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

in her arm, and the shattered picture frame shoved under her bed. Her fingers were cut and wet with fresh blood. She couldn't have done this more than a few minutes ago.

'She wanted to see me wake up.' I thought, tears cascading down my face and dripping into the blood that was slowly covering the white-gray tiles. I looked into her glassy emerald eyes and saw the face of a scared little girl in them. My face. Just mine.

I let out another sob. "Sandy... I'm sorry..." I looked back into her eyes again and gasped.

This time, behind my face, I saw the flicker of eerily shaped lamppost lights, tall, dark buildings, and a guillotine. A smile crept onto my face and I smoothed her dark black hair back, out of her face. "So you did make it..."

I barely looked up as two orderlies rushed in, taking Sandy out of my arms and laying her on a steel gurney. They pulled a white sheet over her head and wheeled it out. I sat there, watching, as all of this happened, until Juliet walked in and pulled me up. "Let's get you cleaned up, sweetie. Leon wants to see you as soon as you can manage."

I pushed her off of me. "I'm fine to go now."

Juliet shook her head. "First, let's wash all this blood off and get you in some clean clothes." I didn't bother with anymore protests, considering they'd just be ignored.

xXx

It had only been three hours since Sandy had died, and I'd spent one-hundred and thirty-five minutes of them in Leon's office. "So you're saying she somehow got hold of a needle, filled it with air, and pumped it into her bloodstream?"

"After she shattered her picture frame and swallowed the broken glass, yes. I've already told you everything I know!" I protested for the fifth time.

"Do you have any idea how she got the needle?"

"It wouldn't be very hard. Some of the orderlies aren't very careful about things like locking doors and keeping track of their keys."

Leon sighed. I hadn't been the greatest of help, for good reason, but he wasn't exactly asking unique questions. Just the same things over and over. "Aubrey, do you have any idea why she would kill herself?"

'She's insane, remember? That's why we're all here. It's an asylum.' I thought, looking down at my lap. "She wasn't happy here."

Leon leaned over his desk. "And she is now?"

I sighed. "Yes. She got where she wanted to go."

"And where would that be?"

At this moment, I should have just kept my mouth shut. But my tongue moved faster than my brain, and I answered, "Halloween Town."

Leon slammed his fist on the desk. "It isn't real, Aubrey! Halloween Town doesn't exist!"

I, surprising both of us, stayed calm. "Yes. It. Does. Whether or not you believe in it is no concern of mine, but it does exist." Then, I simply walked out, leaving him in a stunned silence.

A month went by before Lindsey came. Leon simply walked her in, told me she would be staying with me from now on, and walked out.

"Hi," She chirped. "My name's Lindsey Nathans. Who are you?"

I looked her over. "Aubrey."

She giggled. "That's a funny name." 'And Lindsey isn't?' I thought. She was short, almost as short as me, had bright blonde hair, blue eyes, and really bright, white teeth. I started to wonder why she was here, but then saw the big, ugly rope marks on her neck.

"... like him. He's cute." I looked up, thinking she was talking to me, but then saw she was happily conversing with the plastic plant in the corner. WTF.

In a week, I learned more about Lindsey than I'd ever care to have known. She was eighteen, had three siblings; all girls, two older, one younger, gone through three, yes, THREE boyfriends in the last year, was abducted by aliens, and tried to hang herself because the implant in her head told her to. And they thought I was crazy? Ha, ha, and again, HA!

Life only got weirder from then on.

I never managed to find Sandy in Halloween Town, but the good news was that with Lock and me helping, Dr. Finklestein's experiment was working again, and now we were just fine tuning.

And that meant playing with really freaking big explosions.

"I love dynamite!" I laughed, twirling around like an idiot.

Lock, who was walking behind me, just laughed. "So I've noticed. You're getting me in trouble, by the way."

I stopped twirling to look at him. "I told Doctor F. that I was the one who was tossing the extra explosives in." I leaned up against a tree to look up at the sky. The horizon was starting to get lighter, signifying the sun was going to rise soon. "Maybe I should just... stay today. Just not go back and stay here."

Lock looked down at me, surprised. "Can you do that?"

I sighed. "Probably not, and that sucks." He leaned back next to me and I put my head on his shoulder. He stiffened up for a moment, then relaxed. I couldn't help letting out a giggle. Lock still wasn't used to a lot of non-painful physical contact. Though living with Shock and Barrel, this was only to be expected. "Have you talked to them yet?" I asked.

"No, and I don't plan to."

I looked up at him. "Lock, they're your friends. You need to get things worked-"

"There you are Lock!" Both of us looked up to see Barrel standing on top of a hill. "Shock, I found him!" The witch walked up next to him, obviously not happy to see me there.

"I should go." I kissed Lock's cheek, then whispered, "At least try to talk to them Lock," In his ear before going off toward the tree that led back to my body.

xXx

I turned to Shock and Barrel. "What do you two want?"

