Hello again!

I managed to finish my second chapter last night – I`ve looked it over so many times, and now I need to get it off my mind and into the world! It`s only 7am here, but I can`t wait any longer - time to publish!

Thanks for the reviews on the first chapter:)

Sooo, this is the chapter where Randall gets back to Monstropolis – of course with some obstacles along the way. It was so much fun to write this one, and I hope you will enjoy reading it too – I`m really nervous when it comes to your opinions, and I hope I won`t let you down..!

Also, please note that I am Norwegian, and English is only my second language. If I have errors in my grammar or my spelling, I ask you to please forgive me;) I`m doing my best!

That`s all I have to say for now, here`s the new chapter! Have fun!

Chapter 2: Monstropolis Sweet Monstropolis

George Sanderson was happy to be back at work. After the scandal with Monsters Inc.`s former boss, Mister Waternoose, the factory had been closed for more than a month, and although George had enjoyed having some time off, he had been missing his colleges and friends from work – and the work itself too, after a while.

Luckily his friends, James P. Sullivan and Mike Wasowski, had managed to make a deal with the right people, and now the factory was up and running again – but with one big difference; earlier, George had been a scarer, a monster who went into children`s bedrooms at night to scare them and collect their screams. Now, he worked as an entertainer – a monster who entered children`s bedrooms, still in the night time, but to make them laugh.

Laugher was the monster world`s new source of energy now, and was what the workers were going to collect from now on. It was way more powerful than screams, and to tell the truth, George felt so much better about himself when he made the kids laugh instead of scream.

It was the first day at work since the factory had re-opened, and George was on his fifth door of the day, feeling very satisfied with himself. He had just smashed a watermelon to his head, which had caused a little girl to laugh so much she had cried. He felt confident and happy as he half walked; half danced through the door to get back into the factory, and shared a smile with his laugh-assistant as he was closing the door behind himself.

Right before the door was fully shut, it was suddenly pulled open again with a mighty force; George, who still had his hand on the handle, was pulled back into the bedroom, where he fell over. While lying on the wooden floor, crawling, he could swear that somebody was stepping right over him, but he couldn`t see anyone – he just felt the weight and what clearly felt like someone`s feet. But it all happened so fast, and the whole experience was over as soon as it had begun.

George got back up on his feet, confused but fine. With a startled look on his face, he walked back out through the door again, only to be met by a cry from his assistant saying "2319!" As he looked down at himself, he noticed a sock being stuck on his left knee which was where his assistant was pointing. Bad memories caused him to run and hide behind his desk, but this time, the only thing happening was Mike telling the eager assistant;

"Can it will ya, children are no longer toxic, remember?"

George let out a relived sigh, and came out from his hideout, accepting the towel handed to him by Sulley to clean of the melon-mess. Very soon he had forgotten about the whole experience.

Randall`s heart was beating so fast and loud he was actually afraid that somebody would hear it and discover him despite his camouflage. He could hardly believe it, but he was back where he belonged! He had managed to get through George Sanderson`s door without being spotted or sensed by anyone – well, maybe except from George Sanderson himself, but he didn`t count (everybody knew he had caught a little nerve problem after some bad experiences with the CDA earlier) - and then he had gotten himself successfully out of the factory without any further problems.

By now, Randall was out on the street, running when he had the energy to do so, determined to reach his own apartment as quick as possible and without encounters with anyone. It felt so weird to be back. He had been dreaming about this for more than a month, but now that he was finally here, it felt like no time had gone by at all. Everything looked, smelled and felt just like it had done a month ago, before his banishment. It`s as if I`ve never been gone at all, he thought to himself as he reached the building that held his apartment, a little insulted by the fact that the life in Monstropolis hadn`t stopped when he went missing.

Randall lived a good twenty minutes` walk outside the city centre, in a nice, calm neighbourhood mostly populated by elderly citizens. The white building he lived in was surrounded by a well groomed lawn, a fence with a gate, some rose bushes and a stone laid patio, and held only seven apartments that were all big, light and modern. It was a rather expensive place to live, but Randall had received a big inheritance after his late parents on his eighteenth birthday, so he managed well.

