Chapter 23- Glimpse of the Past
Randall got down from Sulley's shoulder and slumped against the pipe. His breath seemed to have been caught in his throat; the story had surprised him. He felt like crying, but with the presence of Mike and Sulley, he couldn't. Not in front of them.
He closed his eyes and laid his head against the cold metal. The past day or so had been incredibly active, so therefore tiring. But now wasn't the time to relax. He had to save his sister; he didn't trust Cyrus to let her go, not after what he had done. And it wasn't only what Cyrus had done recently that made him, in Randall's eyes, deceitful.
Ever since they were young, even when their parents were alive, Randall and Cyrus fought incessantly and had vicious arguments so many times that they had both lost count a while ago (but Randall was sure it had gone into triple digits.) They fought about the smallest of things; who had broken their father's prized DNA model; who had kicked the neighbour's cat; everything. And most of the time it was Cyrus.
As Randall sat back, thinking about his past that was littered with betrayal and deceit, he began to feel sick. Not sick as though he wanted to throw up, but the kind of sickness that makes you really doubt all the goodness in the world. As memories flashed by him, one particular memory lingered.
FLASHBACK
It was the evening and, as the sun set over the lonely streets in the middle of a near deserted city, the birds ceased their twittering and cooing and retreated back to the half-dead trees which suffered from the unstoppable drought. They flocked back to their safe-havens producing extravagant patterns across the sky. The stray cats and dogs that could be seen roaming the streets all day returned to their dirty alleyways and mouldy cardboard-boxes awaiting the night. All the creatures that lived in this depressed town had arrived back to their homes.
Except for one.
Randall and Marie sat by the dying fire cuddled up close to each other while their parents sat and talked in the kitchen. Even thought the door was firmly shut, some words were audible. But the twins didn't bother to listen; they knew what their parents were saying.
Cyrus had been missing for a week already, and it hadn't surprised either of the two that sat by the smouldering flames. Cyrus had just gone on, what Randall had called, one of his daily "walkabouts." Every three to four months Cyrus would go to school one day and would not come back. Sometimes he would return a week later, but the length of these peculiar adventures usually was at least a month. And in that month Randall's parents, Ralph and Annie, would be deeply anxious.
Frequently, they would put on an act as the "walkabout" became more common, but this was one time too many. So, they sat in the kitchen discussing what to do, Annie's sobs punctuated by Ralph's sharp, crisp voice. And all Randall and Marie could do was comfort each other and wait.
Eventually, after what seemed like hours of talking, Ralph opened the kitchen door and sat down beside the twins. He gave each of them a firm hug.
"Time for bed, you two. It's getting late. Come on, your mother will take you up." He stood up and led the siblings into the kitchen.
Annie smiled. They had grown a lot; she could tell by their size and weight as she lifted Marie up with her upper hands. Randall stayed firmly on the ground, not wanting his mother to pick him up. He started to climb up the stairs, Annie and Marie following behind as the musty smell of moth-balls wafted between the two floors.
"Have you both brushed your teeth?"
"Yes, mum," they replied in unison. She smiled once again, but this time not so exaggerated. They had learnt so much on their own; reading and writing stories at such a young age: they were only five. The three went into the twin's bedroom, the soft blue carpet a relief after the rough wooden floors that covered the hallways.
Randall jumped up onto the bottom bunk as his mother lifted Marie high up, letting her climb up onto her bed. After a final hug and kiss for Marie, she knelt down and gave her son a quick squeeze, then held him at arms- length.
"You are growing up to be a handsome young monster, aren't you?" Randall grinned at this and reached forward to give his mother another hug while she carried on.
"Clever, too. Maybe one day you'll get a distinction in piano like Marie has done with the flute so many times." Randall grimaced at this, but his scowl son faded away as he convinced himself that he didn't care. Anyway, Marie was treated well, and that was all that really mattered to him. "You've just got to try harder," his mother said. "You might not have the potential that Marie has, but you might be able to do something with your life."
