CORALINE 2: stolen buttons

Chapter 1: through the well

- it was freezing cold in there. Wet, moldy, full of junk, and surrounded by bricks. "Hello!" I shouted and immediately heard an echo. I felt like I was going through a tunnel. It was dark and I didn't have a flashlight so I decided to continue walking. I kept walking through the damp tunnel and as I did I started to hear clinking sounds behind me. "Clink clink clink clink" like the sounds of thin metal footsteps hitting the hard brick ground. I immediately turned around and.... There was nothing there. Not even the path I was walking on not so long ago. All there was, was a bricked up layer of.... Bricks. I put my hands on the bricks and tried to push them back. No use. They were sturdy and unmovable just as if they were always there. No way back, so I continued forward.  The brick tunnel started to get brighter but I still couldn't see an end to it. After a while I struck water. Not to much but it was about 2-3 inches of water that soaked my yellow boots. The noises started to get louder and more frequent. And the wall kept following close behind. At first the noises were just the familiar clinking of spider like feet, but then I started to hear steam, water running, banging and moving pipes, dripping water. All basic sounds you'd expect, but then.... I started to hear singing. Like the song of a familiar lullaby. "Dreaming dreaming dreaming la da da da da..." The same lullaby I'd hear while I slept in that god forsaken room. I knew it was her. But I still continued to walk closer. No turning back now. As I walked closer the singing got louder. I was starting to feel sick. Out of worry maybe, but I was also feeling starving, and maybe a little tired, I have been walking for at least an hour or so. Did I mention how cold it was before because at that point it was unbearable. I could feel my skin numbing up. And my toes, still wet, felt like they were about to fall off. That was when I hit a clearing. It was round and circular like the inside of a... Well. The water had reached up to covering my feet completely. I looked up to see a sky full of stars. I looked around... Empty. Quiet. No more singing. No more noises. Its as if the entire world went silent......... Until I heard a rustling behind me. I quickly spun around to find another me. But not like the little little doll other me, but it was actually me. It had my clothes and everything. The only difference was. It's eyes. It's deep, black, soulless, button eyes. It was slouched over. Almost dead against the brick wall. Sitting in the deep water. I know I shouldn't have but I was too curious. I approached it. Once I got close enough it started to move. I stood there frozen just watching it. At first it looked blankly uncomfortable, and then it started to stair at the hole on the top of the well blankly and... It began to cry. I watched it and couldn't help but feel really really sad and sorry for the poor girl. And then it started to cry out "mom!....? Mamma! Mamma!" It was calling out for its mom at the top of the well as it started to rain. First softly then pouring. But the well would not fill up. She looked so miserable. No one came for her. They just left her there to die at the bottom of the well. All alone. "Now now my dear no need to cry." I heard a voice directly from behind me. A VERRY familiar voice. I backed up to the side corner and watched the two. I watched as the beldam picked up the little girl and cradled her in its arms. "Come along coraline, the well is no place for a young lady like yourself to be in." I just knew she was talking to me and not the little girl in her arms. But I was just as trapped as her now. With no where to go. I followed the beldam close behind like a lost little child. Cold and starved, with no one else to turn too. We walked for a little while longer until we started to see bits and pieces of the other world form around us. We were back in the pink palace, but not the one I grew to know as home. We were in the other world. The beldam waved me inside as I saw that the little girl had turned back into the little doll and the beldam returned to looking like my mother, just like before. She brought me into the kitchen as she gave me food to eat, just like before. And she gave me cloths to wear warm and comfortable, just like before. And then she tucked me into bed just like before. And I watched as she twirled my hair at the tips of her fingers and started to sing me a lullaby to sleep. And just before I almost dozed off... She took out a present for me. She didn't have to open it for me to know what it was. And I.... I just nodded. I was too weak and tired to fight it anymore anyways. It was quick and it was painless. I watched with glazed eyelids as she sewed buttons into my eyes all while singing her lullaby to me and just as she finished, I fell asleep. And everything went dark. And that's when I woke up.

(And you didn't have button eyes when you looked in the mirror?)

-No.

(So what your saying is that all of what you just stated to me was... A dream?)

-Yes.

(Could it be that the events from before where also a dream?)

-No. They where real.

(Mmmhmmm.... Can you please elaborate.)

-I think the dreams I've been having are a warning that I'm still in danger. The beldam IS coming for me. And this time.... She will have me. And there's nothing I can do about it but prolong the inevitable.

("Sigh" miss johns, have you been taking the medication that your doctors have been proscribing you by any chance?)

-"Grunt" I have.

(And you haven't skipped any medication days or appointments have you?)

-No.

(And your parents; do they watch you to make sure your taking your medicine?)

-I said I was taking it!

(Please answer the question truthfully miss johns.)

-Yes.

(Yes to what question miss johns?)

-Yes my parents have been watching me to see if I take my medication.

("Sigh" we have reached the end of our session miss johns please see yourself out thank you.)

-Whatever. I knew you wouldn't believe me anyways.  

- I told whybe the other day about the beldams return but he had shocking news of his own to tell me on that day. His grandmother thought it be best if we didn't see each other again. Ever. And my parents agreed. I'm not even going to school anymore. I've taken an official sick leave and I won't be back till my "condition" improves. Now I'm stuck in that room 24/7 starring at the door, and sometimes I catch myself wondering, what would have happened to me if I just accepted the buttons in the first place? She still sings to me in my sleep. Sometimes she'll even tuck me in. And when she's ready she'll take me away. And no one would be none the wiser. Just like it should have been a long time ago...