Chapter 14: Game Over
Coraline and the others scream as they run through the streets of the Other Blithe Hollow. The world was crumbling down, and they only had very little time left to get to the other Babcock house, or else. Coraline looks around, see the ground beneath them crumbling, which meant they were about to fall. The other Babcock house was just a block away from them- they could do this. They had to do this!
"HELP!" Neil screamed, who tripped over a lose tire.
Courtney and Coraline quickly ran back Neil's aid; they helped him up and quickly made another break for it.
"Where is this house, again?!" Wybie asks, dodging a flying bush.
"Just a little closer..." Coraline urged. "TURN LEFT RIGHT HERE!"
Everyone followed her instructions and made a hard left turn, running up-hill to get to the other Babcock house. Finally, they'd reached their destination. The fence in front of the house was flying into the air, disappearing. So was the yard, and pieces of the porch and house itself. Coraline quickly opened the door, having everyone get in, and went inside herself, shutting the door fast behind her.
Coraline, along with the others, sat there, catching their breaths. Coraline looked up, wiping her forehead. "Is that everyone? Everyone still here?"
"Y-Yeah," Wybie breathed out, counting.
Coraline, Wybie, Courtney, Cat, Aggie, Salma, and Neil- all here. Good. They had to keep it that way.
Standing up finally, Coraline walks through the house, into the den. Everything was the same as last time- the furniture was all bug-themed, and black-and-green dim, flickering lights barely lit the area. She sighed, remembering the horrid memories of her visit to this place. Wybie places a comforting had on her shoulder, smiling sadly, trying to give her reassurance. Coraline simply nods at him, and makes her way back to the stairs, looking up.
Taking a deep breath, Coraline begins going up the stairs, with everyone else behind her. The stairs creaked below them, which gave them all a bad feeling. Now upstairs, they see a hallway- dim, flickering lights. Courtney points out the direction of Norman's bedroom, and Coraline slowly makes her way over to it. She holds the key out with her hand. She puts the key into the lock, and un-lucks the door. Success, it actually worked! Gulping, Coraline then slowly opens the door, which creaks open. However, the sight in front of them made them all gasps with shock.
Norman was lying on the bed, with several scratches all over his body. He was badly wounded and blood trickled down his face. His clothes her ripped, and his spiky hair was in a mess. There was a dark chuckle, and everyone looks over at the corner, seeing something emerge. It was the Beldam, who smirked. Coraline glared and entered the room.
"YOU HORRID WITCH!" She bellowed.
"I'm flattered," The Beldam says with a sickening grin.
Coraline took out her knife from the library attack, pointing to at the Beldam. "Get ready to turn into a jack-o-lantern, bitch!"
"Oh no, Coraline..." The Beldam says, now glaring at her. "This isn't over."
Furrowing her brow, Coraline lowers her knife, looking up at the needle spider-witch. "W-What? But...I've beaten your game! I've founded everyone, I've found the key, I used it, and I've founded Norman! How did I loose?!"
"I didn't say you lost," The Beldam explained. "The Game's just not over yet. It's far from over..." She then crackles darkly, as the room begins to shake. Everyone screams, holding onto something. "THE GAME'S JUST BEGUN!"
Suddenly, the room exploded, and everything was now in the center of a giant, green twister. Objects spun around, floated, and parts of the Other Blithe Hollow were floating or spinning around the tornado as well. Coraline screams as she falls down, landing on a bed, then falls onto the once town square. Looking around, Coraline tries to find the others.
"Coraline! Over here!" Courtney shouts.
Coraline gasps and turns around, seeing the rest of the group on a floating island, which was the porch of the Babcock's house. Suddenly, a giant shadow appeared over Coraline, who gulps as she turns around, seeing the Beldam, who was now a giant. The witch crackled, looking down at Coraline.
"You want your precious boy toy? Here you go, dearie!" She exclaims.
The Beldam hovers her needle fingers in front of Coraline. Coraline gasps as she sees what's under the Beldam's fingers. Norman's bloody corpse was tied up in thread, which was attached to the Beldam's needle fingers. After putting two and two together, Coraline gasps in shock, realizing what was going on. Norman was now the Beldam's puppet. She was going to kill her by using him.
