~ Monster-Sitting ~
The twins' names were Liesel and Henry (after the corresponding Broadway characters, of course). They had come to stay with their great aunt Miriam Forcible for a week or two, while their mother toured France with some obscure acting company or other.
Consequently, over the last couple of days or so it became impossible to go anywhere around the Pink Palace without stumbling upon evidence of their 'occupation', so to speak. - A dissected frog behind a rusty old heater made Coraline cringe to discover one day, when she had been looking around the house for the old stray Cat. Mel had been horrified to discover one morning that overnight half the tulips on the north side of the garden had been dug up and re-planted upside-down. On the opposite side of the spectrum, however, Mr. B had been delighted another morning to find his shoes filled to the brim with smelly cheese. For the most part, though, the tenants of the Pink Palace apartments waited on their departure with baited breath, hoping the week would pass quickly and without too great an incident.
Ahh, if life were only so kind.
Naturally, the time eventually came as everyone secretly knew it would, that Ms. Spink and Ms. Forcible felt the need to visit the theatre. Funnily enough, this evening also coincided with the evening that Mel and Charlie had to deliver something vague to someone vague in town, and Mr. B was holding a full-day-intensive rehearsal for his mouse circus.
And so it was that Coraline found herself knocking on the door of the apartment downstairs that evening at seven 'o' clock, a tin of cookies in her hands and a scowl on her face.
"Hello? Ms. Forcible? Ms. Spink?" she called through the door, tapping her foot impatiently.
"Yes, yes! Come in, Caroline!" came a voice from inside, followed by a storm of excited yapping. "The cherubs are in the drawing room," said Ms. Forcible as she let Coraline into the room, where she was immediately accosted by three tiny, slobbering beasts.
"Hello boys." said Coraline, as she attempted to pat them all at the same time whilst they skipped around her in circles.
"Now I've ordered some pizzas for dinner- make sure Liesel doesn't have any of the Hawaiian because she's allergic to pineapple..." Ms. Forcible chattered on into Coraline's ear as she was led into the drawing room, where the two blonde 'cherubs' sat, watching her silently with sullen blue eyes. Coraline tried to ignore the stares.
"Alright! April! We must be off! Get cracking!"
"I'm coming Miriam!" April swept into the room, or at least tried to. It came off as more of a waddle. She wore what looked to be an old moth-eaten fox scarf. Coraline cringed.
"Alright," she called from the door, after Ms. Forcible had already gone through. "Be good my darlings!" and was gone.
Coraline turned to the two children sitting behind the coffee table, staring at her. They were nearly identical, the only noticeable difference being the braids that Leisel wore her hair in. They wore identical scowls, but said nothing to her.
"My name's Coraline." she said, breaking the awkward silence.
"We know already." said the boy, Henry. "We think its a stupid name."
"It's just Caroline got all backwards." agreed his sister. Coraline fought the urge to moan. Tonight was going to hell.
"By the way," Liesel added, crossing her arms, a superior air to her voice. "Dying your hair is really bad for it. It'll go all dry and fall out."
"And the blue looks weird." her brother added matter-of-factly.
"It doesn't go with your tee shirt at all." Liesel agreed.
"Orange and blue are opposites." Her brother added. Coraline looked down at the shirt she was wearing; the orange one with the black cat on it and the black and white striped sleeves underneath. Wybie had gotten it for her birthday. It always reminded her of Halloween.
"Well I like it." she replied simply, putting a hand on her hip, trying to look imposing. The effect was not helped by the dogs slobbering all over her shoes. "And it so does not-"
"Do you go outside a lot?"
"What?"
"Your freckles. Our mother doesn't let us go outside much. She doesn't want us getting freckles."
"Says they're ugly, doesn't she Liesel."
"She does. I think so too." they were starting to make Coraline irritated now, and she opened her mouth to retort, but was cut off.
"We're hungry." said Henry.
"Well, I brought you guys some cookies." Coraline replied through gritted teeth, setting the tin down on the table. Then added, trying to sound light-hearted; "I don't know how edible Ms. Spink and Forcible's toffees are-"
"We don't like cookies." Henry replied flatly. "or lollies."
