To Walk Among The Dead - Hugs.And.Kisses (easy readers txt) 📗

not Oogie Boogie.

He pushed his mask up. "What do you want?" He snapped, annoyed that he'd been scared by Jack.

The Pumpkin King crossed his arms. "Wondering why you're wandering around without Shock and Barrel."

"What, are we supposed to be attached at the hip now? I was just taking a walk."

Jack raised his eyebrow... or he would've if he'd had eyebrows, when he saw the bruise on Lock's pale cheek. "Quite a nasty little bruise you've got there. What happened?"

That earned him another glare and Lock pulled his mask back down. "That's none of your business. Can I go now?"

"Actually, I needed to talk to you. After that incident with Dr. Finklestein's experiment-"

"I already told you it wasn't me!"

"I didn't say it was." The skeleton assured them. "After we caught the experiment, the doctor found some of the parts had malfunctioned because they were too old to work properly."

"And what does that have to do with me, Shock, and Barrel?"

Jack put a hand over his eyes. "Yes, yes, I was getting to that. The doctor is in need of some assistance to find new parts."

"And you were gonna ask us." Lock supplied.

"Exactly."

"Have you lost whatever brain you had, bone head?"

Jack held up a bony hand. "Let me finish. If you three did help, and didn't purposely mess up the experiments, it would end your banishment from the town."

"It was one spider!" The teen protested. "We've done worse!"

"That one spider nearly ate half the town." Jack reminded him.

Lock crossed his arms. "I'll ask, but don't expect a pleasant answer." He ran back toward the graveyard.

Jack sighed and headed back toward Guillotine Gate. "I wouldn't dream of it."

xXx

"Shock, what are you doing?" Barrel asked, eyeing the witch nervously. She was wielding a large, spiked mace.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm going to knock some sense into Lock's thick head when he gets back." She snapped.

Barrel shoved some candy into his mouth. "Maybe he won't come back."

"Where else is he going to go? And don't talk with your mouth full, I don't want to see that." Barrel thought about this, then shrugged and continued stuffing his face with candy.

The Playroom door banged open, and Shock turned around. "There you are." She raised her weapon. "I didn't want to have to do this to you Lock, but-" She stopped and gasped, dropping the mace with a thud.

Barrel looked up, a sucker in between his teeth. "Shock? What..." He, too, gasped in shock (no pun intended, really), his mouth hanging open. The spider berry sucker shattered on the floor.

"M-Mr. O-Oogie Boogie!" Shock stuttered.

The bogeyman grinned, showing his squirming teeth. "Surprise."

Chapter 4

Chapter 4
The Nightmare Begins Again

Both teens were too stunned to speak. "Your silence tells me that you're a bit too surprised to see me." He patted Barrel on the head, chuckling. "Well don't worry. I'm quite real." He looked around, frowning slightly. "It seems one of my boys is missing. Where's our favorite devil?" Still, only a stunned silence. "Where's Lock?" He demanded, taking on the tone he got when his dice, which were conveniently in his grip, turned up snake eyes.

Shock snapped out of her trance. "Probably off waiting for his little living girlfriend, Aubrey."

Oogie grinned at her, again revealing his bug teeth and snake tongue. "Did you say... Aubrey?"

Shock shrank back a little. She never had liked it when Oogie grinned like that. It always meant something bad was going to happen. "Y-yes."

He cackled loudly. "You're joking! Ooh, this is just too good to be true!" He grinned down at the two. "You aren't to tell Lock that I'm back."

"Why not?" Barrel asked, finally regaining his voice.

Oogie's grin got even wider. "It's... a surprise." He vanished, and the door slammed shut with an echoing slam, making both jump.

Shock turned to Barrel. "We both saw that, right?" He nodded. "Good. Just making sure."

"Sh-should we tell Lock? That Mr. Oogie Boogie's back, I mean."

Shock smacked him with her hat. "No, stupid! Didn't you hear him! He specifically said not to tell Lock!"

"But... it's Lock. We tell him everything." Barrel pointed out, sounding a bit like a whiny toddler.

The door opened again, and they both jumped around. "Geez, what's up with you two?" Lock asked, shutting the door behind him.

"Nothing." Barrel answered quickly and, if Lock wasn't mistaken, a bit nervously.

"Shouldn't you be out with your girlfriend?" Shock asked venomously.

"One, Aubrey's not my girlfriend. Two, the sun's still up. Anyway, Jack needs a favor."

That definitely didn't help. "What does that pumpkin head want?" Barrel asked, popping a new sucker in his mouth.

"The crazy doctor needs help rebuilding his experiment."

Shock picked the mace up off the floor, taking up a bit of the floor with it, and stuck it back in its place on the shelf. "And why should we do this? We don't owe Jack any favors. May I remind you, he's the one who banished us in the first place!"

