ParaNormaline - Chapter 10

- CHAPTER 10 - A Hint Of Light -

--Norman's POV--

Norman was starting to get more worried with every step he took. Psycho Norman had officially decided to leave him alone, which he would've enjoyed more if it hadn't been because they had both started hearing whispers echo through the woods. Norman had even thought he heard Coraline a few times, which caused him to go in the complete wrong direction and get himself lost. "I'm never gonna find her at this rate…" he groaned. "I wouldn't say that…" he heard Coraline's voice hiss. He whipped around, hoping to see her, but there was no one there. He sighed in disappointment, turning away and heading forward. Suddenly an image of Coraline flashed in front of him for a mere instant, laughing as he jumped back. "W-what the-?!" he stammered. The image appeared again next to him, and he jumped away in shock. "Over here!" Coraline taunted as she flashed away again. She kept disappearing then reappearing all over the place, and soon enough Norman was seeing double. He could swear his eyes were spinning as he tried not to fall down from dizziness. Suddenly he felt someone pause him down hard and he yelped. He rolled over onto his back just before being shot with darkness, accidentally knocking Coraline over in the process. He looked over at her, but his relief didn't last long when she went to kick him. He quickly got up, ready to run incase something happened. "W-wait!" he exclaimed just before she shot at him again. To his surprise, she actually listened. "Just… Wait for a minute, ok…?" he pleaded. The darkness around her hand went away as she got up, her eyes narrowed at him. "If you have something to say, say it quick before I change my mind." She told him darkly. "Alright, just hear me out here…" Norman told her quickly. She crossed her arms, waiting for him to talk. "I-I understand that you probably either don't care or don't want to admit it, but this isn't who you really are. I know I haven't known you for very long, but I also know that you wouldn't do any of this. So, if there's any chance that you can actually hear me in there… Could you show me?" he pleaded. He had a feeling that this wouldn't work. But it was worth a shot. After a moment her eyes seemed to soften a little, and Norman gained a little. But then she burst into laughter, and the hope went around. "You are so pathetic!" she exclaimed. She kicked him back into a tree and he yelped in pain. "I… I-I'm not pathetic…" he argued quietly, looking up at her. She laughed even harder. "Don't lie to yourself, Normie." She taunted, shooting darkness at him. It pinned him up against the tree, not allowing him to move. He gulped nervously as she walked over. Don't panic… You dealt with Aggie, you can deal with her he told himself. He yelped when he felt something wrap around his throat and push him against the tree even more. That is, if she doesn't rip my throat out first… he added as he felt her hand squeeze tighter, not allowing him to breath. "I'd say it's about time I got rid of you once and for all, freak…" Coraline hissed evilly. Norman looked down at her in panic, trying to beg her to stop as tears of pain came to his eyes. This was terrifying. He couldn't breathe at all. He quickly clamped his eyes shut when her fist pulled back far, darkness coating it. Suddenly he felt himself drop to the ground and a loud scream of shock from Coraline. Or, at least it sounded like Coraline. It was hard to tell for him at the moment. The second he landed he went into a coughing fit, and it didn't take long for him to feel something… Someone grab his hand and begin to run, dragging him along with them. He tried his best to keep his legs going, but he kept stumbling as they started to give out more. "-so sorry! That wasn't me!" he heard the person exclaim quickly to him. His eyes widened when he realized who it was. "C-Coraline?!" he gasped, looking over at her. Everything was starting to go into focus as he heard a loud shriek from behind them. They both picked up the pace and he glanced back in panic to see the other Coraline – the fake, evil one – smirking evilly as she watched them run. "Run, little prey, run…" she taunted. Norman quickly turned back to look at the real Coraline, his eyes wide. "W-what's going on?!" he asked frantically. "I'm not entirely sure, to be honest!" she answered. "Just keep running!!!"

