Coraline Jones

There were four brightly coloured birds sat peacefully in a nest opposite from the tree she sat in. There was one sleepy puppy, named Bobo, lying at the bottom of the tree. And there was one half naked man wandering around.

"Oh, really." Coraline said sighing, as she looked down at the man. Coraline rolled her eyes blowing her hair out of her eyes. Coraline really thought this was getting ridiculous. It was like there was an island wide shortage of shirts and only the men were the ones involved in the shortage. Which of course meant Coraline in turn was involved, mostly by the eye rolling and blushing and feelings. Feelings she was promptly going to ignore and of course, make the offending parties problem. "Why does no one wear any clothes? I mean, it's not like the clothes box doesn't give away free clothes all the time."

Coraline huffed before looking at the man with a gun. Coraline wondered if it was contagious, the lack of a shirt, really it was getting silly. Next, it would be Danny walking around shirtless or even worse... Sam. Gross.

"Do you need to borrow a shirt?" Coraline said swinging her legs down over the edge of the branch of the tree. Coraline reached for her bag, rummaging through it before bringing out her emergency supplies. Pulling out the shirts, Coraline held them up. "I have a hideous hawaiian pattern and a white one."

Coraline didn't have many girl friends. She had Claire and she had O-Ren but mostly she didn't have girly type friends or friends she wanted to ask about clothes and boys because well, all her friends were boys and boys who had no idea about clothes like Jake (who wore none) or Sam (who was silly). But Coraline had made new friends, new female friends that she could ask about those things and who she respected people like Bella and Kate.

Coraline liked Bella and it wasn't just because she could cook and it wasn't just because she was Jake's best friend, she was genuinely a nice girl and Coraline? Coraline wanted to protect her from creepy, stalking vampires and from falling over which she kind of did a lot. And Kate, Kate was just plain cool and wasn't the type to let any vampire stop her from doing exactly what she wanted to do. In other words the two were perfect friends for each other and Coraline had an idea exactly how to to get them to meet.

Leaving notes for Bella and Kate to help her with her hair and ask for advice, Coraline smiled and waited for the pair at the compound where Coraline could get her hair dyed blue and matchmake friends at the same time. It was a perfect plan and Sam wasn't involved so nothing could go wrong!

Hopefully.

Coraline awoke in a strange, unfamiliar room. This had happened before to her but the bed hadn't been this uncomfortable and the ceiling hadn't been boring coloured and the floor hadn't been neat or tidy but filled with all the things a ten year old girl would want. Coraline blinked tiredly looking around and rubbing the sleep and tears from her eyes. Swinging her legs around Coraline wrapped her arms around her legs as she just sat there for a while and listened.

Someone was moving, shuffling and stomping about, someone happy. She could smell... food cooking. She could hear the clatter and the noise outside sounded like home. Coraline wiped her eyes, brushing tears away as she got up slowly to her feet and cautiously made her way towards the noise and the smell. Her stomach growled hungrily at her as she wandered towards them- him.

"Daddy?" Coraline asked quietly before correcting herself. Danny not daddy. His back was turned to her and Coraline grabbed the key around her neck and prayed he didn't have button eyes. Prayed that he was really her Danny and not the Other Danny. There was a knife, she could get it if she needed to but she didn't want to. She didn't want to have to hurt him too. "Danny?"

Coraline yawned, stretching her arms up as she kicked her sheets off her bed. Legs dangling off the end of the bed Coraline sat up onto her arms and stared down at legs that were longer then last night. Coraline knew she grew and grew quite quickly but this was ridiculous. Swinging her legs over Coraline walked over to her marked door and stood back against it before placing her hand above her head.

"How have I grown two inches?" Coraline asked curiously before frowning at her voice. It sounded weird. It sounded older. Coraline looked down at herself, at the clothes that had been too big on her last night but were now too snug. Especially around the chest area. "What the-BILL! BILL!"

Coraline opened her door, storming out into the hall and down towards the kitchen before she finally caught sight of her reflection. Coraline paused mouth open in shock as she looked at her face... her body! Coraline swallowed before giggling. This was going to be so awesome! She looked old!

"Nevermind!" Coraline yelled, turning around and around as she looked herself over. "This is so cool."

Looking around Coraline grabbed one of Bill's shirts and ran back towards her room with a happy whoop. Coraline put her 'DO NOT DISTURB' sign on her door before shutting it with a bang. Coraline needed a plan of action, Coraline needed to... get rid of her Coraline-ness.

