Tear In Your Hand

(A/N)- Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I'm so happy, because I was going to kill this fic, because I thought it over while I was in school. I thought no one would like it, so instead of enduring flames, I thought to end it then and there. But since I got so many reviews (and I watched Monsters Inc a couple of times) I was inspired to continue it! :-)

Thank you so much, Beverly! ((hugs))

She thought of most of the plot, but she didn't want credit, so I'm giving her credit anyway! :-)

Enjoy the new chapter!

Reviews fuel my inspiration O.O;!

Chapter 2 – Best Kept Secret

"Laugh Floor, front desk. Sure, hold on ... Chris!"

Sandra rolled her chair to the door and opened it, only to be greeted by a sea of marbles. The purple cycloptic monster skidded out of the room, grabbing for the phone. She handed it to him, and retreated to the wall so that she wouldn't be the victim of his mess. She waited until he pulled the receiver into the playroom with him, his tentacles making a low plucking sound as he retreated. She hastily swept up the mess.

Today and the days that would follow would be much easier; the only two kids left were Chris and Eddie. The others were on vacation with their families, an early summer break and later on: kindergarten. Her little day-care program would be over- permanently.

But that hadn't changed the fact that Chris would still be here, and since his Dad co-owned the company, it wasn't like she'd never see the brat again. Hopefully Celia or somebody would've straightened him up by first grade.

"Miss Clemons?" someone called. She turned and slipped on a couple of stranded marbles that had hid beside her seat. She quickly scrambled to her feet, and saw that the phone wire had caught itself around the wheels of her chair. She didn't know whether to think that Chris did it or it was her own clumsiness.

"Are you okay?" asked the same voice again. She almost forgot someone was there; now she had to endure more embarrassment. She looked up to see her boss, James P. Sullivan. She wasn't afraid at the sight of him, but peeved for the fact she couldn't have watched her footing, just that one time.

"Never better. I ... had meant to do it. It's a game Chris and I play ... I trip you, you trip me ... heh, and its fun really, you should try it." She said, with a very convincing laugh.

"Right ..." he said slowly. 'Great, now he probably thinks I'm PSYCHO!' Sandra heard herself shouting at her in her head.

"Anyway, I was wondering if you'd like to be an applicant for a spot on the Laugh Floor." He announced.

"Nope, sorry." She replied. Now she thought he was psycho. How many times she told him ... tell him again, "I'm way too scary, boss." She pointed out, and added something new "You'll be filling up Scream power rather than Laughter."

Sullivan chuckled, "Yeah, I guess you're right. A friend of mine said the same thing." He said with a warm smile. "Well, if you'd like to apply for the secretary job you can; Celia decided to stay home for Chris till he's through grade school." He added, and this news made Sandra's eyes brighten.

"You mean it? Cool! I mean," she paused, getting a hold of herself. "It would be great to have her job." She finished, smiling. She could barely contain the excitement inside her: that was how badly she wanted out of this smelly old office.

"Okay, umm, you can talk to Mike later and discuss it." He said; he was slightly scared of her abrupt change in behavior.

She nodded, "Sure." When her boss disappeared out of sight, she gave a happy leap into the air. But, of course, she fell flat on her stomach. But she didn't let that get her down; and she physically couldn't get any lower than the floor.

She crawled into the playroom and gave Chris a rib cracking hug. The youngster burst into tears from his own bewilderment and confusion. Eddie merely dropped his building blocks. The sight of her being so happy was even a surprise to him, and seeing Miss Clemons hug the child she hated like a bad itch ... that took squinting and blinking a few times just to prove it wasn't a dream.

---

When her first day at her new job started, she hated it. She was so close to cussing at a few people on the phone; she got a few loiterers to flee when she screamed, "Stop bugging me! I dare you! Just gimme your address and I'll show you a SICK DAY!!!"

It was only when Celia had called that her temper quickly died down. And that was because Eyeball was in trouble. Big trouble. And if only Mike didn't act so cheery, as if his wife and son were coming to surprise him.

And Sandra was thankful that the situation had nothing to do with her. Very thankful.

"Hello Shmoopsie-Poo!" he said happily, not hinting the glare that was in his wife's eye.

"And how's my little tiger?" he said, rubbing his son on the head.

