CHAPTER 1: MEET US
"Shock, get up already!!" my younger brothers yelled, jumping on my bed. I slapped one of them, probably Barrel, and threw the sheets off of my bed.
"What? I was sleeping!" I yelled, spraying spit and morning breath all over my stupid siblings. Lock waved his had over his nose, then jumped off of the mattress.
"Today's the day," Barrel said quietly. I then remembered. Moving day. Stupid, stupid moving day.
CHAPTER 2: MOVING
"Bye, Sarah," my friend McKenzie said, hugging me tightly. You probably don't know this, but I'm Sarah Greene. My brothers call me Shock. Don't ask why.
"Sarah Louisa Greene, get into this van right now, or we're leaving!" my mother lectured from the car. If you ask me, I would much rather stayed. Sadly, I had no options.
CHAPTER 3: NEW HOUSE
Stepping out of the car, a hideous smell filled my nostrils.
"Luke, Brendan, go pick your rooms. No fighting, or you'll share," Mom said, shooing them into the house.
"Mom, why did we have to move? I just made friends in our old neighborhood.
"Sarah, you know why," she replied, unloading the car.
"If we have to stay here, you have to call me Shock, like Luke and Brendan do," I pouted.
"Honey, if I let you change your name, your brothers will want theirs changed, too."
"Mom, please. It's a new school."
I was interrupted by my brothers' laughter. They were running around in the very vast woods behind the house.
"Do me a favor, Sarah, and go watch your brothers. I don't want them hurt," my mother ordered.
CHAPTER 4: THE FINDING
The crunching leaves sent shivers down my spine as I walked.
"Ugh, no cell phone reception? This bites," I mumbled, shoving my phone into my jeans pocket.
"Shock, Barrel, look!!" Lock yelled, from the center of seven trees lined up in a circle. I ran after Barrel as he stumbled through broken off tree branches and stray rocks. As I approached the trees, they all had different things on them. Barrel called them doors.
"Creepy," Lock said, inspecting each door. Then I got an idea.
"Lock, Barrel, stay here. I'll be right back!" I screamed as I made my way back towards the house.
CHAPTER 5: THE ESCAPE
My mother was just starting to unpack my clothes.
"Mom, uh, I'll finish unpacking. Then can I get some snacks and bottled water?" I said, bolting into my room.
"Where's Brendan and Luke?" she asked sternly.
"Exploring. Don't worry, they aren't too far out. I can see them from the window," I quickly said. I grabbed a stray duffel bag from under a carton and threw clothes inside.
"What's that for?" Mom asked, tapping her foot.
"Um, in case we ruin our clothes," I lied, then dashed to Lock's room, then Barrel's. Bolting to the kitchen, I snagged three water bottles and a box of crackers.
CHPATER 6: THE DOORS
I rushed back to the clearing, where my brothers were sitting on a log.
"We can stay here, forever," I said, tossing them water bottles.
"Are you kidding? Mom'll call the cops on us!" Lock said, standing up.
"Yeah, Lock's right, Shock. We can go to juvie!!" Barrel shrieked. I thumped him on the head with my bottle.
"Relax, guys. I have clothes and snacks. See?" I said coolly, opening my duffel to reveal clothes and crackers.
"Anyway, I was inspecting these trees, and each one seems like a, well, a door, perhaps. And each one has a handle. But I'm still trying to figure out where the pumpkin's handle is…," Lock said, circling the clearing.
"Try the nose!" Barrel quipped. We surrounded the tree, duffel bag in hand, as my brother slowly reached for the nose. He turned it, and, the door swung open.
"It's empty," I said, sort of disappointed. As we turned away, autumn leaves swirled around us, and sucked us in. Down, down, down…
CHAPTER 7: HALLOWEENTOWN
"Where are we?" Barrel asked. I looked around. All I saw was a cobblestone path, oddly shaped buildings, and a fountain oozing green slime.
"This is crazy," Lock said, shaking the leaves off of his shirt.
"Surprised, aren't you?" an unfamiliar voice said. It came from behind me. I whipped my head around, only to see a bald, skeleton-like man. I shrieked in terror. The man seemed to get really sad.
"Oh, don't yell. Everyone's asleep. You'll wake them up," he whispered.
"May I ask, my dear sir? Who are you?" Lock asked, nose to nose with the man.
"You don't know who I am?"
We shook our heads no.
