So sorry for the delay you guys, but I was having such bad computer problems. Anyway, I've finally got it back, so here ya go!
Disclaimer: I do not own The Nightmare Before Christmas
In This Town, We Call Home
Shock's POV
Barrel, Lock, and I looked around as Jack lead us into town. Everyone around us was decked out to the max for Halloween. "Wow," I commented, "everyone sure goes hog-wild for this holiday."
"But, of course!" Jack exclaimed, extending his long, lanky arms and looking back at me. "It's the most important holiday of them all!"
"Not like Easter." Barrel muttered under his breath to Lock and me. The three of us stopped when we ran into Jack's leg. He had come to a halt and turned around to look at us.
"What was that?" I couldn't help, but notice a hint of an edge to his typically friendly tone. "How is any other holiday more important than this one? And what is this 'Easter' you speak of, anyway?"
"Well, we get tons of chocolate eggs and chocolate bunnies and get to go Easter egg hunting!" Barrel said sticking his tongue out and clutching his black-and-orange-swirled lollipop.
"Ah," Jack held up a finger while his other hand rested on his tiny pelvis, "but can you pull tricks and get away with it?"
"No." He replied looking down.
I smacked him on the back of the head with my mask. "Idiot." Barrel just gave me a look in reply.
"Jack! Jack! How do these bats seem?" A vampire asked as bats hung from his sleeves, and my two friends and I looked around with a start. "Are they mature enough to let go?"
"Are these eyeballs ripe yet?" Asked a ghoul. "I just plucked them." It then dawned on me: there was a vast number of civilians crowding around us now.
Jack's head turned left and right while he tried to answer everyone's questions. They were offering a multitude of objects waiting for approval. Barrel, Lock, and I looked around, trying to find a way out—because the last time we were in a crowd, it was a amongst group of people who hated us. We made it to the edge of ghouls, mummies, vampires, etc. and cried out as we tripped and fell backwards on top of each other.
"Ow, ow, ow!" I whined, trying to roll off of them. "Get off, get off, get off, get off!"
"Who are you telling to get off of you?!" Lock snapped from the bottom of the dog pile.
"Yeah, you're the one who's crushing us!" Barrel glared, wiggling around.
"Shut up!" I retorted, still not making any progress in sorting out our situation.
"Oh! Here let me help you!" A pair of small, gentle hands lifted me up and placed me on the ground before helping Barrel and Lock to their feet. My eyes were captivated by the person and my two fellow mischief-makers soon followed my gaze, unsure as to why I was so awe-stricken.
The one who came to our aid stared down at us with large, round eyes and long eyelashes that fluttered as she blinked. A stitched smile stretched across her spherical, pale face and a pair of rosy red lips curled upward in a slightly crooked smile upon the sight of the three of us. She was kneeing in front of us and her long, straight, red hair reached her lower back. She wore a very dull-colored dress consisting of large patches stitched together. What's more, there were stitches almost everywhere on her body! In literal terms: she was a living rag doll.
"Are you okay?" She asked us sweetly, but the three of us were still too dumbfounded to answer.
"Sally!" She gasped and got up, "I'll see you three later." Giving us those whispered parting words, she slinked away to the grey, stone wall beside us as an old, bald man, with tiny, black glasses and dressed in a white lab coat, rolled up to us in a wheelchair. "Hm." He snarled as he looked around, and we flinched into reality when his hidden eyes made their way towards us. "Have you three seen a doll wandering around here?"
"Uh . . . uh-uh." I replied shaking my head, while my friends hid behind me.
He snorted and wheeled away.
"What was that about?" Lock asked walking out ,along with our rotund, little friend.
"Beats me." Barrel replied.
"Things sure are strange here." I commented, raising an eyebrow and folding my arms.
"Indeed they are, little missy! Ahahaha!" The three of us jumped and cried out when a large, beige sack started cracking up next to us. "So, where you from?" He asked, leaning down closer once he had calmed down, and put his fat arms on his hips. "Don't think I've seen you 'round here before."
"Oogie!" We all looked up to see Jack storming over, and by the look on his face, it was clear he was not a big fan of this guy.
"Jack! So good of you to answer all of your people's questions for next Halloween." The sack mocked.
"Enough of your commentary, Oogie. I don't want you around these kids."
"Aw, why's that? I was only asking where they were from, is all."
"We're from the living world!" Barrel answered behind his mask and holding up his lollipop.
Oogie stared at him for a moment before going hysterical again with laughter, making us cringe together and Barrel hold his sweet treat close to him. "Did'ja hear that everybody?" Oogie boomed loudly in the center of the square, "These kids are from the world of the living! Ahahahaha!"
My friends and I looked around as the civilians started to form another circle around us.