Randall turned his gaze away from his mother. He knew that she was proud of him in some ways, but Marie would always be her favourite. Annie tucked Randall in tightly and then stood up.
"Goodnight, Marie." She closed the bedroom door making certain to leave a gap so a single shaft of light from the night-light in the hallway would shine through.
Making sure that the coast was clear, Randall slipped off the covers of his bed and climbed up the ladder to see Marie. He knew how concerned she was about Cyrus; more than she was letting on. Slinking to the top of the bed, he whispered her name.
"Marie?"
"I'm here, Randy." She sat up, her silhouette clear in the slit of moonlight that shone through a gap in the faded curtains. Randall crawled up beside her and sat down. Turning to face her, he cuddled her cosily and she hugged him back, tears welling up in her dazzling green eyes.
"Hey, Rand?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think.Cy will be back?" Randall sighed, not knowing what to say.
"He always did before, so why shouldn't he this time?"
Marie was reassured by the words of her brother. It was true that Cy could look after himself; he had proved this many times before. But he was still only ten years old and a monster of that age shouldn't be wondering the streets alone, or be wherever he was. He belonged at home; that much, Marie was sure of. Deep down, she knew Cyrus would be alright, but sometimes she needed reminding, and when she did, Randall was always there for her. His loyalty towards her was amazing, and she always made sure to return it. There was a unique bond between the two of them; something that was truly priceless and irreplaceable. Something that shouldn't be wasted.
And Marie knew it, which was why she treasured every single second with him as though they would never see each other again. But, in a way, she felt she had to be like this for Randall; she was all he had got, after all, unless you counted a mother and a brother who hated him, and a father who was always away on work anyway. So, to make up for this, she loved Randall with all her heart and would sacrifice her life for him in seconds. What made this relationship special was that he would do the same.
"Rand?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
He let go of her and began to make his way back to the safety of his own bed. He lifted up the covers and snuggled in his bed falling to sleep, the only noise in the whole of the house being the soft sobbing of his mother in the next room.
Chapter 24- Preparing For Attack
Randall's eyes slowly opened as the memory faded away. The reminder of what torture Cyrus had put his family though had made him hate his brother even more. When Cy had gone missing it had hurt the twins a lot, Randall as much as Marie even though he pretended he didn't care. But Marie had really suffered from the absence of her older brother. If Cyrus had hurt her once, what was stopping him from hurting her again?
With all of these thoughts muddled up in his head, it was hard to come to a conclusion, but once Randall had hurriedly gone through it again, it seemed simple enough. Cyrus was a danger to Marie and everyone else and he had to be stopped.
"Move aside, Sullivan." Sulley crawled to his left slightly forming a gap just big enough for the lizard-monster. Randall looked down at the room and made some important final decisions.
"Randall, what are you going to do?" Sulley asked curiously.
"Why do ya wanna know?"
Sulley looked back at Mike who was staying well away from Randall, and chose the right words to say.
"Maybe me and Mike can help." This shocked everyone in the pipe except Sulley who was, for once, being totally honest with Randall. Sulley had a logical way of thinking; he knew Randall wouldn't leave his sister for obvious reasons and he couldn't bear to leave him after all that he had done for them.
Mike, on the other hand, was thinking the exact opposite. "Why does Sul want to help him?" he thought frantically. "Sure, he has helped us but we helped him with the plan. We're all evens. No one owes anyone anything." But the voice that lived in Mike's head (and sounded remarkably like his mother) butted in once again.
"Ah, but you do owe him something. Actually, you owe him quite a lot. He's saved your life more than once, y'know. The least you could do is stick around and help him get his sister."
Mike growled. That voice was really starting to bug him, but what bugged him even more was that it was making sense. Mike shook his head.
"I'm too nice for my own good," he said out loud.