"Everyone likes cookies." Coraline half-laughed, half-whimpered.
"Not us. They're bad for you and sweet and they make you fat." Liesel looked pointedly at Coraline's mid-section. Coraline immediately folded her arms across her stomach, defensively. Though still as stick-thin as ever, she had her insecurities like any other girl, and somehow the little monsters had managed to pick and exploit them in only a matter of seconds. And still, they stared at her. It was unnerving.
"Well... the pizzas should be arriving soon-"
"We're hungry now." interrupted Henry and his eyes narrowed threateningly. Coraline had no doubt that the look translated to 'or else'.
"Well then," she asked sarcastically, "what are you hungry for?" in the back of her mind she remembered her mother telling her 'Be nice, Coraline, they're just children' and ignored it. They exchanged a look, before turning back to her.
"Sandwiches." they said in unison. She blinked twice at them, struck dumb for a moment or two.
"Sandwiches?" she asked, trying not to laugh. What kind of ten year old wanted a sandwich instead of a cookie? They narrowed their eyes.
"What's so funny?" Henry shot.
"Nothing." Coraline snickered. "So what kind of sandwich?"
"Cheese."
"... and?"
"Just cheese."
"But that's boring."
"You're boring." Henry retorted.
"And you're infantile." she replied, mimicking his tone. 'be nice' … sure. Whatever. His blank expression told her he had no idea what the word meant, and she sighed, making her way into the kitchen. "How about you guys play with the dogs or something while I make your sandwiches?"she called over her shoulder, and was surprised with an enthusiastic "Okay!" in response.
She found some bread in the freezer which she took out and set on the bench to defrost. Then she began to hunt through the cupboards in search of cheese. Which, it seemed, there was none of in the house. She swore softly to herself as the image of Henry's 'or else' eyes popped into her mind. Something else would have to do. She found some peanut butter and then, looking through the fridge in amongst all the strange jars with foreign labels and variations of the word 'organic' written on them, she found some strawberry jam.
"PB and J it is." she muttered, going about making her favourite kind of sandwiches, keeping an ear cocked for any sign that the two brats in the next room over were doing something they shouldn't be. Whilst she was cutting the sandwiches in half she heard a muffled thud. Which was immediately followed by a crash, a yelp and then a quiet snickering. She bolted back into the room, jam-covered knife still in hand, to find the shelves that had previously held the collection of dead-stuffed-dogs had toppled over on top of, it seemed, one of the living ones. The twins were in the corner, looking at the mess and in silent hysterical laughter.
"What the hell did you do!" Coraline screamed. They shrugged, smiling innocently. Liesel held a sling-shot in her hand.
"We were playing with the dogs." she said.
Coraline rushed to the shelves and it took a couple minutes for her to get them upright once again, leaving her panting and red-faced. The dog that had been trapped underneath them whimpered a little and licked her face. "Urgh-" The floor was littered with dead dogs in angel costumes, and Coraline felt like she might cry in frustration.
She looked around, ready to shout at the two blonde-haired Antichrists, but they had disappeared. Stomach sinking, she went to the kitchen, and found them seated at the bench, poking at the sandwiches she had made with disgusted expressions on their faces.
"Its not cheese."
"No there wasn't any cheese." she sighed, "It's PB and J. That's my favourite sandwich." she gave them a wide, very fake smile, "Try it, you might like it." They both made faces.
"We only eat cheese sandwiches."
"Our mum always cuts the crusts off, too." Liesel sniffed. Coraline sighed in defeat.
"Fine you don't have to- HEY!" they had thrown one at her face. They giggled as jam slid slowly down her cheek, dripping onto the floor.
"Pick that up!" she shouted, pointing to the sandwich and they laughed, shaking their heads. "PICK IT UP!" she roared, just as the doorbell rang. She screamed in frustration and went to the door to answer it. It slammed open."WHAT!"
"Cripes!" the boy at the door leapt back in fright.
"...Wybie? What the hell are you doing here?"
"I came to ask you if you'd seen Cat, then I heard this giant crash- Hey, Coraline, you got something on your face..." he observed as he stepped inside.
