I know the length of this chapter will probably not make up for the three years plus that this story has been sitting, untouched, in the deep recesses of my hard drive, but please accept and enjoy it nonetheless.
I would also like to apologize for my lack of progress on this story. It's a combination of life and lack of interest in the source material, in a way. I would like to thank, however, those that have reviewed and/or followed the story. Just know that in part it was those of you that helped bring the dregs of chapter three into a fresh cup of tea.
Now, enough of my stupid analogies. Onto what you all have been waiting for. Please enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Nightmare Before Christmas

My Life was all a Lie

Chapter 3: A Town of Halloween

The first thing that filtered through Christine's heavy curtain of unconsciousness was a scream. Loud and earsplitting, it jolted her out of the black corner of her mind. Eyes springing open, she was instantly greeted by a harsh white light. Squinting, she lifted a hand to block out some of the brightness. As her eyes adjusted, she started to make out the sight above her. It was the moon, albeit very large and very bright. Something stirred in her mind…she had never seen the moon this big. Very slowly she began to rise into a sitting position. There was a sharp pain in her head, and she vaguely tried to remember what had caused it as she pressed her hand to the sore spot.

"Geez did I hit my head on a rock or something?" She croaked. Her throat was very dry, and as she cleared it she began to observe her surroundings. Her eyes narrowed. Her brain must be more rattled than she thought. Was she really in a…a graveyard? "Where the heck am I?" she wondered, rubbing her eyes. Suddenly, she noticed something…odd about her left hand. Bringing it further away from her face for a clearer view, she was shocked speechless. Where she once had a normal hand with skin and muscle, now it was completely stripped down to the clean, white bone. Her gaze traveled the length of the appendage. Her entire arm was a skeleton! She choked on a scream. Her other hand wasn't much better. While it had skin, it was blue and covered in large, conspicuous black stitches. She ran her fingers over them. Yep, real string stitches. Her legs were in the same condition. Scared beyond belief, Christine stumbled to her feet and staggered forward, desperate for a reflective surface. She noticed a small pool of stagnant water. As she peered down onto it surface, her breath caught in her throat as a familiar sight stared back at her.

Her face looked exactly the same as appeared in the mirror of the locket.

Terrified, Christine fumbled for the piece of jewelry around her neck and pried it open. The tiny mirror that had once sat intact on one side was completely shattered. It was as if the monster inside had been released. Too frightened and nauseated to scream, she closed the locket and stumbled back against a headstone. She quickly wracked her brain for some memory of what might've happened while she was out. The last thing she remembered was…falling into the jack o lantern tree. Had the fall shattered the locket and…whatever was inside possessed her? It was the only explanation she could come up with. The next question she had to address was…where was she? Looking around, she mostly observed headstones. A few paces off there was what appeared to be a strange spiraling hill. It looked rather eerie with the large yellow moon framing it. So she was in a graveyard…with a weird hill…in a strange place that she had no knowledge of. Well this was turning out to be the worst Halloween she'd ever experienced.

With a sigh, Christine's head hit the back of the gravestone she was leaning on and she looked up into the black velvet sky.

"I wonder how this can get any worse…" She mumbled. All of the sudden, she felt a cold air settle around her. Eyes widening, she looked around nervously. An eerie cackle split the quietness and something white zoomed over her head. She jerked her gaze up as another one passed over. Tons of strange, transparent beings were flying through the air over her head. One stopped above her and motioned down.

"Oi girlie! Festivities are startin' soon! Better get a move on if ya wanna join in on the song!" It grinned widely and did a back flip before continuing on its way. Christine stared wide eyed after it.

"I…am I seeing ghosts now?" She shook her head. "Ok maybe this is all just a dream…maybe…" She pinched her skin covered arm. She could feel the pinch of her fingers but…no pain. "Ok…not sure if that's a good or bad thing but…I think I'm most definitely awake then."

Christine looked back up towards the retreating ghosts as they blurred into a pale mist in the distance. Squinting, she thought she could make out where they were heading. It looked like a small village of sorts, although even from the distorted view she had, there was no mistaking the odd shaped towers and crooked roofs and chimneys that stood out on nearly every building. She could also see a strange orange glow hovering over the vicinity, as if there were a mob carrying torches moving through the streets. She could also hear a strange tune on the wind, which seemed to be coming from the strange town as well. Christine remembered that the odd ghosts had said something about "festivities" and a "song." Mulling over this strange situation in her head, Christine suddenly had an epiphany. She must have stumbled across some sort of well hidden Halloween attraction! That explained everything, from the weird jack o' lantern tree entrance, the ghosts which were obviously projected, and now this odd little town, which probably had some sort of festival that people dressed up at and paid to have a private little party.

Pushing herself up off the ground, she felt somewhat relieved for a second. She then caught sight of her skeleton arm again, and her hopes plummeted a few feet. Her odd new appearance still wasn't really accounted for. Shrugging, she decided not to worry too much about it yet. For all she knew, it was some extremely good make up, and one of her friends had paid to have it done. It might be a bit of a stretch, she thought as she started to pick her way through the graveyard towards the gated entrance, but the idea might at least keep her calm and sane as she tried to sort everything out. At the very least, she needed to get to the little village and see if one of the staff happened to have a phone or some form of communication. At least she looked like she was wearing a costume. For once in her life, Christine was almost glad it was Halloween.

