Uzumaki Ayame at your service! Was inspired to start working again by someone known as Wybie's Stalker lol, if you're reading this Ms. Stalker, thanks!
Anyways, trying to work and finish one more chapter, school starts tomorrow, and I also gotta start making some munnies or else no more internet :( Read and Review please! This time flames are welcome lol I don't care.
This chapter was longer than I expected, or even hoped, the ending was also a little surprise for me, but it definitely leads into the next chapter I assure everyone.
Coraline is feeling a little confused with herself, and Wybie isn't entirely sure how to read her anymore. If Coraline doesn't do something soon...
Chapter Five: A Clean Slate…
Coraline was the first to open her eyes, her wide smile stuck on her face like glue. She shook Wybourne's shoulder, and he just shook his head, turned to her and covered his eyes with his hands. Coraline giggled lightly, before looking at everyone else.
"You guys…" She said gently, the smile still stuck to her face "Open your eyes and look."
All three of them nodded at the same time, before they opened their eyes one by one. First Wybourne, whose expression was priceless to Coraline. Wybourne looked scared out of his mind, but in his eyes she thought she saw something spark, something amazing, some glimmer of excitement from him. He may look scared as heck on the outside, but inside, what if he was freaking out from excitement?
Then it was Maxwell, his mouth was partially open, his expression duller than ever, but at least Coraline knew that he was surprised.
Then, Coraline turned her head to Brunette. The brown haired girls face was as bright as sunshine. Her hair was slightly blowing behind her, the loose strands of her long copper hair blew through the breeze as if she were slowly, gently, falling into happiness. Brunette was smiling as wide as Coraline, and Brunette returned Coraline's gaze, and replied "This. Is just awesome."
Coraline shook Wybourne's shoulder to get him out of his trance, then when he looked at her, she signaled everyone to follow her lead as she began to crawl through the little doorway and into the colorful breezy hall. The colors span and swirled around them, and a light breeze came from the other side, but that little door was closed, so it was even more amazing that wind was coming from that end.
Coraline held the key in one of her hands as she crawled, and Wybourne was right behind her, followed by Maxwell, then by Brunette, and the four of them crawled onward. Coraline was focused right ahead at the locked door before them as it was coming closer to view, as the other three followers were looking around them at the different colors and emotions that seemed to come with them. When Coraline reached the door, she took her silver button key and unlocked it, remembering that the Ghost Children had told her there was only one key, and this was that one.
She unlocked the door and opened it, but to her surprise, the family room was only half made, and the half that would have lead to the hall instead lead to nothing but white. It reminded Coraline of when she ran out the house to escape the Other Mother last year, but instead of running away, she ended up on what looked like a blank canvas, before being lead right back to the Pink Palace again.
She got out of the little doorway and stood up, soon helping up everyone after her, and they all had a chance to look around. Wybourne spoke first.
"S-So… this is everything you've said it would be…?"
"Not exactly." Coraline frowned "I don't understand really, maybe it's fixing itself from what happened?"
Brunette and Maxwell were too busy gazing around the area to even listen to what the two were talking about, then Wybourne jumped, startling everyone "Wait, this is kinda like your house, Coraline."
Coraline arched a brow, before realizing the same thing. It was supposed to be Brunette's Other World, but instead, the door lead them to Coraline's Other World. When Brunette gasped, everyone turned their heads to see the family room slowly fix itself, and soon the doorway, the front door, the hall, and as they followed the path, the kitchen and the kitchen door was formed. The four of them stepped out of the kitchen and onto the back porch. They saw that everything was the same.
"So, is the Other World strictly meant for Coraline?" Brunette smiled and looked at Maxwell. Maxwell shrugged, but nodded right after "Looks like it to me."
Coraline made a fist, and smashed it into her hand "So it seems. The Beldam said that everyone had an Other World of their own… or Other Parents… that must've been a lie too."
