As the October sun was starting to set on the Pink Palace, a Ford Country Squire drove up to the nearest car park. When the car was successfully parked in the visitor zone, a family of four come out and got their first real look at the Pink Palace.

The father was wearing a red, tartan shirt and skinny jeans, had a goatee and looked like he could do with losing a bit of weight. The mother had long dark blonde hair and was wearing a purple suit-like outfit. The oldest of the two siblings was a girl that looked to be in her late teens, had a long ponytail at the back of her head, was wearing a pink sports outfit that hugs her curves and apparently shows off her belly. The younger sibling, who looked to be in his preteens, had big spiky brown hair that was pointing upwards, was wearing a red hoodie with a grey long sleeved shirt underneath and navy jeans.

"Are you sure this is the place, honey?" the father said to his wife, very doubtfully.

The mother rolled her eyes and said, "Yes it is Perry, and don't sound so down. We just got here after all." She turned to open the back of the car to carry out their suitcases.

Perry went over to help her with the bags. "I know Sandra, it's just thought it would be better constructed is all. This place looks like it could crumble at any moment," he whispered.

"You can criticize this place all you want, but not until we get in side okay?" she said mockingly, "Besides, isn't it good enough that its quite and peaceful around here?"

Perry sighed, "Yeah, I guess so."

While the two parents were talking, the two of their children were getting out their stuff out of the car.

The older sibling was talking on her phone, saying snobby comments such us, "So I told her that 'if you do not have at least four hundred followers on Twitter, then there is like no way Mitch's cousin will want anything to do with you'. Yeah, I totally said that."

The younger sibling rolled his eyes as he overheard his sisters insufferable gossip, as he got out his back-pack and started to look around the place. He seemed to be fascinated of the creepy moor-like area. Putting his bag on behind him, he started to have a walk around out of the car park. But before he could that, his mother walked up to him.

"Where are you heading off to Norman?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah. Is it okay if I... had a little look at the gardens and... stuff?" Norman asked.

His mother thought it through a bit, "I... guess it's okay. Just make sure that you get to our room before it gets to dark, okay?" she asked.

Norman nodded as his father walked over to him as well. "Oh, and also, make sure not to... you know, show you're 'ghost taking' side of yourself while we're here, alright son?" Perry added.

Norman sighed, "Okay."

"Great," his mother said, "Oh, and remember that we are in Room 3, okay darling?"

"Okay, okay!" Norman giggled at how overprotective his mother was being "I'll see ya." He then wondering off to the rusty garden, while the rest of the family continued to unpack the car.

Even though all of the garden was dirty and looked pretty mush abandoned, the entire place was filled with beautiful flowers, most of which were tulips. Norman wasn't the biggest fan of flowers, but even he couldn't deny the fact that it was a beautiful site. The garden also had a completely drained fish pond, which seemed to beets planted on the bottom of the pond for some strange reason.

Norman then stumbled upon a big rusty gate which reviled a path leading out of the Pink Palace area. Norman was tempted to go out and explore some more, but then realised that it will get dark soon. Took a moment to think it over whether or not to go out along the path before deciding to spend just a few minutes walking down the path. Little did he know that as he walked down the path, a small, scruffy, black shadow followed him.

On the top floor, in the biggest of all the apartments, a blue haired girl, that looked to be in her preteens, was wearing a red stripy, long-sleeved shirt and navy jeans, was looking out her window to see a family of three having a conversation with the landlord, Mrs. Lovat. She went downstairs to her kitchen where her mother was, who was typing away at her laptop at the table. Her mother had similar appearance as her except that the mother had black hair and a pointed nose.

"Hey Mom, it looks like the visitors are here," said the girl, knowing that her mother would give very little concern.

It took a while for her mother to respond, "Thats nice," she said, without taking her eyes off her laptop.

Coraline rolled her eyes but continued the conversation. "Yeah, but I'm not so sure about these guys. I mean, have you seen the one with the ponytail? Can't get off her phone for one second!" she proclaimed.

Her mother sighed, "Don't judge people straight away Coraline. Thats my job," she said.

Coraline pondered for a bit before saying, "Hm..., well the three of them just don't seem that great to me anyway."

"Four of them," the mother suddenly stated.

Coraline blinked, "I'm sorry, what?"

"Mrs. Lovat said that it was family of four who were visiting this week. Two parents, one daughter and one son," the mother said, still not taking her eyes off the laptop.

"Weird, I just saw the daughter," said Coraline.

Her mother finally lifted her head from the laptop and looked at her daughter, "Actually, you're father said he saw a young boy go around the garden, like theres anything to look at." she said, not that interested.

Coraline wondered why he would go outside now of all times. It was getting dark after all.

"Oh, and apparently, from what Mrs. Lovet said, he's the same age as you" said her mother.

This grabbed Coraline's attention, "Oh, really?"

"Hmm," was all her mother said, then got back to her catalogue.

Coraline wondered if this boy was anything like her, since she went out to explore when she first arrived at the Pink Palace. She went over to the coat hangers to get her raincoat and then went to the door.

