Disclaimer: See Previous Chapters.
Chapter Eleven: First's are not always the best
Randall rolled over and glared at his screaming alarm clock sitting on the table next to his bed. Growling, he pushed it off the table and was satisfied to hear it crash then silence. He sat up on the edge of his bed and yawned. Sometimes he hated getting up in the morning to go to work but he had to. In a few hours he had done all the scaring for the day and it was just about time for the quitting bell to ring.
He opened a closet door and slipped inside quietly, shutting it behind him. Creeping silently over to the wall, he blended to match it. Suddenly, the boy lying in bed sat up and looked around his room. Randall heard him gulp before he laid back down and went to sleep again. Taking to the wall, he climbed up onto the ceiling then down just above the kid's bed and onto his head- board. The boy shot up and stared around the room. Randall began growling and slowly, the boy turned his head around and saw Randall as he returned to purple and blue. He screamed bloody murder and nearly fell off the bed. Laughing to himself, Randall jumped off the wall and onto the ground before leaving the room. He shut the door behind him and smirked to see his numbers go up. Just then the quitting bell rang.
"Bye, sir." Fungus said before turning and scampering away out of the scare floor.
"Yeah, bye." Randall replied. He started to leave but stopped and glanced behind him, to see Slike still in her station. "Hey."
"Hi, what's up?" She asked stretching her top arms and tail.
"Not much. Listen, Slike, are you doing anything tonight?" She looked up at him from the scare report she was signing.
"No, why?" She handed the report to Thrasher and glared down at him meaningfully, flicking her eyes toward Roz's desk, a sign for him to leave. Taking the hint he quickly left.
"In that cause would you, um...." Randall trailed off rubbing the back of his neck with one of his top hands.
"Boggs, are you asking me out?" She folded her arms and leaned back against the desk.
"What? No, no, of course not, I was just... just... um...." She raised her eyebrows and smirked at him. "Just... uh..." He sighed then finished. "Yeah basically."
Slike laughed quietly, not a mean laugh by any means. The smirked faded into a smile and she uncrossed her arms. "What else is there to say besides yes?"
"So, uh,"
"You haven't ever done this before have you?" Without waiting for an answer, She continued, "How about I meet you around eight at the place we went on New Year's?"
"Alright then."
"See ya at eight." She stepped past him and left. Grinning to himself Randall turned and headed out after her.
It seemed to Randall that eight o'clock came around not two minutes after he shut the door to his apartment. But he had seen the clock when he opened the door and it was five then. The three hours seemed to pass all to quickly.
He stepped through the door of the bar section of the building and saw Slike sitting at the far table they had had each time together in this place. Her legs were resting in the seat of one of the chairs, her tail across the armrest. She didn't notice him sit down across from her because of the fact she was focused on reading a book propped up in her lap. Waiting for a second, Randall smirked then put his bottom feet up in the chair across from the one her feet were resting in. Still she didn't look up. So trying to make his presence known he took a napkin off the table, crumpled it, then raised his hand to throw it at her.
"Don't even think about it." Slike said marking her place in the book and setting it down on the table.
"You knew I was here?" Randall asked slightly shocked.
"You're pretty loud." It was now her turn to smirk. He rolled his eyes and removed his feet from the chair, sitting up and leaning back into his seat.
"I'm loud? Since when was I loud?"
"Since now."
"You're impossible."
"I know." Slike put her feet back on the ground as a waitress stopped by the table. A short, one eyed monster with fur, four arms, three legs, and a long tail.
"What will you have?" She questioned putting two hands on her hips, getting the two others ready to take the orders.
"Usual for both of us, Maggie. Oh but," Randall leaned over and told the waitress something, letting Slike look from one to the other with a questioning look on her face.
"Alright." She turned and left.
"What was that about?" Slike said crossing her arms.
"Just a little pay- back Slike, and something to make you get in touch with your carnivorous side." Randall smiled slyly at her.
"I don't have a carnivorous side." She pointed out.
"I think you do."
"You think wrong." The waitress returned and set down two glasses of the blue 'usual' liquid and two hearty looking hamburgers. "No way." Slike stared down at in with a sick look on her face. "I am not eating that."
"Oh yes you are." He said smirking.
"Oh no I'm not."
"Remember I've got blackmail..."
"I have blackmail on you too, don't forget that!"
"Yeah, but I don't care about that, wouldn't bother me if you yelled it to the whole world." She narrowed her eyes and looked back down at her plate.
"You fiend."
"Fiend?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Fiend. Blech." She pushed the plate away and stuck her tongue out.
"You don't know what you're missing." Twenty minutes later Slike was still glaring at him. "Give it up Slike, the creature is dead, it won't feel a thing."
"It felt something while they were killing it."
