Chapter 1: The Abused Child

Randall Boggs was in the Monsters Inc. break room, trying to relax from a whole two hours of scaring. He was sooo tired. He couldn't get enough sleep last night. He kept having dreams… dreams he couldn't understand. The picture of the dream was so fuzzy that he couldn't see anything. He couldn't see anything, but he could hear perfectly well.

He was in some sort of room. He seemed to be looking for something.

"Come here my little IT child." He heard a woman's voice upstairs.

Randall, curious as always, went up the stairs, invisible mind you. He peeked around the corner, everything was still fuzzy. He could see a silhouette of an adult human woman, walking towards what seemed to be a small human boy.

"Have you done all your chores?" The woman asked the child.

Randall saw the silhouette of the boy slowly shake his head. Randall's eyes opened wide when he saw the woman bring out what seemed to be a kitchen knife and jamb it into the child's shoulder. The child screamed in pain, causing Randall to wake up from his supposed nightmare.

"What does it mean?" Randall asked himself.

"What does what mean?"

Randall turned his head to see that his assistant, Fungus, has walked in with a file.

"Nothing," Randall replied. "It's just some dream I've been having."

"Oh really, what's it about?" Fungus asked.

"Nothing important," Randall shook his head. "Have you got the new files?"

"Yes sir." Fungus handed Randall the files he was holding. "All the information about the new child."

Randall looked through the files. Last week, Mr. Waternoose had assigned him a new child to scare. The child's name was David Pelzer. When Randall saw the picture of the boy he was shocked. The child looked almost exactly like the silhouette of the boy in his dreams.

"How strange." Randall whispered to himself.

"What?" Fungus asked.

"Nothing." Randall shook his head. "Let's go. I want to try out this kid."

"Right away sir."

The two monsters went out to the Scare Floor. Fungus took David's card key and swiped it on the control panel. The child's door came down to Randall's station and Fungus hooked it up.

As Fungus worked with the door, Randall studied it. The door seemed rather strange. Instead of it looking like a regular bedroom closet door, it looked like the type of door you would find on a tool shed. That's right, wooden.

"Ready sir?" Fungus asked as he activated the door.

"I guess." Randall stepped up the door. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck sir." Fungus called as the lizard slithered through the door invisibly.

Randall slammed the door to make a loud noise and wake the child. Dave's head shot up. Randall took notice of his left arm in a cast.

"Is it time for chores already mom?" Dave asked tiredly. "I'm sorry, I didn't know! I'll get started on the stairs right now!"

Randall watched unbelievably as Dave climbed out of a cot which Randall supposed was to be his bed. He watched as Dave quickly grabbed a broom and started quickly sweeping the stairs.

"Kid, what are you doing?" Randall asked dumbly.

Dave jumped and dropped the broom. He spun around quickly, fully awake now.

"W...Wh...Who said that?" He asked.

"Um… I did." Randall replied as he materialized right before Dave's eyes.

Dave blinked. Unable to believe what he was seeing.

"Who are you?" He asked. "What are you? What are you doing here?"

"Chill." Randall sighed. "One question at a time. My name is Randall Boggs. I'm a..."

Randall thought for awhile. He couldn't tell the kid who he really was.

'Come on!' Randall thought. 'Think!'

Suddenly, Randall got an idea.

"I'm your guardian angel." He lied. "I go around the world, looking for kids who need help. And it seems to me, that you are in a need of help."

"Ha! Ain't that the truth." Dave laughed nervously as he sat on his cot.

"Why? And why the hell are you sleeping on a cot in a basement?" Randall asked.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me."

"... The Bitch is abusive."

"The what?" Randall asked confused.

"The Bitch is what I call my 'mother'." Dave put air quotes around "mother".

"Why?"

"Are you deaf?! I just said that she was abusive!"

"Oh!" Randall's eyes opened wide.

"She hates me, and I hate her. She beats me, she starves me. The reason why my arm is in a cast right now is because she dislocated it by pulling on it too hard." Dave explained.

"That's terrible!"

"Do you know what she calls me?"

"I'm guessing… IT Child?"

"How'd you know?"

"Lucky guess." Randall answered quickly. "Have you told anyone about this?"

"I've tried before, but The Bitch and my father always denies it. They say that I'm just a child looking for some attention." Dave explained.

"Oh yeah?" Randall growled. "How are they suppose to explain about your injuries?"

"Bullied at school, which is true, sometimes."

"Do you have any friends at all?"

"Not really." Dave sadly shook his head.

Randall's fronds laid flat on his head in sadness. This poor child was abused by his own mother, and whenever he went to someone for help, nobody was willing to help him because his parents would lie about The Bitch's abusive ways. Plus, he had no friends at all.

"You know Dave." Randall sighed. "Normally I wouldn't do this."

"What?" Dave asked plainly.

"Dave… maybe… maybe I could be your friend." Randall smiled sweetly. "And perhaps even protect and heal you best I can."

Dave smiled. He wrapped his arms around Randall and hugged him tightly.

"Thanks Randall." Dave whispered.

"Heh," Randall laughed nervously. "No sweat kid."

Randall barely even noticed he let a HUMAN child touch him. Besides, he didn't feel any pain...and this child needed a hug anyways.