The four went silent as they backed away from the Pink Palace to take a look at it. The outside of the house was fixed and looked perfect, even the land and the world around it, but it was as if the Pink Palace had yet to be explored or remembered, so it was working slow. So Coraline decided to give the tour of the outer area, though some of the path that lead to the well was gone, not even the well or the tree's were there.
"I guess it just need's time to rebuild itself before anything cool can happen, right Coraline?" Wybourne asked with a small smile. Coraline frowned to him, his smile looked like that of a disappointed persons "Yeah…I guess so…"
They all walked around, slowly walking onto the blank pages of the world, and strolling. Coraline was a little upset that it wasn't even finished yet, after a year even? Then again, she hadn't recalled ever seeing a look-a-like doll or anything of the sort, so she was also not surprised that whoever was creating the Other World was working slower than ever.
Then Brunette stopped, causing everyone else to, and when everyone looked at what the girl was gazing at, they all dropped their jaws.
It was a neighborhood, but not just any…
"It's Brunette's neighborhood!" Wybourne announced, causing Coraline to punch his arm from announcing the obvious.
"OW!"
Wybourne rubbed his arm, but continued to stare with the blue haired girl, and Brunette started to run "What if they have my house?"
The others chased right after her, Maxwell simply running after everyone. Brunette made it to her own home, and quickly barged through the front door to see everything. As soon as Coraline and Wybourne joined her, they gasped from shock. It looked like everything was there, like somehow they had managed to make Brunette's home exactly, just not Coraline's.
Coraline crossed her arms as the two of them stood there while Brunette was running around the house, as if in a panicked excitement. She then stopped at her stairs, staring down at the two "E-Everything… everything is here. This is my Other House!"
Coraline jumped "Really? How is this happening?"
Maxwell finally walked through the doorway, his expression still as blank as ever. Coraline gazed at him, before arching a brow and turning back to the others.
"Isn't there supposed to be some Other Father here, Coraline?" Wybourne asked curiously as he wandered into the family room of Brunette's, who followed him quickly. Coraline nodded "Yeah, but he hasn't showed up, and wasn't in the house or anything…" She frowned a bit, her hope slowly dimming "What if… he really is gone…?"
Brunette looked back towards Coraline "So, how is all this happening? How isn't your house built but mine is, even my entire neighborhood…?"
They all paused and tried to think of some reason, any reason that this strange thing was happening. But Coraline had no idea, until Brunette quickly said "Spies?"
They all froze, and then the three of them busted out laughing with each other. Coraline herself knew that wasn't the case. She once again looked towards Maxwell, and Maxwell, of course, wasn't laughing or doing anything, just standing there.
Coraline gritted her teeth, before going silent and waiting for the other two to calm down. "Well, not much here to do until it's finished I guess, should we just head back?" Coraline asked everyone. Wybourne immediately nodded, while Brunette nodded slightly, and at this point, those two were the only answers she cared to hear, Maxwell was creeping her out.
The four of them walked out of Brunette's neighborhood and back to Coraline's home, entering the house through the front door and seeing nothing but a hallway leading to the kitchen and the family room, and now they saw before their eyes the staircase that lead up, but lead to no where. They followed the path to the family room, then Wybourne quickly kneeled down and started to crawl, followed by Brunette, then when Coraline was about to go after, she quickly moved out the way and glared at Maxwell "You next, Max."
Coraline was getting curious as to Max's purpose of being there with them. He didn't seem surprised by anything since they had gotten there and crossed over. No excitement was coming from him, and no good vibes either. She was a little nervous that while she was crawling back to the real world, he'd stab her in the back somehow and drag her under. Though she was nervous and creeped out by him, she showed a strong expression that did not budge.
Max arched a brow, before glaring back and kneeling down, starting to crawl through. Coraline took her key out, got down on her hands and knees, and crawled through, carefully turning so she could lock the door behind her, then follow the others out back to Brunette's real home.
Maxwell was gone, though to Coraline, it was more of a 'finally gone, sheesh what a buzz-kill' than a just 'gone'.