He lived alone, and liked it that way; it allowed him to decorate his home the way he wanted and eat what he wanted, and he had the luxury of being able to do what he wanted, when he wanted. If he wanted to go out for dinner, he did. If he wanted to relax on his couch with a movie, he did. If he felt like going to bed early, he did. He was the manager of his own life, and right now, there was nothing he wanted more than to enter this wonderful building of paradise (which had never looked this beautiful before), turn the key, and –

By the time he reached his mailbox, Randall realized that he didn`t have his key. He always kept it in his locker when he was at work, and (obviously) he hadn`t thought about retrieving it before Mike and Sulley had thrown him through that darn door. He growled, and noticed that the well familiar headache was on its way again. For a moment, he actually thought about going back to the factory and pick up the key, but he realized it probably wouldn`t be there. His locker had almost certainly been given to somebody else, why shouldn`t it? He didn`t work there anymore, and - as he had to admit to himself - he was perfectly happy about that.

He had used to love his job as a scarer, but he had a strange feeling that the company was a bit different now; he hadn`t taken much time to look around when he came back through Sanderson`s door, be what he had seen had been more than enough – it appeared to Randall that the monsters were all working as clowns or something now, and he didn`t even want to think about himself having a job like that. What could possibly be worse than to humiliate yourself every day? Just the idea of it made him feel sick.

No, Randall couldn`t care less about the fact that his locker at Monsters Inc. could possibly be in the possession of somebody else now, but as he gave that idea a closer thought, a new fear struck him; what if the same thing had happened to his apartment? What if someone was in there right now, enjoying themselves in his home? Randall clenched his fists, as if he was preparing an attack on the intruders, but then he managed to calm himself down - the apartment was probably still his;

I have only been gone for a month. Nobody sells an apartment that fast, it`s still mine, it has to be.

The more he thought about it, the surer he got. Besides, it wasn`t like the place belonged to the police now or anything. With himself believed to be gone for good, the place would probably have been handed over to his sister; and she wasn`t exactly the type of person to put an apartment up for sale in such a short amount of time. If he knew her right, she probably hadn`t even been over to see it yet.

Now that he was sure nobody else had moved into his apartment, Randall felt a little calmer. But getting himself in there was still a problem; there was no way on earth he would pay a visit to his sister to retrieve the key, and he didn`t want to break a window or anything either. This was tricky. And the growing, irritating headache made it even harder for Randall to think. It was annoying to know that his glasses – his shining knight, his relief from headaches - were practically right there above him, but that he couldn`t reach them due to a darn door. Once again there was a door between him and his target, and he seriously doubted George Sanderson would come out of this one and leave it open for him.

After a good twenty minutes of thinking – and moaning - Randall remembered that he had given a copy of his key to the old lady who lived next door to him in the building – just in case. While praising his former self for the brilliant idea, he walked over to the doorbells;

"The only thing lacking now is that she`s dead", he thought to himself as he pushed the button saying "Gladys Lorenzo".

While waiting for her to answer, he looked over at the button right next to it, and was relieved to see that it still said Randall Boggs.

After a few long seconds of impatient waiting, a squeaky voice finally answered through the speaker:

"Yes? Who is this?"

"It`s… Umm…", Randall wasn`t prepared for this; "It`s… Boy scouts, mam..! I`m the leader of a local troop, and… We… We were… Only wondering if you needed any help with anything in the house..?"

Good God. He wanted to punch himself in the face, there was no way on earth she would buy this crap;

"We`re… Well… Sort of trying to get ourselves a new badge..!" Randall rambled on, but on the inside he just felt the urge to turn around and leave before Mrs Lorenzo would consider calling the police. This wasn`t going anywhere, he was only fooling himself.

"Oh!" the voice said through the speaker, and to Randall`s big surprise, the old lady sounded very pleased;

"Are you saying you`re here to help me? How lovely of you boys! Let me see… There is something, actually – I think… If you would be so kind, I could need a little…" A short pause followed, as if Mrs Lorenzo needed a moment to think;

"You know, I think it would be easier if you could all just come on up! It`s easier for me to explain if I can just show you!"

The music of gifted angels wouldn`t have sounded more wonderful to Randall`s ears than the buzzing sound of the door being unlocked. It was solemnly the most beautiful thing he had heard in his entire life, and he felt sixteen pounds lighter as he opened the door and stepped into the hall – well, thirty pounds lighter, maybe; sixteen was the amount of weight he had already lost during his month in the shed.

Well inside, Randall quickly headed for the stairs. He lived on the second floor, and he preferred the stairs rather than the elevator. They provided him with a little extra exercise, and (maybe most importantly) in the stairs he would never get stuck with any of his neighbours; one of his least favourite things in the world was being stuck inside the tiny elevator with some of the old monsters living in the building. They were always keen on talking to the "youngster", although Randall was approaching 29, and all they ever talked about were days gone by or their grandchildren. Their talking was often supplemented by them pinching his cheeks or patting his back (or both), telling him what a sweet guy he was.

