Coraline Alternate Ending
Coraline had just left Ms. Spink and Forcible’s apartment, or the other Ms. Spink and Forcible. It was a foggy night and everything in her screamed that something was off. Her other mother and father stood by their front door.
Waiting.
Coraline stood still for a brief moment, shaking off the bad feelings. She told herself that this place was home. How could it not be? It is identical to her ‘real’ home and she likes her other family. They seem to love her so what was the problem?
“Coraline dear, how was it?” said the other mother, breaking the silence.
Finally going up the steps Coraline answered, “it was interesting, if I was back at my real home I sure wouldn't have been able to experience it.”
The other mother lightly takes Corline’s hand. Her white, skinny fingers are cold to the touch. She hastily takes Coraline inside signaling for the other father to rush in behind them. They get to the dining room and there is a bundle of presents there for Coraline. What child wouldn't be excited to see a small mountain of presents just for them?
Coraline was excited and immediately said, “Is this all for me?”
“Of course dear, who else would it be for?” The other father says, grabbing a rectangular present wrapped in the purple present paper, “Open this one first.”
Coraline looks at the other mother before opening the small box. The mother smiled, all her white teeth showing as she nodded approval for Coraline to start opening.
The purple wrapping rips off to reveal a slim rectangular box. Inside the box was a pair of the Day-Glo green gloves that Coraline had wanted from the department store. Her real mother refused to buy them for her.
“Oh my gosh!” she yells excitedly. “These are the exact gloves I wanted! How did you know?”
“I’m your mother after all. How could I not?” The other mother says with a grin.
“Right. Well, thank you.” Coraline says as her smile slightly fades.
She goes on to open each present. A long orange wrapped box filled with clothing, another small box filled with candies. She continues to open them until she gets to the last small present. This one was unwrapped, it was just a blue thin box that had Coraline written on the top of it. The other mother glided to her side, the father stood across the table holding a mug of what looked like coffee.
“Let’s open it together shall we?” the other mother asks in a wispy voice.
Coraline nods as the other mother grabs the box. She mouths the words, open it. Coraline takes the top off of the box and it reveals two big black buttons along with white thread and a needle. A rush of emotion fills Coraline as she drops the top of the box onto the floor.
“I-I don’t understand. Buttons? You want to sew buttons in my eyes?” Coraline says in an alert tone covering her eyes as if to hide them.
“Well dear, if you want to stay here with us then we have to go through this small procedure.” Says the other mother with a smile.
The other father comes up behind Coraline and says, “It doesn't hurt a bit, and you’ll be here with us forever after we do this!”
“Um…” Coraline takes a few steps back from the table watching the other mother and father’s smiles. “I think I wanna go home now…”
Silence fills the room and their smiles disappear.
“You are home.” says the other mother.
The other father nods and agrees. “This is your home now, we just need to do this to make it official.”
He smiles but it's different this time. Coraline can see all that’s wrong with the picture here. His smile isn't genuine, it is one of those smiles that you can tell is forced if you truly look at the person. The other mother looks bony and ghost-like. Nothing like her real mother at all. Everything is off, though it all looks the same it is scary and dark here.
“No.” Coraline states, “this is not my home, I’m going back to my real home.”
The other mother slams the box onto the table, her smile completely gone. She tries to walk towards Coraline but Coraline begins to run towards the drawing-room.
“Stop this instant Coraline! Do not disobey your mother!” the other mother screams out.
Coraline gets to the drawing-room to find the little door gone.
“I don't understand. Where is it?” Coraline says.
A large shadow appears on the wall. It is tall and bony. Coraline turns to find the other mother standing behind her but she became even taller and skinnier than before. Her skin is a pale ghost white and her hair is the deepest black she has ever seen.
“I told you, Coraline, you are home. There is no other home to go back to.” the figure whispers, “You. Are. Mine.”
A surge of fear and uncertainty washes over Coraline. This wasn’t what she had imagined. She thought her new world, new neighbors, and new parents were the best thing that happened to her boring and dull life. Unfortunately, she was wrong. Coraline thought of every possibility at this moment, she decided to do the only thing she could.