The three of them still had time to hang out before Coraline had to be home and in her room, and Wybourne made sure to keep track on his watch for her. They all sat in front of Brunette's house, sitting at the steps and simply chatting away about the Other World and its strangeness, before Coraline had to bring it up.
"You know, remember when you suggested that spies might be stalking us? And making the Other World until the Other Father or someone gets there?" Coraline asked and looked to Brunette, causing the girl to flip her hair from one shoulder to the other and nod "Yeah, so?"
"Maxwell is kinda scaring me." Coraline shrugged her shoulders a little, looking down as she started to kick her feet a bit "He was acting suspicious; he didn't seem so surprised about anything. He was just there, watching us, doing nothing. That's really creepy. What if he's a spy…?"
Wybourne scratched his head, a leaf falling from his hair, and nodded a bit "Yeah… he was acting weird while we were there. He did act like he had seen it before or something…"
Brunette blinked, and her expression looked as if she were confused "Really? That is a little weird. I think I'll talk to him about it—"
Coraline grabbed her shoulder "Don't! If he IS a spy like we think, he could do something... bad or something… couldn't he?"
Brunette shivered "Who knows, but don't worry about me, he's my best friend, I'll ask him what's up and maybe he'll just tell me something. He couldn't be a spy… he just couldn't…"
Wybourne looked down at his wrist watch, before hopping onto his feet. As soon as he did this, Coraline took that as a signal to do the same and hop on her own. Wybourne nodded to her "Yeah, it's time to head home."
"I'll call you later, Brunette, okay?" Coraline asked, but didn't wait for a reply as she and Wybourne strolled off and started to walk to the Pink Palace.
Brunette waved to them quietly, with a small smile on her face, before she lowered her arm and pressed a curious finger to her cheek, as if in deep thought.
It was late afternoon, the sky was dark, and the sun had just vanished behind the horizon line. Once again, Coraline was stuck in her room, grounded still. Though when she had made it home, her mother actually said she was surprised that Coraline offered to do extra things around the school. She said that because of that, her punishment was less severe.
Meaning pretty much that Coraline didn't have to be stuck in her room without TV or anything, just couldn't go outside after school.
But Coraline didn't mind her room. Without any siblings or friends around, she was stuck between choosing to hang out with her parents, or her imagination… guess what she chose.
Coraline sat at the windowpane, looking outside as the stars started to appear one by one in the sky. Sometimes Coraline wished she was an artist who could paint or draw whatever she saw, because she enjoyed calm moments like these, especially in a crazy, weird life of hers.
Her usual guest knocked at the window before her, and she slowly opened her window for the black cat to waltz in and onto her lap. Coraline pet him quietly with a small smile on her face, before she looked back up towards the outside world, and it was night time.
"The stars are always beautiful." Coraline commented.
The cat made a small purring noise as she stroked his body, and she smiled down at him "What have you and Wybie been up to? Since I left Brunette's and had to go home? Hunting creepy, dead stuff?" Coraline didn't expect the cat to say anything as she looked back up out the window. She stared outside once again for awhile, before she seemed to have dozed off, or at least that was what she thought she did… she wasn't entirely sure.
She had only closed her eyes for a second, then when they opened, the black cat was gone. The window was closed, and she was alone in her dark room, with no light but that of the moon shining upon her and her seat. She adjusted in her seat, rubbing her eyes, before looking at the digital clock by her nightstand, it was flashing twelve o'clock AM on and off, as if it were unplugged and re-plugged into the wall. She frowned as she got up to set the time, but then she realized she didn't even know WHAT time it was exactly. Then she heard tapping.
Was it tapping? What was that? Coraline turned her head, to see a small pebble thrown at her window. She ran to it and peeked down, looking down at a mask covered Wybourne who was searching for another rock to throw.
Coraline opened her window and yelled "Hey! What's up? I was gonna call you!"
Wybourne simply looked up to her, then waved his hand to signal her to come down, only the three green eyes of his magnifying mask looked back at her, before she watched as he pulled around to the front door.
