A/N: Mmkay, this is my first attempt at Nightmare Before Christmas! Now, I adore the movie; I adore Jack and Sally; I just adore this entire plot and everything. It's fun, it's creative, and it's so sweet. Really, in it's own way. Especially the relationship between Jack and Sally. I also adore the movie Edward Scissorhands, which I just recently watched and then I decided, 'Hey Angel, why don't we make a sort of hybrid mix of a thing with those two movies? It'd be such a lovely thing.' And so there ya have it. My mix. Of course, the plot's not entirely like Edward Scissorhands at all; and not everything goes along with that plot. I only took certain aspects of that movie for this story.
P.S. Barrel might seem out of character, but we never get to really see his character! I love Barrel the most out of the Troublesome Trio, and I find he's really abused by Lock and Shock. So I decided to give him his own edge to this story. Though he's still our loveable goofball. He's just got his intelligent moments, that he does.
Disclaimer: The Nightmare Before Christmas belongs to Tim Burton and Skellington Productions.
The tires squealing, the sounds of metal crashing, the car flipping over are all a blur in my mind. They were all insignificant as I looked over at my dear cousin Barrel and saw him bleeding.
The last thing I remember hearing was the sounds of my own shrill screaming...
And then everything went white.
"Did you hear about that huge accident this weekend?" One girl whispered, leaning over to whisper in her friend's ear. The boy looked over, nodding solemnly.
"Yeah, it was apparently huge! Like, five cars were totalled, and only two of the like, 13 people survived." He whispered back. "Though they're not fairing any better, I hear. Scarred like war veteran after a bomb exploded in their face." He frowned a little, flicking back a strand of red hair from his oddly yellow eyes, looking at the dark hair girl beside him.
She nodded, looking around for a moment, before leaning forward to whisper again. "Apparently the two that survived are from our school; Sally and Barrel Finkelstein. They're cousins." Shock Witching fiddled with her headband for a moment before slipping it on, looking at Lock DeVille as he stared with wide eyes. "Barrel's that really tall guy that always hangs around her, since he's the older of the two; he's got the green hair and blue eyes. Apparently he's got a few scars around his face now."
"Well, at least girls will think he's cool since he survived a crash like that." Lock muttered, rolling his eyes and grinning. "And what about Sally? I've seen her around; she's a good looking gal."
"I've only heard rumours about her; apparently her wounds were worse than Barrel's and the doctors at the hospital didn't know what to do with her; they thought she was going to die." She paused, thinking about the things she had heard before looking at Lock again. "Her foster father Dr Finkelstein's this renowned doctor all over North America and so he took her to his lab and fixed her right up. She's fine...But I don't think she'll be that bright, attractive girl she used to be. Oh, I'm sure her mind's fine, since she's talking and walking coherently and everything...Just..." She chewed on her bottom lip; either worrying it or holding back giggles, who knew with Shock? "Just now she's all scarred up; like she was a rag doll put together really badly by a child's hands." Lock's eyes widened and she nodded quietly.
"Damn...That's harsh."
"You're telling me..." She suddenly fell silent, eyes widened as she turned her long face over to the front doors. Lock stared at her in confusion for a moment, before looking over, dawning comprehension falling over his face as he saw who had just walked in.
The taller of the cousins was walking next to a small looking figure that seemed to be hiding within their coat which was long and heavy-looking for the beginning of October. Barrel seemed to be saying something to the younger girl, a hand on her shoulder as he smiled to her reassuringly. She shook her head, though one could barely tell it was such a small movement; her long, reddish brown hair covered her face, falling to her waist and let out loosely. It seemed stringy now, though, instead of the full bounce it had been just that past week when she had been smiling and wishing everyone a good weekend. Finally, she looked up at her cousin as he said something to make her smile, and the two conversing friends saw what had been done to her after her foster father had gotten his hands on her.
At the corners of her lips were long stitches that stretched on her cheeks, and over her right eye there was a long stitching scar there, black as the thread it was made of; stark against her skin that had always been pale. Around her neck, of all places, there was stitching just as black as the ones on her face; Shock wondered if she could still talk, and then was proven that she could when she said something softly to Barrel who nodded, rubbing her shoulder like the good cousin he was before he jogged off towards the office, leaving her near the entrance to shrink into herself. Because of his departure, neither of the two friends could see the rest of her scars because she had hidden inside her jacket again.
