text: Hugs.And.Kisses To Walk Among The Dead 
   
   
   Chapter 1 
   
  Chapter 1 
  The Towers 
  Room 319 
  Patient: Peterson, Aubrey (77012E) 
  Date of Birth: 10/31/1992 
  Date of Admittance: 11/05/2000 
  Condition: Suffers from sever hallucinations and delusional fantasies of a place called Halloween Town. 
  Notes: No progress 
  Patient: Williams, Sandra (78360Y) 
  Date of Birth: November 25, 1988 
  Date of Admittance: 03/07/1996 
  Condition: Schizophrenic cutter. Under severe emotional stress, reverts to 'Sandra' personality, who feels no pain and cuts not only self, but anything within reach. Has developed bulimia over past several years. 
  Notes: No progress 
  Leon Jacobs looked over his new assignment sheet. "Heh, lucky you." One of his coworkers, Shawn Grouse, chuckled. "You're still stuck with craziest in this place." He patted Leon's shoulder and walked off. 
  Leon looked at the sheet again. Working in an asylum meant that all the patients were crazy. He hadn't even heard of these two, so how bad could they be? 
  xXx 
  I woke up to see a pair of emerald eyes staring at me. "Sandy, get off me." 
  The girl climbed off my stomach. "You didn't wake up. I thought you'd missed it." 
  "I was busy." I muttered, sitting up. Sandy Williams had been my roommate since I had been taken to The Towers five days after my eighth birthday. She was very skinny; her bones showed through her deep tan skin everywhere, and her gown hung on her like a tablecloth. Black hair fell to her butt, thin, stringy, and lifeless. Pale scars crisscrossed the bottom of her arms. At sixteen, she was four years older than me, it'd be three in a few months, and the closest thing to a caring mother I'd had in the five-and-a-half years I've been here. 
  "Making goo-goo eyes at your boyfriend?" She asked with a disproving tone. 
  I rolled my eyes. "Sandy, Lock isn't my boyfriend. And no, I was helping Sally pick some Witch Hazel. She was out." 
  "Oh. That's okay then." She sat down on her bed. "We've got a new doctor." 
  I looked up. "So we finally scared off Anderson then?" 
  She smiled. "He's two rooms down." I laughed. She took on a more serious tone. "But I don't think we can get rid of this one. He's very good. He's the one who fixed Candace." 
  "Candy? He fixed Candy?" Candace Jones was a suicidal pyromaniac who'd set herself on fire and tried to hang herself after she'd slit her wrists open. You think that would've killed her, but no. The flames burned up the rope and set off the fire alarm. The rope snapped, the fire was put out by the sprinklers, and the paramedics got there in time to save her from the blood loss. Then, she got sent here. Lucky her. She'd been released two months ago. 
  Sandy nodded again. I smirked. "Well, he can't fix something that's not broken. Neither of us is broken, so we're simply not fixable." 
  The doors opened and our nurse, Juliet, walked in. She was always bright and happy; she definitely shouldn't have been working here. "Breakfast girls." She set the trays on the swiveling tables attached to our beds. I stared at mine like I expected it to jump up and bite me. Which, knowing this place and its food, it very well might. "I know you don't like eating, Aubrey, but try today, okay?" 
  I grunted. She just sighed and walked out. I watched as Sandy scarfed down her food at a sickening rate, and then finished off whatever I hadn't eaten. How she managed to do that and stay skin and bones amazed me. Seconds later, she ran to the bathroom, and I could hear her puke. Right, that's how. 
  xXx 
  Leon knocked on the door of room 319. "It's open." A voice from inside called. 
  He opened the door to see a pair of girls sitting on one of the regulation beds in the room. "You're a lot more polite than Dr. Anderson was." One said. 
  "You must be Sandra." He smiled warmly. 
  Her face grew icy. "It's Sandy." 
  He nodded. "I see. I apologize, Sandy. So that must be Aubrey, right?" He gestured to the other girl, who was hunched over, concentrating on something. 
  "She won't say anything until she's done." Sandy told him, her eyes on the other girl's face. 
  "Done? With what?" He walked to Aubrey's side to her working on a drawing that seemed to be of a skeleton and a rag doll. "I see. Do you mind if I sit down?" 
  Sandy shrugged. "You're the one in charge." Leon pulled a chair over and sat down, examining the girls. Sandy was very tall and lanky, even sitting down. She was probably near his height, which was 6'2", but barely had more meat on her than the skeleton in the drawing. Her face was hollow, but her emerald eyes burned with strong emotion. Her skin was dark tan and her hair was ebony black and hung around her like a veil. He guessed she was part Mexican. 
  Aubrey was quite the opposite. She was skinny, though nowhere near the twig-like state of skinny Sandy was. Her hair was short and messy, as well as an interesting shade of silvery blonde. Her skin was, he thought, barely a shade a way from becoming translucent. 
  She put the pencil down suddenly and looked up at him with startling reddish-pink eyes. 'She's albino. That explains it.' He thought to himself. 
  "Doctor, I'm sure you didn't come here simply to chat with us, so what is it you want?" Her voice held a slight tone of authority, as though she was saying, 'crazy or not, I'm still better than you'. 
  He smiled nonetheless. "Actually, I came to tell you that both of you are to come to mandatory sessions with me every day from now on." 
  Neither looked pleased. "For how long?" Sandy demanded angrily. 
  "Until we make some progress." He smiled again and left the room. 
  xXx 
  Sandy jumped off my bed in rage and began pacing the floor. "Just who the hell does he think he is! 'Mandatory sessions'. Oh please!" 
  I added a few more shadows beneath Sally's left eye. "Watch it, Sandy. We don't need you snapping again. You punched out two orderlies got stuck in solitary for a week last time." 
  "Yeah, I know. But come on!" 
  I set the book down on my knees and looked up at her. "I don't like it either, but we don't have a choice." 
  Sandy pouted. And she was supposed to be the mature one? "But Aubrey-!" 
  I shook my head. "I'll talk to Jack tonight, okay? We'll get rid of him, just like we got rid of the last two. Until then, we'll go to the sessions." I picked the book back up and went back to my drawing. 
  There were a few minutes of silence. "Aubrey?" 
  "Hmm?" I darkened a few of the pinstripes on Jack's coat. 
  "Will you... will you take me to Halloween Town sometime?" 
  I looked up, a bit startled by her sudden request. "I- I don't know if I can, Sandy. I mean, I hardly know how I get myself there." 
  She leant towards me a bit. "But if you could... if you found a way?" 
  I sighed. "If I find a way, Sandy, then I'll take you to Halloween Town." 
  She smiled happily. "Promise?" 
  "I promise you. Now, let me get back to my drawing. I need to get it finished." 
   
   
   
   Chapter 2 
   
  Chapter 2 
  The First Session 
  Username: jacobsl 
  Password: a3bd2ern2suy2 
  ACCESS GRANTED 
  Patient file #77012E 
  PROCESSING REQUEST... 
  Patient: Peterson, Aubrey (77012E) 
  Date of Birth: October 31, 1992 
  Date of Admittance: November 5, 1998 
  Condition: Suffers from sever hallucinations and delusional fantasies of a place called Halloween Town. 
  Notes: No progress. 
  x-Two weeks later-x 
  "I got a phone call from your sister yesterday after you left." 
  Aubrey didn't react to this statement. She instead chose to stare at the clock above Leon's head. 
  "She's made an appointment to come and see you tomorrow. Isn't that nice?" 
  "Doctor, please stop talking to me as though I'm an infant." She finally replied. 
  Leon frowned. "You didn't answer my question, Aubrey." 
  She sighed and met his gaze, unblinking. "It would be if my mother didn't put her up to it. She won't come out here herself to check up on me, so she sends Emily." 
  "Really." Leon asked curiously, writing this down in his notes. 
  Aubrey continued. "And she only comes on two days: the first of May, which is tomorrow, and my birthday." 
  Leon jotted something else down. "Doesn't that make you sad that your family doesn't want to come visit you? Is that why you created Halloween Town?" 
  Aubrey groaned in frustration. "I've already told you, I didn't create it. It's always just been there." 
  "But before your father killed himsel-" 
  "My dad didn't kill himself!" She jumped out of her seat, enraged. "It was a car accident. I don't care what anyone says, he was murdered!" She ran out of the room, slamming the door behind her. 
  Leon smiled. They were making progress... 
  xXx 
  I couldn't get to sleep fast enough that night, even with an IV pumping anesthesia into my bloodstream. 
  When I opened my eyes again, I was standing in front of a dead tree with a pumpkin shaped door on it. I turned its nose, the doorknob, shoved it open, and jumped through, landing, quite painfully by the way, on my butt. 
  "You're late." I looked up to see a grinning devil's mask staring at me. 
  "Where's Jack?" 
  Lock 'tsk'-ed, trying to sound annoyed. "Glad to see you too, Aubrey." 
  "I'm sorry. Hi Lock, great to see you, where's Jack?" I asked, grinning. 
  He helped me up, and I began dusting myself off. Not like there was really any dust in the Hinterlands, it was just something to do to get Lock talking. "Busy. Doctor F's latest experiment got loose." 
  I stopped dusting myself off. "You didn't...?" 
  "Shock, Barrel, and I are banished, remember?" 
  I looked at him skeptically. "That hasn't stopped you before." 
  He groaned. "It wasn't me this time. I cross my little black heart." 
  I laughed and hugged him. Hey, I didn't lie to Sandy. Technically, Lock isn't my boyfriend. Also technically, I wasn't supposed to be seeing him at all. "So where are Shock and Barrel anyways?" 
  "Shock's locked herself in her room again, and Barrel's probably watching the experiment try to destroy the town, even though he's not supposed to be there and is going to get all three of us in trouble." He shook his head. I couldn't help smiling. Lock had... matured, I guess would be the only word for it, since Oogie died. Unfortunately, he was the only one of the three. Don't get me wrong, he was still just as nasty with his pranks, but he now had the common sense of when enough was enough. That didn't stop the spider incident though... 
  I sat down, tugging him next to me. "So do they still hate me?" 
  Lock shrugged. "Barrel's coming around, I think, but Shock..." 
  "Not so much?" He nodded. "God, what did I ever do to her to make her hate me?" 
  "Well, you're alive for one thing. And you stole me." 
  I pouted. "I didn't steal you, you come here of your own free will." 
  "Not in her eyes." He laughed. 
  I frowned. "You know I hate talking to you with that mask on. I can never tell what you're feeling." And so, to remedy this problem, I did the obvious thing: I stole it. 
  "Hey!" 
  I scrambled as he grabbed at me and ran behind a tree. "You have to catch me if you want it back!" 
  "Not much of a challenge." I jumped as he appeared next to me, but then stubbornly stuck the mask behind my back. "Aubrey..." Lock growled, crossing his arms. 
  I grinned, if you'll excuse the pun, devilishly. "You've gotta pay up first." 
  He leaned down, he was a few inches taller than me, being a guy, and a year older, and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. "Now, can I have my mask back?" I nodded and handed him the mask. 
  "Aubrey?" Jack's voice called. 
  Lock looked over his shoulder. "I'll see you later." 
  I nodded. "Bye." He ran off, back towards the tree house. 
  Jack came over the hill. "Ah, so you're here already. Sorry I'm late, I'm afraid Dr. Finklestein's latest experiment malfunctioned and broke out." 
  "Ah." Was all I could think to say, considering that was old news to me. 
  He put a bony hand on my shoulder. "Is something wrong?" 
  I growled. "It's that new doctor I've got. He's such a... a prick!" I stopped myself from cursing just in time. Jack was always telling me to watch my language. 
  Jack, forever wanting to be a helpful skeleton, just had to offer his help. "Want me to come give him a good scare?" 
  I shook my head. "No. He'd dismiss is as a nightmare. Nothing short of you and Oogie Boogie would get rid of this guy. Too bad that bag of bugs isn't around." 
  That may have surprised Jack a little. Normally, I would never wish Oogie's presence on anyone. He smiled anyway. "Well, I have something that may take your mind off it. Zero! C'mere boy!" 
  The ghost dog flew up, barking happily... right before he happily flew up to lick my face. I laughed, futilely attempting to avoid him. That dog could cheer anyone up. 
  xXx 
   
   
   
