25 Years Later

The rain started to come down just as the car drove into town. As Coraline focused her attention to the road, her daughter was fixated on the many pedestrians that all gathered for the annual Shakespeare festival, kneeling on her seat.

"Rachel! Sit down or you'll hurt yourself if the car comes to a stop!" Coraline warned. Her daughter slumped back down in her seat, wearing the biggest pout in the world.

As she waited for the lights to change green, Rachel piped up, "Mom, why are there so many people dressed up in weird clothes?"

With a soft chuckle, Coraline answered, "It's because the Shakespeare festival is on. Sometimes people like to take part and dress up in clothes from that era."

"Didn't you say that Shakespeare was boring in school?"

"Yeah, but hey I got good grades with my essays," her mother beamed. No response from her daughter who was still pouting at the window.

Coraline chuckled to herself as that reminded her of when her daughter was young.

Just then, the light changed and the car was on its way to the Pink Palace.

The car pulled up into the drive as Wyborn looked on. He opened the door to say hello to his daughter and asked, "Hey Beansprout! How was the car journey here?"

"Unexciting, apart from all the people wearing Shakespeare clothes," she bluntly answered.

"Hey don't forget about that fallen tree earlier on!" Coraline quipped.

"Yeah, but it's not as interesting as a festival that a bunch of theatre nerds put on," Rachel shrugged.

"Hey! Your mom and I were pretty good in the theatre," Wyborn interjected.

"Oh yeah, well at least I didn't forget my lines one time in Hamlet," his wife teased.

"Yes, and you almost didn't show up to star in King Lear because –" he was cut off by a sharp nudge to the forearm.

"Hey, it was my dad's fault for not buying petrol!" she replied, half laughing.

Already disinterested with this light – hearted quarrel, Rachel tugged on her mother's sleeve and asked, "Can I go out and explore the garden?"

"Yes, you can. Just don't go to far beyond the garden," Coraline said.

As Rachel set out for the garden, her dad called out, "Just remember to avoid the poison oak!"

Rachel rolled her eyes at this statement. She's been on more nature walks to count with her dad and already knows pretty much every poisonous plant there is to find. She's certainly not that stupid to just pick it up.

When she reached the garden gate, she pushed it open and gazed at all the flowers growing in the flowerbeds. She was told that before her mother moved here, it looked very barren and grey, but soon enough it managed to look beautiful again when her family and neighbours planted some tulips. Now all the flowerbeds had their own unique colour of flower, all of which were shades of red and orange. Why didn't they make it more interesting and add different coloured flowers to every bed? I don't see why all the flowers here are just autumn colours.

Suddenly, a small noise from the end of the garden caught her attention. Turning around, she scanned the back gate to see what it was. Was it the gate swinging in the wind? Her eyes caught a small shrub rustling excitedly, upon which a small black cat jumped out.

Rachel chuckled as the cat gave her the most petrified stare ever. She took a few steps forward and said, "Aww, were you scared of me?"

In response, the little cat darted up the hill. She wanted to go follow it but had to make sure her mother wasn't anywhere to be seen in the kitchen window. She squinted her eyes up at the house and focused on the kitchen window. Only her granddad was there, back facing the garden. She cautiously stepped out through the front gate and made her way around the garden wall to the hill. While walking, she swore to herself that she'd only be gone for a minute.

She quietly whispered to the trees, hoping the little cat would come out, "Come on, kitty! I won't hurt you. Come on, kitty!" She craned her neck around hoping for some sign but all she could see were shadows that were easily dark enough for the cat to blend in.

"Was the garden too small for you?"

Rachel abruptly turned around to find Coraline standing there, with a slightly disapproving look on her face.

"I – I was just…" she stammered.

Her mother's frown changed into a gentle smile as she walked over and tussled her hair, much to her annoyance. She looked down at the garden and said, "It's okay, kiddo. I'd easily get bored when I was your age."

Rachel looked down and noted, "You know, it would look better with some blue flowers. Like, around the edge of the garden."

"Why blue?" asked Coraline, vaguely remembering a different garden.

"Because blue is a calming colour, too much red and orange makes it look angry," her daughter replied.

Coraline mused on how insightful her daughter was as an artist. She most likely passed it down to her since she was pretty creative as well. Still, the thought of blue flowers jogged a forbidden memory in her head, one that reminded her of a world that was indeed too good to be true. A memory which also reminded her of that creature.