"I know Wybourne." she said darkly. "I'm babysitting, remember? So-"
"Who's that?" Two pairs of evil blue eyes appeared at the doorway into the kitchen. Coraline turned to them, breathing deeply to avoid shouting more.
"This is Wybie," she said through gritted teeth, "He's-"
"Is he your boyfriend?" Liesel asked abruptly.
"What?" Coraline recoiled in shock. "No! Ew, no!" Liesel raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. Wybie also flinched, taking a step or two back, so that Coraline was in between the children and himself. Coraline half-sighed half-growled; "Yes, he's a boy, and yes, he's my friend but-"
"So he is your boyfriend?"
"No-"
"Ha ha your face has gone all red!" said Henry, pointing.
"That's because I'm angry-"
"Cory and Wybie, sitting in a tree-" Liesel started to sing, bopping up and down.
"You know what?" all eyes turned in the direction of Wybie's fake enthusiastic voice. "I think it's time for bed."
"Huh?" that stopped the little blonde demons in their tracks.
"It's not 8:30 yet. We always go to bed at-"
"No," said Wybie, voice strained as he shared a glance with Coraline. "I think it's definitely time for bed-"
"But-"
"How bout I tell you guys a story?" Wybie said, slowly herding them into the next room over, giving Coraline a surreptitious thumbs up. She made a heart-shape out of her hands in his direction to show her gratitude.
"Is there a princess?" Liesel asked warily, "I only like stories with princesses,"
"Uhhh... sure. There's a princess."
"Boooring," sniffed Henry, "There should be monsters. Big, evil, scary ones."
"Oh, there's plenty of monsters..."
Eventually Coraline was left standing alone in the drawing room, to clean up after the twins in peace. First she went into the kitchen and picked up what was left of the sandwiches, calling the dogs into the room and letting them have it, tails wagging. She then set about wiping up the jam, and once that was done, returned to the lounge to grimly put back all the stuffed dogs on their respective shelves. She couldn't quite remember which one went where, so she made guesses based on their... positioning, dragging a chair over to stand on, so she could reach.
By the time she'd finished she had almost forgot where the twins even were, it was so quiet... Too quiet. She tip-toed over to the spare bed room where Wybie had taken them, and opened the door a crack, peeking into the room beyond. The strangest sight met her eyes.
The two children were huddled up under the covers on the gigantic bed that they shared, blue eyes wide and fixed on the boy in the black raincoat who leant against the wall by the door. His soft voice filled the room.
"But when she finally escaped back out the door,. her parents had disappeared!"
Coraline's mouth fell open in pure shock. "Wybie!" He leapt to his feet at her outraged cry, accidentally knocking a bedside lamp over, but catching it just before it hit the floor. "What the hell were you doing!"
"I was just- Well I- It was the first story I could think of..." he mumbled sheepishly to his shoes. She felt tears spring to her eyes.
"How could you?" she choked.
"I- I'm sorry Jonesy, I was just- just trying to help..." Wybie apologised quietly. He did look truly sorry.
"I think I heard someone calling you, Wybourne." Coraline said quietly and coldly. He looked stung.
"Coraline-" he pleaded.
"Hey!" both of their attention was drawn to the two blonde children sitting on the bed. It appeared they did not like to be ignored. "Wybie can't leave! Not until we find out what happened to the princess!" Liesel demanded. Coraline frowned in confusion.
"The... princess?" she turned to Wybie and he gave her a little smile, scratching the back of his head. The two children were also nodding.
"Yeah, the one who lived in the pink- Hey Lee, we live in a pink palace too!" said Henry to his sister in mild surprise.
"... Oh yeah… wait... " the two twins exchanged a look, before looking at Coraline, then back again. Their eyes were wide as saucers. Coraline felt two pairs of huge blue eyes levelled on her.
"You're the princess, aren't you!" accused Henry. "It was you!" after exchanging yet another look with her brother, Liesel crawled a little forward and tugged on Coraline's sleeve.
"What happened next, Princess Coraline? What happened to the king and the queen?" she demanded.
