Chapter 2: Tours, History, Stories, and Secrets
"Mmm...how about we start at...where-ever you want to show me? Just go crazy with it, I don't really care where we go," Coraline says to Norman, who rubs the back of his neck.
"Um...okay...how about we go to...the Middle School first; aren't you going there with me?"
She smiles and nods. "Sure, let's do that."
Norman nods and they start walking towards the Middle school. For some reason, Norman knows he wants to tell Coraline that he likes her secretly, but he just met her; besides, they've just met, so it would be a little weird, judging that they're only friends...or so he doesn't just want to be 'just friends', but has no other choice...until he grows the balls to tell her. As they were walking, they were talking to each other, about what they like to do, about the ghost in town, even about their parents. Coraline and Norman laugh about their parents; these two felt like they have the same life, only Norman as an older sibling, and Coraline's an only child.
They've finally made it to the school, and Coraline looks at it in amazement, "Wow...I've never seen a school like this before!" she exclaims, making Norman laugh a bit. After Norman explains to her about classes and whatnot, they start heading towards the Town Hall, where he wants to show her the witch statue.
As they walk towards the witch statue, Norman starts to see a few ghost and wave and say "hello" and all sorts of things. Coraline looks at the boy, wondering what he's doing. "Norman...what are you doing?"
He looks at her with a shy grin. "I'm talking to some ghost; don't you want to meet them?"
She feels a little crazy, but knows that it'll hurt his feelings if she doesn't and call him nuts– she's had that experience before, when Wybie didn't believe her about the Other Mother and the Other World, so has to do this one kind thing for him.
Coraline steps up and looks around. "W-Where are they?" she asks, making Norman look around, until he sees his grandmother, floating above her head.
He chuckles and waves to his grandmother. "Hi, Grandma, how are you today?"
"Oh, I'm doing fine Norman; say...who's this girl...a friend of yours...or your girlfriend?" Norman's ears start to get hot, and he blushes as sweat slowly goes down his face.
Coraline notices his actions, getting a little concern for him. "Norman...are you okay?"
Norman quickly snaps out of his thoughts, smiling nervously at her. "Yeah, yeah...I'm fine, trust me..." He looks up at his grandmother, then back at Coraline, motioning his arm over towards where his grandmother is at. "...Say hello to my grandmother, Coraline."
She looks up, but doesn't see anything. Coraline soon remembers about how it could upset him if she disses all of this off or something, so just waves at the nothingness, nervously smiling, "...Oh...um...Hi, there, Norman's grandma." Even though she couldn't see her, his grandmother smiles and waves back at her.
The blue-haired girl turns and looks at the boy. "What is she doing now?"
Norman smiles. "She's waving happily back at you, Coraline. Do you want to continue heading towards the Town Hall?"
She smiles and starts to following him. "Of course!" she says happily, walking towards the Town Hall with him. Norman turns around as they walk, waving goodbye to his grandma, who waves back, and disappears.
They make it to town square, and once Coraline spots the witch statue, her eyes gaze up and fix on it, looking at it in awe and amazement. "...Wow..." was all she manages to say.
Norman looks up at the witch statue as well, remembering when he and Aggie first met, and she was getting revenge onto this town, but he stopped her and placed her back to rest, which awarded him with popularity and respect.
Coraline turns to him, grabbing a hold of his hand as she points up towards the statue. "What's the witch statue for anyway, Norman?" she asks.
Norman sighs and let's go of her and, then walks over towards a bench. Coraline follows him and sits right next to the boy, who looks up at the statue. "That's not really what she looks like. Her name is 'Agatha'. She was a little girl, eleven-years-old."
Coraline looks at him in awe. "How did she die?"
He looks at her, almost lost for words, but knows what the answer is. It pains Norman to talk or even think about it; a little girl was sentenced to death very young, just for being able to speak with the dead.
Coraline gives him a "...Well...I'm waiting..." kind of look, until he finally tells her the story, from what Agatha told him a few months later, after her soul was placed to peace and rest.
"Well...um...it started 300 years ago, before what had happened here last year–" All of a sudden, Coraline gets more interested in what had happened last year, "WHAT HAPPENED, WHAT HAPPENED?" she urges, like she just got done eating LOTS of sugar.
Norman laughs, then pats her shoulder, "...Oh, don't worry, Coraline, I'll tell you about that. For now...let me tell you everything about Agatha's history..."
~...Blith Hollow, 300 Years Ago... (Past Tense)~
Norman's Voice: "Aggie told me that she was eleven on the day that she died. She was just in the woods, on her way back home, talking to some ghost."
Agatha walked through the woods, talking to some spirits. "No, Franky, I told you, you can't overshadow other people. Do you know that'll probably cost me my life? Remember what happened to my mummy, when she was talking to some ghost with me?"
Once she entered town, she headed over toward her house, which used to be hers and her mother's. The little girl soon grabbed a book and walked back outside, reading it.
Some of the people in the small town found her strange, mostly terrifying, because of her way of speaking with the dead. Agatha soon found a tree, so walked toward there, and sat down as she began to start reading her book; some of her own ghost friends appeared, hovering above her while she read.
