by Joy
NOTE: Yup, you guys get two chapters! Nice aren't I? lol. Gotta love four-day school weeks. ^_^
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Chapter Two - Midnight Visitors
It was already dark outside when Caylin and Randall approached Randall's apartment room and opened the door. They had made a pit stop by Caylin's apartment to pick up his suitcase and his fluppy - the monster world version of a puppy. With a soft bang, Randall closed the door behind them.
Caylin brushed the snow out of his crest of dirty blonde hair and took off his cap. Randall's apartment was roomy, like Sulley and Mike's old apartment, but had plenty of touches that were uniquely his - like his collection of novels that sat on a large bookcase near the door.
Surprisingly enough, he seemed to like reading - especially thrillers. A well-worn copy of 'Jurassic Park' stood as a reminder of his trips to the human world. He had snatched it from the Southern lady's bedroom, mostly out of curiosity, but he soon became hooked.
The apartment even had a small, cramped kitchen near the back, though the food Randall attempted to make in it caught on fire more than once. Caylin had even gotten him a book entitled 'How to Cook Without the Aid of a Fire Extinguisher', as a humorous birthday gift. Since then, Randall was getting better at it. At least he wasn't making fish ala flambe` anymore.
Randall brushed snow off his fronds as he began to take off all the winter gear. "Who knew a tree could hold so much snow?" he muttered brushing his tail off as well.
Caylin chuckled. "Yeah, makes you wish they gave you a fair warning before dumping their payload on ya," he added, hanging up his snow-caked coat.
The three-eyed, dalmation fluppy wiggled in Caylin's grip and he carefully let it onto the the light blue carpet of Randall's living room. The little, white-on-black spotted fluppy put its nose to the ground and sniffed around the new place excitedly.
It's tail was going off like a plane propeller. It shook it's body to get the cold flakes of snow off of his fur, the ice crystals flinging everywhere. Only with alot of coaxing did Randall allow Caylin to bring the dog into his apartment room.
Caylin leaned down and smiled at his pet. "Now, Midnight, you be good for Randall, okay?" he told the animal.
Midnight cocked his head, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. The fluppy's large, innocent turquoise eyes looked up at Caylin curiously. He barked a little 'yip' and ran around the room in full hyperness, behavior typical of fluppies. Randall leaned back and folded his arms, glancing at Caylin sternly.
"Which means no going on the floor," Randall stated right off the bat. "Or you're cleaning up after the little whirlwind."
Caylin saluted, standing at attention. "Aye aye Cap'n."
"Good. Now, who's for hot flurd soup?" Randall asked.
"I sure am," Caylin replied, waltzing to a green sofa and plopping down on it. Midnight jumped up on his lap and curled up contentedly. "I'm so frozen I think my brain's become a popcicle."
He laughed. "Comin' right up," he replied, heading into the kitchen.
Randall was in the kitchen for no more than a minute when he noticed his answering machine light blinking. He went over to it and pressed the 'play' button, letting it play over the speakers. One was from Sulley, reminding him of charades night. Another was from a phone salesman, asking him to buy something he knew he didn't need. Randall rolled his eyes and popped the bowls of soup in his trusty microwave, turning his attention away from the answering machine. 'Probably more phone salesmonsters,' he thought.
"You can run, but you can't hide," a voice said. Randall began to pay closer attention as a very unfamiliar voice came over the speakers.
"We know where you live," the message finished in a very foreboding and dark tone of voice. It was short, it was simple, and it didn't make much sense. But there was something very eerie about the mysterious message.
"What kind of crazy nut leaves a message like that?" he muttered, staring at the answering machine. He shook his head as the microwave beeped. "Don't tell me I'm dealing with some kind of psycopathic maniac. . ."
"Is it soup yet?" Caylin asked, poking his head into the kitchen. His fluppy padded in after him, sniffing the floor for any leftover food that might have been dropped.
"Yeah," Randall replied, handing him the bowl.
"So, what's all this about calling your microwave a psycopathic maniac?" Caylin asked after eating a spoonful of soup. "If you ask me, I think you've been out in the snow too long."
Randall emptied his mouth before replying. "No, I wasn't calling the MICROWAVE a psycopathic maniac," he corrected, pressing the replay button on his answering machine. "Listen to this."
The eerie message played evenly over the speakers again and Caylin stared at the answering machine for a moment. He looked like he was about to drop the bowl of soup and Midnight sat at his feet eagerly, just waiting for the mistake to happen so he could have a little snack. But, unfortunately, it didn't and his ears lowered in disappointment, walking back out the kitchen door.
"Oh. I see."
Randall pressed the button to turn it off. "Yeah. Pretty crazy, huh?"
"Very," Caylin replied. "All I can say, is I wouldn't want to be you right now."
"Yeah, well, thanks for the moral support," Randall said sarcastically.
