Michael didn't have much trouble following Coraline up to her house, the path leading up to it had a dense set of trees to the side of it. He was in touching distance of the gate that led to an overgrown garden to which a few minutes before he had seen Coraline venture through. It was filled with weeds and nettles. Obviously been neglected for years possibly a decade. Forgotten almost. The house was on a slope and was the only one around. There was a light lit in the slanted attic window at the very top of the house and one lit in the bottom window to the left. Michael looked around carefully, pausing not wanting to make a slip up and be noticed. When he saw the coast was clear he snuck into the garden. He had taken note that the gate made a large creak when opened and decided to step over it. He struggled a bit, tearing a little patch of his boiler suit and opening a scabbed wound from a past battle back open. He felt the liquid ooze out but ignored it. Pain didn't affect him in the same way as it once did. He crept up the path to were the bottom light was coming from. The window didn't have any curtains. This was an upside. He manoeuvred himself into a position to which he could see in, but they couldn't see him. It took a while but then again he was a master of the element of surprise. He focused in seeing more than just Coraline in the room. There was a fat balding man stood in front of her in a stained white vest. He couldn't hear what they was saying but he could tell he was shouting. He watched as he pointed and his mouth opened wide as he shouted again at her. Most people her age would be cowering or their eyes brimming with tears. But not her. She stood there her face set in stone. It didn't change until he struck her across the face. As he did Michael felt anger swell up inside him. How dare he hit her! he thought. He watched as she flew to the side and landed on the tattered old leather sofa. He watched as the man walked over to the window, Michael through himself against the wall. Hoping to blend in. He heard the mans voice clearly as he opened the window.
"Its stuffy in here, now Coraline were have you been today and your going to tell me this time?" The man spat, his voice impatient. Michael looked into the window once again and noticed that Coraline had stood back up her cheek red where he had hit her. "I have been out in the woods dear farther." She slowly said. The confidence had disappeared from her voice, but the slyness was still there but a very subtle hint of it. He watched as the mans face turned red and the veins bulged in his eyes. "I know that you stupid brat!" He screamed striding towards her. He grabbed her shoulders firmly. His eyes filled with anger and something else maybe insanity? Michael thought. But whatever it was, Coraline didn't seem phased in the slightness. She breathed in and closed her eyes.
"What have you been doing in the woods?" He asked her. His voice growing evermore impatient. Coraline opened her eyes once more. Michael could see they were a deep hazel colour. Just like his.
"I was walking." She slowly said again. She closed her eyes as if bracing herself for something. He could hear the mans breathing getting heavier. He watched as he threw the girl to the couch. She landed with thud even though it seemed like a cushioned landing. He stormed towards the exit of the room.
"I'm going to the pub, when I get back I expect you to be telling the truth." He grumbled and slammed the living room door behind him. Michael quickly ducked down and hid behind a nearby bush. He watched as light illuminated the path and out stepped the man. He walked off well more of a staggered slamming the door behind him. He waited till he had disappeared into the darkness and the thick fog that had set in. He watched as Coraline stood up and walked out of the room leaving the light on. He saw tears brimmed in her eyes as she walked. He decided to go in. He stood up and brushed the dirt of his boiler suit and walked towards the door. He hoped it wasn't locked. Not wanting to climb through the window. Too his luck it wasn't locked and swung open with ease. The entrance to the house was dimly lit he made out the staircase and decided that Coraline must be upstairs. As the other doors were firmly shut. He entered the house his footsteps muffled by the carpet beneath him. From the outside and the inside it gave off the impression that at one point in time it was grand house with a lively and bubbly atmosphere. Which was now gone and in its place was one of fear and violence. He mounted the stairs and began to climb. He grabbed the banister and began to climb faster till he reached the top of the stairs. There was three doors. He looked down to see light spread out on the old wooden floor, the door had posters on it all tattered and peeling. They mainly had "keep out." Scrawled on them in messy hand writing in a red crayon it seemed. He decided on a hunch that this was Coraline's room. He slowly walked towards it trying to limit the sound he made. He didn't want her to panic and do some thing rash. Yeah smart idea Michael scare her by creeping into her room what you going to do knock? He frowned at the thought of scaring her. She was different and he wanted to treat her different to the rest. Michael knocked on the door. His knock let of an echoing sound that seemed to fill the house. He always had the niggling feeling that their was someone else in the house. But it seemed unlikely now. But he didn't think about it before entering the house putting himself into danger. Something he rarely did. There was a scuffle inside the room that the door guarded."Who's out there? No one in this house knocks." She harshly spat. Michael raised an eyebrow. She was acting tough but she was only small. All he had to do was one little hand movement and she would be out cold on the floor, or whimpering in pain in the corner. But Michael didn't guess what happened next would have even been possible. The door swung open at such a rate and with such force that Michael thought it was been opened my a bombarding gorilla on heat. Then out launched Coraline gripping a very sharp hunting knife. She lunged at Michael with power behind her, which would have knocked a normal person into next week. But Michael wasn't what you called normal. Instead he took it and didn't move an inch. Coraline's hair had fell onto her face, but Michael could see some tiny bits of her eye as the strands parted a little. They were filled with rage, anger and defence. She was panting, instead of launching another one of her feeble attacks, she just stood crouched down a little staring at Michael. She had learnt her lesson from the last one. He was tough and her normal force wouldn't affect him in the slightest. She was weighing him up as well and caught on that fighting this guy would be a suicide attempt. She figured her odds of her beating him were slimmer than winning the lottery.
