(I knew this was going to happen, eventually.
I loved Coraline far more than any movie I've seen in the past three years. No joke. The idea came to me in a dream for this story, as do most stories of mine.
Just a question, though: Where did he get the idea for the name Wybie?
Coraline © Neil Gaiman
Wybie © Henry Selick)
Last Chances
Chapter One: Doors
"Hm... got any fours?"
"Nope! Go fish."
"Aw, man..."
Coraline laughs, a grin plastered on her face as Wybie reluctantly draws another card.
"Not so smug now, are you, Wybie?" she taunts, waving her cards around. "I only have three cards left. How many do you have? Seven? Eight?"
"I haven't lost yet!" he protests, his face reddening slightly.
Coraline can't help but smirk as she looks back down at her hand.
Nearly five years have passed since they threw the key in the well, and the right hand with it. Coraline's life has been free of any real worries since then; after all, her parents' idiosyncrasies are nothing compared to the terror that the Other Mother could inspire.
She hasn't been in the parlor room since she locked the door.
"Got any sevens?"
Her friend grumbles, handing over the card.
Wybie's grandma has relaxed a lot in the past five years; Coraline still remembers a time when Wybie wouldn't come over on a cold rainy night such as this to keep her company, all because of the constant fear of a death that would never really have come.
"Got any aces?"
She still wonders if it has something to do with his grandma thinking that Coraline is "A nice, sweet girl." She hopes the adults aren't trying to set them up, but doubts her parents even know what a social life is, much less their daughter's.
"Here you go, Wybie. Got any... twos?"
Wybie's eyes dart back and forth between Coraline's one card and the two in his hand.
"Go Fish," he says."
"Show me your hand!" the blue-haired girl demands.
"No way!" he counters, holding his cards close to him.
"Hey, wait a minute, you asked for a two earlier! Let me see your hand!"
"Y-you remember—hey, you haven't drawn a card since then! You had that two when I asked for it!"
"Give me that card, Wybourne!"
"Not on your life!"
And so the chase begins; Coraline dashes after Wybie, whose past experiences with her half-righteous fury keeps him constantly out of her reach. Besides, he's been running around since he was four; Coraline, however, knows her house almost as well as herself, and certainly better than Wybie does.
She corners him in the parlor room.
"Ha! Gotcha now, Wybourne," she smirks, stepping closer. "Hand it over."
"No way!" he shakes his head, backing against the wall, standing in front of the door.
"Wybie Lovat, if you don't give me that card, I'll—!"
"Well, I'm not giving it to you until you at least admit you cheated!"
"Oh, fine!"
Pouting, Coraline crosses her arms in front of her chest.
"I, Coraline Jones, was up to no good, and tried to deceive you to win at Go Fish," she rattles off, snatching the two of clubs from Wybie's hand as she finishes up her confession. "You know, you did the same thing last time."
"Oh, I guess I did, didn't I?" the brunette shrugs, chuckling slightly as he rubs the back of his head.
The loud chimes of the clock in the living room start them both.
"Aw... it's getting pretty late. I better go home," Wybie mumbles, the faint smile disappearing from his face and leaving him with a downcast expression. "I'm probably already late for dinner, knowing my luck..."
"Yeah, well, at least you don't have to fend for yourself," his blue-haired friend rolls her eyes in response, walking with him through the halls to the front door.
"When do your parents come back from their...?"
"It's a business trip, and not till next week. I'm starting to run out of microwave dinners, I'm going to have to actually start cooking soon."
"Don't invite me over for that!"
"You haven't changed at all!" Coraline scoffs, punching Wybie square in the shoulder as she opens the door for him. "You're just as annoying as when I first met you."
"Yeah, but you must like me a little more, because this is the first time you've hit me in a while!" he mutters, rubbing his shoulder as he steps outside, picking his bike up on the porch and carrying it with him to level ground.
"What?"
"Huh? I didn't say anything!"
Coraline shakes her head.
"Hey, Coraline—that little door in that back room?"
"What about it?" she asks, leaning against the doorframe.
She hopes he won't ask where it goes. Wybie might have guessed, but she never actually told him that was the door for the key they got rid of.