"Well, I'm Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloweentown!!" Jack said, very proud of himself. Then, he cackled.
Barrel nearly ran away, but Jack caught him.
"Now, little boy, you don't run away from your town's king!" he lectured.
"Where are we supposed to stay? We were supposed to live in the woods!" Lock yelled at me.
"Oh, and nobody's mad at you?! You pulled on the latch!" I argued. Lock and I got into a fistfight, biting and punching every which way.
"Oh, don't worry, you can stay with me. Come on," Jack said, breaking up the fight between me and Lock.
CHAPTER 8: JACK'S HOUSE
"May I ask you a question, kids?" Jack said, starting his trek up his long porch's stairway; us following.
"Sure," I said.
"What are your names?" he said, simply and coolly.
"Well, I'm Sa-Shock. Shock, uh, Wells," I lied.
"And I'm Lock Deville," Lock said, playing along.
"And I'm Brendan Greene!" Barrel shouted out. He clearly didn't get the game.
"Uh, actually, Jack, his real name is Barrel Smite. Special ed, you know?" Lock said, quickly covering for Barrel.
"SPECIAL ED?!" Barrel yelled. If it wasn't for Jack, the two would have plummeted down the stairs. The skeleton showed us a big, vast room, with an even bigger bed.
"Sorry, kids, you'll have to share. It's the best I could do," Jack said, exiting the room.
"Man, this is awesome!" Barrel said, kicking off his shoes and jumping on the bed.
"Don't get too comfortable, we leave tomorrow," Lock said.
"What?!" I asked. "We just got here!"
"Yeah, but look at it this way. A skeleton for a guardian? That ain't gonna fly, Shock," Lock replied. I ignored him, even though it all made sense. We barely knew the person, er, skeleton, that we were living with.
"Guys, let's just go to bed. We will leave tomorrow, if you want," I said groggily. I threw my sneakers at the wall, leaving a black mark. I climbed under the heavy covers and fell asleep.
CHAPTER 9: HALLOWEEN DAY
I was awoken the next day by sledgehammers and chainsaws. I peered out the big window next to the bed, only to find Jack telling people what to do. Groups of the town's citizens were blowing up balloons, handing out candy bags to younger children, and some ghosts were hanging up banners.
"Barrel, did you know today was Halloween?" I asked, startling him. Lock was taking a shower in the bathroom.
"Uh, no, not really. Mom would have made us Halloween costumes the other day," he replied. I glanced in my bag. I had taken clothes that were on the top of the pile in each carton. There was a purple dress, black tights, and a witches' hat. This was the costume I asked for. In Lock's little pile of clothes, there was a red sweater with matching pants. There was a tail sewn onto the pants. He wanted to be a devil.
"Barrel, look," I said, pretty shocked.
"Mm hmm," he replied, rolling over into his side in the bed.
"Mom made you a skeleton costume, look," I said, pulling out a black sweater with fabric bones sewed onto it. The pants matched.
"Barrel, are you-AGH!" I shrieked, looking at my brother as he arose from the bed. His hair was leprechaun green, and his lips matched.
"What, wait, what's wrong with your hair, it's all stringy," said Barrel, looking at me with his head cocked to the side.
"Well, what's wrong with your hair, huh? It's all green and ugly," I said. Where my brother's soft, blonde hair once had been, it was now green and scraggly. Not too soon after, Lock ran into the room.
"I was about to go in the shower, and I looked at myself in the mirror, right?" he said. I didn't quite get it, because he had a towel over his head.
"My hair is RED. R-E-D red!" Lock yelled, ripping the towel off of his head. His hair was blood red, and some of the extra hairs were gelled into horns. Devil horns, to be more specific.
"What about your lips?" I asked. His lips were bright blue.
"And your stringy hair and spread apart teeth braces couldn't fix?" Lock replied. I took a quick glance in the mirror. My gorgeous blonde hair was replaced with short, stringy, dingy, black hair. My teeth were oddly spread apart and rather pointy.
"Ugh, and on Halloween, too. Hmm, I have a plan," I said to myself. My brothers stared at me like I was a moron. I stared at them like a lion and its prey.
CHAPTER 10: PREPERATION
"And we have to wear these why?" Lock asked me sarcastically.
"Because it's Halloween. We need to get into the spirit," I said, adjusting the tail on his pants.
"Yeah, Lock, don't be a party pooper. If you are, you'll have to wear a diaper," Barrel said. I grabbed the pillow off of a nearby chair and whacked him across the face with it.