Shock turned to look at Lock, who looked at the same time, their eyes wide. "She looks a royal mess," he whispered softly, glancing at her from the corner of his eye. "Poor girl...She's probably traumatized."
"You gotta pity her. She's a nice girl and all..."
"And just last week you said you hated her for that kindness."
"Oh shut up, Lock."
Sally Finkelstein watched as her cousin ran off to the office to go talk to the principal; he had called this morning asking to talk to one of the cousins about the amount of damage that the teens had suffered and if they needed to have an counselling; what could he do to help them through this difficult time? She stepped back to a wall, wishing with all her might that she could just blend into it and closed her eyes, hiding into her jacket again which she had worn to avoid the questions she was sure she was going to get. She felt two pairs of eyes on her, and through her long lashes looked at Shock Witching and Loc DeVille; two of the pranksters of the school who liked to make the teachers' and principal's lives a living hell. Usually their antics were amusing, and Sally found them funny...But now she was under their scrutiny. She saw pity in Shock's gaze then, and looked away from her, biting her bottom lip.
Sally couldn't remember being pulled from the totalled car after she had blacked out, but when she came to she was under her foster father's intent gaze which he hid behind sunglasses, scratching his bald head as he looked at her. She shifted, wincing because of the amount of pain she found herself in and Dr Finkelstein, in his raspy, coarse voice, snapped at her harshly not to move or else she'd destroy her stitching. She had blinked, wide eyes widening even more than was normal, and the good doctor had wheeled his electronic wheelchair over to his desk, picking up the mirror he used to show his patients what they looked like after surgery, and wheeled over to her, keeping it to his chest.
"It was all I could do to save you. Anything else and you would've surely died. You'll look like this until the day you die, and I can't help you on that. So you'll just have to get used to it." He had told her quietly, but still just as harshly, before holding the mirror up for her to see.
And Sally had fainted.
She shifted her arms, still sore from the stitches but better than the first night, frowning as she thought of the medical work her foster father had done for her. She didn't understand why he couldn't change any of the stitching, but Sally didn't know a thing about medicine except for how to make a sleeping dosage for her foster father from the deadly nightshade she picked from their back garden whenever she wanted to go out for a long time. She was often locked into her room for such shenanigans, but at least she got her freedom.
Now she wished she was locked up just so she wouldn't feel the eyes of her peers.
The sound of quick footsteps caught her ears, and she peeked up to see Barrel coming over to her, grinning his usual wide, friendly grin and she couldn't help the tiny smile that came out, making his grin widen. His face was scarred but not mangled, and his stitches were small and barely noticeable; only noticeable if you pointed them out for someone to see. When he had seen Sally on the weekend after he had gotten out of the hospital, he had been surprised to see her state and instead of screaming or calling her a freak, he had hugged her. She had been so surprised that she had started to sob and they had spent the rest of the weekend together, wondering what they were going to do when they got to school.
"Mr Mayor says that you can stay in the office all day with Mrs Claus. She'll help you cope with everything and I can get your homework from all your classes and notes from students." He said, stopping front of her and placing a hand on her head. She looked at him quietly, seemingly thinking about this, before she nodded quietly and Barrel smiled widely. "Let's get you to the counsellor's office then." He said, wrapping an arm around her small shoulders and walking her in the direction of the counsellor's office. He turned to look at Lock and Shock, raising an eyebrow at them and Shock blinked, flushing at being caught staring.
He frowned a little, before mouthing out 'I'll talk to you two later' before he turned away, turning the corner and disappearing from their sight.
