Author's Note: Welcome back to another chapter of Billy Colby's haunted life. This story is based on a line in a song featured in the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas. The film was based on a poem by Tim Burton while the song was composed and sung by Danny Elfman. Touchstone Pictures, part of the Disney company, distributed the movie we've all come to know and love. Also, for those of us addicted to video games, there will be a game based on the movie made by Capcom. Those are the people who deserve compensation for their work. I'm doing this strictly because I love this film in all of its forms. Thank you and read on.

"I'm sorry, but this is baffling," Doctor Flaherty said.

"Sure is. I'm the guy who lost his bride," Billy said. "Of course, Mr. Unlucky made his little visits to me in the three years prior to that."

"What happened?"

"Well, Doc, I thought we were only looking into the important stuff," Billy said in a sarcastic tone.

"Apparently, every visit you've had with Mr. Unlucky is important."

"Heck yeah. Why, when I was twenty-two, he showed up in my film class. Second time that skeleton followed me into a movie."

"He was in your film class?"

"We were watching a horror movie in celebration of the holiday. When the class was over, he was sitting in the seat in front of me. Of course, I freaked out and fell onto the aisle shouting at him. Everybody started laughing at me and the professor made me go to the Dean's Office. The dean sent me to take a psychological exam with inkblots and everything."

"Did you ever get the results of that test?"

"Come on now, Doc! I'm not crazy. That exam said so. I just have a curse. Mr. Unlucky's out to get me until my dying day, which he'll probably cause," Billy said, face getting redder as he talked.

"Calm down, Mister Colby," the doctor said. "There's no need to be angry."

"Oh, I have a need. When I was twenty-three, he visited me in my apartment."

"Your apartment? You immediately moved out on your own after college?"

"Yeah. Big mistake too, because it burned up that night."

"Your apartment caught on fire after Mr. Unlucky visited you?"

"Well, I was cooking some dinner when I heard a voice in the living room. When I went there, he was waiting for me, he even blocked the door and everything! This guy was hell-bent on getting my soul. So I jumped out the window and down the fire escape. See, I was a little too busy saving myself to turn the stove off."

"So your dinner must have caught on fire and burned your apartment. How unfortunate."

"Damn skeleton. He just won't leave me alone. The year after that, I was stuck taking my sister's kids out trick-or-treating. They were about four and seven at the time, and they begged for me to take them out. I tried not to go, but it looked kind of silly for a grown man to be afraid of Halloween, so I did. Mr. Unlucky was watching me the entire night. I could feel him spying on us every time we passed bushes or crossed dark streets."

"That didn't sound too bad."

"It wasn't, until I turned my back for a second. I look at the kids and Mr. Unlucky's standing right behind them, looking like he was about to pounce. So I grabbed both of them and high tailed it to their home. When I got there, I realized I was missing my wallet. It had everything in it, my week's pay, my driver's license, even the pictures of my niece and nephew. By the way, they hated me for a couple of months for taking them home so quickly. And I can't even tell you the days I spent in line at the DMV trying to get a new license."

"What a nuisance," Doctor Flaherty said.

"Yeah, and I never got a thank you from my sister's kids for saving their necks either."

"Waiting for gratification could add to your mental stress," the doctor said as he wrote down notes. "Now, what happened on your twenty-fifth Halloween?"

"One of the worst days in my life. I mean worst of the worst," Billy said in a more serious tone. "I don't even know where to begin.

"Well, you can always start with your bride-to be."

"I met her the year my apartment burned up. Her name was Cassandra."

Billy- Past

Cassandra Sinclair was the most beautiful girl Billy had ever set his eyes on. They had met during the winter holidays in the rush to Christmas shop at the last minute in the year Billy had the apartment fire. Both had grabbed a toy they intended to buy for a child in their families. Neither of them let go for a few moments. At first, it was out of competition, but they found out they had more interest in each other than a popular toy.

