the beldam's return

Disclaimer: I do not own the movie Coraline or it's characters.

Note: There has been many debates about the differences between book and film. People pick sides and argue, and at times they even fight over trivial issues. And then there are people who have created a few theories about unanswered questions or odd scenes in movies and TV shows. I first got an idea for this story when reading the book Coraline. I was interested in the fact that the Pink Palace had a fourth apartment that hasn't been rented yet. I started to think of more ideas when I watched the movie with commentary (Like I do with all my favorite movies). Only recently I have been looking on YouTube to look at the different theories people had about Coraline. This story will have several different details from the book, movie, and theories, so if your willing to be patient with me and willing to see a different side of Coraline that you may or may not have thought about before; then I will do my best to give you an eye opening experience.

Chapter 1,

Coraline was sitting in the garden, pulling up different weeds that had infested the tulips when she heard the car pull up. Her heart raced as she heard the car doors slam and she stood up and saw her friends Harry and Marina walking up towards the house. She had waited a whole school year for this moment. So it's no surprise when she abandoned her gardening and went straight into the back entrance of the house. She ran straight into the kitchen and there they were. Marina was taking off her scarf and Harry was reaching for a hot cookie and Coraline squealed and they both turned to her.

"Troll Pile!" They all shouted and Coraline was on the ground, hugging her friends, and getting a nuggie from Harry.

"Honestly Coraline, you can become impossible when your around your friends." Coraline's mother, Mel, said but she quickly smiled when she saw how happy Coraline was to see her friends again.

"Sorry, Mrs. J, it's a troll tradition." Harry said and Mel rolled her eyes.

"Explain to me again why you call yourself trolls?" Mel asked and Coraline sat up.

"I can't." She said and her mother rose an eyebrow at her.

"Why not?" She asked.

"Because we never explained it to you. Therefore we cannot explain it to you again, that would be impossible." Coraline said and Mel sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"This is going to be a long summer. Where is your father?" Her mother asked and Coraline paused.

"Uh, he was in the garden with me, but... he went inside for some reason. I think he got a call." Coraline said unsure and Mel walked away. Coraline noticed that her mother was mumbling, she thought she even heard the word 'useless', but she smiled when she looked at her friends.

"I see that dragon lady hasn't really changed." Harry said and Marina giggled.

"Yeah, I don't know how you can deal with her, some days." Marina said and Coraline chuckled uncomfortably.

"Oh, well, she isn't the worst mother I've had. So tell me about your trip, how was it?" Coraline asked and Marina smiled.

"Oh, Coraline it was so much fun. We had this thing called turbulence, and this lady freaked out so majorly and she ended up spilling her drink over the guy next to her." Marina said.

"Yeah, and the guy was all like 'Calm down, lady, calm down.' but of course she didn't until the turbulence stopped and she felt so bad for ruining the guys shirt that she gave him like twenty dollars to either get it dry cleaned or to buy a new shirt." Harry said, obviously deepening his voice when he was pretending to be the man.

"Yeah, and they gave us food, which I didn't really eat because I kept getting these waves of nausea, so i just let Harry eat both of our meals." Marina said and Harry smiled.

"Food wasn't terrible, but ours was cold." He said.

"What did you get?" Coraline asked.

"We both got chicken." He said and Coraline made a face.

"You ate double chicken. You should have gotten chicken and fish and then tried them both." Coraline said and Harry shrugged.

"I don't remember getting a choice, but honestly I wouldn't have chosen a different path. Think about it, flying chicken of flying fish... I'm picking the one with wings, thank you very much." Harry said and Marina rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, but you barely touch seafood. I doubt that you will ever eat fish when you live by yourself." Marina said and Coraline giggled.

"Yeah, Harry, you don't even like to eat fish sticks. You only tolerate them when you have a bottle of ketchup in your hand." Coraline said.

"Even then, he could open a new bottle and polish it off before the fish sticks are gone." Marina said and Harry rolled his eyes.

"I'm not that bad." He said and the girls simply laughed at him.

"Oh, forget you. So, Coraline, what is it like to live out here." Harry asked and Coraline thought about this.

"Well, it wasn't easy when I first got here. I kept dreaming of this beautiful escape, but when the dream turned into a nightmare, I woke up and I was glad to be back. When I made up my mind about wanting to stay, I started to see the charm of this town. Granted we get lots of fog, which is why I'm glad that today the sun is shining through and we can explore a little." Coraline said and Marina's stomach started to growl.

"I don't suppose that we could get something to eat first." Marina said and Coraline smiled.

"Of course, that's why mom made cookies." Coraline said and Harry contorted his face.

"Oh, uh, your mom made those?" He asked and Coraline laughed.

"Yes, she made them and they are delicious." Coraline said in a slightly louder tone, then she leaned forward.

"Don't worry, it's just cookies that you put on a pan and bake." She whispered and Harry relaxed.

"Good, I wouldn't want my tongue to run away from me." Harry said and Marina giggled.

"Cookies sound good." Marina said in agreement and the three friends turned towards the slightly warm pan and started to dig into the cookies.