Chapter 5: The Black Cat
Coraline Falls deep inside the well. Vibrant blue and purple colors start to glow and flash around her. Bright light from below shines but isn't visible to see clearly what it is. Coraline's fall is so fast that she starts to feel warm from the heat of the speed; suddenly, a cool feeling hits her on the shoulder. She seeps into the coldness: water. Coraline realizes that she can't speak or breathe properly from the water, but she doesn't put in the effort to reach the top.
A strong gravity grabs her from the bottom and pulls her to the light. She then reaches the ending of the water and appears in another well, an old wishing well to be exact. Another moon shines in the sky; the moon was so bright that it reflected on the water of the well. It seems like Coraline has reached another world that was lingering beneath the well this whole time.
"Where am I?", Coraline says in a tired voice.
Coraline tries to get out of the well, but she ends up hitting her head on a wooden bucket hanging from above her head. She groans a bit but eventually gets out of the well. She lands on the grass dripping wet trying to get a hold of herself; all of a sudden, the water that was once on her starts to vaporize off her body and clothes quickly. Coraline looks up at the view of the world she is now and wonders where Cheyenne could possibly be. From afar, there are village homes that look like they were made out of cobblestone and some form of wood. An empty bandwagon parked next to one of the cobblestone homes and oil lanterns hanging on the house's porch. The setting of the place seemed to be old fashion as there was no cars or modern designs insight.
Coraline walks toward the village which seems to be empty and quiet wondering where Cheyenne could possibly be; she wasn't too far from Coraline's arrival means that she couldn't have gone that far.
"Cheyenne!", Coraline starts to shout. "Where are you?!"
Nothing but the wind answers her.
She looks around at each of the homes she passes by wondering if she should knock if she ever went hiding in the homes. Something felt off about the place, but Coraline couldn't come to a conclusion.
From afar, Coraline sees a campfire and starts to hear music coming from the direction. A song of a flute so nice and joyful starts to flow through the air. As she goes closer to the campfire, she sees Cheyenne and a group of others dancing to the beat of the flute song. She looked alive and full of merry within her heart. The creatures surrounding her looked like typical villagers, but none of their faces were familiar.
"Cheyenne! There you are, I've been looking all over for you.", Coraline says as she runs towards Cheyenne.
"Hey Coraline.", Cheyenne replies cheerfully.
Cheyenne seemed to be unbothered and already forgotten where she was. Her hair is braided back with a flower crown on her head. A smile lights up her face. She walks towards Coraline and grabs her hand to begin dancing. A person from behind puts a flower crown on top of Coraline's head. Coraline starts to take in the happy moment and began dancing with Cheyenne. They dance and play with the new villagers until a sudden figure from the woods begins lurking at them; Coraline can feel the eyes of the creature looking at her. She looks at the moving thing and sees the old man she saw in the woods: Mr. Fulton.
"We have to go", Coraline says worriedly.
With haste, Coraline grabs Cheyenne from the arm and runs inside a villager's home with no fear.
"What are you doing?", Cheyenne says.
"Look. This place we're in doesn't really exist", Coraline replies. "There is some sort of powerful entity making us see this place as a cheerful place; it's not a dream come to true Cheyenne."
"I don't understand what you're talking about", Cheyenne says confused. "I'm sure you see those friendly people over there dancing with us."
"They're all allusions!", Coraline says frantically. "I saw Mr. Fulton in the woods looking at us. He must be the greater entity of this realm. I knew something was weird about him. We have to go back home, now!"
"No!" Cheyenne says boldly. "We've only been here for a while. This place is everything I wanted."
Cheyenne speaks firmly and directly. She doesn't look like the shy little girl she used to be a while ago, but so much has changed in such little time. Coraline wasn't expecting that kind of reaction from Cheyenne from what she knows about her.
"Why are you being like this?", Coraline continues. "You don't know what I've been through or what this is. Someone's coming for us, Cheyenne."
Cheyenne contemplates knowing what she wants to do, but she thinks of the risk of being endangered in an unnatural setting. She agrees with Coraline but doesn't say anything.
As soon as they can come to an agreement, Coraline leads the way and goes out to see where the well is. From afar, Mr. Fulton is near a crowd searching for something. It seems like he is searching for where Coraline and Cheyenne went. Suddenly he catches them moving towards the well; Coraline sees him observing them from afar and makes a run for the well.
"Stop! Don't go!" Mr. Fulton yells. "Wait!".
Coraline doesn't hesitate and keeps on running towards the well.
"Coraline! It's me.", Mr. Fulton says assuming Coraline knows who he truly is.
Coraline turns around puzzled as to how he could possibly know her name never mentioning to him who she was.
"How do you know my name?!", Coraline shouts. "Who are you…for real this time!"
Mr. Fulton walks behind a tree, then he disappears. His body and figure disappear like magic. Then suddenly, Coraline realizes who Mr. Fulton truly was. A stricken black cat comes from the other side of the tree.
"It was me all along Coraline", said Charlie the black cat.