Coraline (Complete Audiobook with rain sounds) | Relaxing ASMR Bedtime Story (Male Voice)

Hello and welcome to Down to Sleep extra. This is the second channel of my Down to Sleep podcast. It's a weekly podcast of soft spoken stories and

audiobook

s to help you get a good night's rest. This is a

complete

reading of Coraline by Neil Gaiman. Thank you. for joining me please like and subscribe so youtube knows you want to see more of this channel and more reads and if you want to support it directly join me on patreon where there are over 250 episodes right now you support the podcast and you get two readings each week find all the links you need in the description below or go to downtosleep podcast.com now let's tuck you in, take a deep breath and let's get down Coraline buying Neil Gaiman Caroline discovered the door a little while after she moved to the house, it was a very old house, it had an attic under the roof and an underground cellar and an overgrown garden with huge old trees.

Caroline's family didn't own the entire house, it was too big for that. they owned part of it, other people who lived in the old house Miss and Miss forcible lived in the apartment below Carolines on the ground floor. They were both old and round and lived in her apartment with several aging Highland Terriers who had names like Hamish and Andrew and rubbish. Once upon a time Miss and Miss Forcible had been actresses as Miss told Coraline the first time she met her. You see, Caroline Miss said that she got Coraline's name wrong. Both myself and Miss Forcible were famous actresses in our time. once loving oh don't let Hamish eat the fruitcake he'll be up all night with his belly it's Coraline not Caroline Coraline said that Coraline in the apartment under Coralines' roof was a crazy old man with a big mustache told Caroline that he was t

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ing a mouse circus he wouldn't let anyone see him one day little Caroline ready for everyone in the whole world to see the wonders of my mouth circus you ask me why you can't see it now is that what you asked me said Caroline in a low

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I asked you not to call me Caroline, I'm Coraline.

The reason you can't see the mouse circus. Put the man on top because the mice are not ready yet and they also refuse to play the songs I have written for them. All the songs I've written. written for the mice to play go with the white mice they will only play very little like this I'm thinking of trying them on different types of cheese Coraline didn't believe a

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circus really existed she thought the old man was probably making it up The day after they moved in, Coraline went exploring, she explored the garden. It was a big garden at the back, there was an old tennis court, but no one in the house played tennis and the fence around the court had holes in it and the net was almost

complete

ly torn. rotten there was a rose garden, an old one full of stunted rose bushes dragged by flies, there was a rockery that was all rocks, there was a fairy ring made of soft stools with brown fingers that smell terrible if you accidentally trot on them, there was also a Well, the first day Coraline's family moved in Miss Pink and Miss Forcible told Coraline how dangerous the well was and warned her to stay away from it, so Coraline set out to explore it to find out where she should keeping away properly found him on the third day in an overgrown meadow next to the tennis court behind a group of trees a low circle almost hidden in the tall grass the well had been covered with wooden boards to stop anyone falling in there was a small hole in one of the Woodsons.

Coraline spent an afternoon throwing pebbles and acorns through the hole and waiting and counting until she heard the oh as they hit the water. Far below her Coraline also explored for animals she found. a hedgehog and a snake skin but no snake and a rock that looks like a frog and a toad that looks like a rock there was also a haughty black cat that sat on the walls and tree stumps and looked at her but would slink away if Sometimes he came over to try to play with him, that's how he spent his first two weeks in the house exploring the garden and grounds.

Her mother had her come back for dinner and lunch, and Coraline had to make sure she dressed warmly for it. It was a very cold summer that year, but she went out exploring every day until the day it

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ed when Coraline had to stay inside. What should she do? I asked Coraline. I read a book. She said her mother saw a video. She plays with your toys. Go and bother the lady. either Miss Forcible or the crazy old man upstairs, no, said Coraline, I don't want to do those things, I want to explore, I really don't care what you do, said Coraline's mother, as long as you don't make a mess.

Coraline came closer, she went to the window and watched the rain fall. , it wasn't the kind of rain you could get away with, it was the other kind, the one that was thrown from the sky and splashed where it landed, it was rain that meant business and currently its business was turning the garden into a wet and wet soup. muddy Coraline had watched all the videos she was bored with her toys and had read all her books she turned on the TV she went from channel to channel there was nothing but Men in Suits talking about the stock market and Paul finally found something to watch.

It was the last half of a natural hi

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program on something called protective coloration. Animals pushed. Birds. Insects that disguise themselves as leaves, twigs, or other animals to escape from things. she could hurt them she enjoyed it but it ended too soon and was followed by a program about a cake factory it was time to talk to her father Coraline's father was home her parents worked doing things on computers which meant they were home most part of the time everyone had their own study hello Coraline said when she came in without turning around she said Coraline it's raining yes she said her father it's pouring uh no she said Coraline it's just raining Can I go out?

What does your mom say? She says you're not going out in weather like that Caroline Jones so no, but I want to continue exploring then explore the flat aspect here you have a piece of paper and a pen count all the doors and windows list everything blue Expedition to the mountain to discover the tank of hot water and leave I alone to go to work. Can I go to the salon? The living room was where the Joneses kept the expensive and uncomfortable furniture that Coraline's grandmother had left them when she died. Coraline wasn't allowed to go in there, no one went in there, it was only for the better if you didn't make a mess and didn't touch anything Caroline thought about it carefully, then took the pen paper and went to explore the inside of the apartment, she discovered the water tank hot that was in a kitchen cupboard.

He counted everything blue 153. He counted the windows 21. He counted the doors 14. Of the doors he found, 13 opened and the other closed, the large brown carved wooden door in the farthest corner of the living room was closed, mother told him, did he? Where does that door go? Oh, where, honey, it has to go somewhere. A mother shook her head, looked, said to Coraline, reached out and grabbed a string of keys from the top of the door frame. From the kitchen, he sorted them carefully and selected the oldest and largest. the blackest and rustiest key they entered the living room she opened the door with the key the door opened her mother was right the door went nowhere it opened to a brick wall when this place was just a house Coraline's mother said the door is gone Somewhere, when they converted the house into flats, they just covered it up with bricks.

The other side is the empty apartment on the other side of the house, the one that is still for sale, she closed the door and replaced the key cord on top of the kitchen door frame. "You didn't lock it," Coraline said, "My mother cringed. Why should she lock it?" He's not going anywhere he says anything It was almost night outside and the rain kept falling, hitting the windows and blurring the lights of the cars on the street. On the street, Coraline's father stopped working and prepared dinner for them. Coraline was upset, Dad, he said you made a recipe again.

She's dripping with potato stew garnished with tarragon and melted Gruyere cheese, she admitted. On Coraline's side, she went to the freezer and pulled out some microwave fries and a mini microwave pizza, you know, I don't like recipes, she told her father as her dinner went round and round and the little red numbers on the Microwaves counted down to zero if you tried, maybe you'd like it, Coraline's father said, he shook it. her head that night Caroline was lying awake in her bed the rain had stopped and she was almost asleep when something happened she sat up in bed something turned green Caroline got out of bed and looked through the hole but she didn't see anything strange from where she was walking through the hallway To his parents' bedroom came a low snore and that was his father, an occasional murmur as he slept, that was his mother.

Coraline wondered if she had dreamed it, whatever it was, something was moving, it was a little more than a shadow and it scuttled into the darkness and high, fast as a small piece of night she hoped it wasn't a spider the spiders made her intensely uncomfortable. Coraline the shape with her back entered the living room and Coraline followed her a little nervously the room was dark the only light came from the hole and Coraline who was standing in The door cast a huge and distorted shadow on the living room carpet. She looked like a giant, thin woman.

Caroline was wondering whether or not she should turn on the lights when she saw the black shape slowly emerge from under the couch, she stopped and then she ran silently across the carpet to the far corner of the room. There was no furniture in that corner of the room. Powerline turned on the light. There was nothing in the corner, nothing but the old door that led to the brick wall. She was sure her mother had closed that door but now it was slightly open just a crack Coraline approached and looked inside there was nothing there just a war built with red bricks Coraline closed the old wooden door she was delighted and went to the bed, he dreamed of black shapes that slid from one place to another avoiding the light until they were all gathered under the moon little black shakes with little red eyes and sharp yellow teeth began to sing we are small but we are many we are many we are small We were here before You, Rose, we'll be here when you fall.

Her

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s were high, whispery and a little whiny, making Coraline feel uncomfortable. Then she Caroline dreamed about some commercials and after that she didn't dream about anything at all. The next day it had stopped raining, but just a little. A thick white fog had fallen over the house, "I'm going for a walk," said Coraline, "don't go too far," said her mother, "and dress well." Coraline put on her blue coat with its hood, her red scarf, and her yellow wellies, and went out. The young lady was taking a walk. your dogs hello Caroline said Miss rotten weather yes said Coraline I played Porsche once said Miss Pink Miss speaks forcefully about her Ophelia but it was my Porsche that they came to see when we taught the boards Miss was sweaters and cardigans seemed more small and more circular than ever she looks like a big fluffy egg she wore thick glasses that made her eyes look huge they used to send flowers to my dressing room they did it she said who asked Coraline Miss looked around cautiously looking first over one shoulder and then over the top the other looked into the fog as if someone might be listening, then she whispered, talked to the dogs to get well, and waddled back to the house.

Coraline continued her walk; She had gone three-quarters of the way around the house when she saw Miss Forcing standing at the apartment door scene. Miss Caroline Coraline told her that she did and that Miss Forcing was walking the dogs. I hope he doesn't get lost, it will give him shingles if he does, you'll see you'd have to be an explorer to find your way in this fog I'm an explorer said Coraline of course you're loving now don't get lost Coraline continued walking through the gardens in the gray fog that always kept within sight of the house and after about 10 minutes of walking she found herself back where she had started the hair over her eyes was limp and wet and her face felt damp Ahoy Caroline called the crazy old man upstairs oh hi Coraline said she could barely see the old man through the fog as she walked the steps outside the house that led past Coraline's front door to the door of her apartment she walked very slowly Caroline waited at the bottom of the stairs Mice don't like fog, he told him, it makes their whiskers fall out. "I don't like the Mist very much either," Coraline admitted.

The old man leaned so close to the base of her mustache. He tickled Coraline's ear. "The mice have a message for you," Coraline whispered. She didn't know what to say. "The message is this. Don't do it, come by. The door paused. Does that mean anything to you? no said Coraline the old man shrugged his shoulders they are funny the mice are wrong they got the name wrong you know they kept saying Coraline no Caroline no Caroline at all took a bottle of milk from the bottom of the stairs and began to climb back to her attic Coraline His mother came in.

She was working in her study. Her mother's study smelled.the flowers what should I do he asked Coraline when are you going back to school he asked his mother next week he said Coraline said mother I guess I'll have to get you new clothes for school, remind me dear otherwise I'll forget, he went back to write things on the computer screen, what should I do? repeated Coraline Draw Something her mother passed her a sheet of paper and a pen Coraline tried to draw the Mist after 10 minutes she still had a white sheet of paper with mist written in the corner in slightly wavy letters, she grunted and passed it to her mother.

A very modern deer said as Coraline's mother, Caroline, crept into the room. and she tried to open the old door in the corner, it was locked once again, she assumed her mother must have locked it again. She shrugged her shoulders. Caroline went to see her father, he was backing her up. Towards the door as she wrote, Go away, he said happily as she walked in. I'm bored. She said, Learn to tap dance. He suggested without turning around. Caroline shook her head. Why don't you play with me. She asked. Is he? He said. working added that he still hadn't turned around to look at her why don't you go bother Miss Swink and the lady?

Coraline put on her coat, knocked on her hood and left the house, went down the stairs and knocked on the young lady's door. and Miss Forcibles, Coraline, could hear frantic barking as the Scotty dogs ran out into the parlour. After a while, Miss Forcibles opened the door, Oh, it's you, Caroline, said Angus Hamish Bruce, Downstairs, loves, it's just Caroline. Come in dear, would you like a cup of tea the flat smelled of furniture polish and dogs yes please said Coraline The young lady led her to a small dusty room which she called The Living Room. On the walls were black and white photographs of pretty women and framed theater programs.

Miss Forcible was sitting in one of the armchairs knitting hard, they served Carolina a cup of tea in a pink porcelain cup, they gave her a dry Gary Baldy cookie to accompany it. This forced look at the young lady picked up the tissue from her and took a deep breath anyway April as I as I am saying that you still have to admit that there is life in the old dog, but Miriam, dear, none of us are as young as we were. Madame McCarty responded Miss Forced, the nurse in Romeo, Lady Bracknell's character. Parts, they can't remove you from the stage now, Miriam, agreed.

Miss Caroline said, she wondered if they had forgotten that she was there, they didn't make much sense, she decided that they were having an argument as old and comfortable as an armchair argument in which no one wins or loses, but which can go on forever if both parties They are ready she took a sip of her tea I will read the leaves if you want she said miss I'm sorry said Coraline the tea leaves dear I will read your future Coraline passed badly pink her cup I think a couple of nearsighted in the black tea leaves in the background passed by her lips you know Caroline she said after a while you are in terrible danger this forcible snorted and put down her knitting don't be so stupid April stop scaring the girl your eyes are going to pass me that cup the girl Caroline took the cup to miss forcible it's forcible he looked at her carefully and shook his head and looked at her again oh dear he said you were right April is in danger look Miriam said Miss Pink triumphantly My eyes are as good as ever What am I in danger of?

She asked Coraline what can be enforced he looked at her blankly didn't say said Miss the tea leaves aren't reliable for that kind of thing they aren't really good for the General but oh Pacific, well what should I do? then ask Coraline, who was a little alarmed by this, don't wear green in her dressing room, Miss suggested, or mention the Scottish play, Miss added stilted. Coraline wondered why so few of the adults she had met made any sense; Sometimes she wondered who they thought they were. They were talking and be very very careful said the young lady got up from the chair and approached the fireplace in the mental room there was a small jar the young lady removed the lid of the jar and began to take things out of it there was a small China duck a thimble a strange small brass coin two clips any stone with a hole handed to Coraline the stone with a hole said four ask Caroline the hole went through the entire center of the stone she held it up She leaned out of the window and looked out of it, "could help," said miss, "they're good at bad things." Sometimes Coraline put on her coat, said goodbye to Mrs.

Enforceable and the dogs, and went out. Fog hung like blindness around the house and she walked slowly towards the stairs. When she reached her family's apartment she stopped and looked around in the fog, it was a ghost world in danger, Caroline thought to herself, it sounded exciting, it didn't sound like a bad thing, actually, Coraline came back upstairs, her fist clenched. tightly around your new stone. The next day, the sun was shining and Coraline's mother took her to the nearest big city to buy clothes for school. They left her father at the train station. She was going to London for the day to see some people.

Caroline said goodbye to him and they went to the apartment. store to buy school clothes Caroline sauce and green Dayglow gloves that she really liked her mother refused to buy them because she preferred to buy white socks navy blue school shorts four gray blouses and a dark gray sky but mom everyone at school has gray blouses and everything no one has green gloves I could be the only one her mother ignored her she was talking to the Shopper system they were talking about what kind of sweater to buy Coraline and murdering that the best would be the one that was embarrassingly big and baggy in the hope that some day she could grow up Coraline walked away and looked at a display of wellies shaped like frogs, ducks and rabbits and then she came back Caroline oh there you are, where on Earth were you?

