Disclaimer: I do not own The Nightmare Before Chirstmas, Tim Burton does. I made up Molly but that's about it.
Author's Note: This fan fic contains some references to the video game, The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge. This is because it shows a lay out of the town so for those of you who have played the game I hope you enjoy finding these references and if not, then I hope you enjoy the fic anyways!
Chapter One: Who's Oogie Boogie?
"Okay people let's go! Only three months until Halloween! We don't have much time left!" The Mayor said for the tenth time in the past hour and a half. A certain raven haired rag doll sighed and rolled her eyes after she heard the Mayor from inside the Witches' Shop.
Molly wished she could find a way to ditch her job at the witches' shop, since all she did there was make treats like bone biscuits and black widow truffles, so she could hang out with Lock, Shock, and Barrel. Yes it was quite unusual for a young woman like herself to want to hang out with three children, but they were the only ones she actually had things in common with. Everyone else seemed so obsessed about preparations for Halloween it made her wish there was no such thing. But, if she missed work again today she knew that the witches would fire her, and then she'd have to help the other townspeople with their preparations.
"Molly you've been such a help to us! Dr. Finkelstein and Jewel must be so proud of you!" The taller Witch said to Molly, snapping her out of her day dream.
The shorter Witch then added, "See, working is much more rewarding than playing pranks and pulling scams! After all…"
The two then began to sing a line from the town's favorite song, This is Halloween, "Tender lumplings everywhere, life's no fun without a good scare. That's our job, but we're not mean, in our town of Halloween!"
Molly forced a chuckle, "Ha ha, yes, I know how the song goes…" But the witches started over from the beginning of the song and the rag doll could not help but sigh once again and mouth silently, "Here they go again…" Though this time when she heard the song, she noticed something odd, something she had noticed a few times but never really questioned before; a missing verse. Turning to face her singing bosses, she asked, "Did you miss a verse?"
Both of them looked at her as if she had gone crazy, "No of course we didn't!" the taller witch replied in a defensive tone.
"But I could have sworn that there was a short verse after, I am the 'who' when you call, 'Who's there?' I am the wind blowing through your hair before it starts with the chorus. I mean, it just doesn't sound right…" Molly argued, though she made sure to sound polite about it so that it didn't seem like she was just trying to be belligerent.
"Well…" the shorter witch looked thoughtful for a moment, "I think there was once a very small insignificant part in the song…but I guess nobody remembers it enough to care." The taller witch nodded in agreement.
Whatever they were trying to sell to Molly didn't seem to work, since she gave them a raised brow, "But…if everyone knows the song by heart, how can even a small part be overlooked so much?" If there was anything that Molly had that was similar to her creator, whom insisted she call him father, it would have been his cleverness to figure out almost anything. If she had been gullible, then she wouldn't have made it very far in gambling.
This time it seemed they didn't have a logical explanation, so the taller witch decided to end the conversation, "You know what Molly! Since you worked so hard today, why don't we let you go two hours early!" she proposed as if she just got an ingenious idea.
The other witch nodded as she took a black widow truffle off of a pan that was fresh from the oven and cool enough to eat. "Here, have one of these too! You must want to know how terrible they came out!"
'Bribery...yep, those two are defiantly trying to keep something from me…' Molly thought to herself but pretended not to notice how obvious it was that they were trying to change the subject. "Why thank you!" Taking a bite of the truffle, she then made a pleased sound, "Mmm…they are to die for!"
"Oooh!" the two witches seemed pleased as they clapped their hands together, "Here, have another!" the taller witch offered as she placed another into her hand and began to push her out the door of their small shop. "Now you run along and enjoy yourself on this horrible day!"
After Molly heard the door to the shop close behind her, she shook her head and chuckled softly. "Wow…if questioning them lets me get off of work early, maybe I should question them more often!" she said to herself before she popped the rest of the first black widow truffle into her mouth while putting the other into her dress pocket.