"Hey Aggie," one ghost woman began, "Whattaa reading there?"
Aggie looked up and smiled at the ghost lady, showing her the book. "A book about the spirits. I thought it would be neat to get more information on you, so I decided to read this– the book that Mommy use to read to me, before–" She stopped there, almost into tears as she remembers that faithful day...
But that only made her even more mad, remembering that memory of those other people who took her own mother away from her when she was ten, just for reading and telling her about ghosts. Agatha's mother was able to see the dead as well, one of the reasons why her father married her– because he, too, can see dead people. Her own father died when Aggie was only four-years-old, for talking to spirits in public. All of those memories...it only made the eleven-year-old even more angered at the world surrounding her.
The ghosts watched as Agatha got up, starting to place the book down; she looked up at them, smiling weakly. Every time she caught sight of the ghost who cared for her, she just couldn't stay mad...
"Wanna play?" she questioned, and they nod.
Not after a long time, Aggie was having fun with her spirit friends: Playing hide-and-go-seek was always a fun game to play with ghost. Little did the young girl know, she was being watched by six people from her small town; all six glared at her, knowing it all had to end: She was scary to them, and knew what's been going on in the past, about her speaking to the dead and all. Ever since both parents died, everyone' had been claiming that Aggie's a witch, said the same about her parents.
The judge came walking by, seeing the six people watching the girl. "Excuse me..." he began, walking over towards the group. "But what are you–" He saw Agatha, playing and saying things with the spirits...again. He growled in frustration, and shouted her name.
Agatha turned around, seeing the judge and the others. "Oh no...not again..." That thought made her scared, wondering what's gonna happen now, but didn't want to sit around to find out, so began to run.
"Get her!" the judge snapped, and the seven citizens of Blith Hollow started to chase after the small girl...
Norman's Voice: "Eventually, they caught her, and sentenced her to dead..."
~...Present Day... (Present Tense)~
"...Once her sentence was finale, she cursed them, to wake up from the dead as her slaves. She's my ancestor, and we're so much alike. I was able to stop her last year. She usually comes and visits me a lot, if she felt like she needed a friend or a shoulder to cry on; in fact...on my twelve Birthday, she got every ghost in town to pay me a visit with her, planned a party for me in the cemetery in the woods at midnight. It was so fun..."
Coraline looks at the boy in awe, wondering if it was all really true. "That so?" she asked, making him nod. "Interesting...so...think you would like to hear my crazy story?"
He smiles weakly, giving her a friendly nod. "Sure, why not?"
She sighs...not knowing how to explain the Other Mother, the talking cat, and the ghost children, "Well..." she beings. "It started last year as well..."
Norman listens into every detail on her story: About how she met Wybie, got the doll that looked a lot like her, found the little door, met her Other Parents, Other Wybie, and her Other Neighbors. Eventually, the story starts to get even more interesting to Norman, until she gets to the part about the ghost children– that's when he gets all excited.
"Wow, wow, hold the phone...you...you saw ghost?"
She nods with a shrug.
"Does that mean...you can see them too?"
Coraline doesn't know how to respond to that! The truth was she saw ghost, but how can she see them, if she can't see the ones from this little town? All of these questions were going on in her head, and she even asks Norman about it, but he just looks more confused.
"Well...maybe they're too shy of you...I've been living here ever since I was born, so they're use to me. Maybe you can see the ghost that only want certain people to see them?"
She gives him a look that makes her think about it.
"C'mon, I'll introduce you to a ghost or two that should let you see them," Norman explains, holding out his hand for hers as he gets off of the bench.
Coraline takes his hand again, blushing. He was just so damn cute to her!
The two were walking through the woods, and Norman was feeling very confident about this ghost. Coraline, however, is a little too shy, mostly scared– she thinks this ghost isn't gonna be too good; but hey, she has to at least give it a try, for Norman's and her sake.
Norman leads her in a circular area, where a twisted, old tree is, smack-down the middle. All of a sudden, a female's voice is heard, well, only Norman could hear it, not Coraline.
"Norman...?" Agatha's voice calls, which makes Norman nod, walking closer towards the tree.
"Hey Aggie, listen...my friend here had told me that she can see ghost. I told her that maybe she saw the ghost that'll choose who they want to be seen by. Can you maybe let her see you, if you can?"
There is a long period of silence, until the voice from the supernatural tree speaks again. "Sure, Norman..."
Out of nowhere, both Norman and Coraline see the ghost girl fly out of the tree, and Coraline looks, to be blunt, shocked. "...My God...you died as a little girl?"
She nods sadly. "Yes...but Norman was able to make me feel loved again, thank you!" she squeals, hugging the brown-haired boy tight.
Norman gasps for air, but Coraline giggles softly to herself. After the hug, Aggie looks to see Coraline, slowly floating towards her, "Hello..." Agatha says, making Coraline a little nervous.
"...Um...h-hello." She shakes hands with the ghost.
Agatha looks at Norman again. "So...did you two just get together, or...what?" They both blush very red. Just when they were gonna say something, Norman and Coraline's phones went off, making them answer it.
