The Beldam's story: Coraline

Coraline Joans (part 4)

"You let her go!" My voice rose two octaves in the four words. Wybie had taken out the metal in his mouth so he could speak freely again.

"You did not have any right to lock her away in that mirror like you have the other children." He came so close to me that if he could breath I would be able to smell his breath. He pointed a finger of his only remaining hand at my chest forcing me to move back.

"You will leave her alone and you will die, leaving this world to close behind you." That made me pause. He thought that I controlled the world. That this place was mine. I quickly looked around the room. Vermin had gone to the Other world to try and lure Coraline back. He had the genius idea to make it look like her parents had been taken, luring her back into this world for good. Her bravery being her biggest downfall.

"I don't run this place." I said quietly, moving my voice to a normal pitch. "I am simply here to fill the void and lure children to their deaths."

"If you don't run it then who does?" Wybie was still close to me and pressing his finger towards me.

"Vermin."

"Vermin? Who the hell is Vermin?"

"The cat. He took over the form of the cat to keep Abel silent over in the other world." I sat down, letting it all flood out. "If I stuff up again then he is going to kill me. If he kills me he will need a new heir to this place. Quests who he would pick for the job." He wasn't an idiot, it only took him a second to figure it out.

"So you kill them so they don't end up like you?" I nodded. An eternity of killing was far worse than being killed in my opinion. My one selfless act, I feel. Wybie moved away, sitting on one of the chairs in the kitchen too. He was frowning again, a face that fit him like a glove.

"How long have you been here, Belle?" That caught me off guard. Nobody had used my real name is so long. It was always 'Mum' or 'Beldam', never Belle.

"One hundred and fifty years, give or take ten or so years."

"We'll have you tried to fight Vermin. Kill him and destroy this world?" I stayed silent, realising the mistake I had just made from talking Wybie everything. I stared into his button eyes as they looked back at me.

"What?"

"I told you everything. You are going to help Coraline to escape if she comes back. I can no longer keep you alive. I'm sorry." I added at the end, because I realised that I was in fact sorry about what I had to do. I stood up, taking careful steps towards him. He didn't move. I grabbed him by the wrist and forced him outside. He didn't move. Up the stairs we trudged to the top of Bobinsky's apartment. He didn't move.

"I really don't want to do this to you." I placed my hands on his cheeks. Rubbing one of my fingers under his eye where a tear could have fallen.

"You don't have to do this, you know."

"Believe me," I twisted in one sharp movement and tore off his head. The saw dust that made up his body collapsed onto the boards, little flecks falling through the crack and falling like snow, towards the grass. "I have to."

***
"Coraline why would you run away from me?" I had her in my arms, I could smell smoke on her, like she had been around a fire. I knew that she had burnt the doll, letting it curl and pop open in a scream as I lost my ability to see her.

I took off the ridiculous outfit her real mother wore and went back to my stretched self, couldn't let her get too comfortable around me again.

"I have no idea where your real parents are. Maybe they grew bored of you and ran away to France."