Author's Note: Sorry for the major delay everyone. For the record, grades and applications are evil, but that's enough about that. The Nightmare Before Christmas is a wonderful film based on the poem by Tim Burton and enhanced with a score by Danny Elfman. It was put out by Disney through Touchstone Pictures in 1993 and has remained a classic ever since. Even now, Capcom is basing a game on the characters in the film. This story has nothing to do with any of that, but I hope you like it all the same. Thank you and enjoy.

"A business trip to the desert?" Doctor Flaherty asked. "What company do you work for?"

"Actually, I kind of lost my job a few years back."

"Oh. Well, what company did you work for?"

"Well, I was supposed to go to Las Vegas," Billy said. "See, I started work for a big advertising firm downtown and we did business all over the country. Casino owners are great clients, they always need extra publicity."

"When did you start working there?"

"After I got out of that whole mess with the clown thieves. It was a nice place. Nicer than my old job after the whole thing with Cassandra blew over. I just couldn't show my face there around Halloween."

"Why not?"

"Well, when I was twenty-nine, I made the mistake of going to work on Halloween. I had this really important meeting with a client from the Big Apple up north and he was supposed to have made a deal with the firm for fifty million dollars. As you can probably already guess, Mr. Unlucky wanted to be part of the meeting too."

"He was in the boardroom with you and the client?"

"Yep. That skeleton made me nervous as hell. I could see him staring at me, waiting for the meeting to be over. So I stalled, a lot. The client must have gotten bored because he tried to leave as I was talking. When I motioned my hand over to him, it slipped past some hot coffee and it spilled all over him. He got pretty mad."

"Mr Unlucky made you scald an important client?" Doctor Flaherty asked as he wrote down notes.

"It was an accident. He didn't see it that way though. He freaked out and yelled at me and left for another place. Amazingly enough, Mr. Unlucky was gone too. He did his damage though. I got demoted for that mess."

"What a shame."

"Oh, there's more, Doc," Billy said. "I went to work the next year too, and that wasn't any better than the year before that."

"What happened that time?"

"Well, there was something wrong with the computer system that Halloween, so I went with a co-worker to check things out. Mr. Unlucky was the one doing it. I want into the main room and the door locked behind me. My co-worker went to get help and left me alone with him!"

"That must have been awkward."

"Yeah, awkward for him. I grabbed a fire extinguisher and tried to knock him out. Then again, that was a dumb idea. I broke every piece of equipment in that room. Of course, when help did come, Mr. Unlucky pulled his vanishing act and left me alone with all the damage. I got demoted for that one too. Heck, I'm surprised I wasn't fired."

"So am I," Doctor Flaherty said bluntly. "Perhaps that is why they sent you on a business trip to Las Vegas."

"Yeah, to get rid of me. Too bad it didn't work the same way for Mr. Unlucky."

Billy- Past

"Damn, not again." Billy said to himself as he drove past his exit for perhaps the third time in a row. "I hate these interstates."

Why, of all days, did this trip have to come during Halloween? All Saints Day? Fine. Fourth of July? That was ok too. Hell, Billy would even work the entire month of December if he could just get Halloween off. No, he just couldn't miss this opportunity. He had already been demoted twice, and this was a surefire way of moving back up the corporate ladder. As long as he got to Las Vegas and did the deal perfectly, Billy would be fine. Of course, this was Halloween, and a coyote running in the middle of the road Billy took when he finally got his exit was only the beginning of things.

"AH!" Billy yelped as he swerved off of the road, watching the coyote run along the path. "Stupid mutt!" Billy yelled as he tried to start the car again. "I can't believe this," he said when he saw the E on the scale of his fuel. "Well, time to get some gas," Billy sighed as he got out of his car, popped the trunk, took the empty gas can out, and made his way down the road. It was going to be a long thirty mile walk.

Billy was starting to show the signs of a man with frazzled nerves. At thirty-one, his hair was starting to thin and he had developed bags beneath his eyes which increased when October came each year. He was skin and bones, and everything Billy wore seemed to droop and sag on his frame. Even the suit he wore now was too long in some places for him. That was the least of Billy's worries now, though. He saw the sun begin to set, and he was nowhere near the gas station. Billy knew for sure he was going to miss the meeting, so he fell to the sandy ground and gave up.

"I don't feel like walking all the way back to my car," Billy said to himself in a tired tone. "There has to be somewhere I can spend the night."

