Hey gang! It has been a while since I've been active. Many years ago I lost one of the stories I was actively publishing on here, and had no backup for it. I had an 'update chapter' letting people know i was working and not dead and the story would return soon which was fairly common at the time but also banned by fanfiction rules. A fan reported it since it was against the rules, and now the whole story is gone and I wont be re-writing it ;) So keep in mind if your mad their's not an actual chapter update, complaining about it is a great way to never get a chapter update ever again. That being said I will not be doing update chapters so if i disappear for a long time feel free to assume i'm dead, dying, or lost my will to live, kay thanks.

I do not own the characters. This is a fanfiction. I feel like we all know what that means. Carry on.

Warnings: Adult themes, language, horror, potential gore. Will update warning as story progresses as needed.


Tic

Tic

Tic

The wind screamed and roared outside, whipping the branches of the near by trees and shrubs smackingthem against the house. The people who resided in the giant house on top of the hill slept peacefully, so deep in their slumber that the howling from outside was nothing more than a gentle breeze. All slept peacefully.

All but one.

In the tower bedroom moonlight spilled in softly illuminating the room, casting long shadows onto the far wall.

Tic

Tic

Tic

The sound was barely audible over the storm, and yet she could hear it.

Tic

She kept her eyes shut. She was warm under her sheets, and the darkness in her room begged her to fall asleep once more. She was so warm and comfortable…

Tic

Tic

Yet she couldn't. Her eyes which she had been firmly keeping closed opened and peeked around her room. She looked at her windows and the moonlight spilling in. Her eyes slowly moved to the other side of the room and she began to wonder why she had woken up in the first place when she heard it again.

Tic

Her breath caught in her throat.

Tic

Tic

Tic

Wide-eyed she glanced around the room looking for the sound, but she saw nothing. No trees were high enough to reach her window, Wybie wasn't at the window tapping to come in nor was it the black cat. A flutter of motion caught to corner of her eye and she looked at the far wall. The shadows seemed to stretch and move on their own, gently swaying out. Her eyes burned but she refused to blink, not realizing she also wasn't breathing.

Tic

Tic

Tic

Too loud.. too sharp sounding to be a clock. It was almost like…. She couldn't bring herself to finish the thought. She sat up in bed, keeping her unblinking eyes fixated at the moving shadow on the wall suddenly feeling icy and sweaty. It wasn't her. It couldn't be her. She was locked away.

Tic

Tic

She had thrown the key away, it was years ago now. Her heart pounded in her ears. She couldn't be here. She could NOT be here. She was dead. She HAD to be dead.

Tic

Tic

Tic

Tic

The shadow on the far wall stretched out, and the outline of a face appeared from the shadows. A horrible narrow elongated face with sharp high cheek bones and button eyes. Her fists clenched the blankets as the face smiled wickedly at her. Her heart pounded as they started at each other, but the Other Mothers face faded from the wall, the shadows falling back and becoming still.

The sound had stopped too. It had been the Beldam tapping, she was sure of it. She swallowed loudly and took a shaky breath. She wanted to yell for her parents for help but the last time they had been trapped in the Other world they hadn't even remembered it. The last time she had tried to tell them they called her crazy and brushed her off… She pulled her legs to her chest and pulled one of her blankets to be a hooded cape to keep her head and shoulders warm. She kept her eyes fixed on the room, waiting for any movement.

"-and i'm very sorry about that, but I promise we will all celebrate together when we get back."

"Huh?" Coraline looked up from her cereal she was pushing around the bowl, her head resting on one of her hands. She hadn't slept for the past week and a half since she had first seen the Beldam's face on the wall, but no matter where she checked she couldn't find any trace of her.

She had checked the old well the day after her waking nightmare, not that it did much good considering she couldn't see the bottom. But it looked like it always did. She looked at the walls of the well fearing she would see claw marks of the hands escape but they looked undisturbed.

"I was SAYING" her mother emphasized setting down her cup of coffee, "Your father and I have a conference we need to attend. It's for a week at the end of June, but it means we wont be here for your birthday this year." Coraline's head snapped up to lock eyes with her mom. They would be gone for a week… leaving her alone in the house.. The hairs on the back of her neck and arm stood on end, and her stomach twist… "I'm sorry," her mom said gently, completely misinterpreting her daughters negative reaction, "I PROMISE we will all do something fun when we get back." Her mom walked over and rubber her shoulder as she left the room.

"Don't worry little bug," Her dad said, setting down the news paper he had his head buried in, glancing over at her as he got up while chugging the last of his tea, "I'll bring you back all kinds of new things to grow in the garden!" He smiled at her and he left the room too.

She looked down at her cereal that had become a solid mushy brown puddle. She watched bubbles slowly come to the surface as the wheat dissolved into sludge. She sighed heavily trying to ignore the horrible feeling in her stomach. She rinsed her bowl out and dropped it in the dishwasher, and was heading out of the kitchen when she heard it.