   Chapter 3 
   
  Chapter 3- 
  Guess who? 
  "Mom, why do I have to go visit Aubrey?" Emily asked, clearly upset. 
  "Don't start this again, Emily. You know why." Her brother replied, placing a hand on their mother's. She didn't even look up from her cross stitching when she pushed it away. "The doctor said that to much stress is bad for mom. Driving out to The Towers and seeing Aubrey in... well, it would be too much for her." 
  "But then why do I have to visit her? Why can't you Ryan? She wouldn't care whether or not any of us came to see her anyway." 
  "No..." Her mother whispered. "Aubrey is getting better. She'll come home soon. She... she will." 
  Emily jumped up. "Mom, she's just doing this to get attention. She just does this to upset you!" 
  Her mother didn't look up. "No, Aubrey's a good girl. She'll come home." She suddenly took on a different personality. "Emily, you need to get going if you want to be back in time for dinner. We're having spaghetti. Your favorite." 
  Emily sighed and walked out the door. "Spaghetti is Aubrey's favorite, mom." Her mother didn't hear her, just went back to her stitching. 
  xXx 
  The window in me and Sandy's room looked out over the gate and forest that surrounded The Towers, so when Emily's bright red Mercedes rolled in (mom spoiled the little brat rotten. Well, okay, she's really not so little, she's nineteen), I figured it was time to make myself somewhat presentable. Don't get me wrong, I loved my big sister to death, but she didn't believe me either. Besides, I think she'd take my standard, insane-asylum-white gown as an insult. 
  So, by the time she got up here, I had changed into a light-blue tank top, baggy, white shorts, and flip flops. She, however, put me to shame. With her short, shimmery hair combed straight back, pale lip gloss, light-blue eye shadow on her lids, and a hot pink tank top over a white shirt and a black miniskirt, she looked radiant. As usual. 
  "Pretty dressed up to come visit your crazy little sister." I commented. 
  "I have a date later, if you must know." She said, sitting down. 
  "Scott still?" 
  "Yes." She beamed with pride. I don't know why, though it was probably because she had a boyfriend and I didn't. Like I'd date any of the guys here. 
  I crossed my legs. "How's mom?" 
  Emily shrugged, tossing a few strands of hair back over her shoulder. "She's really worried about you, you know." 
  "Oh is she?" I asked, my tone dripping anger. "Then why won't she come down here to visit me herself?" 
  "Aubrey, you know it kills her to see you here." Emily said sadly. "She'd probably have a breakdown." 
  "Good, I'd have some company." I muttered sarcastically. 
  Emily's expression had changed from a look of half-assed happiness to a look that rested somewhere between shocked and horrified. "Aubrey!" 
  "It's a joke, Ems. I was just kidding." I assured her. And I was… mostly. 
  "It wasn't funny." She smoothed down her skirt. "So how've you been?" 
  I scoffed. "I'm locked up in an asylum. How do you think I've been doing?" 
  Emily sighed. "Aubrey, I really wish you would stop insisting with these fantasies-" 
  "Halloween Town isn't a fantasy!" I growled. Then, under my breath, I added quietly, "Dad would've believed me." 
  But as quiet as I was, Emily still heard me. "Aubrey, please. I know you were traumatized by dad committing suicide, but you need to get over it. You're thirteen now; it's been ten years! You're not just punishing yourself here; you're punishing the entire family, especially mom!" 
  "Dad didn't kill himself!" I yelled, becoming slightly hysterical. "It was an accident!" 
  At that moment, Dr. Jacobs- or Leon, as he asked us to call him- walked in. "I'm sorry to cut your visit short, Ms. Peterson, but Aubrey has a session with me." 
  Emily stood. "Oh, yeah, sure. I'll see you in a few months, Aubrey." She stood and walked out quickly. 
  I didn't move. "We've already had our session." 
  "Well, we're having another one. Now come." I growled. I was not a dog. But it was either you come willingly, or you get dragged there by security. The second option left bruises, so I stood up and followed him out. 
  xXx 
  "You were making quite a scene back there." I didn't answer. "Aubrey, why do you insist your father didn't kill himself?" 
  "It was a car accident." I growled through clenched teeth. I could feel a headache coming on. 
  Dr. Jacobs- sorry, Leon- looked through a few papers on his desk. "According to these reports from the police-" 
  I sat up, surprised and, duh, angry. "I thought police reports were supposed to be confidential." 
  "I have quite a bit of power, Aubrey. If it's to help a case, I can get my hands on just about anything." He smiled at me. I glared in return. Yep, there was that headache, and it certainly wasn't going to help my mood. "Now, according to these reports, he swerved off an empty road and over the edge of a cliff. The blood tests proved that he wasn't drunk, so it must have been deliberate." 
  "Shut up." I hissed. My head throbbed once. 
  He rested his chin on his hands. "Aubrey, I believe your father's death is what's causing you to make up these fantasies. If you could just come to terms with it, I believe we could finally make some progress." 
  "Shut the fuck up, damn you!" I screamed, clutching my head. "I'm not making things up, Halloween Town is real, my father didn't commit suicide, and I'm not crazy! I... I..." The room was spinning and the edges of my vision were going fuzzy. I felt myself fall out of the chair I was in, and pain laced through my skull, then everything went black. 
  xXx 
  Lock rubbed the side of his head. Shock had really good aim when she was mad. At least he wasn't bleeding again. And Barrel asked him why he liked Aubrey instead of Shock. Aubrey wasn't abusive, she didn't threaten to turn him into a toad whenever he said something wrong, which was becoming more and more frequent, actually, and she was- dare he say it?- cute. Other than the small facts that she could only be in Halloween Town from after sundown to right before sunup and she was alive, she was as close to perfect as possible. 
  He shook his head. When did he get so mushy? Thank god Oogie wasn't around any more, or he'd have probably been eaten already. He shuddered. Not a fun way to die. Again. 
  A bug suddenly crawled across his path. Lock glared at it. He'd had a serious dislike of bugs since Oogie tricked him into working for him. He lifted his foot to smash it, but stopped as he felt a hand on his shoulder. Behind his mask, his eyes widened in fear. 
  "What did I say about stepping on bugs!" Oogie roared, holding a squirming, eight year old Lock by the tail over the "fryer" pit in the center of his roulette wheel. 
  "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" He cried, trying desperately to get out of the Boogeyman's grasp. "It'll never happen again, I promise!" 
  Oogie threw him against a wall. "See that it doesn't." Shock and Barrel, who had been standing at the end of the stairs, in the shadows, ran over and helped him up. 
  "C'mon Lock, let's go." Shock said, helping Barrel to half drag him up the stairs. 
  "Lock?" The devil turned around to see Jack Skellington standing there, not Oogie Boogie. 
  He pushed his mask up. "What do you want?" He snapped, annoyed that he'd been scared by Jack. 
  The Pumpkin King crossed his arms. "Wondering why you're wandering around without Shock and Barrel." 
  "What, are we supposed to be attached at the hip now? I was just taking a walk." 
  Jack raised his eyebrow... or he would've if he'd had eyebrows, when he saw the bruise on Lock's pale cheek. "Quite a nasty little bruise you've got there. What happened?" 
  That earned him another glare and Lock pulled his mask back down. "That's none of your business. Can I go now?" 
  "Actually, I needed to talk to you. After that incident with Dr. Finklestein's experiment-" 
  "I already told you it wasn't me!" 
  "I didn't say it was." The skeleton assured them. "After we caught the experiment, the doctor found some of the parts had malfunctioned because they were too old to work properly." 
  "And what does that have to do with me, Shock, and Barrel?" 
  Jack put a hand over his eyes. "Yes, yes, I was getting to that. The doctor is in need of some assistance to find new parts." 
  "And you were gonna ask us." Lock supplied. 
  "Exactly." 
  "Have you lost whatever brain you had, bone head?" 
  Jack held up a bony hand. "Let me finish. If you three did help, and didn't purposely mess up the experiments, it would end your banishment from the town." 
  "It was one spider!" The teen protested. "We've done worse!" 
  "That one spider nearly ate half the town." Jack reminded him. 
  Lock crossed his arms. "I'll ask, but don't expect a pleasant answer." He ran back toward the graveyard. 
  Jack sighed and headed back toward Guillotine Gate. "I wouldn't dream of it." 
  xXx 
  "Shock, what are you doing?" Barrel asked, eyeing the witch nervously. She was wielding a large, spiked mace. 
  "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm going to knock some sense into Lock's thick head when he gets back." She snapped. 
  Barrel shoved some candy into his mouth. "Maybe he won't come back." 
  "Where else is he going to go? And don't talk with your mouth full, I don't want to see that." Barrel thought about this, then shrugged and continued stuffing his face with candy. 
  The Playroom door banged open, and Shock turned around. "There you are." She raised her weapon. "I didn't want to have to do this to you Lock, but-" She stopped and gasped, dropping the mace with a thud. 
  Barrel looked up, a sucker in between his teeth. "Shock? What..." He, too, gasped in shock (no pun intended, really), his mouth hanging open. The spider berry sucker shattered on the floor. 
  "M-Mr. O-Oogie Boogie!" Shock stuttered. 
  The bogeyman grinned, showing his squirming teeth. "Surprise." 
   
   
   