Her ankle high boots made soft click-clack sounds on the stone cobbled ground as she entered the town square with the fountain that looked like a ghoul vomiting green water. Glancing around she then noticed Corpse Kid playing around with a ghoul and a mummy child, and a slightly devious grin spread across her stitched lips. "Hey! Corpse Kid!" she called out, causing the children to turn and look at her. Taking out a deck of playing cards from her other pocket, she then asked, "Wanna play a little game of Bat Snot?" Bat Snot was the Halloween Town version of the card game, Bullshit, the only difference in the game was what you shouted out when you thought the other person was bluffing.
"N-no way!" Corpse Kid replied quickly waving his hands in front of himself to show just how much he really didn't want to play. "The other day when I played with you, you got to keep all my Maggot Muffins!"
This did not discourage Molly though, "Gee…sorry to hear that…" she then placed the cards back into her pocket then took out the Black Widow Truffle from her other one. "Because I was going to ask you for just a quick game…I was going to bet this freshly made truffle…made it myself…it's really good." Molly held the treat out with her dainty thin fingers in a tempting way before she quickly took it away from their view by placing it back in her pocket. "But since you don't want to play…"
At this proposal, it seemed that Corpse Kid had a change of heart, "O-okay, I'll bet a quarter pound bag of Marsh-Marrows for your Truffle."
Molly smiled as she withdrew the cards again and started to shuffle them while taking a seat on the edge of the fountain at the center of town. Corpse Kid decided to stand near her and his friends just gathered around to watch.
A quick game of Bat Snot soon became several since it seemed that Corpse Kid was determined to beat her at her own game. Unfortunately for him, he lost more than just his quarter pound bag of Marsh-Marrows, but also a bag of candy corn and three lollipops shaped like skulls. The children walked away from Molly with their spirits crushed just a bit, that was until they all found a new game to play. The rag doll shuffled her cards before she placed them back into her pocket and looked at her winnings. Of course, she had been known for cheating, but when she played with kids like Corpse Kid she didn't have to. Corpse Kid was lousy at the game since she could tell when he was bluffing from a mile away.
Molly began to wonder what she was going to do with so many sweets, especially since she didn't have much of a sweet tooth; which was quite ironic since her job required her to make them all day. The only reason she ate the Black Widow Truffle was because they were made from actual black widows, and Molly did have a taste for creepy crawlies, especially spiders. In fact, she loved snake and spider stew, and it was one of the few things she took the time to learn to cook, even though her mother, Jewel, did all the cooking.
Just before she decided what she should do with the treats, her answers came up to her, quite literally. They were of course three of Halloween Town's finest Trick-or-Treaters, and her best friends, Lock, Shock, and Barrel. A more sincere smile made its way across her features, "Hey guys!" Molly greeted first.
"Hey!" Greeted Lock first.
Then Shock with, "Hi, what are you doing out of work so early?"
Barrel then asked, "Didja get canned finally!"
Molly chuckled in a light feminine tone, that also sounded mischievous, "No. For some reason, the old hags decided to let me leave early. Though they seemed kind of suspicious about it. All because I called them on a missing verse."
The notorious trio didn't seem to care for the reason Molly was given a short day, just as long as she was with them now. This was made clear when Barrel asked her, "Hey, you gonna eat this candy?"
"No go ahead and split it amongst yourselves." The rag doll replied after shaking her head. Though she didn't exactly expect them to really care; they were cleverer than the other children, but they were still young, and had short attention spans. While Lock Shock and Barrel began to fight over the candy in an a way that would have appalled their parents if they had any, Molly began to go over the song, This is Halloween, again to see if she could come up with the missing verse. "…Everybody scream, everybody scream, in our town of Halloween. I am the clown with the tear-away face. Here in a flash and gone without a trace. I am the 'who' when you call, 'Who's there?' I am the wind blowing through your hair…" she paused as the chorus played in her head then sighed, "…it still just doesn't sound right…"
Lock and Shock pushed Barrel away from the candy grabbing frenzy, and the boy dressed up in the skeleton costume happened to notice Molly singing the town's favorite song, and decided to join in where she left off. "I am the shadow on the moon at night, filling your dreams to the brim with fright! This is Halloween, this is Halloween…"
Molly gasped after hearing the verse from the song that she never heard before and stopped the boy from continuing the chorus with her urgent question. "Barrel! You know that verse? Why doesn't anyone sing it though?"
