MU With a ZING!

Chapter 09 -The Start of Scare Games and The Scream Nominees are...

It wasn't that long before the last day of school finally arrived, and with all the exams already finished which meant the semester was over, now was the time to enjoy some well-deserved 'R and R'. Every monster on campus was already set with their things all packed and being more lively than ever now that they were no longer under the heavy pressure and could enjoy themselves however they liked. The students were hooting and hollering with pure glee as they exited the campus in large numbers with only a select few staying behind, but the university would be pretty empty with the exception of the groundskeepers and hired security to keep tabs and make sure no funny business happened while the rest were away on holiday.

Not like any of them put much thought into it as the students were focused on some of the more important majorities that popped into their noggins. No more dealing with long, boring lectures from teacher, no more tedious assignments, no more term papers to write until their hands cramped up or feeling tiny pointy pitchforks stabbing into their skulls. They were officially free until next term to get back to the grindstone, but no one seemed to mind as now it was time to just kick back and have some fun, to just relish in the moment and push everything else to the other side of the room. Many were heading home to be with their families while others made plans with friends to go somewhere fun and festive for their vacation time. Everyone was in much better spirits now that there were no more exams to take, but there were a few who weren't joining in their classmate's enthusiasm. Quite the opposite, really.

It had only been a couple days since their Scaring Finals, yet Mike was still wallowing in a depressed state instead of being his usual cheerful self. They noticed the cyclops had barely spoken or made any effort to come out of his room, just lied on his bed and did nothing. This concerned them, especially Marian. The vampire knew Mike was taking this pretty hard and was greatly upset by this turn of event, but had try to do everything she could to help make him feel better, yet nothing worked to bring him out of his current funk.

She had dropped by to see if there were any changes, but Mike would be facing the wall with his back towards her and not uttering a single peep even when she was standing in the same space as him. There were a few snack wrappers and empty soda cans littering his side, indicating that the cyclops wasn't starving himself, yet she wished she could bring the old Mike Wazowski out and go back to the way things were. If only...

But after dropping off a plate of food she brought from the cafeteria, some of Mike's favorite there, and leaving it for him to munch on before exiting back to her dorm, she was feeling very much unhappy. Leda was on her bed, reading her Jane Acksten when she heard Mina coming in. She came back from the nurse's with a clean bill of health with the exception of having to wear a brace and told to take it easy and not do anything too strenuous to the healing bone.

She lifted her head, seeing the vampire coming in but noted the expression on her face, "That bad, huh?" Did she even have to ask? Marian made her way towards the other monster, Leda scooting to give the vampire space to lie down on and letting Mina lean against her.

"No, it doesn't look that way, and honestly, I don't know what else to do, Leda. I mean, I tried almost everything, and you know we're all leaving campus, but I don't think Mike is all up for it." She doubted he planned to go back to his folks' house as she imagined he didn't want to give them the terrible news he'd been kicked out of the program and not wanting to see the look on their faces when it came to that. She had tried to see if he would like to join her over with her family, feeling that maybe being away from school might clear the air a little, yet like all their other one sided conversations, he didn't say a word, neither a yay or nay.

Marian was half tempted to stay and keep him company, but she had promised her dad that she would be home for the holidays, and hadn't seen him or her baby sister in months. Besides, she had her stuff packed and had her scheduled door all arranged. Her letter from Mr. Waternoose had arrived a few days ago, letting her know that the door leading back to her homeworld would be in place, and that she should get back right around sundown in the other realm. Leda's folks were coming in the morning to pick her up, but Randall was staying because his folks were at a business conference and wouldn't be back until much later, but he would see his sister and her husband and would spend some quality time together until then. Marian was able to ask Randall to keep a close eye on Mike, knowing it might seem to be a bit much on her end; she was worried that Mike in his state might go over the edge, but at least she would have the other monster around to make sure that didn't happen while she wasn't around.