Coraline blushed. "I'm not a-" Wybie made a sound in the back of his throat, cutting her off. She turned to him and he gave her a mysterious little smile.
"What happened next, Princess?" he echoed and she felt her blush deepen.
"Well- um..." suddenly it was before her eyes again. The empty study, the empty kitchen, the rotting groceries... The ring of the doorbell. "Next, the annoying neighbour-"
"You mean the knight?" Henry corrected and Coraline shot a look at Wybie, who shrugged innocently. Coraline rolled her eyes. "The knight appeared at the door and demanded the return of the doll, 'cause his grandmother had gotten very mad at him for giving it away without asking permission first."
"I recall he asked nicely." said Wybie, a little miffed.
"Oh please." said Coraline putting her hands on her hips. "You basically barged right into my house for it."
"You're one to talk! You threw your shoesat me!"
"You called me crazy!"
"You're the jerk-wad who gave me the doll!" he mimicked her tone, voice shrill, gesturing wildly with his gloved hands. The twins watched the argument go back and forth like a tennis match. It wasn't much of an argument though; both sides were smiling.
They ended up very nearly acting out the rest of the story for the twins, playing their respective parts. Coraline played herself, while Wybie played nearly everyone else, except for the cat, who was played by Liesel's stuffed toy Flippy. The last part -with the hand- was the twin's favourite, for Coraline and Wybie slightly exaggerated the events, turning the scene into less of a desperate struggle in the mud and more of a daring battle. (The hand made out of needles turned into a giant dragon somewhere along the way.) One it was done Coraline and Wybie collapsed, laughing, onto the bed, next to the two young children who now looked at them in awe and reverence.
"You really did all of that?"
"I guess we did." Coraline laughed breathlessly, rolling over so she could catch Wybie's eye. His cheeks were still flushed from the struggle with the broomstick that had been playing the dragon. He smiled at her, but she missed it, as a small hand was tugging on her sleeve. She sat up, and turned to face the little girl who was looking worried.
"Uhh... Coraline?"
"Yeah? What's wrong?" she asked, frowning.
"You're... good at killing monsters...right?" Liesel looked down at her hands, biting her lip.
"Hey!" protested Wybie, "I was the one who killed it! With the rock! Remember!"
"Whatever Wybourne." Coraline teased him, elbowing him in the ribs, "You're talking to the best monster hunter in Oregon here." she jerked a thumb at herself. Henry shuffled forward too, nearer to Coraline.
"Well, you see... there's this monster..." he said, a little braver than his sister. "We were wondering, could you kill it for us?"
"Um..." A little seed of unease sowed itself into Coraline's stomach. "Where is this monster?" they pointed. She followed the direction of their fingers, to the little cupboard on the other side of the room. Coraline felt something cold clench around her heart. 'They're only kids...' her mother's voice sounded in her head. It was probably imaginary...
"In there?"
"Yeah."
She took a deep breath, assembling a plan in her mind.
"I'll... be right back..." she slipped out of the room, feeling her stomach sink with every step. She went to the fireplace, and drew out the poker from the stand, feeling it's comforting metal weight in her hand. It probably wasn't even real...
"Jonesy..." came a soft voice from behind her. She whirled around to face Wybie, who was wringing his hands uncomfortably. "You don't have to do this..." he said.
"Don't be stupid Wybie," she replied, but her heart wasn't in it. "They're kids, there's probably nothing in there anyway. Definitely not her-"
"But if there is-"
"There isn't!" she bit her lip, her reply having come out a little harsher than she had intended it.
"I just..." he looked at his shoes and mumbled "I don't want you to get in trouble... again."
"Well, Wybie," she sighed expansively, putting her arm around his shoulder as they headed back into the room where the twins sat waiting. "If I don't come back you'll at least know one thing."
"Which...is?"
"It's all your fault." she said with a smirk.
"Jonesy-"
"Goodbye Wybourne. Liesel. Henry." she said to each of them in turn. "I have a monster to slay."
Despite her carefree tone, Coraline's heart was in her mouth as she opened the door. Please don't let it be her, please don't let it be her... She closed her eyes and bit her lips as she crossed the threshold and shut the door behind her. A moment or two passed, and nothing happened.