   Chapter 4 
   
  Chapter 4 
  The Nightmare Begins Again 
  Both teens were too stunned to speak. "Your silence tells me that you're a bit too surprised to see me." He patted Barrel on the head, chuckling. "Well don't worry. I'm quite real." He looked around, frowning slightly. "It seems one of my boys is missing. Where's our favorite devil?" Still, only a stunned silence. "Where's Lock?" He demanded, taking on the tone he got when his dice, which were conveniently in his grip, turned up snake eyes. 
  Shock snapped out of her trance. "Probably off waiting for his little living girlfriend, Aubrey." 
  Oogie grinned at her, again revealing his bug teeth and snake tongue. "Did you say... Aubrey?" 
  Shock shrank back a little. She never had liked it when Oogie grinned like that. It always meant something bad was going to happen. "Y-yes." 
  He cackled loudly. "You're joking! Ooh, this is just too good to be true!" He grinned down at the two. "You aren't to tell Lock that I'm back." 
  "Why not?" Barrel asked, finally regaining his voice. 
  Oogie's grin got even wider. "It's... a surprise." He vanished, and the door slammed shut with an echoing slam, making both jump. 
  Shock turned to Barrel. "We both saw that, right?" He nodded. "Good. Just making sure." 
  "Sh-should we tell Lock? That Mr. Oogie Boogie's back, I mean." 
  Shock smacked him with her hat. "No, stupid! Didn't you hear him! He specifically said not to tell Lock!" 
  "But... it's Lock. We tell him everything." Barrel pointed out, sounding a bit like a whiny toddler. 
  The door opened again, and they both jumped around. "Geez, what's up with you two?" Lock asked, shutting the door behind him. 
  "Nothing." Barrel answered quickly and, if Lock wasn't mistaken, a bit nervously. 
  "Shouldn't you be out with your girlfriend?" Shock asked venomously. 
  "One, Aubrey's not my girlfriend. Two, the sun's still up. Anyway, Jack needs a favor." 
  That definitely didn't help. "What does that pumpkin head want?" Barrel asked, popping a new sucker in his mouth. 
  "The crazy doctor needs help rebuilding his experiment." 
  Shock picked the mace up off the floor, taking up a bit of the floor with it, and stuck it back in its place on the shelf. "And why should we do this? We don't owe Jack any favors. May I remind you, he's the one who banished us in the first place!" 
  "Jack said if we helped, and didn't screw it up on purpose like we usually do, then he'd un-banish us." 
  Shock and Barrel glanced at each other. "No way!" They said in unison. "That town's full of losers anyway." Shock said. 
  "Yeah. And if you go, we'll... we'll..." Barrel stopped to think. 
  "Kick you out of the tree house!" Shock finished. 
  "And Boogie's Boys!" The younger boy added hastily. 
  Lock glared. He'd yet to figure out why they kept using that name even after Jack got rid of Oogie Boogie. "Fine, then ya know what? I quit!" He stormed out, slamming the poor, nearly broken door once more. 
  Shock ran over to the window. "Good riddance!" She yelled at his retreating back. He yelled something quite a bit more rude back and she slammed the window shut with a huff. 
  "What did we just do?" Barrel questioned. Shock wasn't sure she was talking to her or just to himself and didn't answer. "We... we just got rid of Lock, didn't we?" 
  Shock 'hmph'-ed. "We don't need 'im." 
  "That's where you're wrong, my dear." Oogie appeared in the middle of the room. 
  "Wrong? Why do we need Lock?" Barrel asked 
  "Yeah. He's gone soft." Shock said. 
  Oogie chuckled. "I'll tell you soon enough. Now, is my casino still in working order?" 
  xXx 
  "Stupid Shock. Stupid Barrel. Who needs 'em!" Lock yelled over his shoulder as he stepped out of the elevator. Dr. Finklestein would have to make do with just his help. 
  Lock kept walking, stopping when Guillotine Gate came into sight. Did he really want to do this? The entire town hated him, Shock, and Barrel for… well, everything that they had ever done. 
  Then he remembered another problem: he was BANISHED! If he so much as set foot inside that gate, no one would so much as hesitate to kick his ass to Christmas Town and back. 
  Lock jumped as the gate creaked open and Jack's tall, skinny figure walked out. "So, what was the answer?" 
  "A very solid no." Lock told him. 
  "I see." Jack turned around and started to walk back into town. 
  Lock's hesitant voice stopped him. "So Dr. Finkelstein will have to make due with just my help." 
  Jack turned and smiled at Lock as the teenager ran to catch up with him. The smile faded as he saw the worry on Lock's face. "What's wrong?" 
  Lock looked up at him. "You mean other than the fact that everyone in town hates me?" 
  The Pumpkin King chuckled. "Don't worry about that. No one can hold a grudge forever. Besides, you saved everyone in the end. Now come on." Jack gave Lock a little nudge in the back through the gate. It shut behind them as they walked into the square. 
  Jack smiled a little as he noticed how close Lock was staying to him, nearly hiding behind him. Lock looked up at him and noticed the sympathetic smile and stepped back out from behind him, choosing to walk next to him instead, stomaching the glares instead of trying to hide from them. 
  When Lock tried to turn toward Dr. Finklestein's Lab, Jack stopped him. "Why don't we go get something to eat first, hm?" Lock's stomach answered for him, and the devil blushed a little. 
  xXx 
  Jack opened the door of Skellington Manor and stepped aside to let Lock in. "First time I've ever been in here and not been ready to get yelled at." Lock muttered. Jack laughed a little. 
  "Sally, I'm home!" Sally walked out of the kitchen and smiled at Lock. 
  Lock smiled back, if not somewhat sheepishly. "Hi Sally." 
  "Hello Lock. I've got a place all set up for you." She walked over and gave Jack a kiss on the cheek. "Hazel and Zoe need some help with a new type of bone biscuits. Apparently, it isn't going well." 
  "Have fun." Jack called as she walked out the door. 
  Lock looked up at Jack as they walked into the kitchen. "How did she…?" 
  Jack smiled at him. "Sally's power of premonition has gotten a lot stronger over the past few years. Wish I'd listened to her back when I was trying to take over Christmas." He laughed. Lock couldn't help laughing a little too as he sat down and took a bite of the sandwich Sally had made for him. 
  "Wow, this is way better than the stuff Shock cooked…" Lock trailed off, staring moodily at his plate. 
  "'Cooked?'" Jack asked. "Why past tense?" 
  Lock grimaced. "We… uh, Shock, Barrel, and me, we kind of had a fight." 
  "That's not unusual for you three." 
  "They kicked me out of the tree house and I quit Boogie's Boys." 
  Jack set down his own sandwich. "You mean you don't have anywhere to stay?" 
  "Pretty much." Lock told him, taking another bite of his sandwich. 
  Jack paused. "You could stay here if you wanted." 
  Lock choked on the bite that he had been trying to swallow. "Are you serious?" 
  Jack shrugged, as if he hadn't just suggested that one of the trio that he had banished four years ago for nearly destroying the town, and eating his fiancé, with a giant spider stay in his house. "It's not like there isn't enough room. There are more rooms in this house that Sally and I can use." 
  "I… I… sure, if it's okay with Sally, I mean." Lock stammered, trying not to sound as excited as he felt. Though he'd never admit it, he had loved Skellington Manor from the moment he set foot in it. Of course, he'd never been past the living room, but that really isn't the point. 
  "Actually, Sally was the one who suggested it." Jack nodded toward the staircase. "Go ahead and pick one." That was all Lock need before he took off toward the staircase. 
  xXx 
  Aubrey woke up screaming. Her arms wouldn't move, and she couldn't sit up. Her eyes flicked around the room wildly. It was to dark to clearly identify where she was. 
  "Sandy?" She called her voice and throat rough, scratchy, and dry. She didn't receive an answer. "Sandy?" 
  Silence. 
  She attempted to sit up again, her effort failing. Why wouldn't her damn arms move! She could feel them, crossed across her chest... 
  Wait. 
  Across her chest? Oh no. She wasn't. 
  She looked down to see that she was indeed in a straightjacket. Which meant she was in solitary confinement. Well, that answered where she was and why her arms wouldn't move, as well as why Sandy wasn't there. 
  That just left one little thing. 
  Why was she in solitary? 
  The door opened, flooding the room with light and momentarily blinding Aubrey. When her eyes adjusted, she saw the spongy, padded, white walls of a stereotypical asylum room. "Hello Aubrey. I see you're finally awake." 
  It was Leon. "How long have I been in here?" Her voice was still hoarse. 
  "Only a couple of hours; the sun hasn't even gone down yet." 
  She coughed. "Why am I in solitary?" 
  He knelt down in front of her. "After you collapsed in my office, you went into a fit." 
  He saw her eyes widen a bit. "Did I say anything?" 
  "Yes. We did eventually manage to sedate you, but you kept screaming the same thing over and over." 
  Aubrey gulped. "What was it?" 
  "'He's back'." 
  xXx 
  I felt my heat skip a couple of beats. When he mentioned the fit, I feared the worst. But the 'he' Leon had mentioned could only be one person. 
  I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Aubrey, do you know who 'he' is?" I nodded. "Who, Aubrey? Who is it?" 
  "Oogie Boogie." 
  xXx 
  "Really, Aubrey, the boogeyman? This is just getting silly." 
  "Hey, you asked." I defended. "Oogie was the one who dragged me to Halloween Town in the first place." 
  "And Jack saved you. Yes, I know. We've been over this already." 
  I rolled my eyes. "Look, it was obviously just a nightmare, so can I go?" 
  Leon looked like he was about to say no, but then sighed. "All right. Tell Sandy to come in to see me after lunch." 
  "Sure." I walked back to my room, where an obviously worried Sandy had been waiting on me. 
  "What happened?" She asked, rushing over. "Leon said they put you in solitary." 
  "They did." I told her. 
  "Oh, poor baby." She hugged me. Her hugs felt like Jack's: all bones. 
  "It was that nightmare..." I muttered. 
  She pulled away with a gasp, her hands still on my shoulders. "But... but you haven't had that dream in almost five years! Not since Jack beat Oogie!" 
  "I know. That's what scares me." 
  xXx 
  Jack frowned as I recounted the dream. "That is strange." 
  Sally put an arm around my shoulders. "Are you sure it was the same dream?" 
  I nodded. "Positive." I saw the worry on Jack's face increase. "But it may have just been the stress. I mean, I did pass out." 
  "I suppose..." He muttered. 
  I stood up. "C'mon, Jack. Oogie isn't coming back anytime soon, or anytime at all. He got squashed, remember?" 
  He smiled. "You're right, of course." 
  "Good, so we can forget all this, you can go back to planning Halloween for the next hundred and eighty days, and I can go outside." 
  He laughed and patted my hair. "Go on, then. Wouldn't want to keep you cooped up in here." 
  I ran into the town square and heard, "No, no, that won't do at all!" 
  I walked toward the lab and opened the door quietly. "Dr. Finklestein?" I called, shutting the door with a click. 
  His wheelchair whirred to the top of the stairs. "Aubrey, my dear. Could you spare a moment?" 
  "Sure. What do you need help with?" I walked upstairs and followed him into his lab and caught sight of a familiar devil. "Lock?" 
  He turned around. "Aubrey?" 
  Dr. Finklestein smiled a bit. "Ah yes, you two used to be good friends. I'd forgotten. Lock is my new assistant." Lock turned a little red as he said this. 
  I stopped myself from laughing, but just barely. "So, what did you need help with?" 
  "Ah yes. I'm in need of some assistance rebuilding my experiment, and have turned up a bit shorthanded." 
  I grinned. "Sure. I'd love to help. What do you need me to do?" 
  xXx 
  "Shouldn't you be hanging out with Jack or something?" I asked Aubrey as we sorted through a pile in the doctor's junkyard to find parts. 
  She grinned. "Oh, I've already reached my 'bug Jack' quota for the day. Besides, he has planning to do. Only one hundred and eighty days 'til Halloween you know. I think the better question is, though, what in the world are you doing here?" 
  I rolled my eyes. "Jack said- jeez this is heavy- that if we helped Doctor F. fix his experiment, he'd end our banishment." I tugged on the offending part again. It didn't move. 
  Aubrey reached over to help. "So where are Sho-oof!" A final tug removed the part, and sent both of us falling backwards on our butts. And, in my case, my tail. I mentally cursed and stood back up, helping Aubrey up next. "Thanks. So where are Shock and Barrel then?" 
  I paused. "They... didn't come." 
  Apparently that pause was enough to alert Aubrey that something was wrong, because she touched my arm lightly. "Lock? What happened?" 
  I sighed. It was impossible to lie to her, she could always tell. "I quit Boogie's Boys and… Shock and Barrel kicked me out of the tree house." 
  "What?" She asked, obviously startled. 
  "Hey, it isn't important. Oogie's not around anymore anyway." I bent back down to search through the pile again. 
  I heard a sniff and looked back up, then stood quickly. "Oh no, don't start crying Aubrey." 
  She turned away. "I'm not crying." 
  "Yes you are. Aubrey, it's not your fault I quit." 
  Her shoulders slumped. "Before I got here, you three were best friends. And as soon as we started liking each other, you guys started fighting all the time." 
  I forcibly turned her to face me. "Aubrey, listen to me. Shock's a jealous bitch and Barrel follows whoever he thinks has the most power. Obviously, thinking is not his strong suit." She giggled a little bit. "Much better. Look, either Shock can get over the fact that I like a girl who's not her, or we'll just stay on non-speaking terms. End of discussion." 
  She smiled at me, but then looked worried again. "But where are you staying?" 
  I grinned. "Actually, I'm staying with Jack and Sally now. Their house is HUGE!" I couldn't help boasting a little. Aubrey laughed. 
  "I know, stupid, I've practically been living there every day since I was almost nine. Jack's got a room all set up for me too, in case I ever decide to stay here permanently." She teased. 
  I smirked. "Yeah, I saw it. Sally do the decorating?" 
  She blushed. "Oh, shut up. I was eight when I told her what I wanted in there!" 
  I leant over and kissed her on the cheek. "Calm down, I was just teasing you. Now, let's get this," I kicked the piece that we had both fallen on our butts getting out of the junk pile, "Up to the lab." 
  "I'm sure Igor would be more than happy to if we gave him a bone biscuit or two." Aubrey said. 
  I grinned at her. "To the Witches' Shop we go!" I grabbed her hand and pulled her out, through the acid works and through the square, over to the shop. 
  Hazel frowned a little as she saw Aubrey and I holding hands. Aubrey blushed, again, but didn't let go. "Zoë, we need a box of Bone Biscuits for Igor. Do you have any?" 
  Zoë smiled. "Of course. You know where to find them." Aubrey let go of my hand and ducked down behind the counter, emerging with the box in her hand. She set a couple of soul coins on the counter before we ran out. 
  We did manage to get Igor to drag the big piece of equipment up to the lab, he's a lot stronger than he looks, while Aubrey and I brought up some littler objects, bolts, engine pieces, stuff like that. 
  The sky was beginning to turn pink as we finished up. Well, technically, we'd finished up two hours ago, but we'd stayed up the rest of the night talking. Not my brightest idea, but I could deal with being tired for a little while. I didn't usually sleep much anyway; that's not very smart when Shock's usually pissed off at me. "Damn, if I could get there myself, I'd kick this Dr. Jacob's ass for you." 
  Aubrey laughed as we entered the clearing where the door stood. "Thanks Lock." She kissed my cheek, slipping her hand out of mine. "Get some sleep, okay?" She called as she passed through the door. I rolled my eyes and turned back toward town, biting back a yawn. 
  Maybe getting some sleep wasn't such a bad idea… 
   
   
   