"I going outside, I'll be back soon!" Coraline shouted to her mother.

"Okay bye," her mother said, sounding a bit disinterested again.

Coraline sighed as she put her raincoat on, opened the door and when't outside.

Norman was now walking in an orchard, which had an old broken down tractor and a harvest cart, with apples in the baskets the were stacked on the cart that was just a rotting mess, no doubt they were just left there to rot. He looked up to see the apple tree blossom leaves falling to the ground, catching one of them in his hands. It was a clear sign that Autumn was here.

*Snap*

Norman jumped as he heard a twig snap behind him, dropping the leaf on to the ground. He slowly looked over to see a shadow of a something hiding in one of the bushes. He picked up the nearest stick and gently tiptoed over to see what it was.

"Hello?" he said, shaking.

A few seconds of silence pass before a scruffy black cat suddenly jumped out of the bush. Norman let out a little 'yelp' and jumped back.

When he saw that it was just a cat, he let out a sigh of relief and chucked nervously. "Oh thank goodness, for a second there I thought you'd be a wolf or whatever," he said to the cat. The cat gave no replay. The cat just sat in front of him, tilting it's head to the left. Norman nilled down to his knees causing the cat to walk towards him and rubbed it's head and body on his legs as Norman scratched the cat behind it's ears.

"Whats a little cat like you doing out here by yourself?" he asked, knowing that the cat was not going to replay. As predicted the cat just purred has Norman continued to scratch the cat's chin. 'Maybe you don't have a home,' Norman thought to himself. "Well, I'm just heading down this path. You want to come with?" Again, the cat didn't respond.

Norman started to walk to the end of the path and realised that the cat was following behind him, which made Norman smile.

As Norman reached the end of the path, he noticed a circular shape underneath the mud, with little, red mushrooms around it. "I think this it is," he said to the cat, who seemed to be quite resident to go any further.

He put his bag near an old tree stump before going over examine the mysterious shape. He pick up a flat rock and used it to dig through the mud. He eventually dug away all the mud to find a circular wooden platform. He knocked on the wooden platform which made a loud echo coming from underneath.

"I think this the well little guy," he looked over to see the cat a few meters away from where Norman was. "Oh, what is it little guy," Norman questioned the cat. As the cat sat away, it let out a snarl, showing it teeth. "You're afraid of this place? What, is there a monster down here?" he asked the cat jokingly. The cat then looked behind itself at the Pink Palace, for some reason, and then back at Norman. Norman was curious as to way the cat was acting so strange all of a sudden.

"Oh, he's always acting weird," said a voice behind Norman.

Norman jumped with a 'yelp', a second time today, and feel on the ground as he quickly turned around to see a blue haired girl, that looked to be his age, who was wearing a yellow rain coat, red stripy, long-sleeved shirt, navy jeans and rain boots. She let out a small laugh when she saw his reaction.

"Sorry, but I just couldn't help myself," the girl said, still giggling.

Norman caught his breath, but he didn't responded. Once Coraline stopped giggled, she noticed that he was just sitting on the ground and staring at her without making a sound. She quickly realised that he was one of those shy kids. She walked towards him, concerned.

"Hey, Its okay," she said gently, "I'm sorry I scared you."

She held out a hand to help him up. He looked at her hand for a few seconds and excepted her offer.

Once she helped him back to his feet, Norman finally respond with, "Its uhh... alright. I'm sorry, I'm... just kind of jumpy today." He looked over at the cat and then back at the girl, "Is, uh..., is this cat yours?"

The girl blinked, "What, oh no. He's not my cat. He just lives around here."

"Oh. You mean he doesn't have an owner?" he asked.

"Thats right. He's pretty much a wild cat, unless its raining, then he turns into a real wuss-puss," she said, which made Norman chuckle a bit, but also made the cat growl at her annoyingly.

"So, do you live around here?" Norman asked.

"Sure do, I live in the Pink Palace. You staying in the guest room?" she said.

"Yeah," he simply stated.

"Quite the wreck this place is, isn't it?" she asked, knowingly.

"Kind of," he admitted.

"Yeah, this dump's so bad when you get used to it," she said, jokingly, "My names Coraline by the way."

Norman thought that he miss heard what she said, "Caroline?" Norman asked.

"No, its Coraline. Coraline Jones," she stated.

"Oh, sorry. I've just... never heard it... pronounced like that," he said nervously.

"Yeah, I get that a lot," she said, sounding a bit annoyed.

"But I like it," Norman simply said.

Coraline was taken back a little, "Wait, really?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think its cool when people have unique names," Norman said with a smile.

This made Coraline smile too, "Thanks. You're... you're, I think, the first person to say that."

"Huh," Norman said, feeling a bit sorry for her. He just realised that he didn't introduce himself, "Oh, my names Norman."

"Ah, like Norman Reedus?" Coraline asked.

Norman looked that her, confused, "Who?"

