[Ashland, Oregon. Wednesday,
November 22, 2015.]

It had to be approximately a quarter past midnight. Michael had thankfully taken up the idea of taking Miss Spink and Forcible to the theatre. When the play was finished, they all returned to the Pink Palace and turned in for the night. Y/n did not. The teenager instead used this time to take the Adder Stone which was oh-so graciously given to her and fashion it into a makeshift necklace. The black string that she used ran through the gigantic hole in the stone.

After that... Y/n felt alone (despite Michael being safe and sound). She also couldn't sleep. Not with the entire world going on in her head. Her safety, the Other Mother, the ghost children (mostly Coraline), the possibility of where David could be, both Wybies, the supposed hang out later today, ... it was all too much for the teenager to take in all at once.

And so, Y/n got up to get herself a cool drink of water in hopes to clear her pressing thoughts.

Slowly making her way towards the kitchen, the h/c-haired girl stopped at the bottom of the steps when her e/c eyes spotted something in the shadows. 'Shit. Is that a rat?' She automatically assumed the worse possible outcome.

Y/n squatted, and sat on one of the steps, but kept her attention focused on the rather large figure. "Get out." She spoke up in the bravest tone she could muster. She hoped that it would scare the dark figure away but it didn't budge.

Instead, a paw stepped out of the shadows. Then two. And then followed by its entire body. Y/n is faced with large opal blue eyes staring at her. It's the black cat, purring loudly. "Oh, hello..." her voice became much softer than it was moments prior. "How did you get in?" She asked, rhetorically.

The cat yawns, and his eyes flash.

"You know where David... my dad is... don't you?" Y/n raised a brow. The cat blinks, taking a moment to stare at her blankly before heading toward the new tenant. He rubbed his head against Y/n's leg which caused the teenager to let out a small laugh. At least the cat was able to comfort her. "Thank you..." she gently scratched the black cat's cheek.

The feline, appreciative, almost smiled at the gesture. Its purring grew a tad bit louder but Y/n didn't mind. If Michael catches them, then so be it.

Soon, however, the black cat pulled away and then climbed the remaining number of steps. "Where are you going?" Y/n remained seated. She only shifted her body and caught a glimpse of the stray standing at the top of the steps. Waiting. She let out a small sigh. "Okay, okay..." she mumbled. "I'm coming."

Y/n follows him to the master bedroom. From under the bed, the cat drags out the button-eyed doll, remade into her nonbiological father. "No..." She groaned when she picked up the doll to examine it. "She's taken him?" The cat nodded.

Y/n, enraged, storms out of David's bedroom and — again — toward the kitchen with a plan in mind.

As opposed to throwing the doll (partially assuming that it moves around on its own), Y/n placed it on the counter. The black cat was slow to rejoin the teenager and only sent her a quizzical look. "I don't know if you're listening to me right now." She said, talking to the doll or rather the Other Mother. "But, if you are," Y/n leaned down, so she is the same height as the object. "Just know that I am coming back to fucking kill you." She threatened.

This threat prompted the stray's jaw to hang agape and — in his shock — he watched as Y/n turned a knob on the control panel of the oven and her eyes lit up with delight. The flame from the stove lit up her features.

Taking a doll in hand, Y/n placed it over the flame and watched it crumble and dissipate from existence within a blink of an eye. She turns off the stove and meets the cat's gaze again. "Looks like I better go get ready." She shrugged her shoulders. "And, just so you know, I am bringing a few weapons. To defend me," Y/n added. The stray looked at her as if she had three heads. "Don't look at me like that. I won't attack the Other Mother unless she does first. I'm not that stupid."

He nodded, understanding where she was coming from.

The next few moments were filled with Y/n finding her old tote bag (which she used for shopping purposes) and placing various objects ranging from a pair of garden shears and a flashlight. There was no need to pack the Adder Stone, given that the teenager has it wrapped around her neck.

However, she finished packing when she exited the Pink Palace and started to rummage through David's car. She knew that he must have a variety of tools that could prove themselves useful. She opened the trunk and cheered when she saw that her prayers have been answered.

There in front of her laid a beautiful (yet worn out) axe. It wasn't the largest thing in the world but, again, Y/n didn't exactly win the lottery of weapons. She'll take what she can get.

Carefully, Y/n picks up her newly attained weapon and places it in her bag. It wasn't very discreet. The toe, cutting edge, and bevel of the axe peeked out ever so slightly from the top. "Oh, well..." she whispered under her breath.

When she was finally prepared, Y/n opens the strange door again but leaves the key in the lock, like always, before taking a deep breath. Here goes nothing. She crawls forward with her flashlight in hand which casts huge, flickering shadows along the wall.

The cat, his voice returned, speaks to her, "You know, you're walking right into her trap, right?" He inquired.

"Like I said before..." Y/n started. "I don't have a choice. I have to go back." She repeated her earlier statement.

The black cat thinks for a moment. "Challenge her then," he advised. "She may not play fair but... she won't refuse. She's got a thing for games."

Y/n considers the idea with a frown. "Okay... thanks." She was able to voice her gratitude before the door at the end of the tunnel clicked open, the teenager's grip tensed around the flashlight, and the cat turned around before vanishing in the darkness.

"Y/n?" A groggy voice called out.

She knew that voice. "Dad?" Y/n's eyebrows knitted together with subtle confusion, her apprehension and paranoia high.

There, framed in the open door, David appears with an exhausted smile, "You came back for me?..." he was shocked, to say the least. "But I thought you wouldn't because—" before the older man could finish his sentence, he was cut off short when Y/n runs forward eagerly and out the Other Door, throwing her arms out to hug her real adoptive father.