"Really?" A werewolf growled.
"How is it?"
"You mean you actually lived there?"
"We've only been there on Halloween Night!"
"Except those who have a full-time job there." A creature with fingers like snakes and spiders in his hair added.
"Agreed." Said a monster with teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red.
Lock, Barrel, and I looked at each other, our faces hidden by our masks. Then, I looked back at the fast accumulated mob. "W-we didn't like it all that much."
"Yeah," Lock said waving his arm in front of him dismissively, "Nothin' to see there!"
"Except for us." The sharp-toothed red-eyed creature snickered along with his pals surrounding him.
"Well, I'm sure we'll all have the chance to question them more on their old home at another time." Jack interjected as he began to gently push the three of us out of the crowd. "But, these kids are tired, I'm sure. We best be off! Carry on with the good work, everyone!"
The next thing we knew, we were inside a house and Jack slammed the front door shut before sliding down against it. He sighed with his eyes closed once he hit the floor, and he rubbed his head with a bony hand, his elbow propped up against one knee.
"Well, that was hectic." I said behind my sickly-green witch's mask.
"Halloween's never been that crazy back at home!" Barrel mentioned, taking off his skull one.
"Sure doesn't seem like Jack's not used to it, though." Lock added.
The three of us looked at the tall, lanky man who just sat there shaking his head, his eyes still closed. "It's always like this. Every year."
Zero slowly drifted down the stairs, barking at his master with concern.
"You sure don't seem well, Jack." I commented.
"Huh?" He replied looking up at last, then he flinched. "Oh, my word! Where are my manners? You all must be starving! Let me get you something to eat." And without another moment's hesitation, the skeleton was up and darting under his stairwell to the tiny kitchen in the back of his tall, large house.
Barrel, Lock, and I followed him, stunned at his sudden mood change. We sat at the black-wooden table and, a moment later, Jack placed three bowls of steaming hot, foul-looking mush in front of us.
"Dig right in!" He claimed proudly.
My friends and I looked at each other with a questioning glance and a raising of our eyebrows, before we leaned forward to smell the stuff.
Barrel immediately slapped his hands over his nose and leaned back as far as possible, his eyes tearing. "Bleck! That smells disgusting!"
"I second that!" I said with my eyes shut tight as I fanned the stench with my hat. "Peeyu!"
"Well, don't blow it in my direction!" Lock interjected holding his nose and fanning with his pale hand.
"Come on, now." Jack said with his hands on his hips and Zero beside him. "How do you know you don't like it, if you've never tried it?"
The three of us stopped and dismally looked at one another. Lock and I had never been asked that typical parenting question—I mean do you recall our childhoods?—and looked at Barrel who sadly stared at his food; and we took that experience away from Barrel when the accident occurred.
Our rotund skeleton friend lifted the spoon and scooped up a mouthful. We watched with baited breath for his response and his eyes widened. "Oh, wow!" He cried and looked at Jack. "That's really good!
"Great!" He answered, swinging his arm as he made a fist. "I knew it! Now, it's up to you guys."
Lock and I glanced t each other while Barrel began wolfing down the steaming hot mush.
"Bon appetite, I guess." I said as I slightly wrinkled my nose and spooned the food into my mouth. My eyes popped open as well and I smiled. "Wow! That is really good!" I proceeded to put spoonful after spoonful in my mouth.
"You're both crazy." Lock muttered as he started us judgingly, before he put some dinner in his own mouth. Barrel and I waited and we saw his eyes widen as well, but he just had to play it cool and he closed his eyes. "It's all right."
"Oh, come on!" I exclaimed as I shoved him. "You know it's good. Just admit it!"
"Bleh!" He stuck out his tongue.
After we had finished eating, Jack showed us upstairs. "You can sleep here for now, if you'd like."
"Why's that?" I asked, my friends close behind me as they looked around the circular room. We spotted an impressively long bed in front of the fireplace and could only conclude it belonged to the friendly skeleton.
"Because, you haven't anywhere else to go. Isn't that correct?"
"He does have a point there, Shock." Lock admitted.
"Sh!" I hissed.
"Thank you for your kindness." Barrel said quietly, remembering the opposing behavior we received prior to our new lives.
"Not at all, you three!" Jack beamed brightly. "It's my pleasure!" Zero barked in agreement.
"So, where would we sleep?" Our five-year-old friend wondered.
Jack patted a moderately-sized basket by the window. "Right here!" He placed a hand over his chest. "I truly do apologize for not having anything better, but Zero and I weren't expecting such wonderful guests!" His ghost dog barked in reply before making a bee-line between us and drifting to Jack's side once more. "I do have some spare blankets. Let me go fetch them for you." And just like that, he strode down his spiraled staircase.