Cassandra was about five feet, seven inches, a good height to match Billy's. She had long dark brown hair that stopped shortly above her waist and a honey brown gaze. Her complexion was a bit pale, but that could have been due to the fact she wore black most of the time. Cassandra was an artist, she loved to paint and usually had her work shown in minor galleries. Billy was intrigued by her career based on what he considered a hobby. Billy himself was more logical than artistic, but he still appreciated her artistic flair and even went to some of her shows.

Cassandra, or as Billy called her, Cassie, was everything he wasn't. While Billy tried to be as normal as he possibly could be, Cassie was proudly funky and offbeat. When they went out together, people didn't get the fact they were a couple until they had to say it, but neither Billy or Cassie cared. As far as they were concerned, as long as they were loving and true to one another, they would be just fine. Yes, Billy wanted to marry this girl and always have a bit of excitement in his life. However, there was a kink in his plans he had not expected.

"Billy, you look nervous," Cassie said as the couple walked together in the park nearly a year after they met. "Still worrying about the wallet you lost?"

"Not, it's not that. Cassie, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Well, we're both young and have a lot to look forward to, you have your paintings and I have my office."

"Actually, that makes one of us," Cassandra said sarcastically before seeing the serious look on Billy's face. "You know I'm kidding, Billy."

"Anyway, I was wondering if you'd look forward to your future with me."

"Excuse me?"

"Cassie, I love you. I love you very much. You make life so interesting. I don't think I'd be able to live without hearing you make a wisecrack about someone or without watching you paint. Cassandra Sinclair, I would very much like for you to be my wife. I would be true to you and cherish you every single day, as I do now. So, please, Cassie, tell me if you feel the same way."

"You know, William Colby, I had you pegged the wrong way. I thought you were by-the-book and straightlaced, but here you are talking marriage at twenty-four years old. I knew there some kind of craziness in you, and with luck, I'll get all of it by the time we're older than dirt."

"Older than dirt?"

"Yep. I accept your proposal on one condition."

"I'll do anything you wish, as long as you'll marry me," Billy said eagerly.

"Alright. I want to get married this year, on Halloween," Cassie said dreamily.

"What?"

"It's my favorite day of the year. It always has been and I've never considered any other day to marry."

"In that case, we better start planning," Billy said with a chuckle, hiding the utter terror he felt down to his bones.

Of all women Billy had to fall hopelessly in love with, it had to be one who loved Halloween. Still, Billy would bend over backwards to please his dear Cassandra. This included the likely chance of meeting Mr. Unlucky at the altar along with his bride. It was a chance Billy was willing to take. However, he seemed to forget that the day of the wedding, when he looked at himself in the mirror of his dressing room and looked around to see if he was alone or not several times.

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Billy said to himself before catching his breath and opening the door.

"About time you left that room," said his best man, Luke. "Hurry up, it's the bride's tradition to be a little late, not the groom's."

"Can you blame me for being nervous. I'm surprised he hasn't shown up."

"I didn't know you invited your hallucination."

"He's real, Luke. Heck, you're the one who set him on me."

"Oh come on, that was just a stupid dare I made you do when we were kids."

"Well, that stupid dare worked."

"Listen, you shouldn't be freaking out like this on your wedding day. Get to the altar soon before Ray starts hyperventilating about the crowd."

With that, Luke shook Billy's hand and went up to the altar. Billy would have followed him, except he had to look at himself in the mirror one last time. He wanted to look perfect for his future wife. When he was done straightening his tie and making sure his hair was fine, Billy turned to face the door. Only this time, he wasn't alone.

"Oh no!" Billy exclaimed. "What are you doing here!"

"Well, I fit the dress code," the skeleton said jokingly.

"Get out of here."

"But I still haven't talked to you."

"Sure, talk. Listen here, Boney, my soul's staying right where it is. Is that enough talking for you?"

"Billy, will you calm down? You don't want me to restrain you, do you?"

"You're not taking my soul!"

