Shock sighed as she hung up the cat shaped phone in her room. She'd been talking to Jack Skellington for the last hour about her impending move. She was supposed to have all her necessary things packed and ready to go in exactly a week. The witches would come and transport it for her on the seventh day. She'd start training immediately the next day.
The young witch hugged her pillow to her chest as she laid down on her bed. She felt bad about the argument she'd had with Lock. She'd dropped the bomb of wanting to go on with the other witches quite suddenly and wasn't sure how he was taking it. He probably hated her. She hugged her pillow tighter and screwed her eyes shut. She didn't want to leave the house on bad terms with him. They were too close.
Sitting up she tossed her pillow aside and stood up from her bed. The sun had gone down some time ago and the house was cast in darkness. She didn't need light to find her way around though. Living in the same place since you've died gets you pretty familiar with it. She padded out of her room and down the hall way to Lock's if he was awake he would probably hear her stocking covered feet tip toeing to his door.
She reached his door and leaned on it, pressing her ear to the center. It was totally quiet inside for her ears but that didn't mean much in Halloween Town. Raising one hand she tapped her index finger lightly on the wood, barely eliciting a small 'tap, tap, tap.' After a few silent seconds she figured he was really sleeping or if not he wasn't going to let her in. Frowning, she let her nails scrape down the door in frustration, hoping to wake him.
There was shuffling on the other side of the door before it creaked open. The angry devil glared out at her, hair mussed up and chest bare. His yellow eyes glowed in the darkness as he leered at her.
"What do you want?" he hissed, not bothering to whisper. Barrel slept like a log, alone on the top floor.
"To talk obviously," Shock breathed shifting from foot to foot. Lock looked about to slam the door in her face before thinking better of it and pushing the door open for her to enter.
She nodded as she passed his into his dark room. Moon light filtered in from the window onto his bed. Without hesitation she hopped into like when they were younger and hugged his pillow, breathing deeply. It smelled like him. Lock stared at her on the bed before taking a seat on the window sill instead.
"What'd you want to talk about?" he asked, the silhouette of his healed tail flicking near the window.
Shock shrugged, eyes preferring to stare out the window at the moon. "Why does it bother you so much that I want to be a better witch?"
"You're a fine witch," Lock growled. "You don't need to move away to get better at using magic."
"You don't believe that," Shock spat. "You were afraid to let me heal your tail this afternoon."
They both fell silent in the darkness. Shock wouldn't admit it out loud but the doubts Lock and Barrel had of her powers hurt. Lock especially. Not that she'd ever tell him of course.
"I can be better," Shock said at last. Lock tilted his head to the side. "I can be a great witch, not just fine."
"You are great," Lock grumbled, his voice barely audible.
"You don't know any better," Shock said without thinking. She slid her hand over her mouth as soon as the sentence had escaped and fixed her eyes on the opposite wall. She knew Lock hated being spoken to like a child. She didn't want him to throw another fireball at her.
"I know enough!" he snapped, standing up in anger. Shock stood up too and set her fists on her hips. They faced each other, both glaring in the moon light.
"No, you don't! None of us do! We've spent our entire after lives in this house completely isolated from everyone else unless we were pranking them! Everyone hates us and this is probably he only way I'll be accepted into town! Why can't you just be happy for me?" She stepped around him to storm out, but he grabbed her elbow at the last second.
She turned around expecting to be met with his wrath but instead found him staring into space, his mouth turned down in a sad frown. He pulled her to the bed and sat her down. His eyes were now set on the floor and looked pained; he sat beside her, raising a hand to rub his jaw slowly.
"I am happy for you," he said slowly, not too convincingly. "But I don't want you to leave us, Shock."
Shock sat up straighter in surprise. This was the closest any of them had ever come to expressing some sort of emotional connection to another. The fact that it was coming from Lock was more surprising than the event itself.
"I'd still be near by," Shock stammered after a few minutes of awkward silence. Lock caught her in a dead lock gaze and she shivered.
"It wouldn't be the same," he said quietly. Shock noticed for the first time that he was still gripping her elbow.
"But I'd be right in town with-"
"You wouldn't be here," he pressed, tightening his grip. Shock tilted her head to one side as his cheeks heated up and he turned to face the window.
"I'll miss you too, Lock," she whispered sheepishly, staring down into her lap. His hand disappeared from her elbow and she looked up to find him staring at her in a resigned expression.
"You really want to do this; to live with them instead of us?" he asked seriously. Shock bowed her head, strands of long black hair falling over her shoulder to cover her face.
"Just until I prefect my powers," she said trying to sound apologetic. She knew now that this was hurting him too.
Lock sighed and turned his head up to face the ceiling. Without thinking he reached over and laced his hand with Shock's. She jumped in surprise but didn't pull away. His large hand was warm around her smile frigid one.
"Alright fine," he groaned, rolling his head to face her. "How long until you leave?"
"Seven days?" Shock said in confusion. Lock flinched looking like she'd pinched him but regained control. Standing he pulled Shock to her feet and started pushing her towards the door.
"Ok get out," he said, "I have some thinking to do."
"But what-"
"You're not leaving this house until we plan one last great prank for the town to remember you by." They'd reached the door now and Lock pushed Shock past the frame and she spun to look at him. He'd always been the prank planner but it'd been months.
"Lock, I don't know about-"
"Get some sleep," he ordered before closing the door on her. There was a loud click as he locked it and left Shock alone in the hallway.
"Lock," she whispered, shaking her head doubtfully.
Can't be sure when the next update will be since I'm in school so hope everyone liked this! :D I'll be trying to squeeze in an update for my other stories as well so look out for those! Byeee!
Thanks for reading!
~monie
