Lost In Purple

Chapter 82: What We Dreamed Of

Melanie's POV

"Melanie," Professor King states as everyone gets ready for the scarers to enter, "What's with all the Scare Profiles over here?"

He's referring to the stack of fifty folders containing information about human children on the desk in the corner of the Scare Floor. I pulled them out of the boxes that are just laying on top of them and are used for this very purpose. All the Scaring Assistants can use and peruse them, at least…they're supposed to. I'm the only one who's using it, but that's probably because I don't have a folder or notebook of children to refer to like everyone else. Scarers usually have a handful of children they scare each day, and their selection doesn't normally change because fears don't normally change. In other words, most of the Scaring Assistants don't need to show their scarers who they're scaring next. They've all memorized each child and what makes them scream by now.

Anyways, every child has their monster and I'm on the hunt to find all of the overly religious children who are deathly afraid of demonic beings. There are several other fears that I can exploit as well, but that's the primary phobia I'm looking for. I figured it would be better to give Johnny children that he can easily scare first before finding any that might prove difficult. He gave me a whole spiel about how frustrated he's been with not being able to scare as much as he wants to after all.

"S-Sorry! I was cross-referencing and collecting and…I thought it would be helpful to let Johnny see what I found and…um, should I…put them away?" I rant.

Professor King raises his hand and gestures for me to calm down. "I'm just curious. It's important to keep our stations clean, but yes, it's also a good idea to check with your assigned scarer. Are you confident that these are good matches for Johnny?"

I nod and walk behind the Scare Terminal while picking at my claws. "I…I hope so."

"You hope so? That doesn't sound very confident to me," Professor King replies, "Do you need a quick refresher on Johnny's strengths?"

"No. I remember them all…I just…I feel like Johnny doesn't have any strengths or weaknesses…he's just scary no matter what. I just don't want to match him with a child that he doesn't think is worth scaring or something," I explain while looking through three of the profiles.

"Every child is worth scaring, even if they're not an exact match," He states proudly, "…Look, just take a deep breath. Johnny will be very trusting of your work, and I mean that. You were the first person ever to make him question his knowledge on scaring."

"Wh-what? Really?" I gasp.

"Oh yes, he's never had anybody compare to him in intelligence. He went on and on about it in class, and honestly, I would have never thought to see him be so self-conscious before. Trust me, even if you don't believe you've got this, the world's best does," Professor King replies.

While that's great to hear, I still think it would beneficial for him to at least peer-review my selection. By technicality he's not allowed to be picky, but…I want him to have fun scaring again. It shouldn't be that hard for him, I mean, he checks off every requirement for every human child. He's shown me that he's a master imitator. He can imitate cats, dogs, lions, and all sorts of human world creatures along with zombies, devils, vampires, dragons, and other creepy mythological beings. He's a literal giant that elicits fear regardless of who you are. He can utilize the environment around him to create a thick atmosphere that can tap into fears of extreme weather, isolation, imperfection, and cataclysmic environmental change. He has incredible sight, sharp claws, bone-crushing teeth, and a new kind of athleticism and bodily structure that digs deep into the phobias of needles, blood, being chased, and death itself. Like at this point, he's able to instill panphobia which is…well, the fear of everything.

I explain all of this to the Professor, and he believes it without any kind of doubt. "Hmm, alright. We'll see what he thinks. I'm actually happy you're forcing him to broaden his horizons a little and giving him some new human children to petrify."

"Really?" I ask.

"Yep. Like I said before, he was being a royal pain to cooperate with. He only really accepted five or six human children to scare in total since he started working here. It's not that he didn't not want to scare the others, but…you know, he generates more screams with just those picks. I mean who would complain about that?" Professor King answers with a prolonged sigh.

I let out a loud scoff to vent my frustrations. "I'm totally going to smack him when he arrives."

"I'm not going to stop you," He replies, "Just please don't make him even more upset."

Professor King then turns his attention to the few scarers that have showed up. For some reason they're all the scarers who are positioned closest to the entrance of Scare Floor 10. Johnny is positioned…all the way at the back actually. We're as far away as we can be, right in the center for anyone and everyone to see. It makes me wonder if they place the better scarers in the middle or if it's just a tremendous coincidence.

I watch as all the Scaring Assistants scramble to get everything in order. Professor King helps a couple of them too because their scarers will be extremely unhappy that they're so far behind. Personally, I wouldn't be happy if I were to show up to work and absolutely everything is in shambles; Nothing's organized, everything's broken, people are screaming at each other. I silently pray for everything to go smoothly today before continuing watching as keycards are used to send doors down the rail system and onto the floor so that they can be drowned in a pink glow. Wagons of scream canisters are pushed by tiny, minuscule monsters and hooked up within five seconds flat by simply moving them onto the rotating scream can assembly lines right next to the doors. It's…pretty chaotic in here, and it only continues to get worse when more scarers grace us with their mediocre presence. Some of them talk to their Scaring buddies, laughing up a storm or gossiping about the latest thing they heard about a monster of the opposite sex. Other scarers even scream and scream and scream at their assistants for being unprepared, which again isn't astonishing in the slightest.

