GLASS SLIPPER SUPPER

The bathtub stopped and Annabelle just had time to sit up before she was grabbed and tossed out onto a hard floor. She landed on her backside and massaged it gently, wincing from the pain. She was in a dark room dimly lit by light coming in from a hole in the ceiling. The three kids that had snatched her stood next to the bathtub and watched with enthusiastic faces, looking past her at something else. Turning Annabelle came to see the most horrible thing. In front of her stood the monster of monsters with coarse dry skin and an unpleasant, cruel face; its eyes narrowed and menacing; its mouth grinning with gaping holes and bugs for teeth the crawled around its edges.

She opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out for she had been terrified into shock; and as she sat there, her mouth opening and closing in horror, the creepy children behind her laughed and sniggered at her- though one of them didn't seem as enthusiastic about it.

"Ah! Fresh meat for the grinder," Oogie Boogie sneered as he grasped Annabelle's arm and yanked her up, turning over her arm and hand, saying things like, "Mmm, tasty," or, "Ooo, I'll save that for later."

He laughed at Annabelle's trembling arms, and whispered in her ears things that made her cringe even more. Throwing her against the wall Annabelle heard something slithering beside her. Chains of cold metal snapped around her arms and pulled her body up so she was hanging from the wall, her feet dangling in air.

"Aaaahh! Help help!" she shrieked.

Barrel reached into his pocket and pulled out a spool of spiders' web that he chucked at Annabelle. It wrapped around her mouth, its sticky thread immobilising her lower face. She struggled and writhed, but the chains weren't budging and no sound escaped her mouth.

"She knows how to get to another world," Shock whispered.

"Another world?" bellowed the Boogie man.

"Y-yes," cringed Lock. "She came here, and there are others-"

"Others?"

Lock, Shock and Barrel winced at every word he said.

"Yeah, there's her and another girl and-"

"We think there's more," Shock quickly said, finishing Barrel's sentence.

"Hmm," Oogie paced around the room, his hollow eyes concentrating hard. Turning to Annabelle he moved to her at alarming speed, and in her face he demanded, "How do you get home little girl?"

She tilted her head as far away from him as she could, and stared frightfully with wide eyes. Oogie Boogie ripped off the spider thread and said again, "How're you getting home I asked."

"I-I don't know."

"Don't lie to me!" he bellowed, his rank breath nearly making her pass out.

"I don't know! I swear-"

"Get the hammer!" he yelled over his shoulder. One of the kids quickly scurried to do his bidding, and appeared with a rather large, rusty thing with stains on it.

"Now I'll ask again," Oogie Boogie said sweetly, tossing the device over his shoulder. "How do you get back?"

"I don't know! I'm telling the truth, I swear-"

"Bah!" he swung the hammer and Annabelle had just pulled up her legs in time-

WHAM. It smashed into the wall making some cement crumble out. Annabelle strained to keep her legs up under her chin. She had shut her eyes, and now peaked out one to see the Boogie Man close to her, his eyes furrowed deep and mouth curled with anger.

"She doesn't know!" Lock found himself shouting out. Shock and Barrel jumped, startled by Lock's outburst. Oogie Boogie turned and looked hard at Lock. He quickly said, "We'll find the others and f-find out from them."

There was a terrifying silence as Oogie Boogie thought over this, and Annabelle watched, hoping they'd let her go, hoping she'd be able to go home, hoping…

"Fine. Go and search. Bring them to me." He turned to look at Annabelle, and smiled a nasty smile. "And this one-" he said walking over to her, "-you can fix for my dinner."