"Okay, let's see. No key, no bracelet, no catbag, no Cat you'll have to stay here, no... wellies. Oh, but I like my wellies." Coraline said grumbling to herself as she began to write a list of things she wanted to do now that she was a Grown Up. "And I need a legend. A simple one just like Adam did. I could be Jo or ha! I'll be Caroline! Right, first I need clothes. And then I need a drink or a kiss or something! Ha this is brilliant!"

Coraline shrugged out of her clothes into Bill's oversized shirt and tugged on a pair of converse flats. Wrapping a belt around her middle she looked- well, Coraline thought she looked odd but she in fact looked hot. Peeking out of her bedroom Coraline looked around before making her escape.

"Going out!" Coraline yelled as she ran out of the Homestead. The island was in for a whole world of trouble.

OOC: Catch Coraline going up to the Compoung or trying to find something to wear.

Coraline looked curiously at one of the posters she had found and crumpled in her hand, pushing it into her back pocket as she collected glasses and plates and took them to wash. Coraline was curious, she didn't understand what Venerable diseases were and she didn't really get sex or tongue kissing but she wanted to understand it. It was just so frustrating.

Coraline wasn't sure who to ask though. She certainly wasn't asking Bill, there were some things one asked your guardian but Coraline was not asking him that. He was Bill Weasley. And it was just embarassing. She wasn't sure who she could ask though; Helen maybe, Sookie? Or... Coraline stared at Neil and put the plates down before starting after him.

"Neil!" Coraline called out, grabbing hold of his arm before all five foot six of her came to a sudden stop. "Neil, can I ask you something? Something... private?"

Coraline sighed as if the whole entire world was on her shoulders. She was Grounded. G-R-O-U-N-D-E-D. One of the few words she could spell. She was allowed to go to school, eat her dinner at the compound, have a bath, do her homework and chores and that was it. Today she had a list of words to spell and learn.

Coraline stared at the list of words she had to learn the spelling and meaning of and frowned. The words were: Responsibility, Maturity, Consequence, Dangerous, Irresponsible, Justification, Anxiety, Worry, Heartache and Furious. Adam was as subtle as a very unsubtle thing. She hadn't even got to see Cain yet and tell him about her adventure. It wasn't fair.

"Re-spon-sib-ill-it-tee, Responsibility. A sense of trustworthiness, a social force or duty and the extent of our actions." Coraline said, reading the bits of definition she understood from the dictionary. Closing her eyes, Coraline tried to imagine the word and began to spell it outloud. "R-E-E-S-P-O-N-S-I-B-I-LL-I-T-Y. Responsibility."

Coraline frowned as she checked it. She hated spelling. She hated being Grounded. She wanted to go out and play.

Coraline turned restlessly in her sleep.

She dreamt of a well. Coraline stood at the edge, holding her breath as she looked into the darkness. Something moved within the well and stared at her hungrily. Coraline fell back, running to the house surrounded in mist. Tiny red eyes followed her.

Coraline kicked the sheets off. Her hand let go of the wooden horse she had been holding.

Coraline ran towards the house and up the stairs. “Mum! Dad! Let me in!” Coraline called out, her fists pounding on her front door. Something was coming out of the well. “Please, please let me in!”

“Who’s at the door?” Her father’s voice called out from inside the house.

“Dad, please it’s me. It’s Coraline,” Coraline called out, looking behind her frantically. Long red nails clung to the edge of the well.

“Oh, it’s just some girl,” Her mother replied from behind the door. “Shall I let her in?”

“Please, please she’s coming.” Coraline said, trying to push the door open.

“No dear, we’re too busy remember. Far too busy to be dealing with a girl,” Her father replied as her mother locked the door firmly.

“No, no, please!” Coraline said, turning around and stared into the cold, hungry button eyes of the other mother.

Coraline woke screaming. But she wasn’t in her bed. She was alone in the darkness. She put out her hands to touch the space in which she had found herself in. It was the size of a broom cupboard: tall enough to stand in or to sit in, not wide or deep enough to lie down in. One wall was glass, and it felt cold to the touch.

She was in the mirror room.

Somewhere inside her Coraline could feel a sob welling up. This time she didn’t let it go, this time she couldn’t be brave. Inside the cold, dark mirror room Coraline screamed.