Already Falling» Coraline

The Pink Palace

All credits to Neil Gaiman for the main plot. The only character that's mine is Alex and his family.
The moving van parked outside the Pink Palace, unloading the Jones' family's belongings to their new house. When they'd finished, Mrs Jones tried to slam the door shut, but the worker stuck his foot in the door and put his hand in front of her face- indicating that he wanted a tip. Reluctantly, she handed him a dollar bill. He tutted; climbed back into his van and drove away...
Coraline Jones pushed open the pink door and strolled out of her new house- She grabbed a 'dowsing rod' from a dull coloured bush and set of to find the secret well- with every step getting more careful. Through the woods she walked until she saw some rocks tumble down the hill from their pile on the grass. Curious, she picked up a stone and threw it at the pile. An agonising meow sounded which terrified Coraline and sent her running until she stood at a clearing in the woods. She took in the dark spindly trees with thorns, bugs crawled all over a damp rock. She was about to head back to the house when suddenly, a bicycle horn sounded and a flashlight shone through the night. The light was getting closer to Coraline-she screamed as she stumbled backwards. The person-whoever they were- slid on some mud, off their bike and tumbled onto Coraline. They rolled through some mud, then came to a stop. Coraline couldn't see anything through the thick layer of mud crusted on her.

"Oh my gosh! I..uh..." Stuttered a boy of around 14/15 (Coraline's age). Coraline wiped the mud off her eyes and took a look at the boy who'd almost killed her (with his bike) he had dark brown hair with sandy highlights, blue shining eyes-his pale face was also caked with mud.
Recovering herself, Coraline picked herself up- ignoring the hand the boy had offered.
"Who are you? Why were you trying to kill me? Wha-"
"Woah! Slow down! My name is Alex Green and you are?..."
"Coraline Jones..."she said- folding her arms.
" ...and I wasn't trying to kill you, I was cycling around the woods looks for my Uncle's stupid cat when I lost control on the mud and skidded down the hill,"
"Your uncle? Are you on vacation or something?"
"No, actually my parents died plane crash when I was 4, so my uncle and aunt have looked after me ever since."
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry, it must be hard for you."
"It's fine, I don't remember them much. Anyways, I've never seen you here before."
"I just moved here from Michigan," he tilted his head signalling that he didn't know where that was. She sighed but carried on anyway "I now live in the Pink Palace and I'm trying to find the secret well," she stamped her foot down in frustration.
"No! Be careful! If you stamp too hard you'll fall in it!"
"Uh!" She scrambled away from where she was standing. Alex scraped some mud off of a now- visible circular piece of wood. He opened it and showed Coraline.
"They say if you hit the bottom, you'll see a sky full of stars in the middle of the day." Coraline internally gasped as she cautiously walked up to the well and dropped a stone down. After almost a minute, she heard it splash at the bottom.
"Deep," she absent-mindedly brushed some mud off her clothes, then realisation hit her,"Oh no! My mom is gonna freak! She's busy enough as it with the garden catalogue without more laundry!"
"Wait here, I'll go get some of my aunt's clothes,"
"Will she let me?"
"Sure," and with that, he left.
Coraline sat on a rock as rain began falling. She hugged her knees to her chest. After about 10 minutes, Alex reappeared with a dress and a raincoat.
"Thanks, now turn around." He did as told. She stripped off her muddy yellow raincoat, stripy leggings, crimson denim skirt and blue t-shirt. She then slipped on the baggy dress and long raincoat.
"Thanks," she smiled then buttoned up the raincoat.

"You know... I've never been inside the Pink Palace...My uncle thinks it's...dangerous."
"Really? Why would he think that?"
"Well, my Uncle had a twin."
"So?"
"Well, one day he disappeared-my uncle said he he was stolen."
"Stolen?"
"Yeah... I never met him cause they were just kids when it happened."
"Oh, that's horrible but...I better get going, thanks for the clothes."
"Cool, see you round Coral."
"Coral?"
"Yeah, it's my new nickname for ya."
"Ok... Bye!"
"Bye! Oh and by the way, I would wear gloves next time."
"Why "
"That dowsing rod of yours... It's a poison oak," and he cycled off into the darkness.
Coraline stared after him even after he was gone, but then realised that she was still holding the poison oak.
"Argh!"she threw the dowsing rod aside.
First chapter-hope it wasn't too long and boring!;-) And I know I'm a scrappy writer, I'll try to edit it better.