It's working again! I see that I failed to put a disclaimer on Chapter One, so I'll squeeze one in: I do not own Nightmare Before Christmas or any of Tim Burton's glorious work. However, I do own this story and Victoria. pokes Victoria
Victoria: Still hate you.
Victoria shakily got to her feet. The giant hands that had captured her had vanished by now, and the falling feeling had stopped. It was a longer drop than it should have been, that was for sure. Where was she?
"I know. I'll just feel against a wall or something, and that'll get me out of here," Victoria said to herself. She couldn't see an inch in front of her face, so she spread her arms out to the left and right to find a sturdy surface. Unfortunately, there was none.
"Crap," she moaned. With nothing else to do, Victoria walked straight ahead in hopes of finding some kind of light. She walked forward for what seemed like ages, but no light appeared in front of her. A tight, nervous feeling squeezed her consciousness. She ignored it and kept moving on, keeping her eyes in front of her and her mind from worrying.
Suddenly, a small speck of white seemed to float in front of Victoria. A relieved smile spread across her face as she ran towards it. The white dot grew larger as she got closer, and soon enough it was almost blinding. Victoria held a hand over her eyes, stopped running, and squinted into the brightness. The light got bigger still, and it wasn't long before it engulfed her completely.
Victoria sighed. She was falling again, and she knew it. The girl braced for impact as her vision became clearer and showed grey dirt rapidly approaching her falling form. She closed her eyes.
WHUMP! Victoria hit ground…or at least, a tree. The spindly branches at the top broke when she fell, making her plummet to the larger limbs below. Twigs scraped and scratched Victoria as she descended. Finally, bruised and beaten, she was caught by a large branch near the ground and stayed there.
Victoria let her arms flop down on both sides of the branch. She coughed once or twice and then tried to sit up. One hand grabbed the trunk for safety, and then the other gripped the limb that she sat on. Once Victoria was steady, she put a hand to her pounding head. She opened her eyes (they had been closed the whole time), which widened in shock when she saw where she was.
Everything was grey. The sky, the ground, the trees…even the headstones that poked out from a nearby cemetery. Victoria rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. She could see a pale full moon in the sky, which didn't make sense. It was noon when she got grabbed by the hands.
"Meow!" Victoria jumped. She twisted around to look behind her, and a black cat was sitting calmly in a branch, licking its paw. Victoria let out a relieved breath.
"At least there's one normal thing here," Victoria said, reaching out to pet the cat. The feline hissed and arched its back, and then it darted down the trunk of the tree with lightning speed. Victoria raised an eyebrow and withdrew her hand.
"Never mind. I've gone crazy," she stated, "But, even if I am insane, I should probably get down from here." Victoria accidentally let her bottom half drop from the tree so she was hanging from the branch. "Whoa!" She tried to get a better grip on the stick, but she couldn't lift herself up again. Defeated, she hung on the branch.
Then, she heard people's voices coming from behind a giant hill to her left. She craned her neck to see who was coming.
"I wonder where Jack's been hiding."
"I bet he got eaten by the giant snake that lives in the lake!"
"You idiot, there is no lake."
"There is too! You just haven't seen it."
"Is not."
"Is too!"
"Quiet! If someone hears us coming, we won't be able to prank Dr. Finklestein!"
The voices seemed to belong to three different children, two boys and one girl, who were bickering endlessly. Victoria would have laughed, but that would have made her fall. Before too long, the trio was on top of the hill and Victoria had a clear view of them.
They were dressed up in Halloween costumes: one devil, one skeleton, and one witch. The devil was in the lead, and he looked smug and confident. The witch followed closely behind, cackling as she shoved the devil and made him roll down the hill. Lastly, the skeleton brought up the rear, licking a lollipop as he trailed behind his two companions.
The devil child yelled as he tumbled down the hill. Sure enough, he came to a halt right in front of Victoria in her awkward position. The devil had landed upside-down, so he fell over and quickly got back up, staring at Victoria the whole time.
"Hey, guys! Look at this weird bat hanging from the tree!" he yelled to his approaching friends. The skeleton and witch ran to meet him, and they laughed at the sight of the poor girl.
