Troublesome Trio at Skellington Manor

Revealing the source

Barrel growled under his breath, and then slammed his fist into the wall. Shock glanced up at him from the book she was reading: 'How to con a con-artist who's trying to con you, but doesn't realise you're conning them as well, creating a pointless con cycle'.
(A/N: yes they can read, but they don't know how to write. And don't ask about the book title)
"What's eating you? She asked, tossing the book back into the bathtub, which they had rebelliously brought in from the garden. When questioned, Barrel claimed it was cold and lonely. "You've been punching everything you can find, including me." his sister added ruefully, rubbing the bruise on her cheek. Barrel slumped against the wall, and slid down it with a small thud. "I dunno." He muttered, closing his eyes as if in thought, but everyone knew Barrel was terrible at thinking. Shock rolled her eyes, and poked Lock, who had fallen asleep on the floor. "Hey stupid, get up." He didn't stir. The seven year old groaned, and slipped off her bed and tiptoed towards the door. She was about to reach up to open it, when she saw the handle turning, and scrambled back across the room. The door opened, and Sally came in. Immediately Barrel shuffled behind Shock. Sally knelt down to their height, and beckoned the two closer. "I'm sorry for getting mad at you this morning. I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to talk." Shock eyed the ragdoll, her expression full of mistrust. She inched closer, and tugged Barrel forward with her. "What about?" The tiny child asked. Sally sat down, and glanced over at Lock. "Why was Lock asking for coffee earlier?" She asked. Barrel sighed, and looked up at the ragdoll. "He's always been very stressed," he admitted. Shock shoved him slightly, and muttered "Nice going idiot, now you have to tell her why." Barrel glared at his eldest sibling, and turned back to Sally. "Oogie Boogie punished all of us, true, but..... he hurt Lock most of all. As he had named Lock our so-called leader, when we messed up, it was him that faced the brunt of the punishment. And..." he stopped suddenly, and his voice caught in his throat. Sally studied him curiously. "And.... what?" Shock then decided to take over. "And he didn't want us to get hurt." Seeing the ragdoll's look of surprise, she snapped, "Just because we hate each other doesn't mean we don't love each other too. Lock became very volatile- even more so then nowadays - and dangerous. He would start acting really strange and, quite frankly, scary. Barrel and I were tempted to take him away and get out of there. But we stayed. Lock began drinking coffee to calm himself down, and it's been working ever since." Shock glanced over at her little brother, who was still asleep on the floor. Barrel continued the story. "The three of us suffer PTSD. Not just from living with and working for Mr Oogie, but because of.... other incidents. Other incidents that happened to us individually." He looked away, then turned back, his usual creepy grin back. "So, is Lock's eye better now?" He asked. Shock brightened up too. "Yeah, can he get those bandages off now? We got ours off." Sally smiled, and shuffled over so she was sitting in front of Lock. Shock and Barrel leaned over to get a closer look, and Sally began unravelling the bandages over the tiny child's eye. She winced when she saw the scar running over his yellow eye. "Woah!" Shock breathed. "Awesome!" Barrel squeaked. Sally carefully shook Lock awake, and she had to see if he was blind in that eye or not. He glared at her. "What do you want?" He snarled. Sally flinched at his harsh tone. "Please close your eye. The one that wasn't scratched." He watched her distrustfully, but did as she asked. "Can you see us?" Shock asked, leaning forward to get a better look at his scar. "Yes, obviously." He muttered. Sally smiled, and got up to leave the room. "I'll call you when it's time for dinner, okay? And I'll make sure Lock has some coffee to drink." The tiny devil's eyes gleamed. The ragdoll closed the door, and left them in peace for the rest of the afternoon, still mulling over what Shock and Barrel had told her, and wondering....
What were the things they were each afraid of?

Rubz again, I hope you're enjoying the story. If you aren't, that's a shame, but we hope you are anyways, ^-^