"But, seriously man, it could just be a prank call or something," Caylin offered. "Those things happen."
"Yeah, I know, but what about that 'You can run, but you can't hide' thing?" Randall asked. "Isn't that a tad suspicious?"
Caylin shrugged. "I guess so, but my advice is don't take it too seriously unless you've got proof that it's some crazed psyco-maniac."
Randall finished off his bowl of soup and put it in the dishwasher. Caylin did the same and both of them went back into the living room. Caylin glanced at the clock and then back to Randall. It was almost ten.
"I think I'm gonna go hit the sack," he said. "Mind if I borrow a blanket to put in Midnight's basket?"
"Sure, there should be some on the end of your bed," he replied.
Just then, Midnight ran in from the bathroom and jumped up eagerly at Randall, barking like puppies do. His tail was going a hundred miles and hour. Randall couldn't help but chuckle a bit and began to pet the fluppy on the head. Midnight leaned into the touch and panted happily at getting what he was after. He licked Randall's hand a couple of times before following Caylin into the spare guest bedroom.
Randall stretched and headed for his own bedroom. The light of a bedside lamp illuminated the room with a soothing glow. Randall closed his door partway and crawled in bed. He rolled on his side, tucking his upper arm under his pillow. Looking out the window across from his bed, he could see the moon and stars.
For some reason, that haunting message on his answering machine wouldn't leave his mind. Was it really just some silly prank, like Caylin had said? He decided he wouldn't let it worry him. Randall reached over and shut off the light before drifting off to sleep.
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*SSSHHHHT*
The slow sound of an opening window could barely be heard in Randall's room. It was twelve fifteen - way past the time any normal monster would be walking around outside. But, nonetheless, a dark figure came inside, letting a soft breeze of bitter cold wind. Two eyes scanned the room for its target and they stopped on Randall.
Oblivious to the intruder, Randall had his face partially buried in his pillow, fronds relaxed. His arms gently embraced the pillow as a soft snore confirmed his innocent state.
The figure whispered something to themself and soundlessly approached his bedside. Feeling the icy draft wafting in, Randall shivered and pulled the sheets closer to his body. He was in no mood to get up. But the feeling that he was being watched creeped into his subconscious. His eyes flew open and he saw someone that was all-too-familiar. Even if he couldn't see the monster clearly, it had to be her. . .
"Leia??" he asked in shock, propping himself up in bed on his elbows. "How in the heck did you get in my apartment?"
She didn't answer him. Leia just took something from her belt and pointed it at his forehead. It was a loaded handgun! Randall's eyes went wide and he sat fully upright. "Whoa, have you lost your mind or something?!" he asked. "I mean, I understand getting angry if I missed any important calls, but this is insane."
"That's not it," she said. "I'm just making sure you don't move from this spot until they arrive."
Randall squinted at her. "'They'? Who's 'they'?"
Just then, a large, bulky monster with many eyes, similar in apperance to Ranft, came in through the window. He was followed by a couple more nasty-looking monsters. Randall glanced from Leia to them. Why was she involved with these guys? Who were they?
The big monster approached Leia. "Good work, Kawaii," he said, shifting his view to Randall.
Randall frowned in outrage and began to get out of bed, but Leia pointed the gun threateningly against his forehead. "I said don't move," she ordered. "And the moment you try disappearing, this gun's going off."
Randall froze. He was shocked at this kind of attitude towards him. Two years ago, he had known her to be a really nice friend, but now. . . now she was threatening to kill him. He had no idea what was going on. The best guess he had was that they had somehow brainwashed her. He decided to go along with it - it beat getting shot.
"Okay, okay," he said calmly. "Geez, calm down. I won't do anything. But what is it you want from me?"
"We want answers," the Ranft-like guy said in a gruff voice. "So, tell us. What's the code?"
"Code? Answers? What are you talking about???" Randall asked in dismay.
"I told you he wouldn't talk," a short, bent-over monster said.
"Probably because I have no idea what you're talking about!" Randall stated firmly. "What's all this about a code?"
The Ranft monster took out a rectangular device and pressed a few buttons. Suddenly, a net shot out and entangled him. It was a very odd type of rope, it had a yellowish glow, as if it was electricly charged. The Ranft monster picked up his net and smirked.
"Oh, don't worry," he said in a sickly sweet voice. "We'll refresh your memory. . ."
Randall struggled against the net and it gave him a slight electric charge, making him back off. The monsters laughed evilly as the purple lizard-monster growled at them helplessly.
Leia sighed and put the handgun back in the holster in her belt, watching the monsters taunt him. Inside, Leia didn't want to do this. But what choice did she have? The advantage those thugs had over her was too much for one monster to handle alone.
"Okay, okay," she interrupted, trying to hide her annoyance towards their behavior. "Let's just go, guys. You know how the 'boss' doesn't like to wait."
