Jamie stared at the human boy's foot like it wasn't registering in her brain. "Huh?" she said intelligently.
"Mmm," the boy chuckled. "Not quite the full quid, are we now?"
Jamie blinked, "What?"
"You're a strange sheila if ever I saw one," he went on, pushing his way past her. "Who knew I had a whole new world in my closet?" he glanced around. "What is this place, exactly?"
Jamie shook her head, "Listen, Mr., you're not allowed in here!"
"Mmmhmm," the redhead waved a distracted arm dismissively, and something inside of Jamie flared up. She was horribly ashamed to admit it, but it irked her that this little brat wasn't afraid of her. Granted, she wasn't really trying, but still, the kid didn't even seem surprised in the slightest to see her. It was...disconcerting, to say the least.
"Now listen here," Jamie said, trying to assume her father's authoritative voice. "You can't just go barging in without permission. Humans aren't supposed to be here!"
"Human," the boy replied observantly. "Something I assume you are not?"
"Not at all!" Jamie retorted. "And I don't think I'd want to be if all of them are as inconsiderate as you!"
"No, no, trust me," the boy assured, still looking around curiously. "I'm one of a kind."
Jamie crossed her arms, "Good, you little twerp."
"So, what are all these doors for?" he inquired offhandedly, tracing his fingers across the control panel in infatuation.
"They're portals to other dimensions that we use to torture nosy little children," Jamie snarled.
The boy smirked, "Wicked." With a resonating chuckle that echoed across the empty halls of Monsters Inc. like a foreboding omen, he slammed a fist down on the activation button. "Let's see what's behind door #1."
Jamie's eyes widened, "Don't you dare set a foot inside that door."
The boy snorted, "Or what, you'll ground me?" he turned the knob.
Too late Jamie lunged forward to stop the boy; she grabbed thin air and came crashing to the ground. Looking up to glimpse the door he had entered, a bone-chilling shiver shot up her spine. The door was wooden, like most of them, but appeared much more ancient...it carried an enchanting aura about it, and it was short and rounded at the top. She only glimpsed a shattered mirror within before it slammed shut.
"You!" shouted a voice from behind her.
Jamie whirled around to locate the owner of the voice. Standing behind her was another boy-but this one had a wooden arm. His jet black hair bore a streak of white. His pale blue eyes were like shimmering fragments of ice, yet somehow they were so hot they were burning holes through her.
She blinked, "M-Me?" she managed to choke out.
The black-haired boy approached her, "What the heck did you do?"
Jamie crossed her arms, coming back into her usual sassy persona, "Well, someone didn't get their full eight hours last night."
The boy scowled, "Listen, you moron. The entirety of the space-time continuum is at stake, so either put that insufferable prattle to good use and tell me all that I wish to know without petty non-sequiturs, or I shall instill within you the unfathomable agony of a thousand dying suns, thenceforth shall you experience the interminable scorch of my fury for the remainder of your pitiful existence."
Jamie snickered, "Sticks and stones, brother. Look," she added before he could spit another creepily poetic threat at her. "I don't even know what the heck is going on myself. I came here to clear my head and just the opposite happens!"
The boy buried his face in his palm, "I don't need you to understand anything, I just want you to tell me what happened."
Jamie smirked, recognizing her advantage, "Well...I might be able to help you, Mr...um, what's your name?" she asked innocently.
"Call me Kitty," he hissed venomously.
Jamie guffawed, "Kitty? What kind of name is that? Especially for a guy. Why would anyone-"
"Will you please shut up and tell me what I need to know?" Kitty seethed.
Jamie put her hands on her hips mockingly, "Well which one is it? I can't do both."
"Was there or was there not another boy just in here?!"
"There was."
"And what the heck were you doing activating all these doors when the laugh-floor is supposed to be locked up?"
"Well, that's really a funny story-wait," Jamie narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "How could a human boy know so much about Monsters Inc.?"
"I'm a time traveler," he said bluntly.
Jamie snorted.
Kitty shot her a piercing glare, "Don't believe me? Jamie Periwinkle Sullivan, daughter of James P. Sullivan, age 22, blood type O positive. At this point in time you will have been recently promoted to Chairman of the Board and tormented by your former peers because of it. You just had an argument with your father and came here presumably to clear your head. In fourth grade you accidentally poked someone's eye out with a pencil. You were dejected for weeks afterward, even though the victim's eye grew back the next day. You're the youngest Chairman in the history of Monsters Inc., you're probably feeling insecure about it and should currently be experiencing an abundance of doubt as a result, although you attempt to cover up this weakness through excessive spunk and fierce determination. I see right through your facade."
Jamie stared at him blankly, dumbfounded, "How...?"
"I've been hopping through this timeline since I was in diapers. I have studied every moment, every second of existence with a keenness you could never hope to achieve. I have cause-and-effect down to a science. My connection to time itself is undeniable, and I know my own timeline better than the back of my hand."
"Well, if you're so omnipresent, then how come you need me to tell you anything?" Jamie questioned.
"Attempt to wrap your mind around this," Kitty explained. "The original timeline has somehow deviated from its original course. Some temporal anomaly has tampered with time itself and changed the outcome. There's no telling how things will turn out, now that that child is out there messing things up. Not to mention that the temporal fluctuations may have a ripple effect and change important events of the past as well as the future."
Jamie shook her head, "In English, please."
Kitty sighed impatiently, "Look. What happens if you break one single point on a piece of glass?"
Jamie thought for a second, "It shatters."
"Right. The whole thing shatters. It's the same thing with the timeline. You change one point in time and the whole timeline breaks into irreparable fragments. Lucky for us, unlike a mirror, the timeline won't shatter all at once. When you drop a stone in the water, it creates a ripple, which slowly spreads out to the rest of the water. It's the same thing with the temporal fluctuations. Every time a temporal wave-a ripple, if you will-hits a point in time that we happen to be in, things will begin to change randomly. There's no predicting how exactly it will affect us."
Jamie nodded slowly, "Um...okay, I think I understand. But how could the timeline change? If you know about everything ever, then how did you not see this coming?"
"Because this isn't supposed to be happening!" Kitty threw his hands up in exasperation. "I don't know how, but somehow that boy, or something, managed to escape the original chronological events of time and change something! Don't ask me how, it's one of those freaking time paradoxes."
"And how does...did-I don't even know what tense to use anymore-this kid figure out how to time travel? How did you do it?"
Kitty looked at her incredulously. "Don't you know? Your little doors are portals through time!"