Mel stayed laying on the ground for hours before stirring awake, she slowly opened her eyes after crying in her sleep and lifted her head up slowly. She looked round for abit and then down at her large paws, her exspression on her face was distant and sad as well her heart was aching; " im such a terrible
mother.., how could i let this happen..?" she asked herself in a slight whisper, she lets out a gentle sad whimper as she had her head slightly tilted to the side and leaning againist her paw.

she sighed and closed her eyes for a moment untill a voice spoke up " Well..i Must say that form does suit you" said a teasing voice and very cattily aswell, Mel looked annoyed...Very annoyed and looked in the direction of where the voice came from, in the tree, It was cat and he was laying very casually with his tail hanging over the branch he was laying on." I see that Coraline is still in 'her' arms " he said licking his paw, " yeah...well maybe...shes just better off..." mel mumbled misrably " im a terrible mother..., she prefers me over her.." she added, slightly remebering there tiny squabble in the lindens uniform store and how
Coraline told her upstraight that her Other Mother would get her those gloves, the thought came to her that this other mother would get anything for coraline..anything thing she desired..love..affection.. everything Mel couldnt give when she really needed it.

" Maybe..." he said finishinig licking his other paw " though..she did miss you....and her father..so much...but i guess that doesnt matter.." he said lifting his head up to look at the sky " you never really was the affectionate type..., well from my
view anyway " he said harshly teasing mel but doing this for her own good..in a way. Mel felt alot tense as he spoke and soon let out a slight growl "I am!..i am affectionate..i-i just dont show it like i use to, its hard...its just hard....."," Then why dont you start showing it?...why dont you start loving your child " the cat said snapping at her. Mel snapped back with a furious growl "I do Love her! Im her mother!.., its just...she prefers that ..that imposter..then me..for all the right
reasons.." she said calming down and closing her eyes half way " she doesnt love her..and shes no imposter, The Other Mother you call an imposter is nothing more then a machanical Monster" exsplained the cat, his tail swished round alot in a 'urgant' or 'desprate' way as mel was loosing it.

" A monster?... " she said in a sight hesitant way " Yes...and right now that monster is cradling your daughter in its arms" the cat spoked, now looking down at her and standing up on all fours but before he could say anything the mantis tractor from before was wheeling its way over, slashing its arms about. Mel leapt up on her feet but tumbled and stumbled abit as she wasnt use to being on all fours, she dodged just barely from a single swipe from the mantis tractor that was attacking her, she gulped and had her earsback..it was now that she had to make the decision.., would she save her daughter? or let her stay here in this world and let the other mother love and care for HER daughter.

The words spiraled in her mind as she leapt away from the sharp slashes that the mantis lunged at her, a sudden thought came by at the same time..The other
mother may have loved and gave affection to coraline like she couldnt..but its not like she went through the pain of giving birth to her.., its not like that..'Monster' felt true maternal feelings for coraline like she did.

Mels eyes teared up at these thoughts and then lets out a fierce growl, seeing the opening the mechanical mantis let out for her she leapt around the side of the tractor and lunged at the mantis, retracting her claws and instinctively bitting into one of its eyes. She pulled and tugged and soon it came off successfully
, she then tossed it away to the side and into the pond; she then bitten down in its neck area and kept tugging at it to try make it snap off though in the meanwhile the mantis flared about madly as it had its eye tooken off, it let out a machanical groan and soon mel was successful as she teared its neck off and
let it drop.

The whole body of it soon collasped to the floor and mel walked off it, growling furiously " Alright..lets go get her....but lets go quietly" she said calming down, the cat gave a little smile and walked along the branch and jumped away. Mel turned around to face the Pink Palace and then made her way to the building, she went to the back door that leaded into the kitchen and slipped through as quietly
as possible, she even checked round to make sure the Other mother wasnt nearby. Mel then snook under the table and then across the kitchen, stopping by the door way she looked both ways...the close was clear.

She moved as quietly as possible down the dark hallway and stopped at the living room doorway; she slowly glanced in the room to see Other Mother asleep on the couch with coraline in her arms. She held back a growl incase she got detected and slowly made her way over to the couch, her heart raced as she went round to coraline's side and placed a paw on a empty spot on the couch and lifted herself up, hovering over her daughter she gave a snarl at the other mother and looked down on coraline; she gulped an began to lower her head but stopped half way as she saw the other mother shifting abit, she froozed..what was worse was that she wasnt exactly sure whether they're or Other Mother was actually asleep or pretending to be asleep to trick her, it was quite nerving for her though.

Once Other Mother finished shifting mel made her move but quietly, she grabbed coraline by her pants and shirt from her mouth and began slowly moving her out from other mother's grip. She tried to be careful as possible as she slipped coraline from the arms of other mother..she treated as if she was defusing a bomb.
It took awhile and soon she slipped coraline away successfully but it looked pretty humorous the way she had coraline by the pants and shirt, it also looked a tad awkward but Mel tried her best to keep coraline sturdy and not hitting her face on the floor. Mel hurried quietly for the kitchen and through the backdoor, as she went through the door it shut behind her gently and then suddenly Mel went into a sprint though she was still trying to be careful with her; Mel bolted into barn that was across and slightly behind the pink palace, she closed the barn door with her back leg and went into one of the pens that still had hay left in, most of the barn had stacks of hay left abandoned.

Mel settled on the hay and placed coraline down looking relieved, she panted and then shifted coraline in a comfterble position for her and herself having moved
herself over the bottom part of coraline's body but being careful not to squish her. She placed her paws over coraline's arms incase she waked up and moved about restlessly; Mel looked down on her child sadly " coraline...?" she said lightly, nudging coraline gently with her head though coraline didnt respond, Mel sighed and stared at her black button eyes.. she gave out a little worried mumble as she looked and instinctively licked the side of coralines face which made her stir abit but didnt wake her up.

Mel then tried to nip the thread off that kept the button to coraline's eye but it was fustrating and took a long time but she soon did it and pulled the button off her right eye. she tossed the button away and nipped the rest of the thread away to see that coraline's eye was closed and had four bloody dots around her eye
that was sealed up, Mel gave another worried mummur and spoke softly " how could she have done this to you? " she then gave into her animal instincts and began again licking coraline's eye to give it a slight clean and then stopped..She waited in silence for her daughter to awake but at the same time she was in deep
thought with her eyes half shut, letting the warmth of the barn and hay surround them..