Chapter 4: Memory Lane
(Third Person)
Date: January 6th
13 days after the proposal
Brianna closed the door behind her as she snuck out of her house. Her silver violin in it's case. Normally she wouldn't sneak out like this, but tonight she felt like she had to get some fresh air for a while, something was just keeping her up. Brianna made her way to an old soccer field that wasn't even used for sports anymore.
It was an area that many people hung out in the summer time and often late at night for 'cliche teenage parties'. Charlotte and Brianna often played there when they were much younger. She sighed to herself and took our her violin and begun to play Sally's Song.
Suddenly a wave of energy went through her as she was almost done. It told her she had two choices. Enchant or destroy. Brianna's eyes gleamed and she lifted her violin up and it's spikes appeared.
"VIO-LENCE!" Brianna slammed down her violin and a sonic wave was blasted as crater was now in the field. Brianna stared at the hole, and to her violin.
"That. Was. AWESOME! I DIDN'T THINK I COULD LOVE THIS VIOLIN EVEN MORE BUT I DO NOW!" She squealed and jumped up and down happily then realized that she just caused damage to a field many people hung out at.
"And now its time to make my leave." She muttered and bolted the heck out of there.
She couldn't wait to show the others!
Date: December 22
2 days before proposal.
Charlotte sat on her bed as she typed on her computer. She was helping some of her classmates update the school website when school game around. Trevor was at Stephen's and her parents went to shop for Christmas dinner.
She was adding a few special firework effects when she heard a thump. She paid no mind to it until she heard another one. Slowly shutting her computer Charlotte looked up and frowned.
"Trevor? You home?" She asked and received no answer. But the thumping continued. Charlotte got up from her bed and looked around her room, her back was turned to her closet as she stretched her arms. Then felt something grasp her shoulder and she screamed.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed and aimed a punch at her 'attacker' but her hand was caught in a skeletal hand.
"Whoa, Charlotte. It's just me." Jack said calmly, but Charlotte was beyond calm.
"What. The. Heck!? Dude, you nearly gave me a heart attack! And I know you don't have one like me, but that it's no excuse. You are so lucky my parents aren't here they would freak out if I let out scream like that!" Charlotte scolded the King.
"I apologize, but I sometimes can't help it. It is my duty after all." Jack said sheepishly. Charlotte gave an annoyed face at him but sighed.
"Apology accepted, but please give me a warning next time you pop over for a visit. Speaking of which, why are you here?" She asked.
"I was hoping you had...well you know..." Jack started and Charlotte's eyes widened in realization.
"Oh...yeah it's right here." Charlotte walked over to her desk and opened a draw. She then pulled out a small ring box and held it out to the pumpkin king.
"Thank you Charlotte, you have no idea how much this means to me." Jack said as he opened the box to see the ring.
"Well it is a symbol of your love for Sally, and you are about to ask her to spend the rest of your afterlife's together until the end of time, so I have a pretty good idea." Charlotte winked playfully, causing Jack's eye sockets to widened in slight embarrassment.
"Ahem...well yes. I'm slightly amazed you were able to get it in a short amount of time." Jack admitted.
"Well, my friend Angela lives not to far away, and her neighbor has a way with jewelry. So I was able to get it very quickly." Charlotte explained.
"She must be a loyal friend." Jack commented.
"Yeah, though lately I feel like something has been bothering her. It might just be me." Charlotte muttered thoughtfully.
"Oh...um, well I'm sure she's fine. Now then, would you please hold on to this until the party? I don't want Sally finding it accidentally." Jack asked, handing the box back to Charlotte.
"No problem. Just promise me you'll, never sneak here like that again." Charlotte smirked taking the box and Jack laughed turning back to the closet and opening the door.
"Don't worry, I'll save it for Halloween." The pumpkin king playfully cackled as he disappeared through her closet and Charlotte put the box away before hopping back on her bed.
Date: October 31
Halloween Night
"RUN SALLY!"
Sally ran in the opposite direction of where her beloved was. She was terrified. Oogie had somehow managed to return and was using several monsters to attack Halloween Town. Several skeletons that were capable of controlling ice and fire were everywhere. Oogie had tried to corner her, but Jack had managed to arrive with a soul robber.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU'RE NOT GONNA WIN THIS TIME, JACK!" Oogie laughed as Sally started to run faster. She's never been this terrified before. Sure, going into Oogie's lair was one thing, but she knew the risks then. Now, Oogie had caught them all by surprise.
Sally then stopped running, she was in an alleyway and trapped! She gasped as several skeletons were slowly advancing towards her. Sally backed away into the wall and cried out for help.
"Sally!" She looked over to see Jack and Zero coming towards her. She smiled, but frowned when she saw the skeletons again. Suddenly, Sally felt as she was lifted up from the ground, then she was shot back down at a great speed before blacking out.
When Sally awoke, the first thing she noticed was the aching pain in her head. She then gasped, standing up, and realized that she was no longer in Halloween Town. From the building structure she assumed it was the human world. But how'd she get here?
