(This is my own sequal to the movie Coraline. Hope you like it!)
Coraline II: Revenge or Peace?
Lily Walker sat down on the steps of Ashland Junior High. Her first day at her new school had gone well. Except now that her bus had broken down and she and all the other kids who lived in town were all stranded at the school for another hour or so. All the other kids were crowded over by the three big redwoods that lay in front of the school. They were talking, laughing, playing, and of course, not even realizing that she was there. Lily didn't know anybody yet so she stayed on the steps by herself.
It was a cold February afternoon, around 48 degrees or so. The only true leaves that could be seen were brown and stepped on around the ground. She puffed out a deep breath that came out as white fog to be amusing until something dawned on her, her parents didn't know she was going to be late getting home. I've got to call them, she thought to herself, as if they'd notice I wasn't there.
She shivered a little as she took off her jacked for a second to look for her cell phone somewhere in her pockets. Lily's coat was a hand-me-down from her older brother, Zack, in high school so it was very big. She'd been dying to get one for awhile but her parents told her that this one would have to do to get her through the winter.
Lily was so focused on finding her phone that almost didn't notice when someone walked up to her. She looked up to see a boy standing in front of her. He had black hair and blazing brown eyes.
"Hey, what's your name?" The boy asked. "My name's Alan Scotts."
Lily looked up and smiled. "I'm Lily Walker."
Alan smiled back and sat down beside Lily on the steps of the school. "So where'd you come from? Let me try to guess, Minnesota? No, you can't from there. You aren't pale enough. Are you from…Arkansas? "
"No!" Lily said laughing. "I'll give you hint, it's West from Ohio, East from Nebraska, and North from Mississippi."'
"Oh, I know this! Uh… is it…Tennessee?" He guessed again.
"No, it's close, kind of, but not right. I'm from Illinois." She told him.
"Oh yeah, I've been there before to visit my older brother in collage." Alan scooted down a closer to her. His hand was only about four inches from Lily's. "It's pretty nice up there, huh?"
"Yeah, it's nice." Lily scooted a little down herself to give a little more space between them. "So is the bus always late or maybe it's just today."
"Well the three buses this school's got are always breaking down. The stupid things can't go a month without one screwing up." He said zipping up his own jacket. "So where are you and your folks gonna be living?"
"We're going to be living at an apartment complex called The Pink Palace." She told him finally pulling out her phone. "But we're staying at the hotel tonight because the electricity won't be ready till tomorrow."
"Oh…you're living there?" Alan asked sitting up with an edge of surprise in his voice.
"Yes," She answered slowly. Why was he surprised she was going to be living there? "Is there a problem with that place?"
He scratched his head. "Well, no. But there's been some strange stuff going on in the place over the last year."
"Like what?"
"Well for one the woman who owns the place would never let people with kids move in until last year." He told her. "The place needed to be filled to not be closed down so she had to let a family with a kid move in."
"So? What's so strange about that?" Lily was a little confused of why the owner had not let people with kids move in previously. "She let my family movie in without any questions about kids at all and my parents have six."
Alan's eyes widened. "Six? Your parents have six kids?"
"Yes," Lily said looking at him with a little bit of affiance. Was it really all that weird to come from a family that big? "There's my older sisters Claudia and Claire who are both in collage, they're twins. Then there's my big brother Zack who's in high school, 10th grade. Then there was me and after me came my little brother Vincent who's in 4th grade and my little sister Sue who's in 1st."
"Wow," Alan said with his mouth hanging open. "You're got the biggest family I've ever heard of!"
"Thank you," Lily laughed with a smile. "So is there anything else weird about my new home that I should know about?"
"Well, there's-"
"You shut your mouth!" An unknown voice suddenly thundered from across the front school yard. "You stay quiet, you give Wybie back my mittens, and you can go eat mud!"
"Coraline Jones!" A teacher shouted. "You behave yourself if you don't want me calling your mother again! David, give the mittens back!"
"What was that?" Lily asked Alan after everything was over.
"That," He answered with a little chuckle. "Was what I was about to tell you about. Coraline Jones moved in last year right before winter break was over. She was the kid in the family that moved into the Pink Palace." He laughed again. "I guess you two are gonna be neighbors."
Lily looked out toward the mountains. "Yeah, I guess we are."
"Hey, uh… sorry you had to yell at David again today." Wybie apologized after he and Coraline got off the bus. "I'm not very good at dealing with him."
"It's okay." Coraline told him walking to the beginning of the driveway up to the house. "As long as you don't cry or something stupid like that I'm happy to do it."
"Okay, Bye Jonesy!" Wybie called over his shoulder as he continued down the road.
Coraline walked up the driveway scuffing away dead leaves in her path. She was tired after a long day of school, especially with a math test on multi-step equations and having to yell at David all in one day.
But he needed to be yelled at. She told herself mentally as she climbed up the steps. So that teacher can call mom, I don't care. As Coraline neared the front door, she felt warm fur brush against her legs.
"Oh, hello there," She greeted as The Pink Palace's favorite feline resident hopped onto the rail of the porch.
He gave a soft 'meow' as to say, "Hello."
Coraline opened the door and Cat hopped down to follow her in. She dropped her backpack beside the kitchen table and walked through the hallway that led to the living room. The whole house seemed a lot less dreary then it had been in when the Jones had first moved in.
The walls now had pictures from garden parties and woods-exploration trips (only between Wybie, Coraline, and Cat). All the tables had pictures and flower arrangements with a neat little doily from Ms. Spink and Ms. Forcible downstairs. It felt like home rather than a boring prison like Coraline had first thought it was when she first moved in.
But then again she'd learned that even if her life wasn't always exciting, at least she wasn't fighting for her life with a button-eyed witch. Coraline shivered a little as she thought about Her. She looked over at the little door for a second then sat down on the couch.
"Do you ever wonder what she might be doing in there?" She asked Cat. "I mean, she has to be doing something. She hasn't been at the door lately. Last time she did it was about a month ago." Coraline remember the first week after the little door had been shut for the last time, every night she could hear Her screaming things like, "I will not let you go this easy! I will get you for this Coraline! You will accept that you are my child, if it's the last thing I ever do!"
Cat gave a little nod of his head to say, "Yes, I agree."
"She might be plotting against me or maybe she died of starvation because she didn't have any child's soul to eat, what do you think?"
He gave a deep growl and then a soft purr to say, "I personally hope she's dead. Don't you?"
"Yes," Coraline said with a laugh. "But it's still sort of a mystery, ya know?"
Cat mewed to say, "I guess you're right.