Chapter 2 is live, time to freak.


Wybie walked up the hill to the Pink Palace. It was a fairly cool day and the mist seemed to be getting heavier. The cat lead the way and he trailed behind. He wondered what had been bugging Coraline. She had walked all the way to his house, only to turn around. He was unsure of what that meant. He had known her for quite some time now, but he had never seen her back down from something. Not really anyways. He smiled to himself, remembering when they met. She might get scared but she held her ground..but she had also once tried to tell him something big and crazy was happening and he didn't listen. He frowned as he walked up the porch steps to Coraline's house and knocked on the door. He waited, listening to the sounds of footsteps before the door opened.

The sound of footsteps became louder and Mr. Jones opened the door. "Oh! Hello Wybie, What can I do for you?" Wybie looked up at him, but he they were so close in height these days he barely had to look up to meet his gaze.

"Hi Mr. Jones, I was wondering if Coraline was in?"

Mr. Jones looked over his shoulder thinking before answering, "I think she went out for a walk a little bit ago, why don't you check the back garden? I'm sure she's close by."

Wybie smiled and gave his thanks heading back down the porch steps and around the side of the house. He rounded the corner and looked out at the giant garden. It had never flourished as much as it did under the care of the Jones family, but he knew that Coraline's parents didn't love the garden as much as she did. It was the space she cultivated, dragging her parents along kicking and screaming in the process. He spotted her, sitting on the bridge looking down at the tulip 'river'.

He walked through the garden and quietly up the bridge. He thought of scaring her for a second as she didn't seem to notice him but he could tell something was wrong with her. She was never this absorbed with starting at flowers, at least not with the intensity she currently had. He sat down quietly next to her, and saw her flinch a little as he came into view. "Hey Jonesy." She didn't respond. They sat quietly together, staring out at the garden. A cool breeze blew by and Wybie looked up at the sky which was mostly blue, but dark grey clouds were rolling in over the mountain. "Looks like we're going to get some rain here soon, huh Jonesy. That'll be good for your garden, right?" He looked over at her. She was pale. Paler than usual that is, which made the dark purple circles under her eyes more prominent.

He stayed facing her. It looked like she was debating something, staring crossly out at the flowers now. He wondered what had upset her. Had he done something? He knew he hadn't forgotten her birthday, as her birthday was marked in large letters and circled several times on his calendar, a preventative measure so he would never forget.

He thought back to the past couple weeks. They had hug out almost two weeks ago now, they watched a movie? He tried to think back to that night. Had he farted? Would she really be pissed for two weeks because he passed gas? Nope, definitely not the problem. "Coraline.." He said suddenly looking at her intently, concern spiking due to her long silence, "What's up?"

He glanced over at her again, she was back to looking pale and defeated. She opened her mouth, paused and shut it again. He waited, listening to the birds and leaning forward against the railing. Slowly he moved his hand over and set it on her knee. He could see out of the corner of his eye that she had glanced at him, but he kept his gaze firmly on the flowers. Something was troubling her, he knew that much, but it was unlike her to not say anything.

Coraline took a deep breath. She had taken several but it wasn't helping. When she had gotten back to the Pink Palace she felt a looming presence, that seemed strongest near the house. The closer to the house she got the more she felt like a mouse willingly walking into a trap. So she had chosen last minute to walk to the garden instead of going inside. The feeling wasn't so strong in the garden but it hadn't faded. She remembered the other world and that outside of the house, the garden and front yard was all 'safe' or was at least outside of the Beldam's reach. She frowned starting at the flowers, so lost in thought she didn't hear the approaching footsteps. Black fabric suddenly swished in the corner of her eye and she jumped heart suddenly pounding and throat tight again. "Hey Jonesy." He said his warm voice calming her more than any of her shaky breathing had, she hoped he hadn't seen her flinch or shaking.

How had he found her? It's wasn't terribly hard to find her she supposed, but she had just been looking for him… her mind had been begging to talk to him and suddenly he was here. It would feel more relaxing to sit beside him if her mind hands thought for a split second that he was the Beldam.