Moving her fingers around, the Beldam controls Norman's movements. Only this wasn't Norman anymore. He looked nothing like him. Well, he looked like him, but was cut up, his eyes were black with red orbs, and a rag of red sparks flew over him. The Beldam had turned Norman into a monster. A monstrous puppet.
"Kill her!" The Beldam hisses, moving her fingers to control him.
"No..." Coraline whispers, watching as Norman came after her.
Coraline screamed as Norman attempts to stab her with a knife. Dodging it, Norman stabs a dead tree instead. He growls as he's being controlled to turn around, and attempts to kill her again. Norman raises his knife, and swings at her, but Coraline blocks his attack with her own knife, and forcefully pushes him back, causing the puppet to crash into the fountain.
"Coraline! Use your knife!" Neil yells.
"I don't want to hurt him!" Coraline yells back, dodging as Norman comes after her again.
Aggie observes the scene below and shouts, "The strings, Coraline! Cut the strings!"
Coraline nods, doing what she's told, and gets into a certain angle. Then, she throws her knife like a boomerang, cutting the strings that's holding Norman in place.
"NO!" The Beldam roars as the strings are cut off.
Norman's body collapse, crashing into the ground. The strings have disappeared. Coraline quickly runs to Norman's side, wraps his arm around her shoulder, and helps him get up, getting away from the Beldam. However, the giant Beldam watches as they leave the town square, and Coraline leaps onto a floating island with Norman's body, almost falling.
The Beldam roars as she uses her sharp fingers to cut through a building, causing it to collapse over Coraline. Aggie gasps and flies down, carrying the two over to the top of a floating house. She takes Norman's body, looking at Coraline.
"Take Norman to the others, and find the door!" Coraline instructs. "I'll keep the Beldam busy!"
"Okay, Coraline..." Aggie says uneasily. "Be carful, will you?"
Coraline nods, watching as Norman is being carried away, to one of the floating islands for safety. However, she's still not out of the woods yet. The Beldam appears in the center of the entire group of floating islands, searching for Coraline.
"Come on, dearest Coraline, why don't you want to play?"
"Because you're a horrible, old witch!" Coraline spats, sprinting on top of the roofs of houses.
The Beldam turns her head, seeing Coraline making a run for it. She roars with rage as she attempts to kill her, using her needle fingers to slice her, or the roof tops. Coraline does a good job of dodging them, and makes it to the top of the Blithe Hollow water tower, hiding.
"You can't hide forever, Coraline..." The Beldam says, getting close to the floating water tower. "I'll always find you. Ah, there you are!"
Coraline dodges the Beldam's grasps and leaps, landing on top of Norman's floating bedroom. She looks out a window, seeing another floating island, which seemed to be the highest of all the floating islands. It was Norman's basement. Grinning, Coraline leaps out of the window, landing on a floating platform. She sprints, leaps, and eventually reaches the others.
"Up there! Quickly!" Coraline commands, pointing at the very top.
In response, they all follow Coraline. The Beldam screams with rage, throwing objects at them. They all dodge the flying objects, and eventually makes it to the top. Everyone cheers in celebration. But it wasn't over yet. Coraline opens the door, seeing that the passageway still works. Grinning, she was about to go through it, but stops; hesitates.
"What's wrong, Coraline?" Courtney asks. "We've got to hurry, and get the hell out of here!"
"That's the problem, though!" Coraline exclaims, turning around to face them. "It's the Beldam- what if she returns again? It happened last time. I can't allow her to live another day."
Wybie thinks hard for a moment. Looking around, he spots a beer bottle. Grinning, he takes it, and rips part of a piece of cloth off, which was laying on a box in the corner. He turns to Coraline, reaching his hand out. "You have a lighter?"
"Yes..." Coraline replies, unsure.
"I need it,"
Nodding, Coraline quickly goes through her bag, handing it to him.
"Great, now, let's get through that tunnel!" Wybie urges.
