but you somehow dodged. You ran upstairs as fast as you could and locked the door to your room. You had to escape, and NOW.

You only began to calm when you heard a familiar bark. Turning to the window, you saw the ghost dog once more. It looked softly at you, barking quietly as it nodded his head in the direction of the nearby forest.

Without the slightest hesitation, you opened the window and jumped out, sliding to the ground with the gutter's drain pipe. And no sooner had you gotten out, your 'father' had burst into your room, but you were already out of sight.

You ran after the dog for what felt like forever before going into a slow walk. You watched curiously as it floated ahead of you. It was a bit magical, I guess, but it wasn't as weird as the place it took you to. It brought you to a tree circle of seven trees, each having a door of a particular shape.

The dog floated to one of them, a scary pumpkin in particular. 'Yup, I'm a dead man.' You thought. But when you looked into its eyes....trust. It trusted you, and you could feel that you could trust it. You slowly opened the door, though still very afraid, and hesitantly jumped inside.

For a few seconds, you dropped into a void of black. And, for a quick second, you saw the ghost dog floating at the top of the curve of a tall hill that ended in a curled spiral before blacking out.

You had just met The Dog of Spiral Hill.