Mary stopped as a group of monsters with happy faces came walking by. Each of them acknowledged Mary before sending a disturbed glance to the damaged doll in her hands, trying her best to return their faded grins.
Suddenly a distinct shout bounced through the large room, with a long echo. "Booooo! Overrrr heeeere!"
Mary carried Jessica to the odd pair of monsters who waved her over. Sulley bent, examining Jessica. "Hey, you alright?" he asked, in a heavy voice.
She nodded timidly, glad she didn't have a bladder.
"Jess, this is my good friend Sulley," Mary said. Sulley's first impulse was to reach out and offer her a handshake, but she was looking at his massive paw in obvious fear. He could crush her into oblivion with two fingers, and she knew it. He settled for giving her a huge friendly smile, feeling confused when she backed up on Mary's palm and almost fell off her hand.
"And this is my other friend Mike," Mary said, lowering Jessica a bit.
"Hello, pleased to meet you," Mike said, and when he stood on his tiptoes and offered his hand Jessica saw only a hand almost as little as hers, with short nails. She reached out and shook his hand, relieved when he was infinitely gentle.
"You too," Jessica said quietly, and he tried not to show his disappointment. Not even a broken doll feared him.
"So how does she know about us?" Sulley asked.
"SHE remembers you," Jessica muttered, wishing he would look into the eye she still had.
"Well, we're glad to have you," Mike said charismatically, "If you like we can take you on a tour."
"Uh, sure." Jessica smiled.
Mary began to walk after the monsters, always keeping one hand beneath Jessica's feet and the other hand protectively cupping her to keep her from falling. "Well, Mary," Mike said jauntily, "I am pleased to invite you - and your friend," he added falteringly, "To my wedding."
"Your w - congratulations!" Mary exclaimed.
"Mike made me the best man," Sulley boasted.
"Of course," Mike said.
"Thanks for thinking of me. I appreciate it," Mary answered, as Jessica's eye found the sign that read LAUGH FLOOR. "But I can't go."
"Why not?"
"Your world is bigger than I used to think. There are probably monsters who still think humans are toxic; the last thing I want is to ruin your wedding."
"It's a small wedding," Mike assured her. "It's just you, Sulley, me, Celia...my parents, her parents, all of our relatives and maybe some guys we knew at college!"
Jessica strained to keep looking at the LAUGH FLOOR sign as they walked beneath it towards the door. "I'd love to come. But it sounds like it could be a...disaster."
"Oh." Mike looked almost as hurt as he sounded. "Sure, I understand."
Mary wished her hands were free. "You know I wish you guys the best, right?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I know," Mike assured her. He was too little to open the door to the hallway, so Sullivan did, and the pair left the Laugh Floor. And, as the pair walked down the hallway, Sulley felt somebody looking at him. He looked slowly down at the toy, who stared at him with an eye that seemed to be judging him.
"What?" Sulley asked innocently.
But Jessica just averted her gaze with a scoff. Sulley frowned at her before Mary continued to follow Mike.
-0-0-0-0-
"And this door leads to the most historic room of Monsters Inc." Mike pushed the door open. "The simulator!"
Mary walked in first, allowing Jessica to stare at a worn and seemingly abandoned stage.
"This is where monsters of all shapes and sizes would come and perform for Mr. Waternoose and sometimes, even Dean Hardscrabble. They determined the future of the Scare Company and the power supply of the whole world for decades!"
Mary bent a little, examining some scratches on the stage floor. "How many decades?"
"Well...They were both about twenty years older than me, so...four?" Mike guessed.
Jessica pushed Mary's hand aside and stepped lightly onto the stage floor, wandering to a fat trail of green sludge. "What is this?" she asked in disgust.
"Slug slime."
She turned her wide eye to him. "How big was it?!"
Mike shrugged. "Monstrous."
"Yep. Lotta fond memories in this room." Sulley flicked a lightswitch, looking up when no lights came on. "Huh. Yep, I performed here once. Got a bunch of newbies."
"Yes, I remember," Mary said dryly. Sulley gave her a shy smile and she stroked his arm.
"One performance is a lotta memories?" Mike demanded. "Sul, college wasn't THAT long ago."