--General POV--

By the time they got far enough away from the fake Coraline, they were both panting and out of breath. They slowed to a stop, flopping down onto the ground to take a breather. After a moment, Norman finally decided to speak up. "A-alright… What… Was that?" he asked, still terrified. "It wasn't me, I can guarantee that…" Coraline answered. "But whatever it was seems to be able to… Copy other peoples forms, I guess. But it needs their DNA first…" she explained. Norman raised an eyebrow, tilting his head. "H-how would it have your-" he cut himself off with a gasp when he noticed something. Coraline had three scratch marks on her cheek, which were still bleeding. His eyes widened in shock. "Y-you're hurt…" he stammered. How had he not noticed before? He went over to her, getting a closer look at it to make sure it didn't look infected or anything. "I'm fine, Norman." She assured him. It still stung a little, but it wasn't as bad as when she first got the wound. "Are you alright? That thing is dangerous…" she trailed off examining him. Then she noted the missing hood. "Your hoodie…" "Oh, yeah… It's fine, I can get a new one." He rubbed his arm a little, glancing downwards. "Alright, but I was going to ask how it happened." Coraline smiled a little, though it didn't last long. "Oh. Right." Norman felt like slapping himself. "Well, whatever was pretending to be you started choking me with my hood, so… I had to rip it off." He explained simply. Coraline pouted a little and scooted closer to him. "Sorry about that." She apologized. "It's fine. It wasn't you're fault. Besides, like I said, I can always get a new one." He smiled. Then he blushed a little, realizing how close they were. "W-we, uh… Might wanna get moving soon. It could be dangerous to stay in one place for too long." He stated, getting up. Coraline nodded in agreement, getting to her feet as well. "I found this lake while I was looking for you. Maybe it'd be safe there." She suggested with a shrug. Norman smiled at the thought of the idea. "Lead the way?" "Of course, you wouldn't know where you were going!" Coraline laughed, heading off in the direction of the lake with Norman close behind her.