"I know a place."

"Oh no!" Billy exclaimed as he got up.

"Hello, Billy," Mr. Unlucky said cheerfully. "Ready to listen now?"

"You get away from me. Haven't you tortured me enough?"

"Come now, Billy, let's bury the hatchet."

"That's not the only thing you want to bury," Billy said before noticing something hovering near Mr. Unlucky's left leg. "What's that thing?"

"Thing?" the skeleton asked as he looked at his left leg for a moment. "Oh, that's my dog. Say hello to the man, Zero."

"You keep your ghost dog away from me."

"See, you upset him," Mr. Unlucky said as the dog began to growl.

"I don't care! My life is in the toilet because of you and all you care about is your mutt's feelings? Listen, Mr. Unlucky, I've had it. You're never gonna take me alive, you got that?"

"I beg to differ. Alive is the only way I can take you."

"Forget it! Do your worst," Billy challenged, immediately wishing he hadn't said what he did.

"Very well. Zero, why don't you try that new trick?"

Billy watched the small spectral dog prepare itself for its "trick". It turned out to be a long, drawn out howl at the rising moon. At first, nothing seemed to happen. Then, Billy saw spirits come from the ground, coyote spirits. They growled at him, and began to bark at him as well. So, Billy did the first thing that came to his mind: run like hell.

For dead coyotes, they could run pretty fast. It is possible that Billy covered more area in this chase than when he ran out of gas in the first place. A small voice in the back of his mind told him that since they were coyote ghosts, they could probably do no real damage to him. Still, Billy didn't want to take that chance. He already took a chance by challenging Mr. Unlucky to do his worst and that worked out horribly. Right now, he needed to run, dodge cacti, and run some more. Amazingly enough, Mr. Unlucky managed to run right alongside him with his dog.

"Ready to talk now?"

"Are you crazy!"

"You're only making things worse for yourself."

"I am not going to let you take my soul."

"You're not still on that are you? That's why we need to-" Mr. Unlucky started before he crashed into a cactus.

"You can just stay there!" Billy yelled back at the now prickly skeleton as he continued his run from the coyote spirits. "There's got to some place I can lose them." Billy said to himself before seeing something in the distance. "There!" Billy yelled to himself in victory as his carried him there as fast as he could.

Billy ran into the building in the middle of nowhere and slammed the door. When he got a good look inside, he noticed something odd about this place. It was populated with mostly women, most of whom were wearing makeup and flirtatious outfits. Billy had to put everything together before he realized where he was. Billy was glued to his place on the floor as women crowded around him and giggled about their visitor. However, that was short-lived, as the door opened once again, this time to a horde of policemen.

"Nobody move! This is a bust!" yelled the officer.

Billy had run headfirst into a house of ill repute. Not only that, but it was being raided and he was a "customer" in there. Needless to say, his boss was not happy at all about Billy turning up in a bordello. He wouldn't take the Mr. Lucky Excuse this time either. Billy's boss bailed him out of the Nevada jail he was held in that night, but he was immediately fired. Billy left his job in shame, courtesy of Mr. Unlucky.

Billy- Present

"I swear, I had no idea that was going on in that place," Billy said to Doctor Flaherty.

"I understand, Billy," said the psychologist. "Nevada does have a of reputation for that kind of trade."

"Those damn coyote ghosts. Came from that stupid dog of Mr. Unlucky's."

"He really seems intent on telling you something."

"Yeah. He wants to tell me to close my eyes, relax, and give my soul away."

"Are you really so sure it's that he wants?"

"It has to be. Why else would he bug me for years and years?"

"I can't answer that question."

"Neither can I, Doc," Billy said. "What time is it?"

"About five. We've been here for around four hours."

"Wow. I'm sorry for tying you up, Doc."

"No, it's quite alright. Is there anything else you would like to share, Billy?"

"Well, the stuff that happened to me last year was pretty insane."

"How is that?"

"Well, how else would you describe it when a skeleton brings along three homicidal kids to help him collect a soul?" Billy asked with a knowing gleam in his eye.

Can it be? Did Jack enlist Lock, Shock, and Barrel to help him get Billy? How did the mortal ever deal with that? We're approaching year thirty-five, and the end of the tale in a few more chapters. Stick around and have fun reading :) (Re-edit comment: Whoa, I don't know how I came up with this chapter. Odd, very odd indeed.)