A/N: Didn't think I'd update this quickly, did you? I surprisingly did. And there's actually going to be *gasp* a plot in the next chapter.

I was brought out of my latest daydream when a paper wad hit the back of my head.

Preparing to give the person a good smack in the jaw, I spun around. There was Wybie, cowering in his nearby desk. He nearly dropped his pencil when he saw my angered expression, and was now staring at me with expectant eyes. Although I was annoyed with him constantly throwing things at me, the feeling of amusement soon overpowered the other. Slumping deeper into my seat, I sighed.

"What do you want, Wybie?" I asked. It was the end of the period, and everyone was allowed to talk freely until the bell rang. It was about time, too. I was yearning for the weekend, and tired of wearing my dull gray uniform everyday. I managed to blend in some other colors I enjoyed just like everyone else, but it wasn't the same as wearing the clothes that I liked. Then again, I was just lucky to get away with my blue hair color.

He twiddled his thumbs nervously. Sometimes the way I treated him made me feel bad, but I would never admit it to his face. "I just wanted to tell you that I have your present in my locker," he said quickly.

I knitted my eyebrows. "Present? But my birthday isn't until tomorrow." Thank God, I added silently. I did not want my birthday to be on a school day, because in my opinion that just ruined the whole feeling of turning a year older. My second reason as to why I was glad my birthday wasn't today, was because I had a terrible feeling about the Beldam's hand. Knowing the witch behind the door, I knew she thoroughly enjoyed torturing me. Therefore, she would come after me on a day that was supposed to be happy. Trying not to show my inner thoughts on my face, I kept my expression neutral.

Wybie shrugged. "I just... wanted to give it to you early, I guess."

"Oh... Well, that's fine I guess," I replied lamely. I wasn't sure why he wanted to give me my gift early, but I thought it was best not to question him at the moment.

I nearly ran out of class when the bell rang. I wasn't too fond of school, nor the people who were in it. I really had no one to talk to, so there was nothing to look forward to when I went to class. I exhaled deeply, making my way to my locker. After fumbling with the lock, I swung the door open.

What I saw made my blood run cold.

A doll, made to look like myself, stared back at me on my full locker's only shelf. Its features were plastered with mud and grim, as if it had been through a lot to get inside the tiny space. One button eye was hanging loosely on its face. The other was glinting dully, the way my worst enemy's eyes once did. It was wearing my old yellow raincoat I used to wear when I was younger. Its smile was settled in a lopsided smirk, as if it were pleased by my reaction.

I held back a scream as I felt someone tap on my shoulder. Spinning around, I saw that it was Wybie with a small package in his hand.

"Easy there, Jonesy," he said, his eyes almost as wide as mine. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Realizing the doll was still there, I panicked. Without turning around, I slammed my locker close, nearly smashing my fingers within it. "U-Uh, you didn't."

Eying me strangely, he handed me the small, wrapped gift. "Well, here's your present. I just, you know, wanted to give you this one early."

I finally managed to find my voice. "This one? Please don't tell me you got me two presents, Why-Were-You-Born." I tried to sound nonchalant as I added the nickname in there.

He cringed at the old name. "The big one's at my house, but I found this earlier today, and well... it reminded me of you." He gestured toward the object, urging me to open it.

Still shaky, I managed to unwrap the gift without dropping it.

I almost had another heart attack.

The eerily familiar seeing stone sat in the palm of my hand. The temperature of the rock managed to remain icy cold on my fingers even through the wrapping. The blue hue of it seemed to shine faintly in the florescent lighting. The stone was just as it was before the Beldam threw it into the green flames of the fireplace. It looked as though it had never been burned at all.

My hand shook and my 'present' slipped from underneath my fingers.

Wybie quickly retrieved the stone, examining it to see if it was damaged. It was it worse shape than he'll ever know. "Careful, butter fingers." He gave me something close to a smile, but frowned when I stared blankly back. "Coraline, are you okay? You've seemed edgy ever since we came to the lockers. What, you don't like the present?"

"N-No, no! I do, it's very help-" I stopped myself from going any further. Reaching out my hand, he dropped the seeing stone into my palm. The thumping of my heart refused to stop. "I just... I gotta go, Wybie."

