In the city of Monstropolis, it was late in the month of October. Which meant that a special holiday was just around the corner. Mike and Sulley were walking back home after a hard day at work.
"Come on, Mike. We should throw another Humanween party like last year!" said Sulley.
"And get our home trashed like last year?!" Mike snapped. "No way! I learned my lesson last time and I don't plan on cleaning up another mess!"
Mike unlocked the door to their apartment room and the friends were surprised to see the windows covered with black drapes, making the room dark with only pumpkins with glowing faces smiling at the monsters. But what the duo were really looking at was the tall, hooded figure standing in the middle of the room.
Sulley and Mike stared in astonishment. The figure slowly lifted his head, revealing a skull under the hood.
"AAAAAAAAAAAH!" Sulley and Mike huddled together in a tight, shivering group. The menacing figure came closer.
"NO! Stay back!" Sulley screamed. Mike was too tongue-tied from terror to speak.
The figure reached out to grab Sulley. But instead, it reached for its own face and pulled it right off!
"Gotcha!" It was Megan wearing a skull mask all along. She laughed as she pulled her hood down, causing the lights to flicker. "Pretty good, huh?"
Mike glowered at the human. "What was that for?!"
"That's an easy one, Mike. Cause it's Halloween!" said Megan's voice. The lights were turned on, and Mike and Sulley gasped, completely shocked.
Their whole apartment was decorated with the strangest things the monsters have ever seen. Cobwebs, ghosts, black cats, spiders, and jack-o-lanterns were hung almost everywhere!
"What is all this?" Sulley said, creeped out.
"These are Halloween decorations, Sulley." explained Lily. "Don't monsters have Halloween?"
"Halloween...?" Sulley rolled the new word in his mouth. "Well, we have Humanween, but I've never heard of Halloween."
"Seriously?!" Megan exclaimed. "It's only the coolest time of the year! Everyone dresses up in their favorite costumes and celebrate all things scary!"
"You mean, us?" Sulley said, putting a thumb to his big chest.
Megan death glared at her friends, she turned off the lights and put a flashlight under her face. Her friends tensed up at her sudden mood change. "No, I mean the real scary stuff." she said in a serious voice. "Like ghosts, haunted houses, cemeteries...it's a night where anything can happen! Pretty sweet, huh?" she said upbeat now.
"Yeah, sweet..." Mike deadpanned.
"It kinda sounds like what we do on Humanween, but the only the scary thing was humans." said Sulley. "I never knew humans had similar holidays."
Mike turned to him with a look. "Similar? Really?"
"And guess what!" Megan said. "There's going to be a Halloween carnival in the human world tomorrow night and you guys are coming with us!"
"What?! We can't just go to the human world for some carnival!" Mike said.
"Yeah, walking out in public would just expose us and the monster world!" Sulley said.
Lily shook her head. "No, it won't. Everyone will just think you're wearing costumes so it'll be okay if you came with us."
"Uh, I don't know, Lily." Sulley said.
"Oh, please, Sulley?" Lily cooed as she hugged her husband. She rubbed him under the chin. "Pretty please? For me, Sulley-wulley-kins? Oh, pretty please? Do it for Lily-willy." She gave him a peck on the cheek.
Sulley chuckled as Lily's sweet-talk turned his knees to jelly. "Hehehe, okay."
Mike slapped his forehead. "He took the bait and sunk." he said.
"Great! We'll see you guys in Boo's room tomorrow night at 6:00." Megan said. "We'll see you there!"
The next day, night fell in Monstropolis. Mike and Sulley arrived at Boo's door station.
"Alright," Mike sighed. "let's get this over with."
Mike and Sulley walked through the door and the first thing that greeted them was,
"Kitty!" A little black cat ran right up to Sulley and jumped into his arms.
"What the-?!" Sulley looked in his arms, confused as the cat cuddled in his arms. The kitty sounded like Boo.
When the cat looked up, Sulley smiled widely. It was Boo! She was wearing a black cat costume with a little bell collar around her neck.
"Oh, Boo! You look adorable!" Sulley said, adoring Boo's costume.
"Yeah, not too shabby, kid." Mike said with a grin.
Suddenly, Boo's bedroom door swung open and a spine-shivering cackle filled the room. Sulley yelped, almost dropping Boo. Mike jumped into Sulley's arms too. Boo just laughed at the entire thing.
Standing in the doorway was a wicked witch with a long black dress and a wide brimmed pointed hat. She was holding a broom in her hand. "So you've come, my pretties!" she cackled again. Sulley backed against the wall, shivering.
