The trio walked silently through the woods. The rising sun created thousands of shadows and silhouettes around the group. Sally led the way with Tall Witch and Small Witch, behind them was Lock, Shock, and Barrel. Jack was walking behind them followed by two ghosts. The three hadn't said much to each other since they woke up that morning. What do you say when the last time you see your best friends, your only family, might be right now? The group was nearing the Hinterlands, the holiday doors were appearing on the trees.

"We're here," Sally said, breaking the eerie silence.

The sparkly door to Christmas Town stood in the center tree like it did when Lock, Shock, and Barrel first saw it, even though they had thought that Sandy Claws would rather be in the colorful Easter egg door. What many didn't know is that the doors change position when it's their turn to be celebrated in the mortal world. Because the center tree has two doors, one for the next holiday on the front and a plain, old, regular door for the mortal world on the back.

"We better get started," said Tall Witch, as she took out some herbs from her pocket ad started sprinkling them around the circle of trees, Small Witch joined her.

"Take this time to say your goodbyes," Jack said, "we will be leaving very shortly."

Jack walked away to talk with Sally and the two ghosts, leaving Lock, Shock, and Barrel alone to talk. Barrel just looked at the floor, but he looked as though he had a lot on his mind. Lock wanted to speak up, but the silence was too hard to break. Thankfully Shock spoke up first.

"We're going to have to do this," Shock said quietly, "I looked at every possible angle, and there isn't any way out of this except to go through with it. There's nowhere we can run. We have to stop being bad for one year. That's it. Then we can come back and this will never happen again. We… I can't lose you guys."

Shock looked like she was going to cry again, so Lock quickly spoke up, "Shock, I… I want you to have something." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver locket on a long chain. Shock gave out a little gasp as he put it around her neck.

"Open it," Lock said.

Shock opened the little round locket; more like unfolded it because it pulled out into three separate frames. The frames held a picture of each of them the way they looked now.

"Lock," Shock said, "It's beautiful. But why…,"

"It has a memory spell on it," Lock said, "If you start to forget anything about us or Halloween Town you just open it. If I did the spell right, the memories of this place will come back to you immediately and it will never wear out. J… Just in case, we never…"

"Don't say that!" Shock snapped at him, "We're going to get through this no matter what it takes! Right Barrel? Barrel?"

Barrel just stared at her for a while, and then said, "Shock, could you do something for me?"

Shock was taken by surprised, "What could I do now? The barrier is almost ready and when it is we'll be worlds apart."

"It's just that," Barrel said, "Even though we have no idea were in to Mortal World you're going. Could you, could you…"

"The barrier is ready," Small Witch said to Jack, loud enough for the trio to hear.

"Quickly, what do you want me to do?"Shock whispered.

"Find out what really happened to us," Barrel said quietly, "Find out how we got here, how I…"

Barrel stopped short. Lock and Shock knew he didn't like talking about how people died. Many people in town always thought he was just too sensitive, but Lock and Shock knew that Barrel didn't talk about it because he didn't remember anything that happened to him. He didn't even remember something from when he was alive, not even his name. It was always common for the dead, or in this case half dead, to forget some memories. But he only remembered the word, 'Barrel'.

"I'll try," Shock said, "But let's make sure we see each other again so I could tell you anything I find out."

Barrel smiled, then looked behind Shock to see Jack coming closer to the group. It was time to go, Barrel was first. He and Sally walked over to the Christmas door; just before he stepped inside he turned around and said,

"Bye guys."

He stepped inside the door with Sally and disappeared in a flurry of snow. It was Shock's turn now. She slowly walked around the center tree to find the Mortal World door, a white, plain, normal door. Shock stepped closer to the door and opened it. It wasn't like the other doors; a long stone corridor went far into the tree.

"Goodbye Lock," Shock said without tuning around.

"Goodbye Shock," Lock said quietly.

She stepped inside the tree and began walking down the corridor; Jack followed her along with the two ghosts. Lock was glad she didn't look back, because for the first time in a long time, he stared crying.

Poor guys. I am such a good writer. I think.