   Chapter 5 
   
  Chapter 5 
  Sandy was sitting by my bed when I woke up. "You were crying earlier." She stated bluntly. 
  "It was nothing big, don't worry. I was just getting worked up over nothing." I assured her. "Is breakfast here yet? I'm hungry." 
  "You're hungry? Who are you and what did you do with my Aubrey?" She laughed. The laugh quickly turned into a cough, and blood spattered across my white sheets. 
  "Sandy?" She stared at the blood with reverence, an odd smile on her face. "Sandy, what did you do?" 
  "I swallowed glass. Then put an air bubble in my bloodstream. It should reach my heart soo-" She stopped and retched up at lest a cupful of blood, then fell out of the chair, her head hitting the tile with a thunk. 
  I slammed my fist down on the 'call' button, and then scrambled out of bed, my IV yanking out of my hand painfully. Pulling Sandy into my arms, I couldn't have cared less about the blood right now, I saw the empty needle in her arm, and the shattered picture frame shoved under her bed. Her fingers were cut and wet with fresh blood. She couldn't have done this more than a few minutes ago. 
  'She wanted to see me wake up.' I thought, tears cascading down my face and dripping into the blood that was slowly covering the white-gray tiles. I looked into her glassy emerald eyes and saw the face of a scared little girl in them. My face. Just mine. 
  I let out another sob. "Sandy... I'm sorry..." I looked back into her eyes again and gasped. 
  This time, behind my face, I saw the flicker of eerily shaped lamppost lights, tall, dark buildings, and a guillotine. A smile crept onto my face and I smoothed her dark black hair back, out of her face. "So you did make it..." 
  I barely looked up as two orderlies rushed in, taking Sandy out of my arms and laying her on a steel gurney. They pulled a white sheet over her head and wheeled it out. I sat there, watching, as all of this happened, until Juliet walked in and pulled me up. "Let's get you cleaned up, sweetie. Leon wants to see you as soon as you can manage." 
  I pushed her off of me. "I'm fine to go now." 
  Juliet shook her head. "First, let's wash all this blood off and get you in some clean clothes." I didn't bother with anymore protests, considering they'd just be ignored. 
  xXx 
  It had only been three hours since Sandy had died, and I'd spent one-hundred and thirty-five minutes of them in Leon's office. "So you're saying she somehow got hold of a needle, filled it with air, and pumped it into her bloodstream?" 
  "After she shattered her picture frame and swallowed the broken glass, yes. I've already told you everything I know!" I protested for the fifth time. 
  "Do you have any idea how she got the needle?" 
  "It wouldn't be very hard. Some of the orderlies aren't very careful about things like locking doors and keeping track of their keys." 
  Leon sighed. I hadn't been the greatest of help, for good reason, but he wasn't exactly asking unique questions. Just the same things over and over. "Aubrey, do you have any idea why she would kill herself?" 
  'She's insane, remember? That's why we're all here. It's an asylum.' I thought, looking down at my lap. "She wasn't happy here." 
  Leon leaned over his desk. "And she is now?" 
  I sighed. "Yes. She got where she wanted to go." 
  "And where would that be?" 
  At this moment, I should have just kept my mouth shut. But my tongue moved faster than my brain, and I answered, "Halloween Town." 
  Leon slammed his fist on the desk. "It isn't real, Aubrey! Halloween Town doesn't exist!" 
  I, surprising both of us, stayed calm. "Yes. It. Does. Whether or not you believe in it is no concern of mine, but it does exist." Then, I simply walked out, leaving him in a stunned silence. 
  A month went by before Lindsey came. Leon simply walked her in, told me she would be staying with me from now on, and walked out. 
  "Hi," She chirped. "My name's Lindsey Nathans. Who are you?" 
  I looked her over. "Aubrey." 
  She giggled. "That's a funny name." 'And Lindsey isn't?' I thought. She was short, almost as short as me, had bright blonde hair, blue eyes, and really bright, white teeth. I started to wonder why she was here, but then saw the big, ugly rope marks on her neck. 
  "... like him. He's cute." I looked up, thinking she was talking to me, but then saw she was happily conversing with the plastic plant in the corner. WTF. 
  In a week, I learned more about Lindsey than I'd ever care to have known. She was eighteen, had three siblings; all girls, two older, one younger, gone through three, yes, THREE boyfriends in the last year, was abducted by aliens, and tried to hang herself because the implant in her head told her to. And they thought I was crazy? Ha, ha, and again, HA! 
  Life only got weirder from then on. 
  I never managed to find Sandy in Halloween Town, but the good news was that with Lock and me helping, Dr. Finklestein's experiment was working again, and now we were just fine tuning. 
  And that meant playing with really freaking big explosions. 
  "I love dynamite!" I laughed, twirling around like an idiot. 
  Lock, who was walking behind me, just laughed. "So I've noticed. You're getting me in trouble, by the way." 
  I stopped twirling to look at him. "I told Doctor F. that I was the one who was tossing the extra explosives in." I leaned up against a tree to look up at the sky. The horizon was starting to get lighter, signifying the sun was going to rise soon. "Maybe I should just... stay today. Just not go back and stay here." 
  Lock looked down at me, surprised. "Can you do that?" 
  I sighed. "Probably not, and that sucks." He leaned back next to me and I put my head on his shoulder. He stiffened up for a moment, then relaxed. I couldn't help letting out a giggle. Lock still wasn't used to a lot of non-painful physical contact. Though living with Shock and Barrel, this was only to be expected. "Have you talked to them yet?" I asked. 
  "No, and I don't plan to." 
  I looked up at him. "Lock, they're your friends. You need to get things worked-" 
  "There you are Lock!" Both of us looked up to see Barrel standing on top of a hill. "Shock, I found him!" The witch walked up next to him, obviously not happy to see me there. 
  "I should go." I kissed Lock's cheek, then whispered, "At least try to talk to them Lock," In his ear before going off toward the tree that led back to my body. 
  xXx 
  I turned to Shock and Barrel. "What do you two want?" 
  Barrel scuffed a foot awkwardly. "We want you to come back to the tree house." 
  "Tempting, but no." I shot, turning away. 
  "Aw, c'mon Lock! It's no fun being the only guy! Shock even said she'll give Aubrey a chance!" 
  That stopped me. "Did you actually say that?" 
  Shock nodded. "She can't be any worse than Barrel." 
  "Hey!" 
  I stopped to consider this for a moment. "All right, I'll come back. But either of you try to something stupid to her, I'm outta there." 
  "Okay, we've got it. We won't do anything to your girlfriend." Barrel snickered, walking off behind Shock. 
  "She's not my- oh forget it." I muttered, running to catch up with them. 
  xXx 
  Username: JacobsL 
  Password: a2bd2e2iln2rsuy2 
  ACCESS GRANTED 
  Patient File #973122X 
  PROCESSING... 
  Patient: Nathans, Lindsey (97312X) 
  Date of Birth: November 12, 1989 
  Date of Admittance: June 20, 2006 
  Condition: Suffers from severe schizophrenia 
  Notes: No progress 
  xXx 
  "How do you like Lindsey?" 
  "She's only been here for three months, how am I supposed to like her?" 
  Leon frowned. "Aubrey..." 
  "Yes?" She asked innocently. 
  "You're purposely trying to frustrate me, aren't you?" 
  "Finally figured that out, have you?" Aubrey smirked in contempt, her gaze drifting to the clock above his head. "Well, I believe our hour is up, Doctor Jacobs, so I'll be going." She walked out of the room, the evil smirk still on her face. 
  Lindsey was sitting outside the door, chatting happily to... a plastic tree. She gave Aubrey an odd look, then went back to her conversation. "Yeah, she is crazy. We all know skeletons and vampires and stuff like that doesn't exist." A pause. "Of course six foot tall, blue and pink fuzzy aliens exist. How do you explain the implant? And anyway..." Aubrey turned a corner and Lindsey's voice faded. 
  Aubrey chuckled to herself. 'Even the crazy people think I'm insane.' 
  xXx 
  "Hey, Sally!" The rag doll turned around to see Lock. 
  She smiled. "Hello Lock. I haven't seen you around much since you moved back to the Tree House." 
  Lock smiled at her sheepishly. "Sorry. But I need to ask you something." 
  "Ask away." 
  "What do girls like to get for their birthday?" 
  Sally smiled. "Well, it matters who the girl is." 
  Behind his mask, Lock blushed. "Just... a girl." 
  Sally paused. "A necklace." 
  "'Kay thanks!" He started to run off. 
  "Oh, and Lock?" He turned around. Sally was smiling again. "I'm sure Aubrey would like anything you got her." Then she turned and walked back toward Skellington Manor. 
  xXx 
  'How'd Sally know I was talking about Aubrey?' I asked myself. I played the conversation over again in my head, then smacked my forehead. Well, my mask's forehead. I said birthday. No one in Halloween Town celebrates their birthday. Half the residents of Halloween Town can't even remember their birthday. We celebrate deathdays. 'Or it could be the fact that you practically obsess over the girl.' I thought to myself. I looked down at the bag in my hand. I just hoped she actually liked it. 
  I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, being careful not to mess up my bangs. 'Men should NOT be allowed to shop for their… girlfriends.' There, I said it. 
  My hand was on the tree house doorknob when I heard Shock yell, "How much longer do we have to do this! We've had to fake liking this girl for more than four months!" 
  My temper rose. They'd what? I was about to storm in, but I heard an all too familiar laugh and my hand froze just on the doorknob. "Patience, Shock. We just need to wait until tomorrow night. Then she'll be no trouble to anyone." With a gulp, I walked over and peered through a window to see a familiar burlap body. 
  "What about Lock?" I heard Barrel ask softly. 
  "If he resists, then-" I didn't stick around to hear the rest, making a bolt for the elevator. I had to tell Jack that Oogie was back! 
  The cage door was in my grasp when someone grabbed me by the tail. I let out a howl of pain and relinquished my grip on the steel bars. I looked up to see the one and only Oogie Boogie with one of his hand... things wrapped around my tail. Shock and Barrel stood behind him. 
  Oogie turned to Shock. "You know what to do." 
  Shock nodded and raised a hand toward my face. "Night-night Lock." She said, almost happily. 
  I gulped. I was screwed. 
  xXx 
  Oogie dropped Lock after he'd gone limp in his grasp. "Good job. Just put him up in your playroom." He ordered, walking off toward the entrance to his game room. 
  Shock kicked Lock in the side. "Get up stupid." Lock got to his feet, about as steady as Sally after reattaching a leg. 
  "Is he okay?" Barrel asked, poking Lock. 
  "He's fine. It's just a puppet spell. C'mon Lock. She walked back toward the playroom, Lock following obediently. 
  Barrel followed hesitantly. He didn't like this, not one bit. He looked down when he kicked something. A black bag was lying on the ground. 'Where'd this come from?' Reaching inside, Barrel pulled out a small, velvet covered black box. He lifted it to eye level to see there was a tag hanging out the back. He flipped it over and read it. 
  'Aubrey, 
  Happy Birthday! 
  Love, 
  Lock' 
  Barrel grimaced at the card and opened the box. His eyes widened. "Holy shit…" 
  "Barrel! Get up here!" Shock poked her head out of the Playroom window and looked down at him. He quickly shoved the box in his pocket. 
  "Keep your skirt on, I'm coming!" He ran up the stairs, barely dodging the chair thrown down at him. 
  xXx 
  I was incredibly happy when I woke up. Other than the fact that Lock was nowhere to be found, my night had been great! It was Halloween, not to mention my birthday, and it was a so far perfect day. Then, I looked out the window and saw a familiar red Mercedes. 
  I frowned, confused. Why was she here so early? I got dressed and went down to the visitor's area, careful not to wake Lindsey up. 
  "Emily?" She looked up at me. "It's like nine in the morning." 
  "I had to come early. Mom's throwing a party tonight." 
  "Oh." I looked at the three boxes in her lap. "Those for me?" 
  She handed them over. "Open them." 
  The first one was from mom, and had a cutesy pink dress in it. That was going in the back of the closet. The second one, from Ryan, had jeans, a T-shirt, and a bunch of little accessories; a brush, comb, makeup, bracelets, earrings, etc. The third was a Halloween costume. 
  Emily smiled at me when I looked up at her, now even more confused than I had been earlier. "To clear things up, I do believe you, you know." 
  I felt my eyes fill with tears, for some stupid reason, as I hugged her. "Thanks Emily." 
  xXx 
  That afternoon, Lindsey had a session with Leon, so I had the room to myself. I had gotten dressed in my costume, and was looking at myself in the mirror. 
  The costume was a sleeveless, gray-white dress that reached from my collarbone down to my knees, with a black-threaded corset like top and the ends where cut in ragged, uneven spikes. The gloves that came with it were so long that they were even with the top of the dress. The ends were cut up like the hem of the dress and covered my hands. Emily had added in a pair of white almost ballet-like slippers. I grinned at my reflection. "I look like a ghost." 
  A cold wind blew through the room and I shivered. 
  Wind? 
  I whipped around to see that the window was open. 
  The window was never open. 
  It was impossible to open. It was tripled locked from the outside and bolted shut with steel bars protecting the glass on the inside. I walked over and, carefully, shoved my fingers underneath the frame and shoved it up, expecting a thousand alarms to go off any second. It was dead silent. I slipped out, glancing around carefully. The yard was empty. 
  I slid off the roof and hung onto the edge. It was a six-foot drop. Nothing too serious, maybe a twisted ankle at the worst, would come from letting go. 
  So I let go. I landed pretty easily, stumbling and falling back a little, but uninjured. I turned to face the gate. Not even lady luck would help me this much. 
  I walked over to it, looming, black, and ominous looking. The one thing that separated me from getting out of here. 
  Now, a number of things could happen at this point. One: I could get spotted and dragged back to The Towers and stuck in solitary forever. 
  Two: I touch the gate, get electrocuted, and get brain damage and/or die. 
  Three: I climb back inside and pretend this never happened. 
  Or four: I pull open the gate, don't get electrocuted, don't get seen, and run for it. 
  Option one was obviously out. If someone was going to catch me, an alarm would've sounded already. Three was also ruled out. No way was I going back there willingly. That left two and four. 
  Well, it was a fifty-fifty chance. I liked those odds. 
  I grabbed the gate... and felt cold metal. No shock, no voltage coursing through me and frying me, nada, sip, zilch, nothing. 
  There was also an option five wherein the gate was locked, but it was quickly ruled out as the gate inched open. I squeezed through as soon as I could comfortably fit. 
  My legs, now completely dependant of my brain, started running. 
  I was free. 
   
   
   
