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Chapter two

A Door to a New Worl

“Nobody is afraid here”, Jack taught, “they aren’t screaming. Nobody’s dead.”

Jack walked through the churchyard and into the dark woods. His head was down and his eyes were on the ground. He walked for a long time and he thought about his future, without much hope.

After almost two hours, he stopped and looked around him. His eyes opened wide.

“Where am I? What is this,” he asked Zero.

Jack was in the middle of some very large trees and each tree had a beautiful door in it. On the doors were strange pictures and each door was different. One of the doors had a green tree with decorations on it. Of course, it was a Christmas tree, but Jack didn’t know anything about Christmas trees. One door had a pretty egg with yellow flowers on it. It was the Easter door, but Jack knew nothing about Easter. The Thanksgiving Day door had a very big bird with a small head.

Jack liked the door with the green tree and pretty decorations, so he moved nearer. But before he could put his hand on the door, it opened. A strong, cold winter wind pulled him inside the tree and the door closed quickly. He screamed, but only Zero heard. And Zero couldn’t help. The little dog stayed under the tree and waited. He waited all night.

The cold winter wind took Jack to a new and wonderful place. Here, everything was white and it was very cold. Jack knew nothing about snow and he took some in his hand.

“What is this,” he thought.

He made a ball and threw it. Then he laughed happily.

He stood on the top of a mountain and he looked down at a pretty little town. It was very different from Halloweentown. There were beautiful lights on the houses and decorations on the trees. People moved happily across the ice on strange, long shoes. They laughed and sang.

“Nobody is afraid here,” Jack thought. “They aren’t screaming. Nobody’s dead!”

Jack felt very happy, too.

“This is the prettiest place in the world,” he thought.

Then he looked up and he saw the name of this place above the street - CHRISTMASTOWN.

“That’s a funny name for a place,” he thought. “But I think I’m going to like it here!”

Jack started to move down the mountain. He didn’t know anything about snow or ice, of course. So when he started to walk, his feet flew out from under him. He moved, on his bottom, as fast as a river down a mountain.

“This is very funny,” he thought. “Maybe they’re inviting me to Christmastown! I hope they are. This place is great!”

At the bottom of the mountain he sat for a minute and looked at the beautiful world in front of him. He felt happy and warm inside.

Then he stood up. He looked up at the sky and laughed.

“I want to see everything here,” he thought. “I want to run and jump! I want to sing and dance! I’m not an old dead skeleton without feelings - I’m living again! But what happens in this place? I’m going to look around!”

It was morning in Halloweentown and the Mayor stood outside Jack’s house. He wanted to start making plans for next year’s celebrations. There were only three hundred sixty-four days before Halloween! But Jack didn’t open his door. The Mayor shouted. There was no answer.

There were some vampires in the street, so he asked them about Jack.

“We’ll try to find him for you, Mayor,” they said.

The vampires asked witches and skeletons around town. “Where’s Jack? Do you know?”

“We don’t know but we’ll help you,” they said.

Later that day everybody knew - Jack was not in Halloweentown! But where was he? Nobody leaves Halloweentown!