While the Doctor did his work Jack, Sally, Oogie, Lock, Shock, and Barrel all exchanged their stories. There was a lot to tell, and their conversation lasted hours. They were debating what to do with the keys when they were interrupted by the Doctor. His face was expressionless.
Shock: Is he going to be alright?
Dr.F: To be honest, I’m not sure. I’ve never seen any creature like that in all my years as a professional. His construction is very unusual.
Jack: What do you mean, unusual?
Dr.F: Well, for one thing, he appears to be made of some sort of candy.
Barrel: Candy?
Dr.F: Yes, and even though that’s an unusual choice to make something out of, that isn’t what makes him so strange. You can use all sorts of materials for making creatures, if fact I made Sally there with leaves, but his insides are all wrong.
The doctor put his hand under his chin and sat there thinking for a moment.
Dr.F: I would never have thought to make anything like his creator made; he’d make an interesting study…
Sally gave him a look that could be best interpreted as “not on your life”.
Dr.F: …but of course you want him back.
Shock: (anxious) But is he going to be okay?
Dr.F: It’ll take some time, but I might be able to rearrange some things. Even then there’s no making sure it will all work. What I suggest is for now you all go home and leave me to my work.
And with that he left them there. They didn’t speak for a minute. Slowly they all began to go home.
THREE WEEKS LATER…
Shock had once again been trying her hand at cooking. She knew she wasn’t that great yet but the way Lock and Barrel acted when she made food would make one think she was serving them poison. As far as Lock and Barrel were concerned she was serving them poison. The only person who would eat her cooking was Other. But, as Lock was always pointing out, Other would eat anything.
Today’s dish was better than usual but still not very good. She made Lock and Barrel eat it anyway.
Shock: It’s not that bad. You two are such babies.
To prove her point she picked up a fork and took a bite. She nearly gagged.
Lock: Not that bad eh?
Shock: Shut up!
Lock: Make me!
If he could, Other would have rolled his eyes. Instead he grabbed Lock’s plate and dumped the food on his own plate.
Other: Here, I’ll eat it.
Other did not understand Lock at all. At times he found it hard to believe he had been based off of him. Not that they looked much like each other anymore. They still had similar traits of course, but after the Doctor had fixed him Other had decided to adopt his own style. This was not an instantaneous decision. In fact it had taken him quite a while to realize he was now free to do what he wanted. Other quickly ate all of the food.
Lock did not understand Other at all. He found it creepy that his button eyed twin had a crush on his sister, which Lock constantly teased them about. He was also a bit jealous that everyone considered Other to be smarter than him, and that he got more attention. In fact when the Mayor had first seen Other he had exclaimed “Oh no, not another one…” but upon meeting him the people of Halloween had come to like Other’s polite ways.
Barrel handed his plate over to Other as well and instead ate a lollypop. Then he got out some food for the cat. Though they hadn’t been able to keep him in the tree house, they did feed him often. For a while the cat had been angry at Other for throwing him at the Beldam, but had forgiven him. Barrel had asked Other why he had thrown the cat, saying it hadn’t been the best idea. Other didn’t know why, but pointed out that it had worked at least.
Other was still getting used to Halloween. To be honest he really didn’t understand it. And it didn’t help that he was afraid of the dark. But overall he liked living there.
When the social worker had come back at the end of the week she found no complaints from Lock, Shock, or Barrel about living there. While she was there she also arranged things for Other. Oogie hadn’t really wanted to take in Other. He was too…good, not right to be a henchman. He wasn’t sure how to tell Lock, Shock, and Barrel that but was spared doing so by a circumstance no one had expected. Jack and Sally had asked Other if he would rather stay with them. Other had said yes.
Lock, Shock, and Barrel didn’t understand his choice, but didn’t try to convince him to stay with them. They still were friends and spent a lot of time together anyway.
Jack and Sally still did not like Oogie, and Oogie still did not like them. For the most part they remained enemies though they did not try to stop Other from being friends with Lock, Shock, and Barrel.
Other soon finished eating, and the four spent the rest of the day together, like a family.
THE END.
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THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR READING AND FOR YOUR WONDERFUL COMMENTS! This was a lot of fun to write. GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL! ^^
