Chapter 24: New Day

Wyborne Lovat was the subject of much scrutiny over the next few days as his grandmother positively grilled him on his whereabouts on Sunday, as well as the Ashland police. Eventually, it went on record that the boy had gotten lost in the woods, but managed to find his way back to his grandmother's investment property, the Pink Palace, where he was found by his friend.

The following day was Monday, and with it came school. Most children would have groaned with such a prospect, but for Wybie and Coraline, whose three days in the Other World felt like three years, nothing could be more welcome than a chance for normalcy.

At least, Wybie had been excited, until about five minutes after he arrived at school.

"Hey, elf boy!" a nasty voice rang out across the yard as Wybie was chaining his motorcycle to the rack. "I heard you hid in the forest over the weekend?"

He looked over and his heart sank when he saw one of the larger boys in his year coming his way, flanked by two of his friends. However, before he got the chance to answer, his eyes widened in surprise when his blue-haired friend stepped forward, hands on her hips.

"Hey! It's Jerrold Rodgers, right?"

The larger boy also looked surprised at this firecracker of a schoolgirl confronting him. "Yeah? And you're that new girl... Caroline, isn't it?"

"It's Cor-aline," she replied. "And Wybie's told me all about you."

"Really?" the boy smirked. "Well, don't keep me in suspense! What've you heard?"

Just like Wybie, Coraline was several inches shorter than Jerrold. But that was not enough to make her back down. Heck, after towering Beldams and psychotic living dolls with knives, this guy was a kitten by comparison.

"I'm letting you know that, from now on, I'm the only one who's allowed to pick on Wybie," she said.

Jerrold and his friends sniggered as he stepped forward menacingly toward the mop-haired boy in question. "Sure, whatever you say. Just get out my way – "

His next words were cut off in a pained gasp when Coraline's knee came up – right into his groin. All boys present, Wybie included, cringed.

"Come on, let's get to class," Coraline said to him, turning and leaving Jerrold in the dirt.

The following week at school was a turbulent one for Wybie, who found himself labelled with such names as 'tree hugger', 'hippie' and 'runaway'.

Kids really could be cruel.

However, throughout it all, Coraline Jones, the new girl at school, stuck up for him whenever she saw him being bullied.

Despite the trying time, Wybie found himself grateful for everything that had happened. He had been worried that, when Coraline made proper friends at her new school, she would forget all about him.

But she never did.

On the Friday after that fateful weekend, Wybie sat in the schoolyard at lunchtime staring at a tuna salad sandwich in his hand as his two nerdy friends rambled on about a game they had picked up over the weekend.

"It sucks that you went missing and couldn't play it with us," one of them was saying.

His reply froze in his throat when he noticed a flash of blue-hair crossing the yard toward him.

"Hey Wybie," Coraline said, coming to a stop in front of him.

"Uh, h-hey, Jonesy," he stammered back. Although, she had been sticking up for him for the past few days now, he was surprised that she was allowing herself to be seen with him at lunch. Was that not social suicide?

She turned and gestured to a familiar brunette girl standing next to her. "This is my friend, Miranda Fletcher."

The girl in question smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Wybie."

She was very familiar indeed, although instead of black buttons for eyes, the real Miranda had stunning cerulean ones.

"...Sooooo..." Coraline continued after an awkward silence, "I was wondering if you and your friends would like to join us for lunch?"

"Uh, sure!" he said, getting up and making introductions.

"So I heard that you went missing in the woods last weekend," Miranda said to Wybie as they all made their way over to her table.

"Y-Yeah..." he replied, groaning inwardly and waiting for the inevitable barrage of questions or mocking.

However, Miranda did none of those. Instead, she just smiled. "I'm glad that you're okay."

The following day, it was a cool Saturday morning, and the sky above Ashland, Oregon, was a damp grey sponge as usual. Unbeknown to her parents, Coraline had snuck outside and to the edge of the woods. It was here that she dug a small hole and buried four buttons, two green and two blue, underneath a tree which she marked with two crosses.

Two crosses for two missing children.

"Nice day, isn't it?"

The voice startled her, and she whirled to see an elderly woman standing nearby. "Oh, hello, Mrs Lovat," she replied. "But if this is what you call 'nice' weather, then I'd hate to see what you call bad."