"Is that thing locked? 'Cause it's leaking cold air like crazy, I thought my feet were gonna freeze! You might wanna get it fixed before it gets cold out!"
With that, he pedals off, braving the rain that falls on him from above and the mud that splashes up from below.
Coraline sighs as she closes the door behind her, only barely remembering to lock it as well.
"It's leaking cold air like crazy!"
"Why would it do that?" she wonders aloud, hazel eyes narrowing in thought. "All that's behind it now are bricks..."
Or so she tells herself. She can't bear to look into the parlor as she walks past, though.
"Hmph. Wybie forgot his mask," the teen girl frowns as she enters the kitchen, picking the aforementioned object up off the table and setting it on the counter. "Guess he's coming over tomorrow, too. You're lucky you're really not that annoying anymore, Wybourne."
She grabs a can of soup from the cupboard, setting it down beside the mask as she searches for a bowl.
There's a light scratching sound at the window that makes her look up.
"Staying here for the night, are you, Cat?" Coraline can't help but chuckle, even though she doubts he can hear her. "Give me a minute."
Finding a clean bowl in the dishwasher, she opens the soup can and pours its contents into the dish, then pops the dish in the microwave for two minutes. Only then does she go to unlock the front door again.
Cat darts in, shaking as much water out of his fur as he can before sauntering off to the kitchen.
"Aw, got a little wet, Cat?" Coraline teases, ignoring the disgruntled expression on the feline's face. "Relax, I got some food for you. One day Mom's going to wonder where all the milk goes, 'cause she doesn't drink it and I barely do."
She places a saucer on the ground before pouring milk into it. As Cat drinks, the teen girl puts the milk away just in time for the microwave to go off.
"Looks like we're eating together, huh?"
No, not really, she can practically hear him say as she brings her own dinner to the table. After all, we're not sharing the same food, so we're not really eating together, are we?
It doesn't bother her as she eats, listening to the rain splash against the windows and the sides of the house.
"I think tomorrow, I'm going to go exploring," Coraline announces for nobody's benefit. "After all this rain, there's going to be worms everywhere. Wybie's going to love that, and Mom's not here to say no. 'You'll track mud in the house, Coraline Jones!' she'd tell me, and then she'd make me take another shower. As if getting up early for a shower wasn't bad enough."
For a moment, she stares off into space, thoughtful.
"I wonder what she and Dad are doing right now. Do you think it's raining in Seattle?"
Cat doesn't answer, but abandons his dish to rub up against the teen's legs.
"It probably is. I heard it's always raining in Washington."
Nevertheless, she lets out a sigh, dropping her spoon into her mostly-empty bowl.
"You done?" she asks, picking up the saucer on the floor. "I don't want to step on it in the morning and break it."
Cat merely looks up at Coraline, flicking his tail only slightly.
She puts all the dishes in the sink, not bothering to wash them as she instead traipses upstairs. Cat follows her, weaving in between her legs when she reaches the top step.
"Well, thanks for waiting until I got up here to try and trip me," she smiles, turning the corner and walking into her room. "Where've you been lately, anyway? Wybie said he hadn't seen you in a while, so... did you just run off to someone else for a while or what?"
This she asks as she peels off her sweater, exchanging it for her pink pajama top. She searches for her pajama pants; they seem to have vanished somewhere into the mess that carpets the floor of her room.
She's tired. She'll sleep in her jeans tonight.
"You know, Wybie said that the door is leaking air," Coraline frowns, sitting down beside Cat.
He looks out the window.
"The little door in the parlor room, I meant."
He looks to her, blue eyes widening slightly.
"I think he's crazy," the girl sighs, falling back onto the bed. "She's dead, isn't she? She has to be. She said she'd die without me, and she didn't get me. But... I was kinda scared to go back into that room."
Cat lightly steps over, curling up next to her pillow, looking at the teen with a serious expression.
"...thanks for staying," she half-smiles, scratching behind his ears.
She gets a purr in response before she closes her eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep.
(End chapter one.
I have to admit, I liked writing this chapter. I'm really excited about writing more of this fic.
Please review!)