-Chapter 3-

Guess who?

"Mom, why do I have to go visit Aubrey?" Emily asked, clearly upset.

"Don't start this again, Emily. You know why." Her brother replied, placing a hand on their mother's. She didn't even look up from her cross stitching when she pushed it away. "The doctor said that to much stress is bad for mom. Driving out to The Towers and seeing Aubrey in... well, it would be too much for her."

"But then why do I have to visit her? Why can't you Ryan? She wouldn't care whether or not any of us came to see her anyway."

"No..." Her mother whispered. "Aubrey is getting better. She'll come home soon. She... she will."

Emily jumped up. "Mom, she's just doing this to get attention. She just does this to upset you!"

Her mother didn't look up. "No, Aubrey's a good girl. She'll come home." She suddenly took on a different personality. "Emily, you need to get going if you want to be back in time for dinner. We're having spaghetti. Your favorite."

Emily sighed and walked out the door. "Spaghetti is Aubrey's favorite, mom." Her mother didn't hear her, just went back to her stitching.

xXx

The window in me and Sandy's room looked out over the gate and forest that surrounded The Towers, so when Emily's bright red Mercedes rolled in (mom spoiled the little brat rotten. Well, okay, she's really not so little, she's nineteen), I figured it was time to make myself somewhat presentable. Don't get me wrong, I loved my big sister to death, but she didn't believe me either. Besides, I think she'd take my standard, insane-asylum-white gown as an insult.

So, by the time she got up here, I had changed into a light-blue tank top, baggy, white shorts, and flip flops. She, however, put me to shame. With her short, shimmery hair combed straight back, pale lip gloss, light-blue eye shadow on her lids, and a hot pink tank top over a white shirt and a black miniskirt, she looked radiant. As usual.

"Pretty dressed up to come visit your crazy little sister." I commented.

"I have a date later, if you must know." She said, sitting down.

"Scott still?"

"Yes." She beamed with pride. I don't know why, though it was probably because she had a boyfriend and I didn't. Like I'd date any of the guys here.

I crossed my legs. "How's mom?"

Emily shrugged, tossing a few strands of hair back over her shoulder. "She's really worried about you, you know."

"Oh is she?" I asked, my tone dripping anger. "Then why won't she come down here to visit me herself?"

"Aubrey, you know it kills her to see you here." Emily said sadly. "She'd probably have a breakdown."

"Good, I'd have some company." I muttered sarcastically.

Emily's expression had changed from a look of half-assed happiness to a look that rested somewhere between shocked and horrified. "Aubrey!"

"It's a joke, Ems. I was just kidding." I assured her. And I was… mostly.

"It wasn't funny." She smoothed down her skirt. "So how've you been?"

I scoffed. "I'm locked up in an asylum. How do you think I've been doing?"

Emily sighed. "Aubrey, I really wish you would stop insisting with these fantasies-"

"Halloween Town isn't a fantasy!" I growled. Then, under my breath, I added quietly, "Dad would've believed me."

But as quiet as I was, Emily still heard me. "Aubrey, please. I know you were traumatized by dad committing suicide, but you need to get over it. You're thirteen now; it's been ten years! You're not just punishing yourself here; you're punishing the entire family, especially mom!"

"Dad didn't kill himself!" I yelled, becoming slightly hysterical. "It was an accident!"

At that moment, Dr. Jacobs- or Leon, as he asked us to call him- walked in. "I'm sorry to cut your visit short, Ms. Peterson, but Aubrey has a session with me."

Emily stood. "Oh, yeah, sure. I'll see you in a few months, Aubrey." She stood and walked out quickly.

I didn't move. "We've already had our session."

"Well, we're having another one. Now come." I growled. I was not a dog. But it was either you come willingly, or you get dragged there by security. The second option left bruises, so I stood up and followed him out.

xXx

"You were making quite a scene back there." I didn't answer. "Aubrey, why do you insist your father didn't kill himself?"

"It was a car accident." I growled through clenched teeth. I could feel a headache coming on.

Dr. Jacobs- sorry, Leon- looked through a few papers on his desk. "According to these reports from the police-"

I sat up, surprised and, duh, angry. "I thought police reports were supposed to be confidential."

"I have quite a bit of power, Aubrey. If it's to help a case, I can get my hands on just about anything." He smiled at me. I glared in return. Yep, there was that headache, and it certainly wasn't going to help my mood. "Now, according to these reports, he swerved off an empty road and over the edge of a cliff. The blood tests proved that he wasn't drunk, so it must have been deliberate."