Though it took awhile for them to arrive, but when they finally did they were relieved. Coraline immediately jumped into the water, laughing. Norman giggled as well when she brought her head back up, shaking it a little in an attempt to get her blue hair out of her eyes. Her beautiful brown eyes… Norman's mind wandered off for a moment and he sighed, then quickly shook his head to snap himself out of it. He sat himself down at the edge of the lake, his legs the only part of him that he allowed to be dipped in the water. After a moment Coraline swam over and rested her arms on the ground, looking over at Norman. "You alright?" she asked, worry in her voice. "Hm? Yeah, of course I am." He answered. "Why don't you come in? The water's nice…" she suggested with a small smile. "I'm, uh… N-not much of a swimmer." He explained. For a moment she just stared at him in silence, looking slightly confused. "You mean…" "I, uh… I-I can't swim." He admitted. "Not very well, at least…" he trailed off, shivering after a moment. "… Are you scared to…?" Coraline asked. "N-no, no… I-it's just that my last experience with 'swimming' wasn't exactly a good one…" he explained, not wanting to go into detail. "Sorry to bug you about it." Coraline apologized as she lifted herself back onto land, seating herself next to Norman. He sort of half-shrugged, as if to let her know that it didn't really matter. After a moment of silence Coraline got up, wiping herself off a little. "Maybe we should start moving now. The Pink Palace is probably still a ways away…" she trailed off, looking out at the trees. Suddenly she thought she heard Norman yelped and she jumped, looking over at him as he got up as well. "Are you alright?" she asked. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." He assured her with a smile. She raised an eyebrow at him for a moment before heading forward. "Alright then, let's go." She decided. He nodded and followed just behind her quietly.
They didn't get very far before Coraline heard something following them. She stopped, holding her hand out in front of Norman so he'd stop as well. "Did you hear that?" she asked. Norman glanced around for a second, then shrugged. "I don't hear any-" he was cut off when another Norman suddenly came out and tackled him to the ground. Coraline yelped and jumped back in shock. "Norman!" she exclaimed, about to tug the other one off of him. But she stopped when that one looked up at her frantically. "That's not me, Coraline!" he exclaimed quickly. Coraline looked down at the Norman that had been with her just in time to see them hiss at the Norman on top of him, his eyes flashing red. Coraline gasped, quickly tugging the real Norman off the fake before he got scratched. "RUN!" she yelled, dragging the real Norman after her. That's when she realized that he was soaked. "What happened?!" she asked, glancing back at him as they continued to run. "They pushed me in the lake while you weren't looking. I-I don't know how they could've gotten my DNA though, they didn't scratch me…" Norman trailed off thinking, then suddenly his eyes snapped open in realization. "My hoodie!" he exclaimed. That must've been where they got it. Coraline was about to agree when suddenly she saw something in front of her. The pair skidded to a stop, their eyes wide. The Norman clone and the Coraline clone were in front of them, smiling evilly. Norman and Coraline backed up a few steps nervously as the clones stepped forward. They both whipped around when they heard laughing come from behind them. They gasped, seeing two more clones of them appearing in a puff of black smoke before their very eyes. And then more and more appeared. "We're surrounded…" Coraline breathed in panic as her and Norman both looked around them at the clones. "Coraline, I'm over here!" one of the Norman clones shouted out. "No, don't listen to him!" Norman exclaimed quickly, only to have about eight other clones repeat his exact words. Coraline gulped, holding onto the real Norman's hand tightly so she knew that he was still there with her. "We need to get rid of them…" she whispered to him. "Are you ready?" "Not really." Norman admitted. He looked over at Coraline to see that she was just as worried as he was. They both looked back at the clones as the came closer, determination in their expressions.
Coraline was the first to get the courage to attack, kicking one of her clones in the face. They were immediately knocked down, and Norman took the other clones confusion as a chance to strike them himself. He hit one of his clones as hard as he could, and soon all of them were attacking. On the downside, it was quick to get confusing. A few of the Norman clones had ended up attacking each other, and at one point Coraline had ended up hitting the real Norman down to the ground, though she had apologized quickly after. "I-it's fine." He assured her before being tugged up by his shirt collar by one of his clones, who was smirking evilly at him as their eyes flashed red. He quickly kicked them in the sweet-spot, making them yelp and drop him back to the ground before being hit again on the back of the head. Norman quickly bolted after doing so to see if Coraline needed his help. And she definitely did. She kicked a few clones down, smiling when she saw Norman run up to her. They went back to back in fighting positions, both of them smirking as they got ready. But Coraline's smirk immediately disappeared and her eyes snapped open when she heard Norman hissing. She whipped around and yelped, jumping back before the clone took a swipe at her. "Alright, this is just getting confusing!" she exclaimed in panic. She ducked down as one of her clones went to tackle her and she kicked a few others down before running to find Norman. She yelped in shock when a stick suddenly flew over her head, going straight through one of the clones and causing them to explode into black dust with a screech. She stared in shock before looking back to her Norman, who was just as shocked as she was. After a few seconds they both smirked, picking up branches for themselves. A few of the clones seemed to panic for a moment, but they quickly started to attack again when Coraline and Norman started to slice through them all, scattering black dust all over the ground as the clones burst away.