Sulley and Randall turned around, Sulley curious and Randall bewildered. "Since when was HE nice?" Randall thought. He then turned to Sulley who was licking his lips awkwardly. Then, right on cue, Randall's stomach rumbled as if to say "have you forgotten about me?" But all it did was remind him of how hungry he was. Randall emptied his mind of all interesting and lavishing thoughts of food and concentrated on Sulley's previous question.
"Randall.." Sulley began, but Randall stopped him.
"Look Sullivan.I." He looked up at Sulley who was surveying him with sorrow in his eyes. Then Randall smiled quickly and modestly.
"Help would be much appreciated."
Chapter 25- Attack
Waternoose was getting irritated. "Start the machine. I can't wait any longer," he demanded. Cyrus nodded.
"Yeah, sure, just after I've changed Marie for someone else and-"He was interjected by an enraged crab.
"You will do NO SUCH THING, do you hear me? She's in the seat. Now all you have to do is push the button." Cyrus gasped, threw a shaky look at Marie and then amplified his thoughts around the room like a loudspeaker on full blast.
"You expect me to do this to my own sister? YOU'RE CRAZY!" Waternoose raised himself, now coming to twice the height of the coal-coloured lizard- monster.
"When I tell you what to do, you do it. Now get over there and SWITCH THE MACHINE ON!"
"Or what?" Cyrus risked saying.
"Or I will banish you," Waternoose retorted. Cyrus nearly doubled up. Banishment! That obscure thought had never crossed his reptilian mind.
"Get over there." Cyrus' hands shook as he tottered over to the metallic control panel and started to rev up the machine. He was scared. He had no- one to run to; nowhere to turn. He had no choice. His black forefinger hovered over the activate button while Waternoose watched him expectantly. Meanwhile, Marie had begun to cry.
Her own blood-brother doing such a treacherous thing to her? It couldn't be possible. She thought she knew Cyrus in and out, like the back of her hand. "Sometimes he can go a bit extreme, anyone in our family can, but this is ridiculous!" That last thought escaped from and her mind went as blank as a chalk board that had been cleaned by the class nerd as the machine began to gradually move towards her. But she had time to say her final words before the machine sucked out all her cries and terrors.
"Randall was right!" she shrieked to Cyrus. "You ARE a traitor! You're no brother of mine."
Cyrus stood not moving a muscle, eyes wide and hand on chest as his heart was hammering so hard it felt as though it would jump right our of his body and bounce away. But, even as his heart went into overtime without any extra pay, he felt as though he would die. He WAS considering pressing the activate button before Marie had said her last words but now his hand was firmly by his side.
"DO IT!" Waternoose screamed. "DO IT NOW!" He ran towards Cyrus madly and was just about to push the button when suddenly an enormous tinny clatter filled the room.
It was then that several things happened at once; a figure dropped down from the ceiling like an angel from heaven that had lost its wings and landed directly on Cyrus pushing him away from the panel and onto a grimy wall; another figure, taller and furry also plunged down and ran behind the machine; and a final figure which seemed more like a volleyball than an actual being, plummeted down aiming for Waternoose but unfortunately missing by a metre or so.
He landed on the floor with a thump.
Chaos had been kept in a miniscule cage with the key thrown into an endless pit, but now it had found the strength to bend the bars as though they were made out of stringy cheese and escape.
And chaos it was.
Randall was now beating the living daylights out of Cyrus ignoring his yelps of pain. He then tore him from the wall and threw him onto the ground. He loomed over his older brother, arms folded with a smug look about his face. Leaning forward he seized Cyrus' sunglasses and flung them aside. He looked deep into Cyrus' eyes seeing his own morphed reflection.
"I've been waiting for this for a long time." Randall lifted his left arm, ready to punch when Cyrus swept his red tail underneath him, tripping him up. The second Randall made contact with the floor Cyrus was onto him like scale-rash. He pinned his sibling down and stared at him, intimidating him as he had done for so many years.
