The Beldam is Back

Chapter 2

The next morning, Coraline woke up in a sweat. She had had the nightmare again. Quickly rushing out of bed, she ran to the bathroom to see if she looked okay. Her eyes had dark purple bags underneath them.

She sighed. There was nothing Coraline could do now. She walked downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast. Her mother looked up from her laptop, worried.

"Coraline, are you okay? You look like you didn't sleep. Are you ill?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, just didn't sleep very well."

"Okay honey, but if you feel worse, tell me and I can get you checked out at the doctors."

Coraline then started to eat her breakfast. Once she had done, she got dressed and waited for Wybie.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She jerked up, tipping back and out of her chair. She looked up. Wybie was staring down at her with a huge grin on his face. Then the smile faded.

"Don't ask." Coraline told him before he could say anything.

She carefully stood up, stretching her joints. She sat down, gesturing for Wybie to do the same. She put her head in her hands and sighed. She knew that there was no way she would be up to do the work today. Her mind was set on other matters. She knew what she was going to have to do.

"Wybie, I can't do the work today. I have something else I need to check."

"What is it?" Wybie looked confused.

"I need to check the witch's well."

...

"Coraline stop. I said STOP!" Wybie chased after Coraline.

She had marched smartly off, headed to the well. Wybie had tried to stop her, again and again, but she wouldn't listen. He was scared that this mission of hers was dangerous. He hadn't been to the well in ages, who knew what could have happened near it?

Coraline stopped and turned to Wybie. Her face was frustrated and she was starting to get angry.  She didn't understand why Wybie wouldn't let her check the well, as she needed to check it to make sure everything was okay.

She had a feeling that the nightmares were happening again for a reason. The Beldam's hand had been destroyed by Wybie, but she wasn't certain that it was still destroyed.

"Wybie please. I won't stop until I've checked it. So if you don't let me go, I don't know what I'd do!"

With that said, Coraline turned around and marched off again.

There was nothing Wybie could do, he was going to have to follow her and make sure she was okay. He remembered the words his grandma had said after she met Coraline.

"Wyborn, you better watch over that young lady. If she has been through what she just told me, she needs to feel safe and secure. Be her friend and be a friend by looking after her."

He knew that his grandma would be really upset if she found out that he didn't go after Coraline. So, he quickly decided to keep following her. If she was going to go to the well, she was going to need backup.

By now, they had reached the well. Everything looked normal, but Wybie couldn't help feeling a little bit freaked out. But then, out of the corner of his eye, Wybie noticed something. The wooden planking over the hole on the ground was lifted a bit at one side, it wasn't completely covering the well like when they had left it.

He pointed this out to Coraline and she suddenly looked scared, but tried to look brave. They slowly walked over to the well, gulping nervously. Last time they had managed to evade the Beldam's hand, but they had no idea if they would be able to do the same again.

Wybie grabbed a stick that was in the grass near them. He lifted the rest of the wooden planks off the hole in the ground and put them to the side. They both looked down at the hole, but couldn't see anything.

Wybie was about to put the planks back when a metallic hand rose from the grass that Wybie had found the stick from, and rushed at them. Coraline yelped and as Wybie turned to look, the hand jumped and pushed him, knocking him to the ground, too close to the well for comfort.

Coraline screamed.

The hand grabbed Wybie's hair and started to crawl to the well, pulling Wybie behind it.

Coraline went to grab Wybie's hand when the metallic hand jumped into the well, pulling Wybie in after it.

Wybie grabbed the edge of the well and screamed to Coraline, "Jonesy, HELP!!!"

Coraline stood still in shock. This had been her nightmare. She hadn't told Wybie the truth about the nightmare, she had just told him that the nightmares were about what had happened. She had no idea that the nightmares were real.

She was stuck and terrified. All she could see was the last fight with the hand and her nightmares.

Then she snapped back to normal and lunged for Wybie's hand. She pulled his glove, but it just slipped off. She quickly grabbed his hand, and pulled with all her might, but the Beldam's hand was too strong and Wybie too heavy.

She fell to the ground beside the well, still holding Wybie's hand. The metallic hand swiftly ran up Wybie and tried to get to Coraline. It pulled her hair, it pulled her face back and even started to crawl all over her back, like a spider, but Coraline wouldn't let go of her best mate.

The hand just gave up and decided to try its last trick in the book. It jumped off Coraline's head and jumped into the well. At the last minute, it grabbed Wybie, yanking him down. Wybie's hand slipped out of Coraline's grasp and he fell with the metallic hand, into the witch's well.

Coraline screamed and screamed until she heard a splash, almost missing it, her screams almost drowning out the noise.

She had to get help, she needed to tell somebody. She needed to tell Wybie's grandma. She rushed off, running back to the house, screaming all the while. No one was going to believe her when she got back home.

People were going to think she was delusional.

She ran back to the house, yanked the door open and screamed to her mum. Her mother came running, worried at the tone in Coraline's voice. Coraline had never screamed like this before and her mother could tell she was terrified.

Coraline screamed to her mother to get Mr Bobinsky and meet her back here. Her mother was about to object and ask what was going on, when Coraline ran off, speeding to Wybie's grandma. She grabbed Wybie's bike and started to cycle, adrenaline pumping in her veins. This was the most important thing right now. Saving Wybie.