I was kidnapped by The aliens said Coraline, they came down from outer space with ray guns, but I tricked them by wearing a wig and laughing with a foreign accent and escaped. Yes dear, now do you think you could use some more hair clips? No, well, let's say half an hour. dozen to be sure she said her mother Coraline didn't say anything in the car on the way home Coraline said what's in the empty apartment I don't know anything I guess it probably looks like our apartment before we moved empty rooms Do you think you could get in from our apartment, unless you walk between bricks?

Oh, they got home around lunch time. The sun was shining even though the day was cold. Caroline's mother looked in the refrigerator and found a small, sad tomato and a slice. of cheese with green things growing on it there was only crust in the bread basket I'd better run to the shops and get some fish fingers or something said her mother do you want to come no she said Coraline suit yourself said her mother and left Then She returned, grabbed her purse and car keys and left again. Coraline was bored. She leafed through a book her mother was reading about the natives of a faraway country, how every day they took a piece of white silk and drew on it. then dipping the die-cut silks and then painting them more in wax and dyeing them a little more and then boiling the wax in hot water and finally throwing the beautiful fabrics into the fire and burning them to ashes, it seemed particularly useless to Coraline but she hoped people enjoyed it she was still bored and her mother was not home yet Coraline took a chair and pushed it towards the kitchen door she climbed on the chair and raised her hand she got off thank God a broom from the broom closet came back up He got on the chair and picked up a broom He got off the chair and picked up the keys He smiled triumphantly Ram leaned the broom against the wall and entered the living room The family did not use the In the living room they had inherited Coraline's grandmother's furniture along with a wooden coffee table, a side table, a heavy glass ashtray and the oil painting of a fruit bowl.

Coraline could never understand why anyone would want to paint a fruit bowl other than that one. The room was empty, there were no knick-knacks on the mantelpiece, no statues, no clocks, nothing to make her feel comfortable or live in. The old black key felt colder than any of the others. She pushed it through the keyhole. She turned. softly with a satisfying clank Coraline stopped and listened, she knew she was doing something wrong and was trying to hear her mother return, but she heard nothing but Coraline except her hand on the doorknob and turned it, finally He opened the door, it opened into a dark hallway, the bricks were gone. as if they had never been there there was a cold musty smell coming out of the open door it smelled like something very old and very slow Coraline walked through the door she wondered what the empty apartment would be like if it was that way the LED hallway that Coraline walks down the hall with restlessness there was something very familiar about it the carpet under her feet was the same carpet that they had in their apartment the wallpaper was the same wallpaper that they had the painting hanging in the hallway was the same one that hung in the hallway of their house she knew where she was she was in her own house she hadn't left she shook her head in confusion she stared at the painting hanging on the wall no, it wasn't exactly the same the painting they had in their own hallway showed a child an old man in fashionable clothes looking at some bubbles but now the expression on his face was different, he was looking at the bubbles as if he was planning to do something very unpleasant to them and there was something peculiar in his eyes.

Coraline stared at her eyes trying to figure out she discovered exactly what was different, she almost understood it when someone said Caroline sounded like her mother Coraline walked into the kitchen where the voice was coming from a woman was standing in the kitchen with her back to Coraline she looked like a little like Coraline's mother only her skin was as white as paper only she was taller and thinner only her fingers were too long and never stopped moving and her dark red nails were curved and sharp Coraline the woman He said it's you and then he turned his eyes were big black buttons lunch time Caroline said the woman you asked Coraline I'm your other mother said the woman go and tell your other father that lunch is ready she opened the door to the oven suddenly Coraline realized how hungry she was it smelled wonderful well continue Coraline went down the hall towards where her father's study was she opened the door there was a man there sitting in front of the keyboard with his back to her hi said Coraline I mean She said to say that lunch is ready the man turned his eyes they were big, black, shiny buttons Hi Carline, he said I'm starving, he got up and went with her to the kitchen, they sat at the kitchen table and Coraline's other mother brought them lunch, a huge roasted golden chicken, French fries, small green peas, Coraline stuffed the food into her mouth.

It tasted wonderful We've been waiting for you for a long time said Coraline's other father for me yes he said another mother it wasn't the same here without you we knew you would arrive one day and then we could be a proper family, do you want? I eat a little more chicken, it was the best chicken Caroline had ever eaten. Her mother sometimes made chicken, but it was always unpackaged or frozen and very dry. It never tasted like anything. When Coraline's father cooks chicken, he bought real chicken, but he made it. strange things like stewing it in wine or stuffing it with prunes or baking it in dough and Coraline always refused to touch it at first she took a little more chicken I didn't know she had another mother said Coraline of course they all do it said the other mother, her Son, what a nice glow after lunch.

I thought you might like to play in your room with the rats. The rats upstairs. Coraline had never seen a rat except on television. She was looking forward to it. This was turning out to be a very interesting day after all, after lunch her other parents washed the dishes and then Coraline walked down the hall to her other room, for starters it was different from her room at home, it was painted in an unpleasant shade of green and A. peculiar shade of pink Coraline decided that she wouldn't like having to sleep there, but that the color scheme was much more interesting than her own room;

There were all kinds of notable things there that she had never seen before. Clustered angels fluttering around the bedroom like frightened sparrows, picture books that squirmed and crawled and glowing little dinosaur skulls that chattered their teeth when she passed and a toy box full of wonderful toys, this is more like what Caroline thought. from where I was looking. The window out of sight was the same one she saw from her own bedroom, trees, fields and beyond them, on the horizon, the distant Purple Hills, something black scuttled across the floor and disappeared under the bed. . Caroline knelt down and looked under the bed. little red eyes looked back at him hello said Coraline are you the rats came out from under the bed blinking at the light they had short black fur little red eyes pink pores like tiny hands and no pink hair tails like long smooth worms do you speak he asked The biggest, blackest rat shook his head,He had a kind of unpleasant smile.

Coraline thought she was fine, she asked Coraline what are you doing. The rats formed a circle and began to climb on top of each other carefully but quickly until they formed a circle. a pyramid with the biggest rat on top the rats began to sing in loud, whispering voices we have teeth and we have tails we have tails and we have eyes we were here before you fell you will be here when we get up it was not a Nice song Coraline was sure having heard it before or something, although he couldn't remember exactly where, then the pyramid collapsed and the Rats ran fast and black towards the door.

The other crazy old man upstairs was standing in the doorway holding a tall black hat in his hands. The rats ran towards him, rummaging through his pockets and his shirt and up the legs of his pants and down his neck. The large rat climbed onto the old man's shoulders swinging over the old long gray mustache past the big black button eyes and onto the top of the man's head in seconds, the only evidence that the rats were there were the restless lumps beneath The man's clothes always slid from place to place across him and there was still the larger rat that looked down with glowing red eyes. eyes that Coraline from the man's head the old man put on his hat and the last rat left hello Coraline said the other man upstairs I heard you were here it's time for the rats to have dinner but you can come with me if you like and watch them feed that It was something hungry in the old man's button eyes the maid Coraline feels uncomfortable no thanks she said I'm going out to explore, the old man nodded very slowly.

Coraline could hear the rats whispering to each other, although she couldn't tell what they were saying. She wasn't sure she wanted to know what they said. Her other parents were at the kitchen door as she walks down the hall smiling identically and waving slowly have a good time outside said her other mother we will wait here for you to come back said her other father when Coraline reached the front door she turned around and looked at them. They still watched her and waved and smiled. Caroline left and went down the stairs. The house looked exactly the same from the outside or almost exactly the same.

Around Miss and Miss Forcible's door were blue and red light bulbs that flashed on and off spelling out the words. lights chasing each other around the door it was a cold sunny day exactly the same as the one she had left there was a polite noise behind her she turned standing on the wall next to her there was a large black cat identical to the large black cat she had seen in the home gardens good afternoon said the cat his voice sounded like the voice in the back of Caroline's head the voice that she thought words but the voice of a man not a girl hello said Coraline I saw a cat like you at home You must be the other cat.

The cat shook his head. He didn't say. I'm not the other. Nothing. It's me. He tilted his head to the side. His green eyes flashed. You are scattered everywhere. The cats on the other side. Let's stick together if you know what I mean. I guess, but you're the same cat I saw at home, how can you talk? Cats don't have shoulders, not like people, but the cat shrugged with a gentle movement that started at the tip. of his tail and ended in a raised movement of his whiskers I can talk cats don't talk at home he didn't say the cat didn't say Coraline the cat jumped gently from the wall to the grass near Coraline's feet she looked at her intently well you're The expert in these things said the cat dryly, after all, what would I know?

I'm just a cat. He started walking away with his head and tail held high and proud. Come back, Coraline said, please, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, I really am. The cat stopped walking. He sat down and began to wash thoughtfully, apparently unaware of Coraline's existence, "We could be friends, you know," said Coraline, "we could be rare specimens of an exotic breed of African dancing elephant," said the cat, "but at least we're not," Cataly added after giving a brief glance. to Coraline. I'm not on Coraline's side, please, what's your name? Coraline asks the cat, look, I'm Coraline, it's okay, cat warned slowly, carefully revealing a mouth and tongue of an amazing pink color, cats don't have names, she said.

No, said Coraline, now you have names, that's because you don't know who you are. We know who we are, so we don't need names. There was something irritatingly self-centered about the cat, as if, in her opinion, he was the only one. in the world or place that could be of some importance half of her wanted to be very rude to him and the other half wanted to be polite and deferential half polite please what is this place? The cat looked around her briefly, "It's here," said the cat, "I can see that well, how did you get here like you did?" "I walked," the cat said. the house, there was another polite noise behind her, it was the cat, he said it was sensible of you to bring him protection if he was high. protection, that's what I said, said the cat and anyway he stopped and stared at something that was not there, then he crouched down and slowly moved forward two or three steps, he seemed to be stalking an invisible mouse, he suddenly turned his tail . and ran into the forest, she disappeared into the trees Coraline wondered what the cat had meant, she also wondered why all the cats could talk about where she came from and they just chose not to or if they could only talk where they were, wherever she was. she. she walked down the brick steps to the lady's front door and the force, the blue and red lights flickered on and off, the door was slightly open, she knocked, but her first knock caused the door to open and Coraline entered, He walked down the brick steps to the front door of the lady and the forcible, the blue and red lights flickering on and off, the door slightly open.

She knocked, but her first knock caused the door to open and Coraline entered. She was in a dark room that smelled of dust and velvet. The door closed behind her and the room went dark. Coraline entered a tea room, her face touched something soft, it was a cloth, she raised her hand and pushed the cloth. She stood blinking on the other side of the velvet curtains. In a dimly lit theater far away, at the edge of the room, was a tall wooden stage, empty and bare, a dim spotlight shining on it from above. There were seats between Coraline and the stage.

Rose and rows of seats. She had a shuffling noise and a The light came toward her swaying back and forth when she got close and saw that the light was coming from a flashlight she was carrying in the mouth of a large black Scotty dog, its muzzle gray with age. . Hello, said Coraline, the dog put the flashlight on the ground. floor and looked at her right, let's see your ticket, he snapped ticket, that's what I said ticket, I don't have all day, you can't see the show without a ticket, Coraline spawned, I don't have a ticket, another admitted. said the dog sadly, come in here, bold as anything, where's your ticket?

He approached the front of the stage, stopped and shone his flashlight on an empty seat. Coraline sat down and the dog walked away as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she realized that the other inhabitants of the seats were also dogs, there was a sudden whistle coming from behind the stage Coraline decided it was the sound of a old scratched record being put on a record player, the hissing became the noise of trumpets and Miss and Miss were forced onto the stage. Miss was riding a single wheel bicycle and juggling. The balls that this force jumped behind her holding a basket of flowers, scattered the petals of the flowers across the stage as it advanced, reached the front of the wise man and the young lady agilely jumped off the unicycle and the two old women held on, although everyone the dogs slapped their tails. and barked enthusiastically Coraline clapped her hands politely then they unbuttoned their round fluffy coats and opened them but their coats were not that open their faces opened too wide like empty shells then out of the old round fluffy bodies two young women came out, they were thin and pale and quite pretty and had black button eyes the new miss wore green stockings and high brown boots that reached up to her legs the new miss necessarily wore a white dress and had flowers in her long yellow hair Coraline was leaning against her seat miss came out of the stage and the noise of the trumpets screeched as the gramophone needle made its way through the record and was torn out. "it's my favorite part," the little dog whispered in the seat next to her. the other awkwardly took a knife out of the box in the corner of the stage.

Is this a dagger that I see before me she asked yes all the little dogs shouted it is forced Curt seed and all the dogs supported again Coraline did not bother to applaud this time the lady came back and slapped her thigh and all the little dogs barked and now the lady said Miriam and I proudly present a new and exciting addition to our theatrical exhibition. Do I see a volunteer? The little dog next to Coraline nudged her with his front paw, "It's you," she hissed. Coraline stood up and walked. up the wooden steps to the stage Can I get a big round of applause for our young volunteer?

Miss asked the dogs barked and squealed and slapped their tails on the velvet seats now Caroline said miss what's your name Coraline said Coraline and we don't Do we know each other? Caroline looked at the thin young woman with black eyes and shook her head slowly, everyone said that the other young lady stood there, she took Coraline to a board next to the stage and put a balloon on top of Coraline. Miss Head approached Miss Forcible, blindfolded Miss Forcible with a black scarf and put the knife in her hands, then turned it three or four times and pointed it at Coraline Caroline held her breath and clenched her fingers in two. clenched fists.

This forced man threw the knife at the balloon and it exploded with force. The knife stuck into the dashboard just above Caroline's head and clanged there. Coraline exhaled, the dogs going crazy. The lady gave Coraline a very small box of chocolates and thanked her for being such a good sport. Coraline returned to her seat, you were very good, said the little dog, thank you, said Coraline. The young lady forced herself and the young lady began to juggle with huge wooden clubs. Coraline opened the box of chocolates. The dog looked at them longingly. Do you want one?

He asked the little dog if Please leave the candy ones alone, they make me draw I thought chocolates weren't very good for dogs, he said remembering something Miss Forcez had once told him, maybe where you come from is the only thing what we eat Carline couldn't see what the chocolates were. In the dark she took an experimental bite of one that turned out to be a coconut. Coraline didn't like the coconut so she gave it to the dog, thank you, said the dog, you're welcome, said Caroline, Miss Forced and the Miss were acting forced, she was sitting on a stepladder and the miss was standing at the bottom, which There is a name in a name, ask the lady, what we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.

Do you have any more chocolates? said the dog Caroline gave the dog another chocolate always here said Coraline keep the chocolates thank you said the dog Coraline got up see you soon said the dog goodbye said Carlin she walked towards the theater and back to the garden she had to blink in the light of day her other parents were waiting for her in the garden standing next to them they were smiling if you had a good time she asked her other mother if it was interesting Coraline said the three of them walked together back to Coraline's other house Caroline's other mother stroked Coraline's hair with her long white fingers Coraline denied with your head, don't do it, said Coraline, her other mother took her hand away, then she said, another father, do you like it here?

