Title: Patchwork
Chapter Eight: Believing
Started: 09/08/10 08:43:56 AM
Story Quote: It would seem they had run out of time, after all.
A/N: Thanks to my friend and very crazy dream I am starting a new story. It is going to be a monster story, so I'm going to make sure that Patchwork starts getting more frequent updates. I won't abandon this story, so, before I get distracted, I'm going to see it finished. ('Bout time, yeah?)
Special Shout Outs Go To: D. sist. I think I'm in love with you. :) Thank you so much for following this story and leaving your epic reviews. And epic PMs. You're amazing. And Shahrezad1, you get the second. You're review really got me moving again on this chapter. Thank you so much. I hope you like it.
Onto the Story!
She didn't believe him.
The cat's claws dug into the bright shingles of the roof in an attempt to calm himself. He was trying to tell her, trying to make her believe in what he was saying. But how could she? She'd never seen the horrors of the true Other Mother. She wasn't there to see those foolish children lose their eyes, or to see Other Wybie being sewed back together and being unable to scream his pain. She hadn't been there to see just how much pleasure that creature had taken from it, either. And he tried to warn her, but she wasn't believing him.
The skepticism was written all over her face. He wouldn't, no, couldn't give up now. Why did they never believe him? None of the others had before her, but they didn't have what this stupid girl has. An ally from this side. As before, he might have been fine with leaving the fool to her fate, but he could not fail Other Wybie. No matter how infuriating she was, she had to make it through this. For him. For the puppet who'd cut his own strings.
If he could do it, she could, too.
That was when he heard her voice.
"Shhh! I hear something!" he hushed, breaking his own line of speech and perking up his ears. Voices cut through the still air, fluttering into the night like broken bat's wings. "Right...over..." The Other Mother was awake. What was she saying?
He couldn't risk being seen by her. And despite his will to stay and try to talk some sense into Coraline, he would not be able to do so if he was caught. This talk would have to wait for another time. He raced into the shadows of the house, leaving the girl to balk at him as he disappeared. The window leaked soft light around the Beldam's shadow and splayed on the roof. She was watching Coraline as she stepped down the stone steps to the theater.
"What took her so long?" she seethed, and the sudden noise caused the cat's hair to stand on end. "She got finished with her lunch so long ago."
"Maybe she was just enjoying the scenery," said another voice. The Other Father. His shadow went to join hers, and his shadow made a movement that looked like he was trying to place a comforting hand on her shoulder. The tender motion, no matter how driven by fear it was, still made something in his stomach churn. How could anyone bear to be kind to that thing? The shadows blurred with sudden motion.
The Beldam had a wicked right hook, by the looks of it.
His shadow vanished from the window, and his body landed with a hard thump! inside.
"Admiring your garden, suppose?" she all but hissed. "Perhaps if you'd spent less time with your mounds of dirt, and more time playing your part, she wouldn't even need this third performance. She wouldn't need this extra motivation." The man whimpered in pain, trying so hard to be quiet. The cat's ears picked up the quiet scratches of nails clawing into wood flooring. The man wasn't quiet enough.
"Silence! You miserable fool, you're almost as much of a worthless mess as he is. Sniveling over every pin prick you deserve to get." She tapped her fingers impatiently against the glass. "This is taking too long. Much too long. I'm not going to wait anymore. We're going to end this tonight. I won't be able to keep up this pathetic mirage much longer without starving."
Other Father's shadow appeared back in the window, but he did not try to approach her again.
"Would it not be better to wait?" he meekly said. "Too soon and she might scare-"
"And give that thing more time to plot against me? To give you more time? Don't you dare think I don't know how much you want her to leave. If I weren't there to keep you in check..." The sentence remained unfinished and she ground her perfect little white teeth. "This will end tonight."
It was obvious she meant in more ways than one. The cat's heart sank.
It would seem they had run out of time, after all.
Charlie's head banged on the glass of the car door when the wave of nausea hit him. His vision was swimming, bright flashes of silver and red before random spots overcame him. He was afraid. That paralyzing fear that only came after his nightmares. Why was this happening? Everything had gone so well with the catalog today. Shouldn't the stress, and the nightmares, be over?
Couldn't he finally be free?
Mel was slowing the car into the driveway of their house. His little episode had not gone unnoticed. In that one second he glanced in her direction, he could not believe his eyes. There, in the spot Mel had once occupied, was the skeleton. Withered bones protruded from the sleek black dress; black buttons drove into his soul, slowly killing him from the inside out. Then he blinked and it was over.
"What happened?" she immediately interrogated, bumping the gearshift into park. "Are you sick?" He knew that she held the same hope he had, that it was only stress.
He coughed and shook his head. "Just a little dizzy spell. I-I bet I just need to get some rest. It's over now. It's going to be fine." He smiled a smile that did not reach his eyes, nor spread warmth into his icy insides. There was only the fear.
Mel sighed and reached a hand over to place on his shoulder. It was warm, even through the layers of fabric in his suit. Her skin was pale, but still rosy and human. The heat seeped into him, and the fear receded. This was his Mel. This was the woman he loved. This time when he smiled at her, he meant it.
Everything was going to be fine, now.
"Charlie?" she said, eyes going wide.
"What?"
"You're bleeding." She pointed to his forehead, and then lightly grazed her fingers from his temple to the center. The fingers came back in a film of red blood.
"What the-" was all he managed to say before she was running out of the car and into the house. She's forgotten the little box in the back seat, the gloves that Coraline had wanted so much. He got out of the car and followed her in. He'd just set his briefcase next to the fridge when he heard her call out from the top of the stairs.
"Charlie!" she yelled, panicked. "You have to come see this!" He really did not like it when Mel was upset. It took a lot to ruffle her feathers.