To keep myself from obtaining secondhand embarrassment, I quintuple check that all my Scaring profiles are alright, but that's almost immediately interrupted.

"Well if it isn't Melanie Everett of the Roar Omega Roar fraternity!" A deep voice hollers down the Scare Floor.

My head jerks upwards and to the right. At first my brain doesn't compute who's coming in my direction, but with a second or two my neurons link and allow me to make a connection. It's Chip. Just like Johnny, he's taller and stronger than when I last saw him.

Chip reaches his hands out for a hug, raises his eyebrows, and rotates his head to the side as he walks up. It's like he's silently saying 'how about it' but won't take no for an answer. By lunging away from the work desk, I find myself into his arms and raised into the air. There's no way to explain why this is something that happens to me all the time, but that's not something to complain about. However, the embarrassment brought on by seeing a whole flock of scarers making their way to their stations and watching this unfold is what I should be verbally complaining about.

"How have you been?" Chip questions as he sets me down and crosses his arms with a toothy smile.

"U-um," I laugh, "I've been alright, just a little bored. Everyone's also looking at us now so there's that."

"Oh pffft," He chortles, "First of all, that's good to hear, second of all, don't even think about these losers. They're pretty much all from Fear Tech and can't get promoted for the life of them."

"Oh…wait, if you're on this floor, wouldn't you be a loser too then?" I counter.

I only said that because we don't really know these scarers on a personal level. Not every Fear Tech student is bad, and for all we know they could be having trouble trying to find their strengths. And who knows, maybe there is a problem with the Scaring Assistants that I just haven't seen yet.

"Damn, Melanie. It's my first time seeing you in months and you're already throwing some shade at me," Chip chuckles.

"Well yeah, it's my first time seeing you in months and you're already being mean to your peers," I assert while closing my eyes and sticking my snout in the air.

"Ok ok, point taken. Although it's true when I say that there aren't any friendly scarers on this floor aside from Johnny," Chip responds.

He proceeds to head to the station right next to Johnny's. I make sure to pick up the countless amounts of scaring profiles I dug up before joining back up with him across the…Scare Floor? Arena? Stage? I'm still unsure of the architecture style here.

"Has the Professor been kind to you? He's been an absolute nightmare for us to deal with these past few months," Chip interrogates.

I about sprint over and send my fist right into his throat. WHY? WHHHHHHYYYYYY? Why have they turned into children in such a short period of time? Have they finally figured out what it's like to not get what you want with the snap of a finger?

"Chip I swear to god," I sigh, rubbing my right temple after shifting all the profiles to my left arm.

"Huh? Say again?" He asks after looking at his unready door station.

"Professor King was as great as always, but why is it that I'm hearing about you two being the most unbearable employees known to monster-kind?" I ask as I take my position beside Johnny's Control Panel.

"Wha-Who said that?" Chip counters.

He stares deep into my soul with furrowed brows and his mouth is slightly open so that his teeth can be seen. He is in genuine disbelief.

"Professor King and apparently every Scaring Assistant that's been thrown your way!" I declare.

He's taken aback and stutters so badly that it sounds like he's beatboxing. He even puts his hand on the back of his head before scratching it. Ooooo, you're regretting it now aren't you!? Maybe you should think twice before throwing temper tantrums at work and subsequently making your role model disappointed in you! The catharsis I'm feeling is indescribable right now!

What's funny is Professor King comes running down the Scare Floor and grabs Chip's attention. "Mr. Goff, I'm glad I caught you. How are we feeling today?"

"I'm fine. Had a little difficulty falling asleep last night, but aside from that I'm fine," Chip answers, "What about you? Are things…getting harder for you?"

Why do I feel like this is going to be an amusing conversation to listen to? Maybe it's because of Professor King holding his hands behind his back and looks fed up.

"Could be better. I was just informed that your current Scaring Assistant has requested to change Scare Floors entirely because of your attitude and inability to cooperate," The Professor discloses.

Chips eyes slowly drift off towards mine as his skin changes to a pale fuchsia. I would too if I had just made a fool of myself in real time like he did.

"Oh so that's why your station is empty!" I laugh while placing my hand over my mouth.

"Unfortunately so. Melanie, I know it's your first day on the job, but may I ask you to help Chip out for the time being? I'll be on standby if you need any clarification or an extra hand," Professor King proposes.

I instantly stand tall and lose the grin that developed across my face. I thought I was going to go about this at my own pace, and now here I am having to double my workload. "No no no, I'm not here to babysit, Professor."

He places his fist in front of his mouth and opens his eyes wide to look at Chip. "Oh shit. Then I guess you're out of luck until we find a replacement."

Professor King stomps off and Chips arms go flailing into the air, begging him to stop and negotiate some more by blocking his way. He's like a high school student who got one point off from a passing grade and will stop at nothing to get it rounded up. However, like the college professor that he once was, Professor King has Chip move to the side and let him pass by.