I guess he said Coraline, it's much more interesting that they came in at home. I'm glad you like it, said Coraline's mother, because we would like to think that this is your house you can stay here forever and ever if you want hmm said Coraline put her hand in her pockets and thought about it her hand touched the stone that the real lady and forced had given her the day before the stone with a hole If you want to stay, said his other father, there is only one little thing we will have to do so that you can stay here forever and they always went to the kitchen and on a porcelain plate on the kitchen table there was a spool of black cotton and a silver needle. long and besides them two big black buttons I don't think so said Coraline oh but we want you to say your other mother we want you to stay and it's just a little thing that won't hurt you said her other father, Caroline, I knew that when adults told you that something wouldn't hurt you, almostHe always did it she shook her head.

Her other mother smiled happily as the hair on her head floated like plants under the sea, the only one that is better for you. she said she put her hand on Coraline's shoulder Caroline stepped back I'm leaving she said Coraline put her hands in her pockets her fingers closed around the stone with the hole in it Her other mother's hands slid off Coraline's shoulder like a scared spider who is what you want she said yes said Coraline we will see you soon although said her other father when you come back um said Coraline and then we will all be together there is a big happy family said another mother forever and always Coraline stepped back she turned and walked away She hurried into the living room and opened the door in the corner there was no brick wall there now only darkness a black night underground darkness that seemed as if things in it could be moving Coraline hesitated, turned to her other mother and her other father.

They were walking towards her holding hands They were looking at her with their black bird eyes She really thought they were looking at her She couldn't be sure Her other mother extended her free hand and beckoned gently with a white finger Her pale lips and mouths came closer Although Saying nothing permitted, Caroline took a deep breath and stepped into the darkness where strange voices whispered and distant winds blew. She became convinced that there was something in the darkness behind her, something very old and very slow. Her heart beats so loud and so loud that she was afraid it would burst out of her chest.

She closed her eyes against the darkness. Finally she collided with something and opened her eyes. Surprised, she crashed into an armchair in her living room. The open door behind her was blocked by red bricks. She was at home. Coraline. She closed the living room door with the cold black key, returned to the kitchen and climbed onto a chair. She tried to put the bunch of keys back on top of the door frame. She tried four or five times before she was forced to do it. She accepted that she simply wasn't big enough and she left them on the counter by the door.

Her mother had not yet returned from her shopping expedition. Caroline went to the freezer and took out the leftover frozen loaf of bread in the bottom compartment. She made herself some toast with jam and peanut butter. She drank a glass of water. She waited for her parents to return when she began to turn dark coral. a frozen pizza, then Carline watched TV and wondered why adults watched all the good shows with so much screaming and running. After a while she started yawning, got undressed, brushed her teeth and went to bed, he went into the bedroom. her parents' room, but her bed had not been beaten and they were not nearby she had canned spaghetti for lunch she took a block of cooking chocolate and an apple the apple was yellow and slightly wrinkled but it tasted sweet and good fatigue she collapsed The lady spin with forcible had three digestive biscuits a glass of lime a cup of wheat tea the lemonade was very interesting it didn't taste at all like lime it had a bright green and vaguely chemical taste Coraline really liked it I wish they had it at home how are her dear parents asked the young lady said current line I haven't seen either of them since yesterday I'm alone and I think I'll probably become a one-child family Tell your mother we found the Glasgow Empire press cuttings we were telling about She She said she seemed very interested when Miriam mentioned them.

Her cheese disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Coraline said and I think my father did too. I'm afraid we'll be out all day tomorrow. Caroline Lovey said Miss Baltimore, we're staying the night. April's niece at Royal Tunbridge Wells was shown Coraline a photo album with photographs of Miss Spink's niece and then Caroline went home, opened her piggy bank and walked to the supermarket to buy two large bottles of lime, a chocolate cake, a new bag of apples and she went home and ate them for dinner she brushed her teeth and went to her father's office she turned on her computer and wrote a

story

Caroline's story there was a girl named Apple she used to dance a lot she danced and danced until her feet turned into sausages at the end she printed the story and turned off the computer then she drew a picture of the girl dancing under the words on the paper she drew a bath with too much bubble bath and the bubbles They ran sideways and ran all over the floor, she dried herself and the floor as best she could and went to bed.

Caroline woke up in the night, went to her parents' room, but the bed was made and empty, the bright green numbers on the digital clock glowing. At 3:12 in the morning, alone in the middle of Coraline, no other sound started in the empty apartment, she climbed into her parents' bed and after a while she fell asleep. Caroline was woken up by cold pores hitting her face, her eyes widened. the green eyes looked back at her it was the cat hello said Caroline how did you come in the cat didn't say anything Coraline got out of bed she was wearing a long t-shirt and pajama pants have you come to tell me something?

She made her eyes glow green. Do you know where mom and dad are? the cat blinked slowly at her yes the cat blinked again Coraline decided that it was indeed a yes will you take me with them? The cat stared at her and then got out of her. She followed him, walked along the hallway and stopped at the end where she was hanging a full-length mirror. The mirror had long been inside a closet door. It had been hanging there on the wall when they moved in. and although Coraline's mother had occasionally talked about replacing it with something newer, she never made Coraline turn on the hallway light, the mirror showed the hallway behind her, which was to be expected, but reflected in the mirror were her parents, in which they were clumsily. in the hallway's reflection they looked sad and alone as Coraline watched, waving slowly at her with limp hands.

Coraline's father had his arm around his mother in the mirror. Her mother and Coraline's father stared at her. Her father opened his mouth and said something, but she couldn't. I didn't hear anything at all her mother breathed into the mirror and quickly before the fog vanished She wrote s-u-p-l-e-h help us back the fog in the mirror vanished and so did her parents and now the mirror reflected only the hallway and Coraline? where are they? Caroline asked the cat, the cat didn't respond, but Coraline could imagine her dry voice like a dead fly on a window sill in winter saying well, where do you think they are?

They are not coming back. They said that Caroline is not under her own steam. the cat blinked at her. Caroline took it as a yes. Correct. Caroline said so I guess there's only one thing left to do. She entered her father's study. She sat at her desk. She picked up the phone and opened the phone book and the phone. to the local police station the police said a graphic mail voice hello he said my name is Caroline Jones you'll rap a little after you go to bed won't you miss the policeman possibly said Coraline who wasn't going to be diverted but I do.

Call to report a crime and what type of crime that would be. Adult kidnapping. Take a nap. In reality, my parents have been stolen from a world on the other side of the mirror in our living room. Do you know who stole them? Ask the police officer. Coraline could do it. I heard the smile in her voice and she tried really hard to sound like an adult would so that he would take her seriously. I think my other mother has them both in her clutches, maybe she wants to keep them and sew their eyes shut with black buttons or her.

She may just have them to draw me back within reach of her fingers. I'm not sure. Ah, the nefarious claws of her diabolical fingers. Did she say she? um, you know what I suggest, Miss Jones, not, Coraline said, what you ask your mother. make you a big cup of hot chocolate and give you a big hug, there's nothing like hot chocolate and a hug to make nightmares go away and if she starts nagging you, wake her up at this time of night, why do you tell her? ? She said that's what the police officer said had a deep, calming voice Coraline didn't calm down when I saw her Caroline said I'll tell her and hung up the phone the black cat that had been sitting on the floor grooming its fur during all this The conversation was He stood up and led the way into the hallway.

Caroline returned to her bedroom and put on a blue robe and her slippers. She looked under the sink for a flashlight and found one of hers, but the batteries had long since died and it barely glowed in the light. In the faintest straw-colored light she left him again and found a box of white wax candles for emergencies and put one in a candlestick. She put an apple in each pocket, took the key ring and took out the old black key for the door. ring entered the living room and looked at the door she had the feeling that the door was looking at her, which she knew was silly and new on a deeper level, somehow it was true, she went back to her room and searched in her pocket. jeans found the stone with a hole in it and put it in the pocket of his robe he lit the candle with a match and watched it sputter and light up and he took the black key that he had in his hand it was cold and he put it in the keyhole in the door but I didn't turn the key when I was a child Coraline said to the cat when we lived in our old house a long time ago my dad took me for a walk through the Wasteland between our house and the shops, it wasn't the best place to go for a walk, There really were all those things that people had thrown there, old stoves, broken dishes, dolls without arms or legs and empty cans, broken bottles.

Mom and dad made me promise not to go. Exploring there because there were too many sharp things and tetanus and stuff like that, but I kept telling them I wanted to explore it, so one day my dad put on his big brown boots and gloves and put me in my boots and my jeans and my sweater and we went for a walk, We must have walked for about 20 minutes, we went down this hill to the bottom of the Gully, where there was a stream, when my dad suddenly told me that Coraline ran away up the hill, now he said it in a kind of tight tone.

With great urgency, he did so. I ran away up the hill. Something hurt the back of my arm while I was running, but I kept running because I made it to the top of the hill. I heard someone thundering up the hill behind me, it was my dad charging. like a rhinoceros and when he caught up with me, he picked me up in his arms and dragged me to the edge of the hill and then we stopped and snorted and got hit and looked down the ravine, the air was full of yellow jackets. I must have stepped on a wasp's nest on a rotten branch while we were walking and as I was running up the hill my dad stayed and got stung to give me time to escape his glasses had fallen off when I was running I only got a sting on the back of my head. my arm and there were 39 bites all over it, we counted later in the bathroom, the black cap began washing over his face and whiskers in a way that indicated growing impatience.

Carline bent down and stroked the nape and neck, and the cat stood up. and he walked several steps until he was out of reach and he sat down and looked up again, that's what Coraline said later that afternoon, my dad went back to the Wasteland to get his glasses, he said that if he left them another day he wouldn't be able to Remembering where they had landed he soon came home wearing his glasses, he said he wasn't afraid when he was standing there and the wasps were stinging him and hurting him and he was watching me run away because he knew he had given me enough time to run or the Wasps would have come after They both Caroline turned the key in the door and turned with a loud bang the door opened there was no brick wall on the other side of the door just Darkness a cold The wind blew down the hallway.

Coraline made no move to go through the door and he said it wasn't brave of him to stand there getting stung and Caroline said to the cat. He wasn't brave because he wasn't afraid. It was the only thing he could do was go back to look for his glasses when he knew that the Wasps were there when he was really scared, so it was Brave took the first step down the dark hallway, he could smell the dust, the damp and the mold, the cat He walked next to her. and why she asked the cat that, although he sounded quite interested because he said when you're scared, but you still do it.

That's Brave, the candle cast a huge, strange flickering shadow along the wall, he heard something moving in the darkness next to his water. side of her she couldn't tell but it seemed like she kept Pace with her whatever it was and that's why you're going back to her world then said the cat because your father once saved you from the wasps don't be stupid said Coraline I'm going to come back for them because they are my parents and if they realized that I am no longer sure they would do the same for me, you know, you are talking again how lucky I am, said the cat, to have a traveling companion of such wisdom and intelligence. tone was still sarcastic but his fur was standing on end and his tail was in the air.

Coraline was going to say something like I'm sorry or it wasn't a much shorter walk last time when the candle went out. As suddenly as if he had been sucked in by someone's hand, there was a scraping and tapping and Coraline could feel her heart.hitting against his ribs, he reached out a hand and felt something faint like a spider web run his hands towards his face at the end. In the hallway the electric light came on blindingly after the darkness a woman was silhouetted by the light a little in front of Coraline Coraline darling called mom Coraline said and ran forward anxious and relieved darling the woman said why did you ever run away from me ?

Caroline was too close to stop and she felt the other mother's cold arms pull her into a hug. She stood there stiff and shaking as another mother hugged her tightly. Where are my parents? Caroline asked: We're here, her other mother said in a voice so close to her. real mothers that Coraline could barely tell apart we are here we are ready to love you and play with you and feed you and make your life interesting Coraline stepped away and the other mother reluctantly let go of her the other father who had been sitting in a chair in the hallway stood up.

She stood up and smiled, walked into the kitchen, she said, I'll make us a midnight snack and you'll want something to drink hot chocolate, maybe Caroline walks down the hall until she reaches the mirror at the end. Nothing was reflected in it except a young woman in a dressing gown and slippers who seemed to have been crying recently but whose eyes were not black buttons and who was holding tightly an unlit candle in a candelabra. She looked at the girl in the mirror. The girl in the mirror looked back. I will be brave even if I cry.

No, I am brave. She left the candlestick on the floor and then turned around. The other mother and the other father were looking at her eagerly. I don't need a sandwich. She said. I have an apple look she took an apple out of the pocket of her robe and then bit it with an enthusiasm that she didn't really feel the other father seemed disappointed the other mother smiled showing a complete set of teeth and each of the teeth was a little too long. lights in the hallway made her black eyes twinkle and shine don't scare me said Coraline although they did scare her a lot I want my parents to come back the world seemed to glow a little at the edges whatever it was I'm done with your old parents if they left you Coraline it must be because they got bored of you tired now I will never get bored of you and I will never abandon you you will always be safe here with me the other mother's wet gaze black hair floated around her head like the tentacles of a creature in the depths of the ocean They weren't bored with me said Coraline you're lying you stole them stupid stupid Coraline they're fine wherever they are Coraline I'm just glad for the other mother. "I'll try it," said the other mother, and she brushed the surface of the mirror with her long white fingers; she became cloudy as if a dragon had breathed.

She cleared herself in the mirror. It was already daytime. Coraline was looking down the hallway to the front door. The door opened from the outside and Coraline's mother. and the father came in carrying suitcases, "it was a good vacation," Coraline's father said, "how nice it is not to have Coraline anymore," her mother said with a happy smile, "now we can do all the things we always wanted to do, like go abroad but we missed it." prevented from doing by having a small daughter and said her father it comforts me to know that another mother will take better care of her and someday we will be able to the mirror fogged up and faded and reflected the night once again said her other mother no said I don't see And I don't believe it either .

She hoped that what she had just seen wasn't real, but she wasn't as sure as she seemed. There was a little doubt inside her like a worm in the core of an apple. She then looked up and saw the expression. in her other mother's face a flash of real anger crossed her face like a summer lightning bolt and Coraline was sure in her heart that what she had seen in that mirror was nothing more than an illusion Caroline sat on the couch and sat down. she ate her apple please said her other mother came into the room and clapped her hands twice a rustle was heard a black rat appeared and stared at her bring me the key she said the rat squeaked and then ran through the open door leading to Coraline's house. flat the rat came back dragging the key behind her why don't you have your own key on this side asks Coraline there is only one key only one door said the other father silence said another mother you must not bother our dear Caroline's head with such trivialities he put in She put the key in the keyhole and turned the lock.

It was stiff but closed with a thud. She dropped the key into her apron pocket. Outside, the sky had begun to lighten to a luminous gray. We're not going to have a snack. midnight said the other mother We still need our beauty sleep. I'm going back to bed Caroline. I strongly suggest you do the same. She placed her long white fingers on the other parent's shoulders and escorted him out of the room. Coraline approached the door of the room. In the far corner of the room, she pulled on it, but it was tightly closed. The door to her other parents' room was now closed.

