Coraline Sequel - Horrors at Night

Down the Well

Wybie would be here in ten minutes. Coraline's hand had found itself back to the bricks covering the little door. Maybe the Other Mother would let the Alice go for a night, to coax her into returning to the mad world like she did with Coraline.

Or maybe, she had learned from her mistakes.

Coraline sighed. It was all her fault. If she hadn't been so naiive and caught up with her friends... this would never have happened.

A small purr voiced from the right window. Coraline turned her attention to the noise.

A black alley cat sat at the window sill, cleaning itself delicately. Its shining black coat was remarkably clean, and the creature held a sort of grand poise around Coraline. She lifted the window open for him, and he strolled casually inside the room, balancing on his paws lightly. He was a sophisticated cat, as Coraline was proud to define him, yet she longed for him to talk as he had in the Other world.

"Hey, Cat," she grumbled.

The cat did not talk. Coraline resented the fact that in the Other world, animals could talk to her, and they could not here. She hated the idea that something was appealing in a place that held so much danger.

Coraline pulled Cat onto her lap, not caring about the fur that would stick to her favorite blue skirt afterwards. Cat hesitated for a moment, staying as limp and uncomfortable as an inanimate object in her arms, before relaxing and allowing his companion to stroke his soft black ears.

"The entrance to the Other world is sealed shut," she whispered quietly. Cat's ears stuck up, interested. He looked at her in a concerned manner, that was, if Cat's could look concernedly at people, Coraline wondered.

"I never thought I would have to go back there," she sighed. The memories of her past blossomed in her mind like dangerous weeds.

"But I have to. It's my fault the Other Mother has Alice. I have to get her back, and I don't know how. Please," Coraline turned Cat so they faced each other.

"You have to help me. I've seen you disappear to that Other world before, in ways other than through the little door. Please, Cat, you have to show me."

Cat leaped out of Coraline's grasp and stalked around her bedroom floor, tail in the air in a prideful mannerism.

"Cat, you wouldn't want another child to be left with the Other Mother, would you? What if that was me stuck there? Wouldn't you want to help?"

Cat let out a strangled noise, before nodding once, slowly. Coraline's eyes lit up excitedly, as she opened her bedroom door.

"Show me the way, Cat. We have to help Alice."

                                                                                                   *******

Alice was having fun with her new family. She liked them more than she had ever liked her real mother and father. They were boring, and too busy with her new brother. Her Other parents, however, liked Alice just fine, and this baby Wybourne didn't complain at all, unlike the real one.

The dinner table had been set, but not with vegetables and meat like it usually was. Alice had requested good food, and so her Other Mother had prepared cakes and jellies for dinner! Alice's parents would have never allowed that.

"What's your favorite thing in the world, mom?" Alice asked, peering over her large glass bowl of vanilla and chocolate icing.

"Why, you of course, sweetheart." Her mother's eyes - or button eyes, should she say - gleamed with love and pride at Alice. Or perhaps it was a certain hunger, from all of the food that decorated the table so nicely? Alice was not sure.
"Why don't you eat, mom? The food is so good, you look hungry. My real parents would never have let me eat all of this for dinner."

Her new mother gracefully dropped her hands in her lap and smiled a crooked, bent smile.

"I'm not hungry, darling. I have a much bigger appetite for other delicacies," with this, the Other Mother stared intently upon Alice, who shrugged.

"If you're my Other Mother, then where is my other father? Shouldn't I have one of those, too?" The button-eyed woman laughed gently at this.

"Your father had an accident with his pumpkins. I'm sure he'll come in to visit soon."

Alice's mouth was filled with sweets, candy and chocolate. She could not remember tasting anything as good as this good. In fact, she had a difficult time recollecting the last meal she ate. Where was it she ate again? Where was her home? Did her parents ever give her ice-cream? She shook her head confusedly, golden hair spraying over her small shoulders.

"Is something wrong, sweet?" Her Other Mother crooned, black buttons gleaming under the harsh lights of the kitchen. Alice slapped the side of her head lightly.

"I can't remember what my house looks like," she said softly. The air was warm, so warm, and inviting. Her eyelids began to droop as sleep beckoned.

"Of course, but you are quite tired. Let me tuck you into bed, and sing you a lullaby goodnight."

"Sing me... lullaby? Mom and dad never did that before..." sleep was truly beginning to take its toll on the little girl, who stretched out her little arms.

"Mommy, take me to bed please."

She felt herself being lifted out of her chair, and listened to the rhythmic thumps of her Other Mother's feet against the old wood of the stairs.

Alice gasped as she was lowered into the most comfortable bed she had ever felt, and immediately began to fall victim to sleep. Distantly, as if it were an echo, her Other Mother's voice sung to her;

"A promise that you will not fail to keep,

while I'm singing to you in your sleep.

The other girl had gotten away,

but I know that you are going to stay."

                                                                                               ******

The air had turned icy and made the light hairs on Coraline's arms stand up straight, like little soldiers. Cat had made her run to catch up to him, as he stalked off out of the Pink Palace entirely, and into the woods that brought such terrible memories to Coraline's mind. Often during the night, the sounds of the Other Mother's hand clicked in her ears, like long nails tapping against a hard surface. As much as she tried to convince herself it were only nightmares, Coraline could not help but feel afraid that the Other Mother had once again found a way to get to her.

And she had, through Alice.

Cat wound through the many trees and dark shadows of the forest. Coraline passed a wagon of rotting apples that made her have to hold her breath so tightly that her ears popped.

Finally, they had arrived. To where, Coraline was unsure, but Cat had stopped moving, and looked down at a ring of mushrooms circulating a pit of mud.

"What is this?" Coraline asked curiously. She placed her hand on the mud, and a jolt of energy passed through her. She jumped back in fright.

"What?" She asked herself through gritted teeth, and scraped away the layers of mud on top of the hidden wooden surface.

The well.

Coraline felt numb all over. She began to shake, and her bottom lip trembled uncontrollably.

"Is this the only way?" she asked in a small voice to Cat, who nodded once - yes.

Coraline took a deep breath, and pried off the wooden lid of the well with her fingers. It came off with a screech and a begrudging sound of metal against metal.

Coraline took one last glance at Cat, at her surroundings, took a deep breath of the air from her real world, and jumped into the well that would lead her straight to the clutches of the Other Mother.