This was a school assignment I did in the 7th grade. The Nightmare Before Christmas and all related characters are not mine. NBC belongs to Disney and Tim Burton.

I'm not sure if I'm gonna make a Chapter 2......review and it might motivate me!

Chapter 1

"WAKE UP, IT'S TIME TO GO!" screamed my cousin. As I looked out the window it was still dark. Why did she want us to get up earlier then usual? I looked at the clock -- 5 a.m.!

"Shock!" I yelled.

"Yeah, what?!" she replied

"Why this early?"

"I gotta take care of something before we leave."

"Alright, I'll be down in 10."

It's the first Saturday of the month and as usual I'm going with my cousin Shock into the forest to meet her friends and take care of business for their "boss", WHO I STILL HAVEN'T MET. As I pulled my shirt on over my head, I thought maybe they'll actually let me meet him today. After all, tomorrow is my birthday.

"You ready yet?!" Shock screamed.

"Yeah, yeah. Just keep it down. You don't wanna wake up the neighbors. You know what happened last time," I replied.

"Yeah, yeah I know. Just hurry it up," she said angrily.

*Sigh* Last time was weird. The cops came and said if we were ever loud this early in the morning again he'd have us arrested. And Shock doesn't even live around here. I walked down stairs and grabbed the sandwich I made last night and a water bottle. Then Shock and I left. My parents don't care. They know I'm responsible and they trust me to take care of my younger cousin.

"So where are we going beforethe woods, Shock?" I asked.

"Well actually we're going to the edge of the woods. I just need a special sack that I asked for and then we'll be on our way," she explained.

"Then why'd you get me up this early?!" I exclaimed.

"Because, you take a while to get ready. Besides, what's 45 more minutes of sleep gonna do for you anyway?" She said as we continued walking.

"Ehh. Whatever. I guess you're right," I admitted. My house isn't that far away from the woods, so we were just approaching the edge right now. Shock led me to a merchant just barely into the woods.

"Morning Miss Shock," the merchant greeted. "And who's your friend?"

"Merv, this is my cousin Gaby," Shock introduced. "Gaby this is Merv. He's the one I get all my special tools from."

"Oh. Cool," I replied.

"So, Merv, you got the sack?"

"Mmhhhmmm. All washed, sewed, practically brand new!" he said with a proud look on his face.

"That's what I like to hear," she said as she grabbed the pumpkin decorated sack. "See ya Merv!" She shouted as we walked off into the woods.

"You didn't need to pay him?" I asked Shock as we were further into the woods.

"Naww I usually pre-pay. Merv knows me," she said proudly.

We were walking for a while now, and I had realized that we've been walking way too far.

"Shock.......where are we going? This is much farther then where we usually stop at," I questioned.

"Quit your bellyaching! We're meeting Lock and Barrel somewhere else today. Is that a problem?" She shouted at me.

"No ma'am," I said in a surprised tone.

"Good," she said sternly and we walked on.

Ahh, Lock and Barrel. Silly comrades of my dear cousin Shock. It'll be nice to see them again. I treat them both like brothers, as I do Shock as a sister. Sometimes I find it annoying that Lock keeps hitting on me though!

"Hey Gabs, we're here!" Shock shouted.

I was wandering from behind a while so I had to run to catch up. Then I saw my "brothers" looking quite evil in the sunrise.

"Gaby," Shock explained, "We have a bit of a surprise for you today. Since your birthday is tomorrow our boss has agreed to let you meet him. The catch is before we get there we need to collect a whole lot of bugs!"

I just stood there in awe, and imagined what their boss would be like. I mean it's Shock, Lock, and Barrel we're talking about here! The three evilest kids in the universe! I managed to stutter out "Uhh-ummm okay." Lock and Barrel pulled out their sacks from their vehicle of choice -- a walking bathtub. Lock handed me an extra one that they brought along.

Shock shouted at the group, "Just fill your sack up half way! He wanted two sacks full so this is how we're gonna do it! UNDERSTOOD?"

"YES, MA'AM!" Lock, Barrel and I shouted in unison. I've known Shock my whole life and she's still the one who always wants to take charge! I mean come on -- she's ten and I'm thirteen. I have a three year advantage over her. I should be the one in charge! Well they are the ones who hooked me into this job anyway. I guess I can let them be in charge. I mean, what choice do I have? I have no idea what's going on. I'm thinking all this and my sack is still pretty low. I mean how many bugs have I picked up? Three? I hustled to pick up as many bugs as I could. I was never really a big fan of bugs, but ever since I started to work for this mystery boss I've been getting practically anything I've wanted. Movies, CD's, games.....anything! I've been so happy. I studied the contents of my sack. Hmmm that looks about half way full. By this time I saw the others were finishing up too.

"Everybody's got theirs filled half-way now?" Shock asked. We all nodded. Shock and Barrel hopped into the walking tub as Lock helped me in. I giggled a bit. Such a gentleman....sometimes...haha. The tub carried us into a circle of trees with doors on them shaped as icons resembling holidays. I found this very mysterious, so I asked "Guys what's up with the funky trees?"

Barrel responded this time "Holidays. We live in...."

Both Shock and Lock joined him in screaming "HALLOWEEN TOWN!" As the three said the holiday we burst through the pumpkin shaped door, into a vortex filled with pumpkins swirling about. I screamed in fear and confusion but the others have obviously done this before and let out a "WHEE!" in joy and excitement.

When we were finally left the vortex and the world stopped spinning it appeared we were placed in a newer much creepier world then our own. It wasn't that frightening though; I'm not a scaredy cat. The bathtub didn't head into the town though, quite the opposite direction actually. I couldn't ask about anything though I was too stunned by the whole thing to barely even breathe. The bathtub led us to a tree house. The three got out and Lock helped me out. We took this cage like elevator down into a cave-like lair. Shocked yelled out "Boss we got the bugs! And our friend too!"

The boss said in a sinister voice from nowhere "Excellent."

Something slowly came out of the shadows and I was practically frantic. I was very jumpy on the inside but I tried not to loose my cool.

All of a sudden a creature appeared in the form of a huge, filled, burlap sack! It said "Hello child. I'm the Oogie Boogie Man." Then he gave a sinister laugh.

I was so frightened I had no idea what to do. Suddenly I felt dizzy. I tried to speak something.

Then I fainted.