Coraline Sequel - Horrors at Night

Remains

Wybie walked home slowly in the low-light, kicking the small pebbles around his feet and watching them as they bounced off in all different directions. The two black buttons still sat in his pocket, ever still, ever silent. He wondered what he ought to do with them. Throw them away and fear the Other Mother may find them once more? Keep them, yet be reminded of the horrors of the past?

He shoved away the thoughts to the back of his head. There was nothing to be afraid of, he told himself. The Other Mother is gone, and she was never coming back unless the door was opened.

But the door had been opened. Alice had pulled at the old wood until it broke away, revealing nothing much but a pile of dusty bricks. Surely there was nothing left of the Other world now. Coraline had explained, once, and very quickly after a long day of asking what had happened. The plants had turned white and whithered into a a sky of nothingness, disappearing into an immense world of glare. The house had deteriorated into peeling paint and floor, and the Other Mother had screeched when her two eyes had been torn out, and her hand, the hand that now resided in the bottom of that deep, deep well..

Wybie stumbled onto the decking of his grandmothers house. He had not realised his arrival would be so quick. Quietly, as not to disturb her for she was most likely sleeping, Wybie crept through the unlocked door and padded through the small house until reaching his room and shutting the door behind him.

He had not told Coraline that the doll the cat (for he did not wish to claim the free spirit as his own) had found had not been disposed of. In fact, it lay under a mound of clothing in his closet, green button eyes twinkling, woolen hair sticking to the floor.

He walked over to his cupboard and stared at the door for a moment. He was not afraid or determined, yet silently asking himself why and how Coraline had to be the one the Other Mother targeted. She did not fit in well at school. The teachers pestered her for day-dreaming, the children called her weird. Wybie was one of her only friends, and although he might have had other friends of his own by now, he could not seem to seperate himself from her.

He opened the cupboard. It was cold inside, and his clothing hung like limp soldiers. He lifted the small pile of clothing in the back of the small space, and, to his surprise, saw nothing more but a strand of blonde wool that belonged once to the doll that had been there previously.

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Alice crept tentatively through the small tunnel, three mice leading her way. They had woken her up late at night, when everything had been silent and dark. Their smal paws scratched at the walls beside her, squeaked in her ears and nibbled at her pillow, until she finally stood and followed them, leaving Coraline tossing and turning in her own bed.

Now she was alone, and all was quiet. She didn't know if she should be afraid or excited. The material walls around her were damp and cold, and so thin and frail she felt as if she could fall right through with the slightest step. There was a small light at the end of the tunnel, a ghastly, sort of green shimmer, that boosted her confidence.

Finally, she reached it, the mice scurrying away from her. She stood, closing the little door behind her and concealing the tunnel. She was in a large square room, similar to the drawing room in Coraline's apartment. Paintings hung on the wall, peeling from mis-treatment, and the floor beneath her feet was dusty and rotten.

She was alone.

The mice had vanished, and now her excitement had begun to twist and warp into fear. Where was she? Didn't the little door lead to the apartment she was supposed to move into?

Alice turned around, afraid and seeking the small door that would grant her passage to Coraline's apartment. But it was not there. There was only a blank wall. Alice knelt down on her knees and touched the wall; there were no signs that a door had ever been there.

Shivering, she stood. Surely there was some other way out, she thought to herself. Alice moved out of the duplicate drawing room and crept into the long hallway, floor boards creaking under her small feet.

She managed to find herself walking into the kitchen. It surprized her, a little. A table, identical to the one Coraline had, was turned over, the limbs of chairs scattered all over the place. Drawings and paintings were crooked on the walls, some even in pieces on the ground. Alice walked closer to one of the paintings; on the canvas were three claw marks that ripped through the material. She dropped the painting in shock. She had to leave, but there seemed to be no possible way. She felt her heart speed up in panic - what if she was trapped here forever?

Alice moved fast up the winding staircase.  As she reached the last step, she turned to see that all previous stairs had simply vanished. There was only a large, dark gap from where she stood to the floor.

Breathing loudly, Alice made her way to Coraline's bedroom. It was eerie how different it looked from the rest of the house. Pink and green walls and floor covered the room in divine colour, toys smiled and her and waved, a bright canopy hung above the bed, where a dark shape sat.

"Hello?" asked Alice, swaying on the spot.

"Is someone there?"

The figure turned, red lipstick stretching into a smile, short black hair dishevelled in places.

"Why hello, Alice," the Other Mother said. She stood, revealing a bundle in her arms. Alice gasped.

"Say hello to your little brother."