Coraline peeked out her room, then hurried down the stairs as quietly as possible. It was late she thought, the lights were all out, and her parents weren't anywhere in sight. She opened the front door carefully, before seeing Wybourne on his motorbike, revving it up as if getting ready to race with someone. Coraline simply assumed, since he wasn't getting off his bike, that he wanted her ON it, and she got behind him as he peddled and drove off. Wybourne made his bike a little confusing… it had a motor, a horn, and a bunch of things that a motorcycle would have, but it had peddles, which was strange enough, but it was Wybourne she was thinking about.
Wybourne drove her all the way to the secret well, and he stopped the bike, and took off his mask. He showed his face to her, and Coraline made a light smile "Um, so… what's going on?"
Wybourne simply gazed at her, with a creepy expressionless gaze, before throwing his mask to the muddy ground and nudging his kick-stand for his bike with his foot. He then wandered to the well, and lifted the well covering on his own. ALL. ON. HIS OWN.
"Wow, Wybie…" Coraline said, quite amazed at the sudden strength the night gave him "Never knew you could do that…" She was trying to tease him, wondering if he'd make a come back to defend himself, but he didn't.
He looked up at her, before he lifted, and turned his back to the well, but was standing near the edge. Coraline blinked, frowning a bit "W-Why aren't you talking, Wybie? And be careful… w-watch your step please. I didn't do anything bad did I?"
"I'm going to live with the Other Mother, Jonesy."
Coraline gasped "What? Are you crazy?" She glared "I told you everything she's done! She's crazy! She'll only eat you alive!"
"You're a liar!" Wybourne turned to her, his eyes were actually filled with tears, and as soon as one fell down his dark face, it started to drizzle, and that drizzle turned into rain, as if the weather matched with his heartache. "You talked to ghosts? GHOSTS. How can I believe something THAT ridiculous?" Wybourne sobbed, and managed to cough out another sentence "I thought… we were best friends… but you lied… about everything… just because you're too SCARED to get button eyes, but I'm NOT!"
Coraline jumped "Wybie, are you serious? You think I would LIE about something like that? Why would I lie to you? Of all people? You're my best friend, the best one! I mean—who even brought this up?"
Suddenly Wybourne turned to face Coraline, while still keeping his back facing the well, and out of the darkness of the well behind him came a body, a long body, almost snake like even. It was pale white, but suddenly its face rested on Wybourne's shoulder, but Wybourne remained glaring at Coraline, his eyes filled with tears that continuously fell, before he whispered coldly "HE did."
The blank face was suddenly recognizable, it was the Other Father.
Coraline glared and pointed "Other Father? What did you tell him? I thought you were good!"
"Coraline, Coraline, Coraline…" The Other Father smiled slyly, his eyes were silver buttons that sparkled with the sudden flashes of lightening "You were the liar… you said that Other Mother ate the souls of children… she only ate away at their love, until there was no more left…"
Coraline stepped back from shock "Wh-What? So…that means—"
"You LIED Jonesy!" Wybourne screamed, causing Coraline to slip in the mud and fall butt down into it. Her own eyes were beginning to water as the Other Father's snake-like body started to twirl around the dark skinned boy.
Wybourne sniffed back "I never had a mother, never had a father either, but I know that Other Father will love me… no one loves me here."
Coraline struggled to her feet, but suddenly the mud underneath her started to bubble and form little hands that held her down into the mud, sinking her in. She could only watch as Other Father wrapped his body around her best friend even more, before squeezing, and licking his lips with his long snake like tongue "I will always love you, Wybie… because children are so delicious…"
Wybourne's eyes changed into that of a button's, and Coraline started to kick and scream "No! No Wybie stop! Wybourne, don't do this!"
Wybourne frowned and whispered "Good bye…Jonesy…"
The Other Father's tongue darted right into his ear, causing the boy to fall back into the well, and soon Coraline was breathing and swallowing mud as it continued to storm "This can't be happening! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!" Coraline cried and screamed "Why? WHY WHY WHY WHY!" Yelling and calling for help before suddenly Brunette's face appeared before her, her silver eyes slowly sank into their own sockets, before dripping out of the now skeleton girls mouth, she screamed:
"WHY DOESN'T FATHER LOVE ME?"
