The House Was Alive
Dun, dun, dun! Time for a disturbing story, since the real Coraline book left a question unanswered. What about the corridor with the fur and the mouth at the end when Coraline was escaping? The book said it was older than anything else, even the Other Mother. So what was that all about?
The wall she was touching felt warm and yielding now, and, she realized, it felt as it were covered in a fine downy fur. It moved, as if it were taking a breath. She snatched her hand away from it.
Winds howled in the dark.
She was scared she would bump into something and she put out her hand for the wall once more. This time what she touched felt hot and wet, as if she had put her hand in somebody's mouth, and she pulled it back with a small wail.
…She knew if she fell in that corridor she might never get up again. Whatever that corridor was was older by far than the other mother. It was deep, and slow, and it knew she was there…
-Coraline, pg 163
Coraline came home from a day at school where everybody called her Caroline and she had no friends. It was hard making new friends…
She sighed and plopped down on her bed in her room, thinking. Then she got up and dug in her rucky for the forms and such you usually get at the beginning of the year and took them to her father, who was busy in his study.
"How was school?" he asked, not looking away from his computer.
"Fine," said Coraline, not wanting to get into details. She set the forms down. "You or Mum need to sign these. I have to bring them back by tomorrow."
"Yes, yes of course, dear."
Coraline went downstairs and looked in the refrigerator for a snack. She found a jar of jam and got some bread from the breadbox and made herself a sandwich. Munching it, she headed back upstairs to get started on her history homework. She couldn't believe it; first day back and she already had homework.
She sat on her bed doing until she heard a tap on the window.
Tap, tap, tap.
Heart hammering, she jumped and looked up, expecting to see a hand with long fingernails tapping on the glass. It was only Cat.
She opened the window. "Hello, Cat."
Cat arched his back and purred and looked at her. She wished it could talk in this world, but it never did.
She scratched its ears. Cat sat on the windowsill and looked at her pointedly.
"What?"
Cat shook it's head and jumped to a nearby tree, climbed down and was gone.
Dinner was some kind of horrible chicken casserole with biscuits on top. The biscuits weren't fully cooked in the middle, and the chicken was dry. Coraline ate about half, trying to be grateful that her dad cooked dinner.
"I can't do this," she said pushing her plate away.
"Coraline, just eat it," said her mother.
"It's nasty, Mum." Coraline got a microwave pizza and heated it.
"I try," said her father.
"I don't mind it," said her mother, trying to keep from grimacing as she choked down a bite of dry chicken and uncooked biscuit. Coraline almost laughed.
Bedtime came and Coraline snuggled under blankets, not looking forward to school.
She fell into a deep sleep.
She was in a field. A shimmery figure was in the distance, walking-no flying- toward her. Coraline took several steps forward the figure came into view. It was one of the people she'd saved from the other mother.
"Hello," said the girl, her wings shining. "I volunteered to come and tell you-" she cut off.
"What?" asked Coraline, her heart thudding. Something was wrong.
"It's not over," the girl said. "She-I mean it-"
"The beldam?" asked Coraline. "Is she back?"
"No," said the girl. "It's the house-it's not pleased."
"I don't understand!" Coraline cried out.
"I don't have long," the girl babbled. "The house-it's angry-you killed the beldam-the house made her and now it's angry. It's going to get you-"
The girl shimmered away from view.
"No wait!" shouted Coraline.
Coraline awoke with a start, heart hammering loudly. The dream-the girl-
Her alarm suddenly went off.
She smacked the button on top to shut it up. The girl with the fairy wings had said she was in danger and the house was angry? What did that mean?
She pondered on it while she crunched her way through a bowl of cold cereal and got ready for school. However, when she got to school, she forgot the dream because of her teacher.
"Caroline, where are your forms?"
"It's Coraline."
"Yes, I said Caroline, now where are your forms?"
"Mum and Dad forgot to sign them."
"Bring them tomorrow, or you get detention."
Coraline seethed quietly at her desk.
When she got home, she was glad she had no homework. So she went to see Miss Spink and Miss Forcible.
"Hello, luvey," said Miss Spink handing her a cup of tea. "How is school?"
"Okay," replied Coraline.
"Are you making friends and learning lots?"
"Um, yes," lied Coraline.
Miss Spink and Miss Forcible spent some time rambling on about their time in theatre. Coraline looked down at her teacup for a moment. The leaves in the bottom vaguely resembled a face.
She looked up, intending to ask one of them to read the tea leaves. Miss Spink and Miss Forcible had the faces of a monster! Brown hairy face and head, big red eyes, blobby nose, red lips pulled back in a vicious smile, with teeth sharp as needles-
"Luvey?"
