Coraline's Twin

Chapter 1: Moving In

I sighed and looked out of the car window, watching the scenery go past in a blur. It was the day we moved from Pontiac, Michigan to the 'Pink Palace' in Ashland, Oregon.
"How much longer?" My twin sister, Coraline, asked impatiently.
"We'll be there in around 20 minutes." Mum replied.

Coraline sighed and leant back against her seat. She missed her friends, we didn't want to move, so Mum let us dye our hair to make us feel better. Coraline chose a dark blue while I settled for a magenta colour. We had to move because Mum and Dad had to move for work. Well, I'm not entirely sure why, I wasn't really paying attention. All I know that it was for their garden catalogue.

"Girls, we're here." Dad said from the drivers seat.
I looked out of the window, there was a huge pink mansion. I knew it got divided up into three apartments and that we had neighbours. I could see the movers starting to unpack the truck out the front. I blinked, on top of the roof was a man doing...

'Warm up exercises?' I thought to myself as I watched him do some more exercises before leaving the rooftop, after shaking his fist at our car.

We parked around the side of the house and got out. Coraline and I got our suitcases out of the back seat and went to find our new room.
"It's, homey." Coraline said, looking at the drab walls and cracked ceiling.

I looked around, there wasn't much furniture yet, only our beds and desks so far. Coraline put her suitcase down on her bed and pulled on her raincoat and gumboots.
"Where are you going?" I asked, putting my suitcase down.
"I'm going to explore, I heard there was an old well around here, want to come?" Coraline asked.
"Sure." I reply, putting my raincoat and gumboots on.

Coraline and I head out the back door and towards the garden. Coraline went to a bush and broke off a forked branch. She held it in front of her then started walking.
"So, what's the branch for?" I asked curiously.

"It's a dowsing rod, it can help me find water." Coraline explained.
"Oh, since we're looking for a well, wells have water." I said.
We went through the back gate and up a path. Soon we could see the Pink Palace in the distance. I heard someone move close by, I looked up to some rocks.

"Hello?...Who's there?" I said to no-one in particular.
"Huh?" Coraline said, stopping and turning to me.
"I thought I heard something up there." I say, pointing up to the rocks.
"Hmmm..." Coraline said, picking up a rock.

"What are you doing?" I asked, eyeing the rock in her hand.
Coraline didn't say anything but threw the rock up to where I pointed. A cry came once she threw it, I couldn't tell who made the cry, but it sure did scare the daylights out of us. We ran down the path into an orchard, running past a couple of wagons and a tractor.

We stopped, panting in a circle of toadstools. I could hear something race past us, I turned around, looking for whatever chased us. A mangled black cat jumped on a old tree stump and let out a 'Merowww'.
Coraline turned around, and glared at the cat.
"You scared us to death you mangy thing!" She said angrily.

The cat glared at us with it's blue eyes.
"We're just looking for an old well, know it?" She continued.
The cat blinked it's eyes slowly.
"Not talking, huh?" Coraline said to the cat.

"Um, you realise cats don't talk, right?" I say timidly to Coraline. She's always been the confident, loud one while I was more like the shy, quiet one.
"I know." She said putting her hands on her hips, the wind blowing her blue hair.

She pointed the dowsing rod in the air and did a figure eight while I stepped out of the ring of toadstools.
"Magic dowser, magic dowser, show...me...the well!" Coraline said.
Lightning flashed as I heard the sound of an air horn and the rev of an engine. I looked up and could see a strange looking motorbike with someone on top, who wore a skull mask, skeleton gloves and a black fireman's jacket. Coraline spun around as the person revved the engine again and took of straight towards us.

"Ahhhhh!" Coraline and I screamed as we just managed to get out of the way.
Coraline got up and tried to whack to person with her stick.
"Get away from us!" Coraline yelled.

The person simply snatched the stick away from her, making her fall on top of me and knocking us both over.
The person hopped off their bike and stood on a tree stump, they looked really tall from my position on the ground. They turned a handle on the side of their mask, which turned the three green lenses on the mask, before pulling it off.