Coraline flinched, and fell off of the windowpane, causing the black cat to let out a loud surprised growl and a dart for the window, jumping out and running off.
Coraline stumbled around, trying to lift up and gain her composure, checking the window to see that it was wide open, and now a cool chill was coming in. She hurried and shut it, locking it and looking down towards the outside ground. Nothing unusual.
She was breathing heavily, her bangs were clinging to her forehead from sweat, and she was scared out of her mind. She checked her clock, and it glowed 10:00 PM.
It was a dream, it was all a dream. Coraline collapsed onto her bed, and she tried to take deep breaths to continue and calm herself down. After about 5 relaxation techniques, she had already forgotten pretty much the whole dream, all except Wybourne's face, everything he said, at least, the one thing she was focused on was when he started crying…
"I never had a mother, never had a father either, but I know that Other Father will love me… no one loves me here."
Wybourne's grandmother loves him, his friends love him, his neighbors, even Coraline loved him—in a best friend way… she thought at least. So what made Wybourne act like that?
The fact he never had real parents?
Coraline touched her forehead; she knew it was all just a scary dream, but Wybourne…
She remembered that she was supposed to call Brunette, and never got around to it since she had fallen asleep. She hurried to her door, slowly opened it up, and hurried down the steps of her home to the kitchen where the main phone was at. She noticed the plate that was on the table for her, and it actually looked like a decent meal too. She carried the phone with her to the table, she couldn't carry it anywhere farther since it had a cord connected to it, but she sat herself down and ate the cold leftovers from dinner that she had missed, while dialing Brunette's house. When she heard a tired boy on the other line, she realized she had called Wybourne, but she was relieved, and actually made a sad smile as she heard him recite his usual late night caller speech:
"My grandma is sleepin', so you're gonna have to call back a little later…"
"Wybie, it's me."
Wybourne cleared his throat "C-Coraline… wh-what's up? Why are you—well, nevermind."
Coraline giggled, before smiling "Actually, I just wanted to hear you really."
Wybourne was silent.
Coraline continued, dropping her fork as she remembered Wybourne's expression in her dream "I had… a terrible dream, Wybie…"
She covered her mouth, slightly scared that she still remembered some of it, and that creepy snake thing that pulled Wybourne down the well. Even now she could remember what it looked like, but not who it looked like. She covered her mouth to keep her from sobbing into the phone, choking herself so that it sounded like she was coughing rather than starting to cry.
A gasp was heard on the other end "J-Jonesy?"
He seemed to have gotten into the habit of only calling her that when things were serious.
Coraline wiped her eyes "Sorry, I just wanted to hear you… I had a bad dream, and… yeah."
"Want me to come over?"
Coraline licked her teeth, she got a piece of meat stuck in between her canine choppers "Wh-What? No, I just wanted to talk…"
"I'm coming over." And with that, the other end clicked. Coraline was frozen, before she stared at the phone as if there was something weird going on with it. She didn't mean for Wybourne to be forced to get up or anything; or even sneak over and into her house, she just wanted to talk, to make sure he was okay, to re-assure her own self that it indeed WAS only a dream.
It would be awhile until he would actually make it over, even on bike, so she reminded herself she needed to get rid of the nasty thoughts to call Brunette.
She dialed, called the wrong number, and hung up. It was some creepy guy with a French accent that she couldn't even understand. So this time she grabbed the paper Brunette had written her number on from her backpack in her bedroom, then ran back and actually called her this time.
Brunette picked up the phone easily, without any grogginess like Wybourne would have had "Hello?"
"Brunette, hey, sorry I'm calling so late, I ended up falling asleep." Coraline chuckled nervously, seeing if she was safe or if Brunette had gotten angry with her.
"Oh, it's fine, was kinda busy today actually, doing homework, cleaning and chores and boring stuff like that, if you had called anytime earlier than 8, we couldn't have talked much anyway."
