Author's note: Sorry I haven't posted anything in forever... Frogive me, I had a bad case of writer's block with this story. I'll try to post more, but no promises.
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I think Oogie must have used magic before. I had been using it for weeks but I was nowhere near as good at it as he was and he’d only had the book a day. I watched as his casino magically rebuilded itself. It was like watching time go in reverse. Barrel watched in awe. I had to fast forward. I didn’t have time to watch it in real time. I couldn’t hear them talking now but it was enough to watch I think. When it was fully repaired they both walked inside. The inside was…amazing, especially if you liked gambling. It was full of colorful flashing lights beckoning you to play the games, advertising false promises of riches. Barrel looked like he couldn’t believe it and Oogie looked like he was trying to make it seem even more impressive. I stop fast forwarding to make sure I wasn’t missing anything. “..do now?” said Barrel. “This is cool and all but just staying here hiding?” “Oh we’ll not be hiding son, I…” I froze the image in shock. Had Oogie just called Barrel his son? Had I missed something? I tried to tell myself that maybe it was just the way Oogie talked but my imagination was going wild. Because now it all made sense. Despite what had happened I just didn’t see Barrel turning on us, well, maybe me and my family, but not Lock and Shock. Never them, not in a million years. Except he did. But if Oogie was his father...I couldn’t even imagine what that would be like. Besides the obvious fact that Oogie would be a horrible parent and is an all out A-hole, imagine him as your dad. My first thought was ‘Who would do that with him?’. Ewww, but when I got over that I thought ‘what would it be like to think your dad was dead and suddenly there he was alive?’ I, mean, no matter how bad a father he may be he’d still be your dad. It was a long shot really though. I was probably just getting carried away. But some part of me wanted to believe it because if I believed it then I could believe he wasn’t really evil. I don’t know why that was so important to me. We hadn’t been close or anything, in fact Barrel almost never talked. And it didn’t change what he did and said. Maybe it was just me being egotistical, because I didn’t want to think he hated me. If I believed they were father and son I could tell myself he just said it so he could be with his dad. I could understand that. Then again, another part of me didn’t want them to be related. It was weird. Really weird. In so many ways.
I was getting carried away. I had no proof of anything. It was just a crazy idea; I have them all the time. I tried to push those thoughts from my mind. I started the images again, this was more important. But I couldn’t focus so I froze the image again. Now that the idea was in my head I had to know. I looked at the picture. They didn’t look alike. He looked more like dad than like Oogie (though he doesn’t look like dad, just that Barrel’s dressed like a skeleton). Though it could explain Barrel’s green hair. I wasn’t sure where to begin my new search; I was thinking where to start when Aunt Em interrupted my thoughts. I’d almost forgotten she was there. She said, “Are you alright? You’ve been staring into space.” “Oh, I…” Should I tell her what I thought? I wasn’t sure… “Aunt Em...sigh. Nothing.” I didn't tell her. I was wasting time. It didn't really matter, and yet...it did. I went back to my main search.