   Chapter 6 
   
  Chapter 6 
  My legs were tired and sore, but I couldn't stop running. I needed to be somewhere. I just didn't know where that happened to be. I did know, however, it was far away from The Towers. And anywhere that was far away from that place was fine with me. 
  I looked up through the tree branches to see the moon peeking through, even though it was still the middle of the afternoon; full, round, and an eerie shade of orange. 'Like a pumpkin.' I thought absently. I gradually slowed down to a walk as the grass in front of me became dry and dead, and eventually faded into dirt. 
  Glancing around, I saw a clearing completely devoid of any life. Even birds were avoiding flying over it. In the center stood a dead tree displaying a bright orange pumpkin with a horrible face carved on it. 
  It was the door to Halloween Town. 
  My door. I walked forward until I stood directly in front of the pumpkin's twisted grin. I'd never physically stepped through the door. Would it even open for me now, because I was alive? 
  'Do it.' A little voice urged. 'You know you want to.' My fingers curled around the pumpkin's nose. 'Open it!' The voice ordered. 
  I turned the doorknob, closed my eyes, and pushed. 
  xXx 
  I opened my eyes to see the Hinterland's landscape surrounding me. "It worked." I gasped, astounded. "It really worked! I've got to go find Jack and-" 
  "What's your rush?" I looked to my left to see Lock emerge from the trees. 
  I ran over, ecstatic. "Lock, I found it! I found the tree that connects Halloween Town to my world! And I escaped from The Towers!" I paused. "It was really weird, almost like someone was-" 
  "Opening all the doors for you?" I looked over Lock's shoulder to see Shock and Barrel. Shock had a smile of pure, almost malicious, grin on her face. Barrel just looked like he'd rather be someone else. 
  "Wh-what?" I asked. What was going on? "What do you mean Shock?" 
  "Grab her." She ordered. I felt Lock's claws dig into my wrists. 
  "Ow! Lock, that hurts." I looked up at his face. Instead of their normal yellow, his eyes were pure black. "Lock?" I asked in a fearful whisper. Something was very, VERY wrong. 
  I heard Shock laugh. "He can't hear you. Well, he can, but he won't listen. Come on. The boss is waiting on us." 
  My eyes widened as Lock picked me up and followed Shock. "Lock, don't do this, please!" I begged. For a moment, a wisp of gold entered his eyes, but it disappeared just as fast. 
  "If you don't shut up, I'll happily knock you out." The witch called. I stayed quiet while hot, angry, betrayed tears poured down my face. 
  After the elevator ride, Shock grabbed me from Lock. "Wait out here you two." She ordered, dragging me inside. The room was completely sealed up, save a few holes in the ceiling that let in some of the sunlight. 
  She shoved me forward, and my knee slammed a table. I cursed violently but quietly, rubbing the throbbing spot. Something in the shadows moved, and I froze. "Long time no see, Aubrey." I looked up in horror, my sore knee no longer important. 
  "Oogie Boogie." I whispered, the same intangible fear I'd felt the first time I'd ever seen him rising up in chest. 
  He put his mit/hand things over where his heart would be, if he had one. "I'm touched. You remember me." 
  "You… you're supposed to be dead. Jack destroyed you!" 
  He chuckled. "Now Aubrey, you should know better. You can't get rid of the bogeyman." 
  I tried to straighten up and stand tall, but my knee wouldn't allow it. I fell back into a beaten up chair that was, quite literally, on its last leg. "What- what do you want?" 
  "The door to the human world." He leered at me. 
  "Then just go through it!" I yelled angrily. 
  His grin faded. "Oh, I've tried that. But you see, I seem to be... missing a few parts." He walked into the stream of sunlight pouring through the badly patched roof. 
  I muffled my shriek, but just barely. In the shadows, Oogie looked normal- well, as normal as a burlap sack filled with bugs could- but in the light, splotches of his body were transparent like a ghost's. "You... you're… you're a..." 
  "A ghost of my former self?" He asked, walking closer, out of the sun. The patches darkened, making him look solid again. 
  I clutched the armrests of the chair. "What does this have to do with me?" 
  Oogie leaned in so his face was inches from mine. "Haven't you ever wondered why you could cross over to Halloween Town?" 
  In the back of my mind, I realized I had, but I didn't respond out loud. 
  Oogie glared at me, his empty eyes boring into mine. "You were supposed to die that day. But that stupid fool intervened!" 
  My fear was replaced by confusion. Well, mostly. "What? What are you talking about?" 
  He patted my head. I shied away from his touch. "Ah-ah-ah. Curiosity killed the cat you know, and I don't want you to die. Yet." He nodded to Shock. She pulled me out of the room and practically threw me at Lock. 
  "Chain her up in the Playroom. You watch her Barrel." 
  "Why do I have to?" He whined. She gave him a look and he followed behind Lock, grumbling under his breath. 
  xXx 
  Lock tightened the chains around the Aubrey's wrists until she let out a cry of pain. An unexpected pang of something- what was it? Guilt? -cut through him. He shook his head and left the room, leaving Barrel to do his job. 
  "What's wrong with him, Barrel?" Aubrey asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "What's going on?" He could hear the tears in her voice, though he couldn't see them on her face because her head was down. 
  Barrel shifted uncomfortably. He peeked out the door, then shut it and knelt down in front of Aubrey. "If Shock or Oogie finds out I told you this, I'll be next on the list, but I don't care anymore. This is going too far." He shoved up his grinning skull mask, showing the genuine worry on it. "What do you want to know?" 
  Aubrey looked up at him pleadingly, tears sliding down her face. "What is Oogie planning to do with me?" 
  "He's going to kill you, Aubrey. Your soul is the thing that holds the key to the door. You saw the condition Oogie is in. I-I think he's been feeding off the animals around here. I've been finding a lot of dead animals around the entrance to his casino." 
  Aubrey tried to comprehend what Barrel was telling her. "So... if he absorbs my soul, then he'd be..." 
  "He'll probably be completely rejuvenated and have the ability to go between worlds whenever he wants." Barrel finished. 
  Aubrey shook her head. "But I can only come at night." 
  "That's only because you never physically found the door before now. You could only go through at night because you were asleep and your body didn't need your spirit." 
  "I see." She murmured. "But... what about Lock? What's wrong with him?" 
  "Shock has him under a puppet spell. She's got complete control over him." A tear leaked down Aubrey's face. "Don't worry. There's a way to break it." 
  "Then why don't you do it if you know how?" She demanded. 
  "Are you nuts? If Shock even thought I was saying the reversal, she'd slugify me!" 
  "Then what was the point of even telling me that?" 
  Barrel put a hand over her mouth. "Sshhh!" He ran over to the door and opened it slightly, listening for footsteps. When he heard none, he went back over to Aubrey. "Listen, I've got an idea. Oogie always, and I mean always, asks his prisoners if they have any last words. The reversal words are 'All hail Jack Skellington the Pumpkin King.'" 
  Aubrey nodded. "Something that would never get said around here." 
  "Exactly. Oh, and I think this is for you." He pulled a small box from his pocket and placed it in her restrained hands. 
  "Barrel! Get down here!" Shock yelled. 
  "I've got to go." He ran out of the room, shutting the door behind him. 
  With quite a bit of difficulty, Aubrey pried open the box. A bright crimson, oval-shaped stone set into a silver pendant of the same shape fell to the floor. "Oh Lock..." 
  After another five minutes of fumbling, and dropping it three times, Aubrey managed to lock the clasp around her neck. She held the stone tenderly, letting the sun reflect off it. In the sun it seemed to be burning, flames dancing through the stone in the light. Aubrey smiled. Trust Lock to try and make fire romantic... and succeed. She looked down at the slip of paper that had fallen to the floor and picked it up, reading it. Tears filled her eyes again and she crumpled it up in her fist, dropping it to the floor. 
  She looked out at the pumpkin sun, leaning up against the wall despairingly. It was going to be a long day. 
  xXx 
  I don't know when I fell asleep, but I woke up to Barrel nudging me softly. "Wake up, Aubrey, before Shock comes in here to wake you up her way." 
  I opened my eyes. The Playroom was dark, the only illumination coming from the torch in Barrel's hand. I tried to push myself up, but my muscles protested painfully, pins and needles paralyzing my calves. "My legs are completely numb. I can't move them." 
  Shock walked in as I finished my sentence. "Ugh, pathetic. Lock!" He walked in behind her. "Help her downstairs." He pulled me up and carried me out, bridal style. 
  'I could do it now.' I thought. 'I could say the reversal now and get out of here.' I looked over Lock's shoulder at Barrel. Should I do it now? I mouthed. 
  Even behind his mask, I could see his eyes widen. He sent a quick glance at Shock and shook his head. I understood completely. She was too close to be safe. 
  Looks like I was going to have to wait. 
  I hate waiting. 
   
   
   
   Chapter 7 
   
  Chapter 7 
  'I can't believe he's making us take her down there personally.' Shock thought. Why they couldn't just dump Aubrey down the tube and get it over and done with was beyond her. 
  "I want her in perfect condition," Oogie told her. That meant no shoving her through the makeshift pipe that they hadn't used since the Christmas incident. Well, except for that on time she and Lock shoved Barrel down as a prank. 
  She looked back at Lock, who was still carrying Aubrey. Shock may have hated keeping that brat in one piece, but she still harbored a fear of Oogie Boogie from when she was younger and almost nothing would get her to go against his orders. 
  Younger... she had used the term loosely since her death. When had the three of them actually started growing up? They'd stayed the same age they'd died at for... however many years it had been. It was just like that; she and Lock were always seven, and Barrel was always six-and-a-half. 
  It was only after Aubrey had come that things had started changing. The first obvious sign was when they couldn't all fit in the elevator at the same time. Then their costumes, which they'd had for forever, didn't fit right and they'd had to get Sally to make them new ones. Lock's voice had started changing, boy was that funny, and then she'd started... liking him. Liking him less in a sisterly way and more as... as just a girl. 
  Her thoughts pulled themselves together as they reached the door of Oogie's casino. She knocked twice and it slid open. 
  It had been three years since any one of the trick-or-treaters had set foot in Oogie Boogie's game room, but it was the same as they remembered. Creepy, and even creepier in black light. 
  Oogie walked out of the shadows, took Aubrey from Lock, and unchained her hands before shoving her onto the roulette wheel. She landed painfully on her arm, then stood and glared at him. 
  His grin just widened. "Any last words?" 
  Aubrey smirked. "Glad you asked: All hail Jack Skellington the Pumpkin King!" 
  Shock turned to Barrel angrily. "Traitor!" She socked him in the face, jumping on him and knocking him to the floor. 
  Lock shook his head a few times. "Wha...?" 
  "Too little, too late!" Oogie cackled, wrapping his hand around the lever that would activate the power. He never did pull said lever, for as he began to pull back, he found himself being rammed in the side by everyone's favorite devil. 
  Lock jumped down onto the roulette wheel. "Are you okay?" 
  Aubrey nodded. "I'll be fine." 
  "Good." He pulled her over to the drainpipe that led out of the casino and boosted her up. 
  Once she was in, Aubrey turned around. "Give me your hand. I'll pull you out too." She leant over as far as she could, trying to reach Lock's outstretched hand. Their fingers barely brushed each other. 
  "Almost... there..." Lock grunted, the muscles in his arm strained to their limits. 
  "I don't think so!" Oogie roared, finally pulling himself over to the controls and yanked the lever down toward him. "Nobody betrays the bogeyman!" The wheel started turning, throwing Lock off balance. 
  "Lock!" Aubrey yelled. 
  "I'll be fine, just go get Jack!" He ordered. She bit her lip and nodded, climbing up the pipe. 
  xXx 
  I burst out of the elevator before it even reached the ground. Falling straight down five or six feet is a lot faster than I realized. Pain laced through my left arm; I'd landed on it again. I ignored it and got up, running off toward Guillotine Gate. 
  I ran through the gate as the mayor started handing out awards. I found Jack easily; he was standing offstage. I ran over to him, shoving through the crowd. "Aubrey? What's wrong?" Jack asked as he caught sight of me. 
  I must've looked worse than I thought. "Jack, there's no time, we've got to go-" 
  "Aubrey, I can't just leave. It's Halloween! I'm sure whatever it is can wait." 
  "No it can't!" I told him, pulling his hand again. "Oogie's back and he's got Lock trapped on in the game room!" 
  Seconds later, I was on Jack's back and he was running top speed toward the tree house. 
  xXx 
  Lock wasn't faring well. One of the buzz-saws that occupied the roulette wheel had just made another pass over him and nearly clipped off his tail. 'Aubrey, hurry up.' He thought, dodging a round of bullets from the cowboy robots. 
  Shock watched in horror as a bullet clipped Lock's shoulder. Enough was enough. Hurting Lock definitely qualified as one of the 'almost nothing's that could get her to betray Oogie Boogie. "Leave Lock alone!" She jumped onto Oogie's back, pulling him away from the controls. 
  Barrel, who was over in a corner recovering from Shock's wrath, ran over to help. "Yeah, you tell him Shock!" He yelled before biting Oogie on the leg. 
  "Aargh! You little brats!" He pulled both of them off with ease. "If you two are so eager to join Lock in his doom, you should've just said so." A sly grin returned to his face. "On second thought, I'm famished." Both of their masks had fallen off, so Oogie could see the terror on both their faces. "Ladies first." He threw Barrel into the wall head-first, resulting in immediate unconsciousness. 
  Oogie started to inhale and Shock screamed. Faintly, she could see a weird white vapor coming off her body and going into the bug-man's mouth. Her screams grew softer and softer as more and more of the mist was swallowed and her energy faded. "Put her down!" Oogie turned around to see Jack and Aubrey standing there. 
  "Ooh, it's big, scary Jack. Back off, bag of bones." Oogie growled. 
  Jack took a step forward. "I said put Shock down, Oogie." 
  He shrugged. "You can have her when I'm through with her." He turned back around. 
  Aubrey growled and pulled a torch out of the wall. "Maybe Jack wasn't clear enough. Put Shock down NOW!" She slammed the unfortunately unlit torch over Oogie's head. He let out a howl of pain and dropped Shock, falling unconscious himself. Aubrey helped the witch sit up. "Shock? You okay?" 
  "Why... why are you helping me?" She muttered, her head dizzy. 
  Aubrey shrugged. "No one deserves what Oogie was planning. Besides," She smiled. "Girls need to stick together with idiots like Barrel and Lock around." She gasped. "Oh my god, Lock!" 
  Jack ran over to the control box and pulled the 'off' switch. How did he know it was the off lever? Simple: it was labeled 'off'. Oogie wasn't the brightest bulb in the bunch. 
  Aubrey jumped down, back onto the wheel. Lock was lying on the floor, holding his bleeding shoulder. "Are you okay?" She asked, helping him stand. 
  "Yeah." He winced and clutched his shoulder. "No." 
  "Move your hand." She ordered. He did so, and she sighed in relief. "Good, it's really shallow." She hugged him, making sure to avoid his shoulder. "You're an idiot, I hope you know." 
  He tugged her hair with his uninjured arm. "So I've been told." He looked down. "Are you crying?" 
  "Yes. I was really worried about you Lock!" 
  "I'm fine Aubrey. My shoulder hurts like hell, but I'm not going to die again." 
  She sniffed. "Yeah, I know. I have stupid human emotions to deal with, remember?" Lock had no answer to that statement that didn't make him sound like an idiot or a sap, so he stayed quiet and hugged her back. 
  Jack climbed down to the wheel. "You four need to get out of here. I'll deal with Oogie." He boosted both of them off the wheel, then started pulling himself up. It's good to be tall sometimes. 
  Before he could get all the way up, the wheel started spinning at top speed, and one of the cowboy's guns caught Jack's leg and pulled him back down. "Jack!" Aubrey cried, turning around. 
  Lock grabbed her arm to stop her from jumping back down. "Aubrey, jumping down there won't help anyone. Shock, can you get the controls?" No response. "Shock? Barrel?" He turned around to see Shock lying next to Barrel, unmoving. Oogie, however, had disappeared. 
  Aubrey clutched his arm suddenly. "Lock?" She whispered, her voice quavering. 
  He whipped back around to see Oogie Boogie standing behind him, grinning insanely. Oogie slapped Aubrey away and grabbed Lock by the throat. "No one betrays the boogeyman!" He growled, one of his hands slipping over Lock's mouth. 
  Lock bit down on Oogie's hand, sinking his fangs deeper and deeper until he could feel the bugs inside the bogeyman's hand crunch between his them. Oogie let out a howl of pain and rage before dropping Lock to nurse his wound. The devil glared at him and Oogie's other arm started to smoke, then burst into flame. Oogie ran around the room like some sort of odd, ugly, featherless bird until Jack, who'd finally climbed off of the roulette wheel, slammed his fist into Oogie's face. "That won't keep him down for long." Jack warned them. 
  Lock grabbed Aubrey by the shoulders. "Aubrey, listen. Get back through the door to your world and destroy it." 
  "How?" She asked. "There's no way I can do it myself." 
  He stood up. "Look at the back of the necklace. I'll help Jack wake up Shock and Barrel and stall Oogie." 
  "Right." She nodded and stood up as well. "Um, Lock?" 
  "Yeah?" He turned to face her and Aubrey pressed her lips against his. 
  "I love you. Good luck." She turned and ran up the stairs, leaving a surprised Lock standing there. Until Jack's voice calling for him to help wake up Shock and Barrel reminded him that he had a job to do. 
  He ran over to Barrel. "Barrel, wake up you idiot!" No response. Lock paused to think. "Barrel, Shock just stole one of your spider-berry suckers." 
  Barrel sat up so fast that Lock barely had time to move back. "Gimme my sucker!" He blinked and looked around. "Er... where are we?" His eyes fell onto Oogie's stirring form. "Never mind, I remember." 
  Jack was pulling Shock up when Oogie stood suddenly. His eyes narrowed into slits as he gazed at the four in front of him. "You think you can stop me?" 
  "I've done it once by myself, Oogie." Jack reminded him, though it sounded more threat-like than reminder-like. 
  Oogie let out another growl and slammed into Jack faster than the three trick-or-treaters had ever seen him move. Jack flew up against the wall with a loud 'crack', and fell to the ground. All three stared in shock. 
  Before they realized what had happened, he had Barrel by the scruff of his neck. "Hey! Put me down!" 
  Shock lifted a hand up. "You heard him." 
  Lock copied the motion. "Put him down." 
  Oogie laughed. "Ooh, I'm shaking." 
  Shock glared. "Not a bad idea." Her lips moved silently and the ground under Oogie started to crack apart. 
  "What!" Oogie yelled, starting to lose his balance. His grip on Barrel loosened enough to let him slip away and run over to hide behind Lock and Shock. 
  "When did you learn to do that?" He asked. 
  "What do you think I do in my room all day, think up new ways to torture you two?" She asked. 
  "Yeah." Both boys answered at once. 
  She shook her head. "Boys are so stupid." She looked back up. "Hey, where'd Oogie go?" At least, that's what they thought she was about to ask. She only managed to get out the "Hey, where'd-" Before she was thrown into the wall and landed on top of Jack. 
  Lock and Barrel looked up at Oogie, who was standing in Shock's previous spot. "Surprise." He chuckled, grabbing them and slamming their heads together. He dropped the limp boys next to Shock and Jack. "Now, to finish what I started." He slammed a large, red button topped decorated with a skull and crossbones. 
  "Self-destruct countdown started. Ten minutes and counting. Nine minutes fifty-nine seconds. Nine minutes fifty-eight seconds. Nine minutes..." 
  Oogie chuckled. "If you'll excuse me, I've got bigger fish to fry." He walked over to the stairs and disappeared up them." 
   