Tic

Tic

Tic

She whipped around, looking at the sink. She knew it was the Beldam, it was her tapping her horrid needle hands against a hard surface. Her heart was racing, her throat seemed to close making it hard for her to breathe. She looked around the room, but didn't feel relief when she saw nothing. She knew she was there. She knew she was messing with her. Was she was safe? Could the Beldam do anything other than make a little sound? Maybe this was all the Beldam could do… Make her lose a little sleep since she couldn't eat her soul?

Coraline looked around the silent kitchen one last time, slowly backing away. Nothing moved, or made a sound. She sighed and walked quickly down the hall pulling on her rain coat and swampers and running out the front door. She walked past the garden and down the dirt path to the street.

She needed to talk to someone. Someone who would understand… In a place that was far away from the other mothers reach. She kept a quick pace down the hill, away from the Pink Palace, and the old well towards Wybie's house. It wasn't a purposeful choice, it was like her feet knew where to take her. A black cat appeared along side her. She looked at him, her face serious. He looked just as seriously back at her.

She smiled a little and kept walking, until she passed the point where the other mothers world had vanished. She exhaled and looked back up the hill, surprised she had made it so far so quickly. She looked down at the cat again, face troubled.

"I think she's trying to come back" She whispered to him. The cats eyes grew larger and he meowed loudly at her. She started walking again, this time more slowly. "I need to tell someone, but theirs only two people who have every listened to me about this stuff." She looked up at the tan house coming into view, where Wybie and his grandmother lived. Her pace slowed a little and she walked over to a nearby boulder, sitting down and grabbing a stick doodling absentmindedly in the dirt.

"I'm not even sure why i'm walking over their to be honest. I'm probably just being dramatic." The cat looked at her with a stern face. She smiled wryly at him. "Okay I know what I said, and blowing that off WOULD be a terrible idea but.." She looked down sadly, "I can't prove any of it. It's just a noise… which might be water dripping soooooo." She looked out at the rolling hills and trees, contemplating the last week.

"I saw her in the shadows, late at night, when it was hard to see…At least I thought I saw her…" The cat flicked his tail. "Well, it was hard for me to see. And I thought… I thought i heard her tapping her nails but their was no sign of her. I checked the well and found nothing, and yes I sealed it again." She sighed. The cat flicked his tail to the side and rubbed against her legs looking at her.

"I don't wanna go crying to Wybie like a scared kid because I got scared on night and heard dome dripping or tapping or something. I'm probably just… making more out of this than their really is huh..?" The cat sat next to her, ears flat looking very unamused. "Yeah well, I know it sounds bad when I say it like that but…" She glanced at Wybie's house and then to the pink palace "If I go and tell him and it ends up being nothing it'll be… I don't know dumb? Plus if something awful happens again and I spend all my time freaking out over nothing no one will believe me if theirs trouble… just like last time." She trailed off.

It was true, the last time no one had believed her. Not even Wybie.. It had taken his grandmother deciding to showing him a photo of her missing sister, and he almost hadn't made it in time to save her. She looked at his house again and stood up. "Okay. I won't freak out over nothing." She looked down at the cat. "But I promise I will come and tell Wybie everything if something is actually wrong." She set off back up the hill to the pink palace. She was fine. The house was fine, their was no real sign of the Beldam, and if their was she could always tell someone then. The cat sat on the boulder watching her walk away, and looked back at the house.

Wybie looked out his bedroom window. The black cat sat on a rock staring at him. He got off his bed to get a closer look. The cat looked over his shoulder and back at Wybie. Wybie looked out at the hill. Despite the light mist making things a little unclear he could clearly see a bright yellow jacket heading back up the hill. 'Coraline?' He scratched his head and turned from the window and stuck his head out of his room.

"Grandma!" He shouted.

"Ehhh?!" She replied

"Did someone come visit?!" He shouted down the stairs.

"Did you hear a knock at the damn door?!" She fired back, "No, because their was none!"

He frowned and walked back to the window. Coraline was back at the top of the hill, fading from sight. He looked back to the rock but the cat was gone. A loud meow sounded from the other side of the glass. Wybie looked down to see the cat on the other side of the glass. He chuckled and opened it. In slunk the black cat, who licked his paws. Wybie fell on his bed and waited for his friend to finish arranging his fur. The cat sat very straight and stared at him hard. Wybie sat up and offered a hand for pets. The cat walked closer but rather than accepting his cuddles, sat down once more still staring at him before looking to the window and back at Wybie.

"I saw her," he said "but why didn't she come over? She was walking over to hang out right? Seems kinda odd she would walk down here and walk back up without saying anything. Is she okay?" The cat looked at him with a face. Wybie had a sinking feeling the cat was telling him she wasn't. He looked out the window again and back at the cat.

"I should check on her, huh?" The cat blinked and nodded his head once, before turning and walking out the still open window.

"Guess that means now…" Wybie said sliding out of bed and grabbing his gloves and jacket.


Thank you for reading!

I hope to have another chapter up soon, until then…