"Who are you ? Why are you in my house? What do you want? Answer quickly." She snapped. He sniggered under his mask. What you going to do short fry? He looked down and watched as she looked up slowly. "Oh not a talker are we?" At that point she charged at him placing her blade tip just at his waistline. Michael was still standing put had been pushed against the wall. He smiled under his mask, she had fallen right into his carefully planned trap. Lets see how you like been lunged at. With that thought he pushed her over back into her bedroom door. As she fell he saw her eyes flash with fear. The knife flew to his feet. He scooped down and picked it up and walked towards Coraline who was struggling around on the floor. He walked around her and dropped the knife a couple of inches in front of her face. Her eyes sprung to attention and looked him up for the first time properly. "Oh ok then that didn't go to plan….." She mumbled. Michael nodded and held his hand out. Her face expression turned from a frown of horror to one of confusion.
"Your helping me?" She asked. Michael nodded again and thrust his hand towards her more. Coraline raised her hand and then brought it back to her. Her brain was going mental. She didn't know if this was a trap, if he was generally helping her or if he was toying with her. She decided that if it was her time to die it was her time to die and grabbed his hand. She was a little surprised when he hoisted her up onto her feet. She blushed a little standing back letting go of his hand quickly. He was strong. Stronger than most normal people. Michael looked as her face had gone a bright shade of red and smiled a little. "Thank you erm…. What's your name?" She asked not looking up from the floor. Her eyes fixated on the dark wooden floorboards instead of the huge towering man who stood before her. She looked up curious to why he didn't answer. "Cant you talk?" She asked him. He shook his head and with that she smiled and put a finger up. Michael watched as she ran around her room as if she was looking for something of great importance. He felt a little awkward stood there watching a young girl run around the room throwing stuff into the centre as she searched for the object. He blushed a little when she threw some underwear into the centre. She eventually resurfaced from under a pile of messily folded clothes with a mini whiteboard and pen. She walked over to him eagerly and thrust it into his hands. He stared at the board with reluctance about him. He only decided to use it when she frowned a little. My names Michael. He scribbled messily. He watched as her face lit up, as if she was six year old and she had walked past a toy store at Christmas and was staring in the window. Or when a child sees a rainbow. "Hi Michael, I'm Coraline but you can call me Corey for short." She beamed. Her eyes said she wanted to know more about him. She was almost fascinated by him. There was something about him that made him so interesting. He had an air about him. In that air it was a mix of mystery, danger and a hint of solitary. He watched as her face turned to shock as she saw that he was bleeding and blood was oozing out of the cut and onto his boiler suit. Michael hadn't even noticed it. "YOUR HURT! WAIT HERE!" She snapped whilst running out of the room and down the corridor. He could hear her footsteps getting quieter as she got further away. He stood there and looked around her room standing in the middle. He didn't have a place in the messy room to be. He was just there in the middle. Her room was messy and clothes and books were scattered around the room in little piles. Her bed wasn't made and the covers were thrown back revealing a purple fitted sheet. Her walls an awful shade of yellow that looked ancient. It was cracked and peeling. Michael heard Coraline's footsteps and she burst back into her room clutching a first aid kit. Her eyes looked wild and mad. "Sit on my bed!" She barked loudly whilst walking to a table putting the box under her arm, she swept everything off the table and onto the floor. Teddies, sweets and all sorts of things came crashing to the earth with a bang. Michael had done as he was told and had sat on her bed. She turned around and jumped back a little.
"Crap only just noticed your wearing a mask….. I'm not going to ask why you probably wont tell me. God this is too much like a horror film but I'm helping you so it's kind of not like a horror film. Sorry when I get nervous I tend to warble on and on about random stuff or obvious observations and and I'm doing it now sorry." She spoke fast and Michaels eyes just darted as he lost track of what she was saying. She ran over with some scissors and a plaster. She bent down and looked at the wound, she placed her hand gently on it and noticed it was bigger than it seemed. "Look Michael I need to unzip your suit a little the cuts on your lower abdomen and it seems big and deep." She softly said placing her hand on his zip. Michael paused to think but he didn't have time to answer before she began to unzip it swiftly. He grabbed her wrist and squeezed it tight before looking at her. Coraline could feel the pressure on her wrist increasing, she looked down into the masked mans eyes and for a minute got a little lost. "Michael if you don't let me, you could die. Trust me please." She softly said after regaining her train of thought. She felt the pressure ease slowly of her wrists and carried on unzipping the suit. She separated it and saw the cut to her left. She put her finger on it and noticed it wasn't too deep. She ran to the first aid kit and grabbed some antiseptic, some bandages and tape and some cotton wool. She ran back over to him, she couldn't help but get a glance of his body. It was well toned and she blushed. Michael blushed a little too as he caught her glancing at him. She quickly got to work spraying the spray onto his cut, he flinched a little as the pain stung him.
"HOLD STILL! Grab Mr. Floppy." She said grabbing her big rabbit teddy and giving it to Michael who rolled his eyes and clutched it tight to his chest. "Now this may sting a little more…" she said as she sprayed a lot more onto it. Pain wasn't the word and Michael clutched Mr. Floppy tighter and looked down at the girl. He felt something move inside of him, something he hadn't felt for a member of the other sex ever…..
