honorstudent97: The boys turning into donkeys part is kind of creepy! xD My mom said that bit scarred her for life when she watched Pinocchio as a kid, haha. This is a random question, but would you ever be interested in reading a Pinocchio fanfic? I've had an idea for one for a while and you'll be pleased to hear that Stromboli has a pretty major part in it. :)
marioandsonicFTW: Yeah, it seems like Doom finally decided to spend some time in the dorm room! Let's see what happens next in this chapter! Thanks for commenting!
a fan: I would be like that too after getting home from such a long day at work! No wonder you're so exhausted! I'm glad that you start at 7 next week though, that should be nice. Oh god, I think that I'd have a heart attack if I had a monster come through my closet door when I was not expecting it, you know? Let's see what happens with Doom and Randall in this chappie!
Mysterious: Blaming the computer always works! xD After all, they do screw up sometimes. I'm glad that your mom wasn't mad at you at least. You'll have to remind your dad so you can play University over the summer! :D Thanks for liking the last chapter! And to answer your question, I actually haven't watched anime before. How about you, do you watch it?
James95: Thanks for liking the last chapter! I'm glad that you like the way I portray the Dean. I actually really liked her character even after seeing the film. What do you think of her if you don't mind my asking? It is a bit unfair how Mike gets Celia and Randy and Sulley don't get anyone in the film. I hope that this story makes you a RandallxSulley fan by the end of it! xD
Remy: Aw, Ice sounds like such a sweetie! I wish I could see a picture of her! Will you give her a hug for me? :) Oh, same here. I think that cobras are interesting, but I'd probably run in the other direction if one got too close to me, lol. And yeah, Doom is inside! Time for Randy to start panicking! Thanks for reading this.
Wolfy McBubblehorn: It's okay about not reviewing for a few chapters. I understand. :) The plot is definitely thickening though, I agree! Poor Fungus is afraid that Randy will make another friend and leave him because Funk hasn't had many good friends in his life. Luckily for him, Randall is a loyal sort of guy and never does that. I'm glad that you're excited for the RandallxSulley bits! It gets more intense from here on out. Thanks for reviewing!
jade4563: Sorry about the cliffhanger! I tend to leave them on accident actually. xD Your prediction is pretty accurate - all hell will break loose very soon! Let me know what you think of this chapter.
Mickfang27: That's true about Isis probably taking on the role as my protector. That's actually nice knowing that I had someone protecting me in my dream. I love learning about ancient gods and goddesses as well! *high fives you* Mythology has always intrigued me for some reason. Yup, you were right on about Fungus, but then again, your predictions are usually spot on. Thanks so much for the sympathy regarding my living conditions and all that. I actually teared up a little knowing that someone I met online cares so much. *hugs* I'm the same as you; I could care less if my parents are dead or alive since they've screwed with my life so much. I actually don't have any friends irl, probably due to the fact that I'm a bit anti-social and shy. I think that's why I vent on here so much. Thanks again for the encouragement! It really means a lot to me!
Anna Sparkles: I'm with you there! Feeling unstable is never any fun. Haha, yes, Fungus is very jealous! I like Fungus and Randy too. They make great best friends, don't you think? Oh wow, I can't believe that you haven't seen Monsters Inc. for so long! I can't go a month or longer without watching it. What's your favorite part of the movie? I hope that your trip went alright! I live in Michigan, which is kind of near Ohio. Thanks for commenting!
