Chapter 5 Boo's Past

Yippee! New chapter! Thank you, KoolBubbles, for finally reviewing the dang fic! Note: KoolBubbles is also known as Kirby, the friend of mine who helped me write Villain Diaries, a story I have posted in the Powerpuff Girls section of ff.net. Ctjtexan: If you write an evil review, I know where you live! (She lives in my house, actually.) Short chapter ahead, folks. Just to warn you all, this is the chap where Michelle reveals her past to Sulley, and it's kinda a tearjerker. But you gotta read it anyway; you'll be totally lost in the chapters ahead if you don't!

The rest of the day went by in a blur for the group. Mike had snuck into Monsters, Inc. and gotten the costume Michelle had worn when Sulley accidentally let her into the monster world. Michelle had been worried about "those guys in the yellow suits", and it had taken Sulley and Mike a few minutes before they realized she meant the CDA, or Child Detection Agency.

"They disbanded about a month after you first left," Sulley had explained.

"Um, why did they do that?" Michelle asked, confusion in her voice.

"Well, duh, genius," Mike retorted. "Once you got in, you proved that human kids aren't toxic. There was no need for the CDA anymore." It gave Michelle a vague idea of just how much she had impacted on their lives.

**********************

That night, Michelle and Kristin retired to the living room; Michelle on the couch, and Kristin on the very same chair that Sulley had ripped up to disguise Michelle with. Kristin fell asleep instantly, although Michelle stayed awake for a long time.

Sulley entered the room, trying as hard as he could to not make noise.

"You couldn't sleep, either?" Michelle asked. He shook his head. "She fell asleep in 5 minutes," Michelle added, jerking her head towards Kristin. Sulley sat next to Michelle on the floor.

"So, umm, how is everything?" he asked. Michelle sighed. She was sick of this sort of politeness between the two of them. Not that she really remembered, but Sulley had risked his life for her.

"You really wanna know?" she asked. "Everything sucks."

"Oooookay," Sulley replied. "Um, why?" Michelle sighed.

"I'll tell you, but lemme warn you, it's not a very nice story." She fingered the gold locket around her neck and took a deep breath.

"About a year after you visited me back in the human world, my father died, and my mother abandoned me. One day, she just left the house." She noted the sympathetic look on his face. "Not that I really remember," she added quickly. "I mean, it was almost 17 years ago." She began again. "Don't interrupt me, ok? If I stop, I don't think I'd be able to tell anymore."

"If you don't want to, that's-" Sulley began. Michelle cut him off.

"No, no, I need to tell this." She took another deep breath and began again.

"There was this social worker, who tried putting me in a foster home until there was room in one of the local orphanages. But I would not go. I must have knew that if I left, I'd never see you or Mike again. I was a pretty smart 3-year-old, and the social worker, Jake, got kinda attached to me. So he thought maybe I'd be better off if the foster parents came to me. So he dumped this couple, Harold and Mary-Anne, in my house." Her face clouded over. "The three years they lived there were the worst three years of my life." She turned to Sulley, her voice barely more than a whisper. "They beat me, and screamed at me, and-" She closed her eyes, not wanting to see it anymore. A bitter smile came over her face. "I'd stand in front of my closet, wondering why my kitty didn't come save me."

Sulley felt his heart break in two. "Boo, I'm so sorry," he told her. "I didn't know..."

"I know, that's ok, it wasn't your fault," she reassured. "Really, I'm all grown up, it's been a long time. I mean, you were just appointed the new CEO, I guess, when all of this was going on. And my name's Michelle."

"Anyway," she continued, "this guy, Jake, the social worker? He figured out how I was being treated. And after he sent Harold and Mary-Anne to prison, he moved to my house with his family! He had a son, Justin, and he was my first best friend. Well, my first human friend," she added with a grin. "So, when we grew up, he married me, and that's how we got this thing," she said, stroking Kristin's hair. "But just three months ago-" she stopped, fingering her locket. "-there was an accident. A car accident." She looked up, tears in her eyes. "I got to see him one more time, and he gave me this locket," she said, unable to keep her voice from shaking. "Then the hospital called, and told me-" She got up and went over to the window and stared onto the street. Sulley could only imagine what she was seeing.

"You loved him a lot, didn't you?" he asked.

Michelle turned around and shook her head. "I wouldn't say that," she said. "But losing him was like losing my best friend." She took a deep breath. "As soon as I got off the phone, I wanted to go somewhere and drink until I couldn't remember who I was." She looked at Sulley, unable to keep the tears from falling any longer, and smiled. "But then I looked over at Kristin, and I knew I couldn't put her through the same...heck.that my mother had put me through. But it's been hard, supporting her and me. But I think I made the right decision."

Mike had been listening from the hallway, and he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Life had been so hard on the kid..

The politeness between them completely melted away as Sulley got up and put his arms around Michelle. And she didn't try to pull away.

If only they had known who was hiding, watching them, planning revenge.

Bum bum bum!!!!!

Ooo, who is watching Michelle and Sulley???

Preview of next chapter: Sulley's Mistake

"Get away from me!" she screamed, backing up right into a wall.

"Boo, I-" Sulley began.

"That's not my name!!" Michelle screamed in reply.

"Michelle, I never meant for this to happen!" Sulley protested.

"Get away from me!!! I HATE YOU!!!!!" Michelle screamed running out of the room. She hurled herself into the joining room, which, because they were in the men's locker room, happened to be the men's bathroom. A door slammed and muffled sobs could be heard. Mike and Sulley just stood there, equal looks of shock on their faces.

"I don't believe it," Mike said in awe. "She went into the men's room!"

Uh-oh! What did Sulley do that made Michelle so mad? Why the heck did she go in the men's room!? Find out next chapter, same bat time, same bat place! (Sorry, I couldn't resist!)