The boy shrugged with a vacant expression, "I dunno…" suddenly he then realized something and smiled. Jumping up and down a few times, he added, "Oh yeah! Probably because that was Oogie's part!"
"Oogie's part?" Molly repeated quizzically.
Suddenly Lock and Shock both cuffed Barrel, "Don't mind him!" Lock tried to cover up his anger with a grin.
"You know how Barrel gets when he's on a sugar high!" Shock added as she took Barrel by the hand and lead him away from Molly. "We better get back to our tree house before he causes too much mischief!"
Lock gave the confused rag doll a salute, "See ya later Molly!" before he ran after his other two friends.
Molly watched as the three left her, taking the candy without a thank you, but she didn't exactly expect much out of them when it came to manners. "Now since when did those three become concerned about causing too much mischief?" she asked herself as her brows narrowed. "I swear it seems like everyone's trying to hide something from me today!" Standing up now she held a determined look, "That's it! I only know of one person who's going to give me a strait answer without avoiding my questions!" Now, this determined rag doll practically marched towards her next destination; Jack Skellington's house.
(OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO)
It wasn't until Shock heard the gate that lead into Halloween Town close when she finally decided to let go of Barrel and hit him on the head again. "Stupid!" she berated her cohort. "Why'd you have to go and mention Oogie Boogie like that!"
Looking up at the taller girl, Barrel replied, "I-I was just tellin' her that Oogie use to have a part in the song! That's all I was tellin' her I swear!"
"Oh yeah? You sure!" Lock asked in an accusing tone of voice. "I bet if she asked more questions you would have ended up telling her more than that!"
Barrel shook his head, "Uh-uh! I wasn't gonna tell her that Oogie's bac-" Lock and Shock cut him off by covering his mouth and looked around to see if anyone might have been able to hear their conversation. When they were satisfied that nobody was around, they removed their hands and knocked Barrel over the head with closed fists.
"Dummy! Don't go blabbing around that he's back so close to town!" Lock growled before he and Shock began to walk towards their house.
Poor abused Barrel groaned in pain as he rubbed his head a little then followed his friends. "Sorry…you think Oogie'll be in a better mood today?"
"I don't know," replied Shock with a shrug, "He's been awfully moody since we stitched him back up."
"Well he did get his butt kicked last Christmas by Jack!" Lock said, "I'd be pretty mad too! Plus I think he's getting bored, what with him trying to keep a low profile about him still being alive. He must be dying to find a way to get back at Jack."
(OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO)
Once Molly finished climbing up the steps to Jack's house, she pulled on the small spider that was attached to the string to sound the doorbell, which was of course, a high pitched scream. She waited a few moments before she pulled it again. "Hey! Jack! Sally!" Knowing it was quite stupid, she even added, "…Zero!" Groaning, she then decided to knock, but just as she was about to bang her fist upon the door, it opened just enough to be slightly ajar. Blinking a few times, she looked around, and wondered why the door did that. Molly shrugged it off and decided to go on in to at least check if anyone was home.
The door made a long creak as she opened it more and invited herself into the Skellington home, then closed it behind her. "It's not like they'll know I'm here…I'll just look really quickly through his library to see if there's any mention of an Oogie…" she stated, trying to convince herself that there was nothing wrong with being in a person's house who wasn't even home. Wasting no time, she began to climb the spiraled staircase while continuing to talk to herself to keep away the eerie silence around the house. It seemed even Zero wasn't home, or else the ghost dog would have surely been barking at the sudden intrusion. "Oogie…never heard of him before. Did he use to live here? What's so bad about Oogie's verse anyways? And why does everyone seem to avoid questions about this person?"
When Molly reached the last step she found herself looking around the small room. "Hum…now what books might have records of people in Halloween Town?" she asked to the air as she scanned the bookshelf with her emerald green eyes. There were several books where she might find some answers, but they were huge, just looking through one would take more time than she had. "Darn it!" she stamped her foot, "Why can't anything be easy around here!" Glancing around the room to see if maybe amongst the scattered books there was one labeled, All about Oogie, or something along those lines, but it was in vain.
