Part 2 of The Nightmare Before Easter

If you’ve arrived at my Substack via this post, start your reading journey here with the story of how these Tim Burton-approved sequel stories came to be written. At the end of that post is a link to The Nightmare Before Easter Part I.

… the story continues

With trees darkly twisted and air deathly still,

They stopped in the graveyard just over the hill.

“You wait here,” Jack said, for he had a vague notion

That the Bunny in town would cause quite a commotion.

Jack warned as he left: “Don’t wander too far.

Creatures around here don’t know who you are.”

So the Bunny stood clutching an eerie headstone.

Part relieved, part terrified to be left all alone.

Back home Jack knew just who to call for the job

Lock, Shock and Barrel: the trio macabre.

“So you want us to lock up this Big Bunny Man?”

“No, no. Not this time,” whispered Jack. “Here’s my plan:

While you show Halloweentown to our guest

I’ll learn about Easter. I’ll test every test.

And when I can prove I’m an expert on this

He’ll have no other choice than to let me assist.

Off to the graveyard the trick-or-treaters were sent

Though they clearly did not understand what Jack meant.

They would rather fill baskets with limbs and sheer doom

Than with colorful eggs and flowers in bloom.

And what good was a thing hidden from everyone’s eyes

If it never jumped out in horrific surprise?

At the graveyard they couldn’t help but laugh at the sight.

Of the Bunny, all cowered and shaking in fright.

Unseen, they agreed there’s no passing up this chance

To scare this pink furball right out of his pants.

A quick whisper-huddle and they knew just what to do.

From the tree limbs they jumped down at once shouting: BOO!

So scared was the Bunny of these unfriendly three.

That he dashed to the woods, and straight up a tree.

Try as they might they could not coax him down

So they shrugged and decided to head back to town.

Meanwhile back home Jack locked himself in.

And allowed the study of Easter to promptly begin.

He inspected the fake grass and bright jellybeans,

Determined to find out what all of it means.

But each test that he ran only left Jack with squat.

“He hides them. They find them. That’s all that I’ve got.

To get some direction Jack knew who to see

But when he found him, the Bunny was still in the tree.

Despite all Jack’s urgings, he wouldn’t come down.

“And Easter’s tomorrow,” Jack thought with a frown.

With no one to lead the annual celebration

Jack gave in to a rather subconscious temptation.

“I may not understand, but I know how it’s done.

I can be this year’s Bunny. What fun!”

And take his place Jack did. He worked all night long

And made sure to the letter that nothing went wrong.

When he finished he called an urgent town meeting.

And told the whole story to packed-house full seating.

“Tonight I hid eggs by the light of the moon.

And I daresay they won’t be unearthed very soon.

I buried some of them deep deep in the ground.

I’ll eat my skull if any of those end up found.

In the tops of tall trees I placed others with care.

I even left some at home – they’ll never look there!”

When morning came Jack set he couldn’t be prouder.

As the sound of children got closer and louder.

They wandered around and looked down at their feet

While Jack watched in triumph from his well-hidden seat.

Searching nearby tall grass was Penelope Dimple

“Not there,” chuckled Jack to himself. “That’s too simple!”

Before long their excitement did turn to dismay.

The children thought maybe it wasn’t today.

They took out a calendar and started to cry.

Jack’s ears did a double-take. But…What?…How?…Why?

Obviously something indeed had gone wrong.

But what? He’d worked so hard for so long.

Back home to the Bunny Jack dragged his sad bones

(He’d have called with the news but the woods had no phones.)

“I tried and I tried, but I ruined your day.

I should be scolded and punished and then locked away!”

But the Bunny knew Jack had committed no crime

Down from the tree, he spoke for the very first time.

“Don’t beat yourself up. It’s not ruined at all.

Spring’s just not your season. You’re more suited for Fall.

You’re part of the natural order of things

Where each player takes pride in the magic he brings.”

And with that, the Bunny just hopped on his way.

No doubt to hide new eggs and save Easter Day.

With the lingering echo of what he had heard,

Jack tried to make sense of what sounded absurd.

But the more that he thought, he soon realized it’s true

Death wasn’t the end, from one point of view.

It turns out his world of things bleak and forlorn

Was part of a cycle in which life is reborn.

Though he still can’t resist the lure of the new

Jack knows his true callings are “Gotcha!” and “Boo!”

His mastery of scaring has earned him the crown

As the Pumpkin King, hero of Halloweentown.

The End

PART 1 OF THE SECOND STORY IS UP!!! READ IT HERE!!!