Chapter 2: Meeting Wybie

7.9K 161 148
                                    

The person took off his mask and I braced myself to see who was under the mask. Coraline and I gasped once they took off the mask. It was a boy with tanned skin and messy brown hair. He swung the stick around.
"Hoo! Let me guess, you two are from Texas or Utah, someplace dried out and barren right?" The kid said.

I gave Coraline a confused look before the boy continued on.
"I heard about water-witching before but it doesn't make sense, I mean it's just an ordinary stick." He said looking at the forked stick.
Coraline stood up and snatched the stick from him.

"It's a dowsing rod!" She said angrily before helping me up.
"Thanks." I said, giving her a smile.
She smiled back before smacking the boy.
"Ow!" The boy said rubbing where Coraline smacked him.
"We don't like being stalked by some psycho nerds or their cats!" Coraline yelled.

The boy crouched down nervously while patting the cat.
"Coraline, calm down." I say grabbing her arm.
Coraline calmed down a bit while the boy gave me a grateful look.

"He's not really my cat, he's kinda feral you know, wild? Well I do feed him every night and sometimes he'll come through my window and bring me little dead things." The boy said scratching the cat behind the ears.
The cat purred loudly.

"Can I pat him?" I ask, slowly approaching the cat.
"Sure." The boy said.
I patted the cat, who purred loudly.
"Look, we're from Pontiac." Coraline said with a hard expression.
"Huh?" The boy asked, snapping his attention to Coraline.

"Michigan? And if I'm a water witch, then where is the secret well?" Coraline said stomping her foot.
"If you stomp to hard, you'll fall in it!" The boy said pointing to the circle of toadstools.
Coraline jumped out of the circle of toadstools while the boy scraped the dirt away, revealing a part of a wooden circle.
"Wow." I said still patting the cat, who seemed to be enjoying it.

The boy grabbed a fallen stick and wedged it under the covering then stepped on the end of the stick, raising the covering.
"See? It's supposed to be so deep that if you fall to the bottom and look up, you'd see a sky full of stars in the middle of the day." The boy said.
"Huh." Coraline said, her expression softening.

The boy stepped off the branch, which made the covering fall back in place.
"Surprised she let you move in." The boy said, jerking his thumb towards the Pink Palace. "My grandma, she owns the 'Pink Palace', won't let people with kids move in."
"What do you mean?" I ask, stopping patting the cat, curious.

"Oh, um...I'm not allowed to talk about it." He said looking away before lifting his hand for me to shake.
"Name's Wybie, Wybie Lovat." He said shaking my hand then Coraline's, who wiped her hand on her raincoat after.
"Wybie?" Coraline asked sceptically.

"Short for Wyborne. Not my idea, obviously. So what did you two get saddled with?" He said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"I didn't get saddled with anything. It's Coraline." Coraline said.
"I'm Carol."
"Caroline, Coral what?"
"Carol, Carol Jones and my twin is Coraline Jones." I said annoyed he got my name wrong. I couldn't blame him, everyone gets our names wrong.

"Hmm...it's not real scientific, but I heard an ordinary name like Caroline or Coral-" He started, not hearing me.
I saw Coraline give him a glare when he wasn't looking.
"Can lead to people to have ordinary expectations about a person-"
"Wyborne!" I heard someone calling from afar.

"Um, I think I heard someone calling you Wyborne." I said.
"What? I didn't hear anything-" Wybie started.
"Oh I think I definitely heard someone, Why-were-you-born." Coraline cut in.
"Coraline!" I hissed, hearing a bell being rung in the distance.

"Wyborne!" The person yelled again.
"Grandma!" Wybie said under his breath, before giving a forced laugh.
"Heh, well great to meet Michigan water witches." He said, picking up his bike and hopping on it.
Turning around he held up his gloved hands. "If I were you I would wear gloves next time." He said to Coraline, pointing at her dowsing rod.

"Why?" Coraline asked, sceptical.
"Because that stick of yours, um, it's poison oak." He said.
"Argh!" Cried Coraline dropping the stick and wiping her hands on her raincoat.
"Bye Coral!" Wybie said before driving off his bike.
"Bye, and it's Carol!" I called, waving.

The cat gave a merow before it shook it's head and then ran after Wybie.
"Boys." I heard Coraline mutter, sticking her tongue out the direction Wybie left.
"What? He's not so bad." I say.
"Whatever." Coraline said before looking through a hole in the well covering. "Can you get me a pebble or something?"
"Sure." I say, handing her a small rock.

She dropped the rock through the hole and then put her ear against it. I could hear her counting under her breath until she got up. It had started raining.
"Come on." I say. "We should get back before it starts pouring."
"Ok." Coraline said before walking back to the Pink Palace.

Coraline's TwinWhere stories live. Discover now