But her eyes did notice the old record player that was in the room, with a record labeled, This is Halloween, on it. "Bingo!" the raven haired rag doll declared with a victorious smile as she walked over to it. Once she figured out how to get it to work, the song began to play and she waited patiently for the verse that she discovered this afternoon while leaning close to the horn like instrument that allowed the music to be heard. It didn't take too long until she heard the voice of the person who had irked her curiosity. It was a soft tone, yet it was deep and it sent a shiver up her spine when she heard the words Oogie sang. That indeed was a voice that could fill her dreams to the brim of fright!
"How did you get in here Molly?" a male voice asked suddenly, causing Molly to let out a short scream of surprise as she jerked her head to face the speaker. Her eyes glanced up to meet the gaze of the dark sockets of Jack Skellington, who had one socket raised up slightly to show his bemusement of her presence.
Shaking off her surprise, Molly answered in a self-assured way as to not tip off Jack that she was lying. "Sally let me in. I came to visit her, but she had to leave a few minutes ago, you just missed her. I was just about to leave though…"
Of course, Sally had to climb up the stairs right after Molly told her almost perfectly good lie. "Jack? Is something the matter? I thought I heard a scream…" her eyes then feel upon Molly. She smiled kindly at her, "Oh, hello, how'd you get in Molly?"
"That's exactly what I was just asking her…" the Pumpkin King replied to his girlfriend before he continued to speak to Molly. "Sally and I were just at Town Hall with the Mayor discussing plans for this year's Halloween." He then folded his thin boney arms over his chest while drumming his skeletal fingers on his boney bicep. "So… care to explain how Sally was able to invite you in and be at Town Hall at the exact same time?"
'Darn it…caught lying to the Pumpkin King…this day just keeps getting better and better!' thought Molly while mentally rolling her eyes at her misfortune.
Though her luck seemed to brighten up a bit when Jack turned to Sally and asked her, "Sally, you know what I am craving, some pumpkin bread!"
The redheaded rag doll smiled at the skeleton man and replied, "How about I make some then?" she then climbed back down the stairs, giving Jack and Molly some privacy to talk.
"Now…tell me, what was so important for you to come into the house uninvited?" Jack asked, though he used a softer tone with her now as he turned off the record player.
Deciding that it was now or never, Molly responded sternly, "Jack, I want to know something, but everyone keeps avoiding my questions! Even Lock, Shock and Barrel seem to be hiding something from me!"
The skeleton man looked surprised as he blinked his empty sockets once. "Well, maybe I can help answer these questions of yours?"
"That's why I came over!" taking a deep breath to calm herself, Molly then asked in a more polite way, "I want to know…who's Oogie? What's so bad about him? Why is his part in This is Halloween song missing all of a sudden if it was on the record?"
There was a long pause of silence as Jack tried to compile his thoughts to answer all of Molly's questions. He rubbed his skull with a deep sigh as he proceeded to explain, "It's a long, long story…"
"Well I'm not going anywhere…" Molly replied in a dull tone.
Jack began walking down the stairs and Molly followed as he spoke, "I'll start from the beginning. You see, nobody is really sure where Oogie Boogie came from, but we do know he's not originally from Halloween Town. The reason why his part is left out in the song it because last year…"
"MOLLY FINKELSTEIN!" a shrill shout interrupted Jack. Molly and Jack turned to see Jewel standing at the front door with a sheepish looking Sally standing next to her.
"Heh heh…" Sally chuckled nervously, "Jewel's here to take Molly home Jack."
Both Molly and Jack looked at each other at the same time, though Jack's was a bit more curious than Molly's. "Well, thank you for all your help Jack." Molly said in a polite tone since her mother was right there, and even gave a short curtsy before walking towards her mother.
Jewel looked very much like Dr. Finkelstein at the moment, with the way she was scowling. Once Molly exited the Skellington house though, she put on a smile and said in a thankful tone, "Thank you for looking after Molly, so sorry that she came unannounced."
"It wasn't a problem at all Jewel…" Jack began to say before Jewel marched out of the house and slammed the door behind her.
"She's got the doctor's temper…" Sally commented softly a few moments after the two Finkelstein women left.
"I can tell…" responded Jack.
