The Beldam is Back

Chapter 4

"Get your Math books out and copy the questions off the board."

Coraline opened her book up and chose her lucky pen, before starting to write. She only had a few lessons to go before she could put her plan into action.

Coraline was pretty good at Maths, so she finished fairly quickly, just in time for the bell to ring to signal the end of the lesson.

Coraline rushed to her English class. She had to talk to her teacher about what she considered 'fiction'. Coraline wanted to see if the teacher classified what happened to Wybie as not real.

In the lesson she finished all the work her teacher gave her and when the bell rang for the end of the day and everyone rushed out of her class, Coraline timidly walked up to her teacher.

"Mrs Bell, may I please ask you a question?"

"Sure Coraline."

"The other day, I was by the witch's well and the Beldam's hand came back and took Wybie back to her land."

"What on earth are you talking about Coraline? That's complete nonsense. I think that's enough. You're probably tired and I understand you must be feeling sad after Wybie's death. I'll give you an extension, so don't worry about your assessment for a few weeks."

Mrs Bell smiled softly, as if trying to reassure her and turned away, leaving a gloomy Coraline in the classroom. She had just shown that unless they had known Wybie, not many people truly cared that he was gone.

Coraline walked to the bus stop and when the bus arrived, she moved to sit down at the very back. She dumped her bag on the seat next to her and hugged her knees, resting her head on the window. She was scared that Wybie might actually be dead. She was scared that she might not be able to save Wybie from the Beldam.

Kids laughed at her on the bus, ripping out pages of paper from their books and throwing them at her. Coraline got really fed up, but she couldn't do anything without getting in trouble. She couldn't go to the bus driver, because he probably wouldn't 'believe' her and if she told on the kids, she would be bullied for being a 'dibber dobber'.

So, she just had to sit through it.

It felt like everyone was laughing at her. Everybody thought she was just a liar who came up with really bad stories to get out of trouble.

Of course, none of this was true, but the kids didn't know that. They just picked on her, so they would be the center of attention, and that way, they wouldn't get bullied themselves.

Besides, the kids thought, it was easier to tease Coraline, because they always teased her and Wybie on the bus, sometimes to the point where they would get off the bus early and walk the rest of the way home. Wybie even brought an extra bike for Coraline that he found in the garage and they rode to and from school, until the bike broke. It was an old bike, after all.

When Coraline got home, she grabbed the satchel that she had taken to the Other World last time, then put some food in and some other things she thought she might need.

She walked down the steps to Miss Forcible and Miss Spink's apartment. She was going to ask them to make another one of the lolly rocks with a hole in the middle for her.

She rang the bell and Miss Spink answered the door, with the permanent Scottie dogs. The ladies were happy to make another, they knew that it was useful for many different things. They didn't know what exactly for, but they were useful.

After a space of about twenty minutes, Coraline walked out of the room, tucking the rock into her satchel.

...

Wybie was strapped to the chair again. He didn't understand why the Beldam hadn't done anything yet. She had just strapped Wybie to a chair, gave him food every now and again and left him.

In truth, the Beldam didn't know what to do with the boy. Her hand had come back, dragging the boy behind it. The Beldam thought that for now, she would just use the boy as bait for the girl, Coraline Jones. Then, once she had the girl in her grasp, she would trap his soul too.

Wybie was incredibly bored. He had nothing to do all day long and he was scared. Scared of what the Beldam would do to him, but also scared for Coraline. He didn't know if Coraline would get hurt, or if she would leave him here. At most, Wybie hoped that Coraline would come for him, because then he would at least have some company.

Wybie now understood the terror that Coraline had felt. In truth, even he hadn't actually believed Coraline. He just pretended to, because she was his friend. He had thought the whole hand thing at the well was a setup. Now, strapped to this chair, he knew she was telling the truth. He understood what the Beldam was like - she was very good at acting.

The Beldam had spoken to Wybie the first time he saw her. She had said that the 'web unraveling' thing was just a trick on Coraline. The Beldam had an actual world, a proper one, and that was where Wybie was now. From what he could see, it was a lot like Coraline's part of the house, but he had no idea what was outside the front or back door. He could even see out of any windows. He couldn't actually see ANY windows, for that matter. Instead of thinking about the strange world he was in, Wybie took the time he had to study the Beldam.

The Beldam looked a bit like a mechanical spider. She had menacing arms and legs that looking like they could cut Wybie with a tiny prick of the finger. The Beldam had an ugly, cracked, pure white face with newly sewn button eyes that freaked him out, really badly. The eyes just seemed to stare into nothing.

Wybie was terrified at what she might do. The Beldam was very strange and her moods could change in an instant.

Anytime, she might turn angry and hurt him, and maybe even kill him.

That was what scared Wybie the most.