--Coraline's POV--

"Behind you!" Norman shouted quickly as a clone dived at Coraline. She immediately whipped around, slicing through the clone before it could get her. "Thanks." She smiled, looking back at Norman. He smiled back, breathing heavily. They both looked around at the dust covering the ground, ready incase any more clones came. After a few moments they glanced at each other again and their smiles grew. "That was a close one, huh?" Coraline remarked as they dropped the branches to the ground. Norman nodded in agreement and they went silent for awhile. Suddenly Coraline froze, catching Norman's attention. "What're you-" "Shh…" Coraline interrupted immediately. Norman quickly obeyed and went quiet, listening closely. "… Do you hear that…?" Coraline asked quietly. It sounded like slithering, as if there was a snake somewhere. They both looked around nervously. "What is that…?" Norman breathed. "Here, it could be anything." Coraline answered. They went silent as they continued to look around. Coraline turned to look at Norman, then gasped in fear, looking above him. "Norman…!" she exclaimed. There were large black tentacles above him, the tips all limply pointing down at him as they went higher. "… What?" he wondered with a raised eyebrow. Suddenly within seconds the tentacles wrapped around his mouth and he let out a gasp. He let out a loud muffled scream as they tugged him backwards, dragging him along the ground by his mouth. "NORMAN!" Coraline shrieked as she raced after him, not letting him out of her sight as she ran. His eyes were huge as he continued to scream, trying to squirm out of the tentacles' grasp. He put both his hands on the tentacles and started tugging in an attempt to rip them off of him. Suddenly the tentacles went about ten times faster and Coraline gasped as one of them wrapped around her ankle, knocking her down to the ground. "NO!" she kicked at the tentacle with her other foot, getting it to let go when she jabbed it with her heel. She continued to run in the direction the tentacles had been going, which lead her straight back to the lake. She skidded to a stop, looking around in panic. Her eyes widened in fear when she looked straight at the lake. Norman's words echoed in her head and she felt her heart start to beat faster. I can't swim.
She bolted over and kneeled down at the edge of the lake, looking into the water in panic. "Please no, please no, please no!" she begged. She gasped when she caught sight of Norman being dragged down, the tentacles still wrapped around his mouth and more wrapped around his whole body. He looked up at Coraline with wide eyes, still squirming to get free. She immediately went into panic mode. She managed to take a deep breath of air before diving into the water. She opened her eyes so that she could look around, even though the water stung her eyes. After awhile she went back up for a breath, then quickly dove back down and looked again. Once she saw Norman again she turned in that direction and went up for another breath just to be safe before diving down after him. She could see his squirming slowly dying down as he started to struggle for air, his face looking a little pale.
Suddenly Coraline felt a tentacle hit her straight in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her as it flung her out of the water. She coughed when she hit the ground, getting up and going over to the lake again, looking down. She was about to dive in again when she felt something grab her shoulder. She immediately whipped around to see the shadow that had made all the clones. "Don't worry, Coraline! He'll be just fine without you…" it hissed. "YOU!" she screamed in anger, going to punch it. It quickly grabbed her wrist before she could even hit it. "This is all your fault, isn't it?!" she managed to kick it backwards, forcing it to let go of her. The shadow looked up at her, smirking. "Give Norman BACK!" she demanded in fury. "But the question is… Will you want him back?" the shadow laughed evilly before disappearing into thin air. Coraline stared at where it was angrily for a moment before turning and diving into the lake once again for Norman.
She had to hold back a gasp when she saw him near the bottom. The tentacles wrapped around his limp body tightly, not allowing him to float upwards. There weren't any around his mouth anymore, but at the same time his mouth was opened and his eyes were closed. He had fainted. And now he was drowning. Coraline immediately swam down to him, putting her hands on either side of his face and staring at him in worry for a moment. She shook her head, looking down at the tentacles, then swam a little lower to try and get them to let go. She grabbed one and started tugging at it, freezing when she heard a screech in response. She looked down, her eyes snapping wide open when she saw the creature that was holding Norman. It was the same shadow monster that they had seen at Stella's when they first got here, but now it had tentacles coming out of its back, and it was about ten times larger then before. Coraline quickly started trying to tug Norman out of its grasp even more in panic as the thing roared at her. It took a swipe at them and cut Coraline's shoulder, making her wince in pain. She didn't pay attention to the small piece of fabric that had come off the shoulder of her shirt when the monster had hit her. Instead she kept focused on the task at hand. She grabbed Norman's shoulders and started to tug, nearly sighing in relief when she could feel him starting to come free. She tugged harder, then kicked the tentacles as hard as she could. The monster yelled out in pain, its grip loosening. Coraline immediately took her chance and with one final tug, Norman was free. Coraline grabbed his wrist and swam up as fast as she possibly could, ignoring the creatures roars behind her. Once she hit the surface she took in a huge breath of air, swimming over to the side. She tugged Norman up onto the edge first, which wasn't overly hard since he was so limp. She then got herself out of the water as well, collapsing next to him and breathing heavily. She was pretty out of breath, what with them being attacked basically everywhere they went. She looked over at Norman and immediately kneeled next to him, panicking again. "Norman? Norman, wake up… C'mon…" she shook him a little, urging him to open his eyes. "C'mon, you can do it… Please, Norman…"