"You learned how to count in college?" Sulley asked innocently. "Well, maybe the school board let you in just - " A sudden scream silenced him, and all heads swiveled to the Dummy, who stiffly lay back down. Jessica grunted and stumbled as the mechanical blanket moved beneath her feet, and when she lost her balance and landed on the Dummy, it screamed again.
Mike shared a grimace with Sulley.
Jessica stood slowly, looking down at her feet. "What - "
Another scream had her nearly tumbling off the bed, but she landed on Sulley's giant, clawed fingers. With his other hand he punched the Off button to deactivate the machine. "What is that thing?" Jessica demanded.
"Just the...simulator," Sulley offered.
"The simulator?" Jessica asked, and she turned an angry eye to Mary's apologetic face. She looked wildly at Mike. "Let me see the settings," she demanded.
He pushed a button and pulled a panel open, and Jessica stared at the settings, which had been set to Medium.
Everyone stared at Jessica, who had seemingly frozen in Sulley's hand. Then, suddenly, she thawed again, stepping off onto the drawer beneath the bed and jumping to the floor. Scowling furiously she stomped past Mike, past Mary and began to cross the room.
"Jess, wait," Mary called.
"No, just leave me alone!"
Mary and the monsters watched her disappear into the shadows.
-0-0-0-0-
It's okay, Jessica told herself. Her dad can fix me.
She repeated those words to herself time after time as she walked quickly down the hallway, her arms wrapped around herself. It felt nice to be held, even if it was by herself. All that time in the box, feeling her own boot crammed beneath her head -
No. She wouldn't go there. She couldn't.
With her head down, she didn't see the door open a crack until she walked into it. Lifting her head, she blinked and looked into the gap between the door and the wall, peering into a washroom. She started to move around the door, stopping when she caught sight of her reflection at the bottom of a full-length mirror. Hesitantly, she moved toward the reflection; not wanting to look but unable to walk away.
Now the look on Buzz's face made sense. He had probably wished Jessie dolls had been made with smaller eyes.
Staring obsessively at the empty hole in her head where her eye should have been, she absent-mindedly pulled her braid over her shoulder and began to play with her hair. Her good eye flicked down the entwined wool, and an idea occurred to her.
She pulled off the ribbon and began to unbraid her hair, and when it was loose she rearranged the wool, allowing it to fall over her eye socket.
Finished, her functional eye widened. It was so easy to pretend that beneath her hanging hair, she was normal.
A creak made her spin to see Mike, and she relaxed. "Whoa. Hey, that looks different. It looks nice," Mike said, and then he wanted to slap himself for being insensitive. "Mary's waiting for you."
"I said I wanted to be alone."
"Here?"
His words made her remember that she was in a very strange place, and as her eye roamed the bathroom she suddenly began to look vulnerable. Realizing she was probably more scared to be in his world than he had been in the human world, Mike took a few steps forward and offered her his hand. "I'll walk with you."
Jessica stared at the monster's rather kind face. Deciding to trust Mary's judgment, she walked forward and reached for his outstretched hand. He closed it around hers and they began to retrace their steps to the simulator. As they walked, Jessica snuck glances at Mike. He was quiet, looking ahead and appearing content. Suddenly he looked at her and their eyes locked. Feeling rather awkward all of a sudden, they released each other. "Why don't you scare kids?" she grumped.
"I'm sorry?"
"What's the point of having a Scaring School if you're ashamed of what you are?"
"But I'm not."
"Then why don't you do it anymore?" she demanded, and when he was silent she continued. "Mary told me everything you did to become a Scarer. The Scare Games, the training, the door lab. It's like it was all for nothing."
They walked in silence for a few feet. "Mike," she finally said, and he looked tentatively at her. "You have no reason to be ashamed."
He stared at her, then asked, "Do you...want another minute or so?"
"No, I want to go home," she said flatly.
He guided her into the simulation room, where Mary and Sulley waited. Seeing them there they regrouped and began heading back to the Laugh Floor. Jessica followed, wishing she had gone with Woody and Buzz and the others when she'd had the chance.
"So are you sure you won't come?" Mike asked.
"Tape it for me, so I can go hundreds of times."
Jessica looked warily at the orange monster walking by.
"Hey, Mike," Sulley was saying, "Do you think toys in our world are alive?"
"Who cares? The real question is, what's in our closets?"