Although Randall found most of his neighbours annoying, he was happy to live across the hall from Mrs Lorenzo. She was different; when she talked to him, she was interested in him and how he was doing – not in letting him in on the latest gossip about her daughter-in-law or her grandson`s girlfriend`s sister. She was a nice old lady who almost looked like she resembled a prune, she was warm and friendly, and sometimes she even came over with dinner, bread or a cake for him. As a thank you, Randall would normally help her with her groceries every Friday, or with different jobs in her apartment; change of light bulbs and stuff. But Randall, who didn`t want to be known as the sweet guy who was assisting the elderly, had told Mrs Lorenzo not to tell anyone about their arrangement – if she told people, every single senior citizen in Monstropolis would probably contact Randall and start asking him for favours. He didn`t want that. He didn`t want that at all, and Mrs Lorenzo was wise enough to understand; just another reason to like her.

When Randall reached the second floor, he went over to Mrs Lorenzo`s door right away, still camouflaged. He rang her doorbell and then quickly slithered back to the stairs and up in the ceiling, waiting impatiently for her to open the door. He didn`t like the idea of tricking her, but he didn`t really have a choice – he couldn`t let anybody know he was back.

And as the old lady opened the door, he started calling for her in a voice that was a pitch or two higher than the one he normally used:

"Help! Please help me!"

"Who`s there?" Mrs Lorenzo turned towards him, but couldn`t see anyone – not surprisingly, since she had bad eyesight. The fact that Randall was invisible could also have something to do with it, though.

Randall yelled again; "I fell on my way down the stairs! I can`t move! Please help me!"

As the old lady started moving for the staircase, Randall, still in the ceiling, started crawling towards her door, moving very carefully so that she wouldn`t sense his presence. When he reached the door, he turned and took a look over his shoulder to make sure she was on her way down the stairs, before he quickly entered her home.

Mrs Lorenzo`s home was warm and cosy, but it was a little too filled up for Randall`s taste; she had little china monsters everywhere, thick rugs covered every single inch of every single floor, she had enough pillows to fill up a hotel, and the walls were all covered in pictures of friends and family – Randall even found one of himself, taken while he was changing the light bulb in her bathroom. He wanted to take it down and burn it, but reminded himself that he had an important job to do.

Randall knew Mrs Lorenzo kept her keys in a drawer in the hall, and opened the first one he saw. No key. He opened a second one. More pictures, no key. He opened a third one. A bottle of bath salt, a newspaper, more pictures (even another one of himself, in this one he was changing the light bulb inside her oven), still no key.

He could feel panic on its way; Mrs Lorenzo could be back any moment, he had to find his key now. Fourth drawer - no key. He growled and looked over his shoulder. Fifth drawer – no key. He could feel a drop of sweat running down his forehead. Sixth drawer – keys! Lots of keys..!

"She must be holding the keys to the entire block", he though, looking for the one that would get him back through his own door. He eventually found it in the back of the drawer, with a little pink label saying "Randy B." on it. She had drawn a little heart behind his name, which Randall pretended not to see. He quickly grabbed the key, shut the drawer and hurried back through the front door and into the hallway.

Still no sign of Mrs Lorenzo, luckily; she was probably on the ground floor trying to figure out who had called for help – and what had happened to the boy scouts. Randall felt bad about tricking her, but figured he`d make it up to her on another occasion – maybe he would let her take a picture of him changing another light bulb.

The feeling Randall got when he put his key in his door was unlike anything he had ever felt before. He turned it, got the door open and quickly stepped inside. He carefully closed the door, afraid to make a sound and attract the neighbours` attention, locked it from within and placed the key on a little table in the hall. Then he went through the hall and into his living room, closing all the curtains, before he entered his bedroom.

He looked around, and was pleased to see that everything looked just the way it had done when he had left it a month ago – he almost cried when he found his glasses on the night stand, and everything was nice and tidy as usual. Randall closed the curtains in that room as well and turned off the light. Then he could finally collapse on his neatly made bed. He was home.

Okay, that`s it for now – what do you think? I got the idea of making Randall a well held guy with a nice apartment when I saw Monsters University for the third time – I noticed that his bedcovers and bags had a Louis Vuitton-inspired pattern on them, and thought that he could come from a wealthy family or something:) Anybody else who noticed?

I hope you liked this chapter, I`m working on the next one as we speak - it will have Randall`s sister in it. Rex, Randall`s adorable nephew, is also going to be in this story, but not for a few more chapters.

I`m going away this weekend, but I hope to get the next chapter out before I leave on Friday – and if I don`t reach it, I promise I will publish it on Sunday!

Have a good day everyone!