The town square was bustling with activity when they arrived and it looked like everyone in Halloween Town was there. Dr. Finkelstein's creepy skeletal reindeer were all harnessed to a large sleigh and standing on the wooden take-off ramp and nearly everybody was holding some kind of present to add to the back of the sleigh. The crowd parted and gawked with great interest as the trio made their way towards Jack and they walked proudly, loving being the center of everyone's attention and 100% confident that they finally had the right Sandy Claws. Now that the moment had arrived, they all decided that waiting until the last minute had actually turned out perfectly because it was much more dramatic this way, plus it put the three of them right in the spotlight. They were excited to reveal their trophy in front of the whole town and when they were close enough that Jack could hear them they shouted out together:
"Jack, Jack! This time we bagged him!"
"This time we really did!" added Lock, unable to contain a little leap of excitement.
"He sure is big, Jack!" said Barrel from atop the wiggling sack as Jack strode towards them in his Sandy Claws costume.
"And heavy!" finished Shock, then she and Lock each took an end of the rope and pulled open the bag. Sandy Claws thrust his head and arms out of the bag with a great, angry shout and the whole crowd gasped. The trio stood by while Jack spoke with him, puffing out their little chests with pride at being so crucial to this pivotal moment, but they didn't really notice that nobody was paying any attention to them - everyone was too focused on Sandy Claws.
"See that he's comfortable!" Jack eventually said, and Lock and Shock took hold of the ropes again but then he stopped them: "Just a second fellas! Of course! That's what I'm missing!" and he snatched the hat right off of Sandy's head. "Thanks!" he finished, and the children quickly closed the bag, cutting off the protests of their prisoner and trapping him in darkness once more. They trundled back the way they came, through the main gate and away from town and Barrel wanted to double-check what the plan was.
"Where are we taking him?" he asked, still perched on top of the bag.
"Where?" asked Shock. She knew what the answer would be, but she wasn't sure if they should do it right away or wait for a bit to make sure that Jack was actually gone to the Human World. Plus she also wanted to hear Lock say it out loud - that way the blame would fall mostly on him if anyone heard or they got in trouble.
"To Oogie Boogie, of course!" Lock answered cockily, taking off his mask and getting right up in her face. "There isn't anywhere in the world more comfortable than that! And Jack said to make him comfortable, didn't he?" He grinned wickedly.
"Yes, he did." Shock and Barrel both answered, starting to feel excited about bringing Oogie their captive. He was always happy when he got to torment someone, and the happier he was, the less likely he was to torment the three of them… and not being tormented by Oogie made the three of them happy so it was a win-win situation all around. Well, a win-win for everyone but Sandy Claws, but who cared about him? He was just some fat old man with a dumb costume and a dumb holiday. He didn't have anything to do with Halloween so it really didn't matter to the trick-or-treaters if Oogie roughed him up a bit.
"Haven't you heard of peace on earth and goodwill towards men?" came Sandy's muffled voice from inside the bag, and the children were highly amused by his futile attempt to appeal to their better natures. It only made them more excited to deliver him to the Boogie Man.
"NO!" they shouted in unison, then cackled wildly as the tub started up again and they continued towards home. They trundled through the back door of their treehouse and Lock grabbed the plunger out of the bathroom and Shock grabbed her broomstick, then they walked the tub all the way up in front of Oogie's shrine, so close that it forced Sandy's head right into the chute.
"Don't do this! Naughty children never get any presents!" Sandy's voice echoed a bit from inside the chute but the children ignored his protests, laughing hysterically as Lock pulled a pitchfork out of the wall and tossed it to Barrel so they could all three shove Sandy Claws down to their master together.
"I think he might be too big!" grunted Shock as she pushed her broom as hard as she could against Sandy Claws's enormous backside.