   
   
   Chapter 8 
   
  Chapter 8 
  Aubrey ran through the tree house, back up to the Playroom. 'A weapon. I need a weapon.' She thought as she shoved the stubborn door open. The fight down below echoed through the pipe on the left side of the room. Aubrey could barely hear Shock's 'tsk'. "Boys are so stupid." A pause. "Hey, where'd-" 
  "Surprise." Oogie laughed. Aubrey heard Lock and Barrel let out a cry of surprise, then silence. "Now, to finish what I started." 
  "Self-destruct countdown started. Ten minutes and counting. Nine minutes fifty-nine seconds. Nine minutes fifty-eight seconds. Nine minutes..." 
  Oogie chuckled again. "If you'll excuse me, I have bigger fish to fry." Silence greeted Aubrey's ears. Then, a cackle floated through. "Aubrey..." 
  "Shut up!" She growled, her fingers curling around a spiked mace. She smashed the pipe into the ground. 'Oh, brilliant Aubrey. Now he knows you're still in the Tree House!' She berated herself. 'How do I get out of here?' Aubrey's eyes fell onto the cooked window on the far side of the room. The thick chain that raised and lowered the elevator hung outside it, swinging loosely. 
  'I must be insane.' She thought, attempting to shove the window open. Then she noticed the nails hammered into the frame. Swinging the mace hard, She shattered the window, reaching out and grabbing the elevator chain swinging outside it with her free hand. She glanced at the mace, then the chain, then back at the mace before tossing it behind her and gripping the chain with both hands. 
  "This is such a bad idea." She muttered to the air before warily climbing out and sliding down. 
  xXx 
  'Lucky the elevator was down.' Aubrey thought, running through the forest. Behind her, she faintly heard the sound of the elevator being raised. Her fear sped her up, the entire left side of her body screaming in protest. She ignored it and kept her fast pace, reaching the tree in record time. 
  The doorknob turned easily and she jumped through, landing, quite painfully, on her knees. She scrambled around and pulled the amulet out from under her dress, then flipped it over. There, carved in small, flowing script, were two words. 
  'Dragon's Breath.' 
  Aubrey unclasped the necklace looked from the bright stone to the door. Carefully, she pointed the gem at the tree. "Dragon's breath." 
  A jet of flame shot out of the pendant, covering the tree in flickering orange and white fire. 
  After a minute, Aubrey realized that the tree wasn't burning. The fire had consumed the branches and everything three feet above the door, but the fire just crackled around the trunk, sitting there as though the tree were fireproof. Her mind racing, Aubrey tried to think of a reason for this phenomenon. Then, she smacked her forehead. "The trees are connected. To get rid of the door, both have to burn." She groaned, staring at the pumpkin's grin. It seemed to be taunting her. "I have to go back through." 
  Aubrey reached through the flames, crying out as the flames seared her hand, and gripped the doorknob. Tears rolled down her face and she bit her lip as the metal of the knob made her skin sizzle painfully but turned it nonetheless and shoved the door back open. Flames licked at her as she jumped through, landing in a pile on the other side. The cool air was a relief on her skin, but she couldn't sit and enjoy it for long; she had to finish it. 
  She shoved herself up and made sure that the pendant was still firmly in her hand before raising her arm, wincing painfully as the burned skin stretched, to aim the pendant once again. "Dragon's brea-" Something clapped over her mouth before she could finish the 'breath', rough fabric scrapping her lips. She was forced to stand up, then was lifted off the ground 
  "I can't let you do that Aubrey." Oogie chuckled, wrapping his other hand around the necklace in her hand and pulling it out of her hand and throwing it to the side before moving it to her neck and gripping it. Aubrey followed it with her eyes, the ever full moon illuminating its path as it bounced away. She thrashed angrily, doing all she could to make him drop her. She pulled and kicked at Oogie fruitlessly, until something that felt like a strand of hair brushed her arm. A loose thread! 
  Aubrey wrapped it around her finger as Oogie pinned her against the door. "Don't hold your breath." He chuckled as he tightened his grip on her throat. She couldn't breathe, only make little choking noises. It was now or never. 
  Aubrey tugged on the thread, and the seams in Oogie's right side came undone. He dropped her in an unceremonious pile to stop the bugs from escaping. She had to move fast. Hard to do when you're injured. 
  She dove for the necklace and her fingers closed around the chain. Pulling it into her hand, she flipped it over and aimed at the grinning pumpkin. "Dragon's breath!" The jet of fire hit the jack o' lantern's crooked teeth dead on, and the flames climbed up the dry, dead wood like it was covered in gasoline. "You lose, Oogie!" She yelled triumphantly. 
  The bogeyman let out a roar of pure fury before running over and grabbing Aubrey by the neck with his right hand, the left occupied with covering the hole in his side. "You'll pay for that!" He slammed her against the burning tree. "I'll still kill you!" 
  Aubrey screamed in pain as the fire ate through the fabric of her costume and skin. Her hair caught fire and her scalp started to burn. The necklace dropped to the ground as the flames burned through the muscles in her wrist. 
  "Hey, Oogie!" He turned to see Lock, Shock, Barrel, and Jack standing behind him. Lock had a torch in his hand. "Open wide!" With the expertise that could only come from tossing javelins, axes, maces, daggers, plungers, and other weapons at his fellow trick-or-treaters, Lock tossed the torch down Oogie's big, never fully closed mouth. 
  Time for an actual lesson: bugs are NOT fireproof. If you've ever taken a magnifying glass to an ant, then you already know this fact of nature. And from his earlier incident with Lock, we know Oogie's 'skin' isn't either. And because no part of Oogie Boogie is fireproof, it only took seconds for him to burst into flame, burning from the inside out. 
  Jack, having the longest reach and nothing to burn on his person but his sleeves, reached into the fire and grabbed Aubrey. 
  It was bad. Most of the back of her costume had burned off, as well as her skin. Her hair had been singed to almost an inch from her scalp, most of it burned black. The burns spread over not only her back, but her arms, legs, chest, and almost three-fourths of her head. Her breathing was ragged and bruises were visible through the burns on her throat. 
  "Let me see her bonehead." Shock ordered. Jack set Aubrey down in front of the witch. 
  "Shock, what're you going to do?" Lock asked. He obviously didn't trust her still. 
  "Relax. I'm not going to hurt her." She assured him. Shock muttered something under her breath and snapped her fingers over Aubrey's back. The various shades of red burns covering her body receded, leaving smooth skin. "Can't do anything about her hair or costume." She said, looking over the unconscious figure before her. Shock swayed slightly. "Ooh... dizzy..." She started to fall back. 
  "Shock!" Barrel ran over and caught her before she hit the ground. 
  "Get off me!" Shock shoved him away. "I can stand on my own. I'm just tired. That's all." 
  "That's enough." Jack ordered, picking Aubrey back up. "This is no time for fight-" The last syllable was cut off as a loud explosion shook the Hinterlands, and they turned in the direction of the tree house. A large amount of smoke was drifting into the sky. 
  Lock groaned. "There goes the tree house." 
  Barrel glanced from Lock to Shock. "Where are we supposed to go?" Shock turned to him, ready to scold and/or yell at him, but stopped as she realized he was right. Their home had just been blown into smithereens. 
  Jack smiled at all three of them. "Lock, you still have a room at Skellington Manor, and there are plenty of rooms for the two of you to choose from if you want." 
  "Whatever." Shock grumbled. "Can we just go? I feel like I'm about to pass out." 
  xXx 
  When I opened my eyes, I was surprisingly warm and comfortable. "About time you woke up." I looked around to see Shock standing in the doorway. 
  "Where are we?" I murmured. I felt like I should have known, but my head was fuzzy and I couldn't remember. 
  "Your room in Jack's house. You've been asleep for two days." She told me, sitting down in the chair next to my bed. 
  "Oogie?" I questioned. The fuzz was starting to clear now. 
  "Went up in smoke with the door." Everything that had happened last night, or two nights ago if I'd been asleep as long as Shock said, rushed back to me. 
  I sat up quickly, expecting to be in horrible pain. "I healed all the burns, if that's what you're about to search for. I couldn't fix your hair or costume, though, but Sally took care of it." 
  "Why?" 
  Shock shrugged. "Because even after everything I'd done to you, including helping Oogie Boogie try to kill you, you'd actually been concerned about me. You saved my afterlife." She smirked. "I guess I finally realized you really hadn't done anything to me." 
  "So... does that mean we're friends now?" 
  She laughed. "I wouldn't go that far. Buddies, maybe. Not friends." There was an unspoken 'yet' behind her words as she shook my hand. 
  "So where are the boys?" I asked, standing warily. My caution was pointless, though, for my balance was fine. 
  "I dunno, probably downstairs trying to kill each other. We'd better stop them before Jack and Sally have to again." 
  "Again? What did I miss?" We walked toward the door. 
  "Nothing much. They just like to egg each other on." There was a crash. "Ah crap, here we go again." She ran downstairs ahead of me, leaving me to catch up. 
  xXx 
  "Geez, I leave for a little while and they turn into animals. How old are you two again?" Lock and Barrel looked up from their wrestling to see Shock at the end of the stairs. 
  Aubrey walked up behind her and laughed. "Well that's certainly an interesting position." 
  Lock was sitting on Barrel's back and bending the younger boy's leg toward him, probably trying to break it, while Barrel had Lock's tail in his hands and was about to bite it. "Aubrey!" Lock tugged his tail out of Barrel's hands and ran over to hug said girl. 
  "Hi Lock. Um, I kind of need my ribs unbroken." 
  "Oh. Sorry." He let go of her. Barrel snickered behind him. Lock blushed. "Come on, let's go talk outside." He half-pulled Aubrey out the door. As soon as it shut, Barrel burst out laughing. 
  He stopped as a rock hit him in the side of the head. "Ow!" 
  "Shut up." Shock ordered, walking back upstairs while tucking her slingshot back in her pocket. Barrel scrambled up and went after her. 
  There were several concessive thuds as Barrel rolled back down the stairs, with Shock trying to strangle him. 
  xXx 
  Aubrey smiled as she held onto Lock's hand. "I've never seen Halloween Town in the daytime." 
  Lock smirked. Aubrey was acting like a kid in a candy shop. He should know. He acted like that every Halloween. Well, except this last one, but that didn't count. He was hypnotized for most of it! "And?" 
  "It's a hell of a lot less scary." She confirmed after a moment. Lock laughed. 
  "Better not let anyone hear you say that. You'll hurt their feelings." 
  She shrugged. "Whose feelings? Yours?" She asked teasingly as they passed under Guillotine Gate. 
  "Maybe." He muttered. 
  "Aha! So you admit you have feelings!" She laughed, letting go of his hand to point an accusing finger at him. 
  "I admit nothing." 
  She giggled and hugged him. "Ah, you aren't scary to me, Lock." 
  He raised an eyebrow. "I'm not, huh?" He let out a low growl and walked toward her, claws raised. Aubrey let out an undignified shriek before turning and running. 
  She didn't make it far before Lock caught and tackled her. "You were saying?" He asked, grinning down at her. 
  "That you are an incredibly terrifying monster." 
  "Thought so." He climbed off of her and helped her up. 
  Aubrey looked deeper into the Hinterlands. "So... is it really gone?" 
  Lock blinked. "Is what gone?" 
  "The door. Is it gone?" 
  He took her hand. "You can see for yourself." 
  xXx 
  I heard Aubrey gasp as we walked into the clearing where the door once stood. "Woah..." She let go of my hand and walked forward, crouching down at the edge of the ash pile that was surprisingly still sitting there. 
  I walked up behind her. "Aubrey, you know that you can't go home now, right?" 
  She nodded slightly. "Yeah. I know." She replied quietly. "It's not like I had much to go back to. IV needles, therapy I didn't want or need, and a family who doesn't give a damn about my well being." 
  I sat down next to her. "Consider yourself lucky you have a family." I shut up immediately. My life was not a fun subject for me to remember. Why I'd even brought it up, I didn't know. 
  I felt Aubrey squeeze my hand. "You don't have to talk about it, Lock. I know it bothers you." She kissed my cheek. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. Come on, let's head back. We don't need Shock strangling Barrel." She pulled me up and back toward town. 
  "Hold on." I pulled the necklace out of my pocket and put it back around her neck. "I wanted to be able to give it to you at least once since Barrel had to do it for me the first time." 
  She smiled. "Thanks." 
   