When they reached the Laugh Floor, and stopped at the open doorway leading to Mary's familiar bedroom, Jessica didn't wait to watch the monsters and Mary say their goodbyes. She ducked through the door and left the shadows of the closet, walking slowly into the bedroom.
When Mary reentered her bedroom the sound of her phone had her racing out of the room. All alone Jessica looked around the room, realizing she was the only toy. Moments later Mary came walking back in. "'Kay, my father's car won't start, so I have to pick him up from work." She picked up her purse.
"Can I come?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Mary," Jessica's voice halted her. "You have...blue fur on you."
Mary looked down at herself.
-0-0-0-0-
Mary had parked the car and shut off the ignition, and was starting to unbuckle when the sound of a zipper made her look down. Jessica had opened Mary's purse and was climbing into it. "You sure you want to do that?"
"There's a hole in your purse; I'll be fine." Jessica hunkered down and zipped the purse shut, pressing her functional eye against the tear in the fabric. Mary grabbed her purse and let herself out of the car, walking into the optometry. The only other person inside was sitting behind a desk, holding a file. She looked up at Mary over the brim of her lowered spectacles.
"Name, please," she said in a nasally voice.
"What? Uh, Mary. Gibbs."
"Oh, yes, Pete's daughter. Do you have an appointment?"
"Uh, actually I'm just here to pick him up," Mary informed her.
"Well, you'll have to wait. He should be ready in a few minutes." She nodded subtly to the washroom door. Then she clasped her hands, leaned forward and asked, "You want to know something crazy?"
"Um - "
"Toys are alive," she continued. "All of 'em."
"Really," Mary said sociably.
"Oh, indeed."
Suddenly Mary's purse unzipped and Jessica popped her head out of the lining. "Well, now I can look around!"
Mary touched the bottom of her purse to the carpet, allowing Jessica to climb out and place her feet gently on the floor. Leaving her eyeball in Mary's bag she walked boldly across the carpet. Mary looked back at the receptionist. "I kind of already knew."
"A lot of people know..."
Jessica paused beneath a chair and placed her little hand on one of the steel legs, her right eye staring widely at the Buzz Lightyear on the floor. His head was nearest to her, his helmet closed. As she squinted at him, she realized his helmet had a jagged hole, one of his wings had been snapped in half, and his arm had been twisted so that it bent the wrong way.
"Buzz!" she exclaimed, feeling a rush of emotion for him. She abandoned the chair and knelt by him, lifting the confused toy into a sitting position. "What happened to you?"
"Children," he said in distaste. "What happened to you?"
"Children!"
He nodded sympathetically.
"How did you get here?" she demanded.
"Uh, well, I...I used to be in the waiting room of a dentists' office in Australia; but one of the patients - a terrifying girl - stole me and brought me home. And then the family moved here," he said resolutely. "One day her parents found me and thought she stole me from here. They brought me here thinking they were doing the right thing. I haven't seen them since."
She tilted her head. "Fun story. But I'm serious."
"So am I."
She frowned at him, then suddenly grabbed his feet and lifted.
"Whoa!" he exclaimed, as the motion made him fall backward from the waist.
No names. His feet were spotless. She released his feet and he lifted himself into a sitting position. "How many of you are there?"
"Hundreds. Maybe millions." He shrugged at her shocked expression. "I'm a very common and popular toy."
Definitely a different model - he knew he was an action figure.
"Are you?"
The sudden and unclear question made Jessica squint at him. "What?"
"Are you popular?"
"Yes. But..." She tucked her hair behind her ear to reveal her empty eye socket. "I'm not common."
He crawled closer and sat on his feet, gently touching her left cheek. Her eye flew to both of his, and like he had discovered she was poisonous he suddenly leaped backward and froze with a fierce smile on his face. Then a hand closed around her and lifted her into the air. "I found her. It. I found it," she said hastily, placing her inside her purse. Jessica sank inside, lifting her fingers in a wave and seeing Buzz's eyes move subtly in response. She ducked into the bag and Mary finally turned. "Ready to go?"
"Yep, just gotta wait for the tow truck." Her father pushed the door open and Mary followed him outside as her purse seemed to zip itself shut.
"Dad?"
"Yeah."
"I found a rare toy, and it could use a little fixing up."
"Sure thing. I can do it tonight."
Alone in the darkness Jessica's hand fumbled for and then closed around her eyeball, and she tried to repress the hope she was beginning to feel.