"How is it we got such a stranger to take us in so suddenly?" I asked as we made our way over to our bed and climbed in.
Barrel had some difficulty and got stuck on his belly. Trying to avoid his swinging legs, I gave him a gentle nudge, before joining him with Lock beside me.
"You're really going to question it?" Our tubby friend said.
"Well, you had it good. . ." I looked at my lap. "Lock and I were abandoned years ago."
Barrel leaned forward slightly to look at Lock's and my dismal, downward gazes. "But, you're not now." He smiled, reassuringly. "You've got Jack and Zero. And me! Plus, we met that really nice lady in the square!"
"What lady?" We looked up to see Jack returning with blankets in his long arms.
"She helped us when that crowd surrounded you earlier today."
"Did she now?" He asked as he started to lay down the sheets. "Do you know what her name was?"
"Um. . ." I put a finger on my chin as I looked up in thought. "I think the man in the lab coat looking for her said her name was Sally."
"Sally?" We jumped at the sudden up-beat tone in his voice. "She's a wonderful person!"
"Do you like her?" Barrel asked.
"What? Me? Oh ho! No. I don't have time for relationships. What with being the Pumpkin King and all-"
"The what?!" We all interjected. "You mean . . . Pumpkin King as in . . . the King of Halloween?!" The three of us had climbed out from under the blankets and began to press towards Jack.
"Yes." He said cautiously as he held up his hands.
"That was why everyone in town was asking your opinion and everything!" I pointed out.
"That's incredible!" Lock said jumping up and down. "Halloween's our most favorite holiday ever!"
"Really now. " He straightened himself and put his hands on his hips. "Because, I recall someone saying they liked this apparent 'Easter' better." He gave a playfully scolding smile over to Barrel.
"Hey, I said it wasn't as important as Halloween!"
Jack chuckled for a bit. "Well," he finally said with a sigh, "it's been a long day for all of you, so let's get you all nice and comfy." We slinked our way back into the bed and he tucked us in. "Zero's bed is right over there, so pardon if he decides to curl up with you guys."
"Eh, it's not like we'll notice him if he does." Lock commented causing Zero to whine and drop his ears.
"That's mean!" I smacked my slicked-haired friend, and giving the jack-lantern-nosed ghost dog a smile. "Zero, you're welcome with us anytime." Zero, then, barked and flipped before floating over and lying right on top of my legs. He just felt like a load of air on my lap, but I didn't really care.
I began to make an attempt in petting him and giggled. Strange. That hasn't happened since . . . Wow. . . . When was the last time I giggled? And honestly meant it?
"Well, goodnight you three." Jack smiled before patting each of us on the head. "Let me take your hat, Shock." I lifted my head off of the large, long, pillow propped up against the side of the basket. The bone man, then, nicely placed my purple hat on the table at the foot of our small bed. "I'll be right over here, if you need anything."
After an acknowledging nod, none of us said anything else for a while. The moon was high and the distant sounds of the werewolf could be heard. Familiar noises sounded from the outside, as well: an owl hooting and the wind whistling through the bare trees. It brought back memories of home, which were a mix of good and bad. But, the more I thought about it, it was mostly bad.
I gazed at the high ceiling. "This feels so weird." I whispered from my position between the two.
"What does?" Barrel whispered back as to not wake Jack or Zero, who was now sound asleep on our my lap.
"Just this overall thing. . . One minute we're dying and the next, we're reborn into this strange, new world."
"But, think about it." Lock said, turning to look at me. "Would you really change any of it?"
"Not at all." I looked at my lap and began to count on my gloved fingers. "We're accepted. Living new lives. Given an actual home. Living in a world of our most favorite holiday." I looked at Barrel with a slight smirk. "Not Easter."
"Aw, c'mon!" He folded his arms and pressed his blue lips together as he looked out the window to his left. "I've got a feeling you guys are not going to let that go, even though that wasn't even what I said."
Lock and I snickered.
"And there's another thing." I added and smiled. "We're actually happy. . . Genuinely happy. " I looked at my friends beside me. "Not having to worry about getting into trouble or anything. I can't remember the last time any of us had an opportunity like that. Here, we can just be us. Like we had been in the world of the living: genuine pranksters who love nothing but some good ol' fashion fun."
Lock and Barrel's blue lips curled upward and their eyes seemed to shine slightly.
"Yeah." My devilish seven-year-old friend agreed. "You're right."
He took my hand as did Barrel a moment after. "Here, in this town we call home." We all quietly chorused together as the bright moon shed its white light upon us through the windows of the home of the Pumpkin King.
Gotta say I really liked how this chapter came together at the end. Hope you all enjoyed it, too! Please Review and I'll see you next time. ^^