Disclaimer: I have nothing to do with the book Coraline or the amazing stop motion film itself.
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Coraline Jones sat on her bed looking utterly miserable, it had only been half a month after she defeated the Beldam, but she was still restless. It was truly a terrifying experience, avoiding death from twisted versions of people she knew every five seconds, not to mention the death of Other Wybie, but that was only the icing on the deformed cake.
I could have lost my parents!
She was dead scared of getting buttons sewed into her eyes, wondering whether or not she would still have her eyes under them, but Coraline was frightened beyond belief of not seeing her real Mom and Dad ever again. It was ironic, her Other Mother created that world because Coraline hated her parents, but after learning of the Beldam's intentions; there was nothing the little adventurer wanted more than to go back to her real Mom.
Even though the threat was gone forever, Coraline still thought about what would of happened if she didn't go back to save her parents. Every night she would cry herself to sleep from thinking about it, followed by a nightmare of said thoughts. Going exploring was now a rare activity for Coraline, the only time she left the house was to hang out with Wybie or go to school; she tried her best to spend as much time with her parents as possible but they were always busy.
That world was all for me, their capture was because of me, it all happened because I wished for better parents!
The blue haired pre-teen hugged her legs as she recalled a few years ago, back when she was very close with her parents. Coraline's Father would do standup comedy acts for her whenever she was sad, and her Mother was always willing to help her no matter what she was busy with. But what Coraline missed most of all was the lullaby her Mother sang to her, she couldn't remember the lyrics or the tune, but she did know that it always made everything seem alright.
Coraline buried her face in her knees and began to cry, oblivious to the cat staring at her through her window.
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"Ah! Damn it all!" shouted Mel Jones as she rubbed her now brace-free neck. Random pains plagued her neck ever since she had the brace removed, aspirin was now never out of her reach. She took some and continued her work, letting her fingers dance across the keyboard of her laptop. But before she could make any real progress, the doorbell rang. Mel groaned in annoyance as she got up to answer it, she was met by a tall blue man.
"Good day, Mrs. Jones!" the neighbor greeted in a cheerful tone.
"Hello, Mr. Bobinsky." Mel said in her usual tired voice. "What do you want?"
"It is your daughter, Caroline." The Russian explained worriedly, "I'm afraid she is not well."
"First off; her name is Cor-aline, not Caroline. Now, what makes you think she's not okay?"
"When I invite her to see moushkas perform, the spunk she once had evades my sight! Plus, I no longer see her leave house with strange Devil Child."
Mel knew that by "Devil Child" he meant Wyborn Lovat, Coraline's only friend since they moved here.
"Well, school just started." Mel told Bobinsky as he began stretching. "Maybe she's having trouble adjusting." The mouse tamer was now in a handstand.
"Da, that's a good point." Within the blink of an eye, he launched himself up and out of sight. Mel ran out and scanned the yard and house, but found no trace of him.
"But it looks to be more personal than that!" Bobinsky said from inside.
What… How did he…?
The mother turned to see him doing pushups in the hallway; she decided not to bother asking how he got in.
"How would you know it was personal?" Mel asked, getting a tad annoyed.
"I only said it looks that way, I'm not really sure." The mouse tamer said as he rose on his feet. "But I suggest you have talk with Caroline, you are her mother after all."
Mel couldn't help but be offended by the way he talked about her parenting, but he had a point.
"I'll do that when I have time. But I have work to right now, so if you don't mind?" She asked as she gestured towards the door.
"Of course, I'll be on my way." Bobinsky said. As he went through the doorway, he spun back around.
"Oh, one more thing." The Russian dug into his pocket and pulled out a beetroot.
"Give her beet, helps me when I'm down." Mel took it and looked at it like it was poison.
"Das vidanya, Mrs. Jones!" he said as he back flipped out of sight.
Crazy drunkard.
Mel remembered what Coraline said about him.
Just take the beet, and then trash it later.
She did so and returned to her laptop. After a while, Mel felt something rub against her leg, she looked down and saw a black cat staring up at her.
"Oh, it's just you." Mel said with a sigh. The cat made trips here often, at first he was annoying, but then the rat population decreased dramatically. Mel soon warmed up to letting it roam about the house, but she would catch Coraline talking to the male cat.
It's not like he can actually talk back.
She couldn't understand why her daughter took a liking to it, but it was none of her business. Whenever Mel was frustrated with her family, she would also talk to the cat, sometimes it seemed as if it understood what she was saying… in fact she could have sworn she saw it nod a couple times.
The cat pushed against the mother's leg and meowed loudly. She shoved him a bit but he was annoyingly persistent.