"So have I."
Randall got down from Sulley's shoulder and slumped against the pipe. His breath seemed to have been caught in his throat; the story had surprised him. He felt like crying, but with the presence of Mike and Sulley, he couldn't. Not in front of them.
He closed his eyes and laid his head against the cold metal. The past day or so had been incredibly active, so therefore tiring. But now wasn't the time to relax. He had to save his sister; he didn't trust Cyrus to let her go, not after what he had done. And it wasn't only what Cyrus had done recently that made him, in Randall's eyes, deceitful.
Ever since they were young, even when their parents were alive, Randall and Cyrus fought incessantly and had vicious arguments so many times that they had both lost count a while ago (but Randall was sure it had gone into triple digits.) They fought about the smallest of things; who had broken their father's prized DNA model; who had kicked the neighbour's cat; everything. And most of the time it was Cyrus.
As Randall sat back, thinking about his past that was littered with betrayal and deceit, he began to feel sick. Not sick as though he wanted to throw up, but the kind of sickness that makes you really doubt all the goodness in the world. As memories flashed by him, one particular memory lingered.
FLASHBACK
It was the evening and, as the sun set over the lonely streets in the middle of a near deserted city, the birds ceased their twittering and cooing and retreated back to the half-dead trees which suffered from the unstoppable drought. They flocked back to their safe-havens producing extravagant patterns across the sky. The stray cats and dogs that could be seen roaming the streets all day returned to their dirty alleyways and mouldy cardboard-boxes awaiting the night. All the creatures that lived in this depressed town had arrived back to their homes.
Except for one.
Randall and Marie sat by the dying fire cuddled up close to each other while their parents sat and talked in the kitchen. Even thought the door was firmly shut, some words were audible. But the twins didn't bother to listen; they knew what their parents were saying.
Cyrus had been missing for a week already, and it hadn't surprised either of the two that sat by the smouldering flames. Cyrus had just gone on, what Randall had called, one of his daily "walkabouts." Every three to four months Cyrus would go to school one day and would not come back. Sometimes he would return a week later, but the length of these peculiar adventures usually was at least a month. And in that month Randall's parents, Ralph and Annie, would be deeply anxious.
Frequently, they would put on an act as the "walkabout" became more common, but this was one time too many. So, they sat in the kitchen discussing what to do, Annie's sobs punctuated by Ralph's sharp, crisp voice. And all Randall and Marie could do was comfort each other and wait.
Eventually, after what seemed like hours of talking, Ralph opened the kitchen door and sat down beside the twins. He gave each of them a firm hug.
"Time for bed, you two. It's getting late. Come on, your mother will take you up." He stood up and led the siblings into the kitchen.
Annie smiled. They had grown a lot; she could tell by their size and weight as she lifted Marie up with her upper hands. Randall stayed firmly on the ground, not wanting his mother to pick him up. He started to climb up the stairs, Annie and Marie following behind as the musty smell of moth-balls wafted between the two floors.
"Have you both brushed your teeth?"
"Yes, mum," they replied in unison. She smiled once again, but this time not so exaggerated. They had learnt so much on their own; reading and writing stories at such a young age: they were only five. The three went into the twin's bedroom, the soft blue carpet a relief after the rough wooden floors that covered the hallways.
Randall jumped up onto the bottom bunk as his mother lifted Marie high up, letting her climb up onto her bed. After a final hug and kiss for Marie, she knelt down and gave her son a quick squeeze, then held him at arms- length.
"You are growing up to be a handsome young monster, aren't you?" Randall grinned at this and reached forward to give his mother another hug while she carried on.
"Clever, too. Maybe one day you'll get a distinction in piano like Marie has done with the flute so many times." Randall grimaced at this, but his scowl son faded away as he convinced himself that he didn't care. Anyway, Marie was treated well, and that was all that really mattered to him. "You've just got to try harder," his mother said. "You might not have the potential that Marie has, but you might be able to do something with your life."