Sally sat down in the chair, folding her hands in front of her as Barrel spoke to Mrs Claus outside of the office; both of them talking in low voices so that she wouldn't hear them. She frowned a little at that, closing her eyes as she thought to herself about different things; keeping her mind off of the weekend and her new appearance. Finally Barrel came in, wishing her a good day before he left, and Mrs Claus stepped in, walking to her chair behind her desk and sitting down, smoothing the back of her red skirt as she sat; her green sweater snug on her torso as she looked up at Sally, smiling her kind smile; white hair pulled back into a bun at the nape of her neck, glasses perched on her nose. She was a lovely woman who seemed to care for all the students in the school and acted as a sort of grandmother and confident to them all; everything that was said here was truly secret, and none of the other faculty knew of the problems the students went to Mrs Claus for.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, Sally fidgeting in her seat and Mrs Claus waiting patiently for her to speak before the elderly woman sighed softly, smiling at her. "Why don't you take off that heavy jacket? It must be very warm for you right now." She said kindly, trying to make Sally comfortable. She knew about Sally's condition, and this was to show her that she wasn't bothered by it and that she knew Sally was still the same Sally that had come to her about family problems and stress and grades.
The girl blinked, startled and looking up at her, before she nodded a tiny bit, unbuttoning the coat with her small hands slowly, slipping out of it carefully after she was done; showing some more of the extent of her scarring.
From what could be seen under a self made dress made out of blues, green and purples, there was stitching up from her chest that spread into a seeming y-incision on her chest, peeking out slightly from under the collar of the dress. On her arms there were different places scars, just as macabre as the ones on her face and neck; black threat stark against her pale skin and seemingly holding her together around her elbows, forearms, uppers arms and wrists. Biting her bottom lip, she shifted in her seat and folding her hands into her lap again, clasping her hands together quietly. Mrs Claus looked at her for a moment longer, before she smiled at her kindly.
"Why don't you talk about your English class? You're doing better in there now, right? I heard from Miss Gill that you wrote a song that really touched her..."
Sally blinked again, surprised by the choice of subject before she smiled and nodded, starting to quietly speak about her classes.
Barrel walked down the halls, ignoring the whispers of students as he walked up to Shock and Lock, who still sat where they had been before Barrel had taken Sally to Mrs Claus. He stopped in front of them, looking at the two of them before he sighed heavily. "Could you guys not be so noticeable when you're talking about someone? Sally's really self-conscious right now."
"Is she alright?" Shock asked, looking at him curiously; Barrel didn't really speak to many other people except for Sally, but that was because he was protective of her. To see him talking to them of all people—people someone wouldn't expect Barrel to ever even be caught dead standing next to—was just a surprise. Lock looked at him, also curious to his answer, and Barrel looked to the side, shrugging his shoulders.
"She's alright physically...She's just gotten a lot quieter since she woke up." He said, frowning in worry for his cousin. The two friends looked at each other, before standing up in one fluid motion; showing that Lock was slightly taller than Barrel and Shock was the tallest of the three. They put their elbows on Barrel's shoulders, looking at him as he looked at them curiously before they both smiled.
"We can make her smile if you like," Shock said, flicking back some of her long, dark hair. Barrel bit the inside of his cheek, opening his mouth to say something when Lock interrupted.
"We won't be mean about it or nothing. We'll just get her something she really likes." He said, waving his free hand casually around as if they did this every other day. Shock nodded in agreement, speaking up again.
"This is why we'll need your help." She said, smiling at him sweetly. "You know Sally the most, right? You are her cousin, after all!" He nodded, unsure of what they wanted from him.
"You just have to come with us when we get something she really likes."
"...She likes cloth dolls a lot...She makes clothes for them and stuff like that." Barrel said, smiling slowly at the idea of giving something to Sally to make her feel better.
"Hey, that's cool." Shock said, smiling at Barrel though secretly smirking at Lock who was plotting at that moment. "We'll go get a doll then. Right now. You come with us to show us what kind of dolls she likes."
"...I can't leave school." Barrel said, eyes widening. "I need to be here for Sally! I gotta get her homework and stuff."
"Don't worry," Lock said, patting Barrel on the back. "We'll be back before you know it! I mean, Shock can drive. Like a maniac."
"I am not a maniac. You're just a wuss."
"I am not!"
"Are too!"
"AM NOT!"
"ARE TOO!"
"AM NOT!"