"Looks like we're going to get some rain here soon, huh Jonesy. That'll be good for your garden, right?" Wybie said. She frowned. She really was being dumb about this. The Beldam didn't, couldn't walk in this world. She was locked away. Their was no way she 'felt a bad presence' at the pink palace. She had lived here for the last 7 years and at no point had she felt the Beldam coming back or seen any evidence of it. She had a bad dream. She woke up and because she was tired had seen things in the shadows that weren't their. She felt her shoulders drop a little releasing tension in her shoulders she hadn't even realized was their.

"Coraline.." Wybie said softly, gazing at her, "What's up?" She opened her mouth, wanting to tell him everything she had seen just to get it off her chest but she closed her mouth again. If, and it was a big if but if the Beldam had somehow found a way to spy on her again their was a chance she could hear what they were talking about. She frowned again, the doll had been her eyes and ears, but the doll had been destroyed. She thought back to all those years ago and suddenly her blood felt like ice in her veins. Her eyes widened and she stood suddenly, grabbing the edge of Wybie's jacket firmly hauling him to his feet.

"Woah!" Wybie exclaimed and she looked at him. She looked at him with wide eyes, still trying not to panic over what could be nothing and jerked her head to the woods behind her. She turned without waiting to see if he was following and walked to the woods. She needed to get to the edge of where the other mothers world was. If she was going to speak, she needed to speak safely. She heard the sound of ground crunching under Wybie's boots as he followed behind her. She felt relieved that he was with her.

They walked a short ways into the woods, coming to a resting stop at a dead tree stump. She moved to the stump and sat down facing him. "Hey."

"Hey." He replied and smiled for a second before concern crept over his face again. "You okay Jonesy?"

She laughed a little but it came out somewhere between a scoff and a laugh and she pinched her eyes shut, dropping her head down into her hands. His footsteps began again as he walked closer to her. He must have been fairly close, she felt the front of his pants bump against her shoe and as she turned her head a little she felt the front of his jacket messing up her hair. She opened her eyes, looking up at him. He opened his arms, offering a hug. She opened her arms too and he wrapped her in his arms. It was a warm place to be, and the comforting smell that was Wybie filled her thoughts.

He pulled back after a while, sinking down to one knee so they were closer in height and he could look into her eyes. She didn't meet his gaze but looked at her lap where her hands sat. Wybie reached out, and wiggled one of her fingers as he waited for her to gather her thoughts.

"Do you remember… that stuff that happened when I moved in?" She asked quietly. Wybie felt his heart fall, of course he remembered. What she had said in the moment had sounded crazy as all hell, and it hadn't been until he said something off handed to his grandmother about it and she had shown him a picture of her missing sister, who looked exactly like Coraline had described. The following stories she had told him over the years, in bits and pieces where horrifying and it had taken her a few years to be able to recount the whole thing.

"Yes." He said softly, looking at her sharply trying to read the expression on her face.

"About a week ago… I thought I saw her." Her voice came out a whisper and had he not already been on his knees he knew for sure his legs would have given out and he would be on the ground anyway. His head snapped over his shoulder to look back at the pink palace.

"It was really late," Coraline continued softly, "It could have been a trick in the dark or my imagination, but…" She trailed off looking at him. His intense gaze didn't falter.

"Sorry.. I guess I don't want to make something out of nothing, you know?" She looked down at her hands, voice fading. Wybie reached for hard hands and shook them gently a little, bringing her focus back.

"If it's nothing, we can laugh about it later." He said it so firmly she was surprised. Wybie was always so casual and relaxed she wasn't she had ever heard him say something so decisively. "What makes you think she's back? Why aren't you sure if you saw her or not?"

"Well… I thought I saw her in the shadows of my room… it was really late and I wasn't completely awake… I mean I guess I felt really awake when I was looking at her 'face' becasue I was scared, but the more my eyes focused, the more she seemed to fade away… And I thought I heard her nails tapping…. I've heard it in my room and the kitchen now." She looked at him, anxiety crawling its way out of her stomach into her throat and she trailed off. He squeezed her hand and she looked around the woods, and then back at the palace. "And… I.. I don't know. It feels like shes watching me. The other world only goes so far though." She said gesturing to the woods around them.

