Oh my god, this chapter, it took me forever to come up with something to write about and… I decided to go into the depth of Randall's feelings after the death of his Papouli and how dramatically it changed him into the bitter loathing monster he is and add more of a sad tale to it…well… read and find out.
Chapter 22: Giving into Grief
After reading about Randall's Papouli dying, everyone was wondering just how hard the reptilian monster was taking the elder monster's death. Of course everyone knew what it was like to lose a relative. It was hard to go through the grieving process. Of course everyone grieved differently. Just as they were going to turn to the next chapter, Frank entered the apartment, panting. Everyone turned to look at him.
"I-I got the papers but… I could barely get it without Roz practically watching me!" He shuddered, "She can be so creepy…"
"I know!" Mike piped up.
"So what did you find out?" Celia asked.
"Nothing much. I mean this guy was old when he started working there. He was nearly 700 years old! This guy had a lot of spunk in him to keep going at such an old age. Um…" Frank started flipping through the folders. "Let's see… oh yes his resume says that he was a sailor, a rancher, a soldier, a black smith…. Man he did a lot of things…"
"Anything else? Other than Randall's… Papouli was it?" Lankey asked, making sure that it was the correct saying that Randall used for his grandfather, or possibly many great grandfather. "After all it has to say something about him trying to cheat or something like that."
"Well it did say that he was let go because the canisters were hooked up to his station, but he was a top scarer and reading through there was no reason for him to cheat. Well respected among his peers, excellent attendance and there's no history of him getting into trouble before."
"That's odd." Claws replied.
"Odd wasn't good enough." A voice spoke up.
They all looked to see Randall. The lizard monster was wearing a red robe, replacing the blanket he had on earlier. He was holding a small plate in his top left hand and his top right was holding a hot cup of tea. His bottom arms were folded. His eyes were slightly red and puffy. It looked like he had been crying. Of course they knew he wouldn't tell them if he had.
"It…wasn't?" Needleman asked.
"No, it wasn't." he took a sip of his tea. "All they went on was some stupid monster's word against his. My Papouli would never cheat. It makes me sick to my stomach knowing that people accuse him of such a thing."
They looked at each other. It was no secret that most people knew who Riley Boggs was. He was the oldest monster that in Monsters Inc, ever. He sighed and went over and looked at them.
"Think what you want about him. I get enough crap from my own family about it. But what I'm telling you is the truth." He glared at Mike and walked back into the guest room that he was staying in.
Everyone looked at each other. Fungus shook his head and followed his friend. He knew that he was going to have to comfort him. The death of Riley Boggs hit the lizard monster hard and he had not fully recovered from the grief.
Carla, Lankey's assistant took the book and opened it to the next chapter.
"Chapter 22: Giving into Grief.
It had only been a few months after my Papouli died and I was having a very hard time getting over his death. Now my grades were still the best and I was still the top in my class but I started to withdrawal further away from people. I even stopped talking to Cheyenne and Fungus. I knew that they were going to worry about me, but I didn't care.
I was sitting in class listen to Prof. Knight's lecture. It had only been a few days after his funeral. I usually stuck to avoiding everyone around me. I had been using my invisibility technique to my advantage. So far it's been working. As the bell rang, everyone gathered their things. It was Christmas break of my sophomore year. And the normally happy time for me, was nothing but despair. I had gather my things from my dorm and walked towards the enterance the university. And that resulted me walking past the fraternity row.
I looked over and saw all the fraternities and sororities mingling, especially with Oozma Kappa. Was I little bitter towards them? Only at ROR and Wazowski and Sullivan. Everyone else I didn't have a problem with. But seeing them so happy as they wished each other a Merry Christmas upset me. Everyone was happy except me. I growled to myself and made my way over to the entrance. I stood there waiting for Cheryal or Emilia to pick me up.
Unfortunately for me, one of the Oozma Kappa members came up to me.
"Hi there!"
I looked down to see the youngest member, Scott "Squishy" Scribbles. I only looked at him for a moment. He was wearing a green and yellow sweater, a matching scarf and green earmuffs. I grunted and looked away, tightening my purple scarf around my neck.
"You're Randall Boggs right? I remember you from our first scare games. You were really good."
I grunted again. I was not in the mood to deal with him. I just wanted to get home and wallow in my misery.
"I'm sorry about your family member. I saw you two together a few times. You looked very happy when you were together. Are you doing okay? You looked very upset after these few months."
I blinked and looked at him. I was speechless. No one had asked me if I was doing okay. I blinked back tears as the memories resurfaced. I didn't want to break down in front of him. He was about the same age as me or around the same age. Much to my disdain I crumbled and sobbed in my hands. I missed him so much.
"Oh!" he cried out and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me down to his level.
I was too upset to object. He just held me as I cried out my heart. All that pain, all the anger it was still in me. He should be alive. He should be here. I should be the one gone. But no, I was stuck here in on this pitiful ride I call my life. I could feel him stroking my back as he tried to calm me down. Eventually I pulled away, disgusted at myself. I wiped my tears away.
"Are you okay?"
"So what if I'm not?" I snapped. He looked at me in shock. I cursed to myself. "Look thanks for that but I didn't need it. I'm fine. I'm just… I'm still upset over my papouli's death. I didn't need your comfort."
He was about to say something to me but was interrupted when Emilia pulled up. I muttered a quick good bye to him and climbed into the car. I shut the door and pulled the seatbelt over me.