"Shut up both of you!" Barrel shouted, interrupting them and they stared at him with wide eyes. He then grinned. "If you can make this trip quick, then I can get the perfect thing for her." He said, looking at them both. The two of them looked at each other before smiling widely and nodding.
"Sounds like a plan."
"Let's go."
Barrel lead Shock and Lock into a store on the other end of town, walking in and waving to one of the cashiers as he did so; the other two stared at him oddly, looking at each other before walking after the quick-moving Barrel, watching as he looked through the isles. He then turned into one suddenly and Lock bumped into Shock trying to get in after him, causing a mass collision and then flailing limbs before they fell over in a pile of embarrassment and awkward positions. Barrel looked back at him, blinking with wide eyes as Shock flushed red and Lock continued to try and detangle himself from her skirt. The redheaded boy glared up at him, scowling. "What?!" He snapped, and Barrel just grinned, shaking his head as he turned, picking up a doll body dressed in a simple patchwork dress. "That the doll?" Lock muttered as he crossed his arms, facing away from Shock who was straightening her skirt, muttering death threats under her breath, every few minutes 'moron' being heard as she glared at her friend.
Barrel nodded, fiddling with the doll. "Sally always said that the doll reminded her of her, and she always wanted it." He said, smiling and shrugging a little. Shock looked at him oddly, raising an eyebrow. "What?"
"How does it remind her of her? I mean, I can tell with the scars on it and her new look, but...The doll's light blue."
"Have you ever closely looked at Sally? She looks pale from a distance, but so do I; it's a family trait. A skin condition that we all have; we're all a really light blue. Sometimes, if we stay out in the sun for too long the blue gets darker, but other than that...We're all light blue." He said, shrugging as he held out one of his hands for Shock's inspection, shock (no pun intended) falling onto her face to see he was speaking the truth. "Can we buy the doll now? I need to be there in time for lunch..."
"Hold your horses; why can't we take our time and get some nice dresses for the doll?" Lock said, inwardly wondering why he was doing this again. Barrel shook his head, looking at him.
"I already told you. She likes to make the dresses for them. Let's go." He then walked past them, but Shock grabbed the back of his shirt, pulling him back. He balked, looking at her in confusion. "Why aren't we leaving?"
"Because we just wanna hang out with you for a little while. You're always hanging around with your cousin. You're not always gonna be with her, you know." Shock said, smirking as Barrel's confusion was swiped from his face to a blank look of understanding. "Is that illegal?"
"Right now, yeah." Barrel said, ripping his arm out of her grasp. "Drive me back or I'm taking your car." He said, holding up his other hand to show he had somehow swiped her keys without her noticing. Her eyes widened, before she frowned, grumbling to herself as she snatched her keys back, nodding. Barrel smiled, nodding back before he went to the cash and Lock slid up to stand beside her, looking at her.
"You gonna let him get away with that? I mean, no one touches your keys."
"No, I'm not gonna let him get away with that..."
Sally sighed a little as she took a cookie from Mrs Claus, chewing on it carefully as the older woman spoke fondly of her husband, talking about one thing or the other. "He seems to have found an interest in that old house just a little bit from Dr Finkelstein's home. I'm sure you know of it, dear; it's the tall house with the tower? He says he's seen someone—or something as he says—walking in that tower and so he's been going down every night to watch." She shook her head, smiling. "Nicolas is very fond of the supernatural, you know. But I'm sure that's going to hurt him somehow one way or the other; he's going to hurt his back or he's going to put strain on himself. He isn't as young as he used to be, you know!"
Sally smiled, pushing back some of her hair and she saw the counsellor pause in her talking, faltering for a moment before smiling to her kindly. "Does it hurt dear?" She asked softly and Sally blinked, looking at her before she shrugged her shoulders softly, fiddling with her half eaten cookie. "Sally dear, I need you to talk to me about that. We can't talk about Nicolas all day now."
"I thought we could've avoided the topic." The young girl sighed, closing her eyes before she looked up at Mrs Claus shyly, chewing on her bottom lip. "I...don't know what I should say."