"Jack said if we helped, and didn't screw it up on purpose like we usually do, then he'd un-banish us."

Shock and Barrel glanced at each other. "No way!" They said in unison. "That town's full of losers anyway." Shock said.

"Yeah. And if you go, we'll... we'll..." Barrel stopped to think.

"Kick you out of the tree house!" Shock finished.

"And Boogie's Boys!" The younger boy added hastily.

Lock glared. He'd yet to figure out why they kept using that name even after Jack got rid of Oogie Boogie. "Fine, then ya know what? I quit!" He stormed out, slamming the poor, nearly broken door once more.

Shock ran over to the window. "Good riddance!" She yelled at his retreating back. He yelled something quite a bit more rude back and she slammed the window shut with a huff.

"What did we just do?" Barrel questioned. Shock wasn't sure she was talking to her or just to himself and didn't answer. "We... we just got rid of Lock, didn't we?"

Shock 'hmph'-ed. "We don't need 'im."

"That's where you're wrong, my dear." Oogie appeared in the middle of the room.

"Wrong? Why do we need Lock?" Barrel asked

"Yeah. He's gone soft." Shock said.

Oogie chuckled. "I'll tell you soon enough. Now, is my casino still in working order?"

xXx

"Stupid Shock. Stupid Barrel. Who needs 'em!" Lock yelled over his shoulder as he stepped out of the elevator. Dr. Finklestein would have to make do with just his help.

Lock kept walking, stopping when Guillotine Gate came into sight. Did he really want to do this? The entire town hated him, Shock, and Barrel for… well, everything that they had ever done.

Then he remembered another problem: he was BANISHED! If he so much as set foot inside that gate, no one would so much as hesitate to kick his ass to Christmas Town and back.

Lock jumped as the gate creaked open and Jack's tall, skinny figure walked out. "So, what was the answer?"

"A very solid no." Lock told him.

"I see." Jack turned around and started to walk back into town.

Lock's hesitant voice stopped him. "So Dr. Finkelstein will have to make due with just my help."

Jack turned and smiled at Lock as the teenager ran to catch up with him. The smile faded as he saw the worry on Lock's face. "What's wrong?"

Lock looked up at him. "You mean other than the fact that everyone in town hates me?"

The Pumpkin King chuckled. "Don't worry about that. No one can hold a grudge forever. Besides, you saved everyone in the end. Now come on." Jack gave Lock a little nudge in the back through the gate. It shut behind them as they walked into the square.

Jack smiled a little as he noticed how close Lock was staying to him, nearly hiding behind him. Lock looked up at him and noticed the sympathetic smile and stepped back out from behind him, choosing to walk next to him instead, stomaching the glares instead of trying to hide from them.

When Lock tried to turn toward Dr. Finklestein's Lab, Jack stopped him. "Why don't we go get something to eat first, hm?" Lock's stomach answered for him, and the devil blushed a little.

xXx

Jack opened the door of Skellington Manor and stepped aside to let Lock in. "First time I've ever been in here and not been ready to get yelled at." Lock muttered. Jack laughed a little.

"Sally, I'm home!" Sally walked out of the kitchen and smiled at Lock.

Lock smiled back, if not somewhat sheepishly. "Hi Sally."

"Hello Lock. I've got a place all set up for you." She walked over and gave Jack a kiss on the cheek. "Hazel and Zoe need some help with a new type of bone biscuits. Apparently, it isn't going well."

"Have fun." Jack called as she walked out the door.

Lock looked up at Jack as they walked into the kitchen. "How did she…?"

Jack smiled at him. "Sally's power of premonition has gotten a lot stronger over the past few years. Wish I'd listened to her back when I was trying to take over Christmas." He laughed. Lock couldn't help laughing a little too as he sat down and took a bite of the sandwich Sally had made for him.

"Wow, this is way better than the stuff Shock cooked…" Lock trailed off, staring moodily at his plate.

"'Cooked?'" Jack asked. "Why past tense?"

Lock grimaced. "We… uh, Shock, Barrel, and me, we kind of had a fight."

"That's not unusual for you three."

"They kicked me out of the tree house and I quit Boogie's Boys."

Jack set down his own sandwich. "You mean you don't have anywhere to stay?"

"Pretty much." Lock told him, taking another bite of his sandwich.

Jack paused. "You could stay here if you wanted."

Lock choked on the bite that he had been trying to swallow. "Are you serious?"

Jack shrugged, as if he hadn't just suggested that one of the trio that he had banished four years ago for nearly destroying the town, and eating his fiancé, with a giant spider stay in his house. "It's not like there isn't enough room. There are more rooms in this house that Sally and I can use."

"I… I… sure, if it's okay with Sally, I mean." Lock stammered, trying not to sound as excited as he felt. Though he'd never admit it, he had