"Look, it's all white and ugly!" the skeleton giggled.
The witch pointed and laughed, "It's not even hanging the right way!" All three were soon in a pile, laughing madly at the sight of Victoria. Victoria, on the other hand, wasn't amused.
"I am not a bat!" she yelled, struggling to keep her grip. The children's eyes widened in shock- or was it mischief? The witch was the first to leap up from the pile. She moved closer to Victoria, inspecting her thoroughly. The other two followed suit.
"If you're not a bat, are you a bird?" asked the skeleton boy.
"Yeah," said the witch, "You must be a bird without any wings."
Victoria's eye twitched.
"Listen," she said, "I'm not a bat or a bird. I'm a girl who happens to be stuck in a tree!"
"You're stuck in a tree? Are you sure you're not a cat?" the devil piped up. The trio started to laugh again. Victoria furrowed her eyebrows together in anger. How dare they be so rude to her? She lifted an arm to give them an obscene gesture, but it made her lose her grasp on the tree and plunge to the ground.
"Oof!" Victoria grunted as she hit the dirt. The children gathered around her head, looking down at her face. The witch shrugged.
"She's not a cat. She didn't land on her feet!" she said, chuckling happily.
"That's enough!" Victoria shouted, surprising the youngsters. She pushed herself up off of the ground, scattered the three kids, and stood in the middle of them. She was shocked when she saw that they only came up to her shoulders. However, she looked at each of them sternly.
"I am not a bat, a cat, or a bird! I'm a girl, got it? If you three aren't smart enough to figure that out, I feel very sorry for you!" she shouted. The children were silent for a moment.
Then the devil confronted Victoria. "If you're a girl, who are you?"
"I should be asking all of you the same question," Victoria said haughtily, "Why don't you introduce yourselves?"
The trio smiled. "Gladly," they said together.
"I'm Lock!" the devil boy announced.
"Shock!" said the girl.
"And Barrel!" the skeleton proclaimed. They all beamed at Victoria. She snorted once, and then broke out into laughter.
"Are you serious?" she asked between laughs. Frowning slightly, they nodded.
"Who are you then? Miss Priss?" Shock said coldly. Victoria shook her head.
"My name's Victoria. Sorry, I just…those are funny names, that's all."
"Victoria's no better, believe us," Lock retorted. Victoria shrugged.
"Sorry. Now…um…where am I?" she asked, embarrassed.
"You don't know?!" Barrel said.
Shock looked at her suspiciously, and then said, "She doesn't look like she's from here, does she? Her clothes are too weird." Victoria looked down at her clothes, which were now a little dirty but not torn.
"I'm not from here. I was grabbed by these two giant hands and pulled into a grave!" Victoria told them. They all raised their eyebrows in confusion.
"Yeah, sure. You do need to do something about your clothes, though, they look ridiculous!" Lock said, eyeing her hat in disgust. Shock's eyes brightened.
"I can help! Watch!" the little witch said. Her hands began to glow a bright green, and then she pointed towards Victoria's white vest. The green light zapped the vest, turning the fabric a pitch black color. Then it spread out to her forest green shirt. The shirt's color slowly faded to a bright tangerine orange, and little black stars dotted the sleeves.
Victoria felt a tingling sensation on top of her head and knew that her hat was changing colors too. Her pants stayed the same, but her shoes were enveloped by the green light and changed from brown to black. The green light disappeared as soon as it had arrived.
For a moment, Victoria stood still. Then she turned on Shock.
"What did you do to my clothes?" Victoria asked cautiously. Shock puffed out her chest in pride.
"The old witches taught me! Go look in the water for yourself!" Shock said. Lock and Barrel seemed impressed and whistled at Victoria. Victoria made a face, and then walked over to a nearby puddle of water.
She gasped when she saw her ensemble. Orange and black decorated her from head to toe!
"What is this, Halloween?" Victoria asked incredulously.
Lock, Shock and Barrel looked at her and simply said, "Yes!"
Musically: Oh, and thanks for the review, everyone!
Victoria: Halloween...Town?
Lock, Shock, and Barrel: Yep.
Victoria: ...Crap...