The witch turned on the lights and Lily turned out to be the witch. "Happy Halloween, everyone!" she welcomed with her normal voice.
"Oh, Lily. It's you." Sulley sighed with a hand on his chest.
"Sorry if I scared you, sweetie." Lily said before giving a kiss on his cheek. "So, are you guys ready for some Halloween fun?"
"Oh, yeah. You bet." Mike droned. "Where's Megan?"
Just then, a man jumped in front of Sulley. A headless man. "WHERE IS MY HEAD?!" he roared.
Sulley and Mike screamed in unison as the decapitated human approached them. Sulley stumbled to the ground.
"Give me your head!" The headless horror demanded, reaching for Sulley's head. The blue monster curled up with his hands over his head and shivered.
A pause, then the headless man started laughing. It sounded a lot like Megan's laugh. "Gotcha again!"
Sulley opened his eyes. "Huh?!" He opened his eyes and saw the headless one still laughing. Then Megan's head popped out. "Surprise!"
The monsters looked at Lily for an explanation. "She's dressed as the Headless Horseman, a famous Halloween character."
"Yeah! Cool, huh?" Megan said, tucking her head back under her jacket. The monsters were too stunned to respond. "Alright! Let's get going!"
The gang piled in Lily's car and drove off. It was quite a drive, Sulley saw children in costumes collecting candy from other houses. He smiled, it looked like they were having a great time. Maybe this Halloween won't be so bad after all.
Lily suddenly pulled over on the side of a dirt road. When she, Megan, Boo, Mike and Sulley got out, the two monsters looked ready to scream.
Beyond a high, rusty gate covered with vines was a dark, decaying mansion that stood four stories tall. The windows were broken and boarded up tight and the shutters hung loose on their hinges. The trees have grown wild. It looked like the place was abandoned for years.
Everyone stared at the house for a very long time.
"Don't tell me this is it." Mike said.
Sulley gulped. "Uh, Lily? Is this the place?"
"Please say no." Mike begged.
Lily looked at her invitation. "Let's see...Oh! The carnival is on the other side of the forest! This isn't the place!" she said, quite relieved.
Mike and Sulley were relieved as well, but Megan was disappointed. "Oh, man! You mean it's not being held at Gracey Manor?!" she pouted.
"Gracey Manor?" said Sulley, taking another look at the mansion.
"You know about this place?" Lily asked.
"Sure do. That place one of the most haunted houses in the world!" Megan explained. "It belonged to a sea captain who was really a pirate! Ever since he kicked the bucket, many tragic deaths have happened to the people foolish enough to live in it! And some people say that a light goes off high in the attic window and strange music can be heard inside!"
Lily hushed her. "Megan, please! You're frightening poor Mary!"
"Really? She doesn't look frightened." Megan looked over to the monsters. Lily saw that her daughter didn't look scared at all. But Mike and Sulley were looking pretty spooked.
"Calm down, guys. Let's just forget this old house and get to the carnival, okay?" Lily told them.
"Okay." Sulley squeaked.
"No argument here." Mike included. They got back in the car and drove away. Sulley couldn't held but look back at the old Gracey Manor. He stared until something made him jump.
Sulley blinked three times. Did he just see a light coming from the attic?
On the other side of the woods in an open field was the Halloween Carnival. A variety of spooky colored tents were set up and there were all kinds of humans dressed in costumes. Some were cute and cuddly like Boo's while some were just plain scary. A girl with a knife through her head was walking with a green-skinned boy with his head stitched to his neck. There was even a zombie with a vulture perched on its shoulder. In fact, most of the crowd was composed of drooling, bloody monsters.
Lily turned and saw the monsters next to the car like they wanted to leave. Really bad.
"Come on, guys. There's nothing to be afraid of." Lily told them.
"NOTHING?!" Mike yelled. "Do you not see all these freaks running around?!"
"Relax, Mike. These are humans just like us who are dressed up for Halloween." Lily explained. "It's all part of celebrating the holiday."
Boo went over to Sulley and pulled him by his big finger. She cooed and babbled, pointing to the carnival entrance.
"See? Even Mary's not scared! That just proves that this place harmless and all in good fun. Right?" said Lily.
"I guess you're right, Lily." Sulley said.
Lily held Sulley's hand while Boo held onto Mike's and they entered the Halloween Carnival. As soon as they walked in, people were staring at Mike and Sulley, but they turned out to be good stares as the bystanders were complimenting them.
"Whoa! Awesome costumes, guys!" a ghost said.
"That's guy's huge! There must two guys in there!" said a vampire.
"Check out the fake eye on that one! It looks so real!"
"They both look real!"