"Honey!" David exclaimed and returns the embrace with one arm wrapped around his daughter's shoulder. "Why would you run away from me?" His voice suddenly shifted to come off as apathetic. Y/n sees David's hand grow.

Alarmed, she pushes away and sees the decoy dad grow into the tall and grotesque Other Mother. The room lights up with the glowing bug furniture and a fire at the fireplace. 

Y/n tries her best to be brave, "What the hell is wrong with you?" She insulted the Beldam.

"Ah-ah," the older woman shook her head at the negative comment. "Don't use that tone with me." She warned.

Y/n glared at the Other Mother. "Where is my real father?" She immediately changed the topic.

The Other Mother's button eyes glitter with anticipation and excitement. "Gosh, I have no idea where your 'old' father is," she lied through her teeth. "Perhaps he ran away with a mistress and left you and your brother behind." She beamed.

"Liar." Y/n caught her.

Meanwhile, Other Father, a foot shorter than before, his sagging face a pale pumpkin colour, his hair vines, comes up behind the h/c-haired girl. "Now, don't be difficult, Y/n. Have a seat, won't you?" The Beldam says and — in the next moment — the Other David, gurgling happily, herds the new tenant onto the walking bug chair.

The Beldam, standing by the door, turns to it and claps her hands. And just like that, a huge rat skitters out of the tunnel — filled again with spider webs and children's things — carrying the key from the real-world door. "I—" before Y/n could protest against this action (as it wasn't fair), she stopped when she observed the Other Mother take the key, locks the door, and — while the armoire bug assumes guard position — she swallows the key.

"You're kidding, right?" The teenager grimaced at the sight. "Why don't you have your own key?" She asked, knowing that they were both fighting for control of the object.

"Only one key." The Other David states but the Beldam didn't like that. She pulls a vine growing from his ear, shutting his mouth. "The garden squash needs tending, don't you think, pumpkin?" She turns him around, her hands under his arms and drags him out.

"Squish squash, pumpkin sauce..."

After a solid minute, Y/n perks up after hearing the very faint sound of a finger on the glass. What is that? She immediately jumps to her feet, looking around the room for a sign of David. "Where'd she hide you?" She loudly whispered.

A muffled screen door slams in the adjacent room and then it's followed by the Other Mother calling to her from the kitchen, "Breakfast-time!"

Y/n slowly leaves the living room.

As opposed to sitting at the dinner table, Y/n instead clutches her bag closer to her body and pauses in the doorway. Just as when she was about to take a step inside the room, she was topped by the Other Mother, "That won't be necessary." She gestured toward the teenager's bag.

"Why not?"

"Because it's not respectful or ladylike." The Beldam replied.

Slowly peeling the bag off her shoulder, Y/n holds onto the strap, places it on the ground, and then sits at the kitchen table in her regular place with her back to the sink. The Other Mother, humming happily, prepares a mushroom omelette and bacon. Fragrant cinnamon buns baking in the oven.

At the table's centre, Y/n sees the box with her button eyes with needle and thread. A bead of sweat rolls down her forehead. As casually as she can, she asks: "Why don't we play ... a game?" She tried to be cool. "I know you like them."

The Other Mother's buttoned eyes at the temptation but inevitably ended up saying, "Everybody likes games." The bacon sizzles and spits on the stove. "What kind of game would it be?" She asked.

"A game where I'd have to find something."

The Other Mother tries to act disinterested, but her fingers drum with excitement. "And what is it you'd be finding, sweetie?" She queries.

Y/n hesitates. "David..." she whispered under her breath but the sentence didn't go unnoticed by the older woman who was eager to dismiss the idea.

"Too easy."

The Other Mother folds the omelette over in the pan. "And... the eyes of the ghost children. All four." Y/n adds to her previous notion. The Beldam smiles: now it's getting interesting. With the meal ready, she turns from the stove and takes the food to the teenager.

"What if you don't find them?"

"It's kind of obvious what would happen then," Y/n averts her gaze. "If I lose, then I will have to stay here with you and... I'll let you sew buttons into my eyes." She finished.

"And if you somehow win this game?"

"Then you let me go. Simple as that," Y/n shrugged her shoulders. There was nothing else to it. "You also have to let everyone else go... David, the dead children, everyone you've trapped here." But not Wybie. He was something that the Other Mother created to reel her in this odd world.

The Other Mother smirks. "Deal." She agreed to it and holds out her hand. Y/n doesn't reach.

"Can't play if I don't get a hint first."

The Beldam snorts and her smile sours. She slowly circles Y/n and speaks as if talking to a very stupid child, "Oh, right... in each of four wonders I've made just for you, a ghost's eye is lost in plain sight." She said.

"And what about David? Do I get a clue for him?" Y/n asked but the Other Mother — standing behind her in front of the sink — smiles wickedly and just starts tapping her button eye with her fingernail. The new tenant turns away. "Guess not," she frowns. "But how do I know that you're not lying to me?"

"I swear it," said the Beldam. "I swear it on my own mother's grave."

"Does she even have a grave?"

"Oh yes," the older woman nodded. "I put her in there myself. And when I found her trying to crawl out, I put her back." She further explained.

"Okay..." cutting her loses, Y/n extends her hand and turns around only to find that the Other Mother has disappeared. She exhales. "Probably for the best but what does she mean by 'wonders'?"

Out the kitchen window, the fantastic garden lights up, answering her question. Y/n better not keep the space waiting. No time like the present.