In fact, she was tired, but she didn't want to sleep in the room. She didn't want to sleep under the same roof. Like her other mother, the front door was not closed, Caroline walked out into the Dawn and walked down the stone stairs and sat on the bottom step. It was cold. Something fairy-like pushed against her side with a soft, insinuating movement. Caroline jumped and then breathed a sigh of relief when she saw what it was oh it's you she said to the black cat look said the cat it wasn't that hard to recognize me it was even without names well and if I wanted to call you the cat wrinkled its nose and managed to look unimpressed calling the cats he trusted tends to be quite overrated in the activity he could also call a whirlwind and if it was dinner time he asked Coraline if she wouldn't like to be called so of course she said the cat but a simple dinner call It would be good. there's no need for names why she loves me Caroline asked the cat why she wants me to stay here with her she wants something to love I think something that isn't her might also want something to eat it's hard to tell with creatures like that do you have any advice?

Ask Coraline. The cat looked like he was about to say something more sarcastic and twitched her whiskers and said, challenge her. There's no guarantee he'll play fair, but his guy loves games and challenges what. Something like that is what he asks Coraline, but the cat didn't answer, he just stretched luxuriously and walked away, then stopped, turned and said: I'd come in if I could get some sleep, you've got a long day ahead of you and then the cat . Still gone, Coraline realized she had a way back to the Silent House, the closed bedroom door inside which the other mother and father, she wondered, slept, waited, and then left.

It occurred to him that if he opened the bedroom door, he would. I found it empty or, more precisely, it was an empty room and it would remain empty until the exact moment she opened the door in some way that made it easier. Caroline walked into the green and pink parody of her own bedroom, closed the door, and dragged out the toy box. her in front of him she wouldn't keep anyone out of her, but the noise someone would make trying to get him out would wake her up. She hoped the toys in the toy box were still asleep.

They stirred and murmured as she moved her box and then went back to sleep. Caroline looked under her bed for rats, there she took off her robe and slippers, climbed into bed and fell asleep with hardly any time to reflect on what the cat might have meant by a challenge. Caroline was awakened by the mid-morning sun. face for a moment she felt completely dislocated she didn't know where she was she wasn't entirely sure who she was it's amazing how much of who we are can be tied to the beds we wake up in the morning and it's amazing how fragile it can be Sometimes Caroline forgot who she was while daydreaming that she was exploring the Arctic or the Amazon rainforest or darkest Africa;

It wasn't until someone touched her shoulder or said her name that Coraline returned from A Million Miles Away with a start, all in a split second and having to remember who she was, what her name was and that she was even there now there was something about her face, she was Coraline Jones, yes, and the green and pink of the room she was in the whisper of a large wallpaper butterfly that fluttered and made its way across the ceiling told her where she had woken up she got up out of bed she couldn't put on her pajamas, robe and slippers during the day, she decided that even if it meant wearing the other Coraline's clothes, there was another Coraline, she realized that she was gone, only her, there were no normal clothes in the closet, although they were more like dress clothes, the kind of clothes she would love to have hanging in her closet at home, a tattered witch costume, a patched-up scarecrow costume, a future warrior costume with little digital lights shining on it. and they blinked, a tight evening dress, all covered in feathers and mirrors, finally in a drawer.

She found a pair of black jeans that looked like they were made of night velvet and a gray sweater the color of thick smoke with faint, tiny stars on the fabric that sparkled. She put the jeans on the sweater and then put on a pair of shiny pants. orange boots that he found at the back of the closet he took his last apple out of the pocket of his robe and then he took it out of the same pocket with the hole he put the stone in the pocket of his jeans and it was as if his head had cleared a little as if he had Out of a kind of fog she entered the kitchen but it was still deserted.

She was sure that there was someone in the apartment. She walked down the hallway until she reached her father's study and discovered that he was busy. Where was the other mother? She asked another father. He was sitting in the study at a desk that looked like his father's but he wasn't doing anything at all, not even reading gardening catalogs like his own father did when he was just pretending to be exercising, he told him he was fixing the doors, that there are some problems with vermin, he seemed happy to have someone to talk to about the rats, you mean no, the rats are our friends, this is the other guy, a big black guy with his tail.

Stop, the cat. I mean, that's what her other parent said. He looked less like his real father. There was something a little vague about his face today, like bread dough that he had begun to rise, smoothing out the bumps and cracks and depressions. I really shouldn't talk to you. When she's not here, she said, but don't worry, she won't be gone often. I will show you our tender hospitality in such a way that you will not even think about returning. She closed her mouth and folded her hands in her lap. What am I going to do now ask Coraline the other father pointed to his lips silence if you don't even talk to me said Coraline I'm going to explore it doesn't make sense said the other father there is nowhere but here this is all she made the house the grounds the people at home he did it and she waited then he looked embarrassed and put a finger to his lips again as if he had just said too much the current line left his study she walked into the living room towards the old door and she pulled it, the shook and shook her.

No, she was locked and another mother had the key. She looked around the room. She was so familiar. That was what made her feel really strange. Everything was exactly the same as she remembered. All of her grandmother's furniture had a strange smell. There was the picture of a bowl of fruit, a bunch of grapes, two pounds of peaches and apples, there was the low wooden table with the feet of a lion and the empty fireplace that seemed to absorb the heat of the room, but there was something else there. , something he didn't remember seeing before a glass ball in the mind piece approached the fireplace, stood on tiptoe, and lifted it downwards.

It was a snowball with two little ones. Coraline shook it and let the white snow fly. snow that sparkled as it fell into the water, he placed the snowball back on the mantelpiece and continued searching for his real parents and, to find a way out, he left the apartment passing through the door with flashing lights behind which other young ladies and forced people performed their shows forever and he headed to the forest where Coraline came from. Once you passed through the group of trees you saw nothing but the meadow and the old tennis court in this place the forest became longer the trees became coarser and less tree-like The further you went, they seemed very close, like the idea of ​​trees, a grey-brown trunk beneath a greenish patch of what might have been leaves on top.

Coraline wondered if the other mother wasn't interested in the trees or if she just hadn't bothered. with this correctly because no one was expected to go out that far I kept walking and then the Fog started it wasn't humid like a normal fog or mist it wasn't cold it wasn't hot Coraline felt it like she was walking into nowhere. an Explorer full of Coraline for ourselves and I need every possible way to get out of here to keep walking. The world she walked through was a pale nothingness like a blank sheet of paper or a huge empty white room. temperature with no smell, no texture or taste, certainly no wonder, Coraline thought, although she didn't know what she was for a moment, she wondered if she had gone blind, but no, she could see herself as clear as hell.day, but there was no ground.

Under your feet just a misty milky whiteness and what do you think you're doing? Place a shape next to it. It took a few moments for her eyes to focus on it properly. At first she thought he might be some kind of lion. away from Aaron, then she thought he might be a mouse and then she knew what he was. I'm exploring. Caroline told the cat that she first stood up straight from his body, his eyes were wide and her tail down and between his paws she did. You don't look like a happy cat if you want to call it a place I don't know, what are you doing here?

I'm exploring, there's nothing to find here, this is just the outside of the place that she hasn't bothered to create. She is the one who says she is your other mother, said the cat, what did he ask Coraline? The cat did not answer. He simply walked through the pale mist. Furthermore, Coraline's form began to appear in front of them, something tall, imposing and dark. You were wrong, he told her. said the cat, there is something there and then a dark house took shape in the Mist that rose before them from a formless whiteness but that is called Coraline the house you just left precisely maybe I just turned around in the Mist said Coraline the cat curled the high tip of her tail into a question mark and tilted her head to the side you could have done it she said I certainly wouldn't be wrong but how can you walk away from something and still come back to it easily said the cat think of someone walking around the world starts by walking away from something and ends up coming back to it small world said Coraline big enough for her said cat webs just have to be big enough to catch flies Caroline shivid said she's fixing all the doors and gates He told Pew the cat to come out, you can try, said the unimpressed cat, oh yeah, you can try, they were standing under a group of trees now, besides the house, these trees seemed much more likely, there are ways to get in and out of places. like this one that even like she doesn't know if she made this place, then she asked Coraline what she made it, she found it, what's the difference, she asked the cat anyway, she's had it for a long time, wait, she gave a shiver and a jump and before Coraline could blink, the cat was sitting with his paw holding a large black rat. "It's not that I like rats at the best of times," the cat said conversationally as if nothing had happened with the rats at all. this place are all spies for her she uses them as her eyes and hands and With that, the cat let go of the rat, ran several feet and then the cat with one jump was on her hitting her hard with a sharp claw while the other poor held the shelf.

I love this. She said the cat happily wants to see me. do that again no said Coraline why are you doing it are you torturing him hmm said the cat and let go of the rat the rat stumbled a few steps dazedly then started running due to the blow of his paw the cat hit the rat in the air and hit it she caught it in her mouth stop said Coraline the cat dropped the rat between her two front paws there are those who said with a sigh in tones soft as oiled silk who have suggested a cat's tendency to play with its prey is merciful afterwards.everything This allows a fun little snack to run away from time to time.

How often does your dinner escape? And then he took the rat in his mouth and carried it into the forest. Caroline returned to the house, everything was silent and empty and deserted, even her footsteps on the carpeted floor seemed like heavy dust, modes hanging in a ray of sunlight, the other end of the hallway was a mirror, she could see herself walking towards the mirror looking at herself reflected a little braver than she really felt, there was nothing more. there in the mirror alone she in the hallway a hand touched her shoulder and she looked up the other mother stared at Coraline with big black button eyes Coraline, dear, said I thought we could play some games together this morning now that you' You came back from your walk Hopscotch happy families Monopoly you weren't in the mirror said Coraline the other mother smiled here is she said you can never trust now what game are we going to play Coraline shook her head I don't want to play with you she said I want to go home and be with my real parents I want you to let them go so that you can let us all go another mother shook her head very slowly sharper than a snake's tooth she said it is the ingratitude of a daughter yet the proudest spirit can be broken with love, her long white fingers moved and caressed the air, they have no plans to love, you said Coraline, no matter what you can't make me love, you talk about that, another mother said, she turned and walked into the living room and Coraline followed her down the room. other.

Her mother sat on the big sofa, she picked up a shopping bag next to the sofa and took out a crisp white paper bag from inside. She held out her hand to Coraline. Would you like one? she asked politely, hoping it was a candy or a ball of candy Coraline looked down the bag was half full of large shiny black beetles crawling over each other in an effort to get out of the bag she didn't say "Coraline, I don't want you to see one," said another mother. She carefully chose a particularly large and black beetle. She tore off its legs, which she carefully dropped into a large glass ashtray on the small table next to the sofa, and she put the beetle in her mouth.

She chewed it happily, mmm, she said and took another, I feel sick, so sick, evil and weird anyway. talk to your mother asked her other mother with a mouth full of black beetles you're not my mother said Coraline her other mother ignored this now I think you're a little too excited Coraline maybe this afternoon we could do some embroidery together or something watercolor painting , then dinner and then, if you've been good, you can play with the rats a little before bed and I'll read you a story, tuck you in and kiss you goodnight, her long white fingers fluttered gently like a tired butterfly shivered. , No.

Coraline said, the other mother sat on the couch, her mouth was in a line, they passed her lips, she put another black beetle in her mouth and then another, like someone with a bag of chocolate covered raisins, big black eyes that stared into Coraline's hazel eyes. Her shiny black hair entwined and twisted around her neck and shoulders as if she were blowing with a wind that Coraline could not touch or feel. They stared at each other for over a minute and then the other mother said manners. She folded the white paper bag carefully so that no black beetles could escape and she placed it back in the shopping bag.

He stood up and oh and she looked taller than Coraline remembered. She reached into her apron pocket and pulled out the back door key first, which she frowned and tossed into her shopping bag. that a small silver key raised her triumphantly there we are she said this is for you Coraline for your own good since I love you to teach you manners manners make the man after all she took Coraline back into the hallway and moved towards the mirror at the end From the hallway she pushed the small key into the mirror cloth and turned it, it opened like a door revealing a dark space behind it, you can come out when you have learned some manners, said the other mother and when you are ready to be a loving daughter , picked up Coraline and pushed her into the dark space behind the mirror.

A beetle fragment was stuck to her lower lip and there was no expression in her black eyes, then she closed the mirror door and left Coraline in the dark chapter 7. Somewhere inside her, Coraline could feel a great sob welling up. and then she stopped him before he came out, she took a deep breath and let him go, she reached out her hands to touch the space in which she was imprisoned. It was the size of a broom closet, good enough to stand or sit on, not wide or deep enough to lie down on. A wall was glass and felt cold to the touch.

He walked around the small room a second time, running his hands over it. on. Every surface she could reach she looked for hidden doorknobs or switches, some kind of exit, and she found nothing. A spider scurried onto the back of her hand and she gasped, but other than the spider she was alone in the closet in the field. dog and then her hand touched something that seemed to everyone like someone's cheek and her small, cold lips and a voice whispered in her ear, silence, don't say anything, the Beldum could be listening Coraline didn't say anything, she felt a cold hand touch her face fingers running over it's like the soft flapping of a moth's wings another voice hesitant and so weak that Caroline wondered if she was imagining it said you're alive now yes whispered Coraline poor girl it's the first voice who are you whispered Coraline names names name said another the voices very far away are lost the names are the first thing to disappear after the breath and the heartbeat ends we keep our memories longer than our names I still have images in my mind of my governess one morning in May carrying my hoop and the stick and the morning sun behind her and all the tulips swaying in the breeze but I have forgotten the name of my governess and the name of the tulips too I don't think tulips have names said Coraline they are just tulips maybe she said the voice sadly but I have always thought that these tulips might have had names.

They were red and orange and red and red and orange and yellow like embers in a nursery fire on a winter's night. I remember them. The voice sounded so sad. Coraline reached out to where the voice came from and found a cold hand that squeezed her tightly. Her eyes were beginning to adjust to the darkness. Now Coraline saw or imagined she saw three shapes, each as faint and pale as the moon in the sky. the daytime sky. the shapes of children their own size the cold hand pressed her hand back thank you said The Voice are you a girl asked Coraline or a boy there was a pause when I was little I wore skirts and my hair was long and curly he said doubtfully but now that questions it seems to me that one day they took off my skirts and gave me pants and cut my hair to paint something that we propose said the first of the voices a boy maybe then the one who had the hand continued I think I was once a child and It shone a little brighter in the darkness of the room behind the mirror.