"Now, I'm a witch. Lock, you're supposed to be a devil. Barrel, you are a skeleton, like Jack. But you are obviously much shorter," I instructed.
"Shock, nobody knows I'm a devil unless they see me from behind," Lock complained.
"Listen, bucko, make a mask if you want to, but I'm not helping you."
"Well, I did take 72 hours of woodshop last year in school."
"Man, can't you just say three days?"
"I'll make you a mask if you shut up. Barrel, you want one?"
There was a big spiral staircase down the hall from the bedroom.
"Ooh, let's go up," Lock started.
"And take," I continued.
"A peek!" Barrel squealed, running around like he was high off of Pop Rocks. We crept down the hall and snuck up the stairs, one by one. Once we reached the last step, the whole room came into focus. Half of it was bookshelves, lined with books of all kinds. The other half was a big window. Well, not exactly one big window, it was more like six or seven fairly large glass windows with bats and pumpkins engraved on them.
"Whoa, look, Shock, it's wood, and lots of it," Lock swooned. I couldn't believe it. My brother was in love with wood. No, nothing wrong with that. Once I found paint, Lock got to work. He measured our faces, designed the masks on a scrap of paper, and then cut them out of huge slabs of wood. Once he finished, he handed them out to each of us. We each thanked Lock and fixed the room up the way it was when we came in.
CHAPTER 11: HALLOWEEN NIGHT
"Trick-or-treat!" everybody yelled as a creature opened the door. My brothers and I just decided to share the candy by bringing one big sack with us. Lollipops, candy corn, chocolate, the usual.
"Lock, Barrel, want to go over there?" I said, letting go of the sack for a little while to point to an oddly shaped treehouse over a bottomless pit.
"You guys don't want to go there," a fat corpse kid squeaked.
"Why not?" Barrel asked, turning around.
"Because the most horrible person in Halloweentown lives there," a mummy piped.
"Who's that?" I asked curiously.
"Oogie Boogie. He's the boogieman. A gambling one, at that," somebody said from the crowd of kids we were with. I looked away and nodded to my brothers. We marched forward, leaving the kids behind.
"You'll regret this!" they said in unison. I just kept on walking. Once we reached the bridge, we were afraid to cross it. It was really rickety, for one thing, and another was there was big hole between each board. My whole family gulped simultaneously and moved forward. Lock stepped into the cage dangling in the middle of the bridge.
"It's the only way up," he said, gesturing us inside. I shoved Barrel forward with such great force, I was sure he'd fall down into the pit. Once I stepped inside, the cage moved, spinning gracefully and smoothly. The cage came to an abrupt stop and opened by itself.
"Who dares to interrupt my slumber?!" an evil, booming voice yelled. I looked around the tree house. I saw a few bugs, a beat-up couch, and a catapult. No person.
"Sir, we would love to know where you are located," Lock said, taking charge.
"Down in the pit," the voice said once more. I noticed where the voice was coming from. On the far wall, there was a big chute, surrounded by candles and masks.
"Do you need any help, sir?" I squeaked.
"You know what kid; stop callin' me 'sir'. Sir this, sir that. Drives me insane!"
"Then what should we call you?" Lock asked, turning towards the chute.
"Oogie Boogie. The gamblin' boogieman," Oogie Boogie boomed. Barrel looked at me with the is-this-guy-really-this-insane look.
"I could use me a few minions. Hey, dopes, what's yer name anyway?" he yelled from the chute.
"Well, I'm Barrel, this is my sister, Shock, and my brother, Lock," Barrel said, peering is little q-ball shaped head down the chute's opening. I quickly pulled him away.
"We're in, as long as we have a place to stay," I shouted down the hole.
"Sure, sure, I understand that. How 'bout the treehouse? Plenty 'o room, three bedrooms…," he said, wandering off.
"Okay, let's do this," Lock said, before we could all agree. I pulled him aside for a moment.
"Dude, we need do go back to Jack's," I whispered in his ear.
"Don't worry, Shock, I wrote him a note. And besides, the clothes we have on are okay enough. Everybody in this crazy asylum is dressed even worse than we are, anyway. What are you so worried about?" he hissed, then turned away. I had to agree with him.
CHAPTER 12: MEET OOGIE
I awoke in the morning in my picked bedroom, one with blood smeared all over the walls and holes created by termites in the floor. A part of me thought, and seen, it as disgusting. But, another part called it perfect and well-suited for me. I liked it.