"No he's not." Lock said with the utmost confidence. "If he can go down a chimney, he can fit… down… here!" He pushed hard against Sandy Claws with the plunger on each of his last three words, then his cohorts joined in and the three of them pushed with all their might and were finally successful. Stuffing Sandy into the chute and hearing him groan as he squeezed uncomfortably down the pipe was really quite hilarious, and it got even funnier when they heard Oogie Boogie start to taunt him. They couldn't hear exactly what was happening, they only knew that it sounded like the Boogie Man was very pleased with his new plaything so surely that meant he would be pleased with them for a good long while… and perhaps they would even get that batch of snake-and-spider stew. They clapped and laughed uncontrollably until their stomachs hurt, then put the tub away and grabbed some snacks to listen to the show: Barrel got some candy and Lock poured himself two cups of soda while Shock got some popcorn out of the machine, then they all sat on the floor next to the chute and strained their ears to hear what the Boogie Man was up to. It was always tempting to go down there and watch while Oogie was tormenting a victim, but it was strictly against the rules and that was one of the very few rules that they would absolutely not break, because if he saw them they might very well end up on the roulette wheel themselves - so they had to settle for audio entertainment only.
They were wondering if he had gotten to the part where he was roughing Sandy up as well as taunting him, but then they heard a different noise: the gears of the cage elevator began to turn and the children turned around where they were sitting and watched anxiously for the trap door to open - who could it possibly be? Then they all looked at one another, sharing the same thought: it couldn't be Jack, could it? Wasn't he off doing Sandy's job? Wasn't that the whole point of them kidnapping that fat old man in the first place? But then the gears stopped turning and they realized that whoever was in the cage had taken it down into the pit instead of up to their treehouse. Who could possibly be that dumb? It had to be someone coming to Sandy's aid and they listened harder, trying to figure out who the interloper was… but then they heard the last voice they had been expecting: Sally the rag doll. They all looked at one another again with wide eyes - sure, Sally had been near the top of their list of future prank targets, but unlike almost everyone else in town she was nice to them and hadn't really done anything to deserve getting smacked around by Oogie Boogie. What on earth was she doing here? She was nice, but apparently she was also either extremely stupid or extremely brave to go down into the Boogie Man's lair alone and after only a few moments they heard her start to cry out for help.
"What should we do?" whispered Barrel. The thought of Oogie tormenting Sally made him feel sick to his stomach and he put down his candy bar.
"What can we do?" said Shock, looking at him helplessly, then she looked at Lock, hoping he'd have an idea. She'd never felt so conflicted about what to do or how to feel and she was at a complete loss.
Lock just looked helplessly back at her, trying to think… how could they possibly get Sally out of trouble without getting into trouble themselves? He liked her alright, but not enough to stick his neck out too far on her behalf. Still, the idea of Oogie beating her up made him more uncomfortable than he thought himself capable of. There was a difference between pushing her down the stairs for fun and the Boogie Man tearing her apart. "Maybe we should go to town and tell someone?" he suggested, not sounding quite as confident as he usually did.
"Who?" asked Shock and Barrel together, and Lock shrugged. He really had no idea. Jack was gone and who else could possibly make Oogie Boogie let Sally go? Plus even if Jack was here then they would get in trouble for admitting they gave Sandy Claws to Oogie. Everything was suddenly a huge mess and hearing Oogie taunting his victims below them wasn't fun anymore.
"Well, we have to try at least." Lock said a bit desperately, and the others nodded. Maybe Jack was back home by now, and maybe if they acted like they were really sorry he wouldn't beat them black and green. They hurried out the back door and ran towards town… but before they even got all the way up the hill they heard the Mayor's tragic voice echoing through the night, amplified by his megaphone:
"Terrible news! The King of Halloween has been blown to smithereens! Skeleton Jack is now a pile of dust. "
The children stopped dead in their tracks and stared at one another. It couldn't possibly be true! Sure, Jack scolded and disciplined them a lot, and it was so annoying when he punished them… but blown to smithereens? Who would be the Pumpkin King now? What would happen to next Halloween? And every Halloween after that? Everything felt crazy and scary and out-of-control, and not in a good way. "At least now we won't get in trouble for giving Sandy Claws to Oogie Boogie…" Lock said nervously, but it was a small comfort.
