The Nightmare before Christmas, 300 years after the original story.
Chapter 1
Kali looked around at the busy shoppers preparing for the string of holidays coming up. She sighed; the only holiday she liked was Halloween. Kali smiled as she thought how soon it was, next week.
'Heh, devil costume here I come.' Kali thought smirking to herself, the teen walked over to the costume shelves, already a hectic mess. After a little rummaging the dark blond found the costume she was looking for. "Eureka!" Kali took it to the dressing rooms and tried it on.
"Perfect fit," she mumbled satisfaction lining her voice. After buying the costume she made her way home.
"Hey, mom! I'm home!"
"Hi, Hun. Welcome home. What did you get?" The tired looking middle-aged woman asked motioning to the bag.
"A devil's costume, mom. You wanna see?"
"Sure, why not."
"Alright then," Kali disappeared into the bathroom and came out wearing the red ensemble.
"Ooo, very cute, honey…. Oh, wait, what time is it?"
"Uhh, three thirty. Why?"
"Oh, dear, I have to get to work."
"Over time, ma?"
"Yeah, dinner's in the fridge." The brown haired woman explained pulling a coat on.
"Be careful mom, the door will be locked when you get home; I got to get to work too." Kali's mom nodded running out the door. The girl sighed looking toward the refrigerator; it's once white outside stained yellow by time.
After a cold dinner of her mom's best leftover turkey in a slight sandwich Kali started decorating the outside of the tiny trailer. Even though they were really poor, Kali and her mother always made decorations out of last year's or random stuff they found. The inside and outside of the trailer home was unusually clean too. Something of a rarity among the trailer homes of Caldwell, New York.
Orange and black tinsel decorated the top of the home in graceful swoops, neon green spider webs were scattered among the home, and a large paper skeleton hung on the door. Jack-o-lanterns decorated the doorway on each side with an eerie smile and a demonic glare. Scanty as their decorations were, Kali was satisfied for now.
"Hey, Barrel! Get me a lollipop will 'ya?!"
"Get it yourself Lock! You lazy a**!" Shock replied smacking her devilish boyfriend in the head.
"I don' wanna….. Okay! Fine! Yeesh!!!" Lock exclaimed leaning away from the glare the witch gave him. Barrel shook his head grinning creepily at his childhood friends. Lock tossed Shock and Barrel a sucker. "So, what're we gonna do for Halloween this year? Go to the human realm?" Lock asked aloud as the trio started on their candy.
"Maybe that sounds fun, you think Jack would let us?" Shock asked fingering her fish-net stockings.
"Yeah, why wouldn't he? We've been kinda good…"
"If you don't count when you tried to bag the Easter Bunny again…." Barrel added earning a glare from the devil. Three hundred years since the Christmas catastrophe, that's when Santa Clause and Jack decided to get all the 'leaders' of the other holiday lands together. A Holiday meeting, that was nearly 250 years ago. Since then the lands of Holiday have been melded together; into one large continent, separated by the countries of Holidays of old. The leaders meet every year.
Santa Clause, Jack Skellington, the Easter Bunny, the head Pilgrim, Cupid, and the head of the Little People; they all got together and discussed the on goings of the holidays. Some volunteered to help others, some played little tricks, most of all everyone celebrated all the holidays. Something different, variety, and no one ever got tired of the restlessness of the holidays ever again. Except for Barrel.
The last 250 years had been fun, but Barrel just kind of missed plain old Halloween. The others did too, but not to the same extent that Barrel felt. He was sure of it, during the last 200 years Lock and Shock had found something. Something that would make everything much more interesting then if they did it alone; what they found was something Barrel would never find. Love. They were all growing older, Barrel saw it, everyone did.
Lock, Shock, and Barrel were all the equivalent of 16 and 17 year old humans or they looked like it. They were growing, just at a slower rate and when they reached adulthood it would be the last they would grow. They would stay like that for the rest of millennia, even longer. But to do what? Make fun and merry and then go scary again? For all his life? There was too much predictability in this unpredictable lifestyle.
The young zombie sighed; looking in the mirror was too much for him. Much less at his friends. Somehow every one of them became, handsome, beautiful, stunning. Especially Lock, Barrel thought, his red hair was naturally curled into itself at the top like devil horns (those were probably hidden underneath), his tail was the coolest thing Barrel had ever seen too, the older devil in town loved it, he loved it so much the old badger was envious, but what the real jaw-dropping aspect of him was his face. Handsome and beautiful it made Barrel's eyes hurt if he looked for too long. Lock's eyes were smoldering too, a dark red that shone demonically when he got angry or excited or any other emotion that rocked him. Lock's usual outfit was merely a red hoody with a skull and crossbones drawn on it cartoon style, accompanied by navy blue cargo pants, they were so dark almost black.
Shock was just as beautiful if not even more so. Her crazy hair now fell in the most delicate of curls around her face. Almost as if she had just gotten it permed, a very good perm, Barrel thought. Her face was the most simple of features it made her radiant, pale white skin, looking like if you touched it, her skin would break into a million pieces in your fingers. Even though she was still the tomboy that was their group's leader, Barrel could pick out the new feminine aspects of her style. Her witch hat was made out of a new waterproof material (it looked very expensive. How much did Lock really pay for it? Or maybe he stole it…). She now wore a leather mini-skirt with fishnet stockings that ended right where her skirt stopped. Her shirts were varied but were usually black or green, maybe red, but always she had those fish-net gloves. It all looked so expensive, Barrel shuddered wondering how many zeros it included.
Barrel was- well, Barrel. His old greasy hair was replaced with really 'healthy' blue locks, no bangs. They went straight from the middle part in his hair to his chin line, curling in. Shock said it really complimented his skinny, 'lean' body shape. Barrel just thought he was too skinny, lanky, gangly almost. Barrel merely wore a dark blue tee-shirt and jeans. It wasn't just how plain he looked next to his friends; it was the feeling of suffocating loneliness.
"Hey, what's wrong Barrel? You wanna 'nother cherry?" Shock asked him, worry in her voice offering a cherry flavored lollipop.
"Nah, just kinda tired…. I'm gonna get to sleep. Don't make too much noise tonight guys." Barrel replied as Shock became as red as Lock's hair, Lock smirked.
"Get outta here you!" Lock shooed his smirk growing wider, and then his eyes would start glowing, Shock would blush some more, and the moment they heard Barrel's door close the couple would start making out. God knows what else, Barrel knew, he lived in the same house as them. Barrel knew this routine well, he could recite it by heart and he did as the door swung closed. Wearily, Barrel lay down on his neatly made bed, closed his eyes and wished that sleep would come and silence his ears. Unfortunately it did not come until the house was still, hours later.