“You are not my mother!” Coraline screamed as she pushed over the wardrobe next to what should have been the little door that held the passageway through reality and this world.
The other mother gets crushed by the wardrobe giving Coraline the time to start running. She caught a glimpse of what looked like the other father but did not stop. She made it out of the Pink Palace and continued to run, but her world began cracking. The night sky had long white cracks, the cracks you’d see on a wall in an old broken-down house. The cracks got bigger, and small pieces from the sky fluttered to the ground and turned white. Coraline knew that this had to be the other mothers doing. This world was hers, not Coraline's.
She made it far enough from the Pink Palace but she wondered if they were following her. The colorful world she would escape to was suddenly losing its color. It became a dull white wasteland. The orange, red and yellow leaves on the trees were drained to a colorless white. The vibrant green grass and the light brown dirt pathways became lifeless. She slowed down to a walk as she made it to her destination. The well. Boarded up into the ground, she wondered if a jump that far down would kill her. She was running out of options and needed to do something. Anything.
Coraline grabbed a strong branch that had not lost its life yet but she knew she had little time left. She latched the branch under the boards to break them off. She pushed once. Twice. Then, on the third push, the boards came free. It revealed a deep hole that was pitch black. She snatched a nearby rock and threw it down into the well counting the seconds it took before she heard a splash.
She waited as ten seconds passed. Then twenty. She leaned in closer still not hearing a splash or even a bang of the large rock hitting any surface. However, her time was up. The achromatic haze was close and within the haze, she saw the ominous, tall, bony figure walking her way.
“Coraline…” It whispered. “Let me love you, my child.”
Coraline stood up petrified and unsure. As the figure got closer she came to a decision. She’d rather take her chance in the pitch-black hole than be captured by the monstrous figure coming her way. Filled with dismay she yelled out, “I’m going back to my real mom and dad!”
She stood still for a moment, swallowed her fear, then jumped.
“No-”
Coraline heard from what she assumed was the other mother but the sound faded out as she made her descent into the well. She began to think about life before meeting her other parents and came to a realization. Her life was never truly that bad. Sure her parents were not perfect, her life was not as vibrant and fun as she would hope but she had a family. That was enough.
She continued falling for what felt like hours. Everything was still pitch black and the white haze didn’t come into the well. What she didn't realize is that she had fallen asleep. Her mind was no longer running, and she was no longer falling into the well.
A sweet voice was calling her name and a hand was placed lightly on her arm. The air smelled familiar, and it was warm.
“Coraline.” She heard the soft-sounding voice say.
Coraline’s eyes felt heavy as she tried to slowly open them. She woke up laying in her bed but not the bed that she remembered in the other world. She was in her room, her real room.
“Was it all just a nightmare?” She said to herself. She hopped out of bed and saw the back of a woman, it looked like her mother. She ran up and hugged her from the back.
“Mom!” She gasped out from hugging her so hard. “ I’ve missed you so much, I'm so glad to be home-” She was interrupted by her mother.
“My dear, whatever do you mean? You never left your home.”
This was not the sweet voice Coraline remembered hearing before waking up. She released her embrace and took a step back. With a nervous voice, she muttered, “mom?”
Her mother turned to face her, she looked exactly like her mother but there was one obvious difference. Her real mother doesn't have buttons for her eyes. Coraline fell back onto her bed speechless. She never made it back to her real home, she is still in the other world, it has just been altered. She knew for sure that the person across from her was not her mother.
“I told you before,” said the other mother sternly. “You are mine, Coraline. You are going to stay here forever. Look” She said while handing Coraline a black hand mirror.
Coraline hesitantly took the mirror, the back of it facing her. She flipped it around and it revealed what she feared. She was no longer the Coraline she once knew herself to be. Her eyes were gone. Instead, she saw a big black pair of shiny buttons.
Her life is no longer hers and the other mother was right. She was the other mothers.
Poll