What happened to everyone? Ask Coraline how they got here. She left us here. She said one of the voices. She stole our hearts. our souls and she took our lives and she left us here and forgot about us in the darkness you poor people, said Coraline, how long have you been here, so long? One time said a voice I time Beyond calculation said another voice I walked through the kitchen door said the voice of who she thought might be a boy. I found myself back in the living room, she was waiting for me, she told me that she was my other mother, but I never saw my real mother reveal herself again on the first day. the voices another girl run away while there is still air in your lungs and blood in your veins and heat in your heart run away while you still have your mind and your soul I will not escape said Coraline she has my parents I came to get them back she will keep you here while the days turn to dust and the leaves fall and the years pass one after another like the ticking of a clock no said Coraline she will not there was silence in the room behind the mirror power Adventure said by voice in the dark if you could recover to your mother and father from the Beldum could you also free our souls if she has taken them Coraline asked I was surprised and I hid them that's why we couldn't leave here when we died she kept us she fed on us until now there is nothing left of us only snake skins and spider shells find our secret hearts young lover what will happen to you if I do the voices said nothing what is she going to do to me she said the pale figures pulsed vaguely could you imagine they were nothing more than images like the glow she leaves A bright light in your eyes after the lights go out Hasn't whispered a faint voice She will take your life and everything you are and everything you care about She will leave you with nothing but fog and mist She will take your joy and One day you will wake up and your heart and soul will have become a shell, you will be a wick, you will be and you will no longer be a thing. that a dream upon waking up or a somewhat forgotten memory Hollow whispered the third voice hollow hollow hollow hollow you must run away I don't think so said Coraline I tried to run away and it didn't work she just took my parents can you tell me how? to get out of this room we knew we would tell you all the things Coraline said to herself she sat up she took off her sweater she rolled it up and put it behind her head as a pillow it won't keep me in the dark forever said Coraline she brought me here to play games and challenges the cat said I'm not much of a challenge here in the dark she tried to make herself comfortable by squirming and bending to fit in the narrow space behind the mirror her stomach growled she ate her last apple taking the smallest bites making it last as long as as much as he could when he finished he was still hungry so an idea occurred to him and he whispered when he came to let me out why don't you three come with me?

I wish we could do it. next to her there barely her voices but she has our hearts under hers caring for her now we belong to the darkness toempty places the light would wither and burn us oh said Coraline closed her eyes which made the darkness darker she laid her head on the She rolled up her sweater and went to sleep and as she fell asleep she thought she felt a ghost kiss her cheek with tenderness and then a little voice whispered in his ear a voice so weak that it was barely there a soft and faint nothing of such a silent voice.

Coraline could almost believe she was imagining it through the stone she told him and then she fell asleep the other mother looked healthier than before there was a little blush on her cheeks and her hair twisted like lazy snakes on a warm day her black Button eyes looked freshly polished. She had stepped through the mirror as if she were walking through nothing more solid than water and she had looked at Coraline. She opened the door with a small silver key that Carolina chose just like Coraline's real mother had done. When Coraline was much smaller, cradling the half-asleep child as if she were a baby, the other mother carried Coraline into the kitchen and placed her very gently on the counter.

Coraline struggled to wake up conscious only for the moment of having been held and loved and wanted more and then I realized where she was and who she was there with, my sweet Coraline said her other mother I came and took you out of the closet you needed to be taught a lesson, but we temper our justice with mercy here we Love the sinner and now we hate the sin. If you are a good girl who loves her mother, be docile and she speaks quickly. You and I will understand each other perfectly and we will love each other perfectly too.

Coraline scratched the sand from her sleep. eyes, there were other kids there, she said the old guys from long ago were there, the other mother said, she was moving her muscles between the pans in the refrigerator getting out eggs and cheeses, butter and a piece of sliced ​​pink bacon, yeah, Coraline said, there I was. Do you think you're planning to turn me into one of them dead? Her other mother smiled softly with one hand she cracked the eggs into a bowl with the other she beat them and the savages then dropped some butter into a frying pan where it hissed, sizzled and swirled as she cut thin slices of cheese, poured the melted butter and the cheese into the egg mixture and beat it a little more. "Now I think you're being silly, dear," said another mother.

I love you. Always love You. Nobody. The sensible person believes in ghosts anyway because they are all like that. Liars smell the delicious breakfast I'm preparing for you. She poured the yellow mixture onto the cheese omelet. Your favorite Caroline's mouth was watering. Another mother's black eyes shone everyone likes games was all she said yes she said crime she got off the counter and sat at the table the bacon was sizzling and spitting under the grill it smelled wonderful wouldn't you be happier if I will you win fairly? and square asked Coraline Sibley said the other mother she had a show of nonchalance but her fingers moved and drummed and she licked her lips with her scarlet tongue what exactly are you offering me?

Coraline said he grabbed her knees under the table to stop them from shaking if I lose I will stay here with you forever I will let you love me I will be the most beautiful daughter I will eat your food and play with happy families and I will let you sew your buttons on my eyes his another mother stared at her black buttons without blinking that

sounds

great she said and if you don't lose then let me go, let everyone go, my real father and mother, the dead children, everyone you've trapped here, the other Mother took the bacon from under the grill and put it on a plate, she slid the cheese omelette from the pan to the plate, turning it as she did so, letting it fold into a perfect omelet, she placed the breakfast plate in front of Coraline along with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice and a cup of frothy hot chocolate yes, he said I think I like this game, but what kind of game will it be a puzzle game, a test of knowledge or skill, a game of exploration? suggested to Coraline the game of finding things and what do you think you should find in this game of hide and seek Caroline Jones Caroline hesitated then my parents said Caroline and The souls of the children behind the mirror the other mother smiled triumphantly and Coraline I wondered if I had made the right decision.

The election was still too late to change his mind. Now there's a deal. She said the other mother now eats your breakfast, honey, don't worry, she won't. Coraline stared at the breakfast hating herself for giving in. so easily but she was starving how do I know you will keep your word? I asked Coraline, I swear, the other mother said, I swear on my own mother's grave, does she have a grave, ask Coraline, oh yes, the other mother said, I put it. I was there and when I found her trying to call, I turned my back to her, I swear by something else, so I can trust you to keep your word, said my right hand, the other mother held her up and shook her long fingers slowly showing the claw like nails She shrugged her shoulders, it's okay, she said it's a deal, she ate her breakfast trying not to fit in, she was hungrier than she had thought while she was eating, her other mother stared at her, it was hard to read the expressions on those black eyes, but Coraline thought her The other mother looked hungry too.

She drank the orange juice even though she knew she would like it. She didn't dare try the hot chocolate. Where should she start looking? She asked Coraline where she would like her. She said that she is the other mother of her if she didn't care at all. Coraline looked at her and Coraline thought a lot that it made no sense, she decided to explore the garden and the grounds did not exist, they were not real, there was no abandoned tennis court in the other mother's world, the bottomless pit, everything that was The house itself was real.

She looked around the kitchen. She opened the oven. She looked inside the freezer. She reached into the salad compartment of the refrigerator. The other mother followed her, looking at Coraline with a smile always floating on the edge of her lips. How big were they? are they souls? asks Coraline, the other mother, sat at the kitchen table and leaned against the wall without saying anything, bit her teeth with a long crimson-varnished nail and then tapped lightly with her finger, tap, tap, tap, against the polished black surface of his black eyes, he said well. Coraline don't tell me I don't care it doesn't matter if you help me or not everyone knows that a soul is the same size as a beach ball she was waiting for the other mother to say something like nonsense they are the size of ripe onions or suitcases or clocks foot, but the other mother simply smiled at the tap of the faucet, the tapping of her nail against her eye was constant and relentless like the dripping of water droplets from the sink faucet and then Coraline realized that it was simply the noise of the water and she was alone in the room Coraline shivered she preferred the other mother to have a location if she wasn't anywhere she could be anywhere and in the end it is always easier to be afraid of something you can't see she put He put his hands in his pockets and his fingers closed around the reassuring shape of the stone with a hole.

He took it out of her pocket and held it in front of her as if he were holding a gun and walked out into the Hall. There was nothing. There was no sound, but the water faucet dripping into the metal sink looked at the mirror at the end of the hole for a moment, it blurred and it seemed to him that faces were swimming in the glass, indistinct and shapeless, and then the faces They disappeared and there was nothing in the mirror except a girl who was little Fire Age holding something that glowed softly charcoal green Coraline looked at her hand surprised that it was only holding a nondescript brown pebble and then she looked back at the mirror where the stone was.

It shone like an emerald a trail of blue green fire from the pebble in the mirror and headed towards Coraline's bedroom hmm Caroline said she walked into the bedroom the toys fluttered excitedly as she walked in as if they were happy to see her and a small tank rolled by He went out to the toy box to greet her, his footprint rolled over several other toys, he fell from the toy box to the floor, he leaned over as he fell and lay on the carpet like a beetle on its back, grunting and grinding his tracks before he Coraline picked it up. and she turned it over, the tank fled under the bed in shame.

Coraline looked around the room, looked in the closets' drawers, then grabbed one end of the toy box and tossed all the toys onto the carpet, where they grumbled and stretched and fidgeted free of each other, a gray marble rolling away. on the floor and crashing against the wall none of the toys seemed particularly soulful, he thought he picked up and examined a silver charm bracelet from which hung small charms of animals chasing each other. around the perimeter of the bracelet a fox never caught the rabbit the bear never caught the fox Coraline opened her hand and looked at the stone with a hole waiting for a clue, but found none, most of the toys that had been in the box toys had now crawled to hide under the bed and the few toys that were left, a green plastic soldier, the glass marble, a Vivid Pink yo-yo and such with the kind of things found at the bottom of toy boxes in real life. world forgotten objects abandoned and unloved he was about to leave and look somewhere else and then he remembered a voice in the darkness a soft whispering voice and what I had told him to do he lifted the stone with a hole in it and closed his right eye Left eye and I looked at the room through the hole in the Stone through the stone the world was gray and colorless like a pencil drawing everything in it was Gray no not exactly everything something glowed on the floor something the color of an ember in the fireplace of a nursery the color scarlet an orange tulip nodding in the main sun Caroline extended her left hand afraid that if she moved her eye away a little it would fade and she groped for the burning thing, her fingers closed around something soft and cold and she grab.

He stood up and lowered the stone with a hole in his eye and looked down at the gray glass marble from the bottom of the toy box that lay unlit in the pink palm of his hand, he raised the stone to his eye once more and looked through it. the marble the marble band and flickered with a red fire a voice whispered in your mind indeed lady it occurs to me that it certainly was a child now I think about it but you must hurry there were two of us still to be found and the Beldum is already angry with you for Uncover if I'm going to do this, Coraline thought, I'm not going to do it with her clothes.

She put her pajamas and her robe and her slippers back on, leaving her gray sweater and black jeans neatly. She folded the orange boots on the bed on the floor next to the box. of toys, put the marble in the pocket of his robe and went out into the hall. Some things stung his face and her hands like sand blowing on a beach on a windy day. He covered her eyes. and she pushed forward the stainless sand got worse and it became increasingly difficult for her to walk as if she were pushing against the wind on a particularly stormy day it was a fierce and cold wind she took a step back the way she had come.

I'll keep whispering the ghost voice in her ear Belgium is angry she took a step forward in the hallway towards another gust of wind that stung her cheeks and face with invisible sand there are needles sharp as glass fair play Coraline shouted into the wind there was no response, but the wind whipped around him once more petulantly and then subsided almost gone as he passed the kitchen. Caroline could hear in the sudden silence the dripping of water from the dripping faucet or perhaps the other mother's long nails tapping impatiently against the wall. the table Coraline resisted the temptation to look in a couple of strides she reached the front door and came out Coraline went down the stairs and around the house until she reached the apartment of the other Miss Pink and the uncomfortable the lamps around the door flickered and almost at the same time. chance now spelled no words that Coraline could understand the door was closed she was afraid it was locked and she pushed it with all her strength quickly, it was stuck and suddenly it gave way and with a tug Coraline stumbled towards the dark room Beyond Caroline closed it one hand around the stone with a hole and walked forward in tobacco, she expected to find a previous curtain but there was nothing there, the room was dark, the theater was empty, she moved forward cautiously, something rustled above her, she looked up , towards a deeper darkness and as he did so his feet collided with something, he crouched down, grabbed a flashlight and turned it on, sweeping the room with the light.

The theater was abandoned and the abandoned chairs were broken on the floor and old dusty cobwebs covered the walls and hung From the rotting wood, from the decaying velvet curtains, something fought again. Caroline directed her beam of light towards the ceiling. There were things up there, hairless jellyfish. You thought they might have once had a face. Maybe they were even dogs once, but no dog had wings like bats nor could they. They hang like spiders like bats upside down. The light scared the creatures and one of them rose into the air. Her wings were worn away.plodding through the dust Coraline the duck swooped toward her stopped at a back wall and began to climb upside down back to the dog bath nest on the roof Coraline lifted the stone to her eye and scanned the room for Something that shimmered or shimmered, a telltale sign that somewhere in this room was another hidden soul, he shined the flashlight into the beam.

In the room she searched for the thick dust in the air making the beam of light seem almost solid. There was something on the back wall, behind the ruined stage. It was grayish white, twice the size of Coraline, and stuck to the back wall like a slug. Coraline took a deep breath. I'm not afraid, she told herself. I'm not, she didn't believe it, but she climbed onto the Old Stage, her fingers digging into the rotten wood as she pulled herself up as she got closer to the thing on the wall she saw. which was a kind of sack like a spider egg case wriggled in the beam of light inside the sack it was something that looked like a person but a person with two heads with twice as many arms and legs as the creature should have in The Sack seemed horribly shapeless and unfinished, as if two clay people had been heated and rolled together, squashed and pressed into one thing.

Coraline hesitated, she didn't want to get close to the thing. The dog mats fell one by one from the ceiling and began to circle the room. close to it but not touching it maybe there are no souls hidden here he thought I could go somewhere else he took one last look through the hole in the Stone the abandoned theater was still a gloomy Bray but now there was a brown color A glow so rich and shiny like the polished cherry wood that came out of the inside of the bag. Whatever was glowing was held in one of the hands of the thing on the wall.

Coraline walked slowly across the damp stage trying to make her little noise as best she could, afraid that if she disturbed the thing in the sack, it would open its eyes and see her and then, but there was nothing she could consider as terrifying as the thing in the sack. Look, her heart pounding in her chest, she took another step forward, she had never been so scared, but she still walked forward until she reached the sack, then pushed her hand towards the sticky, sticky whiteness of the thing on the wall. , it crackled softly like a small fire as he pushed and it stuck to his skin and clothes like a spider web clings like white cotton candy, he pushed his hand inside and reached up until he touched a cold hand that was closed around another clock the creature's skin felt slippery as if it had been covered in jelly Coraline pulled on the marble at first nothing happened, it was held tightly in the creature's grip and one by one the fingers loosened their grip and the marbles slid into place. her hand she pulled her arm back through the sticky web relieved that the thing's eyes hadn't opened she shined the light on their faces they looked like decided that Younger versions of Miss and Miss forced, but twisted and squeezed together like two pieces of wax that had melted and fused until a horrible thing, without warning, one of the creature's hands grabbed Coraline's arm, its nails scraping her skin, but it was too slippery. to grab and Coraline pulled away successfully and then the eyes opened, four black buttons glowing and staring at her and two voices that sounded like no voice Coraline had ever heard began to speak, one of them moaned and whispered, the other hummed like a fat and blue bottle angry than a window pane but the voices said like a person Thief back away thief the air came to life with dogs bats Coraline began to back away and then she realized how scary the thing on the wall was that a Maybe it had been the other lady's turn.