"So this is outside what we know she can access?"Wybie asked and she nodded back. "So we are talking out here because? Doesn't she have to get through that door?"

Coraline sighed. "Yeah. And it's still locked and everything, the old well looks fine but.. I can't shake the feeling that she is around and planning something. But… I'm pretty sure she can see and hear me."

Wybie raised his eyebrows trying not to look as scared as he felt at that statement. Of all the things she had told him, this she didn't seem to question or try to explain away. She was just resigned to her fate. "Why do you say that?"

"Well…" her voice shook a little, "Do you remember the little me you found?"

"That doll?"

She nodded solemnly. "You came to ask for it back, because your grandma was so mad about you taking it."

"I only took and gave it to you because it looked exactly like you!" Wybie exclaimed but she carried on.

"I didn't find it that day, you called me crazy and ran away.." He looked down, of course she remembered what he had said that day. "I found another doll, it looked like both of my parents. My mom on one side, my dad on the other. I always assumed… that the doll just kept changing, like with your grandma to me but.. it was different. Like a different size, the head wasn't the same at all..… and I never saw the little me again."

Wybie looked around the near by forest, now gazing close to the ground before looking back at her. Coraline looked into his eyes, seemingly waiting. He wanted to be able to say with confidence that it was nothing, but knew that he would be lying. He took a deep breath and met her gaze. "It's good we had this conversation away from where she might hear."

She choked a little, "yeah.." Her shoulders started shaking. Of course Wybie didn't deny the returning presence of the Beldam, he was too smart and too cautious she thought bitterly. Her vision blurred as hot tears filled her eyes to the brim.

"Hey.." Wybie said, pulling off his gloves so he could wipe her tears away. Tears kept pouring down her cheeks as she tried to pull herself together, but the more she tried to force herself to be calm so she could talk the more out of it she felt, and the less control she had over her slowly building sobs. "Come on now," Wybie said, getting up and sitting on the stump next to her, pulling her into a hug. "Slow breath in, slow breath out" He said softly and took a slow deep breath.

"What should I do?" She asked her voice breaking, wiping her face as new tears replaced old.

"You could come sleep over at my house." He said, half serious.

She laughed outright. "Yeah, I could really see your grandma going for that."

"Hey if you tell her the monster is back and trying to eat you i'm sure she would be cool with it. You can even have my bed if you want, I'll sleep on the couch."

"And how long do you expect me to be camping out in your room? It's not like I can just move in with you." They fell silent. He sighed and stood looking down to the hill to the house.

"Okay.. How about this." He said contemplating, "What if I stayed with you for a night or two? You keep seeing and hearing things, so I will be there to see if it happens when i'm around or if your'e a wuss puss." He joked and looked at her. She smiled a little and dried her eyes.

"Again, I don't think your grandma would like that plan. You sleeping at the pink palace? She'd freak, right?"

"Who said anything about sleeping?" Wybie asked. Their was a long pause as they both stared into each others face, color creeping in to their cheeks. "I just mean, I'll stay up to watch out for you."

"Oh?" She asked laughing a little as he looked frustrated with himself, "Is that so? Like a knight in shining armor." He turned even pinker and she walked past him so she could look down the hill at the pink palace, thinking hard. "Okay, I like that plan." She said turning to look at him again. "My parents leave in about a week, they're going out of state for a gardening conference. If all this," she gestured to the air around her, " is still happening in a week, you'll come sleep over?" She looked at him nervous that he would decide he didn't want to get caught staying the night but he responded almost instantly.

"Sweet. I'll text one of my friends so we have a cover story for where I am, That way gran wont be looking for me, since she literally knows every time I leave the house." He said rolling his eye at the last part. She chuckled and he smiled at her. "Just.. stay safe until then, okay? Don't investigate sounds or look for trouble just, stay safe for a week. Then we can check."

"Buddy system." She said holding out her pinky finger.

"Buddy system." He replied, locking pinkys with her.

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O.O I have had too much caffeine. Hope you are enjoying the story!