badberry123: Lol, that is actually very true! The first time that Doom speaks in this story is when major shit is going down. xD He's definitely what you call the silent type. Jealous Fungus is very cute, I agree! He does have a little (or maybe a not so little) crush on Randall in this story, yes! I love my love triangles as you know! That's neat how you're a mix of Fungus and Randall. I'm probably more of a Randall, but I'm like MI Randall, not MU Randall because I'm very anti-social and I can come off as rude and snappy sometimes because I'm always trying to get out of social stuff. You're near-sighted? Me too! I wear contacts, but I've had an eye infection, so I'm not allowed to wear my contacts for another two weeks. That means that I have to walk around banging into stuff and squinting like Randy. xD I love it when Randall shouts at Mike as well. I'm one of the weirdos who didn't support their friendship in MU. You know, now that we're discussing it, I'm wondering if Hamm and the Abominable Snowman are voiced by the same guy. Yup, Celia is my favorite female monster! I wish that I was more like her. I know she's got that "dumb blonde" vibe to her, but I dunno, she seems so sweet and I think that she and Mike make a cute couple. *squeals* Sheri Squibbles is awesome though, I agree. I'd love to have a mom like her! Moms who listen to metal rock, hehe. Random thought, but what did you think about Sheri and Don getting together? I thought that was very out of the blue. I'm not a fan of the PNKs, but I do like Boo! Her scenes with Sulley are really cute. I can see her getting trapped in the monster world and not being able to get home so Randall and Sulley have to take care of her and raise her and stuff. I dunno, I'm weird, sorry about that. :P And yeah, I based the backdrop flipper off of the one in MI! Nice observation there. Thanks for reading this! :D
Chapter XXXV
I'm not frightened of Doom by any means, but I don't like the crimson-eyed miscreant, especially after the way he beat up Fungus the other day. Taking a deep breath, I tell myself that I look stupid procrastinating at my own doorway and reach forward to take hold of the door handle with two webbed fingers. I tug the door open and sure enough find my roommate on his side of the room. We both look at one another, but neither of us says a word. For the first time, I find myself wondering if Doom is mute. I've never heard him talk before, not even to his crowd of thugs. Deciding to respect his personal space as long as he respects mine, I retreat to my side of the room and perch on the edge of the chair behind my desk before reaching for my science book. I flip it open and have read an entire page of it before realizing that I'm reading the wrong book. This is history, not science!
Annoyed at myself, I shove the history book across the table and grab the science book instead. As much as I'd like to pretend that Doom's presence isn't affecting me, it clearly is. I can't think straight when I feel his brilliant scarlet gaze on me. Although he doesn't frighten me, the monster sets me on edge.
I work all throughout the night with Doom's ever vigilant eye on me. It's hard to tell what the monster hovering across the room from me is thinking, but if he had a face, I think that Doom would be sending me a death glare. Only once I've finished studying science and arithmetic do I realize that I could have studied in the library instead of in my dorm room and saved myself a lot of paranoia. I lodge a note in my mind to take a trip to the library next time Doom shows up in the dorm room, which, as I come to think of it, will be more often. No doubt he's taking the headmistress' words to heart about staying inside his dorm room after the curfew hours. This news makes me feel better and worse. On the one hand, my stomach begins to knot just at the idea of spending more time around the dark monster. On the other hand, Doom listening to orders and staying inside the dorm room after hours could mean that he's innocent.
An impulsive yawn slips out of the corner of my mouth. Looking over my shoulder, I squint across the room and realize that it's close to midnight. Figuring that I should check tomorrow's class schedule before retiring to bed, I rifle through my scattered papers and notebooks before I find what I'm looking for. A quick scan of the schedule informs me that I only have one class in the afternoon tomorrow. My morning is completely free, which means that I don't have to set an alarm.
Deciding to go to bed, I cross the room, carefully set my glasses on the top of my nightstand, and slip under the scratchy sheets. This bed isn't the most comfortable, but it's still nicer than the bed I slept in back at home. Just about everything here is nice than the things I have back at home. Sighing gloomily, I find myself thinking about my mother. Thank god that we're going to be allowed to use the phones tomorrow. I remember the Dean saying that we only get five minutes on the phone, but five minutes is still five important minutes. Mother had better pick up the phone when I call her.
Despite the fact that I'm exhausted, I end up having an extremely hard time falling asleep. I assume that this has something to do with the fact that I'm not sleeping in the dorm room alone tonight. Doom is still hovering eerily on his side of the room with his crimson eye wide open. Does he even sleep? I have no idea.