The door closed behind the group and they walked through the darkness. After a short while a strange wind began to blow. Shock's locket started rattling, when Shock reached her hand up to it she found out it was open. She quickly closed it, and then the wind died suddenly. The party didn't think much about it and continued walking. Soon the corridor became narrower; Shock soon felt steps under her feet. They came too a small stone doors, when Shock pushed them open a cold mist surrounded her, she could see the sun rising somewhere. When she got out and looked around she saw that she was in a very small graveyard. The fog was heavy but she saw that it was quickly disappearing.

"We have to make this fast," Jack said, "this fog won't last forever and I don't want to scare anyone ahead of schedule. I'd never hear the end of it from the mayor."

Outside the small graveyard was a road, beyond that was a large park. Down the left side of the road were suburban homes; down the right was a forest. Jack led Shock and the two ghosts down the road and into the forest. They weren't walking for very long when they reached an old house. The house itself was large, Victorian-styled, and very run down. It had a huge porch that ran all the way around the house, there were plots for gardens but whatever had been planted there was long gone.

"This is where you will live for now," Jack explained, "Everything you need will be inside the house; furniture, food, mortal clothes. You have a weekend to rest and get used to the world. But come Monday, you're going to school."

"What!" Shock yelled.

"There's no way around it Shock, you have to fit in as much as possible in this world. You will find enchanted books in the house that will teach you everything you need to know; you will also find a rather large amount of make-up and body paint in the basement. I don't know why, but mortals have a problem with green skin."

The comment made Shock take a look at her pale green hand. What was wrong with green skin? For the fist time she seemed to notice the ghosts,

"What are they here for?" Shock asked

"They are here because this is their house," Jack explained, "They often come here to haunt it and agreed to let you live here. They will also act as your parents should you need them. But their physical forms are limited, so do your best to avoid them having to meet other people. They died a long time ago but the older citizens of this small town might recognize them, so get your story straight. They will also help with keeping an eye on you while you're here."

The two ghosts floated into the house. The house automatically less condemned, still old, but at least it didn't look like it would cave in at any time. The dried-out bushes looked a little livelier and the porch seemed to sweep itself. Jack noticed the rising sun and turned to leave, then spurred around and said,

"Shock, there is a vital piece of information you should know. No one here must ever learn of Halloween Town."

"I kind of figured that," Shock replied.

"It's not just that," Jack continued, "You know as well as I that Halloween Town is more than just a holiday world. It is a place between the Mortal World and the Realm of the Dead. A mortal being must never learn the knowledge that comes from there, because it is strictly…"

"For the dead," Shock finished.

"Yes," Jack replied, "And this knowledge will do anything to make sure that it stays with the dead, so watch that locket of yours."

"How did you?"Shock said horrified.

"When you have to be ready for any sudden Oogie attack," Jack said proudly, "you find yourself with a keen sense of hearing."

He turned and quickly strode away. Shock stood on the porch of her new house, clutching the locket in her hands.

"Don't worry Lock," Shock thought to herself, "nothing is going to happen."

Or will it? Heh, Heh. I personally like this chapter, but nooo one really cares about what I think. :P Anyway, what do you think about Jack's vocabulary? Is it too 'old person' because I can change that in the next chapters. Still with no foul language, so don't bother asking. The next chapters are when things should get interesting.

Kevin walked through the park, finally Halloween was over. The park was littered with candy wrappers, confetti, silly string, and a few trees were covered in toilet paper. "I hate Halloween," he thought to himself. At least now people could take down the decorations and move on for another year. After walking for a little more he noticed someone walking toward him. She had long, straight, and black hair; she was tall, pale skinned, and wore a purple T- Shirt, black jeans, and black sneakers. One hand was around some sort of necklace she was wearing and was mumbling to herself. They walked right past each other. A cold shiver went down Kevin's spine. He walked a short distance then turned around to see if she was looking. She wasn't, she had stopped and was sitting on a bench with her back to him. From what he could see, she was still holding the necklace in her hand.