Randall turned his gaze away from his mother. He knew that she was proud of him in some ways, but Marie would always be her favourite. Annie tucked Randall in tightly and then stood up.
"Goodnight, Marie." She closed the bedroom door making certain to leave a gap so a single shaft of light from the night-light in the hallway would shine through.
Making sure that the coast was clear, Randall slipped off the covers of his bed and climbed up the ladder to see Marie. He knew how concerned she was about Cyrus; more than she was letting on. Slinking to the top of the bed, he whispered her name.
"Marie?"
"I'm here, Randy." She sat up, her silhouette clear in the slit of moonlight that shone through a gap in the faded curtains. Randall crawled up beside her and sat down. Turning to face her, he cuddled her cosily and she hugged him back, tears welling up in her dazzling green eyes.
"Hey, Rand?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think.Cy will be back?" Randall sighed, not knowing what to say.
"He always did before, so why shouldn't he this time?"
Marie was reassured by the words of her brother. It was true that Cy could look after himself; he had proved this many times before. But he was still only ten years old and a monster of that age shouldn't be wondering the streets alone, or be wherever he was. He belonged at home; that much, Marie was sure of. Deep down, she knew Cyrus would be alright, but sometimes she needed reminding, and when she did, Randall was always there for her. His loyalty towards her was amazing, and she always made sure to return it. There was a unique bond between the two of them; something that was truly priceless and irreplaceable. Something that shouldn't be wasted.
And Marie knew it, which was why she treasured every single second with him as though they would never see each other again. But, in a way, she felt she had to be like this for Randall; she was all he had got, after all, unless you counted a mother and a brother who hated him, and a father who was always away on work anyway. So, to make up for this, she loved Randall with all her heart and would sacrifice her life for him in seconds. What made this relationship special was that he would do the same.
"Rand?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
He let go of her and began to make his way back to the safety of his own bed. He lifted up the covers and snuggled in his bed falling to sleep, the only noise in the whole of the house being the soft sobbing of his mother in the next room.
Chapter 24- Preparing For Attack
Randall's eyes slowly opened as the memory faded away. The reminder of what torture Cyrus had put his family though had made him hate his brother even more. When Cy had gone missing it had hurt the twins a lot, Randall as much as Marie even though he pretended he didn't care. But Marie had really suffered from the absence of her older brother. If Cyrus had hurt her once, what was stopping him from hurting her again?
With all of these thoughts muddled up in his head, it was hard to come to a conclusion, but once Randall had hurriedly gone through it again, it seemed simple enough. Cyrus was a danger to Marie and everyone else and he had to be stopped.
"Move aside, Sullivan." Sulley crawled to his left slightly forming a gap just big enough for the lizard-monster. Randall looked down at the room and made some important final decisions.
"Randall, what are you going to do?" Sulley asked curiously.
"Why do ya wanna know?"
Sulley looked back at Mike who was staying well away from Randall, and chose the right words to say.
"Maybe me and Mike can help." This shocked everyone in the pipe except Sulley who was, for once, being totally honest with Randall. Sulley had a logical way of thinking; he knew Randall wouldn't leave his sister for obvious reasons and he couldn't bear to leave him after all that he had done for them.
Mike, on the other hand, was thinking the exact opposite. "Why does Sul want to help him?" he thought frantically. "Sure, he has helped us but we helped him with the plan. We're all evens. No one owes anyone anything." But the voice that lived in Mike's head (and sounded remarkably like his mother) butted in once again.
"Ah, but you do owe him something. Actually, you owe him quite a lot. He's saved your life more than once, y'know. The least you could do is stick around and help him get his sister."
Mike growled. That voice was really starting to bug him, but what bugged him even more was that it was making sense. Mike shook his head.
"I'm too nice for my own good," he said out loud.
