Lock In The Nightmare Before Christmas Novels & Stories

He only knew he wouldn’t. Not tonight. The first nightmare hit just after midnight. Elena jerked violently, her breath catching in her throat. “No—no, please—!” Holden was beside her in a heartbeat. “Elena.” His voice was low, firm, steady. “You’re safe. Wake up.” Her eyes snapped open in terror—unseeing, unfocused—still trapped in whatever memory had seized her. “Fire—” she gasped. “The door—it was locked—”

Lily decided to tell her the nightmare she is been seeing every night since her childhood, not the one she saw recently. “I.. I see myself in an old time house. Someone is knocking the door like thudding, like they are about to break it. There are guards and there is this princess, who takes me to the forest and kills me by passing a sword through my heart” said Lily in fear while keeping her hand on her chest. “Did you say old time house? Like the ancient house? Does it feel like your own house? It is cozy? What were you wearing?” asked Dr. Cho in a curious tone while observing her every action.

That night, Lily found herself plagued by a terrifying nightmare. In her dream, she saw herself running alongside a lake, experiencing unimaginable pain as she cried and bled from underneath. She woke up with a start, her body drenched in sweat, and gripped her blanket tightly. Her heart pounding, she held her chest and sat up, whispering, "What kind of nightmare was that?"

My heart clenched with dread when I saw her heading towards the old dungeon. The dungeon. I had specifically warned everyone, especially Elena, to stay away from it. It was a relic of a darker past, a place filled with pain and secrets best left undisturbed. She reached the heavy iron door, her hand hovering over the rusted padlock. A chill ran down my spine. Why was she here again? Elena reached out and touched the padlock. To my utter shock, the lock moved. It jiggled slightly, as if responding to her touch. It was a small movement, almost imperceptible, but I saw it. And it terrified me.

She giggled at the end. “I got into your head so I could fully see your dreams and explain them better to you. You have been having these awful nightmares because you are yet to accept who you are. You have chosen to hurt yourself believing that your father's death was caused by you. That is NOT true. You are blessed with a gift directly given to you by the Moon goddess. It is a gift that will enable you to control the forces of nature, a blessing so volatile that it could be a deadly curse. Take the scepter, it is yours!!”. The last words rang repeatedly in my head, echoing till I blacked out.

The family magic quivered around me, threads of amber and green tracing through the blue as my eyes scanned the dark room, just enough light from my summoned power to show me the source of the scream. Sashenka sat on the floor next to her bed, dark eyes huge, staring, mouth still open, though her shriek cut off abruptly, her bed clothes piled on top of her. The door swung open, Charlotte bounding into the room, only to freeze as she took in the scene. "Nightmare." Charlotte relaxed. "Are you well, Miss Hensley?"

CLICK. Without warning, the door locked. Freaking out, I pressed the button to unlock it, but it didn’t budge. What the hell is going on now? What a stupid car. Sitting back, I pouted, trying to figure out something. I looked around to find no other way out. This fucker activated the child lock. Things became fuzzy, and all the items in the car became two. Did something leak?? Glancing around, I spotted Brad behind the vehicle. He was putting some gas inside the car’s trunk—knockout gas or anesthetic.

I knew exactly what—or who it was. Sure enough, I came to a complete stop just outside of Violet’s bedroom door. I knew before touching the handle that it would be locked, but something as simple as a locked door never stopped me before. All it took was a slight shove to knock the locking mechanism out of place. Violet should have woken up, but from the looks of it, she was too deep within the throes of a nightmare to realize her worst fear had come true.

The elders gathered under the trees discussing customs and timing. Meanwhile, Linet pressed her back against the door, sliding down slowly until she was sitting on the cold floor. Tears spilled freely from her eyes. She wasn’t just locked in a room. She was locked in her nightmare. And the clock was ticking toward a wedding she never wanted. The night was thick with silence, broken only by the distant rustle of trees and the occasional bark of a restless dog. The house was quiet—too quiet. Everyone was confident that Linet had nowhere to run. The doors were bolted, the windows sealed, and two guards were stationed outside the hallway, half-asleep under the dim glow of the corridor bulb.

He jumped out to shield us from the darkness. My eyes zeroed in on what was the source of the voices. It was the gym coach’s radio, no doubt left on by a custodian after cleaning up the locker room. The boy relaxed his hand slightly and started breathing again and I saw Nathan’s shoulders relax a bit. Then, through the opposite side of the room, we heard a click of the door latch. This time, someone—something was trying to get into the locker room. -