The Beldam is Back

Chapter 3

She cycled as quickly as she could, skidding a little down the winding road Wybie's home.

Wybie's grandma was sitting on the front porch, knitting. Coraline ran up to her, out of breath.

Wybie's grandma could tell something was wrong as soon as she saw Coraline was using Wybie's bike.  Coraline quickly explained what had happened to her, as best as she could.

Wybie's grandma gasped. Her poor grandson was in the hands of that witch!

She knew that Coraline was going to go after him. She just had to make sure.

"Are you going to go after them?" She asked Coraline.

Coraline stuttered, she was so nervous, terrified for Wybie's sake, but she still managed to say one word.

"Yes."

...

Everyone was gathered around the well. Wybie's grandma had told them what had happened two years ago and now everyone understood Coraline's panic, although still doubting the story.

The focus for the moment was Wybie, as they stood looking into the well, now, worried for his sake.

Coraline's mother was in tears, her father anxiously shaking his hands. Wybie's grandma looked stern and Mr Bobinsky was telling Coraline the mice had wished her luck. Right now, luck was all Coraline needed.

Coraline was the only one around the well that could fit inside. She was going to be lowered down by Mr Bobinsky with a rope and she was going to grab Wybie and pull the rope so Mr Bobinsky would pull her back up.

The wooden planks were still to the side of the hole, the way Wybie had left them. Coraline slipped the rope around her waist and took a deep breath to calm herself. She climbed to the edge of the well and slowly climbed in, being careful not to slip. Her mother passed her a torch, and she smiled gently at her.

Mr Bobinsky gently lowered her down, slowly going deeper, in a seemingly never-ending hole.

Eventually, her toes touched water.

She held her breath as she was lowered a little further, until she called up to make Mr Bobinsky stop. She took a deep breath and ducked her head under the water, turning the torch on.

The light shone through the water, but she couldn't see Wybie. She saw something black and lunged for it, kicking her feet, so her head would go above the water. It was Wybie's glove, but there was no Wybie. She feared the worst, but something made her pause and think.

The well couldn't be that deep, could it?

She put her head underneath the water again and shone the torch to the bottom of the well. There was nothing there, although she noticed a big gap at the bottom. She swam down to it and put her hand in the gap. Her hand touched a dry wall. It seemed magic, because she realized the water in the well ran over the gap, and never leaked into it.

That was the moment she realized Wybie had been taken back to the Beldam's land by the metallic hand. She pulled the rope and felt her body rise out of the water. Her head came up above the water and she took a deep breath.

She was still holding Wybie's glove with one hand.

Suddenly she felt a prickling sensation in her leg and the movement upwards stopped. She looked down and saw the Beldam's hand holding on to her leg, pulling her down to the gap. She screamed, loud and clear, quickly shaking her leg to try and shake it off, all the while jerking the rope.

Meanwhile up above, Coraline's parents, Wybie's grandma and Mr Bobinsky heard her screams and felt the shaking and tugging on the rope. They knew something was seriously wrong.

"Quick, pull her up!" Coraline's mother screamed.

Mr Bobinsky pulled the rope quickly and he could feel the rope slowly moving upwards. The shaking had stopped. Coraline's mother and father were terrified, Coraline's mother shakily putting a hand to her mouth as she tried to calm her breathing.

Eventually, the rope came up to them. Coraline's head popped up and they could see that she was unconscious.

Wybie's glove was still in her hand.

The adults pulled her out of the well and laid her on the ground. She woke up and coughed, and started to scream.

"The Beldam, the Other Mother. She's coming. She coming! She took Wybie. She took Wybie!" 

She promptly burst into tears. The adults had no idea what she was talking about, before they remembered her story. They hadn't believed her, not really. They had told Coraline they believed her to get her to calm down.

Coraline kept going with the story and they knew she wasn't one to lie, so they started to believe the truth. They got her to calm down to a few hiccups, but she kept saying she had to save Wybie.

Coraline finally calmed down and told them what had happened. They wouldn't let her go down again, and they put the wooden planks over the well again.

Wybie's grandma shook her head sadly. There was no getting her grandson back now. They all had to accept him as dead. She decided the funeral would be held on Monday. There was no body to bury or cremate, so they were going to have to just have a service.

Coraline was going to have to go back to school and she didn't like it. Her parents took her back to the house for dinner and put her to bed, but she wasn't going to sleep. She knew that after today, she probably wouldn't ever sleep again.

Eventually, she did manage to get to sleep, but she cried herself dry to do so.

Her dreams were more like nightmares and infiltrated by the Beldam and Wybie. The events of the day flashed through her head, over and over again.

She couldn't help worrying over what was going to happen to Wybie. Her best mate was in the hands of the Beldam and there was nothing she could do about it. Yet.

The one thing that confused her the most was Wybie's grandma. She had just accepted Wybie as dead, after she said she believed Wybie and Coraline about the whole Beldam business. She had said that the funeral was going to be held on Monday. This implied that Wybie was dead, but she wouldn't accept that. There was no way she was going to believe that Wybie was dead.

She just had to find a way to prove it.

After tossing and turning all night, she woke up in a sweat again, but this time, she had an idea.