   
   
   Chapter 9 
   
  Chapter 9 
  1 month, 20 days later... (that means it's December 22) 
  "I hate high school." Lock muttered. 
  Shock smirked. "You're just mad 'cause you had so many detentions that they lasted into vacation." 
  I laughed. "Maybe if you hadn't tried to make the science lab explode..." 
  "Twice." Shock interrupted. 
  "Then you probably wouldn't have had detention in the first place." I finished. Yes, Jack had enrolled all four of us in high school. Well, actually, Barrel was in middle school still, but that's not the point. We were on vacation because Jack had declared that we got Christmas break, and since he's the Pumpkin King, his word is law. 
  Lock looked at Shock and I warily. "Stop agreeing with each other. It's weird." 
  "You're weird." We retorted. I looked around. "Hey, where's Barrel?" 
  "Snowball fight!" Barrel called from behind us, and we all turned around. As soon as we did, he chucked a snowball at Lock. 
  I laughed as it smacked its intended target in the side of the head. "Hey, whose side are you on?" Lock growled. 
  "Sorry Lock." I giggled. "But you have to admit it was a pretty good shot." 
  "Thanks a lot." He muttered, bending down and grabbing a handful of the white powder. "Get back here Barrel!" He yelled, chasing the black clothed boy. Barrel just laughed and ran faster. 
  I sat down on the fountain's edge. Shock joined me. "You gonna sit this one out?" I asked. 
  She nodded. "It's not worth the energy." 
  "That's not like you." 
  She shrugged. "What about you?" 
  I shook my head. "I'll let the boys beat each other senseless by themselves. I, however, am freezing to death, pun definitely intended, and am going home." 
  As I stood, a flash of dizziness and fatigue overtook me, and the frost covered ground rose to meet me as the world whited out. 
  xXx 
  "Aubrey!" Shock yelled, shaking her. She didn't get a response. "Would you two idiots get over here and help?" 
  Me and Barrel looked up, and then ran over. "What happened?" Barrel asked, picking up her arms. 
  "I don't know, she said she was going home, stood up, then passed out." Shock told him. "You're going to hurt her idiot." 
  "Move. I can get her." I told him, picking her up easily. She was way to light to be natural. "Come on, we need to get Jack and Sally." All three of us took off toward Skellington Manor. 
  "Jack! Sally!" Barrel yelled, scampering up the stairs ahead of us. 
  The door opened. "Barrel, is something wrong?" Sally asked. Jack was behind her. 
  "Something's wrong with Aubrey." He panted, pointing back at Shock and I, who were about halfway up the stairs. It's not that we were slow, I was just afraid of tripping on the broken steps and dropping her. 
  Jack rushed down to meet us and examined Aubrey. "What happened?" Shock explained again. "She didn't say she felt sick or anything?" We all shook our heads. 
  "She seemed fine when we were walking back from school." Barrel muttered. "She was laughing when I hit Lock with a snowball." 
  Sally touched Jack's shoulder. "Maybe the doctor would know what's wrong." 
  Jack nodded. "Right. Lock, take Aubrey up to her room. I'm going to get Doctor Finklestein." He said and walked between us, Sally following him. All three of us scaled the stairs and went inside. 
  xXx 
  "Do you know what's wrong with her?" Jack asked Dr. Finklestein. 
  Doctor F. looked worried. "Jack, Sally, I need to talk to you privately." He wheeled out of the room, Jack and Sally following behind him. Jack shut the door after him. The door to the next room opened and closed. 
  Yeah right, like that was gonna stop us. All three of us pressed our ears to the wall. "Now, when Aubrey entered Halloween Town over a month ago, she was still very much alive." 
  "Doctor, we already know that." Jack said, exasperated. 
  "Don't interrupt Jack!" Dr. F snapped. "Her physical body is holding up perfectly, but her spirit is... deteriorating." 
  The three of us looked at each other, mouthing the word. How does your soul 'deteriorate'? Sally voiced our question. "Deteriorating?" 
  "Let me explain. Our town is built for the dead. Aubrey's soul is living, and the energy of the town is trying to fix her by destroying it." 
  "But if she dies, wouldn't she just end up back here?" Jack asked. 
  "I'm afraid it doesn't work like that. When a soul comes to Halloween Town, it is still completely, or mostly at least, intact from the time it was separated from its physical body. If Aubrey's soul continues to be destroyed like it is, she will die, but she won't get back up." 
  "How long until that happens?" Jack asked worriedly. The fact that he, Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, Halloween Town's ultimate scare-master, was worried scared the hell out of me. 
  "A week, maybe two. It depends on Aubrey's will. I'm surprised she hasn't been displaying any signs of weakening yet." 
  I suddenly thought of all the times at school where Aubrey had seemed incredibly tired, nearly passing out a few times. And she'd been getting sick a lot lately. 
  I looked over at her. Her breathing was rhythmic, but it was ragged, almost forced. She was paler than usual and had gotten a lot thinner. 
  "Isn't there a way to stop it?" Sally asked. 
  "Not anymore my dear. The only way to reverse what is happening would be to get Aubrey back to the living world. But that feat is now impossible since the door is gone." 
  I pulled away from the wall. "Lock?" Barrel asked. "You okay?" 
  "No, Barrel, I'm not okay!" I snapped. "How did I not notice something was wrong?" 
  "Lock, chill. Aubrey didn't want us to know. She always said she was fine, how were we supposed to know?" 
  Shock crossed her arms. "Personally, I blame our uniforms. They're so baggy that you wouldn't be able to tell that she was getting so sickly skinny." 
  I hit my forehead. "I should've known, though! Stupid, stupid, stupid!" I hit my head against the wall with every "stupid." 
  "Stop it Lock!" Shock said, pulling me away from the wall. "It isn't your fault and beating yourself up won't do anyone any good! The best thing we can do is try to help find a way to living world." 
  "How?" I asked. "The door's gone." 
  "Sandy Claws!" Barrel exclaimed excitedly. 
  "What?" Shock and I asked. 
  He rolled his eyes. "Sandy Claws. He goes to the living world every year. Maybe he could take Aubrey back." 
  Shock and I looked at each other. "You know, that's actually a pretty good idea." Shock muttered. 
  "Then let's go tell Jack!" I ordered, running to the door. 
  We ran into Jack's study, which is conveniently located right next to Aubrey's room, ecstatic. "Jack! Jack!" 
  "What is it?" The skeleton asked. 
  "We've got an idea." Shock grinned. 
  "It was my idea, I wanna tell him!" Barrel whined. 
  "Well?" Jack asked, crossing his arms. 
  I rolled my eyes and clapped a hand over each of their mouths. "What if you asked Sandy Claws to take Aubrey back?" 
  Jack brightened immediately. "That's a wonderful idea! Sally, you come with me. You three watch Aubrey. If she shows any sign of getting worse, one of you come get me. Doctor, thank you for your assistance." He and Sally walked out quickly, Doctor Finklestein not far behind them. 
  "Lock?" A quiet voice called. 
  I took a step toward the door, and then turned to look at Shock and Barrel. Shock shoved me out of the room. "She asked for you, not us." 
  I walked into the room and shut the door. Aubrey was sitting propped up against a pillow and the bed's headboard. There were three or four tear tracks on her cheeks. "You were awake?" 
  She nodded. "Since 'our town is built for the dead'." 
  I sat down next to her on the bed. "Why didn't you tell us, Aubrey?" I asked. "We might've been able to help!" 
  "I don't know. I thought it would just go away." She 'tch'-ed. "Shows how much I know." 
  "You know plenty. You just don't use it sometimes." I told her. 
  She bit her lip. "I'm scared, Lock. I don't wanna die, but I don't wanna leave either!" 
  I hugged her. It was the only thing I could think to do. I felt her grip my shirt. "If I had to choose, I think I'd rather have you live and never see you again than have you die and never see you again." 
  "What's the point?" She muttered into my shoulder. "Both of them end with 'and never see you again'." 
  "Yeah, but at least with the first one I know you're okay." 
  She pulled out of my hug, but was still holding onto my shirt. "You wouldn't know. If I go back, I could get another boyfriend and you'd never know." 
  "But you wouldn't." I told her. 
  "How do you know?" 
  I grinned. "Aubrey, you've dated me. Any other guy would pale in comparison." 
  She smirked. "I don't know, they don't get much paler than you." 
  "Your wonderfully cynical sense of humor's back, you're okay." I said, loosening her grip and getting up. 
  She pulled on my arm. "No, stay here. Please? We haven't had a chance to just talk in a while." She smiled. 
  I sat back down. "Okay. I know exactly what to talk about." 
  The door opened and Shock and Barrel peeked in. "Is the mushy stuff over?" Barrel asked. 
  I frowned. "You've been eavesdropping, you should know." 
  "No, I've been eavesdropping. And let me tell you, I nearly lost my lunch." Shock said. "Do you want us to leave?" 
  I shrugged. "You can stay. I was going to tell Aubrey how we ended up meeting." 
  Shock cackled. "Ooh, I want to help with this." 
  Barrel sat down. "Yeah, you'll just screw it up." 
  I rolled my eyes. "Fine, you two can help. But don't interrupt!" 
  "We won't." They both promised with oh-so-obviously fake sincerity. 
  I sighed and started anyway. "I was born about three centuries ago in London. If you thought that it was bad from reading about it, I can tell you honestly that the book version is highly censored. It was a hellhole. You didn't even want to walk the streets in the daytime, let alone at night. Especially if you were a girl. That's how I came around. 
  "My mom wanted me, she really did, but her parents threw her out of the house 'cause they thought she was a whore. They said, 'If you ever want to be accepted in this house again, get rid of him.' She kept me until I was three, but couldn't take poverty any longer after that. She ditched me at the 'Arlem's Home for Orphans' and probably ran back to her parents, begging forgiveness. 
  "Let me tell you, growing up in that place was not fun at all. I in the four years I lived there, I tried to off myself at least four or five different ways. When all my other attempts at getting rid of myself failed, I decided I was going to make sure I did it right this time..." 
  "You were going to kill yourself?" Aubrey interrupted. "And you were NINE?" 
  "Orphanages back then were like child labor camps. Killing myself seemed like a kindness." I explained lamely. "It wasn't like anyone would've cared- they were all sure that I was possessed by a demon or something, and when they figured out that's just how I was, it just got worse. They threw me into a lake, bound and gagged, reading from the bible just to top it off." The look on Aubrey's face was somewhere between really pissed and horrified. "Anyway, I snuck into the kitchen and grabbed a knife, wrote out a suicide note, and headed out to the lake." 
  "Which is when he ran into us." Barrel said. 
  Aubrey frowned. "Wait- what were you two doing out there?" 
  "Trying to sneak out." Shock explained. "We'd just gotten pulled off the streets." 
  "Yeah, you guys hit me in the face with a branch." Lock said dryly. 
  Barrel crossed his arms. "Well, you DID sneak up on us..." 
  "You yelled 'ZOMBIE' and smacked me with it." Aubrey giggled a little. "Anyway, we all introduced ourselves-" 
  "Waitwaitwait." Aubrey interrupted again. "With your real names?" 
  I frowned. "Yes with our real names, what'd you- oh. Oh no, not telling." 
  "Please, Lock?" She begged. 
  "I don't care if she knows." Barrel said. "Mine was William. William Rigrew." 
  Shock rolled her eyes. "Fine. Sarah Collens." 
  I remained stubbornly silent. "Lock, c'mon... please?" Aubrey stuck her lower lip out a bit. I closed my eyes. "Lock!" 
  "His name was Louis DuVall." Shock finally answered for me. 
  "Shock!" 
  "Thank you Shock." Aubrey said. I grumbled and crossed my arms. "Oh, Lock, it's not that bad. I like it." 
  I smiled, feeling a little appeased. "Yeah, well... anyway, I got talked out of killing myself, they got talked out of leaving, and we basically became inseperable." 
  Aubrey hugged me. "Aww, that's cute. Not the part where you were going to kill yourself, that little end bit." 
  I rolled my eyes and put an arm around her shoulders. "No, really? I thought the knife I stole was the cutest. I even named it." 
  "Whatever. So how did you guys end up here?" 
  All three of us grimaced. "Arlem's caught on fire. We got trapped inside." 
  Shock laughed. "Trapped? Those bastards probably locked us in!" 
  "It's possible. But for all we know, they could've-" I stopped as I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. 
  The door opened, and Jack and Sally walked in. "Aubrey! You're awake." Jack said happily. 
  "Lock, Shock, Barrel; we need to talk to Aubrey." 
  I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, we get it. C'mon guys." I mouthed 'bye' behind Jack and Sally's backs before walking out. 
  xXx 
  "You had us very worried, Aubrey." Jack scolded. "Why didn't you tell someone?" 
  "I didn't think it was serious. I thought I had a cold or the flu or something." 
  Jack sat down on the bed. "I suppose they filled you in?" She nodded. No need to tell him that she'd been eavesdropping to. 
  "I have to go back, don't I?" She asked, her eyes wet. 
  Jack nodded. "Sandy- er, Santa Clause is going to take you back." 
  Aubrey blinked. "But… that means I've only got a day left here." 
  "Well, then you'd better make the best of it, and you certainly won't do that in here." Jack told her, smiling. "Go find Lock, Shock, and Barrel and go have some fun." 
  Aubrey didn't need to be told twice and ran downstairs, where the three trick-or-treaters were waiting. All four walked down to the Hinterlands, more precisely, the spot where the door used to be. They needed some privacy, and this was the best place to get it. 
  xXx 
  "So you're going to be gone tomorrow?" Lock asked. Aubrey nodded. Shock and I stayed quiet. We had both really started to like Aubrey. She wasn't an official trick-or-treater, but she helped us pull off some great pranks! 
  An idea suddenly came to me. I tugged on Shock's sleeve. "We need to have a quick meeting. Lock, come on." He gave me a look that clearly said he'd rather not. "Come on! It'll just be for a minute." He sighed and walked over behind Shock and me. Another sign something was wrong. He usually was fighting with Shock to be in front. 
  I explained my idea. Shock agreed with me. "We've gotten her in trouble with Jack so many times, she's definitely qualified." 
  Lock's usual grin had returned. "You two are great." 
  Shock groaned, but you could tell she appreciated the comment. "Don't get all mushy on us; just go get your girlfriend." 
  He ran over to Aubrey and dragged her back to us. "What is it?" 
  "We've decided that…" I started. 
  "Since you're leaving and we can't do a proper initiation on Halloween like we're supposed to…" Shock continued. 
  "That we're gonna make you an official trick-or-treater!" Lock finished. 
  Aubrey's eyes widened. "Seriously?" 
  "Would we lie to you?" Shock asked. Aubrey nodded. "Well, would we lie to about something as important as this?" 
  She laughed. "I'd hope not." 
  Lock looked around. "Either of you got something sharp?" Shock and I both checked our pockets. 
  "Nope." 
  "Me neither." 
  Lock groaned. "Of course. When we actually need it…" 
  "Well, this was sort of an impulse based thing." I reminded him. 
  Aubrey pulled something out of her costume. "Will this work?" She held up a pin. "Sally was hemming my sleeves yesterday. Guess she forgot about it." 
  Shock took it and scratched her palm. A blood leaked out quickly. "Yeah." She passed it around to me, then Lock, and he cut Aubrey. 
  "Ow! I could've done it myself, Lock." She muttered, staring at her hand. "I'm sort of surprised you guys still have blood." 
  "Just press your hand to each of ours before they heal." Shock ordered, pressing her bleeding palm to Aubrey's. Lock and I did the same, though Lock had to cut himself again because it was already starting to heal. Shock muttered a healing spell and Aubrey's cut sealed too. 
  "Hold on." Aubrey took the pin again and pricked her finger. She squeezed it until a drop of blood hit the ground. "It's a blood oath thing. I did it with Emily once. It's sort of like a promise, only more powerful and binding and crap." 
  "What are you promising?" I asked, curious. 
  She grinned. "That when I die, I'll end up here, in this spot." 
  Lock took it and copied her. "Okay, then I promise when you die, which better not be anytime soon, by the way, I'll be here waiting." 
  "Ooh, ooh, me too!" I took the pin and did the same. 
  Shock took it next, which surprised me a little. "Me too. Trick-or-treaters stick together forever, right?" 
  "Right!" Lock and I responded, grinning. 
  xXx 
  That night in the room Lock and me shared, Lock wasn't doing so well. Jack had just left with Aubrey to take her to Christmas Town. They had spent a lot of time alone together since we got back, but he still looked miserable. "It isn't fair, Barrel. Why does she have to go back? What did we ever do that was so wrong? I… oh god." 
  "Lock?" I asked. He wasn't acting like himself. 
  "I think I'm actually in love with her, Barrel." 
  It was killing me all over again to see Lock like this. Normally, I'm the one who came to him with problems. "I guess...sometimes... love just isn't enough." I didn't know what to do. I'd never been in love before, and normally I wasn't the one giving advice to my older "brother". "But, it's for the best, right? And we'll see her again." There was a silent 'eventually' at the end of that sentence. 
  I couldn't be sure, but I could've sworn I heard Lock mutter, "I hope so." 
   