Lily admired all the attention the boys were getting. "See? What'd I tell you? You guys are a big hit! They don't suspect a thing!"
Sulley smiled for the first time since they arrived here. "Yeah! I guess I was worried for-"
All of a sudden, a man lunged for Sulley wearing a hockey mask holding a roaring chainsaw.
"EEEYAAAAAAA!" Sulley screamed and fell over, he scrambled away from the maniac and hid behind Lily.
The man took off his mask and revealed himself to be a teenage boy. He laughed as he turned off his chainsaw and walked away. "Man, even the alien guy wasn't scared!" he laughed out loud.
Sulley looked to his side and saw Mike telling jokes to some laughing kids. The little monster turned to Sulley. "Oops! Sorry, Sul. I wasn't paying attention." He then turns his attention to Sulley's scarer. "Oh yeah?! Well, he's been a lot more than that!" he yelled at the human.
"Yeah! A lot more!" Megan yelled as well.
Sulley felt quite embarrassed. Lily patted his shoulder. "Don't feel bad, Sulley. That guy was just being a jerk. Let's go."
As the gang walked the carnival grounds, Sulley became more and more scared. The bare limbs of the dead trees behind the house reminded Sulley of a monster's long fingers. Deep, organ music poured out of the speakers above their heads. Mike frowned. "This sounds a funeral right now." he murmured.
Sulley heard loud screams coming inside a mansion labeled as The Haunted House.
"Let's go to the haunted house first?" Lily suggested.
Sulley immediately backed away. "Uh, why don't you guys go ahead? I'll stay out here."
"What's the matter? Scared?" Mike teased.
"Mike, if Sulley doesn't want to go in, that's fine." Lily said. "You, Mary can and I stay out here. This would be too scary for her."
"Wanna go in!" Boo complained.
"No, honey. This is an adult haunted house and it's not for kids. You stay here with us, okay?"
Boo pouted, but stayed with her Kitty. Sulley picked her up. "Okay, we'll wait by the food court for you guys!"
Megan shrugged. "Oh, well." She grabbed Mike by the arm. "Come on, Mike! Let's go!" She dragged the hesitant green monster into the attraction.
Meanwhile, Sulley, Lily, and Boo were enjoying some treats at the snack bar. Lily was feeding Sulley some delicious Halloween candy while Boo enjoyed her juice box.
Then suddenly, a black blur swooped down just inches from Boo's face. She squealed and almost fell out of her seat if Sulley didn't catch her. He looked up and saw a raven with Boo's bell collar!
Boo started to cry as the raven seemed to smile at the child's anguish.
"Hey! Put that down!" Lily shouted at the bird. She picked up a rock and threw it at the bird, but it dodged the stone and flew away with the accessory.
"After him!" Lily shouted. She chased after the bird while Sulley picked up Boo and went after Lily.
The bird flew through the forest path, but Lily was still after him. Sulley realized that the raven was flying towards Gracey Manor "Uh, Lily? Do we really have to get that collar back?"
Lily watched the pesky bird fly up to the attic window. Now that he mentioned it, it was a bit silly putting up a chase over a collar. "Well, maybe you have a point-"
"Want my collar!"
Faster than you can say, "Ready, set, go," Boo leapt out of Sulley's arms and ran up to the front porch of the supposedly haunted house. The door slowly opened and she ran inside.
"BOO, NO!" Sulley screamed. He and Lily ran up and hurried inside. Once they were in, the door slammed behind them.
Sulley spun around, he could've sworn he heard the door lock...all by itself. "Uh, Lil-"
But when Sulley looked over, Lily was gone. And so was Boo.
Sulley just stood there. Alone in the haunted mansion. It was pitch black, he couldn't see an inch in front of his face.
In an instant, a creepy voice spoke,
"Welcome! Foolish mortal, to the haunted mansion!"
Sulley yelped and jumped straight up in the air. "W-WHO'S THERE?!" he shouted with fear.
"I am your host." the voice answered. "Your Ghost Host." the Ghost Host let out a sinister chuckle, which disturbed Sulley greatly.
The blue monster tried to keep his cool. He looked around to whoever was talking, but the voice was coming from nowhere. "W-Where is my f-family?!" he demanded in a trembling voice.
"Who knows? Somewhere deep within my home..." says the Ghost Host. "If you wish to find them, I offer you this chilling challenge...TO FIND A WAY OUT! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
A shrill voice screamed as the walls started shaking and lightening seemed to flash indoors!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Sulley screamed in sheer terror and ran down the nearest hallway.
"Oh, I didn't mean to frighten you prematurely." the Ghost Host chuckled. "The real chills come later..."