"Never mind," she shrugged off.

Norman then remembered that he didn't know what the time was. "Say, you wouldn't happen to know what time it is, would you?" he asked Coraline.

"Oh sure, yeah," she said, before rolling up her sleeve to check her watch. "Its nearly 7 o'clock."

Norman's eyes widened, "Oh, shoot! I should be back to the house. Would you like walk back with me?"

"Well actually, I was just going to hag around here for a while," said Coraline.

"Oh, okay," he said, a bit disappointed. "Well in that case, would you like to hangout tomorrow?"

"Of course. We're living in the same area after all," she said with a smirk.

Norman let out a small chuckle, "Yeah. Well, I'll see you around."

"Sure thing," she said, waving to him as Norman ran down the path back to the Pink Palace.

When Norman was out of site, Coraline walked over to the cat, nilling down next to the cat. "He didn't see anything weird, right?" she asked the cat.

The cat nodded to her.

"Good," she said, relieved, "Best if he doesn't know, huh?"

The cat, once again, nodded.

Norman opened the door to his family's hotel room to see his family around a wooden table, in a dull looking kitchen.

"There you are Norman. Just in time," said his mother, relived.

"Yeah, sorry i'm a little late," Norman said. He took a seat between his mother and his sister, the later was endlessly texting on her phone, which her mother notised.

"Courtney, no phones at the table," said Sandra, with the a bowl of cooked microwave potatoes.

"Fine," Courtney groaned and put her phone in her pocket.

Everyone helped themselves to the food on the table, which included potatoes, mashed carrots and cooked ham. Compare to the rest of his family members, Norman picked out only a little of what he was. He wasn't the type of person who eat a lot every day, "So, how was the garden pumpkin?" Sandra said to Norman.

Norman was a little annoyed that she called him 'pumpkin', but he responded anyway, "It was just filled with flowers and... rocks.. and... an... empty pond and... rocks and flowers... and... even more rocks-"

"Okay, I think we get it son," said Perry, before taking a bit out of his slice of ham.

Sandra, who was kind of annoyed of Perry's attitude towards her son, asked Norman again, "Did you meet anyone else from around here?"

"Well, I stumbled upon a stray black cat if that counts, and then-"

Courtney interrupted him and clucked. "Of course you would count a cat as a person," she said with a smirk.

"Now Courtney, be nice," Sandra said to her daughter. She then aloud Norman to continue.

Norman then smirked back at his sister, as he knew that his next answer would surprise her. "Well you'll be happy to know that I met someone who is the same age as me."

This almost took everyone by a surprise, especially his mother, "Really? Oh, thats wonderful dear," Sandra said happily.

Norman knew that his mother would be happy for him, and he was happy for that, "Yeah, well she is really cool, and quite nice-"

"Hold on a minute," Courtney interrupted again, which was really starting to annoy Norman, "Do my ears hear that you have a girl as a friend for once?" she asked.

Norman was confused, "Yeah, why?"

Courtney looked like she was ready to squeal of excitement, "Oh my gosh, you've got a possible girlfriend!"

"Wait, what?" Norman asked out loud, "We just met an hour ago."

"And do you like her?" she asked him.

"Well yeah, as a friend-"

"Then it's only a matter of time," she said teasingly.

"Courtney, stop teasing you're brother and eat you're food," their mother finally said, saving Norman from anymore embarrassment.

As they continued to eat their dinner, Courtney whispered over to Norman, "So you'll make the first move, right?"

"Will you stop?!" he whispered back, frowning at his sister.

Norman was lying on his bed in the middle of his hotel room, in his pyjamas, reading the nineteenth volume of his favorite comic book series 'Night of the Walking Corpses'. He was also looking around his room, which was a lot more clean then he predicted but was still quite dusty and mouldy.

He looked over to his right to see his clock and saw that it was now 11:49pm. He put his comic away in his bag, turned of the lamp that was beside the clock and rolled over, rested his head on the pillow and closed his eyes, ready to get some sleep. Even though he was nervous, Norman was actually looking forward to see Coraline tomorrow, its not everyday that you find someone as quirky as you are.

*Hiss*

Norman shot his eyes open as soon as he heard that quiet hissing noise. With his head still resting on his pillow, his eyes looked around the room to see where the sound came from. After a few seconds of not hearing anything else, he decided to shrug it of and go back to sleep.

*Hiss!*

Norman lifted his head of the pillow when he heard the sound again. To him, the strange noise kind of sounded like a voice trying to get his attention.

"Hello?" Norman quietly whispered. He looked around the room to see if there was anyone in the room. "Is there anybody in here?" he asked again.

Despite having an uneasy feeling, Norman put his head back on the pillow and drifted off into a nice and peaceful sleep, unaware of the small amount of dark green mist coming from the walls.

"Night of the Walking Corpses" is a made up mixture of "Night of the Living Dead" (1968, film), and "The Walking Dead" (2003-present, comic book). Hopefully Robert Kirkman and George A. Romero won't join forces and sue me.