"Come on, Rachel," she said, "let's go in and set everything up for Nana's birthday."

Everything went well, people were having a nice time, the food was pretty tasty, as it always was whenever Great Aunt Sherry was behind the stove. Rachel was having fun, playing hide and seek with her second cousins, in which she was the seeker. Soon enough, one of her other cousins had to be the seeker so she needed to find a good place to hide. They were running out of good hiding spots so, some of them went to hide outside instead, sneaking around cars and such. One hid under the dining room table, while Rachel went off into the sitting room.

She remembered that there was a little door in the living room and scurried off there. Some adults, including her dad, were just talking and she quickly ran to the door and pulled on it.

Locked.

Desperately, she hid in the small crowd of adults that were all sitting or standing in front of the fireplace. To her fortune, her father placed his oversized brown jacket over her as a means of concealment. Thankfully, she wasn't found that easily, but still felt a little miffed that the door was locked. Soon enough, the excitement of the party gave way to tiredness, and all the guests went home.

Coraline and Wyborn drove with their sleeping daughter in the backseat of the car. She was propped up against the car window and wrapped in her father's jacket. She was dead to the world, she didn't even stir as.

As they drove further and further along, Wyborn said, "Well, I think that party went well, don't you?"

"Yeah," his wife uttered.

"It would be nice to go back there again, despite…you know…"

Soon enough, they came to a stop at the train crossing, where Coraline turned to her husband.

"It's not that I don't think that place isn't safe for her, I love taking her to see her grandparents," she began, "it's just…"

She sighed, propping her head slightly against her fingers.

"You don't need to explain," he said.

"No, Wybie. I just want to feel that I can trust her to take care of herself without having to worry about the possibility of EVERY bad thing happening to her," she explained.

Wyborn was a little stunned that she called him by his old nickname.

"Sometimes, I still have dreams that she's still alive or that her hand has escaped. That she's stealing different kids away through different doors. I know it sounds paranoid of me but…"

"Hey, don't worry too much about Rachel. She's pretty brave and smart for her age, kinda like you were back then. Also, I'm not trying to brush this off but I'm pretty sure that witch can't hurt anyone ever again."

Coraline half – smiled before replying, "It just…unnerves me to think what could've happened if I said yes. How my parents would've felt if I was missing."

"I can't even imagine how it must've been for Gramma when her sister disappeared," he added.

There was an awkward silence as the train quickly disappeared between bushels of trees, before the gates opened again for the car to pass through.

When they finally reached their house, Coraline tapped hard on the window her daughter was sleeping against. Rachel stirred and tiredly got out of the car, leaning slightly against her mother's arm, her head feeling slightly heavy after the long car journey.

As soon as she was in bed, her mother came in to say goodnight, to which she softly replied, "Mom…you know I'm too old for that."

"I know," Coraline chuckled, "I just want you to have a good night's sleep that's all."

She turned towards the door before: "Hey, mom?"

"Yeah, sweetie?"

"Who were you talking about in the car?"

Coraline hesitated. Did she really hear all of that?! No, she was completely out cold, she must have been.

"No – one, sweetie. Now go to sleep," she whispered, planting a light kiss on her daughter's forehead.

Coraline soon got ready for bed, thinking over what she might want to tell her daughter. After mulling over it quite a bit, she decided to tell her daughter the story of some weird old woman who tried to steal her near the Pink Palace. Not really far off from the truth, but at least it will sound believable. Hopefully, she'll forget that conversation she and Wyborn had in the car that evening.

As she and her husband settled into bed, Coraline stayed up a little bit thinking about her visit to the other world. She thought of how everything seemed so colourful, fun, warm and safe; how more open and friendly the residents seemed and how close she was to wanting to stay there. She couldn't get the Other Mother out of her mind, her thin, ruby smile which slowly eroded to a crooked hollow grin, like a spider eyeing its prey.

She thought back on her last words, "I'll die without you!" Would she really have died after that encounter? Is that little door in her old living room the only access she has to the real world? Hopefully she is no longer a threat, hopefully.

She turned around and closed her eyes, praying that she wouldn't see the hag in her dreams that night.

A/N: Hi folks! Thank you all for reading my first fanfic. Please leave nice comments and give polite constructive criticism in the comments. Have a lovely evening! Cheers!