CORALINE 2: stolen buttons

Chapter 3: my little doll

Beldam- well aren't you going to eat?

- I stared at her. Never letting my eyes off the buttons that are her own. Never letting my guard down. I started to eat. I watched her watch me eat. Cold and calculating. I could tell she was choosing her movements VERRY carefully. I finished every bite and placed the tray carefully beside me. Not even batting an eyelid away from her. She kept her distance. "So..... How'd you get here anyways?"

Beldam- hmmmmhmmmmhmm. You should know coraline, I've been doing this far longer than the day you were born. This is my house after all. I know my way around.

-I watched as she twirled a black buttoned key at the edge of her bony thin finger. My stomach instantly dropped. I was silent as I watched her smirk and get up from her seat. She was getting closer. Slowly and meticulously walking towards me. I could feel my breath hitch and I was almost curtain she caught my eye quickly glance at the door. She did.

Beldam- "giggle" don't bother. (She said while sitting next to me and stroked gently at my hair.) your mother forgot to unlock the doors this morning before going to work. Mmmmhmmm. So we have the whole day to ourselves.... (She smiled creepily, but I think it was more in an attempt to calm me down.... It wasn't working.) so let's catch up shall wee.

-I could tell when she was lying to me. But by the look of that huge smirk on her face I could tell it was no lie. So.... No escape then. This was what she was waiting for, an opportunity to take me wether I liked it or not. "So what now?" I know she could tell I was loosing hope. She knows that if she decided to take me now, I wouldn't fight back, I'd have nowhere to go anyways. But she wasn't done with her mind games yet. 

Beldam- "now we talk."

- I raised a questioning eyebrow at her. I know I should have expected that sort of thing from her but it still through me for a loop. "Talk about what?"

*********

Beldam- do you know how I came to be who I am today. (No. But I have a feeling you're going to tell me.) patience my little doll... It all started during the settlement year of this country. (Settlement? You were a pioneer?) oh not only just a pioneer, I was the leader of my group. And the first one to settle on these lands. That's when this house was built. (In your honor?) precisely. See I knew you were a smart girl. (But what about the little door? And the well? The garden? Our neighbors?) settle down coraline, one question at a time. For starters, I enjoyed gardening, so I had a "little" garden built in my likeness. As for the well... That's how I got to the other world to begin with. The well was old, even older than me. A few days after the completion of the pink palace, I fell down it simple as that. (You fell?) mmmmhmmm (and you ended up in the other world?) correct. (But why didn't you just come back to the real world?) I was stuck. But after what felt like a year or so I discovered that I could steal the soul sands of children to make myself immortal and live forever. (Sounds selfish to me.) mmmmm perhaps. I suppose I have my reasons. I was successful my first time around.... Welllll... Almost. (You mean the little settler girl? And what do you mean almost?) "giggle" no. I mean the one before the settler girl. Before I knew I had to sew buttons onto the eyes of children to keep there souls from escaping. (Other....?) I took his soul sand yes... But not his soul. Thus the magic wasn't as potent. He left. But then he kept coming back. (The cat!) bingo. I suppose the rest you can figure out on your own? (Trial and error?) exactly. (So now what do you plan to do?) oh whatever do you mean my dear. (I mean with me.) oh that's simple. I plan to take you. (.... I know.) and sew buttons into your eyes. (Yah.) and then I plan to try something a bit different. (Like what?) well... As you said before. Trial and error.

- she took out a small present box from the inside of her coat. The buttons. (Are you ready to go darling?) I looked down in defeat and simply just nodded. I knew I had lost a long time ago. The second my mom suggested medical treatment, I knew I had lost. And the beldam had won.