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"Why did you leave the Witches' Shop so early!" Jewel asked in a stern interrogative way as she marched towards Dr. Finkelstein's Laboratory in with hastened steps with a stuck up sort of air about her. "I went there to check up and see how well you've been doing in your new work environment and find that you take off two hours early!"
Molly rolled her eyes at her mother's back, "Didn't they tell you they gave me an early day?"
"That is not important!" snapped Jewel before she continued her ranting, "And then I hear from Corpse Mother that she saw you talking to those…" she then paused and said with a disgusted look on her face as if the next word would leave a nasty taste in her mouth, "…children…"
"Lock, Shock, and Barrel are my friends…" Molly replied, before she added with that same distasteful tone Jewel used to identify her friends, "…mother…"
Jewel didn't seem to catch what her daughter said, that, or she didn't care. "That's not all Corpse Mother told me either! Then she told me she saw you sneaking over to the Skellington house! Just what was it you were trying to do there? Oh the things you put me through, Molly! You might not care about your reputation in the Town as being a delinquent or a home wrecker, but will you think about the other people whose reputations will suffer because of yours!"
"Home wrecker?" Molly repeated taken aback by her mother's accusation. "What are you talking about?"
Tucking a blonde strand of hair behind her ear, Jewel proceeded to explain, "Well, it's obvious that you went there to see Jack! I don't know how Sally can be so trusting, leaving him alone in the presence of a beautiful troubled girl like yourself! Oh!" Placing a hand to her forehead acting like she were about to faint, "I don't know what I'd do if I became known as the mother of the Town's home wrecker!"
"Oh mother!" moaned Molly as she slapped her own forehead at the crazy idea Jewel came up with. "It's not like that! I was just asking Jack some questions about the upcoming Halloween." After telling her mother the quick lie to calm her down, she added another with a sincere tone of voice, "I was thinking of maybe doing my own special part this year, so I was asking him certain things to see if my ideas weren't taken already."
At this news, Jewel seemed to calm down quite a bit and gave a sigh of great relief, "Oh…my goodness. Please forgive me dear, but you know how rumors can spread!"
"Yeah…especially since you spread most of them yourself…" Molly muttered before Jewel continued on chattering, but this time it was in praise.
"Well that sounds like a marvelous idea! I just hope you can finish everything up in time! My daughter you are so inventive! Just like your father!" This comment caused the rag doll to roll her eyes at the sudden change in her mother's attitude before the blonde creation turned to face her. "So, what it is you're planning?"
Giving her mother an innocent smile, she replied, "I can't tell you, or else it would ruin the surprise!"
Jewel looked satisfied with that answer, but that was mostly because they had reached the Laboratory. As Jewel opened the door she continued talking, "Oh, perhaps you might be able to win an award this year if your Halloween idea is great! And it will be! After that you won't be considered the town delinquent anymore! Won't that be marvelous?"
"Yeah…it sure would be…" Molly replied unenthusiastically without looking back at the blonde creation as she climbed up the metal railing towards Sally's old room which was now her own. When she did enter her room, she closed the door behind her with yet another sigh. The rag doll realized she had been doing that a lot lately, and figured that perhaps she might have been a little depressed. Walking towards the window of the room she looked out and had a good view of the town, which also had a view of the Skellington house. "I still didn't get any of my questions about Oogie Boogie answered." she said to herself with a frown.
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Ta-da! Well that's chapter one of The Nightmare After Christmas! Yes, I am aware that title sounds kinda lame, but it wasn't taken surprisingly and I couldn't think of anything better for it, because it does take place after that notorious Christmas night. So don't be afraid to tell me what you think of it so far, even though it's kinda hard to judge since it's only chapter one. I try to keep all the characters in character as much as possible.
Oh and if you wonder who Jewel is, she's the one who is pushing the Doctor in his wheelchair at the end of the movie. Nobody really knows if that's her name, but he does call her "his precious jewel" so some fans just kinda nick-named her that. She came off to me as one who would kinda like having a high social status, so that would include having a perfect daughter, why she sounds like such a mean heartless hag. In a way, she's only looking out for her own reputation.
Any-who, I will try to update the next chapter soon, as well as other chapters for my stories. Next chapter will actually have Oogie in it! So please read and review and hopefully come back to read more when I update!
LaterZ,
Sydney Daimao