"Not now, shoo!" Mel told the cat. After a while, he became more aggressive with his pushes, to the point where she gave up.
"Alright, fine! I'm getting up." The cat led her upstairs and down the hallway to…
"Coraline's room?"
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Coraline just now stopped crying, but her eyes were still red and puffy. She was about to get off her bed when her door opened.
"Mom? What is it?" she asked. Her mother closed the door behind her.
"Mr. Bobinsky and apparently the cat, want me to talk with you." Mel explained. She noticed the puffiness of her eyes. "Hey, were you crying?"
"What? No!" Coraline said defensively.
"Then why are your eyes red?"
"They itched, so I rubbed them a bunch."
It's not like you care, anyway!
"Okay." Mel said, letting it slide and taking a seat next to her daughter. "But, Bobinsky tells me you're in a bad way, what's wrong?" Coraline turned away from her mother.
"Nothing, I'm fine." She insisted unsuccessfully.
"He says you're not yourself, that you're not going exploring or hanging out with Wybie as often as usual. Now, why is that?" Mel asked with a bit more pressing tone.
"I just don't feel like doing those things, that's all." Coraline lied. Her mother was getting irritated with her.
"I know you, Coraline. I'm your mother and-"
"Then why don't you act like it!?" Coraline snapped as she spun to face her.
"Watch your tone!" Mel demanded, hands on her hips. "Look, I'm sorry I haven't been paying much attention to you, but I just don't have time!"
"Then why don't you make time? You do so much work, I'd assume there's not a lot left to take up your whole day!" The blue haired girl was now glaring at her mom, who was now a bit perplexed.
"Why are you acting like this now?" she asked. "It's as if you think your father and I will vanish at any moment."
Coraline felt a lump in her throat; she hit the bull's-eye with one shot. Mel noticed that her daughter wasn't responding.
"Coraline, is that it?" she asked in a much softer voice. The little adventurer concluded there was no way out now.
"Well… uh… do remember that dream I told you about?" she asked her mother, knowing that she didn't remember being captured by the Beldam. "The one with that 'Other World'?" Mel nodded.
"Um… in it, the Other Mother offered me the chance to stay with her forever, but only if I sewed buttons into my eyes." Coraline hesitated as she remembered that terrifying experience. Her mother wondered how she could dream up the button bit in the first place.
Maybe she has a too active imagination!
"I refused, and then she… she…" the pre-teen swallowed a sob. "…captured you and Dad. If I didn't stay with her… she would kill you." Now this was something Mel didn't see coming. Coraline found it more difficult not to cry.
"I had that dream because I wished you would be a better mom, if I didn't then you wouldn't have been put in danger." Tears began to form under her eyes. "It never would have happened."
"It was only a dream, Coraline!" Mel said. But Coraline knew damn well it was real, and that the Beldam still existed on the other side of that little door in the parlor. It was now impossible to force back her sobs which now interfered with her speech.
"Now I… just want to spend as much… as much… as much time with you and Dad as possible… before you… you…" She finally broke into a crying fit, hands covering her red leaking eyes.
Mel was without words, she had no idea her daughter was this troubled, but Bobinsky picked up on it without difficulty. Even the cat figured it out!
But not me, her own mother.
She hugged Coraline as she continued to cry, mentally kicking herself for not talking to her earlier.
"I'm so sorry, honey. I have no excuse." Mel told her. "I promise I'll spend more time with you, my work can wait for a while."
"I love you, Mommy!" Coraline managed to say between sobs.
"I love you too, Coraline." After a few minutes, her sobs declined into sniffles as she calmed down.
"Hey, do you remember that lullaby you use to sing to me years ago?" she asked with a sniff.
"I do." Her mother replied.
"Could you… could you sing it now, please?"
"… Sure." It was a bit of an odd request, but she was just glad her daughter was being open with her.
As she listened to her mom sing, Coraline felt the same closeness they shared years ago, and welcomed it as she remembered the lullaby.
When Mel finished, she reached for Coraline's explorer's hat, which was resting on her nightstand.
"You know, I heard there's a cave uphill from here." She explained as she handed Coraline her hat. "It might be worth checking out!" A smile made its way on the pre-teen's face as she donned her hat and sprang up.
"I'll meet you there." Her mother said.
"Thank you, Mom." Coraline said quietly.
You may not be the best mom in the world, but you're the perfect mom for me!
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Yeah, I know what you're thinking: "Hey, Captain-of-the-Dumb-Ass-Squad! What about Moonlight!?" The thing is I've hit a bad case of writer's block, I find that the easiest thing to do is to write about something else until it comes back to you. So keep your pants on, I'll come around!
Das vidanya Das vidanya