PREVIOUSLY:

"I AM CALM!" He begins to shiver and sweat. "Are you hot? I'm hot. It is very hot in here. GAH! Turn on the AC!" He leaped behind the couch and poked his head over the back. "Make it coooooold." His voice was thin and hissy and his eyes darted around the room.

"Look here, Barrel, you need to-"

"He's crazy!" Barrel pointed towards the door.

"Jack is perfectly sane, and he possesses absolutely no capacity for homicide."

SUDDENLY! A shrill cry is heard from behind the door, then the sound of a body falling to the ground. Freud and Barrel leap up and look outside. They find Miss Hilling on the ground, dead. A few feet away from her……..Jack Skellington. Covered with the stench of death.

"I TOLD YOU FREUD!"

NOW:

Jack looks to the doctor and the boy with a perplexed look on his face. Why are they looking at him like that? Why is Barrel shivering? Why is Miss Hilling on the floor? Why is Freud drinking from a flask he had concealed in his pocket. "What's going on?"

Barrel almost leaps into the air. "What do you THINK is going on? YOU just killed Miss Hilling!" He jumps behind Freud's legs for pseudo-protection. "I told you! I told you he was crazy!"

Freud backs up and speaks with a quivering voice, "Jack…just stay calm."

"SURELY you don't think I killed her, do you? Do you?" he asks as Freud and Barrel exchange wary glances.

"I mean, in all honesty, who else could have done it, Jack?" asks Freud.

"Well….I'm not sure." Jack shrugs a bit.

"You two were alone! HE'S THE KILLER! I KNOW IT!" Barrel points at Jack and begins to shake all over.

"I am NOT the killer!"

"But you wreak of death!" cries Barrel.

"OF COURSE I DO! I'M A SKELETON!" Jack is now starting to get pissed. He approaches Freud and Barrel, who back up against the wall and shiver with fear. Jack bends to their level and speaks softly. "If I tell you, do you swear you will calm down and keep it a secret?"

"Now, Mr. Skellington" begins Dr. Freud. "I don't think murder is exactly something you can keep a secre-"

Jack cuts him off. "Swear to it!" At that, the quivering and shivering doctor and patient nodded. "Alright. The killer was-" A merry little polyphonic tune goes off. "Oh, Barrel! Time for us to go!" Jack takes a reluctant Barrel by the hand and drags him out to the hearse, leaving Dr. Freud to deal with the dead Miss Hilling.

THEN:

The ride back to Halloween Town is quite quiet and awkward. Barrel is just trying to not look at Jack, convinced that the skeletal leader can read the fear on his face. Jack, however, is trying to avoid going off the cliff, which is inconveniently located between Mental Health Town and Schoolhouse Rock Land, where Jack has to take a detour through in order to avoid the traffic heading to Halloween Town, which consists of mainly fan girls that somehow got warped into the world of the Nightmare Before Christmas, be it via dimensional rip or magic television or cursed video tape or some other infinitely improbable gateway.

"So, Barrel, do you think-"

"Please don't hurt me!" That is the only exchange of conversation the entire ride.

LATER:

((Okay, I can't think of an ending.))