"Hi honey," Emilia smiled at me.
"Yea hi," I muttered, crossing my arms in front of me.
"Aren't you going to say good bye to your little friend? He's waving to you."
I looked to see that he was. I looked away.
"He's not my friend. He's just a classmate. Can we go now?"
"Alright, alright."
I huffed and glared at my lap. Anger, sorrow, rejection, betrayal, abandonment flooded my whole body. I kept myself stiff and quiet as she drove. She must've assumed that I didn't want to talk. Good, I wasn't in the mood to. This was so unfair. When we got home, I just went straight to my room. I didn't even bother to say hi to Cheryal. Since Papouli's death, I haven't even talked to Cheyenne and Fungus. Mostly due to the fact that I felt no one wanted me around and I didn't want to be around anyone. Not only that, but my grief and low self esteem has caused me to depression and to start cutting myself. I never let anyone know. Especially my parents. They would flip out on me.
I sat on my bed staring at the wall. Memories of Papouli flooded into my mind and I feel to the bed sobbing quietly to myself. I felt so alone. My role model and only positive male figure in my life is gone. My friends I felt had wanted nothing to do with me. Even though I know I was pushing them away, what could I do? My life was broken the moment shortly after I was born. And Papouli's death just confirmed that I had no man in my life to turn to. Oh sure I had my uncle, but he's a criminal. My other uncles and cousins are too far away or hate me and my grandfathers… well they're more or less indifferent to me. I felt completely broken.
I groaned unhappily when I heard a knock on my door.
"Randall?"
"Go away Mom."
I was not in the mood to talk to anyone. I wanted to be alone.
"Randall Boggs, you come out this instant. You need to eat. You haven't eaten anything since Papouli died, now get out here or I'm going to drag you out."
I moaned and made my way over to the door and opened it. Cheryal looked at me in concern. I folded my arms in front of me.
"I'm not hungry."
"You're never hungry. And whether you are or not, you're eating. Let's go."
She grabbed my arm and pulled me downstairs. The whole time I was fighting her off.
"Let me go mom. I told you I'm not hungry. Can't I just stay in my room? I'll eat something later. Please mom. Just-"
"Randall enough." She snapped at me.
I huffed angrily as she dragged me over to the table. She pointed at my chair, a non-verbal command to tell me to sit and that I was eating no matter what. I sat down and rested my chin on my hand. I stared at the plate of Slimeburgers, moldy fries and soggy chips. I barely registered my parents taking their own seats as I stared at the food in front of me.
It took me a while to understand that my parents were trying to get my attention. I looked up at them.
"Huh, what?"
"Randall, we told you to eat." Emilia told me, motioning to my food. "And you're not leaving the table until you eat every bite."
I sighed and numbly started to chew on a chip. Of course with each bite it just made me feel so sick to my stomach. Slimeburgers were Papouli's favorite. I slowly stopped eating and went back to staring at my food. If Papouli was here he would've had five of these and joke that the slime was cow snot.
"But it's delicious cow snot at least," he chuckled.
I sighed. I really missed him. All the memories, all the fun, gone.
"Randall,"
I looked up to see Emilia and Cheryal looking at me with concern.
"Are you okay honeysuckle?" Emilia asked.
"No."
"What's wrong?"
I went quiet. Should I tell them the truth that I'm still upset over Papouli's death, or lie that I'm sick? Lying doesn't do me any good when it comes to them. They can read me like a book. I looked up at them.
"I miss him. So much. I want him to be here."
"Oh Randall." Cheryal crooned, pulling me into a hug. "We miss him too. I know you miss him. You two were so close. And we're both so glad that he spent time with you and babysat you when we went out. Remember the good times you had."
"That's what hurts. Everywhere I look it reminds me of him."
"I know baby doll. It's really hard to let go of the ones you love. Especially when they die so quickly. But you have to know that they are still with you even when they're gone. Because they'll always be in your heart and in your mind."
I nodded. But it didn't make me feel any better. I pushed my plate away from me and rested my head on my arms, my bottom arms hugging myself.
"Randall, please eat." Emilia begged me. "You're wasting away into nothing."
"I'm not really hungry…" I muttered.
Cheryal shoved my plate back towards me.
"You either eat or I'll start feeding you like a toddler Randall. Which do you prefer?"
"I'll eat…"
I took a hold of my slimeburger and slowly started to eat. I stopped halfway of eating my food and pushed it away once again.
"Can I go now?"
Cheryal looked at Emilia and she nodded.
"Alright you can go. But don't lock yourself in your room all night."
"No promises." I muttered, walking out.
Once I got up to my room, I shut the door and went back to lying on my bed. Nothing they said made me feel better. I felt worse than I did when I went down. No matter what my parents said it didn't cheer me up. I know they want to make me happy. But it seemed to be end once he died. Even though I know he would be in my memories, it didn't stop make me wish that he was back."
"Getting over the death of a love one can be very hard…" Celia commented.
"I think Randall's Papouli said just made me not like Slimeburgers anymore…" Claws stated, swallowing the vomit rising in his throat.
They looked to the hallway that Randall was down in. It was hard to believe that this cold-hearted reptile, was just someone stuck in the grieving process. Missing a relative when they died was a feeling most of them knew. So they figured his grouchy behavior was just him still upset over his many great grandfather's death, and only time would tell them if he would get over it.
Thank you all for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter!