   
   
   Chapter 10 
   
  Chapter 10 
  A Christmas Epilogue 
  December 25, 2:56 a.m. Somewhere in The Towers' hospital wing… 
  Aubrey Peterson had been in a coma for almost two months. Or, at least, that's what the staff at The Towers and the rest of the world thought, courtesy of one Mr. Nicholas Claus. So when she woke up very early Christmas morning, everyone was amazed. Especially Leon Jacobs. 
  At noon, he went to visit his patient. "Hello Aubrey." 
  Aubrey looked over at him. She was sitting up in her bed, eating her lunch of macaroni and cheese. "Hello Dr. Jacobs." 
  He smiled. "I'm glad to see that you remember me." 
  She swallowed her mouthful of noodles. "Why wouldn't I?" 
  Leon sat down in a chair next to her bed. "You took quite a fall, Aubrey. Tripped on one of Lindsey's books and slammed your head against three-inch steel bars. You don't remember?" She shook her head. "What about Halloween Town?" 
  Aubrey remembered. Santa had told her he would implant false memories into everyone's mind. She asked one thing. 
  Don't tamper with Emily. 
  He'd agreed. Emily was smart. She'd figure something out. 
  She remembered sneaking out. She remembered living in Halloween Town for the past two months. She remembered Jack taking her to Christmas Town so Santa could take her back. 
  Aubrey remembered everything. But she couldn't go back to Halloween Town. Not for a very long time anyway. It was lost to her. So, looking Leon straight in the eye, she replied to him, "What's Halloween Town?" 
  xXx 
  It took five days to get all the paperwork done that would allow me to go home. Leon had declared me completely sane, saying that the bump on the head had gotten rid of my delusional fantasies. I played the part of the confused girl, and said I didn't remember anything. You get really good at lying after a couple weeks of hanging around with Lock, Shock, and Barrel. 
  So, as I waited for Emily to come pick me up and take me home, I reached into the pocket of my jeans and pulled out the amulet. I'd hid it under my robe when I'd woken up. I doubt Santa had made up an excuse for it, and I didn't need to manage another lie. I hooked it around my neck just as Emily's Mercedes pulled up. 
  She leaned over and opened the door for me after I'd put my stuff in the trunk. "Looks like we've got some catching up to do." I said. 
  "And six hours to do it in." Emily grinned back. "We're taking the long way. I'll take you to lunch." I couldn't help but grin. I was so craving some greasy fast food. 
  As she drove through the gates, she told me that mom and Ryan had suddenly started babbling about how you'd fallen into a coma. I thought I was going crazy, because we'd known since your birthday that you'd disappeared from The Towers." 
  "It was Santa." I told her. 
  She shrugged. "Wouldn't doubt it. So… where did you go?" 
  I smiled, almost dreamily. "Halloween Town. I can't ever get back, though. The door's gone." 
  "You'd better start from the beginning." Emily told me. 
  And so I did, starting from the very first time I'd gone, to when mom stuck me in The Towers, to getting rid of Oogie Boogie, to getting enrolled in High School there, finishing with coming back here. 
  "You got to ride in Santa's sleigh? Cool." Emily admonished. 
  I was quiet for a minute. "Em, why'd you suddenly start believing me?" 
  I saw my sister's grip on the steering wheel tighten, making her knuckles go white. "I was looking through some of our old medical records, you know, from back when dad died." She gulped. "Mom had hired a… a hypnotist of sorts. For two treatments." 
  It took me a second to absorb the information. "Me and you. Oh my god. What for?" 
  Emily pulled into a parking lot of a burger place. "I'll tell you over lunch." 
  When we had our food and were back in the car, she continued her story. "I looked this guy up and set up an appointment with him. When I told him I wanted him to undo whatever he did, and he did it…" She leaned her head against the steering wheel. "We were in the car when dad crashed, Aubrey." 
  My fry dropped into my lap. Oh. My. God. I remembered now. 
  xXx 
  We were just coming home from the special Halloween circus. It was my third birthday. Emily was eight. Mom and Ryan had stayed home, so it was just us three in the truck. We were listening to a kiddie songs tape. Dad was laughing as I tried to remember the words to 'The man on the flying trapeze.' 
  Then…then a huge shadow popped up in front of the car. Dad swerved out of surprise, slamming into the guardrail. The shadow laughed, a laugh that chilled me to the bone. A laugh I knew far too well now. 
  The truck was teetering on the edge of the cliff. Emily and I were both crying and had cuts all over our bodies from the shattered window in front. 
  Dad reached back and unbuckled us both, then shoved open the back window that led into the truck bed. "Climb out, both of you." He had ordered. 
  We did so, but the sudden shift of weight made the truck topple over the edge. We sat in the back, screaming as the truck flew down the side of the cliff, landing with a crunch and throwing us out of the back.  
  When I woke up, the truck was burning, with dad trapped inside. Almost all of his skin and muscle was burned off his face, showing the bone underneath. I started screaming again. 
  xXx 
  "Oogie killed dad." I whispered. "I knew I wasn't crazy." 
  "He was trying to kill all of us, Aubrey." Emily told me. "All three of us. If dad had waited even one more second, we would've still been inside the truck when it fell." She pulled me into a hug. "We could both go to Halloween Town at first. We both heard the voices. We both saw the monsters in the closet, and under the bed. 
  "Mom didn't hire a hypnotist until a year later, your next birthday. I took to it a lot better than you. The guy made you forget the accident, but you still saw the monsters. Now you just didn't know why. Mom couldn't handle it. So after that incident on your eighth birthday, she had you committed." 
  "Oogie… that's what he meant. We weren't supposed to die that day with dad. I was." I sobbed into her sweater. "The reason I couldn't forget was because I had the key to the door. I couldn't forget because I helped to connect us with Halloween Town." 
  Emily hugged me tighter. "It's not your fault Aubrey. No one blames you. Everything's okay now, all right? Let's go home." 
  She started up the car again and started to pull out as I took a bite of my now lukewarm burger. "So… what's up with you and this Lock dude?" 
  "Emily!" 
  xXx 
  "Lock, come on!" Shock called up the stairs. "You're gonna make us late!" 
  "So?" Was all she got as a response. She turned to Barrel. 
  "Will you go talk to him?" 
  Jack walked up behind them. "I'll talk to him. You two get going." 
  "Okay. See ya' Jack. Come on Barrel!" 
  "Bye Jack! Bye Sally!" Barrel called, running after Shock. "Hey, wait for meeee!" 
  Sally walked out of the kitchen. "Give Lock a few days, Jack. He's still probably confused himself." 
  Jack nodded. "I know." He sat down in his high backed chair. "It's so quiet without Aubrey helping them to cause trouble. They haven't tried to pull anything in almost a week." 
  Sally hugged him. "We all miss her, Jack." 
                                            The End 
   
   
   Publication Date: December 4th 2011 https://www.bookrix.com/-hugs.and.kisses