Coraline blinked. Miss Spink and Miss Forcible looked normal again.
"Do you want more tea?" asked Miss Spink.
Coraline shook her head mutely. "I-I have homework," she fibbed. She set the cup down with shaky hands and stumbled out.
Had she imagined it? She must have. How could they look like that?
She bumped into her parents in the house and looked up, seeing the hideous faces on her parents. She screamed and stumbled back into the wall.
"Coraline!" her father, normal looking again, reached for her. Coraline edged away, breathing hard.
"You gave us such a fright," said her mother. "I'm sorry, did we spook you?"
"S-sorry," mumbled Coraline, bolting up to her room.
Tap tap tap…
Coraline almost screamed again, but it was only Cat. She opened the window and Cat slid in. It meowed and stared at her. Coraline almost expected its face to change to that of a monster. But it stayed the same.
"What's happening?" asked Coraline.
The cat gave her an impatient look and then began licking its paw.
Coraline was terrified to come downstairs for dinner. But her parents remained normal looking and her father had made pizza again, with the dough overcooked and undercooked in some parts as usual, with pineapple. She picked the pineapple off and ate the pizza quickly, and skipped the crust. She bolted back upstairs.
That night, she dreamed again. She was in her own house. The walls where covered in fur. She reached out to touch it experimentally, and the wall moved, as it were breathing. Coraline snatched her hand back and began to shake. It was like when was in the corridor, escaping from the other mother. Cat had told her it was not a good place to be in. She had touched it and it had felt furry and like it was breathing. Now the whole house was doing it.
She walked through the house, the walls heaving with breath occasionally. In the sitting room, where all her Grandmas uncomfortable furniture, a face was near the door. The same face she had seen earlier on her parents and the neighbors. The mouth opened and it laughed and began to speak.
"I'm going to get you…you can't hide from me…I'm going to get you…you can't hide-"
"NO!" screamed Coraline. "No! I killed the beldam. None of this can be happening!"
The face laughed at her. "You think she was the only evil? I'm far older than her. I created her mother! And you destroyed the Other Mother, so I will destroy you! You can never hide!"
Coraline screamed and ran from the room. The face appeared on the walls all around her.
"You can't hide! You can't hide! You can't hide! You can't hide from meeee! You can't hide from meeee! You can't hide from meeee! You can't hide from meeee!"
It kept repeating itself. Coraline screamed and ran through the house, but the face was everywhere. The walls heaved and for a moment Coraline thought they would cave, and she would be trapped, to suffocate in the fur, the face screaming in her ear.
She tried the door. It was locked. She turned around. The face was on the wall right in front of her. Suddenly it got much closer, closer, closer…Coraline could feel the hot, putrid breath. She could see her reflection in its eyes. The mouth opened wider, the teeth gleamed, pointy, blood dripping from the tips now.
"YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM MEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
Coraline awoke screaming in her bed. She thrashed at the covers.
"Coraline!"
Coraline shrieked again. It was only her mother, with a normal face. Coraline's eyes flicked to the walls and for a second they were covered in fur and the face was there. She blinked again and the wall was normal.
"You must have had a bad dream," said Coraline's mother. "Come downstairs for breakfast. Are you alright? What was it?"
Coraline blinked at her and shrugged.
Coraline remembered her forms that day and brought them in, but she could hardly concentrate, the dream kept repeating itself in her head.
Night after night, she had the dream. Morning after morning she awoke screaming. It got to the point where she was terrified to sleep, and stayed awake after her parents were bed, the light on, reading a book, trying to stay awake. Eventually she nodded off an hour before dawn. She couldn't help it, she was exhausted.
She had the same dream again and awoke screaming. Her parents grew concerned and asked her to tell the dream, but she lied and said she couldn't remember. Her mother began to talk about going to a therapist.
Coraline would start to nod off in school. She would force herself to stay awake at night and would get only a few hours of sleep and awake in terror. She was tired and would nod off, have the nightmare, and awake screaming in class. The first time it happened, she knew she had blown all chances of making friends. Everybody thought she was a weirdo. They whispered about her behind her back, pointed at her in the halls, and avoided her at lunch. She sat at a table in the corner of the canteen, nibbled soggy chicken nuggets and limp fries, sipped lukewarm milk with mysterious chunks in it, and tried not to cry.
She got sent to the principal's office many times, for falling asleep in class and screaming. Teachers said she was disruptive and not paying attention. The principal called home and Coraline got a stern talking too when she went home.
Coraline was awake at two in the morning, desperately trying to not nod off, a book open on her lap. Her mother opened the door.