"Shut up." I hissed. My head throbbed once.

He rested his chin on his hands. "Aubrey, I believe your father's death is what's causing you to make up these fantasies. If you could just come to terms with it, I believe we could finally make some progress."

"Shut the fuck up, damn you!" I screamed, clutching my head. "I'm not making things up, Halloween Town is real, my father didn't commit suicide, and I'm not crazy! I... I..." The room was spinning and the edges of my vision were going fuzzy. I felt myself fall out of the chair I was in, and pain laced through my skull, then everything went black.

xXx

Lock rubbed the side of his head. Shock had really good aim when she was mad. At least he wasn't bleeding again. And Barrel asked him why he liked Aubrey instead of Shock. Aubrey wasn't abusive, she didn't threaten to turn him into a toad whenever he said something wrong, which was becoming more and more frequent, actually, and she was- dare he say it?- cute. Other than the small facts that she could only be in Halloween Town from after sundown to right before sunup and she was alive, she was as close to perfect as possible.

He shook his head. When did he get so mushy? Thank god Oogie wasn't around any more, or he'd have probably been eaten already. He shuddered. Not a fun way to die. Again.

A bug suddenly crawled across his path. Lock glared at it. He'd had a serious dislike of bugs since Oogie tricked him into working for him. He lifted his foot to smash it, but stopped as he felt a hand on his shoulder. Behind his mask, his eyes widened in fear.

"What did I say about stepping on bugs!" Oogie roared, holding a squirming, eight year old Lock by the tail over the "fryer" pit in the center of his roulette wheel.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" He cried, trying desperately to get out of the Boogeyman's grasp. "It'll never happen again, I promise!"

Oogie threw him against a wall. "See that it doesn't." Shock and Barrel, who had been standing at the end of the stairs, in the shadows, ran over and helped him up.

"C'mon Lock, let's go." Shock said, helping Barrel to half drag him up the stairs.

"Lock?" The devil turned around to see Jack Skellington standing there, not Oogie Boogie.

He pushed his mask up. "What do you want?" He snapped, annoyed that he'd been scared by Jack.

The Pumpkin King crossed his arms. "Wondering why you're wandering around without Shock and Barrel."

"What, are we supposed to be attached at the hip now? I was just taking a walk."

Jack raised his eyebrow... or he would've if he'd had eyebrows, when he saw the bruise on Lock's pale cheek. "Quite a nasty little bruise you've got there. What happened?"

That earned him another glare and Lock pulled his mask back down. "That's none of your business. Can I go now?"

"Actually, I needed to talk to you. After that incident with Dr. Finklestein's experiment-"

"I already told you it wasn't me!"

"I didn't say it was." The skeleton assured them. "After we caught the experiment, the doctor found some of the parts had malfunctioned because they were too old to work properly."

"And what does that have to do with me, Shock, and Barrel?"

Jack put a hand over his eyes. "Yes, yes, I was getting to that. The doctor is in need of some assistance to find new parts."

"And you were gonna ask us." Lock supplied.

"Exactly."

"Have you lost whatever brain you had, bone head?"

Jack held up a bony hand. "Let me finish. If you three did help, and didn't purposely mess up the experiments, it would end your banishment from the town."

"It was one spider!" The teen protested. "We've done worse!"

"That one spider nearly ate half the town." Jack reminded him.

Lock crossed his arms. "I'll ask, but don't expect a pleasant answer." He ran back toward the graveyard.

Jack sighed and headed back toward Guillotine Gate. "I wouldn't dream of it."

xXx

"Shock, what are you doing?" Barrel asked, eyeing the witch nervously. She was wielding a large, spiked mace.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm going to knock some sense into Lock's thick head when he gets back." She snapped.

Barrel shoved some candy into his mouth. "Maybe he won't come back."

"Where else is he going to go? And don't talk with your mouth full, I don't want to see that." Barrel thought about this, then shrugged and continued stuffing his face with candy.

The Playroom door banged open, and Shock turned around. "There you are." She raised her weapon. "I didn't want to have to do this to you Lock, but-" She stopped and gasped, dropping the mace with a thud.

Barrel looked up, a sucker in between his teeth. "Shock? What..." He, too, gasped in shock (no pun intended, really), his mouth hanging open. The spider berry sucker shattered on the floor.

"M-Mr. O-Oogie Boogie!" Shock stuttered.

The bogeyman grinned, showing his squirming teeth. "Surprise."