They glanced at each other and shrugged. "Hey, we were just havin' fun," the short one said.
"She's right," the Ranft monster agreed. "He told us to get Randall and come back. We'd better go."
"You're gonna pay for this, you jerks!" Randall growled as they began to haul him out the window.
"Yeah, sure," the monster replied.
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Meanwhile, in Caylin's room, Midnight was laying peacefully at the end of the guest bed, snoring and kicking his foot. A sound made his ears subconsciously perk up and he opened his eyes. Alert and knowing something wasn't right, he raised his head and jumped down from the bed. He padded out into the short hallway, looking at Randall's partially open door.
Midnight nudged the door open more with his nose and poked his head in curiously. He raised his nose into the air, smelling the unfamiliar scent of the monsters and Leia. He began to bark loudly. He yipped and yowled, running towards the open window and setting his paws on the sill.
That dog probably woke up the whole neighborhood. He stopped barking only long enough to look out the window into the street below. He didn't see anything, but he sure smelled the tension that had been in the air during the capture.
The fluppy knew no one was coming, so he began to crawl out the window in an attempt to go after the bad guys himself, even though the ground was about a hundred feet down the fire escape. The window suddenly slid closed on his little body and he became stuck. Half of him was inside the other half outside. Midnight wiggled and kicked his back legs, which were hanging up in the air, in an attempt the squeeze out. He yipped and let out a little whining noise, but finally he slipped back onto the carpet.
Barking up a storm, the stubby-tailed little fluppy scampered back across the hall to the guest room again. He jumped up on the bed, howling like a maniac and licking Caylin's face. Caylin just groaned sleepily and pushed the fluppy away, turning over. Midnight slid onto the floor with a little thud and scrambled around the other side of the bed, his paws almsot moving faster than he could handle.
He wasn't giving up. No, that fluppy was determined to get his attention no matter how long it took. He jumped up on the bed and began licking Caylin all over his face, totally covering him with slimy dog drool. Caylin finally woke up and shoved Midnight off of his chest, using his pajama sleeve to wipe off his face.
"Eeewww, now that's just disgusting, man," he complained, sitting up in bed. "Okay, you got my attention now, you happy you little runt? I'm covered in slimy saliva and it's the middle of the night, but-"
Midnight barked and began jumping up and down on the bed. "You woke me up at midnight to do aerobics?!?" Caylin asked in dismay.
Midnight's ears lowered down again and he let out a little sigh, half-rolling his three eyes. He took Caylin's shirt collar in his teeth and began tugging and growling softly. "Okay, okay, okay," he muttered, slipping out of bed. "I'll follow you. You're turn to take me for a walk."
Eagerly, Midnight ran towards the door, stopping to make sure Caylin was following. His tail was wagging enthusiastically. Finally, someone was coming to help! He ran back into Randall's room and over to the now partly opened window and howled, looking over his shoulder at Caylin.
Caylin went inside and his eyes went wide upon seeing the messed-up bedsheets and open window. "Oh shittake mushrooms! What do you know? He was right about the crazed psyco-maniac!" he exclaimed, looking desperately under the bedsheets for any sign of where he went. "And now he's got Randall. . ."
He looked back to Midnight and patted him on the head. "Good boy! You're such a smart fluppy," he said. "Now, where'd they go?"
Midnight ran over to the window again and back, putting his paws on Caylin's leg and barking. It was as if he was saying 'out the window! go out the window!'.
"Uh, yeah, I got that much," Caylin said. "But where exactly did he run off to?"
Midnight sat down, looked up at him. . .and scratched behind his ear with his back foot. Caylin sighed. "Okay. . .this is bad. No, wait, this is worse than bad. Who knows what this guy's gonna do to Randall? I've read all the stories and they almost never end in 'happily ever after'."
Caylin sat on the floor at the end of Randall's empty bed and sighed. He needed to get his buddy back and he'd need help. Caylin wasn't the brave hero type and he knew it, he'd rather run from danger than face it. At least, he wouldn't want to face it alone. Midnight whined sympathetically and rested his head on his owner's lap. He licked Caylin's hand and trotted off out the door.
"And where do you think you're going?" Caylin asked, but he knew the dog wasn't listening. He sighed again. "Aw gee, what am I gonna do now?"
Just then, Midnight trotted back inside the room with something in his mouth. It was the latest copy of 'Shriek Monthly'. Caylin took it out of his fluppy's mouth and quirked an eyebrow at him, before unrolling it. On the cover was a picture of Randall, Sulley and Mike. Just then, the light in Caylin's head flicked on and he ruffled up his dog's fur.
"Of course!" Caylin exclaimed excitedly. "Sulley and Mike! You're a genius, you know that?"
Midnight just yipped cheerfully in reply as Caylin jumped to his feet and ran out the door. His dog was quick to get up and tail him as he went out.