"Hello? Jack? Zero? Anybody?" Sally called and hoped that someone would hear her. She walked around nervously when she heard an unfamiliar voice.
"Oh come on! It's a flipping Saturday!" Sally walked into a huge room filled with tables and noticed a human girl by a way, back towards her. She seem to be a teenager, and had red haired like hers, as well as some bow and arrows.
"Okay, I have my bow and arrows, phone that's fully charged and...I'm at my school on a Saturday." She muttered to herself and Sally git the courage to ask her for help.
"Excuse me, but can you help me?" She asked hopefully and the figure turned around as she answered.
"Sure, what do you..." Her breath shortened when she saw who she was talking to. Sally felt like she should slap herself. Of course this human was scared of her, she was in a human realm.
"Sorry, you must be a little scared of me, I just need help and you're the only one here." She apologized and the girl seemed to shake herself out of a trance.
"Oh, no I'm the one who should be sorry. It's just, I never seen a monster in person." She explained.
"Well I haven't been here before...I'm not even sure how I got here..." Sally said thoughtfully, she couldn't recall what happened, and she really wished she had.
"Well, neither do I. But, thankfully, I know where we are. We'll get back to my house and find a way to get you home...wherever it is." Sally then smiled, at least she made a friend that would help her through all this. Oh wait, they didn't know each other's names.
"Thank you, My name is Sally." She introduced and her new friend smiled.
"Name's Charlotte."
Date: October 1st
30 days until Halloween
She was so CLOSE!
The Beldam was laying down in her web, well what's left of it at least. Now she had no buttons, and was missing a hand. Time was meaningless to her now. It might as well have only been a few days or years. Her web was crumbling around her as she gathered her thoughts for the hundredth time.
Coraline got away.
She took the ghost eyes with her.
Her hand was broken.
The key was gone.
And her web was crumbling.
The Beldam then thought of her last resort, the child that remained. The one Coraline couldn't save, because she didn't know about her. Bella Smith. She was a constant crying inside the Beldam's head.
"No stop!"
"You're hurting them stop!"
"Please, leave them alone!"
"Stop! Stop!"
The Beldam merely smiled at the cries. No one else could hear them, it didn't matter. She took the child so long ago her cries were tuned out now. But she was now the reason Coraline got away, Bella learned from her time inside what was assumed as the Beldam's 'heart'.
She caused the Beldam to hesitate, just by a few seconds. It was enough for Coraline to get away. The girl was to be punished. The Beldam smiled to herself as she felt energy increasing as Bella screamed in pain. The girl would now be dead, not a ghost, but not alive either.
The Beldam sighed once again. Now her enter was barely even at 50% maybe she could build another web, just a bit smaller. Though it would be worthless without a key or a doll to lure a foolish child in.
Her thoughts were interrupted by what sounded like a door opening and closing. She immediately lifted her weak body from the bottom of her web.
"Who goes there!?" She hissed, feeling vibrations on her web.
"A friend. I was hoping I'd find you in a new web. It doesn't look like much." A male voice answered, though the Beldam doubted he was a friend.
"What do you want, come to laugh at my failure?" She spat.
"On the contrarily, I'm here because I need an alley, and by the looks of things you need to get back in your feet." The stranger replied.
"What makes you think I'll help you?" The Beldam asked, with less hostility. She then felt the web vibrate again as something was placed in her face.
"Does that help?" The Beldam then realized she could see now. And the one in front of her was not something she expected.
"Who-what are you?" She asked.
"I'm Oogie Boogie, king of bugs! And I'm here to offer you a chance of vengeance against Jack Skellington." Oogie explained and the Beldam's smirked happily.
"Tell me more." She urged.
"I've been sewn back together, and Jack is non the wiser. And no one knows us talking to you now. All I have to do it attack Halloween Town, and of all goes well, you'll be there at the Pumpkin King will be no more." Oogie proposed.
"I can't say I'm not intrigued, but what could you offer me? I'm in a weakened state, and wouldn't be able to help you if I wanted to." The Beldam said. Oogie them smirked.
"I have more to add to the pot." Oogie then showed her several bugs, but they all had button sewed loosely into their eyes.
"Not children's souls, but I can give you as much as you need until we take over the town. The Beldam then smirked happily.
"Well Oogie Boogie, you have got yourself a deal." The Beldam took the bugs souls and climbed up her web and it started to fix itself up. She then opened a small draw and pulled out what looked like an orb and pulled it apart, making one into a brooch and the other back in the draw. She put the brooch on.
"Let's get to work."
Date: Many, many years ago.
Two weeks after the Beldam's banishment.
A lonely house stood on the hill. It was almost sunset and nothing could be heard but a young girls cries. She was all alone. Only a few days ago she was crying out for her parents to wake up. Both had died in their sleep.
They had done everything they could to protect Bella from the strange disease. Now she was all alone. Her neighbors had held a funeral, but all agreed to send her off to an orphanage.
"I don't want to go! You can't make me!" She had screamed at them, tears on her face.
"It's for the best." Was the response she got from everyone.