She was tightly held to the wall by her web in case she was in her cocoon and couldn't follow her. The bat dogs flapped and fluttered around her, but they did nothing to hurt Coraline. She came down from the stage with the flashlight on the old man. theater looking for the exit flea Miss the older girl's voice in her head run away now you have two of us running away from this place while your blood is still flowing Coraline dropped the marble in her pocket next to the other she saw the door she ran towards it and She pulled until it opened out of the world had become a shapeless, swirling fog with no shapes or shadows behind it, while the house itself seemed to have twisted and stretched, it seemed to Coraline that she was crouching and looking at it as if it were not really a house but just the idea of ​​a house and the person who had the idea was sure he was not a good person, there was a sticky spider web stuck to his arm and he cleaned it off as best he could.

The gray windows of the house were tilted at strange angles. The other mother was waiting for her standing on her lawn with her. With her arms crossed, her black button eyes were expressionless, but her lips were pressed tightly together in cold fury. When she saw Caroline, she extended a long, white hand and bent her finger. Caroline walked towards her, the other mother didn't say anything, I have two, said Coraline One. Alma still to go the expression on the other mother's face didn't change, maybe she didn't hear what Caroline said. Well, I just thought you'd want to know.

Coraline said. Thank you. Caroline sent the other mother coldly her voice didn't just come from her. her mouth emerged from the Mist and the mist and the house and the sky she said you know I love you and despite herself Coraline nodded her head it was true the other mother loved Herbert she loved Coraline like a mind loves money or a dragon loves her gold in the other mother's button eyes Carl knew she was a pet tolerated by possession whose behavior was no longer fun I don't want your love said Coraline I don't want anything from you not even a helping hand he asked the other mother what have you done? been doing great after all, well, I thought you might want a little clue to help you with the rest of your treasure hunt.

I'm fine on my own, said Caroline, yes, said the other mother, which if you wanted to go into the apartment across the street. the void to look around you would find the door closed and then where would you be? Oh Caroline thought about this for a moment and then said: Is there a key? The other mother stood there in the paper fog of the flattening world. Black hair floated around her. head as if she had a mind and purpose of her own, she suddenly coughed deep in her throat and then opened her mouth. The other mother raised her hand and pulled a small brass key to the front door off her tongue, yes, she said.

You will need this to enter. She casually tossed the key to Coraline, who caught it with one hand before she could really think about whether she wanted it or not. The key was slightly damp. A cold window surrounded them and Caroline shivered and looked away as She looked back, she was alone, unsure, she walked to the front of the house and stood in front of the door to the empty apartment, like all the doors, it was painted black. bright green, doesn't mean you were okay, a ghost voice whispered in his ear. We don't think she'll help you it must be a trick Caroline said yes you're right I guess then she put the key in the lock and turned it silently the door opened and Coraline walked in silently.

The apartment had walls the color of old milk the wooden floor boards were not carpeted and were dusty with the marks and patterns of old carpets and stones on them there was no furniture there only the places where the furniture had not been decorated at all the walls There were faded rectangles on the walls to show where pictures or photographs had once been hung. It was so quiet that Coraline imagined she could hear the pits of dust floating in the air. She felt a little worried that something would jump at her, so she started whistling, she thought she might do it.

It's harder for things to jump out at her if she was first whistling, walked through the empty kitchen, then walked through an empty bathroom that contained only a cast iron bathtub and in the bathtub a dead spider the size of a small cat, the last room he looked at if it had ever been a bedroom, he could imagine that the rectangular shadow of dust on the floorboards had once been a bed, then he saw something and smiled darkly, placed on the floorboards was a large ring of metal. Coraline Nelton took the cold ring. Her hands and pulled up as hard as she could terribly slowly, rigidly heavy, a square of hinged floor rose, it was a trap door, she stood up and through the opening, Coraline could only see Darkness, she crouched down and her hand found A cold switch, he activated it without much effort.

I hope it works, but somewhere underneath it was a light bulb with a faint yellow light coming out of the hole in the floor. She could see some steps leading down, but nothing else. Coraline reached into her pocket and pulled out the stone with the hole. She looked through it toward the basement, but she saw nothing. She put the stone back in her pocket. Through the hole came a smell of wet clay and something else and an acrid Tang like sour vinegar. Coraline climbed into the hole, looking nervously at the trapdoor. It was so heavy that if she fell she was sure she would be trapped in the darkness forever.

She raised a hand and touched him, but she remained in her position and then turned toward the darkness below and went down the stairs sitting against the wall. At the bottom of the steps was another metal light switch and, rusting, he pushed it until it clicked and a bare bulb that dangled from a wire from the low ceiling came on, not giving off enough light even for Coraline to make out things. that had been painted on the peeling basement walls the paintings looked crude there were eyes that she could see and things that could have been grapes and other things underneath them Coraline couldn't be sure they were paintings of people there was a lot of trash in a corner of the room, cardboard boxes full of moldy papers and rotting curtains piled up next to it.

Coraline's sneakers crunched on the cement floor. The bad smell was worse. Now that she was ready to turn around and leave, she saw her foot ticking under the pile of curtains. She took a deep breath, the smells of sour wine and moldy bread filling her head and she pushed aside the damp cloth to reveal something roughly the size and shape of a person in that dim light. It took her several seconds to recognize it for what it was. It was the thing it was pale and swollen like a grumpy with arms and feet thin as sticks it had almost no features on its face it had swollen and puffed up like leavened bread dough the thing had two big black buttons where its eyes should have been Coraline done a noise, a sound of revulsion and horror and as if it had been hurt and awakened, the thing began to sit up.

Carline stayed there. Frozen, the thing turned its head until its two black eyes were pointed directly at her, one mouth open in a mouthless gesture. face with strands of pale substance stuck to its lips and a voice that no longer remotely resembled her father's, Coraline whispered well to the thing that had once been her other father at least you didn't jump at me the creatures were moving. like twigs to the face and pushed the clay making something like a nose he said nothing I'm looking for my parents said Coraline or a stolen soul of one of the other children they are down here there is nothing down here the pale thing said indistinctly nothing but dust and humidity and oblivion the thing was white and huge and swollen monstrous thought Coraline but also miserable she took the stone with the hole in her eye and looked through it nothing the pale thing told her the truth poor thing said I I bet it made you coming here as punishment for telling me too much.

The thing hesitated and then nodded. Coraline wondered how she could have imagined that this larva-like thing looked like her father. I'm so sorry she said she wasn't very happy. She said that. One time her other father wasn't very happy at all. You've put her in a bad mood enough and when she gets in a bad mood she takes it out on everyone else. It's her way of having Coraline pet her hairless head. Her skin was sticky like hot bread dough. Poor. thing she said you're just a thing she did and then she threw the thing she nodded vigorously and as she nodded with the left button I fell and clattered on the concrete floor the thing looked around vacantly with its one eye as if it had lost it Finally he saw her, making a great effort, opened her mouth once again and with a wet and urgent voice, she said run, girl, get out of this place, she wants me to hurt you to keep you here forever so that you can never finish the game and she will win, she will win me.

She's pushing so hard to hurt me, you can't fight her, you can, Coraline said, be brave, she looked around, what had once been the other parent was between her and the steps leading up and out of the basement began. As she moved along the wall toward the steps, the thing writhed bonelessly until its only eye looked at her again. It seemed to be getting bigger now and more awake. Oh, she said, I can't, and she darted through the cellar. towards her, then his toothless mouth opened wide. Caroline had only one heartbeat in which she could only react.Two things happened: she could scream and try to run away and be chased through a poorly lit warehouse by that huge larva that we chased until it caught her, or she could do something else, so she did something else.

When the thing reached her Coraline reached out and closed her hand around the things that were left except one eye and pulled as hard as she knew for a moment nothing happened and then the button came loose and flew out of her hand clicking against it. this before. fell to the basement floor the thing froze in place it threw its pale head back blindly and opened its mouth horribly wide and roared in anger and frustration the Northern Rush the thing headed towards the place where Coraline had been standing but Coraline was not there. She was already tiptoeing up as silently as she could the steps that would take her away from the dark basement with the crude paintings on the walls, she couldn't take her eyes off the floor, beneath the cross switch, the pale thing was dropping. and he got up hunting.

To her then, as if she were being told what to do, the creature stopped moving and its blind head tilted to the side, it's listening to me, Coraline thought, I must be very quiet, she took another step up and slipped on the step and the thing heard its head bowed towards her for a moment, swayed and seemed to be gathering its wits and then, quick as a snake, it slithered towards the steps and began to flow towards her. Caroline turned and ran wildly up the last half dozen steps and she pushed herself to the floor of the dusty room without stopping, pulled the heavy trapdoor towards her and let it go with a bang just as something large slammed into it, the trapdoor falling open.

It shook and clattered on the floor, but remained where Coraline was. She took a deep breath, if there had been any furniture in the apartment, even a chair, she would have placed it on the hatch, but there was nothing. She left that apartment as fast as she could without even running and locked the front door. She left the door key under the mat and then walked towards the path. She had half expected that the other mother would be there waiting for Coraline to come out, but the world was silent and empty. Coraline wanted to go home.

She hugged herself. and she told herself that she was brave she almost believed herself so she walked to the side of the house in the gray fog that was not fog and she headed to the stairs to go up. Coraline climbed the stairs outside the building to the top floor of her world, where the crazy old man upstairs lived in her world. She had gone up there once with her real mother, when her mother was doing a collection for charity, they had stood at the open door waiting for that crazy old man with a big mustache to find her envelope. that Coraline's mother had left the apartment, it smelled of strange foods and pipe tobacco, a strange, strong smell of cheese, things that Caroline couldn't name, she hadn't wanted to go any further than "I'm an explorer," Caroline said in loud, but his words sounded muffled. her and her dead in the mistiere she would have managed to get out of the basement if she hadn't, but if there was one thing Coraline was sure of it was that this floor would be worse.

She reached the top of the house that had once been the highest floor. been in the attic of the house but that was a long time ago she knocked on the green painted door and it opened and she came in we have eyes and we have nerves we have tails and we have teeth we all have what we deserve see when they emerged from below Whispering a dozen or so small voices in a dark apartment with the ceiling so low where it met the walls that Coraline could almost reach out and touch it. Her red eyes stared at her little pink feet and slunk away as she approached.

The darkest shadows slipped. through the Shadows at the edges of things, here it smelled much worse than the real old fool's upstairs which smelled like food, food unpleasant to Coraline's mind, but she knew that was a matter of taste, she didn't care. They didn't like spices, herbs or exotic things. This place smelled like all the exotic foods in the world had been left to rot. said a little girl a fighting voice in a far away room yes she said Coraline I'm not afraid she said to herself and as she thought about it she knew it was true there was nothing here that scared her these things even the thing in the basement they were illusions things made by the other mother in a gruesome parody of real people and real things across the hall she couldn't really do anything Coraline decided she could only twist, copy and distort things that already existed and then Coraline found herself wondering why the other mother would have placed a snowball in the drawing.

A romantic piece for the mantel in Coraline's world was fair enough as soon as she asked her. she asked herself the question she realized that there was actually an answer then the voice came again her thought was on come here girl I know what you want girl it was a whispering voice, it was rough and dry, it made Coraline think about something a some kind of huge dead bug, which was nonsense, she knew how it could end, especially a dead bug, it had a voice, she walked through several rooms with low, sloping ceilings until she reached the end, it was a bedroom and the other crazy old man was sitting upstairs.

At the other end of the room, almost in darkness, and wrapped in his coat and hat, when Coraline entered, he began to speak, his voice sounding like the noise that dry leaves make as they cross the pavement and what if you do everything you saw? would you do then nothing has changed you will go home you will be bored you will be ignored no one will really listen to you they don't listen to you you are too smart and too quiet for them to understand they don't even understand your name well stay here with us The voice of the figure at the end of the room tells you We will listen and play with you and laugh with you Your other mother will build whole worlds for you Explore them and tear them down Every night when you are done Each day will be better and brighter than the last Remember the toy box, how much better would a world be built like that and all for you and there will be wet gray? days when I just don't know what to do and there's nothing to read or look at and nowhere to go and the day goes on forever he asked Shadow Carl the man said never and there will be horrible meals with food made from recipes with Garlic, tarragon and broad beans in it asked Coraline every meal will be a reason for joy whispered The voice from the old man's hat nothing will pass your lips that will not delight you completely and could give me bright green gloves to wear and yellow wellies in shape of frogs asked Coraline frogs Ducks rhinos octopuses whatever you want the world will be built new for you every morning if you stay here you can have whatever you want Caroline's side you don't really understand do you?

I don't want whatever I want, yes, really, what kind of fun would it be if I had everything I ever wanted just like that and it didn't mean anything, then I don't understand, said the whispering voice, of course you don't understand, she said. lifting the stone with the hole in its eye you're just a bad copy she made of the crazy old man upstairs not even that anymore said the dead whispering voice there was a glow coming out of the man's raincoat near his chest Through the hole in the stone , the glow twinkled and shone blue-white like any star.

I wished I had a stick or something to hit him with. She didn't want to get any closer to the shadowy man at the end of the room. Caroline took a step closer to the man and he fell apart black rats jumped out of the sleeves and from under the coat and hat a score or more of them red eyes glowing in the darkness chatted and fled the coat fluttered and fell heavily to the floor The hat rolled to a corner of the room. Coraline reached out and opened the coat. It was empty, although he was greasy to the touch.

There was no sign of the last glass marble. She squinted around the room through the hole in the stone. I saw something shining and burning like a star on the floor level next to the door. She was carried by the four paws of the largest black rat and, as she watched, she scurried away, the other rats watching her from the corners of the rooms as she ran. After that, now rats can run faster than people, especially over short distances, but a big black rat holding a marble in its two front paws is no match for a determined girl, even if she is small for her age, Smaller black rats ran back and forth across it.

He walked towards her trying to distract her but she ignored them all keeping her eyes fixed on the one she had the marble that was heading straight out of the apartment towards the front door. They reached the steps outside the building. Coraline had time to observe that the house itself continued to change becoming less distinctive and flattening even as she ran down the stairs, it reminded her of a photograph of a house, not the thing itself, so she was simply running pelmel down the stairs in search of the rat with no room in it. mind for anything else, I'm sure she was gaining ground, she was running too fast, she found out that she reached the bottom of a flight of stairs and her foot skidded and then crashed into the concrete.

Upon landing, her left knee was scraped and raw. The palm of a hand she had thrown to stop was a mess of scraped skin and sand. She hurt a little and soon she knew she would hear a lot more. She swept the sand out of her apartment and stood up as quickly as she could. Knowing that he had lost it and that it was too late, he went down to the final landing at ground level, looked around for the rat, but it was gone, the marble with it stung his hand where he had scraped his skin and there was blood dripping.

The torn pajama leg from the knee was as bad as the summer her mother had taken the training wheels off Coraline's bicycle, so, back then, with all the cuts and scrapes, she had a feeling of achievement, I was learning something by doing something. What she had not known how to do now she felt nothing but cold she had failed with those children she had failed her parents she had failed herself she failed in everything she closed her eyes and wished that the earth would swallow her there was a cough that opened her eyes and saw the rat lying on the brick path at the bottom of the stairs with a look of surprise on his face that was now several inches away from the rest of his whiskers were stiff his eyes were wide open his teeth were visible and yellow and sharp a necklace of wet blood glistened on his neck next to the decapitated rat a smug expression on his face it was the black cat resting on the gray glass marble I think I once mentioned that I said the cat I don't like Rats in At best it seemed like you needed this.