Coraline was safe.
"So what's up Coraline? Secret business talk and stuff? I'm excited! Can't wait for the Other World to be finished, can you?"
Coraline smiled "Yeah, it's exciting stuff. Listen, I need to tell you everything."
There was a silence on the other line, and Coraline cleared her throat gently, before she actually got a response "Everything? What do you mean?"
"I only told you about the Other World, the Other Father, and all that small stuff, but I need to tell you, warn you about everything that happened to me last year in the other world."
Brunette made a pig like squeal, only that of a 14 year old girl "Spill it! RIGHT NOW!"
"Alright, see ya tomorrow." Coraline said before hanging up the phone. There was a gentle knock at the kitchen door, and she quickly walked up to it, spotting the masked boy in the long trench coat before her. He lifted his mask over his head, and he kicked the stand for his bike, before smiling at her "Hey, what's up?"
Coraline shook her head, and Wybourne tilted his, slouching as if disappointed "What? But I thought—"
"I just wanted someone to talk to, not someone to come over and risk getting caught just to talk to me in person." She leaned against the wall near the doorway, crossing her arms over her chest "I'm fine now… really I am."
Wybourne stepped into the kitchen, looking around curiously. He straightened his back, making him stand taller than Coraline, though when he hunched again, he was shorter once more. Scoliosis, it looked terrible…
Wybourne then turned to her, and he frowned "Are you sure you're alright? You sounded like you were gonna cry, Jonesy."
Back to the seriousness.
Coraline was relieved he had come to see her, so that she would know she wasn't in another dream, but was upset that he came all this way just for her. She wasn't exactly sure why, but she was.
Wybourne touched her shoulder, and she shook her head "Wybie, get back to bed, I'm going to sleep."
Wybourne slowly let his arm fall, and he nodded "Oh-Okay… see you tomorrow at school, Jonesy."
Still with the seriousness.
Wybourne headed out, but when he was at the doorway, he stood there for a moment, and spoke up, not turning to face her "Glad it's gonna be the last day befor the weekend, right?"
Coraline nodded "Right."
Wybourne walked to his bike and started it up, before he switched the lights on, flipped his mask over his face and turned on the green glowing night-vision or whatever, Coraline didn't wait to watch him leave, she closed the door, then leaned against it.
She wondered what came over her. She seemed, rather cold and mean to him just now.
She wondered if this was the cause of the dream. Was the fact that she wasn't expressing any real feelings to him bringing Wybourne to his downfall?
On the other side of the door, Wybourne sat on his motorbike wondering the same thing.
Coraline distracted herself when she was in bed by thinking about what she discussed with Brunette. She told Brunette everything, about the Beldam, about how the witch tried to keep her there by tricking her, she even told her about Other Father and how he had saved her life. She told her everything, and everything seemed clearer to Brunette.
The brown haired girl was so happy on the other side of the phone, but then reminded Coraline that she never had a father, but also added that Maxwell never did either, and how that could have been the reason why he was acting so weird. Coraline accepted it, then when she was about to hang up, Brunette mentioned that they all should try their best to make sure the Other Father is safe, and to thank him for saving Coraline's life.
The blue haired girl agreed, before hanging up, then Wyourne showed up.
Coraline huffed and covered her face with her pillow. She kept thinking about him, why? That dream, that nightmare, Wybourne wouldn't get angry over nothing would he? Coraline KNEW the Beldam ate children's souls… the ghost children even said that she 'ate up their lives', what else does that mean?
She would never lie to Wybourne… never ever. They were best friends…
Coraline snuggled into her blankets, sighing and trying to get to sleep. When she finally did, she dreamed about having a picnic with someone in the meadow. Someone familiar. When she did recognize who it was, she realized she had missed him for so long, then the figure held out a rose, the rose was dead, and crumbling, the petals fell and crunched up into bits when it hit the ground, but Coraline took it and held it close to her heart.
It was the Other Wybie's gift to her when she performed with Ms. Spink and Forcible.
"Oh, Wybie…"