Eventually, I fall asleep after several long minutes of lying on my side and staring at the wall. Apparently, Doom decided not to skin me in my sleep since I wake up the next morning without so much as a scratch anywhere on my body. As I fumble around the nightstand for my glasses, I realize that the black shadow on the opposite side of the room is gone. Doom is either at class or is somewhere else in the school. This knowledge causes my shoulders to relax. I'll have the entire dorm room to myself this morning from the looks of things.
Just when I find my glasses and am adjusting them to the perfect angle, the sound of the loudspeaker greets my ears. I immediately stiffen again. Oh great, what now? Last time, a student was murdered when a voice came onto the loudspeaker. I don't think that I even want to know what's going on now.
"Attention all students!" a voice crackles over the loudspeaker and booms into my dorm room. I shove a finger in my ear to block out some of the raucous noise as the voice continues on, "As you were informed on the first day of class, Fridays will be the day you will be allowed to make one phone call. The phone booths are located just outside of the school to your right. Professor Jones and Professor Knight will be timing the phone calls and ending them as soon as five minutes are up. Please use your time wisely."
With that said, the reverberating noises bouncing around my dorm room come to a halt. Even though my ears are ringing, I am glad to have heard the announcement. Giving my glasses one final tug to the right, I hurry toward the door to my dorm room and slip outside it and into the hallway already festering with students. Apparently, I'm not the only one excited about the phone calls. Glad that I have the elevator on my side to help me arrive at the phone booths sooner than the rest of the students, I slip around the pushing and shoving monsters and make my way to the elevator as quickly as I can. Once there, I hit the familiar red button and then travel to the main floor of the university, which is also swarming with monsters. By the time I reach the tall wooden entrance doors, a half hour has passed.
Although I didn't think that I was missing the outdoors much, I find that I actually enjoy the warmth of the sun beating down on me from the sky and the cool brush of wind along the back of my neck. The lines that lead to the phone booth are long, but they move forward at a steady pace since the phone calls are timed. Besides, I'm in no hurry. I don't have class for another few hours or so.
Finally, after much anticipation, I finally reach Professor Knight's phone booth. Despite the fact that he must have hundreds of students this year, the Professor recognizes me immediately and smiles, exclaiming, "Randy, my boy! It's good to see you. How's that arithmetic homework coming along, eh?"
"I finished it on Tuesday," I point out, not to brag, but because it's true.
"Tuesday?! You are a genius in the making, young Mr. Boggs," Professor Knight says, his voice completely serious as he goes on, "I assume that you'd like to take a turn with the phone. Better call those proud parents of yours and let them know just how well you're doing with your classes. Just keep in mind that I can only let you have five minutes on the phone though. I'd give you more, but rules are rules and the phone is on an automatic timer."
I don't bother to correct Professor Knight and tell him that I have a parent, not parents. Instead, I reach forward and grab the shiny black phone hanging just inside the phone booth. I use the tip of my tail to shut the door to the phone booth behind me for privacy's sake before plugging in the familiar numbers to my mother's house in the phone.
Beep, beep, beep! The phone rings once, two, three, and then four times. I start to worry that my mother isn't going to pick up the phone. Finally, on the fifth ring, she does.
"Hello?" a slightly confused, but familiar voice replies to me from the phone.
I sigh with relief and reply, "Hello mom. How have you been? I've been thinking a lot about you lately. University is great, but I miss you."
A long silence comes from the other side of the phone. As it stretches on and on and on, I glance over at Professor Knight who is still standing outside of the phone booth, wondering if perhaps there was a problem with the phone connection. Finally, my mother says blankly, "Who is this?"
Needles of fear stab my chest as I realize that my mother doesn't recognize my voice. I'm aware that she forgets things easily, but I didn't think that she could possibly forget the sound of my voice this easily. Gripping the phone tightly with a white-knuckled violet hand, I persist, "It's Randy, mother. You know me. Randy Boggs? Your son?"