"Yes, but if you don't eat it, then it died for no reason, think of it that way." She looked sadly down at her plate then back up at him then down again.
"Fine." She picked up the hamburger and stared at it. Gulping she took a bite out of it with her front teeth. After she swallowed her food she looked back at him.
"Like it?"
"It's actually not that bad."
"HA!" Slike just shrugged and finished eating.
Soon they left and went outside. It was still cold but not at cold as January or December had been. They both walked up to the same park they had been on New Year's and sat down on a park bench.
"You've seemed a lot more tired lately, you know worn out. What's been going on?" She asked suddenly. Randall glanced at her then back out at the pond in front of them.
"I have no idea what you mean. Nothing's going on." He lied easily. He knew exactly what she was talking about (and I think the rest of us do to) in being tired. Working up late for Waternoose on different things will do that to you.
"Ok, just checking. So, what do you think..." Suddenly Slike trailed off staring over his shoulder. Slowly she stood up and growled threateningly, "May I help you?"
"Yessssss, you may. I thought I told you to ssssstay away from my girl?" Parker hissed raising his hackles slightly with each 's', revealing two longs fangs. Randall stood up glaring straight back at the snake.
"Parker, we have been over this a thousand times! I am NOT and NEVER was your girl! I hate you and you know it!" More of her scales began to turn black as she said this. "Why did you lie to him like that!"
"Becausssssse if I can't have you no one can!"
"I suggest you get over that real quickly!" With one last scorching glare she turned and started to stalk off. Parker snarled to himself and finished quietly just loud enough for the other two reptiles to hear,
"I should have killed you when I had the chance." Slike whipped around in the blink of an eye and stared in shock at the snake.
"What did you say?" She asked.
"For someone who loved her brother so much, you didn't ask a lot of questions about how he died." Randall looked at Slike to see her completely different from just a moment ago. Her cold eyes were even colder if possible and nearly brimming with tears and she was just visibly shaking, whether from anger or the cold he didn't know. "The last thing he told me was to stay away from you."
"It was you? You killed him?" The snake just smiled at her. Slike closed her eyes and gritted her teeth then lunged forward catching Parker by surprise who backed up. Randall caught her arm and held her back from doing anything stupid.
"No, let her go, let's see what you've got, Sye." Randall tightened his grip as she tried forward again. This caused Parker to laugh.
"Let me handle this." Randall said quietly blending himself and releasing Slike. Parker looked around for where he had gone, stopping his laughing immediately. Without warning there was the crack of bone on bone and the snake fell backwards, his head hitting the gravel walkway with a thud. Randall then appeared rubbing his top knuckles with his other hand. Kicking the un-conscience monster to make sure he was out he looked back at Slike.
"I'll kill him." She said simply. "I'll kill that bloody,"
"Yeah, and wind up in jail. Someone was bound to have heard or seen that. We should get out of here." Sighing she nodded. Then looked back at the park bench and picked up the book.
"Well, he's going to pay at least." She pulled out the bookmark, a dark purple long and thin teddy bear; flat in the middle so it could rest in the book. "One of my kids," Randall raised an eyebrow. "Not that way you sicko, one of the kids I scare gave it to me. She stopped being afraid and thought of me as... think of an imaginary friend." Slike walked over to Parker and dropped it on him, kicking him squarely in the ribs as she stepped over him, making Randall smirk slightly. "Let the CDA deal with him.... 23-19!" She shouted and in the distance an alarm went off followed by sirens. She then disappeared, followed shortly by Randall.
Staying near each other so they would know where to meet, the two stopped running about a block away. As soon as he turned the corner Randall turned back to purple and blue. Slike had already returned to natural colors. He glanced at her to see shock just now wearing off.
"Slike are you ok?" He asked. She didn't even look at him.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I can't believe it... I'd never had expected Parker to have done it. He had and Joey had known each other since they were kids. They were even friends." She replied.
"Joey was your brother?"
"Yeah. I'm gonna go now, to think this over."
"Slike, you aren't gonna make it back all the way across town."
"Whoever said I was going home? Just on a walk."
Slike started off down the sidewalk heading away from him. Sighing, Randall quickly caught up with her and fell into sink beside her. The rest of the night they spent talking about everything that had happened tonight, mostly about Joey. When they passed a store selling TV's and gadgets like that, one of the sets on was a news broadcast about the 'A deranged and possibly insane serpent, whose actions and strange comments are blamed on the toxic bookmark, contaminated by a child.' And it went on saying that the snake was going to be taken to the psychiatric center at Monstropolis General Hospital. Otherwise, dear Parker was basically being chucked into the loony bin, much to Slike's approval.