Norman looks at her ghost friend, shooting her an apologizing glare. "I'm sorry, Aggie, but I have to go."
"Same here," Coraline claims.
It isn't very fair for Agatha, but she knows that their parents will probably kill them, so says her goodbye, before she watches to two leave.
Once Norman and Coraline exit the woods, they start to hear the sounds of an engine. They turn and see Courtney driving her car over towards them. She stops and rolls down her window, looking mad. "There you two are! Norman, I've looked all over town for you and your friend. What the hell have you two been doing?"
Norman shrugs, about to answer, but Coraline beat him to an answer. "Sorry, Courtney, is it? I'm sorry, it's my fault. I wanted a tour of the town, and wanted to see what the woods where like, so Norman did this in my request."
The tall blond looks at her brother again, giving him a–what's been claimed by Norman–Courtney's famous "I'm still not convinced" type of looks.
"Oh, for God's sake, just get in the car. Coraline, I've told your parents that I'll take you home, so come on you two, get in!" Without questioning her, both twelve-year-olds enter the car, and the cheerleader starts driving towards Coraline's new home.
It is a fun ride to Coraline's house. Norman is able to ask Coraline if she'd like to hang out again sometime, and she agrees to it. But since they'll have school together now, they don't need to worry about that. They can just hang out any time now, and Coraline has been hopping she'll have the same classes with Norman, because she thinks he is a little cutie, but doesn't want to admit to it...not yet.
After dropping off Coraline at home, the brother and sister head back to their home, right after parking in their yard, right next to Coraline's house. As they exit the car, Courtney sees that look in Norman's face; a look that said "Love" and "Care". The ghoul whisper's sister smirks at him, and Norman sees her look, but quickly enters the house and gets ready for bed, knowing that his sister might know.
Courtney just laughs to herself, shaking her head as she enters the house as well.
Sandra and Perry Babcock are sitting at the kitchen table, having some coffee, then see their daughter come into the house with a grin on her face.
Perry raises an eye brown. "The heck you happy about?"
She smirks at him, telling them both about how she believes Norman's got a crush on Coraline, but wont admit it.
This, however, makes Sandra sigh with happiness. "Aw, young love, so cute! Don't you think, Perry?"
Perry looks up at her from his newspaper, nodding with a bored look. "Oh yeah, thrilling." He goes back into his reading.
Sandra's face has a look that clearly states her thoughts. "Can you be happy for our son, you grinch?" she thinks that look as well, angered by his facial expressions.
Courtney is about to head upstairs, until Sandra stops her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Sweetie...where'd you brother gone to? I didn't hear him go into the den, like he usually does, to watch a zombie movie."
Courtney only points upstairs, heading that way to get to bed.
This makes Sandra head upstairs as well, heading towards Norman's room. Once she gets to his door, she starts to knock on it softly. "Norman, sweetheart, it's your mother. Can I come in? I wanna talk about something."
"Um...n-no thank you...Mom..." Norman almost stutters at his response, which makes Sandra start to get a little concerned, "Norman...c'mon, why can't I–" she says as she opens the door, but gasps and quickly covers her eyes. "S-Sorry..." she apologizes at the sight in front of her. Her son is in his zombie boxers, getting his pajama's on.
Norman is in shock and blushes with anger. "MOM! I thought I told you not to enter!"
Sandra is given the "okay" to open her eyes after a minute or two. Once Norman is all dressed, he gets onto his bed, covering up. "What do you want, Mom?" he asks.
His mother smiles and sits down on the edge of his bed, rubbing his brown-spiked hair gently. "Sweetie...I hear you like the new neighbor's daughter...that true, pumpkin?"
His eyes almost shoot right out of his skull. How does she know this? He then came to a conclusion: COURTNEY! She just can't keep her gossip-mouthing to herself, can she?
Norman's face turns bright red, angered by what his sister has done, but mostly nervous because his mother knows about his crush. But, wait! Maybe he still has a chance at keeping it a secret, who knows? All that he cares about was keeping this whole thing a secret. Norman knew God damn well that this is gonna be a bit of a problem if it gets spread everywhere, and it'll be all thanks to Courtney, and Coraline won't be saying anything to him anymore, let alone look at him!
Apparently, Sandra can see the look of shame in her son's eyes, smiling with care, like she always does. "There now, don't be so shy about it. I promise you, I won't tell anyone; maybe I could give you some girl tips as well, I'll also see if Courtney can be a good big sister, and help you too."
Norman's eyes widen. "Thanks, Mom, but I kinda prefer you talk to me about this, okay?" She smiles sweetly, giving him a goodnight kiss, before getting up and leaves the room.
"Goodnight, angel," she says, before walking down the hall, closing the door behind her.
Norman smiles shyly, knowing he could always come to his mother, Agatha, and Grandma Babcock's ghost for help. He turns off his zombie lamp and goes to sleep, knowing he'll see Coraline again at school tomorrow.
AND THAT'S THAT! This is the fully edited and cleaned-up version for ya. ;) Enjoy!