The old woman laughed at that, before her expression became serious. "You know, Wyborne has had a couple of nightmares over the past week. I was hoping I could speak with you about it, if that's okay with you?"

Under the woman's withering stare, Coraline knew that she had no choice. She was no stranger to nightmares.

Later on that morning, Coraline and Wybie sat around his kitchen table, sharing a pot of tea with his grandmother. She had been beside herself when Wybie had mysteriously appeared in the Jones' sitting room.

She had her suspicions of what had really happened, of course. It was on this day that she finally managed to coax the truth from the children.

They had both been emotionally scarred by the incident; this much was certain. But they were alive and coping. That was what mattered.

"You know, when my sister went missing all those years ago, I had a lot of trouble accepting it," she said softly, her withered hands clasped around her steaming teacup as she directed her gaze at Wybie. "And when you disappeared that terrible night a few days ago, I..." She let out a sigh of disbelief. "I almost thought she had stolen someone from my life again. I'm not sure I would have been able to survive it this time."

Wybie opened his mouth to say something, but his grandmother cut him off as she turned toward Coraline.

"Thank you... for everything. If you hadn't gone in there... I can't even think about it."

The young girl blushed and looked away. Silence fell over the kitchen for a few moments, before a loud MEOW could be heard outside the backdoor.

"Oh, that's the cat!" Wybie said, leaping up from the table and grabbing a saucer of milk from the counter. "I'll be right back!"

When he disappeared outside, Coraline noticed Mrs Lovat looking at her, a contemplative expression on her face. "...What is it?" she finally asked, breaking the silence.

The elderly woman started, before settling back into her chair. "I was just thinking about what you told me... When you found the key to the little door in the Other World..."

The young girl nodded, recalling the scene vividly: holding the brass key to the Beldam's workshop one minute, and then the black key to the small door the next. She unconsciously raised a hand and touched the spike pendant hanging from her necklace.

"I'm surprised you were able to do it. It was the Beldam's world, but you showed a great power there. You were able to manipulate and warp the fabric of Purgatory." Mrs Lovat's voice slowly became more unnerved as she continued. "I was just wondering... if, for a short time, you became a new Beldam..."

Coraline had known where the older woman was going with this, as it was something she had already given much thought to herself. In an effort of self-preservation, the Beldam's world had already chosen a successor.

But...

"You are not defined by me, and I am not defined by you..."

"I chose not to go down that road in the end," she replied, and nothing more was said on the matter. Although her guilt would always be with her, along with the haunting last look on the face of a living doll with bobbed blue hair...

On the creaky back porch of the Lovat house, the scrawny black cat purred as Wybie scratched him behind the ears.

"You know, Jonesy keeps insisting that you can talk, but how come you never spoke to me in the Other World? Come to think of it, I never even saw you there," he mused. "But either way, apparently you helped her to help us to escape. So, just for that, you'll get an extra bowl of cream tonight!"

The feline blinked his huge blue eyes at the mop-headed boy.

"Anyway, I'm gonna head back inside before my tea gets cold," Wybie said, disappearing back into the house. "Come back later on for your reward!"

The cat huffed indignantly, as though he was offended. It appeared the boy could not see the wisdom that lay behind his eyes. He arched his back in a stretch, and then turned and trotted slowly toward the edge of the trees, where he paused.

He looked back toward the Pink Palace knowingly, and then walked into the woods and vanished.

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Holy geez. A short epilogue to go and this story is finally finished! It will officially be the first fanfiction story I have ever finished, and it will be immensely satisfying to mark this as 'Complete'.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed reading the story as much as I did writing it. You guys are awesome, and all your support and kind words were, and always are, appreciated.

That said, my story for the Coraline Chronicles is not over, which brings me to my next point: the sequel, which will be titled: Lazarus Rising. I am not sure when I will start writing it, as I need time to develop the plot. Check the Coraline fanfic page often, or put me on your Author Alert if you want to read it. The story will once again deal with the world of the supernatural, although perhaps not in the way that you might expect.

If you have any questions, regarding this story, the sequel, or any of my other works, feel free to post them in a review, and I will respond as soon as I can.

Thanks again, and I'll see you in the epilogue.