"What is it?" he asked back, first few steps of the stairs already behind him.
"It's a doll," she said back, "of us."
Was it so wrong to never want this moment to end?
Other Wybie watched as she rode the wires alongside the performers. Her face was bright with mirth and excitement. How amazing her laughter sounded as she dangled from the rafters. The Other Spink and Forcible dove into the wooden barrel with sparkling water swishing up to her blue booted feet, and she let go. She teetered in the palm of the actress' hand, grinning wildly as her arms flailed at her sides. The dogs barked in a deafening roar, and his eager claps could not make it over them. But he had something in mind that would really get her attention.
He slid the rose out of his jacket, and threw it to her.
She caught it and stared with abashed glee. Her cheeks flushed. This was the best night of his life! The audience thumped their tails and howled their pleasure to the performance even as she jumped to solid ground and ran to him.
"Wasn't that amazing, Wybie?" she yelled, enveloping him in a tight hug before releasing him. His smile nearly split his face, and that strange, wonderful feeling began to rise in his chest. He wished he could have told her how amazing he had really thought she was. He wished he could have praised her with compliments. He wished he could tell her just how much she meant to him. He wished he could tell her so many things.
He wished he could tell her to run.
The corners of his mouth fell, and the warm feeling in his chest withered to dust. Cold, lifeless dust. H-hadn't the cat said that he was going to talk to her? Hadn't he promised he would do all he could to get her to leave? What happened? There wasn't much time left. The Beldam had already let the pieces of the game that were no longer of any use to her die, to conserve her own energy. She was hungry, and she was getting desperate. There wasn't any time left to waste.
He followed her prancing footsteps up the stone stairwell. The Beldam was there, in that stolen body of Coraline's mother, with that stolen smile that spread just a little too wide. Other Father was there, too, just smiling in that faked, dead way he had. Something was different about him, though. That little defiant gleam of light didn't shine in his buttons as it usually did. And there was a line on his forehead, covered by his wavy hair, that appeared to be recently stitched. She'd lost her temper with him.
Time really had run out.
He couldn't force himself to fake a smile as Coraline bounded up the steps, ushered by the Beldam's arm behind her. She didn't even notice that he can't bring his head up to meet her eyes. Please don't let this be the end. Please, don't let this be the end.
From the doorway, he saw the monster gesture to her face, shining a perfect, plastic smile to him. A warning. He fisted his hand in the black material of his coat on his shoulder, tearing sharply at the stitches beneath. The pain is what lets him look away. She was taking away his everything. He would not smile for her.
Please don't let this be the end. Please, don't let this be the end.
She shut the door in his face.
He didn't know what was leading him there, but he felt he had no other choice. He knew that on the other side of that little door he was needed. Knew it like he knew how badly his wounds were hurting him to be moving around, and like the slow churning of dread in his gut.
Please don't let it be the end. Please, don't let it be the end.
Was that his thought? Or was it the other's? He had no idea how to differentiate between the two realities. Every time he blinked, he would see a flash of the world that was but wasn't his. Then he would open his eyes and see what he knew he should. But he knew both were real. He just didn't know which one was his, anymore.
He just had to get to the door.
He brushed the bandage on his shoulder as it roared into pain. The wound opened itself and bled anew, staining the white gauze in a ghastly red. The color looked familiar. Nail polish? Where did that thought come from?
He shivered and continued on towards the door.
Please don't let it be the end. Please, don't let it be the end.
I won't let it be.
Despite the guilt in his stomach, and the pain in his limbs, he felt strong determination. Whatever was going on, he wasn't going to let it go by without a fight. He was going to help.
She would be saved!
Some of the bubbling emotions began to fade out, replaced by something warmer. Hope. Wybie grinned as he kneed down beside the little door in the wall. He tried it. Locked. He could see a little key with a button on the end in the lock. He reached out a hand to turn it...
...then fell unconscious on the floor.
Please, don't let it be the end...she must be saved...Coraline must be saved...
His mind felt blank and empty. Alone.
She was getting closer to him now, any shred of sanity gone as she pinned him down against the cold flagstones outside.
"It's all your fault!" she cried, hysterically. Other Wybie tried to fight her superior strength, arms aiming at anything and everything. Just trying to land a blow. Just a second. That was all he needed, just one opening. "It's your fault you didn't smile. It's all your fault she didn't come to me!"
What was she going to do to him now? Was she going to kill him?
Please, don't let it be the end...
He had to keep fighting. He would not give up.
She must be saved...
The Beldam pushed the needle from her pocked deep into the fabric on his face, through his lips, and then tying it crudely tight. The pain was something he was getting used to now, but this was something entirely different. This wasn't cool and cynical, it was deranged, meant to harm and for no other purpose. She'd snapped. Fine, if this is how it had to be, then let her take out all her anger on him. He would last through he torture, just as he had all those times before.
Coraline must be saved...
She got up and smoothed the kinks in her dress and her hair. Back to perfection. He stared vacantly at her as she retreated back to her nest. He couldn't move. He couldn't speak.
He couldn't not smile.
A/N: Guys, I'm only ten reviews away from 100! That's my goal for this story, so please help me?
Ending song time!
"Sick of circling the same road,
Sick of bearing the guilt,
So open the windows to cool off,
And heat pours in instead,
Perfect in weakness,
I'm only perfect in just your strength alone,
All my efforts to clean me,
Leave me putrid and filthy,
And how can you look at me,
When I can't stand myself.
I'm tired to be honest,
I'm nobody."
Artist: Flyleaf Song: Perfect
(Throws out tattered hat to readers)
I love reviews! Please send me your feedback, guys. I love to hear from you. Just ten reviews away...