The Grinch's Monster [COMPLETE]

Returning Home(?)

I had a formal gown packed in my suitcase for just such an occasion so finding something to wear wasn't an issue. Grinch on the other hand...

"It is too a dress!" I shout after him as he stomps off. It's been a little over ten minutes during which Grinch had reorganized his 'schedule' and was looking for something to wear. So far, nothing looks good on him, then again his options wouldn't have looked good on anyone.

"Come on Grinch!" I shout as he threw different articles of clothing out behind him. "We're gonna be late!" "Well then we'll just have to not go won't we?!" He exclaims as he stomps back into the room. My spirits are about to crash when we both hear something that had us turning our heads; a loud, rather obnoxious yodeling. I glance at him out the corner of my eye to see a mischievous smile slip to his lips.

I don't bother stopping him.

"What do you mean you're not going?!" I shout at his declaration. "I mean I'm not going, so there." Max and I share a look before I point to the door and fake a surprised face. "Look, more Whos to torment!" Grinch shoots like lightning to the door and presses his face against it like a child.

"Where?!?!" I run to his side and loop my arm within his before looking at Max. 

"Don't wait up!" I shout before he pulls the rope and the Grinch and I shoot down the chute. 

~

"You tricked me!!!" He shouts as we slide down, I stop screaming and look at him with a face of mock innocence. "Did I?" I hear him snarl behind me, but I just laugh as we bump through a particularly sharp curve. When I look at him again, the surprise is obvious on his face. 

"What?" His parted mouth snaps shut. "I've never heard you laugh before." I arch a skeptical brow to hide my own mixed emotions. "And?" He shrugs, or seemed to, we're going too fast for me to tell. "It's not entirely unpleasant." I smile softly, an odd warm feeling rising in my chest.

For the first time since I started traveling via the tunnel, popping out wasn't easy; for one thing, I wanted to make a good impression, for other I was in a green and red dress with white trim that had a mermaid skirt that went past my knees that I really couldn't rip. Luckily, I landed in a snowdrift that made it easy to get up. Grinch on the other hand...

"He made it!" Cindy shouts as he all too casually pulls his face out of Martha's cleavage, I bite my lip while making a mental note to scold him about it later, before pushing through the crowd to stand front row at the stage. I suppose I should be up there with him, but everyone probably anticipated he'd come alone. I think just as he sees me.

"Wilma get your sorry rear up here!" The crowd hushes further as I carefully step onto the stage and to his side, I'm tempted to loop my arm within his before I remember who I'm dealing with. I battled with the idea of whether I should take the risk or not until the mayor says two words that catch my attention: family reunion. 

"You have a family?" I ask with a laugh on a tongue, one that dies off as soon as I see who's coming towards up. 

A pair of kind-looking women, most likely sisters or really good friends, come closer as Grinch says; "Are you two still living?" Which makes me roll my eyes until I hear them say how much they missed him and my heart feels like it's breaking.

The rest of the night was an interesting one; as his unofficial date but also a citizen of Whoville, I spent most of my time off to the side, which wasn't so bad when it came to fruit cake tasting, pudding cookoff, or congo line. I saw my "family" several times but most of my time was spent with Cindy. We became so close in such a short while that I found myself carrying her piggyback while she peppered me with questions about what it was like living up on Mt. Crumpit and anything else she could think of.

"Why did you come down?" She asks as we watch the sack race, I smile. "Because I may have my reasons to want to leave this place behind, but even I like a good party." "Is your mother really...gone?" I pause before barely shaking my head. "No, it's just been so long-" It was right around then when Grinch crossed the finish line.

~

When he went up to the stand at the end of the festivities, I stayed with Cindy and looked on in fury as he openly flirted with Martha and the Christmas gift exchange call went up. I wasn't expecting to get anything but found myself holding a small crudely wrapped box. Even as I undo the ribbon a cold shiver slips down my spine. When I see what's inside, I drop the box and feel every fiber of my being freeze.

It's a framed, oval-shaped picture, no bigger than my palm; in it, I have no piercings and my hair is stark black with no highlights. Taken from the waist up, I can see I'm wearing a ridiculous Christmas sweater that says 'I'm with Christmas crazy' while pointing to the person on what would've been my right.

She's taller, older, with long brown hair in a simple, wavy do with two small red bows on either side of her head and her eyes a darker green than mine over her traditional Who nose, we're both smiling and she's wearing the same sweater except the arrow's pointing to her left. It's been months since I last her face; since it was banned from the house and I cut it from my memory, but I know exactly who it is.

"Mom?" 

An arm suddenly wraps around my waist, yanking me back as a bright red Christmas tree star clanks to the ground, narrowly missing me by a few inches. Blinking, I resurface to the real world and look around.

Everyone's screaming, the town tree is gone and there's the smell of burning pine needles in the arm, I look over my shoulder to see Grinch practically dragging me, then back to my hands to see the picture is gone. Sadness, heavy and terribly familiar, settles over me as we make our escape.

~

Back at the cave, I refuse to leave my corner as I lie on my bed curled up in a ball, crying my heart out. Grinch is in what could pass as the living room making something but I don't bother to see what. 

"Is your mother really...gone?" Cindy's question echoes in my mind as I clutch my hands, my right fingers pressed feverishly into my left palm where the picture had been only moments before.

Mom wasn't dead. I had believed that for so long when I was younger, so why had I stopped? It's not like there was any definite proof that she was gone, no news in the mail, no bulletin I wouldn't have known about. She could still be out there, trying to make her way back to me. And how had I helped? By giving in to the negativity that my step-family had been trying to drown me in for years.

"No more mom," I whisper, "I won't ever give up on you ever again. I promise." I sit up and run my hand under my nose just as Max trots in. He stops at my feet and drops something, my face lights up when I see the picture. I hug him around the neck, thanking him a dozen times, before putting it away in my suitcase and running out to see what Grinch is up to. Upon entering the main room, I stop, and my jaw drops.

"What do you think?" He asks, gesturing to the crudely made vehicle taking up most of the area. It takes me a moment to realize it's a sleigh.

"It looks very...stable?" "Good! Because you're going to be my elf!" Before he yanks a droopy old hat over my eyes, I pull in back as he starts pushing the contraption towards the door.

"As much as it pains me to ask," I shout after him, "why did you make a sleigh out of trash?!" He stops and slumps forward with a sigh before stomping back to me and getting way too close.

"Because I'm going to steal Christmas, duh!" I wince when I feel some spittle hit my cheeks. "Now are you coming or what?" I weigh my options; go to sleep and dream of better days while wishing for presents, or go with the first true friend I ever had to ruin my least favorite holiday?

"Let me get out of this formal dress." Before running back to my 'room'.

Yeah, no contest.