[AW] The Girl with Button Eyes

[Coraline]

She was many things, the silver girl. She was someone’s unwanted daughter, someone’s unprofessed love, someone’s soft spoken friend. She was tall, shy, beautiful. Most of all, she was scared. She found yet another strange place – awakened with all her previous memories, but no knowledge of how she came to be in this place. She blinked several times, the sunlight shining into her button eyes. She rose from the dewy earth and shook her silver coat, glittering drops of water spraying in all directions. She stood, her head erect, ears twitching, body twitching, tail twitching, knowing every sound was death, having found her again. She had found safety and security with him, knowing that he would never let anything bad happen to her…but what could she do when something bad happened to her? The guilt she carried from his death was immense, weighing on her like a lead saddle she could not buck off, no matter how hard she tried, or how fast she ran. The filly’s sides were heaving now, memories and fear swirling around her; like a torrent of biting rain or blasting wind, despite the calmness of the weather.   Nearby, she heard something moving through the underbrush, her body whipping to face it. Her eyes were wide (as wide as button eyes can go), her body tense and ready to flee for her life, until a rabbit appeared from the thicket, just as surprised as she was. They stared at each other for a time, the rabbit’s tiny pink nose twitching until he deemed the strange horse “not a threat,” and continued eating his fill. The filly watched him as he graze-hopped away and then felt silly for being afraid of a rabbit. She had never heard of a rabbit eating a horse. But then again, this was a new place. What if the rabbits did eat horses, and she had found one who had already eaten? What if there was a corpse just inside the copse of trees? What if he had wanted to eat her, too, but was repulsed by her marred skin and button eyes? Would she never be normal? Would she always be stared at? Jeered at? Ignored? A freak? Tears now welled up in her eyes. She was tired. So tired. Her body wanted to collapse beneath her from its constant dump of adrenaline; and her mind wanted to shut down so it stopped thinking about him. She couldn’t even bear to think his name right now. The pain was still fresh, despite the time that had passed. The wound was too deep. They were supposed to be together forever; but look! Just look! She was here, and he was gone; a body long forgotten by the others in a home everyone fled.   More sounds caught her attention as the world seemed to slowly wake up. Birds chirruped nearby, and her heart leapt, hoping to catch the sounds of Bartholomew or Orchid – the macaws that had been her friends in the last home. She didn’t hear them. Nor did she see Pandora – the red fox that usually accompanied her. Not for the first time, the girl began to fret and worry about where the fox had gone. She had been a gift to keep her safe and secure before she had met any friends. The little fox had been her best friend, her confidante for nearly her whole life; and not for the first time – she was gone. The filly remained rooted to the spot, her head twisting this way and that, button eyes straining to see the fox. She had to be coming out of the trees sometime…right?   ”Speech”

Coraline | Silver chain from the pirate siren | Blue Macaw feather in mane | Image © Firenze Design @ Deviant Art