A Monstrous Mistake

Chapter 9: The Truth

Celia happened to know a few shortcuts, allowing her to lead the boys through the factory without attracting attention. Luca was glad for it; not only was the factory was bigger than any building he'd ever been in, but the CDA agents must have realized by then that he and Alberto had escaped.

"Okay, in here." She led them into a room. It was much different from the room they'd been locked in. In the center was a wide desk with multiple buttons and levers, and one of the walls was covered in TV screens. 

"What room is this?" Alberto asked, a little loudly. Celia shushed him before answering. 

"It's Ms. Flint's office. She's on her break right now, so we should be safe until Goo...until Mike and Sulley get here."

A second later, there was a knock on the door. Celia peered out, then practically threw open the door. Mike and Sulley hurried in, with Celia closing the door behind them as quietly as she could. She then hugged Mike tightly, with her snakes kissing his face. 

"Thanks again for doing this, Schmoopsie-Poo." Mike said as soon as he could.

"Anything for you, Googley Bear. I just hope you know what you're doing. I have to get back to the front desk. Call me if you need help, and good luck. You too, Sulley." She turned to the boys. "Alberto, Luca, it was nice meeting you. Get home safe, and keep those water packs on, no matter what." She then cautiously opened the door, saw that it was safe, and left. 

The second she was gone, Mike practically exploded. Luca had thought that the two monsters might be mad at them for lying, but he still found himself shocked at the little monster's fury.

"You two have a LOT of explaining to do! First of all, what are two monsters who can turn HUMAN doing in the Monster World? Second, why did you lie about why you needed to see the door warehouse? And third..." He paused, staring at them angrily before relenting. "Okay, I can't think of a third thing but I'm still mad."

Sulley started in. "Climbing doors? Running from CDA agents? You kids could have gotten hurt. Or worse."

"Okay!" Alberto shouted. They were all quiet for a moment, waiting to see if someone out in hall had heard them. When it became clear that they hadn't, Alberto continued. "We'll answer your questions if you tell us why you were scaring Francesca. And what do you have against humans in the first place?"

"It's nothing personal." Sulley said, still visibly angry but beginning to calm down. "Our world uses the screams of human kids for power. Scarers, like me, go into kid's rooms and make them scream loud enough to produce energy."

"It's not that we don't like humans," Mike cut in. "Most of us are afraid of them. Human kids are toxic. At least, to us." He gestured to the boys. "I guess you two are immune."

"I guess," Luca said, finally speaking up. He didn't believe that the humans were really toxic, but he decided that there were more important things to deal with right then. He grabbed Alberto's shoulder and continued speaking.

"We didn't mean to cause trouble. Our friend, a little human girl named Francesca, was scared in the middle of the night by a monster. We were trying to help her by trapping whoever was scaring her--"

"Not my best plan," Alberto admitted.

"--and got pulled into your world by accident. All we want to do is go home."

"Why didn't you just say so earlier?" Sulley asked, his anger gone. "We would have helped you."

"We were scared. That's why we lied about the school report."

"I don't even go to school," Alberto stated. 

"That makes sense," Mike said under his breath. His fury from a minute earlier had disappeared. 

"So," Sulley said, "which door did you two need?"

"You're still going to help us?" Luca asked hopefully.

"I said we would," Sulley responded. "The only question is how we get the door key. Unless we have it, the only way to find your friend's door is to search the door warehouse by hand."

"And no one's crazy enough to do that." Mike added.

Luca and Alberto glanced at one another but didn't say anything. The group thought for a moment before Sulley snapped his fingers. "Okay, did either of you see what monster was scaring your friend?"

"Yes," Luca answered. "He was tall, had really skinny limbs, had pink skin--"

"Lanky!" Mike interrupted. "Way ahead of you, Sulley! I'll find him and get the door key. You get the kids to Scare Floor...J! It should be empty right now. I'll see you there!" 

With that, the cyclops threw open the door and practically ran down the hall. Sulley turned back to the boys, who were equally confused. 

"What's--?" Alberto began.

"I'll explain on the way. Right now, I'm going to need you two to keep quiet and follow me. I think we can get you home, but we may only have one chance. Okay?"

The boys looked at one another, then turned to Sulley and nodded. The large monster waited, then beckoned for them to follow him out the door. 

They ran through the halls on silent feet. Surprisingly, they ran across very few monsters. Luca noticed that most of the hallways were empty. When they paused to catch their breath, he asked Sulley about it. 

"It's lunchtime right now. Most monsters are in the cafeteria, which we won't pass on our way to Scare Floor J. If we're lucky, you'll be home before they come back."

They then continued on their way to the Scare Floor. While Luca tried not to get their hopes up, excitement was bubbling up in his chest. After everything that had happened, they were almost home!

He didn't realize that a certain large green monster was following them, and had heard their conversation. Or that said monster had his own plans for when the boys reached the Scare Floor.