Sorry this took so long to get up guys! My computer has been down and this was a rather long chapter. I'll try to get the rest of the story up soon, sorry again for the wait. Thanx and I hope you like,
Nox
Chapter Eleven: First's are not always the best
Randall rolled over and glared at his screaming alarm clock sitting on the table next to his bed. Growling, he pushed it off the table and was satisfied to hear it crash then silence. He sat up on the edge of his bed and yawned. Sometimes he hated getting up in the morning to go to work but he had to. In a few hours he had done all the scaring for the day and it was just about time for the quitting bell to ring.
He opened a closet door and slipped inside quietly, shutting it behind him. Creeping silently over to the wall, he blended to match it. Suddenly, the boy lying in bed sat up and looked around his room. Randall heard him gulp before he laid back down and went to sleep again. Taking to the wall, he climbed up onto the ceiling then down just above the kid's bed and onto his head- board. The boy shot up and stared around the room. Randall began growling and slowly, the boy turned his head around and saw Randall as he returned to purple and blue. He screamed bloody murder and nearly fell off the bed. Laughing to himself, Randall jumped off the wall and onto the ground before leaving the room. He shut the door behind him and smirked to see his numbers go up. Just then the quitting bell rang.
"Bye, sir." Fungus said before turning and scampering away out of the scare floor.
"Yeah, bye." Randall replied. He started to leave but stopped and glanced behind him, to see Slike still in her station. "Hey."
"Hi, what's up?" She asked stretching her top arms and tail.
"Not much. Listen, Slike, are you doing anything tonight?" She looked up at him from the scare report she was signing.
"No, why?" She handed the report to Thrasher and glared down at him meaningfully, flicking her eyes toward Roz's desk, a sign for him to leave. Taking the hint he quickly left.
"In that cause would you, um...." Randall trailed off rubbing the back of his neck with one of his top hands.
"Boggs, are you asking me out?" She folded her arms and leaned back against the desk.
"What? No, no, of course not, I was just... just... um...." She raised her eyebrows and smirked at him. "Just... uh..." He sighed then finished. "Yeah basically."
Slike laughed quietly, not a mean laugh by any means. The smirked faded into a smile and she uncrossed her arms. "What else is there to say besides yes?"
"So, uh,"
"You haven't ever done this before have you?" Without waiting for an answer, She continued, "How about I meet you around eight at the place we went on New Year's?"
"Alright then."
"See ya at eight." She stepped past him and left. Grinning to himself Randall turned and headed out after her.
It seemed to Randall that eight o'clock came around not two minutes after he shut the door to his apartment. But he had seen the clock when he opened the door and it was five then. The three hours seemed to pass all to quickly.
He stepped through the door of the bar section of the building and saw Slike sitting at the far table they had had each time together in this place. Her legs were resting in the seat of one of the chairs, her tail across the armrest. She didn't notice him sit down across from her because of the fact she was focused on reading a book propped up in her lap. Waiting for a second, Randall smirked then put his bottom feet up in the chair across from the one her feet were resting in. Still she didn't look up. So trying to make his presence known he took a napkin off the table, crumpled it, then raised his hand to throw it at her.
"Don't even think about it." Slike said marking her place in the book and setting it down on the table.
"You knew I was here?" Randall asked slightly shocked.
"You're pretty loud." It was now her turn to smirk. He rolled his eyes and removed his feet from the chair, sitting up and leaning back into his seat.
"I'm loud? Since when was I loud?"
"Since now."
"You're impossible."
"I know." Slike put her feet back on the ground as a waitress stopped by the table. A short, one eyed monster with fur, four arms, three legs, and a long tail.
"What will you have?" She questioned putting two hands on her hips, getting the two others ready to take the orders.
"Usual for both of us, Maggie. Oh but," Randall leaned over and told the waitress something, letting Slike look from one to the other with a questioning look on her face.
"Alright." She turned and left.
"What was that about?" Slike said crossing her arms.
"Just a little pay- back Slike, and something to make you get in touch with your carnivorous side." Randall smiled slyly at her.
"I don't have a carnivorous side." She pointed out.
"I think you do."
"You think wrong." The waitress returned and set down two glasses of the blue 'usual' liquid and two hearty looking hamburgers. "No way." Slike stared down at in with a sick look on her face. "I am not eating that."
"Oh yes you are." He said smirking.
"Oh no I'm not."
"Remember I've got blackmail..."
"I have blackmail on you too, don't forget that!"
"Yeah, but I don't care about that, wouldn't bother me if you yelled it to the whole world." She narrowed her eyes and looked back down at her plate.
"You fiend."
"Fiend?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Fiend. Blech." She pushed the plate away and stuck her tongue out.
"You don't know what you're missing." Twenty minutes later Slike was still glaring at him. "Give it up Slike, the creature is dead, it won't feel a thing."
"It felt something while they were killing it."