"Um, okay," he replied awkwardly. Turning on his heel, he began to walk in the direction of the stairs. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

I stood there for a moment, unsure of what to say. What the hell, my mind told me. "Actually... Is it alright if you come over sometime today? I really need to discuss something with you."

Wybie looked more confused than the time when he thought the Beldam's doll was his grandma's spy. "Uh, sure. I can come over."

"Perfect. I'll see you then." Trying to put yet another neutral expression on my face, I began walking down the stairs.

"Coraline?"

I reluctantly looked up.

"Happy birthday."

"Caroline dear, you still carry around that old thing?"

"It's for good luck, April. I don't blame her for keeping it for such a long time!"

"Please, Mariam. That dusty rock never helped me find Juach's missing shoes for the theatre. And then when you found them, he ended up falling in love with you! Hah! To think. I never thought he was into such busty-"

"Um, Miss Spink and Forcible?"

Both of them turned to look at me. It usually took all my will power to break them out of their arguments, no matter how ridiculous they seemed. After nearly keeling over at school, I decided to visit the Misses that lived in the downstairs flat. From their reaction when they first gave me the seeing stone, they appeared to know a lot about its origin.

"Could we please get back on the subject of the stone?" I asked. I stared at the blue triangular rock that lie atop the coffee table. Although I expected it to do something abnormal, it just sat there.

Waving her hand in the air, Miss Spink said, "Oh, of course dearie. We apologize." She gave one last glare at Miss Forcible, then picked the stone up to examine it. "I'm impressed. It appears to be in extraordinary condition!"

The image of the Beldam throwing the seeing stone in the fire came back into my mind. None of this seemed possible. Old possessions and items from the Other World were coming back, even though it was humanly impossible. Humanly. That was the key word there. No human could bring the items back once they had been destroyed, but someone else could.

"That's the weird thing," I told them. "Not too long ago, I accidentally dropped the stone into my fireplace. It burned to bits, but it just... appeared again recently. I don't know how it's even possible." Yes, it wasn't the best lie in the world, but it could work.

Miss Forcible snatched the stone from Miss Spink's grasp. "That doesn't surprise me, Caroline."

"Still Coraline, Miss F-"

"It seems to me that the stone still wanted to exist. This object that I hold in my hand now has unbelievable power," she interrupted. "Perhaps something important is lost and the stone wishes to find it."

"Or perhaps something bad is going to happen," Miss Spink shot back.

"Nonsense! Something is indeed lost."

"I highly believe that something terrible is about to occur and the stone-"

I quickly spoke to prevent another pointless discussion. "It could easily be both," I said. I knew it had to be both. The stone helped with both lost and bad things. The ghost children's eyes were the lost things and the deformations of the people I had to face were the bad things. For what ever reason why the Beldam's hand, the doll, and the stone were miraculously back was beyond my comprehension.

The two elderly women stared at me as if I belonged in an asylum.

Taking one last sip from the surprisingly good tea they gave me, I got up. "I think that's all the help I need. I really have to go now. I told Wybie he could come over."

Miss Spink probably gave me the creepiest grin ever. "Anytime, Caroline. Have fun!"

Knowing exactly what was going on in her head about Wybie, I sprinted out of there before Miss Forcible could say her farewell.

"You still have this old thing?"

Giving Wybie a good thump on the head, I snatched my old teddy bear from his hands. "Yes, I do. What of it?" I gave him a good glare, and settled the bear back into my old toy chest. I later put it back in its rightful spot on my bed.

Wybie shrugged, deciding it was best not to say anything that might offend me. Smart boy. "I dunno," he merely said. After walking around the room for a few moments, he asked, "Why did you want me to come over today?"

I hesitated, taking my eyes off the chest and back to Wybie. I wasn't sure how to answer him. After all, every time I mentioned the Other World or the night at the well he'd change the subject. He'd say things like, 'Why does it even matter anymore?' or, 'Why do you care so much about something that probably never happened?'. Giving up I said, "It's about... The Beldam." I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, hoping this would turn out decently.

"The... Beldam?" Without looking at him, I could tell that he was giving me a strange look. "Like the Other Mother?" he asked. I knew already that he was preparing to come up with an excuse as to why he was going to leave soon.

"Yes. The monster that nearly killed me when we were 11," I said casually.