"Does that mean Oogie is the Pumpkin King now?" asked Barrel, but Shock and Lock only shrugged. They stood there for quite some time, not saying anything to one another and just wondering what to do next. If Jack was really a pile of dust then their best option was to go back to the Boogie Man and try to stay on his good side, like always. There was no point in going to town now, because no one but Jack would be able to take on Oogie. Certainly not that ridiculous Mayor, though it would be pretty funny to see him try and fail. He was someone they wouldn't mind Oogie tormenting. Since it was useless to go to town and they didn't want to go back home and hear Oogie doing something awful to Sally they just stayed where they were, wondering how much blood they were going to have to clean up once the Boogie Man was done with his victims… though they weren't really sure if Sally even had blood since they only remembered seeing leaves come out of her when they'd pushed her down the steps. They didn't know if the Boogie Man would even eat leaves, but it wouldn't have surprised him if he did – even if only out of spite and for another way to torture her.
Just when they were all starting to feel really miserable, the last person they'd expected to see suddenly came bounding over the hill and down the pathway right towards them: it was Jack, looking quite whole and not blown to smithereens at all. Before they could even think of how to react he narrowed in on them and demanded, "Where did you take Sandy Claws?" Jack had an unpleasant suspicion that he knew exactly where the trick-or-treaters had taken the leader of Christmas and he mentally berated himself for trusting them to obey his orders. What had he been thinking? Jack could admit to himself that he'd had several bone-headed ideas in his day, so to speak – but this had really been one of the worst.
For the children's part, Jack didn't sound as angry as they had expected he would - he mostly sounded concerned and determined and very, very serious. "He's at Mr. Oogie Boogie's house." they answered together, cringing a bit. It was scary to admit the truth, but what choice did they have?
"We'll discuss this later." Jack said very sternly, and without another word he took off towards the treehouse quick as a flash on his long, spindly legs. They watched him go and then looked at one another again.
"Now what?" asked Barrel. While he felt relieved that Jack wasn't blown into dust, he was also scared because the future 'discussion' couldn't be good. He was positive that a beating was in store for him and his friends, and he almost wished that Jack would have done it right then and there just to get it over with.
"Everyone thinks Jack is dead…" said Shock, thinking through their options.
"So maybe if we go tell everyone he's not, we'll get out of at least a little bit of trouble?" Lock suggested. It was a long-shot, but it was better than nothing so they took off towards the sound of the Mayor's megaphone to inform him of the good news.
It took some time to find him, but the hearse was rolling so slowly through the outskirts of town that they eventually managed it… but they were quite tired and breathless when they finally caught up. They all three ran out into the street in front of him, waving their arms and squinting into the headlights and just hoping that he wouldn't try to run them over. He was crying heavily through the sad side of his face and any other time the trio would have made fun of him for sobbing like a baby, but this particular situation was far too serious - it was their best hope of lessening their inevitable punishment.
"Mayor!" they shouted in unison.
"Stop!" cried Barrel, hopping up and down and hoping the Mayor could see him.
"Jack's alive!" Lock and Shock called together, and the Mayor brought the hearse to a stop and glared at them with his puffy, leaking, red-rimmed eyes.
"Don't you three have any shame at all? How can you lie about something like this?! You horrible, horrible children!" His tremulous voice was both angry and devastated, and while his reaction was completely understandable considering how the trick-or-treaters lied to him on a regular basis, it was still frustrating not to be believed this time. This wasn't about some dumb prank – this was the entire fate of their Pumpkin King and Halloween! Didn't that stupid Mayor understand that not even they would lie about something so important?
"We're not lying!" they protested, but the Mayor cranked the steering wheel and began trying to drive around them.
"WAIT!" shouted Lock, and he rallied the last of his energy to leap onto the hood of the hearse and his cohorts did the same.
"We're telling the truth, honest!" insisted Barrel, hanging onto the hood ornament for dear life.
"We wouldn't lie about Jack being alive!" Shock said angrily.
"He really is!" cried Lock.
The Mayor scrutinized them carefully, squinting and sniffling and looking extremely suspicious even through his grief. "How do you know?"
"We saw him!" said Barrel.
"We talked to him!" said Shock.
"When?" the Mayor asked more suspiciously still, but there was just the tiniest hint of hopefulness edging into his tone.
"Just now!" Lock and Barrel said together.
"Where is he?" asked the Mayor, finally bringing the hearse to a complete stop again.
"He's back at our treehouse! He went to see Oogie Boogie." said Shock, relieved that the hearse had stopped moving because she was getting dangerously close to losing her footing on the hubcap.