"Yes, but if you don't eat it, then it died for no reason, think of it that way." She looked sadly down at her plate then back up at him then down again.
"Fine." She picked up the hamburger and stared at it. Gulping she took a bite out of it with her front teeth. After she swallowed her food she looked back at him.
"Like it?"
"It's actually not that bad."
"HA!" Slike just shrugged and finished eating.
Soon they left and went outside. It was still cold but not at cold as January or December had been. They both walked up to the same park they had been on New Year's and sat down on a park bench.
"You've seemed a lot more tired lately, you know worn out. What's been going on?" She asked suddenly. Randall glanced at her then back out at the pond in front of them.
"I have no idea what you mean. Nothing's going on." He lied easily. He knew exactly what she was talking about (and I think the rest of us do to) in being tired. Working up late for Waternoose on different things will do that to you.
"Ok, just checking. So, what do you think..." Suddenly Slike trailed off staring over his shoulder. Slowly she stood up and growled threateningly, "May I help you?"
"Yessssss, you may. I thought I told you to ssssstay away from my girl?" Parker hissed raising his hackles slightly with each 's', revealing two longs fangs. Randall stood up glaring straight back at the snake.
"Parker, we have been over this a thousand times! I am NOT and NEVER was your girl! I hate you and you know it!" More of her scales began to turn black as she said this. "Why did you lie to him like that!"
"Becausssssse if I can't have you no one can!"
"I suggest you get over that real quickly!" With one last scorching glare she turned and started to stalk off. Parker snarled to himself and finished quietly just loud enough for the other two reptiles to hear,
"I should have killed you when I had the chance." Slike whipped around in the blink of an eye and stared in shock at the snake.
"What did you say?" She asked.
"For someone who loved her brother so much, you didn't ask a lot of questions about how he died." Randall looked at Slike to see her completely different from just a moment ago. Her cold eyes were even colder if possible and nearly brimming with tears and she was just visibly shaking, whether from anger or the cold he didn't know. "The last thing he told me was to stay away from you."
"It was you? You killed him?" The snake just smiled at her. Slike closed her eyes and gritted her teeth then lunged forward catching Parker by surprise who backed up. Randall caught her arm and held her back from doing anything stupid.
"No, let her go, let's see what you've got, Sye." Randall tightened his grip as she tried forward again. This caused Parker to laugh.
"Let me handle this." Randall said quietly blending himself and releasing Slike. Parker looked around for where he had gone, stopping his laughing immediately. Without warning there was the crack of bone on bone and the snake fell backwards, his head hitting the gravel walkway with a thud. Randall then appeared rubbing his top knuckles with his other hand. Kicking the un-conscience monster to make sure he was out he looked back at Slike.
"I'll kill him." She said simply. "I'll kill that bloody,"
"Yeah, and wind up in jail. Someone was bound to have heard or seen that. We should get out of here." Sighing she nodded. Then looked back at the park bench and picked up the book.
"Well, he's going to pay at least." She pulled out the bookmark, a dark purple long and thin teddy bear; flat in the middle so it could rest in the book. "One of my kids," Randall raised an eyebrow. "Not that way you sicko, one of the kids I scare gave it to me. She stopped being afraid and thought of me as... think of an imaginary friend." Slike walked over to Parker and dropped it on him, kicking him squarely in the ribs as she stepped over him, making Randall smirk slightly. "Let the CDA deal with him.... 23-19!" She shouted and in the distance an alarm went off followed by sirens. She then disappeared, followed shortly by Randall.
Staying near each other so they would know where to meet, the two stopped running about a block away. As soon as he turned the corner Randall turned back to purple and blue. Slike had already returned to natural colors. He glanced at her to see shock just now wearing off.
"Slike are you ok?" He asked. She didn't even look at him.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I can't believe it... I'd never had expected Parker to have done it. He had and Joey had known each other since they were kids. They were even friends." She replied.
"Joey was your brother?"
"Yeah. I'm gonna go now, to think this over."
"Slike, you aren't gonna make it back all the way across town."
"Whoever said I was going home? Just on a walk."
Slike started off down the sidewalk heading away from him. Sighing, Randall quickly caught up with her and fell into sink beside her. The rest of the night they spent talking about everything that had happened tonight, mostly about Joey. When they passed a store selling TV's and gadgets like that, one of the sets on was a news broadcast about the 'A deranged and possibly insane serpent, whose actions and strange comments are blamed on the toxic bookmark, contaminated by a child.' And it went on saying that the snake was going to be taken to the psychiatric center at Monstropolis General Hospital. Otherwise, dear Parker was basically being chucked into the loony bin, much to Slike's approval.
Sorry this took so long to get up guys! My computer has been down and this was a rather long chapter. I'll try to get the rest of the story up soon, sorry again for the wait. Thanx and I hope you like,
Nox