"What's crack-a-lackin', sista?" Lock said, waltzing into the room with his pants lower that they were supposed to be. I let out a good, long, chuckle.
"Oogie wants to see us face to face, now," Barrel said, yanking me out of the thin mattress. I plopped the purple hat that was bent at the top onto my head, and skipped out of my room. We stood in the cage, swaying front to back, side to side. It was somewhat comforting. I clutched the green mask that my brother had skillfully made, rubbing my small hand against its nose. The cage reached the bridge, as I thought the cage would swing open with a 'creak', and we'd hop out and start our lives as minions. But, no. The cage lowered down into the dark pit, and I couldn't see anything. We jolted to a stop in front of a barred window, with a big bent hole in the middle, just big enough for us to get through. Thanks to Barrel, the cage door swooped open and threw us into the lair. Down, down, down we fell, then hit some brightly colored and hard.
"Ah, me minions argh here!" the voice said. It was Oogie Boogie, our guardian and silhouette on the wall. He stepped out from the cave, and we saw his features. The problem: he didn't have any. Oogie was the color of a burlap sack, and he looked like one, too. He seemed to have a mouth and two eyes cut out of him.
"What have we here?" he said, stomping over to us. I gulped, because he didn't look too happy to see me.
"You, you, YOU!" he yelled, spraying bugs and who knows what else all over me.
"What?" I squeaked, wringing my hands.
"You, you, you're a GIRL!" he said, pointing out his hand, which was only a curved piece of fabric.
"And…?" I asked. Oogie reached his hand out to touch my hair, and then plucked out a sample. He studied it for quite some time, threw it to the floor, and reached out his hand. I took it, hoping that was what he wanted. I steadied myself. He looked at me, and I stared into his black holes of eyes. He pulled back his hand, and it hit me across the face. Hard.
"Ow, ow, ohh," I screamed, falling back and landing on my head. I was blinded with tears.
"How DARE you bring a female in here," Oogie sneered, leaning over my body.
"She's our sister. She can be pretty vicious," Lock said, standing up for me. Barrel but his cool hand to my face, soothing the burn. His pale skin felt better against my green-yellow one. I started to bawl silently, making Barrel's hand soaking wet and the ground around me. Lock and Oogie created an argument over girls, aka, me.
CHAPTER 13: FACING THE CITIZENS
The next morning, I had a huge bruise on my left cheek. I couldn't hide it, for my hair was too short and scraggly to do so. There was also a burlap print, and when you can notice that, your reputation is ruined. I tried to cover it u with my hand, but since my whole body transformed, it was no use. My hand was too tiny.
"Look at the new girl."
"Do you think she was beaten?"
"Well, why would she have that mark on her face?"
"She was abused."
These were the comments I was to face. I picked vegetables out to eat from the vendors in the Town Center, and I heard a gasp from behind me.
"Hello," she said, gaping at my wound. The woman had blue skin, which was poorly stitched together.
"Uh, hi. I'm uh, Shock. And, well, I'm new," I said, extending my hand. The woman took it feebly, and shook it lightly.
"Oh, before we jump to conclusions, I'm Sally. I live over in Dr. Ficklestein's castle, over there," Sally said, pointing to a round tower with a big window on the far end of town.
"Looks, nice," said I, squinting against the autumn sky.
"From the outside, maybe. It's horrible, I, never mind," Sally said, turning away. I didn't want to ask.
"Hey, Sally, don't you want know what happened to me?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips.
"Um, sure," she replied, turning to face me. I told her the story of Oogie Boogie and how he was tricking my brothers and I to be his 'little henchmen'.
"But, he doesn't want you, does he?" she asked. I nodded no.
"Sally, Sally, I've been looking everywhere for you," a small, frail man in a wheelchair called. He wheeled over to Sally. Hi features became more clear. Bolts on his forehead, tiny, grimy black glasses, and duck-shaped lips.
"Perhaps I should introduce myself, ma'am," he said. "I'm Dr. Franny Fickelstein, evil scientist of this town." Dr. tried to cackle, but he ended up in a fit of coughs.
"I'm Shock," I said politely, watching Fickelstein take Sally's hand to drag her across town.
"Quite nice," he called over his shoulder. Sally desperately looked back at me, and I felt her pain. It was just like moving day.