She cracked an eye open. The cupboard was empty. She nearly laughed in relief. Then she felt something light land on her shoulder. She looked down. It was a furry black spider.
She screamed, flicking it from her shoulder and falling against the door in her attempt to get away from it. Once it had landed on the floor she started batting at it with the fire poker, trying to crush it, screaming things like "TAKE THAT YOU LITTLE MONSTER!" and "NOT SO DANGEROUS NOW, ARE YOU!" It managed to escape though, hiding underneath a pail that carried a mop and another broom. She tried to move them so she could get to the spider, but ended up just making the mop and broom topple over, hitting her on the head. "Ow..." she moaned. When she rose to her feet, she realised in the fall she'd landed on the poker and bent it. "Hm." she said, and took one more look around. No... definitely monster-free...
Satisfied that the spider was no longer present, she opened the door to find all three of them watching the door, ashen faced and horrified. She closed the door behind her, pushing her hair out of her face.
"All dead." she gasped, leaning against the door. The twin's faces split into wide grins and they cheered her name, nearly bowling her over with their tackle-hugs. Wybie simply sat on the bed, looking incredibly confused and still ashen-faced.
"You did it, Coraline! You killed it!"
"You're amazing!"
She smiled at each of them in turn. "I think it's time to go to bed now, in your totally monster-free room."
Once the twins had been tucked in and the door shut behind them, Wybie turned to Coraline, frown still on his face.
"The screaming?"
"A spider."
"The poker?"
"Fell on it. I thought it was a nice touch-"
"Damn it, Jonesy!" he cried in frustration, punching her in the shoulder. "You really scared me!" "Sorry." she said with a sheepish smile.
"It's not funny!"
"Did I say it was?"
"You could've been in real trouble! I was this close to opening that door and-"
"And what? Rescuing me? Sir knight?" she smirked. He glared at her.
"You know, Coraline, I think I heard someone calling me-"
"Oh please."
"No, I'd really better be getting home. You're welcome, by the way, for helping you out."
"Wybie-"
"I'll see you la-"
"Wait! Wybie- Hey- Geez!" she grabbed his shoulder, making him turn to face her. He said nothing, just scowled at her in silence, arms folded. Their faces were very close.
"Wybie?"
"What." he spat, anger faltering under her amused gaze.
"...You were never looking for the cat were you." she said, smiling mysteriously. He didn't say anything, but there was a red creeping up his cheeks. She was awful close. His breath caught when he felt her hand catch his. "Thanks for helping me out." she nearly whispered, face only inches from his. He smiled.
"Any time... princess..." Her eyes fluttered closed.
DING DONG!~ They both jumped at the sound of the doorbell, heads crashing against each other.
"Oww!"
"Sorry!"
A voice called from the door; "Someone order some pizza?"
xXx
The next day Coraline was curled up in a corner, reading a book when the doorbell rang.
"Coraline!" called her Mum from the next room. "Can you get that please?" She gave a long-suffering sigh as she put down her book, stretching and going to the door, poking her head around it.
"Ms Forcible?" she frowned in confusion at the rather disgruntled looking blonde woman at the door. "What can I do for you?" she opened the door all the way.
"Well, Caroline-"
"Coraline."
"Yes, yes. Well you see the thing is I must know your recipe for sandwiches. PJ and B or whatever it is. The children insist, that they will not eat them unless they are made 'Caroline's way.'"
A slow smile spread across Coraline's face.
"They do, do they?"
A/N: First Coraline story! YAYY! This is just a little oneshot dedicated to my dear KnutCase who was the one who started all this Coraline nonsense. Also kind of a warm-up, I guess, for the multi-chapter fic we're about to start collaborating on, called "Unstitchers", which you should totally keep an eye out for. (See what I did there? Subtle, no?) Anyhow, I hope you had as much fun reading this as I had writing it. Do let me know what you think of it... ( See that little green button down there? Wybie is giving you the puppy eyes. Say no to those eyes, I dare you. ) Anywho. I look forward to getting to know you much better, Coraline-fandom, and hope you have a most splendiferous, poison-free day. =]
Love CANDY.