"Why would he do that? Why wouldn't he come straight back to town?" asked the Mayor as he wiped his eyes with his sleeve, and Lock was getting seriously impatient with all of these questions.
"Because he went to go get Sandy Claws!" he shouted.
"And Sally!" piped up Barrel.
"Come on, we'll show you! Hurry up, stupid!" Shock hissed, unable to hold back the insult.
The Mayor glared at her, but after a moment finally said stonily, "Alright, let's go. But if you're lying, so help me, it'll be the last lie you ever tell. You'll wish you'd never come into existence…"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Lock rolled his eyes as he clambered off of the hood and onto the bench seat beside the Mayor.
"You'll see!" Shock said snottily as she climbed onto the seat next, and Barrel followed her but didn't say anything. He was just hoping against hope that Jack wasn't too late to save Sally, and that maybe Jack and Oogie Boogie had talked it all out and that somehow everything would be okay.
They drove towards the treehouse at a much quicker pace, and when they reached the edge of the pit the children jumped out of the hearse and scurried over to peer down into the darkness below. Their cage elevator was all the way down by one of the windows into Oogie's lair, but it appeared to be quite dark inside and they didn't hear any sound at all – no cries from Sally or Sandy and no evil laughing from Oogie and they looked at one another nervously – silence couldn't be a good thing.
"Well?" called the Mayor from the hearse. He didn't trust them not to try and push him over the edge and into the pit. With Jack gone it wouldn't have surprised him one bit for the trick-or-treaters to attempt a coup by killing off the last remaining authority figure in town and installing Oogie Boogie as the new Pumpkin King. The children ignored him and instead put their heads together for a moment.
"What should we do?" asked Barrel.
"You go ask that stupid Mayor if he has a light so we can shine it in there – it looks like it's too dark to see." said Shock.
"Too dark for you, maybe…" Lock couldn't help but brag, and Shock smacked him in the back of the head and said to him:
"And you go inside and crank up the elevator so we can all ride down, dummy."
"And what about you, are you just gonna sit here and give old baggy-butt a tissue whenever he needs one?" Lock sneered, and Shock reached out to smack him again but he blocked her hand.
"No, I'm gonna get the rope ladder so we can get in there, dirt-brain!"
Lock couldn't really argue with her plan, so he just stuck out his tongue and headed across the rickety bridge and into the treehouse to do as she said. When they all reconvened they convinced the Mayor to squeeze into the cage with them and they descended all the way down into the pit and then over to a short metal ventilation tube that was large enough for all four of them to barely squeeze into. Barrel switched on the Mayor's heavy spotlight with a loud 'click' and shone it directly down onto Jack and Sally.
"Jack! Jack!" the Mayor cried out ecstatically as the two of them squinted up into the powerful beam of light.
"Here he is!" said Barrel excitedly.
"Alive!" added Lock, just as excitedly.
"Just like we said!" finished Shock, feeling very satisfied that the Mayor had to admit they hadn't been lying for once.
"Grab ahold, my boy!" the Mayor said as he threw down the rope, and the four of them were just able to pull Jack and Sally up and out of the dark lair. When they both had their feet on the ground again the children noticed three things: first was that the Mayor looked like he practically wanted to hug Jack. Second was that Jack and Sally were holding hands. And third and most importantly, Oogie Boogie was nowhere to be seen or heard. They wanted to ask where he was - and Sandy Claws too, for that matter - but the excitement of being part of the rescue mission was quickly being overtaken by worry. Jack had said they were going to discuss this later, and later was now so they tried to stay quiet and out of the way, hoping against hope that Jack would just forget about it and ignore them. Then the Mayor asked their question for them: "I can't tell you how relieved I am to see you, Jack! And you, too, Sally." he added as an afterthought. "But where is Oogie Boogie?"
"Dead and gone." Jack said firmly, and everyone gasped but Sally. "He tried to kill Sally and Santa Claus, and he would have killed me, too, if I had let him. And I suspect it may not have been the first time he's killed. It was time to put a stop to it. I probably should have done it a long time ago."
