Coraline's Twin

Chapter 4: The Door

I found Coraline in the living room, there wasn't much. Only a fireplace, a painting of a boy who dropped his ice cream and boxes everywhere. I saw that doll on the coffee table and Coraline with her back to me, placing snow globes on the small shelf above the fireplace. An idea came into my head, I quickly grabbed the doll and hid it behind some boxes leaning against the wall making sure it was visible by a bit. I walked back to the doorway and cleared my throat. Coraline jumped and turned around.

"You scared me!" She said, glaring at me.
I rolled my eyes and fixed my small butterfly clip in my hair. "Sheesh, I wanted to have some fun with you."
"Yeah, right." Coraline said, reaching to the coffee table as if she was going to grab something. Once she grabbed air, she started looking around.

"Alright little me...where are you hiding?" She said to no one in particular.
"I thought you were to old for dolls?" I said, teasing her.
"Oh, be quiet." Coraline said before finding the doll behind the boxes.
"Hey I think there's something behind here." Coraline said gesturing for me to come over.

I walked over and got onto my knees, helping Coraline move the boxes out of the way. There was an outline of a small door in the wallpaper.
"Cool." I said in awe while Coraline traced her finger over the outline.
"Hey, mum?" I called.

No answer.

"Where does this door go?" Coraline said.
"I'm really, really busy girls!" Mum called from the kitchen.
"I think it's locked." Coraline called again.
No answer.
"Pleeeeeeaaaaaaasssssssseeeeee!" Coraline and I called.

We could hear mum sigh then walked into the living room. Putting her hands on her hips and looked at the door.
"Will you two stop pestering me if I do this for you?" She asked.
We both nod like dogs waiting for someone to throw a ball.

Mum sighs and heads back into the kitchen. I could hear the sound of keys being moved around before mum walked back into the living room. I caught the sight of a black key with a button shape on the end of it. I looked back to the doll's eyes, which looked at the door, then back to the key.
'Something's strange is going on.' I thought to myself.

Coraline and I moved out of the way to give mum some room, using the key she cut the outline of the door before putting the key into the keyhole. Coraline and I watched intently to see what was on the other side. We were both disappointed to what we saw on the other side.
It was all bricked up.

"Bricks? I don't get it." Coraline said, scratching her rash.
"They must of bricked it up when they divided up the house." Mum said getting up to leave.
"You're kidding? And why is the door so small?" I say.
Mum turned around, annoyed. "We made a deal. ZIP IT!" She said before leaving.

I huffed in annoyance.

"You didn't lock it." Coraline called.
"Argh!" Mum yelled from the kitchen.
Coraline closed the door, head bowed.
"Come on, let's not annoy mum." I say, taking Coraline by the arm and leading her upstairs.
"Let's unpack."

~~~TIME SKIP~~~

"Oh my twitchy witchy girls." Dad sang while getting dinner ready.
I sighed, it was still pouring with rain and dinnertime. Mum was closing her laptop while I sat next to Coraline who had that creepy doll on the other side of her.

Man I hated that doll, something about seemed suspicious and creepy. Like who would find a doll that looked exactly like my twin sister?

"I think you are so nice, I give you bowls of porridge and I give you bowls of ice-" Dad still sang while slopping vegetables onto our plates. "-Cream!"
I looked down at what dad made and pushed it away.
"I still don't get why you don't cook mum." I say.
"Yeah." Agreed Coraline.

"Girls, we've been over this: your dad cooks, I clean and both of you stay out of the way." Mum said.
Coraline huffed in annoyance.
"I promise I'll go food shopping soon as we finish the catalog." Mum said, pointing to our plates. "Try some of the vegetables, both of you need your vitamins."
"It looks more like slime." I say, poking the vegetables with my fork.

"Well it's either slime or bedtime fusspots." Dad tells us. "Now what will it be?"
"Bedtime." I say, looking at Coraline.
Coraline placed her hand behind the dolls head.
"Think they're tying to poison us?" She says to the doll, making the doll's head nod yes.
I roll my eyes as Coraline pushes her chair away from the table before standing up with the doll.

We were in the bathroom brushing our teeth. Coraline was already in her orange flannel pyjamas while I was in my yellow ones.
"Why do you even have the doll? You don't like them." I say to Coraline before gargling some mouthwash.
"It looks just like me." Coraline replied.

"Yeah, exactly like you. What? It's not like everyday you find a doll that looks just like you." I say after spitting the mouthwash out.
"Look, just respect my decision about keeping the doll. Jeez." Coraline said before turning on her heel and walking off to our bedroom.
I rubbed my face with a towel and walked to our bedroom. Coraline was still awake, with that stupid doll of hers on the chair next to her bed.

I got into my purple sleeping bag, we still hadn't unpacked the bedsheets yet, and lied down.
"Night." I say to Coraline.
"Goodnight, Carol." Coraline said before saying. "Goodnight, little me."
Rolling my eyes and looking around our room one more time, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.