lock, shock, and barrel ( complete )

1. Another Successful Halloween

Halloween Town took Halloween very seriously. They considered it the only day worth existing. Four months ahead they would plan and when the day finally arrived, they went all out. Once they day ended, however, they celebrated another successful Halloween of scares. Jack Skelington however, didn't allow his ten-year-old daughter Emily to attend. Emily wished she could go. It had been her dream since she was a little girl. Emily and her best friend Veronica have been friends since they were babies. Veronica was an extreme daredevil. She once convinced a girl in their class to go to the house beyond the spiral hill. She came back screaming. For ten years, that house had been off-limits to all residents of Halloween Town. Some teenagers were seen trying to sneak in, but they were scared off. Emily was forbidden to go anywhere near the far graveyard. She and Veronica had to research it for an assignment. Emily was taken out of it by her father, who had a lengthy conversation with the teacher and that subject was banned from the school. Emily didn't get it. What was her dad so afraid of? It was just a haunted house. Halloween Town was full of them. Why did he single this one out? Emily had wondered that ever since she was two or three years old. The day her father gave her the warning. Emily never forgot it.

"Emily!" Sally called up the spiraling staircase that lead to Emily's room. "Veronica's here for your sleepover."

Veronica was also to young to attend Halloween festivities. So she and Emily created sleepovers every Halloween, so they didn't feel left out. It wasn't the only sleepover they had, but to them, it was the most fun. Emily made snacks and decorated her room while Veronica brought the latest and most juiciest gossip in the history of Halloween Town. Her mother was a gossip and whenever Veronica's mom had friends over, it was secret city for the daring ten-year-old. And as Veronica waited on Emily's doorstep, she bounced up and down, excited for a new wave of gossip.

"Coming!" Emily bounded down the stairs. She threw open the door with a big smile on her face. "Hi Veronica!" Emily looked exactly like her mother, except her hair was in two pigtails and usually stayed that way.

Veronica had jet black curly hair that went to her shoulders and pale skin. On one side of her head was a purple bow and she always wore a black dress with purple and black striped leggings and red shiny flats with a little bow at the toe.

She grinned at Emily. Looking behind her frantically she motioned upward. That was the universal symbol for "lead me upstairs, I've got gossip". Emily nodded and the two girls raced into Emily's room. Once they had locked the door, Veronica had dumped her things on the floor, and the girls had flopped on the bed, closed the canopy, and flicked on the Christmas light strung on Emily's bedpost, the gossip began.

"Spill," said Emily.

"I know why the house by the end of the spiral hill is off limits," Veronica said.

Emily's jaw dropped. "You do? But, how?"

"My mom took me to the Halloween Town Library and when she wasn't looking, I got this." She pulled a book out of her backpack and handed it to Emily.

"'The True Story's of the Heroes and Villains of Halloween Town'," Emily read. "What does a book have to do with anything?"

"Table of Contents, third down," Veronica said.

Emily flipped to the table of contents. "'Jack Skelington, Oogie Boogie,'" she paused. "Who are Lock, Shock, and Barrel?"

Veronica reached for the book and Emily handed it to her. She flipped to a bookmarked page and then handed it back to Emily. It was a full length picture of the house beyond the far graveyard.

"The house!" said Emily.

"Read the caption," said Veronica eagerly.

"'Oogie's House, current home of the three banished children, Lock, Shock, and Barrel, Halloween's finest trick-or-treaters'," Emily read. "Doesn't answer my question."