I hope you don't mind me getting involved. I think Coraline said trying to catch her breath. I think you might have said something like the cat lifted its paw off the rolling marble. towards Coraline he took it and in his mind one last voice whispered urgently she has lied to you she will never abandon you now that she has done it you will no longer give up any of us then she will change her nature the hairs on her back Coraline's hair stood on end. neck and Coraline knew that the girl's voice spoke the truth. She put the marble in the pocket of her robe along with the others.

She had the three marbles. Now all she had to do was find her parents. Caroline realized with surprise that this part was easy. she knew exactly where her parents were if she had stopped to think, maybe she would have known where they were all along the other mother couldn't create, she could only transform, twist and change the mental piece in the living room was quite empty, but knowing That she also knew something else the other mother plans to break her promise she won't let us go Coraline said she wouldn't let it happen the cat admitted like I said there is no guarantee that she will play fair and then he raised his head, did you see that, look behind you , the cat said, the house had flattened even more, it no longer looked like a photograph, more like a drawing, a rough charcoal scribble, the house drawn on gray paper, no matter what, Coraline said, thank you for helping with the rat I guess I'm almost there isn't it so you're going to the fog or wherever you go and I hope I can see you at home if she leaves me a lot of cats away her tail was standing on end it was bristly like a chimney sweep's brush what's wrong ask her "Coraline are gone," said the cat, "they're gone.

The way he comes in and out of this place, they just deflated. It's so bad that the cat lowered his tail, wagging it from side to side angrily. He made a low growl deep in his throat." throat, he warped in a circle until he was facing away from Coraline and then he started to walk backwards stiffly, step by step, until he pushed against Coraline's leg and put a hand out to stroke it and I could feel how hard his heart was beating. the dead leaf is shaking in a storm you will be okay said Coraline everything is going to be okay I will take you home the cat said nothing come on cat said Coraline she took a step back towards the stairs but the cat stayed where she looked miserable and curiously much more "If the only way out is to get through it," Caroline said, "then that's the way to go." She returned with the cat andshe bent down and picked it up she got up the cat didn't resist it just trembled she supported her butt with one hand she rested her front paws on her shoulders the cat was heavy but not too heavy to carry she licked the palm of her hand where the blood was flowing from the scratch above Caroline He walked up the stairs step by step back to his own apartment, aware of the marbles clicking in his pocket, aware of the stone with a hole in it, aware of the cats pressing against it, he reached the front door.

Now it was just a little boy's parchment door and he pushed his hand against it hoping that his hand would pass through it without revealing anything Ness, that's Ring of Stars, but the door opened and Caroline once stepped inside her apartment or rather in the apartment. "That wasn't hers. Coraline was glad to see that it hadn't transformed into the empty drawing it seemed to have become. The rest of the house had depth and shadows and someone who was in the shadows waiting for Coraline to return sailed back," the other said. Mother, she didn't seem happy and you brought Vermin with you, didn't Coraline say, I brought a friend, she could feel the cat stiffen under her hands as if it was anxious to be away Coraline wanted to hold him like a teddy bear to calm herself, but she knew that Cats hate being squeezed and I suspected that scared cats were prone to biting and scratching if provoked in any way even if they were on your side you know I love you said the other mother flatly you have a very funny way of showing it Coraline said walking across the floor.

She walked down the hallway and entered the living room, step by step, pretending that she couldn't feel the other mother's empty black eyes on her back. Her grandmother's formal furniture was still there and the painting on the wall of Strange Fruit. but now that she had eaten the fruit in the picture, all that remained in the bowl was the Browning core of an apple, several plum and peach pits, and the stem of what had once been a bunch of grapes. The Lionport table stank of the carpet with its wooden claws. feet as if impatient for something at the end of the room in the corner she was facing the wooden door that once in another place had opened to a simple brick wall Coraline tried not to look at it the window showed nothing but she missed it This was Coraline knew the moment of truth, the moment when the other mother had followed her, now she was standing in the center of the room between Coraline and the mental piece and she looked at Coraline with black eyes like buttons, it was funny that Caroline I would think that the other mother would not.

She looked somewhat like her own mother. She wondered how she had been fooled into imagining a resemblance. The other mother was huge. Her head was almost touching the ceiling. Pale the color of a spider's belly. They were sharp as knives, well, the other mother said abruptly, where are they? Coraline leaned on an armchair she settled the cat with her left hand she put her right hand in her pocket and took out three glass marbles they were frosted gray and they clinked together in the palm of her hand the other mother extended her white fingers towards them But Coraline slipped them back into her pocket.

She knew it was true, so the other mother had no intention of letting her go. It all went on like that. It had been an entertainment and nothing more. She said: "We're not done yet, are we?" I shouldn't even think about it, well, said the other mother, bring them, would you like to look in the basement again, there are other interesting things hidden down there, you know, no, said Coraline, I know where my parents are, the cat was heavy in her arms, she moved him forward, unhooking her claws from his shoulder as she did so where it is logical, said Coraline, I have looked everywhere where you would hide them, they are not in the house, the other mother remained very still without revealing anything with her lips tightly closed.

She could have been a wax statue, even her hair had stopped moving, so Coraline continued with both hands wrapped tightly around the black cat. I know where they have to be. You've hidden them in the hallway between the houses, right? They are behind it. Door She nodded towards the door in the corner The other mother remained motionless but a hint of a smile appeared on her face again Oh they are, why don't you open it? Coraline said, they will be there, fine. She was the only way from her to her house, she knew that everything depended on the other mothers needing to gloat, they needed to not only win but show that she had won.

The other mother slowly reached into the pocket of her apron and took out the black iron key that the cat shook. uncomfortable in Coraline's arms as if she wanted to go down just stay there for a few more moments she thought wondering if I could hear her I'll take us both home I said I would, I promise, she felt the cat relax slightly on her. In her arms, the other mother approached the door and pushed the key into the lock. She turned to Coraline's pack. The mechanism made a noise. She was already starting as quietly as she could, step by step, to back up towards the other mother who pushed the door open. handle and opened the door revealing a hallway behind her, dark and empty, there he said waving his hands towards the hallway, the look of delight on her face was a very bad thing to see that you are wrong, you don't know where your parents are. .

It's you, they're not there, he turned around and looked at her crying, now you're going to stay here forever and always, no, he said, Coraline, I'm not there, and as hard as he could, he threw the black cat towards the other mother, he screamed, and it landed on the other mother's head with its claws. shaking teeth evil Fierce and angry to the end he looked half as big as he was in real life without waiting to see what would happen Coraline reached out to the mental piece she closed her hand around the snowball pushing it deep into the pocket of his robe, the cat gave a deep howl and sank his teeth into another mother's cheek.

She was shaking it. Blood ran from the cuts on her white face, not red blood, black stuff. Caroline ran to the door, pulled out the key. outside the lock, leave it, come on, she shouted to the cat, it hissed and slid its sharp scalpel claws into the other mother's face with a savage rake that left black liquid dripping from several cuts on the other mother's nose. and then jumped towards Coraline quickly. She said the cat ran towards her and they both entered the dark hallway. It was colder in the hallway, like going down into a basement on a warm day.

The cat hesitated for a moment and then, seeing another mother coming towards them, he ran towards Coraline. and stopped by her legs, Coraline began to close the door, it was heavier than she imagined the door could be pulling her closed, it was like trying to close a door against a strong wind and then you felt something from the other side began to pull her. Shut up, she thought and then said out loud, come on, please, she felt the door begin to move shut and give way against the ghost wind. She suddenly realized that there were other people in the hallway with her, she couldn't turn her head to look at them, but she knew them without having to look help me please she said all of you the other people in the hallway three children two adults were from somehow too insubstantial to knock on the door but his hands closed over hers she pulled the big iron door handle suddenly she felt strong Never let the miss stay strong, strong, whispered a voice in her mind , poor girl, whispered another, and then a voice that sounded like her mother's, her own mother, her true, wonderful imagination, infuriating, glorious mother, just said well done, Carline, and that was enough, the door opened. slide to close easily as nothing shouted a voice from Beyond the Door no longer sounded even slightly human something grabbed Coraline reaching into the gap that closed between the door and the doorpost Coraline jerked her head away the door began to open once we arrive I'm going home in Coraline's place, let's help me, she dodged the fingers that moved through his ghostly hands, they gave her strength, but she no longer had it, there was a final moment of resistance, as if something was stuck in the door and then with a wooden door it slammed shut something fell from the height of Coraline's head to the floor it landed with a kind of thumb scurrying come on said the cat this is not a good place to Coraline quickly turned her back on the door and began running as fast as was practical through the dark hallway, running her hand along the wall to make sure she didn't bump into anything or turn around in the darkness, It was an uphill race and it seemed to him that it went on for a distance longer than anything could fall.

The wall she was touching felt warm and supple now and she realized that she felt like she was covered in fine, soft fur. She moved as if she were breathing. She snatched his hand away. The winds howled in the darkness. He was afraid of tripping over something and reached out towards the wall once again this time what he touched felt hot and wet as if he had stuck his hand in someone's mouth he pulled it back with a small whale his eyes adjusted to the the darkness could be seen half-lightly glowing spots in front of her two adults three children she could also hear the cat walking in the darkness in front of her and there was something else that suddenly snuck up between her feet and almost sent Coraline flying, She caught herself before she went down using her own momentum to support herself, she knew that if she fell in that corridor, she might never get up again, whatever that corridor was, it was much older than the other mother, it was deep and slow, and I knew she was there at that moment.

Daylight appeared and she ran towards it huffing and puffing almost there, she called encouragingly but in the light she found that the ghosts were gone, she was alone, she had no time to wonder what had happened to them, gasping for breath, she staggered through the door. and slammed it shut with his biggest, most satisfying slam you could imagine. Coraline locked the door and put it back in her pocket. The black cat was curled up in the far corner of the room. The pink tip of his tongue showed in his wide eyes. Caroline walked over and crouched next to her.

I'm sorry I said. I'm sorry I threw you at her. It was the only way to distract her enough to get us all out. She would never have kept her word. The cat looked at her and rested his head on her hand, licking her fingers with her sandpaper, he started to light up, so we're friends, Caroline said, she sat down in one of her grandmother's uncomfortable chairs and the cat jumped on her lap. and it became It was comfortable, the light coming through the picture window was daylight, the real golden light of the afternoon, it was not a stray white light, the sky was blue as a robin's egg and Coraline could see trees and beyond the trees, the green hills faded into the horizon in shades of purple and gray they never seemed.

This sky the world had never seemed so good Coraline looked at the leaves of the trees patterns of light and shadow on the cracked bark of a beech trunk outside the window looked towards her lap the way the rich The light of the The sun touched each hair on the cat's head, turning each white whisker into gold. Nothing she had ever thought of had ever been so interesting and caught up in the world's interest. Coraline barely realized whether she had squirmed and curled up like a cat on her mother's uncomfortable couch or not. She noticed that she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Her mother shook her gently. Coraline said honey, what a fun place to fall asleep and really this room is just the best. We look for you throughout the house. Coraline stretched and blinked. I'm sorry. she said I fell asleep I can see that her mother said and where did that cat come from he was waiting at the front door when I came in he shot out like a bullet when I opened it he probably had things to do Coraline said then mother hugged her so tightly that she Her arms started to hurt her mother hugged Coraline back dinner in 15 minutes her mother said don't forget to wash your hands and just look at those pajama pants what did you do to your poor knee? "I tripped," said Coraline. "She went into the bathroom and washed her hands and cleaned her bloody knee.

She put ointment on the cuts and scrapes. She went to her bedroom. Her real bedroom. Her real bedroom. She put her hands in the pockets of her robe and took out three." marbles for stone with a hole in it, the black key and an empty snowball, he shook the snowball and watched as the shiny snow swirled in the water to fill an empty world. She left her and watched the snowfall covering the spot where the little couple had once made Coraline. She took a piece of rope from her toy box and threaded the black key onto the rope, knotted the rope and hung it around her neck.

There she said she put on some clothes and hid the key under her shirt. It was cold against her skin. the stone went into his pocket Coraline walked down the hallway towards her father's study he had his back to her but she knew just by looking at him that his eyes when he turned around would be her father's kind gray eyes, she crept closer and I kiss it. the back of her head bald her hello her Coraline, she said and looked around her and smiled at her, what was that for? Sometimes I just miss you, that's all,oh well, he said, put the computer into sleep mode, stood up, and for no reason, chose Coraline.

Which she hadn't done in a long time, not since she started pointing out that she was too old to be held and took her to the kitchen. Dinner that night was pizza and even though it was homemade by his father, In the end, the crust was thick, thick, doughy and raw or too thin and burnt, and even though he had put slices of green pepper on it along with small meatballs and, above all, pieces of pineapple, Coraline ate the entire slice they had given her. She ate everything except the pineapple pieces and soon it was time to sleep.

Caroline kept the key around her neck. He put the gray marbles under her pillow and that night, in her bed, Coraline had a dream. She was at a picnic under an old oak tree in a green park. The prairie sun was high in the sky and although there were distant white fluffy clouds on the horizon, the sky overhead was a deep, calm blue that was a white linen canvas spread on the grass with bowls full of Food, I could see salads and sandwiches. nuts and fruits jugs of lemonade and water and egg chocolate milk Coraline was sitting on one side of the tablecloth while three other children gestured that they were dressed in the strangest clothes, the smallest of them sitting to the left of Coraline was a boy in red velvet knee-length pants. and a loose white shirt, his face was dirty, he was filling his plate with boiled new potatoes and what looked like a whole cold and cooked trout, this is the best, a lady at a picnic, he said yes, Carolina said, I think it is, I wonder who organized it. "That's why I prefer to think that you did it," said the young lady, a tall girl sitting in front of Coraline, she was wearing a rather shapeless brown dress and had a brown cap on her head that tied under her chin and we are most grateful for it and for all the words that never can.

Let's say she was eating slices of bread and jam, skillfully cutting the bread from a big golden loaf with a huge knife, she is scooping out the purple jam with a wooden spoon and had jam around her. This is the best food I've had in ages they said the girl to Coraline's right was a very pale girl dressed in what appeared to be spider webs with a bright silver circle in her blonde hair. Coraline could have sworn that the girl had two wings like dusty silver butterfly wings, not bird wings. Coming out from behind her, the girl's plate was full of pretty flowers, as if it had been a long time since she had smiled.

