Coraline Sequel - Horrors at Night

Would You Like to Play a Game?

Coraline felt as if all of the blood had drained from her body. She could do nothing but gape, fear-stricken, towards the thin woman standing before her. 

The appearance of the Other Mother had changed since Coraline had last seen her. Her button eyes gleamed on her eyes hungrily, but hung loosely from where they had once been sewn. Her figure was taller and more spider-like than it had ever been, sending shivers down Coraline's spine. What made  her more fearful were the hands of the Other Mother - both of them were still intact. 

Of course, Coraline thought.

The well would have sent the remains of the Other shattered hand back into this world. 

The Other Mother still bore the resemblance to Coraline's real mother, but looked disheveled and unkempt, as if she had been running through the woods around the other Pink Palace like the wild creature that she was. 

"Darling," the Other Mother purred. Coraline stood on shaking legs; she did not want to look vulnerable, but she felt very scared. The sky around her was not blue, but a deep and miserable grey, like the walls of a house that have been left, untouched, for years. There were no clouds, but deep gashes in the sky that showed the other world physically breaking apart from the inside out. The earth did not feel moist and full of rejuvenation - it felt cold and dead and empty, just like the Other Mother. 

Coraline said nothing, and kept her mouth in a straight, firm line. The Other Mother frowned. 

'That is no way to treat your Mother! Come inside, darling, your sister is here too..." she gestured to her right, and a small girl with bright blonde pigtails arrived at her side, a small smile fading from her plump cheeks as she rubbed the side of her head.

Coraline's heart began to beat faster; there was Alice. She could save her, the Other Mother had not hidden her, or done what she had to the other ghost children Coraline had encountered upon her first visit, and what she had thought and hoped would have been the last. She knew now that no other child could ever be tempted by the Other Mother. She had to do something to end it. All of it. 

"Alice," Coraline tried to keep her voice steady, but it squeaked in fear.

"Come here, with me," she pointed to the ground. If they could return to the well together, they could be transported to the real Pink Palace.

Alice took a tentative step forwards before the Other Mother placed her claw-like hands on her shoulders.

"Now, now, we mustn't go off running about! Why don't you come inside for some dinner, Coraline?" The Other Mother pushed Alice into the great house, and stared at Coraline, her button eyes gleaming.

Coraline did not want to move, but she had to rescue Alice. Slowly, she followed the little girl into the house, the Other Mother watching her every move.

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Coraline had an idea. It had struck her just as the chicken had arrived, hot and steaming, upon the slightly dirty china plates the Other Mother had brought out to the table.

 Alice stared at Coraline, as if she could not believe her eyes. Of course, Coraline thought, Alice must have believed that she was the only girl who could have an Other Mother.

"I'm not hungry. Are you hungry, Alice?" She stared at the little girl as fiercely as possible. Coraline had used this tactic before with Wybie, when his grandmother, deaf as she was, refused to let them play outside.

Alice shook her head firmly and stared at her dinner plate.

"No," she said.

"Other Mommy, we're not hungry."

The Other Mother's red smile faltered. She opened her mouth to say something, but Coraline interrupted with her stomach twisted in nervous knots.

"I know what we can do instead. Let's play a game."

The Other Mother laughed as if Coraline had told a very funny joke. She placed one of her long, thin hands across Coraline's leg, who jumped in disgust.

"Very funny, dear. But I do remember the... competitive nature you showed the last time you and I played games."

"You played a game with my Mommy?" Alice cried.

"That's not fair! I want to play a game with Other Mommy! I want button-eyes like Other Mommy!"

The Other Mother grinned at Coraline, who felt as if her world was crashing down around her. Why did Alice say that? Did Alice remember that her real mother was in a different world, that the Other Mother was not her real mother? Coraline had to find a solution, and fast.

"Of course you can have button -" the Other Mother began. Once again, Coraline cut in.

"Let's play a game then! Alice, you want to play a game, right?" Coraline was hoping with all of her might that the little girl would still say she did. To her relief, Alice nodded vigorously.

"Alright then! We could play hide and seek..."

"No," the Other Mother said firmly.

"We played that last time. It's time we played a new game." Her voice was rough and deeper than it usually was. Her long, red fingernails tapped the table in habit.

"Capture the flag! Let's play capture the flag!" Alice shrieked in delight. Coraline's heart beat faster. She was going to have to be very smart to escape from the clutches of the Other Mother this time.

"Alright, well, how about this," she started nervously.

"We can play capture the flag. Alice can be my flag, which means you have to find her," Coraline stared pointedly at the Other Mother.

"You can choose your flag. If I find your flag first, Alice and I can leave here. If you find Alice first, you can sew buttons into her eyes."

The Other Mother shook her head in disagreement.

'Oh, sweet Coraline! But that is not fair! If you find my flag first, I will allow one of you to leave. If I find Alice first, however, I will sew buttons into both of your eyes. That sounds better, does it not?" Alice agreed loudly. Coraline's heart dropped. The Other Mother would not let herself or Alice to leave. They would have to escape the Other World carefully, and in a way that prevented the Other Mother from ever finding the portal.

"Deal."

The Other Mother smiled and stood. She appeared to be taller than she had before, and her bone-structure poked from her paper-white skin like cracks in plaster.

"My flag will be the largest pumpkin you can find. Like the one's your father once planted, remember, Coraline? Now, I will turn around, and you can hide Alice."

The Other Mother turned her back, and so did Coraline. She gestured at Alice to follow her. When Coraline turned to peek at the Other Mother once more, she had disappeared.

Coraline ran through the halls of the Pink Palace and into the forest outside. If she and Alice could reach the well in time, they could both return home, and the Other Mother would not know how they had done it. But Coraline did not know if or how the Other Mother was watching her...

Coraline passed a large wagon filled with rotting apples. The scent filled her mouth and made her want to gag. She paused here, panting with the effort of running.

"Come on, Alice," she said. No doubt the little girl would be tired, but she did not seem to be complaining. In fact, Coraline could not remember an echo of pattering steps behind her own...

She whirled around. Alice was nowhere to be seen. Coraline looked behind the wagon and behind the trees, but the small girl with pig-tails had not followed Coraline. Perhaps, she had not seen her gesture to come outside.

Without Alice, the pair of girls could not get into the portal within the amount of time they had.

Without Alice, Coraline had lost the game. The little girl was now in the clutches of the Other Mother.