The Other Side: A Coraline Fanfiction

Chapter 1 - Coraline

"Coraline! How dare you disobey your mother?!"

Her voice echoes down the hallway as the Other Wybie frantically tries to push me through the small door, stubbornly refusing when I try to convince him to come along and escape that demon's wrath. But before either of us can get any further, my 'mother' reaches the decaying living room, grabbing hold of me and half-carrying, half-dragging me down the hallway. I thrash in her arms, willing her vice-like grip on me to loosen, but to no avail. The dark, enclosed space behind the hall mirror is where I find myself tossed, the ghost children waiting there in despair.

"You can never escape...her web is too strong," one says.

"Indeed, miss. You failed in retrieving our eyes..." says another.

"I tried, I really did, but she caught me!" I protest. Suddenly, in the span of a blink, I'm tied to a chair in the kitchen, the same woman from before turned skeletal and tall standing before me with a needle in her bony hand. A roll of thread and two shiny, jet-black buttons rest on the sickeningly pretty table beside me.

There is no escaping her anymore. She has me in her grasp. The only thing I can do now is let out an ear-splitting scream of agony as I feel the needle pierce my skin, just as she's always wanted.

I awake just then, pure terror filling the scream that hasn't stopped, cold sweat running down my back and tears forming in the corners of my eyes. I'm shaking like a leaf, too scared to even speak, let alone move. Having no doubt heard my screaming, my mother Mel appears in my room at once, clad in her favourite pajama bottoms and a comfortable-looking sweatshirt. Looking very concerned, she flicks on my bedroom light and rushes to my side. "Coraline, are you alright?"

I'm unable to answer at first as my fear still has me paralyzed, which only adds to her worry. She can see the panic in my eyes, see just how badly I'm trembling as I warily scan her features for any signs of their being a disguise. But to my relief, she looks perfectly normal just as she has every time I've woken from one of these damned nightmares. No buttons, no cracks in a face made of porcelain. Just her regular human face, real eyes and all.

Seeing what I'm doing - again - and not bothering to ask why this time, Mom wraps her arms around me in a protective, comforting hug and I lean into her touch. She's asked me why I do things like that so many times that she's long since given up trying to get the answer out of me. Just as I gave up on trying to tell either of my parents about everything that happened three years ago. If I had kept trying, they would have probably told me to get a psychiatric evaluation or had me put on medication. But I know I'm not crazy, nor had I simply dreamt all those horrifying events. Truthfully, it would have been a lot easier if I had, instead of having to go through life knowing that these things were - are - all too real even when almost no one else does. Knowing that I can never tell anyone else, least of all my parents.

After several minutes of Mom gently stroking my hair and encouraging me to take deep breaths, I'm finally calm enough to speak, although my voice is just as shaky as the rest of me has been. "The basement flat's empty now, right, Mom?"

"Yeah, the old neighbors finally moved out last night. Why?" she asks, looking puzzled as she breaks our hug.

"I..." I swallow thickly, fighting to keep my panic from rising again as vivid memories keep trying to play in my mind. "I think maybe we should move into it. I can't take these nightmares anymore, and - and maybe if we do that, they'll go away. Please, Mom," I desperately beg. I just want this to be over. I can't keep living like this, knowing I live in the same place as that door. Even just moving one flat away will put me farther from it. Farther from her.