Aggie and Cat went through first, followed by Neil, then Courtney, who was holding onto Norman's body. Coraline entered the tunnel, but then stopped, then turned to face Wybie, who just stood there.
"What are you doing?" Coraline asks. "C'mon, come back with us!"
"Don't worry, Coraline." Wybie says, smiling at her.
Before anything else could happen, and large, needle hand burst through the ground, underneath Wybie. The Beldam. Coraline gasps, followed by screaming. Everyone who was in the tunnel already stops, and turns to see what was going on. Wybie struggles in the Beldam's clutches. The giant Beldam crackles wickedly, looking down at Wybie.
"Foolish boy! You think you can escape me?!" She then looks down, seeing Coraline peeking her out of the tunnel, watching with horror. "After him, I'm coming after you, Coraline. Brace yourself." She lets out a cold laugh before looking back at Wybie, then smirks as she lifts him up high, tilts her head back, and exposes her mouth.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Coraline bellows.
"Goodbye, Lovett!" The Beldam says, before letting go of Wybie.
Coraline and the others watches with horror as Wybie is falling into the Beldam's mouth. Before he falls, he lights the bottle on fire with Coraline's lighter, and throws it into the Beldam's mouth, before he too falls in. Wybie was gone.
Coraline nearly cried, sadden at the loss of her friend. The Beldam crackles wickedly once more, before smirking down at Coraline.
"Now then, dearest Coraline, prepare to die!"
Before she could act, the Beldam freezes, and gags. Smoke begins to form out of her. She then screams as her body begins to burst into flames. Everyone watches with pure shock; horrified. The Beldam reaches her giant hands for the door. Everyone screams, and Coraline shuts the door.
"Everyone out- NOW!" Coraline instructs.
Without hesitation, everyone quickly crawls down the tunnel. The back of the tunnel began to burst into flames, and the screams of the burning Beldam was heard. Eventually, the screams died, and an explosion was heard. A light shined in front of the group, and not a moment too soon, they all popped right out of the door, and shut it. Coraline held onto the closed door tightly, then...the door exploded, having Coraline fly back, landing on top of Neil and Salma. She then looks up, seeing that the door was gone; sparkles of green dust filled the room, then disappeared into thin air.
Footsteps were soon heard. Coming down the stairs were the parents of Norman, Courtney, and Coraline. All four adults gasped, seeing their children safe and sound. Then, without a warning, they all began crying with joy, and rushed towards their kids.
"Oh Coraline!" Mel cried, clutching onto her daughter tightly. "I'm so glade you're safe!"
"My baby girl!" Charlie exclaimed.
Coraline sighed, annoyed by her parents. But, on the other hand, she almost died. Again. So, she shrugged it off, and hugged her parents back. Sandra and Perry hugged Courtney tightly. They then noticed Norman, who was unconscious.
"Oh my god! Norman!" Sandra exclaims, running to his body.
A group of cops came running down the stairs. "What the hell's going on?!" One of the cops asked. Once they saw the scene in front of them, they went silent. Sandra, who cried with both joy and grief, cradled her son's body in her arms. She looks up at the cops, yelling, "GET HIM TO A HOSPITAL NOW, YOU LAZY BASTARDS!"
Coraline watched as the cops took Norman's body away, getting him upstairs, and to the hospital. Quickly, she got up, and ran after them. Neil and Salma followed as well, and so did Coraline's parents. Cat left the house, but only stayed on the Babcock's front porch. Aggie followed the ambulance, wanting to make sure that Norman was just as safe as could be.
It was a long night. The last thing that Coraline wanted to happen was Norman's demise.
Poor Wybie... Coraline thought, in her parent's car as they drove to the hospital.
THE FINAL CHAPTER IS NEXT, YOU GUYS! I'M SOOOOOOO EXCITED TO FINALLY GET THIS STORY DONE! AND IT ONLY TOOK ME TWO YEARS!
Well, stay tuned for the next and final chapter!
And yes, I killed Wybie. I know, I'm evil...
See ya soon,
~Nixter97~