"Oh my…" the Mayor said, somewhat aghast, but then he recovered himself and said, "Well, you know best of course, Jack. He certainly was dangerous, and I can't say that I myself will miss him much."
The children gaped at one another, hardly able to believe it, but then Jack honed in on them and said in an extremely angry voice, "Why did you bring Santa Claus to Oogie Boogie when I made it very, very clear that you were NOT to do so?! He nearly murdered and ate him and Sally!" Jack glared down at them looking more furious and terrifying than they had ever, ever seen him look and they all three shrunk away from him, cowering and bunching tightly together in fear. They had directly disobeyed him and gotten caught, and not only that but they had almost gotten Sally and Sandy Claws killed. Surely they were in for it now, but it was worth at least trying to save themselves.
"We didn't really think that Oogie Boogie would eat them!" pleaded Barrel, wringing his hands a bit, but it wasn't really true. The children actually wouldn't have been all that surprised if Oogie had killed them because they knew that blood (other than their own) had to get all over his lair somehow, and sometimes people and creatures larger than the ones they sent down the chute went in and never came back out.
"We just thought he would scare them!" added Shock.
"And maybe smack them around a little," said Lock. "That's all he ever does to us… did to us…" he trailed off, unsure of why he had just admitted that. He supposed that since Oogie was dead and gone it didn't really matter that he'd said it because it wasn't like Oogie could punish them anymore.
Sally's heart broke a little bit at that. Living with Dr. Finkelstein was suffocating but he had never hurt her, not even when she poisoned him. She couldn't imagine the wickedness it would take to raise a hand to a child that way, no matter how naughty they could be. Jack's suspicions had just been confirmed and now he felt extra justified in taking out Oogie Boogie. Not only had he been a sadistic, gambling, attempted-murderer, but he was also a child abuser and there was no place in Jack's town for that. He had given him too many chances as it was and he felt no regret at finally ending the Boogie Man's reign of terror - the bad kind of terror.
"Oogie Boogie told us we had to bring him Sandy Claws!" Barrel whined again, now on the verge of tears. Honestly, they had been trapped between a rock and a tombstone: Jack had told them not to bring Sandy to Oogie, but Oogie had demanded they do so anyway. How were they supposed to win? No matter what they did they would be in trouble - but when it really came down to it, Oogie scared them more and being on his good side was more crucial than being on Jack's good side. But now Jack was the only one left and they couldn't even run to Oogie for whatever protection he might have offered them. Shock held her arm out in front of her youngest cohort to try and protect him in case Jack started hitting, since Barrel was so little and helpless - and Lock did the same for Shock, preparing himself to take the blow because she was so delicate and weak, though he didn't know what he would do if Jack threw them all down into the pit to their own deaths… but their fears turned out to be unnecessary because just then Jack's expression softened and he knelt down as close to them as he could get.
"I understand." he said quietly. "You had no choice." He placed his bony hands gently on Lock and Barrel's shoulders and all three of them flinched but then relaxed a bit as he continued to look at them sympathetically.
"So…" Lock said cautiously.
"You're not mad?" finished Shock.
"Well, it's a very upsetting situation, but no one got hurt and Oogie is really the one to blame. But he can't hurt you or anyone else anymore."
"So…" Shock began.
"You're not going to punish us?" finished Lock, and Barrel sniffled a little.
"No, I'm not going to punish you. But from here on out I expect you to be a little better behaved and follow my orders. Playing tricks is fine, that's your job as trick-or-treaters. But nothing dangerous. Do you understand?" The trio nodded, but crossed their fingers behind their backs where Jack couldn't see… just in case.
"Well, then!" chirped the Mayor. "Jack, we've got to get you back to town! Everyone still thinks you've been blown to smithereens!" He looked like it had taken all of his patience not to interrupt before then.
