Disclaimer: I don't own Nightmare Before Christmas. If I did, Lock, Shock, and Barrel would be teenagers and the movie would be WAY different. I only own Adeline.

Barrel sat down in the tree with a face of disbelief.

"It's hollow..." Barrel said with a tone of shock.

"Well, duh. It's a tree, what did you expect?" Adeline said. He looked away.

"You don't understand," Barrel grumbled.

"What don't I understand? A tree isn't hollow! I think I'm that smart," She said, getting frustrated with him.

"In this world!" Barrel stood up, clenching his fist. Adeline's eyes widened at something behind him. "Huh?" He turned around to meet tiny, red eyes. "Oh, crap!" He started running as a bat chased him.

"Barrel! Wait! It's just a bat!" Adeline cried, but he was already too far away. She sighed and started slowly walking towards the sound of the screeches of the bat and Barrel's occasional yells.

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Adeline reached the graveyard where the bat had left Barrel. The boy was crouching near a slightly faded gravestone.

"Barrel?" She asked softly.

"Everything makes sense now..." He breathed.

"What are you talking about?" Adeline asked. Barrel pointed to the tombstone, which read his name and two dates: birth and death. "Oh my god... you really are dead..."

"You think?" He asked sarcastically. Barrel sighed, "Why doesn't anything work out for me?"

Adeline gazed at him curiously. "Where do you come from, anyway?"

"A place that exists," He replied plainly. "But not here."

Adeline stared. She shook her head, muttering, "You are very strange..."

"Trust me, you don't know what strange is," Barrel replied, standing up and turning around.

"Where are you going?" Adeline asked as he got farther and farther away.

"Home."

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"Now what? I'm so bored," Lock commented lightly, examining a match.

"Help find Barrel. Where did you get that?" Shock asked irritably.

"It doesn't matter. If you really want to find him, stick a lollipop to a tree. He'll come running back."

"You're just trying to be unhelpful now, aren't you?"

"Pretty much."

She let out an exaggerated sigh. "Why did destiny put me with you two?"

"To teach you the meaning of fun," Lock laughed.

Shock glared at him. "Are you trying to get on my bad side?"

"You make it too easy, Cruella."

"Why do you guys always make up ridiculous nicknames for me?"

"You want the honest or fake answer?"

"Honest."

"It's fun to mess with you."

"I hate you, you know that?"

"Thanks, that warms my heart."

"Anytime. Now, let's look for Barrel, blockhead."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes."

"Fine, you first."

"What?"

"I said you first," Lock said, gesturing to the open door in the tree.

"Oh, no. No, no, no, no. No way am I going in there. There's mold in the tree and beetles and.. urgh!" She cringed.

"Come on, Shock. You're a boogie's boy, start acting like it." Lock said, keeping his face expressionless.

"Yeah, but I'm not a boy!" Shock protested. Lock rolled his eyes.

"You live in Halloween Town in an old, run down tree house, and you're scared of a little mold and bugs? Pathetic." He said, shaking his head in mock disappointment.

"Oh, fine. I'll go." She muttered, reluctantly climbing into the tree, disappearing into pitch black. Lock put a foot on the the bottom of the door and chuckled to himself.

"That trick always works." He said before jumping in himself.

Writing this was so fun! Except I got stuck on ideas for a while, but after that I really got it. I'll work on the next chapter ASAP! Reviews make me type faster!