Coraline Sequel - Horrors at Night

Searching

Coraline's heart sunk. She had lost. She would never return to her parents, her home...

The thought of Wybie flickered through her mind. Yes, he would be alone, too. Coraline's best friend, the boy who had always been there for her...

Her heart began to race. It wasn't fair that the Other Mother could take these people away from Coraline. She could not take away her life, or her friends or family. The Other Mother did not have the right to take any of this from Coraline!

If she was going to retrieve it, she would have to think strategically.

Coraline knew that Alice had not followed her from the moment she had fled from the Pink Palace. It was tempting... oh, so tempting for her to go to the well and find her own way home. But the Other Mother would feel it, and close down the portal.

And Coraline would have to live with the knowledge that she had left Alice in the clutches of the Other Mother. 

Coraline began to slowly creep back up to the Pink Palace. The Other Mother had said her flag was the largest pumpkin... the ones her Other Father had once planted...

Coraline remembered the gruesome form that her Other Father had transformed into on the night of her first escape. This was no ordinary flag for her to find. This would be more difficult than she had thought possible.

                                                                                           ******

Alice sat huddled behind a great couch in the living room. It was warm here, and dark, so the Other Mother would never think to find her.

Alice loved playing games, although, she was never good at them. People always found her during hide and seek because she made too much noise, or accidentally knocked over a vase, or could not help but giggle as the other children called her name.

Here, she believed that the Other Mother would let her win. There was something about her button-eyes that attracted Alice. Her Other Mother was special, and Alice wanted to be special, just like her. Coraline would not let her be special, and Alice would not let Coraline find her.

                                                                                       ******

The gardens. That much was obvious.

Coraline remembered the blue leafy trees well, along with the crimson flowers, the neatly trimmed hedges, and the pumpkin patch that grew in the very center of the greenhouse.

Only now, it had changed.

The garden was no longer neat and proper. It  was a wild, tangled mess of leaves and ferns, with decayed and folded rose petals littered across the ground. 

It was like something out of a nightmare.

Coraline crossed the path with caution. She could not risk finding Alice for fear of leading the Other Mother to her. She walked, trembling, to the greenhouse, and opened the old door with a loud squeal.

Instantly, the smell hit her. Coraline doubled over, wanting to gag with the stink of rotting fruits and vegetables. Flies swarmed around her, as if they have been trapped in the greenhouse for days. Her eyes watered, yet, she continued into the crowded room, filled with ensnaring roots and squashed pumpkins, the pots rattling around her.

Coraline did not know what she was supposed to be looking for. Her boots crunched under the leafy ground. Nobody had cared for this place in a long time. Of course, the Other Father once did that, but he was gone now...