"What about her?"

I turned from him, hesitant to say anything else. No matter who I brought the Beldam up with, they always called me crazy or left as soon as possible. I began playing with my black earrings to distract myself. "I've been seeing some things. Things that... dealt with her back when she was trying to get me." I cringed at the thought of her coming after me again in various ways.

Wybie shuffled his feet. "What kind of things? Like objects?"

"Yeah." I slowly made my way over to the end table that stood beside my bed. Picking up the seeing stone that lay there, I put my palm out to show him. "This present you gave me today... The Beldam burned it back when I was playing the game to get my parents back."

I sneaked a glance at him, and was surprised to see that he was no longer giving me the 'I-think- you're-crazy' stare.

"How is that possible?" he asked. "I found it near the..." He suddenly paused, his eyes growing bigger.

"Near the...?"

"...Well."

I shuddered. Images of the Beldam's hand almost dragging me back to the door from the well entered my mind. It had nearly choked me to death by pulling me by the button key necklace around my neck. If the Beldam was able to get her hand out of the well, conjure objects that were once destroyed, and talk to me whenever, then she was bound to have gotten the key.

"And today at school," I continued, "the doll that looked like me appeared in my locker."

"The one that I gave you?"

"No, the other creepy doll that looks like me." I rolled my eyes despite the fact that I was practically shaking. "Yes, that one. And I also burned that in the fireplace. It was after the doll started... looking like my parents."

I turned my head to see that Wybie looked concerned. "So you think that she's still alive? And she's now coming back for you?"

"Why else would these objects just randomly appear after three years? Not only that, but I saw... her hand last night by the door. I'm not really sure what happened, but it disappeared after a minute or two." I gave a nervous sigh.

After what seemed like hours, Wybie said, "So what you're saying, is that this... Beldam monster wants to take you back behind the door for whatever reason after three years? And you want to fight her off before anything... too bad happens?"

I gave him a strange look. "Exactly. And I was hoping that..." I paused, unsure of what I was about to say.

"You were hoping what?"

"I... I was hoping that you would help me."

There was an uncomfortable silence that followed my statement. I began to shift nervously, wondering if what I said affected him in a negative way.

"I-I dunno," he muttered, beginning to walk about the room. "I really don't know anything about this other than this Beldam has a killer grip." His sentence was supposed to be amusing, but I certainly didn't take it that way. All that came to mind was the Beldam strangling me to death.

I ran my fingers through my blue bob of hair, suddenly exhausted. "She's a creepy spider witch that eats children. What else is there to know?"

Wybie shrugged, seemingly unaffected by my description of the Beldam. "I just thought there'd be more to it. Don't you think there's more to know about her?"

I sighed. "A tragic past of a monster is pretty much the last thing on my mind. Right now I'm just worried about getting killed and later eaten."

"Well then, I guess that's it. I'll... help you." He played with his hands uncomfortably. "I'm not too happy about whatever is going to happen, but if it means preventing you from getting killed, so be it."

I smiled with sudden amusement. "I appreciate your concern over my life."

He chuckled despite the situation. "Wouldn't anyone be concerned?"

"Knowing my mom, hardly." I rolled my eyes, but then realized that my annoyance toward my mother was what got me into this mess in the first place. Soon feeling guilty, I spoke up again. "Could you come over early tomorrow? Maybe like, eleven?"

Wybie nodded. "That's fine. Gramma wants me to do a few things for her in the morning, so that will work out."

"Perfect. That will give me enough time to prepare for everything," I said.

"But are you sure you want to do something like this on your birthday?"

I snorted. "Trust me, turning a year older and presents are the last thing on my mind right now."

After a few moments of silence, Wybie began to head out of my room. "So, tomorrow at eleven?"

"Eleven it is."

As he left me alone, I soon felt the weight of the situation finally reach me. The twisting of my stomach that was nonexistent earlier appeared. My now shaking legs staggered, making me hold onto my bedpost for support. I wasn't sure how I would react to seeing my worst nightmare again. Would my reaction be neutral? A mere disgusted look in her direction as she gave me her signature smirk? Or would I be paralyzed with fear as her figure loomed above me? I shivered, deciding to save those thoughts for the next day.

For now, I was just hoping not to fall over with anxiety.