She had almost, but not quite, forgotten how Coraline discovered that she liked this girl immensely and then, in Dreams fashion, The picnic was over and they were playing in the meadow running and screaming and throwing a shiny ball from one name to another and as none of them got tired or out of breath or out of breath she wasn't even sweating they just laughed and ran in a game that was partly labeled partly piggy in the middle partly just a magnificent game, Three of them ran across the ground as the pale girl fluttered a little overhead, descending on butterfly wings to grab the ball and swing back into the sky before she threw the ball to the other children and then, without saying a word. word, the game ended and the four returned to the picnic table where the lunch plates had been removed and there were four bowls waiting for them, three of ice. cream and one of heaped honeysuckle flowers which they ate with delight, thank you for coming to my party, said Coraline, if it is mine, the pleasure is ours, Coraline Jones, said the winged girl, nibbling another honeysuckle flower, if there was anything we could do for you, thank you to reward you, I said.

The boy with the red velvet pants and the dirty face extended his hand and took Coraline's hand in his. It was hot now. It's a very good thing what you did for us, miss, said the tall girl. She now had a chocolate ice cream stain on her. around her lips, please, it's all over, Coraline said, was it her imagination? or made a shadow on the faces of the other children at the picnic the winged girl chocolate in her hair shining like a star rested her fingers for a moment on the back of Coraline's hand, it was all over for us, she said this is our starting point, from here the three of us will leave for unexplored lands and what comes after No one alive can say that walking there is a dollar is not. "There," Coraline said, "I can feel it like a rain cloud.

The boy on her left tried to smile bravely but his lower lip began to tremble. She met him with her upper teeth and didn't say anything. The girl in the brown hat shifted uncomfortably and said yes, miss, but I got them back." to you three, said Coraline, I got mom and dad back, I closed the door, I locked it, what else was I going to do? The boy squeezed Caroline's hand in his and found himself remembering when it had been her trying to reassure him and he was little more than a cold memory in the Dark.

Well, can't you give me a clue? Caroline asked, isn't there something you can tell me? Beldum swore by his good right hand said the tall girl but my governess lied said the boy she used to say that no one has ever given the shoulder more than he or she can bear cringing she said this as if she had not yet decided whether it was true or not. We do not wish you luck, said the girl with the wings, fortune and wisdom and courage, although you have already shown that you have the three blessings and abundance hates, you let go of the boy, she has not lost anything for so long, be wise, be brave, be misleading, it's not fair, Caroline said angrily in her dream.

Just should The boy with the dirty face stood up and hugged Coraline tightly, take comfort in this, he whispered to her that our heart was alive and survived and in Her dream Caroline saw that the sun had set and the stars were shining in a sky that was it was getting dark. Coraline stood in the meadow and she watched as the three children, two of them walking discouragingly, walked away from her across the silver grass in the light of the huge Moon. The three came to a small wooden bridge over the stream. They stopped there and turned and waved and Coraline waved back what came next was Darkness Coraline worked in the early hours of the morning convinced she had heard something moving but not sure what it was she waited something made a rustling outside of the door to her room she wondered if it was a rat the door made a noise Coraline jumped out of bed go away said Coraline go away abruptly or you'll regret it there was a pause whatever scurried down the hall there was something strange and irregular about her steps yes they were steps Caroline found herself wondering if it was a rat with an extra leg, it's not over, she told herself, she opened the bedroom door, the gray pre-dawn light showing her the entire hallway in its entirety, where she headed. the front door, casting a hasty glance at the mirror on the closet door that hung on the wall at the other end of the hallway, seeing nothing but his own pale face staring back at him, looking sleepy and serious, soft, reassuring snores.

They were coming from her parents' room, the door was closed all the doors in the hallway were closed whatever was sneaking out so it had to be here somewhere Coraline opened the front door and looked at the gray sky she wondered how long it would be Until the sun rose he wondered if his dream had been true, although he knew in his heart that it had been something he had taken as part of the Shadows under the sofa in the hallway, he separated himself from under the sofa and made a mad dash. on her long white legs heading to the front door.

Coraline's mouth. She opened in horror and dove out of the way as the thing clicked and scuttled past her and ran out of the house as if with its too many tapping and clicking and running feet, she knew what it was, she knew what it was after she had seen it. seen. too many times in the last few days obediently grabbing, grabbing and popping black beetles into another mother's mouth Crimson five-legged nailed the color of the bone was the other mother's right hand and wanted black key Coraline's parents never seemed to remember anything about his During the time they were in the snowball at least they never said anything about it and Coraline never mentioned it to him.

She sometimes wondered if they had ever realized that they had lost two days in the real world and she came to the final conclusion that they hadn't done it again. There are some people who keep track of each day every hour and there are people who don't and Caroline's parents were solidly in the second camp. Caroline had placed the marbles under her pillow before she went to sleep and the first night at home in her room once. But he returned to bed after seeing the other mother's hand, although he didn't have much time to sleep. He rested his head again on that pillow.

It creaked softly. If he did, he sat up and lifted the pillow. Fragments of the glass marbles he saw. They looked like the remains of eggshells found under trees in spring, such as broken and empty robin eggs or even more delicate ones. Ren's ex, maybe what was inside the glass spheres was gone. Coraline thought of the three children saying goodbye to her in the moonlight and waving before she crossed that silver stream, carefully collected the fine fragments of the eggshell and placed them in a small blue box that once contained a bracelet that our grandmother had given her when she was a child, the bracelet was lost a long time ago, the box remained Miss Pink. and awkwardly returned from visiting Miss Spinx niece Coraline collapsed into exhaustion it was a Monday Wednesday Coraline would return to school a completely new school year would begin this forced insisted on reading Coraline's tea leaves well, it seems that everything has mostly Boat shape and Bristol fashion, lovely right?

Miss forcible, I'm sorry, said Coraline, everything is coming up roses, said Miss forcible, well, almost everything, I'm not sure what that is. She pointed to a bunch of tea leaves sticking to the side of the cup, grimaced, and reached for the cup. Honestly, Miriam, keep it here, let me see it blinking through her thick deer glasses. Now I have no idea what that means. It looks almost like a hand. Caroline looked at the bundle of leaves. It looked a bit like a hand reaching for something. Hamish, the Scottish dog. he hid under Miss Forcible's chair and wouldn't come out.

I think he was in some kind of fight. The lady said. He has a deep cut on his side. The poor deer will be taken to the vet this afternoon. I wish I knew what he could have done. something Coraline knew would have to be done the last week of the holidays, the weather was magnificent, as if summer itself was trying to make up for the miserable weather they had been having, giving them a few bright and glorious days before the old madness ended. The man upstairs called Coraline when he saw her coming now miss tour our strength may fail that's why Caroline shouted over the railing it's Coraline she said how are the mice something has scared them said the old man scratching his mustache I think Maybe there is a weasel in the house, it's about something, I heard it at night, in my country they would have set a trap for it, maybe they would give it some meat or a hamburger and when the creature arrives at the banquet, then, bam, they would never catch her!

The mice bother us the most. They are so scared that they don't even pick up their little musical instruments. "I don't think he loves me," Coraline said. She raised her hand and touched the black key that hung around her neck. She went in and took a bath and kept the key around her neck the whole time. who was in the bathroom never took it off again something scratched her bedroom window after going to bed Coraline was almost asleep she slid out of her bed and opened the curtains a white hand with crimson nails jumped off the window sill to a drainage pipe and immediately got out of there, there were deep sofas in the glass on the other side of the window.

Coraline slept restlessly, waking from time to time to plot and plan and reflect and then fall back. when sleeping there is nothing very sure where her reflections ended and the dream began an ear always open to listen to the sound of something that scratched the glass of our window or the door of her room in the morning Coraline told her mother I'm going to do a picnic with my dolls today can you lend me a sheet an old one that you no longer need is a tablecloth I don't think we have one of those said her mother opened the kitchen drawer that contained the napkins and the tablecloth and pushed inside wait, wait, This will do.

It was a folded disposable paper tablecloth covered with red flowers. It was what was left over from a picnic they had been to several years before. That's perfect, said Coraline. I didn't think you played with your dolls anymore. Mrs. Jones said. I don't admit Coraline. They have it. a protective coloring we will be back in time for lunch said have a good time to your mother Caroline filled a cardboard box with the dolls and several plastic dolls teacups he filled a jug with water she went out as if she were going shopping before get to the supermarket, crossed a fence into a wastelandalong an old path and crawled under a hedge.

She had to go under the hedge in two trips to avoid spilling the water. It was a long, circular journey, but in the end Coraline was satisfied that she had not been followed. She walked out behind the old, dilapidated tennis court. She crossed it to the meadow where the tall grass swayed. She found the planks on the floor. The edges of the meadow were astonishingly heavy, almost too heavy for a girl to lift even with all her strength, but she managed and pulled out the boards one by one, grunting and sweating with the effort, revealing a deep, round hole lined with bricks. on the floor.

The floor smelled musty and dark. The bricks were greenish and slippery. He spread the tablecloth and placed it carefully over the top of the well. He placed a plastic doll cup every foot or so on the edge of the well and weighed each cup with water from The Jug placed a doll on the grass next to each cup to make it look as much like a doll tea party as possible. She retraced her steps under the hedge along the dusty yellow path around the back of the shops back to her. At her house, she reached out and took the key from her neck, hung it on the rope as if the key was something she liked to play with, and knocked on the door of Miss and Miss Forcecible's apartment.

The lady opened the door. Hello dear, said Yo. "I don't want to go in," Coraline said. I just wanted to know how Hamish was doing. Strange that he sighed. The vet says Hamish is a brave little soldier. Fortunately, the cat doesn't seem to be infected. We can't imagine what could have done it. The vet says he thinks of some animal, but he has no idea. From what Bobo says, he thinks it could have been a weasel. Mr. Boba, the man upstairs. Mr. Bobo, one last circus family. I think he is Romanian, Slovenian, Livonian or one of those countries.

God bless me, I can't remember them anymore. It had never occurred to Coraline that the crazy old man upstairs actually had a name. If she had known that his name was Mr. Bobo, she would have said it every time she could. How often can you say it? name him Mr. Bobo out loud oh, Coraline said she misses Mr. Bobo, well, she said a little louder. "I'm going to go play with my dolls now on the old tennis court behind, but that's nice, dear," said Miss Pink and added. Confidentially, be sure to keep an eye out for the old well.

Mr. Lovett, who was here before his time, said that he thought he might sink for half a mile or more. Lane hoped her hand hadn't heard the latter and changed the subject at this key. Caroline said out loud, all just an old key to our house, it's part of my game, that's why I carry it with me on this piece of rope, well, goodbye, what an extraordinary girl she said to herself as she closed the door. Caroline wandered. She crossed the meadow to the old tennis court hanging and swinging the black key on its piece of rope as she walked several times she thought she saw something the color of bone in the brush that kept Pace with her about 30 feet away.

She tried to whistle. but nothing happened, she sang out loud, instead, a song that her father had made up for her when she was a baby and had always made her laugh, it was my nervous witch, you think you're so kind, I give you bowls of oatmeal and I give you bowls of ice cream I give you lots of kisses I give you lots of hugs but I never give you sandwiches with bugs that's what she sang as she walked through the woods and her voice barely shook at all the dolls' tea party was where there was it left she was relieved that it wasn't a windy day everything was still in its place each plastic cup full of water weighed down on the paper tablecloth like it was meant to do she breathed a sigh of relief now was the hardest part hello dolls she said happily it's tea time she walked near the paper tablecloth I brought the lucky key she told the dolls to make sure we had a good picnic as carefully as possible she leaned over and gently placed the key on the tablecloth she was still Clinging to the rope, he held his breath hoping the water glasses with the rims of the well would weigh down the cloth, letting it support the weight of the key without collapsing into the well, sitting in the middle of the paper picnic cloth that Caroline left behind. . she let go of the rope and stepped back now it was all up to the hand she turned to her dolls who would like a piece of cherry pie she asked Jemima Pinky Primrose served each dollar slice of invisible pie on an invisible plate chatting happily As she did it out of the corner of her eye he saw something bone white from one tree trunk to another getting closer and closer he forced himself not to look at it Jemima said Coraline what a bad girl you are, you dropped the cake now I'll do it to you I have than fetch you a whole new slice, walked around the tea party until she was on the other side, pretended to wipe up the spilled cake and give Jemima another piece, and then, with a scattered squeak, took it away.

She reached her hand running over the tips of his fingers, dragged the tall grass to the stump of a tree, stood there for a moment like a crab savoring the air, and then made a triumphant clinking nail on the paper tablecloth. central. Time slowed Coraline, her white fingers. closed around the black key the path towards the impulse of the hand sent the dolls' plastic cups flying onto the paper tablecloth the key and the other mother's right hand fell into the darkness of the well Caroline counted slowly in a low voice He got to 40 before he heard a muffled splash coming from far away, someone had once told him that if you look at the sky from the bottom of a mine shaft, even in the brightest light of day, you see a night sky full of stars. .

Coraline wondered if the hand could see stars from where she was. She dragged the heavy boards back to the well, covering it as carefully as she could. She didn't want anything to fall. She didn't want anything to come out. She never put her dolls and the cups back into the cardboard box. where she had taken them in something called a harai, she straightened up just in time to see the black cat stalking towards her with its tail held high, curled at the tip like a question mark, the first time she had seen the cat in Several days later.

After they had returned together from the other mother's house, the cat approached her and jumped on the boards that covered the well. He slowly winked at me when I looked at him, jumped into the tall grass in front of her and rolled over hers. Her back moved in ecstasy. Coraline scratched and tickled the soft fur on her belly and the cat's pad. When she had had enough, she turned on her forehead once more and walked back to the tennis court like a little patch of midnight in a midday sun. Caroline She returned to the house Mr.

Bobo was waiting for her in the driveway he patted her on the shoulder the mice tell me everything is fine she said They say you are our savior Caroline is Coraline Mr. Boba said Coraline no Caroline Coraline Coraline said Mr. Bobo repeating his name with amazement and respect very well Coraline the mice say that I must tell you that as soon as they are ready to perform in public you will approach and observe them as the first public of all they will play the tempting Humpty. and toodle oodle they will dance and do a thousand tricks that's what they say I would like that very much said Coraline when they are ready she knocked and missed and Miss Forcible's door Miss let her in and Coraline entered the living room, she left her box of dolls on the floor , he put his hand in his pocket and took out the stone with a hole, here you are, he said: I don't need it anymore.

I am very grateful, I think she could have saved my life and saved other people's deaths. She gave them both a big hug, although her arms barely stretched around Miss and Miss Forcing smelled like the raw garlic she had been chopping. Caroline grabbed a box of dolls. and what an extraordinary girl said came out. Miss, no one had hugged her like that since she had left the theater that night. Caroline was lying in bed with her teeth well brushed and clean with her eyes open looking at the ceiling, it was warm enough that now that the The hand was gone, he had thrown open his bedroom window, he had insisted to his father that the curtains not be completely closed, his new school clothes were neatly placed on his chair for him to put on when he woke up normally. the night before the first.

On the day of term Coraline was apprehensive and nervous, but she realized that there was nothing in school that could scare her more. She imagined to him that she could hear sweet music in the night air, the kind of music that can only be played with the smallest trombones and silver trumpets. bassoons in Piccolo and tubercles so delicate and small that the keys of it could only be pressed by the tiny pink fingers of the white mice. Coraline imagined that she was back in the dream of her with the two girls and the boy under the oak tree in the meadow and she smiled when the first stars came out.