"Coraline!" her mother snapped. "This is why you're falling asleep in class! It's two in the morning! You need to be asleep!"
"But-but-" stammered Coraline.
"No buts about it!" Her mother snatched book and closed with a thump before placing it on the bedside table. "Go to sleep! If I see that light come back on, you're in trouble, Coraline Jones."
Coraline used a flashlight, but got caught with it the next night when her mother came to check on her. The flashlight was confiscated.
So Coraline had to choice but to lay in bed, in the dark, and whisper to herself, to try and stay awake. She made up tales and shifted constantly, to stay awake, but she would eventually fall asleep a few hours before dawn and awake, shrieking in terror.
Coraline came home and her parents told her the old man upstairs had died. Apparently, Mister Bobo had fallen and hit a sharp edge of the table. He'd had a bloody gash in his head. It was a terrible accident.
Coraline's dream had a variation that night. Just before the face got closer, it whispered to her.
"Mister Bobo is mine. His soul is mine and I killed him. And soon, you will all be mine. You can't hide from meeee!"
Coraline screamed and screamed.
She sat in class the next day, huddled at her desk. Mister Bobo was dead because of the house. Two students looked at her whispered to each other. Coraline heard "freak" "nutcase" and "belongs in a house for mental people". Coraline clenched her fists and gritted her teeth, trying not to cry.
She went home, dead tired and scared. Sometimes she would be doing something and would see the face appear out the corner of her eye. She would jump and look and it was gone. Other times she would think she saw the walls heave, as if breathing, but again, all would be normal when she looked up.
Her mother talked to her while Coraline sat, nibbling a jam sandwich.
"Where going to a therapist after school tomorrow," she said. "Okay?"
"I don't need-"
"Shush," her mother warned her. "No back talk. These nightmares are not normal. Don't worry, dear, the therapist will sort you out. You're father and I are going out with Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, to a charity dinner. There's microwave pizzas in the freezer, and you better be in bed by the time we get home, understand?"
Coraline nodded mutely. She would be home all by herself. She dreaded it.
She sat in the living room, watching TV. She started to nod off. She jumped up and ran to the kitchen. There was a lot of leftover coffee in the pot. Her mother had brewed some for herself and Coraline's father. Coraline poured a cup and tasted it. Disgusting. She added liberal amounts of flavored cream and tasted it again. Much better.
She sat back down in front of the TV to watch things her parents normally never allowed, like trashy talk shows. On the Kyle Jerome show, guests came on and admitted they were cheating on their spouses. One man came on and admitted to his wife that he had fathered three other babies with three different women-while they were married. Coraline watched, amazed that people could do such things.
While Coraline was engrossed, the host turned to the camera talking about his next guest. Suddenly his face changed to look like the face in her dreams.
"You can't hide from meeee!"
Coraline wailed and dropped her coffee. It splashed on the carpet and couch, staining it. The host was normal again and talking. Nobody seemed to act like anything had happened on the show. They were busy booing the next guest who was a serial cheater.
Coraline stood up, staring at the TV. The walls heaved. She looked again and they were normal.
"I can't do this anymore," she whispered.
She ran to the closet in the hall and yanked it open. There were two big red containers of gasoline. She didn't remember what it was for, but she grabbed one and opened it. The smell wafted out strong.
The walls heaved again.
She started at the back and began splashing it around, trying not to get it on herself. She made sure Cat wasn't around and closed the windows tightly so he wouldn't sneak in.
She took a container and went to Miss Spinks and Miss Forcible's flat. The old ladies had left their doors unlocked. Coraline shooed the dogs outside. They ran outside barking at a squirrel on the grounds.
Coraline splashed the flat liberally and went upstairs. She was too scared to enter into Mister Bobo's flat and it was probably locked anyway. She splashed gasoline on the door and the floor in front of the door. She splashed some on the outside walls and went back to her flat.
It was almost dark outside. She made sure Cat wasn't around and doused the living room.
The walls were heaving.
Coraline trembled and looked at them. They were covered in fur and the face was there again.
"What are you doing?"
Coraline didn't answer. She finished splashing the floor.
"Stop it!"
Coraline splashed gasoline on the face.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!"
She took a box of matches from a table near the door.
"You think you can kill me!?"
Coraline glared at the face, shaking so hard, she nearly dropped the match. It took several tries to light it on the scratchy sandpaper.
"Burn."
Coraline through the match at the face. Flames erupted and began to spread. The face screamed. Coraline bolted for the door. It began to slam close. Coraline got between the edge and the doorframe and the door slammed in her body. She cried out and wiggled.
She was stuck.