"Michael Wazowski." Celia started. Oh no; the full name. Not 'Googley Bear', his pet name she called him lovingly ... but the full name. His smile slowly faded.

"If I've told you once I've told you a thousand times," her anger grew and her voice got higher as she spoke. "Do not leave your odorant in reach of children!" she shouted. Mike cowered now, with a face that was pleading for mercy.

"And if you've noticed, your son is now burping bubbles that smell like WET DOG!" she bellowed. Chris immediately forced a burp (as if on cue), and there was the proof: a floating bubble that had a sickly grey color. It pooped suddenly with an odd whistling sound.

"I'm sorry, honey!" Mike pleaded. "I know! I'll take off from work and bring you and Chris to Monster Burger!" he suggested. Chris suddenly brightened, but his Mom quickly crushed that idea.

"Oh, no you don't! We're going home, and you're paying the medical bill!" she finished, handing her husband the bill and storming out of the building, with Chris whining about a Happy Toy.

Sandra couldn't see how much it was, but Mike did. And he let out a loud 'Yipe!'' and he looked as if he was losing his balance as he headed back to his office, biting his nails nervously and looking over the bill again and again. As if it would suddenly disappear.

Thankfully many calls came in the morning, rarely in the afternoon, and Sandra sat at her desk in comfort, trying to hide her look of amusement that itched to cross her face.

It's not as if she loved seeing Mike in vain, or pain. ... Alright, she did. But that was only because he had made her a laughing stock in Monster Middle School. And revenge was sweet, at any age.

---

Fungus came around to talk to her a while before quitting time, and she took this time to try and convince him to tell her why she should avoid Randall. And he was still resisting.

"Fungus, it can't be that bad. And if it is, maybe you should tell the M.P.P.D." She pointed out. That was 'Monstro Polis Police Department.

"No, it isn't that bad, it's just not worth telling you." Fungus said, nervously adjusting his three-eyed glasses, "It's over, it's in the past, and Mr. Sullivan trusts Randall now."

"So, if it's over, why don't you just tell me?" she said, gritting her teeth. She really hated to pry things out of people. Why couldn't he see that he can save his breath if he just told her now? He knew just as much as her that she'd get it out of him sooner or later.

Well, now she knew Sullivan was involved, so she made a mental note to bug him about it later if she could resist playing keep-away with Fungus' glasses.

Fungus looked kind of worried, and he said quietly, "I just think it's ... too hard for me to recall it ..."

"Oh, come on! It wasn't that bad!"

Fungus instantly recognized that voice and let out a girlish scream and shielded himself with his clipboard. Randall, who was standing behind him, rolled his eyes and folded his arms across his chest, all four of them.

Sandra then turned the question on Randall. "Fine. If it wasn't that bad, why don't you tell me and end my curiosity for good."

He sneered, "Look, just keep out of other monsters' business, nosey-body." He said rather restlessly. Before she could fight back, he turned and left.

She sat there, staring at him with a loathing dislike till he disappeared around the corner. Fungus was flinching, still shivering in fear behind his clipboard. Sandra sighed heavily.

"He's gone, Fungus." She said flatly, and he slowly got out from underneath his 'shield'. He was breathing rather rapidly, but he managed to say, "I ... I knew that. I was ... just making sure ..."

---

The next day, Sandra decided to play hooky. But it really isn't smart to do it in the same building your job is located in. But she only skipped around 12:00 pm, when calls would come only very rarely.

Besides, Sullivan was busy showing Boo (whose real name is Beverly) around Monsters, Inc. Sandra had already met her when she was at her desk, and she looked rather sweet, but also sort of scared of her.

During her lifetime, Sandra Clemons came to her conclusion. Why do others fear reptilian monsters most of all? Because most can turn invisible. Because many can blend into their surroundings. Because they always have a rather scary appearance. And many lizards were on Monstropolis' Most Wanted. But that was beside the point.

All monsters have their abilities and their choices. Whether they use it correctly or not, it shouldn't reflect others of that species.

And she was very mad when others judged her on her appearance. Or even if she did look sweet and kind, many monsters can never look past the fact that she is a reptile. And reptiles have reputations.

Besides her obnoxious little cloud of curiosity and 'nosey-body-ness' (that Randall had said, ever so kindly) ... well, she really didn't have any other excuse as to why she wanted to know ... but can you blame her? Her life is as boring as noodles without toppings! And that was putting it mildly.