To be honest, everything was pretty impressive. Christine was almost awestruck by just how intricate everything was as she neared the strange looking village. From the tops of the darkly painted, looming buildings right down to the crooked cobblestone path beneath her feet, the entire town virtually screamed Halloween. And scream it did, for as she walked between the first buildings on the edge of the town, she could hear multiple screams coming from what she guessed was the towns center.
"They must be having some sort of haunted tour or something," Christine thought to herself, shuddering. "Glad I'm nowhere near that." As she continued wandering through the confusing, almost labyrinth like streets, she suddenly heard a noise behind her. Turning quickly, she was brushed to the side by a sudden gust of air as a group of people ran past. Trying to avoid the mob, Christine backed herself against a wall and watched with wide eyes at people passing.
"Wow, those are some really amazing costumes." she observed, a little nervous at just how good they were. Suddenly, her elbow was jolted to the side as one of the people passed a little too close and bumped into her. The person, in a very convincing werewolf costume, turned towards Christine and growled,
"So sorry. In a bit of a hurry, as you can imagine." The werewolf curled his jowls back showing a very sharp tooth filled grin. "Don't wanna be late for my part in the song."
"That….that's alright." Christine stammered, still a little spooked by the almost too lifelike way that the werewolf mask moved. The wolf did a double take, and suddenly seemed to notice that Christine wasn't actually headed along with the crowd.
"Ey, missy." He cocked his head. "I don't reckon I've seen you around here before." Christine started.
"Oh...er...yes." She looked down, suddenly very interested in a dead weed poked up between two of the cobblestones. "I...um...found my way here under...uh...unusual circumstances." The wolf's grin seemed to grow even larger.
"Well whaddya know!" He yowled. "A newcomer! Why didn't ya say so! What a perfect night to arrive on, if I do say so myself! This is bound to be the best Halloween yet!" Christine suddenly found her arm captured between the wolf's paws, as he started to drag her down the street along with the crowd. "Even if ya 'aint got a part in it, theres no way you wanna miss the song, not to mention the King's entrance! We'll find ya a good spot!" Christine's mouth dropped open, as she hurriedly stammered.

"Uh, wait a minute. You don't understand. I really just want a phone! Or something! Please! I really don't like these kinds of things!" But her excuses were lost on the excited lupine-dressed being as he pulled her along with the crowd towards the haunting melody coming from the center of the town.

It really was quite a terrifying position to be in, in the center of a creepy, dark town, surrounded by chanting monsters, even if they were people only dressed as monsters. It was exactly the situation that Christine found herself in presently, as she stood to the side of the strange town square, as the monsters...err...people….performed some sort of strange ritual. She really couldn't seem to figure out what exactly was going on.

After the werewolf had deposited her to a spot just on the edge of the square, near a strange tree with skeleton decorations hanging from its branches, he had bounded off in another direction, mumbling something about breaking down the entire wall this year. Christine was somewhat in a state of shock, or at least too baffled by her surroundings to really be scared. She silently observed the strange scene that lay before her, wondering exactly what was supposed to be happening, and why people would pay to do this kind of thing, when she heard the strange tune pick up again. It started out as a faint hum, and then more creatures dashed from the streets surrounding the square, singing at the top of their lungs. Christine recognized the werewolf from before, but now he seemed to be covered in dirt and rubble, making her wonder just how serious he was about "breaking walls down". She noticed a strange looking man with a very tall hat climb on top of an ancient looking auto, and then turn to stare down at the crowd. He raised up his arms, and the crowd below cheered. The strange man then began to sing,
"In this town!" He bellowed, "Don't we love it now? Everyone's waiting for the next surprise!" The crowd cheered again, and responded.
"Skeleton Jack might catch you in the back and SCREAM like a banshee, make you jump out of your SKIN!" They cried. "This is Halloween! This is Halloween! Everybody scream!"
Christine was getting a bit nervous. This was seeming more and more like some kind of Halloween cult. Worried that she may have stumbled into some crazy place obsessed with Halloween, she started to back away from the square.
"Would you please make way for a very special guy!" Christine turned her head sharply and noticed that the gate behind her was raising to reveal a behemoth of a man, with an axe in lodged in his skull, pulling some sort of straw horse. On its back was a seemingly immobile scarecrow. Dodging to the side, Christine watched in awe as it passed. All of the sudden, the scarecrow leapt to life and grabbed one of the torches held by one of the onlookers. It seemed to swallow the fire, and became engulfed in the blaze. It started twirling it's fiery appendages around and suddenly lashed out it's pumpkin head towards the crowd, fire spewing from the jagged cut mouth. Christine stifled a scream and shakily tried to back away in the other direction. Her back hit something rough and jagged, and she turned to look behind her, finding herself staring straight into the eerily grinning face on the tree she was standing next to earlier. It suddenly loomed towards her, swinging the skeleton filled branches forward, as they all cackled menacingly. Covering her mouth tighter with her hands, her entire body shaking with fright now, she staggered away from the possesed tree. The backs of her knees collided with rough stone and she stumbled backwards onto the edge of a fountain.
"THIS IS HALLOWEEN! THIS IS HALLOWEEN! HALLOWEEN! HALLOWEEN! HALLOWEEN! HALLOWEEN!"

Christine swallowed terrified sobs, and wondered why the usual tears weren't flowing. Behind her, she heard a splash in the fountain. Turning her head, a shadow began to rise over her. A tall, impossibly thin figure rose out of the waters. A smooth, bleached white head. Dark, empty sockets. A too wide mouth full of grinning teeth. The grinning skeleton ascended onto the fountains statue, sweeping a bony hand over the crowd, which she suddenly noticed was singing a somewhat familiar toon. Christine choked on her own breath, and was hit hard with realization.
It was all real.

She in a terrifyingly real town full of terrifyingly real monsters? And next to her was, a full blown, walking, moving skeleton.
And worse yet?
They were singing the song she heard every time she walked past the forest.

Christine felt the fragile glass wall of hope that she had contained herself in shatter.

She screamed.