Barrel scuffed a foot awkwardly. "We want you to come back to the tree house."

"Tempting, but no." I shot, turning away.

"Aw, c'mon Lock! It's no fun being the only guy! Shock even said she'll give Aubrey a chance!"

That stopped me. "Did you actually say that?"

Shock nodded. "She can't be any worse than Barrel."

"Hey!"

I stopped to consider this for a moment. "All right, I'll come back. But either of you try to something stupid to her, I'm outta there."

"Okay, we've got it. We won't do anything to your girlfriend." Barrel snickered, walking off behind Shock.

"She's not my- oh forget it." I muttered, running to catch up with them.

xXx

Username: JacobsL

Password: a2bd2e2iln2rsuy2

ACCESS GRANTED

Patient File #973122X

PROCESSING...

Patient: Nathans, Lindsey (97312X)

Date of Birth: November 12, 1989

Date of Admittance: June 20, 2006

Condition: Suffers from severe schizophrenia

Notes: No progress

xXx

"How do you like Lindsey?"

"She's only been here for three months, how am I supposed to like her?"

Leon frowned. "Aubrey..."

"Yes?" She asked innocently.

"You're purposely trying to frustrate me, aren't you?"

"Finally figured that out, have you?" Aubrey smirked in contempt, her gaze drifting to the clock above his head. "Well, I believe our hour is up, Doctor Jacobs, so I'll be going." She walked out of the room, the evil smirk still on her face.

Lindsey was sitting outside the door, chatting happily to... a plastic tree. She gave Aubrey an odd look, then went back to her conversation. "Yeah, she is crazy. We all know skeletons and vampires and stuff like that doesn't exist." A pause. "Of course six foot tall, blue and pink fuzzy aliens exist. How do you explain the implant? And anyway..." Aubrey turned a corner and Lindsey's voice faded.

Aubrey chuckled to herself. 'Even the crazy people think I'm insane.'

xXx

"Hey, Sally!" The rag doll turned around to see Lock.

She smiled. "Hello Lock. I haven't seen you around much since you moved back to the Tree House."

Lock smiled at her sheepishly. "Sorry. But I need to ask you something."

"Ask away."

"What do girls like to get for their birthday?"

Sally smiled. "Well, it matters who the girl is."

Behind his mask, Lock blushed. "Just... a girl."

Sally paused. "A necklace."

"'Kay thanks!" He started to run off.

"Oh, and Lock?" He turned around. Sally was smiling again. "I'm sure Aubrey would like anything you got her." Then she turned and walked back toward Skellington Manor.

xXx

'How'd Sally know I was talking about Aubrey?' I asked myself. I played the conversation over again in my head, then smacked my forehead. Well, my mask's forehead. I said birthday. No one in Halloween Town celebrates their birthday. Half the residents of Halloween Town can't even remember their birthday. We celebrate deathdays. 'Or it could be the fact that you practically obsess over the girl.' I thought to myself. I looked down at the bag in my hand. I just hoped she actually liked it.

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, being careful not to mess up my bangs. 'Men should NOT be allowed to shop for their… girlfriends.' There, I said it.

My hand was on the tree house doorknob when I heard Shock yell, "How much longer do we have to do this! We've had to fake liking this girl for more than four months!"

My temper rose. They'd what? I was about to storm in, but I heard an all too familiar laugh and my hand froze just on the doorknob. "Patience, Shock. We just need to wait until tomorrow night. Then she'll be no trouble to anyone." With a gulp, I walked over and peered through a window to see a familiar burlap body.

"What about Lock?" I heard Barrel ask softly.

"If he resists, then-" I didn't stick around to hear the rest, making a bolt for the elevator. I had to tell Jack that Oogie was back!

The cage door was in my grasp when someone grabbed me by the tail. I let out a howl of pain and relinquished my grip on the steel bars. I looked up to see the one and only Oogie Boogie with one of his hand... things wrapped around my tail. Shock and Barrel stood behind him.

Oogie turned to Shock. "You know what to do."

Shock nodded and raised a hand toward my face. "Night-night Lock." She said, almost happily.

I gulped. I was screwed.

xXx

Oogie dropped Lock after he'd gone limp in his grasp. "Good job. Just put him up in your playroom." He ordered, walking off toward the entrance to his game room.

Shock kicked Lock in the side. "Get up stupid." Lock got to his feet, about as steady as Sally after reattaching a leg.

"Is he okay?" Barrel asked, poking Lock.

"He's fine. It's just a puppet spell. C'mon Lock. She walked back toward the playroom, Lock following obediently.

Barrel followed hesitantly. He didn't like this, not one bit. He looked down when he kicked something. A black bag was lying on the ground. 'Where'd this come from?' Reaching inside, Barrel pulled out a small, velvet covered black box. He lifted it to eye level to see there was a tag hanging out the back. He flipped it over and