The girl suddenly stood up and started picking up all the trash in her sight. As soon as her hands were full she dumped the trash in the trash can and started picking up more. It was the strangest thing Kevin had ever seen. After the girl was done with the trash and the silly string, she started climbing trees to remove the toilet paper. After a few more moments of awkward staring he turned to leave. Who was she? The town was pretty small and he hadn't seen her before. Oh well, she was about his age; she'd have to go to school eventually.

And he was right. Two days later he was walking to school and ahead of him was the same girl from the park. She was still clutching the locket and was still mumbling. This time he could hear her.

"One year, that's it," the girl mumbled, "I can make it that far. All I need to do is not get in trouble and everything will be fine."

The girl continued to mumble like that until they reached the Junior High School. Kevin then lost sight of her in the courtyard amongst all the other students sharing what they did on Halloween. He didn't see her again until second period where the teacher introduced her,

"Class, we have a new student joining us. This is Samantha Shelton; she moved here from far away and won't be staying that long. Despite that, I want you all to do your best to make her time here welcome. Do you want to say anything to the class Samantha?"

Samantha's eyes seemed to scan ever face in the room in a matter if seconds, then she said, "Just call me Sam."

"Okay Sam, why don't you take the seat in the back over there?"

The teacher pointed at the seat directly next to Kevin's. Kevin noticed that the other kids shuddered a little bit as she walked past, and as she came closer he knew why. He felt the same chill run down his spine like the day in the park. Sam was in almost every class Kevin was in, but he didn't really get a chance to talk to her until lunch. She was sitting in an empty table in the corner of the outdoor cafeteria, which was Kevin's usual spot. After introducing himself he asked,

"So where are you from anyway?" Kevin asked.

"Upstate," Sam said immediately, "I'll be moving back in about a year."

"Why?"

"Well," Shock started, "I know this sounds stupid and unbelievable, but there was a fire and half my house was destroyed. My dad use to live in this town so he decided that this would be a cool place to live while our house is being repaired."

"Where are you staying?" Kevin asked, "I don't know any houses that were for sale and the nearest motel is in the next town."

"My parents found that old house in the woods was for sale," Sam explained, "and once my mom found out how run down it was she had to jump at it. If there's one thing my mom loves is fixing things. She says that it would make a good vacation house when she was done with it."

"You're staying at the Hastings house? What are you some kind of freak?"

Sam turned around to see a girl standing behind her. She was medium-height, blonde haired, by the way she dressed she was a girly-girl, obviously popular because of the two other girls dressed like her and most likely served as her clique.

"What's so wrong with a house in the woods?" Sam said smugly, predicting every response that the snooty girl might come up with.

"Eeew! How about everything? The woods are creepy, there's a graveyard down the road, there's a bog not far away, and the house is crawling with ghosts!"

"Really," Sam sounding intrigued, "No wonder the house was so cheap. Oh well, guess my mom has to rethink her plans for the house. We don't want the ghosts getting upset do we?"

"What kind of weirdo are you?"

"Lay off Belinda," Kevin said, "Just because you don't have the guts to stay in a haunted house doesn't make Sam a weirdo."

"Look who's talking," Belinda sneered, "you don't even have the guts to stay out after dark. You barely have the guts to talk to people anymore."

Kevin gave her a hateful look; Belinda laughed with her clique and walked away. Sam watched her go, somebody wasn't very nice. She turned to Kevin. He was staring at the floor, that comment must have hurt him. After thinking about it for a while she decided not to ask what Belinda had meant. Something told her that she would find out eventually.

Instead she said, "If you need any comebacks for her, you should know that in Latin Belinda means 'beautiful snake'."

Kevin smiled, "Thanks."

What Sam didn't know was how important asking might have been. Maybe knowing might have helped when Sam went through the obituaries over the next few months.

Author's Note:

Why is Kevin afraid of the dark? What would he know that would help Sam, (which is Shock in case anyone didn't catch on), find out what happened to Barrel? What will I do to Belinda, the personification of the person I would hate most in the world? Read the next chapter of course! ;)

P.S. I don't hate blondes, just girly girls.