Randall seemed to have a short temper. And short tempers were fun to poke at ... sometimes.

Anyways, so she did skip her own job to annoy this short-tempered lizard.

She crawled steadily along the ceiling above Randall as he rolled an empty garbage can along the hallways to the Scare- - excuse me, Laugh Floors. Geez, she thought that she was done tripping over that name.

She continued to crawl along, head inclined to watch her 'prey'. It was times like these she was happy to be able to turn invisible. CRUNCH!

She looked sharply at her claws. She gulped when she realized: she was on the crappy ceiling 'tile'. It was made of some sort of foam. What's more, it wasn't very stable. And her sharp claws were dug in too deep ...

In a flash, she fell right on top of Randall, knocking over the garbage can, (thank you emptiness!) and the piece of ceiling smacked her right in the face.

"Ow." was all she could say, or groan for that matter. Randall slipped out from underneath Sandra and the shattered pieces of foam-stuff. He scowled when he saw who it was; not like he wasn't angry enough already.

"You again?" he asked, "Why are you following me?"

"You know why." She said simply. He turned around sharply, as if he heard something. Then, in the next second, he went to blend in with the white wall, but ended up with red polka dots. Sandra blinked- was he faking it? Or did he have trouble blending?

He groaned furiously, and then tensed his muscles again and he was invisible. "Randall?" she called, looking around. She then felt someone's hands cover her mouth. Cold, scaly, three fingered hands. Well, she couldn't see them, but she could feel them. She then heard voices, one distinctly being Mike's.

She panicked, and tried to break free from his grasp. He released her mouth, but held his hand firmly on her arm. "Hide." He said urgently. The voices grew louder.

"Huh?" she asked thin air.

"Just do it. Trust me." He said, and the owners of the voices came into view. She quickly went invisible, and looked to her side. She could see an outline of Randall, and he quickly put a finger to his lips. Well, technically they don't have lips, but you get the concept.

She looked down the hall. Mike, Sullivan, and Boo were heading down the hallway. Boo was in Sullivan's arms, her face red; clearly from crying. Sullivan was trying to comfort his little friend, while Mike was rambling on, obviously angry, and she had a gut feeling it wasn't about the medical bill.

"You never should've trusted that Lizard-Boy." He said in a low voice. "Now look what's happened! If we can't find Jake in less than a day, Boo's parents are going to get worried! What are we going to do??" he asked urgently, on the verge of panic.

"Alright, let's just calm down." Sullivan said softly, trying to comfort both Boo and his best buddy. "We can't just accuse Randall when we have no proof."

"Who needs proof?" Mike exclaimed, throwing his hands up, "Who's heartless enough to kidnap children? Who's done it before??"

Sandra's eyes widened as she looked over to Randall, but he pretended not to notice. He was too busy fixing his angry glare on Wazowski.

"Calm down, we'll just talk to him later and if he denies it, we could send for a lie-detector. But I highly doubt it's him, Mike. You saw him when he came back from that swamp. He was in the hospital for weeks."

Sandra had suddenly wished she wasn't a nosey-body about Randall. There were some things best kept secret. And Randall was lucky that everyone else was on lunch break.

"Oh sure, possibly scheming his next attack!" Mike said in a low, deadly tone.

Sullivan sighed in exhaustion. Nothing could ever make Mike listen, when it came to Randall at least.

When they were out of sight, the two lizards returned to their original form. Sandra looked at Randall as if she didn't recognize him. Or even know him ... well, she never really got to know him, but she didn't want to find out more about him this way.

"I'm sorry," was all she could choke out at the moment.

"It's not your fault ..." he said slowly, looking away from her. "I mean ... I do look like I'm hiding something sometimes ... I usually give that impression, but ..." he left his sentence hanging.

Sandra felt rather sorry for him. Even though he was a jerk before ... but she had to know his side of the story, "So ... did you ..."

Randall knew what she was going to ask before she could finish. "No. Not this time."

"You mean," Sandra started, wide-eyed, "You did do it the first time?"

Randall smoothed back his fronds in frustration.

"Yeah, but ... I gotta go ..."

When he walked off, Sandra didn't bother to press on. Sometimes things were best kept secret.

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(A/N)- Review! :) Again, I thank everyone who reviewed, you guys really boosted my confidence! X)