"Why don't you tell me about waking up?" Mrs Claus suggested, shifting in her seat and making her comfortable, smiling at her sweetly. "I think that would be a good place to start." Sally nodded, lifting the cookie before she paused, putting it back on the table as she folded her hands together.
"The first thing I remember...Was pain..."
There was a flash of red behind her eyelids and she gasped, eyes snapping open as she twisted her head to look into the covered eyes of her foster father who was glaring at her, frowning his usual little gimp frown. "Don't move, you twit! You'll destroy your stitching and then all that hard work will be for naught!" He sighed, shaking his head as if he thought she were stupid, before wheeling back, going over to his counter. "Hold still you silly girl and I'll get you a mirror. Just don't move. And don't talk." He muttered to himself as he jerked his wheelchair forward when it malfunctioned for a minute before finally getting to his counter, picking up the mirror and turning his chair, wheeling back over to the table. He pressed a button, and the table tilted slightly so that Sally wasn't horizontal to the floor anymore. He then held up the mirror to her face, watching her quietly. "You had quite the accident young lady. You're lucky to be alive."
But instead of feeling grateful for the doctor for saving her, Sally let out a choked scream and fainted.
"...I woke up the next day to Barrel sitting next to me, and I think I just collapsed on him and started to cry...We've been sticking close to each other since..." She looked over her shoulder at the clock, her eyes wide. "And he should be coming soon to pick me up; school's almost over." She said, turning to Mrs Claus and smiling. "Thank you for letting me stay with you today, Mrs Claus. I'll be going to class tomorrow though, so I'll be fine."
"If you ever need a friend, Sally dear, I'm always here to listen." The elder woman said, smiling, before watching Sally pull on her coat quietly, snuggling into it as she nodded to her, before stepping out, and walking down the halls quietly. Mrs Claus then sighed softly, looking at the sugar cookies in front of her.
"I do hope she'll be alright...Poor child."
Barrel looked at Lock and Shock from the back seat, frowning a little as he glanced out the window, before looking at them again. "Why are we in the country?"
"Because it's a short cut." Shock said, glancing back at him and smiling sardonically. "Duh." Barrel nodded, accepting that innocently before he went back to fiddling with the doll he had bought for his cousin, waving one of its arms for a minute before sighing, putting it back into the bag. "You seem antsy."
"School's been over for ten minutes. I need to get her home." He said, looking over at Lock who had turned to stare at him. "I guess you guys wouldn't understand, being only children."
"You're an only child. Sally's just your cousin."
"Yeah? I still consider her a close part of my family." He sighed, looking out the window. "Could we just get there quickly, please? I'm seriously worried." He frowned a little. "Sally's been...Different since the accident."
"What, other than her looks?" Lock said, turning to look at him curiously. "Since those are certainly different." He turned to Shock and they both cackled for a moment. Barrel threw the tissue box in the back seat at Lock's head. "Ouch! Hey, man, I was kidding!"
"Don't joke about something like that; how would you feel if someone made fun of you for your yellow eyes?" He challenged, glaring. Lock shrugged.
"I'd slug him." Barrel blinked; of course. Lock was a physical kind of guy, wasn't he? Shock must've been the brains of the duo.
"You know, Barrel, you're not half bad once you get passed the obsession with your cousin." Shock commented, looking at him through the rear-view mirror. "No one's ever gotten their mitts on my keys before; I keep them hidden safely."
"It's in the most obvious hiding spot." Barrel rolled his eyes. "I'm snatching things from Dr Finkelstein all the time. He hides thing interestingly." He grinned, as if remembering a fond memory, and the two friends looked at each other oddly for a minute. "He uses some of his experiments. He's a scientist before he's a doctor, after all. He made a few cool things; though he says he does have failed experiments. I can never find them, though; he throws them out." The boy shook his head sadly, and Shock and Lock looked at each other with curiousity in their eyes.
"Why don't you show us the doc's lab? We've always been curious about it..."
"Yeah, so was Sally's cat. Now Sally's cat is a dead cat." Barrel rolled his eyes as he smirked.
"But I've seen Sally's cat; boney little thing." Shock stated, glancing back at him. Barrel nodded, looking solemn.
