Spreading Nightmares

'Twas the Nightmare Before Christmas

Lilith slowly woke up and rolled out of bed. She walked out of her room and down the stairs into what used to be Jack's bedroom, but which had now been renovated into a living room. Sally looked up from the book she was reading and saw Lilith, "Oh, good morning Lilith!" She said, stumbling down from on top of the bookshelf where she was sitting to come give her a hug. "Your siblings are gathered up in Jack's lab practicing their xylophone if you want to join them." She said, patting Lilith's skull. "No thanks," said Lilith, "I practiced all day yesterday, I wanna go hang out with Briar today." Sally softly smiled. "Alright, but let me make you some breakfast first." She said, walking over to the kitchen. Lilith sat down on the stairs, waiting for Sally to finish cooking. After a few minutes Sally came back into the living room, "I made your favourite, Worm's Wort soup!" She said, handing it to Lilith. Lilith smiled excitedly  and gulped it down. She licked her 'lips' (if you could call them that) and gave the bowl back to Sally. "That was delicious, thanks mom!" Said Lilith, before getting up and walking to the door. "Bye, Lilith! Be safe!" Said Sally as Lilith opened the door. "Bye mom! Love you!" Replied Lilith, walking out the door and closing it behind her.

Lilith excitedly ran down the many stairs of her house and opened the gate at the bottom. She ran through the town, all the residents wishing her a happy early Halloween (even though Halloween wouldn't be for another 313 days) as she passed by them. "You too!" She replied to them as she sprinted. After running for a couple minutes, she slowed down and stopped at the front door of a house. she pressed the old, intricately designed doorbell and it howled in response. Half a minute passed before an elder werewolf answered. "Hello, Mr. Wolfman, can Briar come out to play?" Asked Lilith. "Briar! Your friend is here!" Yelled Mr. Wolfman, before receding back into his house. Lilith heard stomping down the stairs and then Briar came to the door. "Lilith!" Yelled Briar excitedly before giving Lilith a big bear hug. (or should I say wolf hug?) Lilith giggled and hugged Briar back. "So, do you wanna come hang out with me?" Asked Lilith. "Of course I do! Where do you wanna go?" Replied Briar, walking out of their house. Lilith thought for a moment, she had no idea where to go, they'd both already been all around Halloween town, Lilith wanted something new. "I dunno, let's go exploring out of town."

Lilith and Briar walked around the outskirts of town, chatting and laughing with each other while looking for something interesting to do. After about an hour of walking around, Lilith spotted something in the distance. "What's that?" She asked Briar while pointing to it. "Looks like a treehouse." Said Briar. "Let's go check it out, looks fun." Lilith said, grinning. She grabbed Briar's hand and started walking directly to it. As they got to the front of the tree, a large cage came down from one of the branches, inside it was three trick or treaters in their early twenties. They opened the cage and popped out, sneering at Lilith and Briar. They all wore wore different masks, one was a devil, one was a witch, and the other was a skeleton. "Who are you?" Asked Lilith, tilting her head slightly and raising her eyebrow. (not that she had eyebrows) "We're Halloween town's best trick or treaters...Lock!" Said the devil, "Shock!" Said the witch, "Barrel!" Said the skeleton. "What brings you to our part of the woods?" Asked Lock. "Well, we were just exploring. We're a little bored of Halloween town, wanted to go somewhere different for a change." Said Lilith. "Sounds like you're in the mood for a place like Christmas town," said Shock, "if you've never been there you ought to give it a shot." Lilith's eye sockets widened. "I thought Christmas town was a myth!" She said. "I thought the door was locked." Said Briar. "Well you thought wrong!" Said Barrel. Lilith's mind raced with ideas, Christmas town was real? How could that be? "Lilith, it's getting late." Said Briar, "we should really head home." Lilith's mind took a moment to focus before she realized that Briar was right. "Yeah, I guess we should head back." Said Lilith disappointedly. "If you ever want directions to Christmas town, just come right back here." Said Lock, before they all got back in the cage, cackling as it lifted back up into their house.

Lilith and Briar headed back to Halloween town. They  walked back to Briar's house first, Lilith giving them a wolf hug before she left, then she walked back home too. She opened the gate, walked up the long set of stairs, and opened the door. "There you are!" Said Jack as she walked in. "I was worried, you usually don't stay out so late!" He walked over to Lilith and gave her a hug. "Alright now, it's time for you to get to bed!" Said Jack. Lilith smiled and walked up into her room. After tucking in Lilith's younger siblings, Jack knocked on her door. "Come in!" Said Lilith. Jack slowly creaked the door open and looked through. "Goodnight, dear. Sleep well." Said Jack, before beginning to close the door again. "Wait!" Said Lilith frantically, "can you tell me a bedtime story?" Jack chuckled and walked over to Lilith's bedside. "Of course, sweetie," he said, "which story would you like to hear?" Lilith smiled, "I wanna hear about the time you stole Christmas." She said, softly and expectantly looking at Jack. Jack grinned from ear to ear—well not really, seeing as he didn't have those. He let out an excited laugh, he loved telling this story after all, and began to recount his famous Christmas. "'Twas the nightmare before Christmas..."