Sulley and Randall turned around, Sulley curious and Randall bewildered. "Since when was HE nice?" Randall thought. He then turned to Sulley who was licking his lips awkwardly. Then, right on cue, Randall's stomach rumbled as if to say "have you forgotten about me?" But all it did was remind him of how hungry he was. Randall emptied his mind of all interesting and lavishing thoughts of food and concentrated on Sulley's previous question.
"Randall.." Sulley began, but Randall stopped him.
"Look Sullivan.I." He looked up at Sulley who was surveying him with sorrow in his eyes. Then Randall smiled quickly and modestly.
"Help would be much appreciated."
Chapter 25- Attack
Waternoose was getting irritated. "Start the machine. I can't wait any longer," he demanded. Cyrus nodded.
"Yeah, sure, just after I've changed Marie for someone else and-"He was interjected by an enraged crab.
"You will do NO SUCH THING, do you hear me? She's in the seat. Now all you have to do is push the button." Cyrus gasped, threw a shaky look at Marie and then amplified his thoughts around the room like a loudspeaker on full blast.
"You expect me to do this to my own sister? YOU'RE CRAZY!" Waternoose raised himself, now coming to twice the height of the coal-coloured lizard- monster.
"When I tell you what to do, you do it. Now get over there and SWITCH THE MACHINE ON!"
"Or what?" Cyrus risked saying.
"Or I will banish you," Waternoose retorted. Cyrus nearly doubled up. Banishment! That obscure thought had never crossed his reptilian mind.
"Get over there." Cyrus' hands shook as he tottered over to the metallic control panel and started to rev up the machine. He was scared. He had no- one to run to; nowhere to turn. He had no choice. His black forefinger hovered over the activate button while Waternoose watched him expectantly. Meanwhile, Marie had begun to cry.
Her own blood-brother doing such a treacherous thing to her? It couldn't be possible. She thought she knew Cyrus in and out, like the back of her hand. "Sometimes he can go a bit extreme, anyone in our family can, but this is ridiculous!" That last thought escaped from and her mind went as blank as a chalk board that had been cleaned by the class nerd as the machine began to gradually move towards her. But she had time to say her final words before the machine sucked out all her cries and terrors.
"Randall was right!" she shrieked to Cyrus. "You ARE a traitor! You're no brother of mine."
Cyrus stood not moving a muscle, eyes wide and hand on chest as his heart was hammering so hard it felt as though it would jump right our of his body and bounce away. But, even as his heart went into overtime without any extra pay, he felt as though he would die. He WAS considering pressing the activate button before Marie had said her last words but now his hand was firmly by his side.
"DO IT!" Waternoose screamed. "DO IT NOW!" He ran towards Cyrus madly and was just about to push the button when suddenly an enormous tinny clatter filled the room.
It was then that several things happened at once; a figure dropped down from the ceiling like an angel from heaven that had lost its wings and landed directly on Cyrus pushing him away from the panel and onto a grimy wall; another figure, taller and furry also plunged down and ran behind the machine; and a final figure which seemed more like a volleyball than an actual being, plummeted down aiming for Waternoose but unfortunately missing by a metre or so.
He landed on the floor with a thump.
Chaos had been kept in a miniscule cage with the key thrown into an endless pit, but now it had found the strength to bend the bars as though they were made out of stringy cheese and escape.
And chaos it was.
Randall was now beating the living daylights out of Cyrus ignoring his yelps of pain. He then tore him from the wall and threw him onto the ground. He loomed over his older brother, arms folded with a smug look about his face. Leaning forward he seized Cyrus' sunglasses and flung them aside. He looked deep into Cyrus' eyes seeing his own morphed reflection.
"I've been waiting for this for a long time." Randall lifted his left arm, ready to punch when Cyrus swept his red tail underneath him, tripping him up. The second Randall made contact with the floor Cyrus was onto him like scale-rash. He pinned his sibling down and stared at him, intimidating him as he had done for so many years.
"So have I."