"He felt bad and brought it back to animation." He said simply. Lock's eyes widened and Shock nearly crashed the car into a light pole. "Hey! Watch where you're driving! Jeez, you act like that's something weird to hear."
"Because, you know, dead cats walk around the street every day."
"...In the lab they do."
Shock swerved again.
Sally stood by the front doors, looking at the sidewalk for any sign of Barrel and yet seeing none. She bit her bottom lip quietly, chewing on it as she grew fidgety, scratching at the stitching on her wrist before she caught herself, frowning as she stuffed her hands in her pockets. "Shoot," she mumbled, looking back at the sidewalk to see if her cousin was around yet. But she saw no sign of him, which made her start to feel nervous. "Barrel...Where are you...?" She whispered, looking around before she sighed softly, hunching her shoulders and making the trek home alone, ignoring the stares she received from a few of the students who had heard about what had happened.
After she had passed the initial school grounds, the sidewalk was relatively empty and void of people, which made her relax a little and walk at a slow, relaxed pace. She looked up from the ground, looking around the street and smiled, feeling almost like she had a week ago before the accident; normal, walking home after a hard day at school with homework to do and friends to go see. Her smile faltered at that, and she frowned a little; she hadn't heard from her friends all weekend, but maybe that was because they thought she was recuperating after the accident? She was lucky to be alive, after all...
"If being alive means me looking like this for the rest of my life, I'd rather be dead." Sally mumbled, kicking at a can in her path. She jumped when it clanged against something, and looked up to see the old house that Mrs Claus had mentioned that day; the old house with the tower. She looked at it, staring at the wrought iron gates for a moment, before stepping up to the gate itself, placing a hand on one of the bars and looking up at the windows in the tower. One of the fluttery curtains seemed to shifted to the side, and she thought she saw a tall figure in there briefly before she blinked and just as quickly as it came it disappeared.
She stepped back from the gate, wrapping her arms around her torso as she stared up frightened at the old house, before she turned and ran towards Dr Finkelstein's tower just a little ways away from it. She ran up the stairs, opening the door and closing it, falling against it and slipping down to the ground, panting softly. She winced as she heard the harsh sounds of the old wheelchair in motion, glancing up the rounded grated wheelchair ramp that led to the upper level; seeing her foster father staring at her in a disapproving manner.
"Sally, were you running? You shouldn't do that! You'll over exert yourself! You're not ready for any excitement; you're still very delicate."
"It's not like I wanted to be like this." She mumbled softly and Dr Finkelstein scowled at her darkly.
"If it weren't for my quick and unmotivated help, you would've been deader than that damned cat of yours." He told her harshly; said cat leaping into Sally's lap and purring contentedly as Sally scratched behind its ears. "It'll need to have another check soon so that it'll stay animated, you know."
"I know; it was marked on the calendar." Sally said softly, sighing as she closed her eyes, before blinking them open; getting an idea. "Have you seen Barrel today?"
"Huh? That wretched cousin of yours? No, no; he's been somewhere. He sure hasn't come here, if that's what you're asking. No help that boy; all he ever does is cause trouble for me..." Sally smiled, giggling a little in her hand at her foster father's grumbling as he wheeled himself back up to the upper levels, before she sighed gently, looking at her cat.
"Oh, I wish I knew where Barrel is...I'm worried now...He never breaks his promises."
"Now I know we're not near town." Barrel muttered as the car stopped and he got out, glaring at Shock and Lock as they cackled, locking the doors to the car.
"Duh we aren't! We're abandoning you here!" Shock stated matter-of-factly, swiping back some of her hair that her headband didn't hold back. "That's for not paying attention to us. We'll see ya when we see ya!" She shrieked in glee, twisting the car and driving off. Barrel sighed, watching them drive off before pulling something out of his pocket, fiddling with it quietly.
"They aren't going to get far without an emergency break...'Specially when those breaks finally snap...Should happen in about ten minutes..." He shrugged a little to himself, and started to walk over to the bus stop, pocketing the emergency break he'd plucked when he had gotten to the car before the others in the parking lot, looking at the times before he sighed. "I'm sorry, Sally..."