The Beldam's story: Coraline

A slight complication

The screams filled my head. Three small children snatched away from their lives, trapped in the basement. The screams came and went. Sometimes I forgot what I did and who haunted the four walls surrounding me. I even craved it some days. Sitting in my sewing room making clothes, the one part of my life before that I refused to part with and it would strike. Like lightning, the need for a human to love, to care for. Flesh to eat. It burrowed in the pit of my stomach and held on until the screams came back again reminding me of the consequences of my actions.

Vermin became anxious after a while. It happened after every child. He would have a period of time where he was content. Smiling and laughing with me as we filled the empty void of time however we pleased. But after six months, his knee would start to bop up and down to a rhythm in his head. Then the hand would start to twitch. Finally he would snap, running his hands through his hair and pouncing on me. Even snapping my legs at one point, the spindly spider like sticks thrown across the garden for me to crawl back to, attaching them again.

We had crossed the new century in the world above. That Vermin had let me know. This was the second century I had spent down here. Time was a blurry concept, and if it wasn't for Vermin, I would have thought I was only here a week.

I was alone, walking around the spotless house trying to find some things to clean or do when I heard a tiny mewing from somewhere in the house. It was a cat, that I was sure of. But where did the cat come from? I started to scurry around, opening all the doors looking for the small creature making the noise.

"Here little kitty," I called, turning to the mirror at the end of a hallway. There a small black cat was scratching at the mirror. It's pint laws leaving little scratches on the glass. My face looking back from the mirror matched one of confusion. On the other side of the mirror, Aggie was crouched down looking at the cat with her small round buttons. The blood had disappeared from her soul and the black holes were all that was left.

"Hello," I slowly stepped forward, crouching down on all eight legs and scooping the tiny creature into my arms. It cried out, stretching its paws along my metal arms. Trying to escape my clutches. But I held on tighter. This small thing was real and I could hold it and love it without having to try and kill it, tearing off its flesh with my teeth.

"How did you get all the way down here? Did you fall down the well or go through the tunnel?" The little cats ears pricked up, moving closer to the sound of my voice. It turned its head, flashing bright blue eyes in my direction. For a moment I was lost in them, swearing that I had met them before.

"It doesn't matter. You're here now so we can be together. I love you already and I've only known you for two minutes." Once again, the cat scratched me.

"Belle, what the fuck are you doing!" Vermin screamed at me, running down the hallways and stealing the cat out of my grasp. Holding it by the back legs. That cat dangled in the air hissing at Vermin, pulling itself up to get free.

"What are you doing?" I stood up, lunging forward to protect the defenceless creature. Vermin pulled back, dropping the cat. I let out a scream, reaching out. But as the cat reached the floor, a blue light omitted upwards, sending neon light through the space. The wrinkled face of Abel stared at the two of us. His soul matching that of the ghost children who were now watching through the mirror.

"Abel," I began

"You stole my daughter away from me! My little girl died at the age of ten because you needed somebody to control and kill. You are the reason my life fell apart when I was a child and once again when I was an adult and finally happy. You are the reason I came back to this world. To protect those who you try to destroy!" His words were filled with passion and anger and hurt. If I could cry I would. Vermin had moved in front of me so I wouldn't get any ideas. They were already circling around my head but I didn't react. I knew what would happen if I did.

"Abel?" The spirit moved back into the small cat and his cries suddenly made sense. Aggie once again knelt down to be close to her father again as Abel went running to the mirror, hissing at our heels as he passed.

"How did he get in?" I asked Vermin, my eyes still on the small creature.

"Your guess is as good as mine. But him skulking around is going to make it more difficult to lure kids in." I nodded absentmindedly, trying to think of a solution to Abel's suddenly reappearance.

"We could always kill him again?" The thought sent shock waves to my stomach. Sure, I've killed three kids but a cat feels different.

"Have you seen how determined he is? He'll just keep coming back. It's not worth killing him all the time." The two of us fell into a silence, wrapping our brains around possible ways our operation could still run with a new member. Vermin disappeared and moved around the room as wind, his thoughts sketches coming out as muffled nothings.

"We could.... how about.... that would be too messy.... ah, no...."

"You can turn into anything, right?" I asked, bringing my hand to my lip, an idea forming in my head. It lit up like a lightbulb. As it formed the light turned into fireworks, the pros of this plan working making our job so much easier in the long run. Only if Vermin could do it.

"Yes," Vermin appears again in the form of Charles. He took the hand by my mouth and pulled it down, looking me in the face. It was when he did that that I would momentarily forget that he wasn't my husband and father of my child. The blonde hair fell into his eyes and I resisted the urge to pull it back.

"Are you able to.. enter someone else by any chance?" Vermin raised an eyebrow, unsure as to where this was going.

"Quite honestly I've never really tried."

"Well," my voice was tentative, unsure if it would even work. "I want you to enter the body of Abel?"

"The dead one?"

"No! The cat." The two of us turned. He had stopped crying and was now looking at us. His front legs forward and his back end in the air as if he was about to pounce. Vermin gave me another look before shutting his eyes and taking a deep breath. The wind shifted as he disappeared. It was very quiet. Both the cat and I stood very still. Waiting.

"Did it work?" The cats mouth opened and closed with the words. My mother dropped open. It actually worked.

"Holy shit, it worked." My voice came out as barely a whisper. Then the cat started to twitch. His head moving right and left before completely rolling over on the floor. His paws moving up to swat his face like there was a fly there.

"Vermin?" The little creature struggled for a few more moments before standing bolt upright and running out towards the tunnel. I filled behind him, wanting to understand what was happening.

"Open the little door. Hurry, while I still have control!" Not wanting to disobey Vermin, I grabbed the key and opened the portal. The cat ran straight through without so much as a backwards glance. Letting my head down, I looked past them to the opening of the world I had left. If my whole body were to leave this place I would age over a hundred years and surely perish. But, I still wished to go back there. Seeing the world I left one more time before I left wasn't such a bad way to go.

"Shut the door so he doesn't get back in." I jumped at the voice behind me. Vermin had sweat drilling down his hair and landing on the wooden floorboards with a 'splash'.

"Abel's strong, I'll give him that. But to answer your question; yes I can enter the body of a person. Now he won't be able to get in without me but I can go out there as take him as my own. We essentially have a third member of this operation now." Vermin smirked at the possibilities. I took his arm gently, smiling up at him.

"Yes, a third member."

*** I just wanted to say thank you so much for 200 reads! That is absolutely amazing, I didn't think this would get over 50 reads. I hope you are enjoying the series. And if you are reading this in the year 2030, how is life nine years in the future? Spending my love xxx ***