"I was afraid you wouldn't listen to me. Well, if you won't listen out of your own accord, I'll have to make you listen."

Billy watched as the skeleton held his hands out. Dark swirls seemed to form around them. The swirls began to form into something material. They were long and metallic chains. Mr. Unlucky was going to chain Billy down and probably take his soul then. Billy was not going to stand for this, so when Mr. Unlucky reached for him, he ran out of his room and into another.

"Billy? What are you doing?" Cassie's voice asked as Billy locked the door behind him.

"I can't marry you." Billy said nervously. "Not today, not ever."

"What did you say?" Cassie said as she turned around and looked at Billy in the eyes and clutched her wedding dress anxiously.

"I can't marry you."

"If this is about seeing me in my wedding dress before the ceremony, it's only a superstition."

"No. Cassie, I'm a cursed man. There's someone after me at this very moment, and I know he'll probably take my soul away if I leave myself open. He might hurt you too."

"You're acting crazy."

"I'm serious! Listen to me, if I marry you, every Halloween, a skeleton will come after us. This guy will try to kill us and will probably succeed."

"This has to be the worst excuse for canceling a wedding, William Colby."

"It's not an excuse, it's the truth!"

"Oh sure, and Santa Claus really exists, right? I knew you were a little odd, but I didn't think you were completely insane."

"I'm insane? At least I have a steady job!"

"I thought you liked my art."

"It's fine, if you had a real career to add to it."

"At least I do what I love instead of toil at some office day after day!"

"At least I don't have to go days without starving!"

"Oh yeah, well I don't make up a stupid story just to get out of marrying someone!"

"It's the truth!"

"You just go on believing that, you nutcase."

"It's more believable than most of the stuff you paint!"

"That's it! I'm not going to stand here and have my art insulted any longer," Cassandra said as she took off her engagement ring and threw it to the ground. "You sir are too boring and closed-minded for my tastes. I'm twenty-five and can wait many more years before getting married to someone better than you. That is, if I even marry at all. Goodbye, Mister Colby. I wish you many happy years with your skeleton."

Cassandra went on to slam the door on Billy, leaving him alone with the only remainder of their once happy relationship. As Billy picked up the ring, he cursed Mr. Unlucky. Why couldn't he have skipped one year and allow Billy happiness? Or worse, why had Billy even told Cassandra about Mr. Unlucky? He could have found a way to work things out without her ever being at risk, but it was too late. Cassandra Sinclair had walked out of Billy Colby's life for good, and he had no one to blame but himself.

Billy- Present

"She went to New York City after that," Billy said. "Cassandra made her art into a job after all."

"Judging from your argument with her, I don't think your marriage would have worked out at any rate," Doctor Flaherty as he wrote some more.

"I still had a chance to be happy. Mr. Unlucky saw to that being ruined though. If he never showed up, I wouldn't have freaked out and gone into Cassandra's dressing room."

"You make a good point, Mister Colby."

"You'd think he would have stopped after that, but he didn't."

"I suppose not."

"He's going to haunt me until I die."

"What about that thing he wanted to tell you?"

"Oh, he's always babbling about that. Like that time I got arrested for robbing a bank."

"You robbed a bank?"

"No, but the cops thought I did. Believe me, Doc, that was Mr. Unlucky's work too."

"Was it, now?" Doctor Flaherty asked before Rosie buzzed in on the intercom.

"Doctor Flaherty, Mr. Jones is here to see you."

"Can you reschedule him, Rosie?"

"But, Doctor, he's a very important client. One who happens to run a large business downtown."

"For tomorrow, Rosie. Mister Colby is still in need of my assistance."

"Yes, Doctor." Rosie said in a depressed tone as her voice buzzed out.

"Now, where were we?" the doctor asked in an interested tone.

How did Jack take part in a robbery? Or, better yet, how did Billy get mixed up in a robber in the first place? How much more torture can one man take? Find out in chapters to come. (Re-edit comment: I made this guy's life a living hell. Cool.)