Another long silence falls, during which I chew my lip and dread mother's answer to my inquiry. Luckily, she shatters the silence in a much more cheerful tone as she exclaims, "Randy! I was wondering when I might get a call from you. I was expecting one sooner, but I suppose that the school probably has rules about when you can use the phone and how much time you can spend on it. How have you been? Are you liking your classes? Is your dorm nice? Have you made any friends yet?"
"Slow down! I can't answer five questions at once," I chuckle, glad that my mother has finally come to her senses although beads of worry still manage to imbed themselves inside me. I decide to worry later and concentrate on my limited conversation for now as I try to answer all of my mother's questions. "I've been fine. Tired, yeah, but everyone who studies hard gets tired around here. I like my scaring classes and some of the other ones. Science, history, art, and gym are a waste of time though. I'm already getting tutored on tennis. That's how awful I am at gym. The dorm room is pretty decent. The bed is nice, I have my own nightstand and desk, and I even have my own laptop to use for the year. Guess I've made one friend. His name is Fungus and he's going to work as my scare partner. There's another monster too - his name is Sullivan. I wouldn't say we're friends though, we're more like rivals. Sullivan is the best scarer in the school so far."
My mother takes in all of the information I just told her before summarizing what I said, "It sounds like you're having a nice time at school just like I had hoped you would. Have you met any nice girls?"
Mother's question is so unrelated to the other things I've been talking about that I stare at the phone blankly for a moment before realizing what she means. Laughing dryly, I reply, "Mom, I'm here to learn, not flirt. My studies are my top priority. Even making friends is something I'm not all that concerned about. The only one concerned with girls around here is Wazowski."
"Uh oh, I hear trouble," my mother says, reading into the way I practically spit out the word Wazowski. "Who is this Wazowski fellow?"
"He's the school's troublemaker to put it lightly. I'm stuck partnering with him in history and of course it just so happens that he's also my tennis tutor," I sigh dramatically before realizing that I've already burned up half of my phone time. Not wanting to spend the rest of it complaining about one-eyed cretins, I flip the subject and say, "Anyway, enough about me. You know how I'm doing now. I'm fine and I like it here at college. What about you though? Are you doing alright on your own?"
"Don't be silly, Randy, of course I'm doing just fine," my mother replies, trying to brush away my worry. I'm not going to be so easily diverted from the subject at hand though. Mother is clearly suffering from memory problems and I want to find out just how bad they are.
"Have you remembered to pay the bills for this month? They usually come on a Wednesday," I inform my mother before asking another question that you wouldn't have to ask a normal monster. "Have you done the grocery shopping lately? There's still food in the fridge, right?"
"I can't believe that you were the one chiding me earlier about asking too many questions," mother laughs a light, tingly sound as I bombard her with pressing questions. She can laugh all she wants about them, but I just want to make sure that she's alright. I wait for my answer and finally get it as mother replies, "Yes, there's food in the fridge. I just went to check."
"Uh huh, I see," I reply, the needles of fear stabbing deeper into my chest. I would have preferred an answer that did not involve actually going over to the fridge to check whether or not there is food in it. Mother should be able to remember things like this without checking. Feeling a bit more anxious, I ask urgently, "How are you doing asides from all of that? Are you getting lonely?"
"Lonely? Not really, I suppose," mother says after a moment of hesitation. I can tell that she's going to say more and wait for the rest of her sentence. Mother goes on, "I miss your company, of course, Randy, but the little red people keep me company."
I'm starting to relax until I hear these last words. Little red people? What the hell is mother going on about? I'm so confused about what she's talking about that I forget all about my time limit on the phone and don't realize that I'm reaching five minutes as I ask, "Little red people? Who are they?"
"Oh, you know, just the little red people..." mother says as if I'm the crazy one. "They sit and talk to me and keep me company. It's all very nice really."
I bite my forked tongue and am about to tell mother that these "little red people" do not exist and are merely figments of her overactive imagination. However, before I get a chance to explain any of this, the phone clicks off. My five minute call is up.
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