The flames began to hungrily lick at the floor, the walls, the carpet and couch in the living room. They began to lick toward her feet.
She screamed and wiggled. She would be burned! She would die! No! No!
She gave a might heave and fell, painfully, outside. The door slammed shut. Coraline scrambled up and ran into the darkness. By the road, she stopped and looked. Flames were eating at the building. They spread to the other flats. A window popped from the heat and the glass tinkled down. More windows exploded. The flames hungrily ate the building. The walls seemed to heave and they were covered in fur. On the outside, the face appeared, burning and it shrieked at Coraline, a blood curdling scream of hate and anger.
Coraline heard a fire truck. Somebody must have seen and called the fire department. A fire engine came wailing along the road and stopped.
Coraline seen her parent's car coming. They must have come home early for some reason. They were supposed to be gone for a bit.
"Is anybody in the building?" screamed a firefighter.
Coraline shook her head. She could see the dogs hiding under a bush.
Miss Spink and Miss Forcible screamed when they got out of the car.
"HAMISH!"
"ANDREW! JOCK!"
The dogs barked and ran to their owners.
"Coraline!" Her parents grabbed her and swept her up. "What happened? Are you hurt?"
"No," said Coraline. "I let the dogs out. And the cat is not around, so everybody is fine. I saved us! The house killed Mister Bobo! But I saved the rest of us."
Her parents stared at her.
"Did-did-did you start the-the fire?" her mother asked.
"I had to save us!" said Coraline. "It's fine now! The house is dead!"
Her parents just stared in horror.
Coraline let out a breathe. The house was dead. She was safe.
"You're never safe. You can't hide from meeee!"
Coraline yelled and clapped her hands on her head. "No! No! You're dead! Dead! I KILLED YOU! I KILLED YOU! I BURNED YOU!"
"CORALINE!" her parents yelled. "What are you doing? Why are you screaming?!"
Her parents told the firefighters and the police. Despite being young, they took her into custody and sent her to a juvenile center. Despite the house being gone, Coraline began to see the horrible face on everyone. No one could talk to her. She would see the face on them and scream and try to attack the person.
She ended up in a mental house, labeled completely insane. With her habit of attacking everyone, she ended up in a straight jacket and medicated.
Eventually, she stopped seeing faces and stopped attacking people. She didn't have to wear the straight jacket. But the damage was done. She would sit in a corner in her room, bare except for a bed, and rock and mumble to herself, her mind completely snapped.
"I'm safe, I'm safe, I'm safe," she chanted in a low voice to herself.
The walls heaved.
Coraline jumped and scrambled to the center of the floor, near the bed.
"No, no, no."
"You can't hide from meeee!"
"NO!" screamed Coraline, tugging her hair.
"You destroyed the beldam, but I brought her back…Ohhh, how lovely! You were very naughty, killing her and trying to kill me. But she will forgive you. A mother always loves her daughter."
Coraline moaned and banged her head on the floor.
The door opened.
A man in white clothing stood there. He had the face of the house. He also held a needle.
Coraline screeched.
"Time for some medicine!"
The man, with his horrid face, moved into the room. Coraline seen something behind him she never thought she'd see again.
The Other Mother.
Coraline yelled and tried to scramble away. The first man lunged for her. Another man, with the same face, entered and they men grabbed her. Coraline thrashed and wailed, desperately trying the escape.
The Other Mother laughed. She was about nine feet tall. Her redlips smiled and her black button eyes shined. She had both hands with long varnished nails. Her hair swirled about her head, looking like medusa's head.
The man strapped her down to the bed. Coraline shrieked and tried in vain to get away.
"NO! I KILLED YOU! I KILLED YOU!"
"I was made again!" the Other Mother cackled. "Except for my own Mother, I requested that she remain in her grave so I wouldn't have to put her back. But I'm here, and I'm willing to forgive you Coraline. You can be my daughter again."
` "Never!" Coraline spat at her. "Never! NEVER!"
The Other Mother smiled. "Hush, Coraline. All will be well."
She was holding two black buttons and a spool of black thread, with a long, sharp needle.
"I just need to sew your buttons on!"
Coraline thrashed and struggled. She couldn't let the Other Mother do that. The two men, with their horrid faces, smiled and the man with the needle injected her with the fluid it contained.
"You just need to relax," he said.
"It will all be over soon." The Other Mother was threading the needle. Coraline could feel the medicine sinking into her. It was hard to move. Her limbs felt like lead and she couldn't struggle as hard..
Finished, the Other Mother stood over her, the needle inches from Coraline's eye. She positioned the button over it and pushed it down a little.
"Don't worry, this won't hurt a bit."
Coraline screamed.
The End