Someone would be coming soon to pick her up. Bella had barely two hours left before she was taken away from everything she'd ever known. Bella walked around her house, empty and quite. She already backed her bag with as much stuff as it had, now she walked around. Though Bella then tripped over herself and knocked down a mirror, which shattered.
Bella burst into tears once more as she crumpled to the ground. She had nothing left. No family, no friends, nothing. Bella wept her heart out. Wishing that she could feel the loving embrace of her parents once more.
"Poor dear, all alone." Bella gasped and froze in terror.
"W-whose there?" She stuttered.
"Don't be afraid dear. I can't be seen by a human eye, but you can hear me fine. Now what's wrong?" The voice asked. Bella swallowed and knelt in the floor.
"M-my parents are gone. And someone is coming to send me away to an orphanage. I don't wanna go!" Bella cried and tears treated down her face.
"Well I can help you with that. You don't have to go." The voice responded.
"You can?" Bella asked, tears stopped flowing down her face.
"Why of course, you just need to do one tiny thing first." The voice said casually. Bella stood up and sniffled, wiping a her face.
"What is it?" She asked.
"Put the buttons over your eyes." The voice was barely a whisper, but Bella then turned to a sewing basket, on a small table, that belonged to her mother.
Suddenly all the thoughts in her head were focused on that an only that. Bella walked to the basket, only thinking about the buttons. She stopped at the basket and reached her hand in a took out two matching black buttons. Voices echoed inside her head as she slowly lifted them up to her eyes.
"Put them over your eyes."
"Over your eyes."
"Put them over."
"Buttons on eyes."
"Put the buttons over your eyes."
Bella the placed them over her eyes and she felt a dark shiver go down her spine.
"Good girl."
Then it happened, some sort of magic pulled the buttons down on her as if they were sewn on and Bella screamed out in pain. She saw nothing but darkness. She was blind and it terrified her. Bella screamed and wailed that she wanted to get them off and yanked hard at the buttons, and stumbled around and was screaming as loud as she could. But the voice just laughed.
Laughed at the next child she took.
The sun set and a women named Annabelle walked over to the house. She was going to take a Bella Smith to an orphanage. She carried a basket of bread and cheese as a snack for the ride down, hopefully she would enjoy them. Annabelle knocked on the door and didn't get a response.
"Bella? It's time to go? Bella?" She called and knocked again only for the door to be opened by the knocking.
"Bella, come on. I know you don't like this, but we will find you a home." Annabelle promised and opened the door all the way only to see Bella on the floor shaking. Her head was down and she was breathing heavily.
"Oh my, Bella are you alright!?" She gasped and walked over to her when Bella's head shot up and she screamed, seeing the button's over her eyes. Bella laughed and darkness smirked around her as she became a horrible monster.
"Bella's gone. It's only the Beldam. Now go before you turn out the same." She called and Annabelle dropped the basket and screamed in terror.
Running to the town, waking everyone up. She could barely manage out words, but once she was done explaining several men walked to the house and saw nothing. No sign of Bella or a monster that Annabella described. They all assumed that someone or something murdered the poor girl and Annabella was in a state of shock.
They all held a symbolic funeral and stayed away from the house for many years. Though there were some that believed Annabella saw a monster and offered food and prayed for Bella's safe return. Their prayers went unheard by the Beldam, who had retreated into a new web, with a new key. She had much planning to do.
No one saw the black female cat on the edge of the woods. Blue eyes piercing at the house before disappearing behind a tree.
Author's Note:
Wait, wait, hold up! Here's a song bonus before a get to the note! Enjoy!
(Third Person)
Bella sighed to herself as she walked to spiral hill. She had just discovered her curse and felt like being alone. Though Hemo had insisted on following her. She took a breath before singing.
Life used to be so simple
It was a world I understood
I had a family who loved me so
And life was pretty good
But now my nightmare rises
From somewhere deep inside of me
Her power overwhelms me
Can I keep this evil from getting free?
If I just stay in the light
I know I'll be free
And I can start to be whole
I can start to be me
But instead I am struggling
With all that I've seen
And my friends
Mustn't see the Beldam in me
The Beldam in me!
They mustn't see the Beldam in me...
Bella crouched down on top of spiral hill, crying in her hands as Hemo looked out onto the stars. A shooting star flew by as Bella continued to cry.
Author's Note:
That song was a parody of 'Midnight in Me' from Equestria Girls: Legend of Everfree. I changed some of the lyrics and renamed it 'Beldam in Me'. No suing allowed! I mean it!
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter. It isn't what you'd normally expect, but I wanted to get some background on the characters without taking up a chapter.
Side-note: That Cat at the end of that chapter was NOT the Cat from Coraline. It was his mom. So I don't wanna hear anything in the reviews saying 'oh the cat was a boy, you messed up'. I didn't, it was his mom! Ha!
Also please leave a review and of there was an event that happened in the past that I felt out please let me know in a review and I may make another chapter like this. Or not, we'll see. Seriously don't be shy!
DarkSweetHeart1234: Sorry you don't get to see what happens next, but you will next time! Promise!