"Let's go then, everyone!" Jack said cheerfully, then he directed the children and Mayor into the elevator cage first, and then he and Sally followed when they sent the elevator back down. Then Jack picked Barrel up and placed him on the roof of the Mayor's hearse while Lock and Shock scrambled up on their own for the ride back to town. The children looked at one another as the engine started up, unsure of how to process everything that had just happened, but the longer they thought on it, the happier they started to feel. It was weird that Oogie was gone, he was the grown-up who had always paid the most attention to them, after all… but on the other hand, not all of that attention was good. And if Jack hadn't beaten or killed them for what they had just done then it seemed unlikely that he ever would - and that was definitely a good thing. Sure, Oogie couldn't bring them toys or make them his special snake-and-spider stew anymore, but they could keep stealing from town and the Human World like always, so it wasn't too big of a loss. And sure, now they didn't have the pride of being able to call themselves the Boogie Man's little henchmen, but on the other hand that also meant they were now totally free to do whatever they wanted… and maybe Jack would need henchmen? Surely everyone would respect them even more if they worked for the Pumpkin King and not just the Boogie Man. Suddenly the whole world felt full of possibilities and as the hearse rolled into the cheering town the trio couldn't help but wave and cheer right along with everyone else, once again pleased to be so near the center of attention.
The trio sat on top of the Mayor's hearse and watched the town going absolutely crazy about the fact that Jack was still alive and intact. They couldn't help but sneer when Jack picked up the fat little corpse kid and shook hands with the Mayor, and now that nobody was looking in their direction anymore they started looking for a way to vandalize the top of the hearse without anyone noticing. But before Shock could even pull out her knife or Lock his matches, a deep, jolly laugh rang out through the air above and they looked up into the sky along with everyone else to see what it was… and in front of the enormous, full, yellow moon was the unmistakable silhouette of Sandy's sleigh being pulled across the sky by his eight reindeer. Apparently he was wasting no time in getting back to his job after Jack freed him from the Boogie Man's clutches.
"Happy Halloween!" he called out, and magical, glittering white snowflakes began drifting down over the town.
"Merry Christmas!" Jack cried, waving up at the sky with a wide, bony grin. All of the townsfolk except for Jack and the trick-or-treaters were thoroughly perplexed by the strange, cold white stuff falling from the sky, and Lock, Shock and Barrel felt quite superior to everyone else thanks to their relatively vast knowledge of and experience with all things Christmas. The snowflakes fell at such a fast rate that before long there was several inches of sparkling snow over the ground and every surface, and as the townsfolk began inspecting it with wonder and curiosity (and alarm, in some cases) the trio climbed down from the hearse and scampered off through the snow beside the fountain. Then suddenly Lock had a brilliant idea:
"Let's throw a snowball at Jack!" he snickered.
"Do you think we should, so soon after what just happened?" whispered Shock.
"Why not? You heard what he said, tricks are fine, just nothing dangerous." he said carelessly, already starting to pack some snow tightly together with his hands. "There's nothing dangerous about a snowball!"
"That's true…" she reasoned, and Barrel started giggling, remembering how much fun throwing snowballs had been before. They peeked out from behind the low stone wall of the fountain basin and waited until Jack was in range, then Lock flung the snowball as hard as he could right at Jack's skull… and struck him in one bony eye socket. The sight of snow all over the Pumpkin King's face was truly hilarious and they couldn't hold in their laughter even though it gave away their position. Jack caught sight of them but he was grinning, and they laughed even harder as they quickly ducked beneath the basin once more, just in case he decided to throw one back at them. Unfortunately Jack didn't retaliate, he just wandered off after Sally for some reason so they began forming more snowballs and lobbing them at whoever they could hit instead, trying to get a good fight going. Happily the Christmas spirit had seemed to infect everyone, because townspeople who normally tried to ignore or avoid them started playing along and the children couldn't remember the last time they'd had so much fun. It wasn't as good as Halloween, but maybe Christmas wasn't so stupid after all.
**Author Note**
Thank you so much to everyone who's made it to the end of this story! It's been such fun going on this journey with those of you who have been following along for some time, and I thank you all for your encouragement and support over the last 7.5 months or so! And if you're reading this story post-publication I hope you'll still take the time to leave a review or two (no matter how far in the future it may be) if you enjoyed it since this truly was a labor of love. It would really mean a lot to me! :)
I've really, really enjoyed imagining and filling in the blanks for and fleshing out these characters who have only 6 minutes and 45 seconds of screen time (and that's rounding up a bit) and I hope you all feel I did them (and everyone else) justice.
Much love and many thanks! ~ Trilliumwoods