"There's nothing I can do, Mr. Goff. I'm tired of dealing with problems that you and Mr. Worthington complain about because they're 'lacking perfection.' Unless you can find someone willing to train you on how to work the Scare Terminals and Door Panels, as well as teach you the advanced properties of Quantum Mechanics and Door Technology within less than 10 minutes, then you'll have to find something to keep you occupied or you can leave," Professor King lectures.

With that, Chip is left standing in the middle of the floor dumbfounded. As much as he deserves to deal with the consequences of his own actions, I know that deep down all he wants is to work a serious job. I'll be honest, being paired up with all these monsters who supposedly aren't very skilled and half-ass their tasks would make me very impatient and unwilling to cooperate too.

"It's alright, Chip. I'll try my best to keep up with the two of you," I sigh.

"Th-thank you!" He shouts while putting his hands together like he's praying.

Once again, I bring more stress into my life because I'm naturally empathetic to those who are suffering. A real monster would have just let Chip deal with this all on his own, but yeah, me and my dumb mouth had to ruin the smooth shift ahead of me.

"I'm giving you two weeks to find an assistant. After that, I'm done. You're also going to have to learn how to deal with the consequences of your actions. I'm not letting Johnny come to your rescue anymore," I state sternly before continuing my search for good Scaring victims. Maybe Chip would be able to scare some the ones I've been looking at for Johnny?

"Wait what?" Chip asks looking slightly offended.

I scoff and chuckle at the same time. How does he not know what I'm talking about?

"Ok…so, there's this crazy concept called adulthood. Within it, you're just like everybody else…normal. You're not actually superior to anybody else on this scare floor, and you look like losers when you can't do your job like everybody else," I explain slowly.

The dead stare that floats over to me is hysterical. The only way to describe Chip's face is to say that he looks high on drugs. His jaw is dropped, his body is slumped, and his eyelids are closed a little bit. The big dummy has truly become…dumbfounded.

"I…I don't understand," Chip replies as I find three children that suit him perfectly.

"Shocker," I sigh, "I guess what I should say, is that you're living in my world now, not that fantasy world where everything goes your way. It still surprises me that everyone let you live like that."

He spends a few seconds to think it over and accepts his fate. I hope he understands that it's a fate that he can't necessarily escape, nor can anyone else. If you act like the biggest asshole in the world, people are going to see you as an asshole, and Chip clearly hasn't had the greatest start. Honestly, I'm kind of happy that this has happened though. This is one of the first few times I've felt like I can be normal, but that's probably because I'm not in a place where popularity means everything. It's either you do your job, or your life absolutely falls down the drain.

Chip remains on standby while I pull several more scare possibilities for him in mere minutes. I also line up a couple more for when he's finished with the ones before. A whole range of children are dug out of these folders, ranging from ages 5 to 11, and possessing common fears of lightning and thunder, demons, reptiles, and various large animals. I'm really happy that these were easy to get. Not having to jump through four-hundred hoops in order to look at them is sooooooooo nice.

I eventually give up after finding around thirty children that Chip would be able to scare. Just at that moment, a perfect coincidence happens, and some of the scarers that finally make their presence known shout at Chip to ask about me.

"Hey Chip! Who's the pretty lady?!" One asks while giving me a wink.

I groan and wish I could just run away. A PTSD moment is not something I need right now.

"New Scaring Assistant and scarer, but you'd better keep your eyes and hands to yourself unless you want Johnny to crush you!" Chip answers with a smile.

"What?! That cute little thing is a scarer?! Come on, why can't Johnny share the badass ones with us?!" Another says from the front of the Scare Floor.

Chip takes some steps towards the monsters in a defensive manner, causing everyone to look my way in a curious manner.

"I'm sorry, but I'm serious! You try something and Johnny will kill you…that is unless she kills you first!" Chip answers while crossing his arms.

Yeah it's time to ignore this. This is why I hate going outside. I somehow end up at the mercy of some weirdos who don't know about personal boundaries and make it their life's mission to try and swoon me. I wish they knew how much I hate them already. Maybe this is why they're all on Scare Floor 10. They juts use this position to look good…kind of like a couple ex-fraternity members I know.

I continue doing my job so that I can make a good first impression. I organize all the paperwork and look over both Johnny and Chip's door stations to make sure they're not broken or something. I make sure everything is connected properly, and that the Scare In process Indicator Light isn't flickering. There's only so much I can do before I start to get worried about Johnny though. There's a scarer occupying every station… except for his. Professor King even grabs everyone's attention and makes it known that the shift will be starting momentarily. He looks up at the nearest clock and notices that it's almost nine in the morning. He counts down from ten like he did the last time I was here and then everyone begins Scaring.

With the Professor's instructions, I hop over to Chip's station so that he can begin scaring with the proper supervision. He makes his confusion known alongside mine, sending me into a episode of uneasiness.

"Do you know where Johnny's at?" He questions.

I shake my head and watch as Chip's first door swiftly and silently falls to the ground and clicks into place. I sincerely hope that he didn't get sick or called into one of the offices or something. OH MY GOD WHAT IF HE GOT IN A CAR ACCIDENT!?

The Scare Floor is hopping and has been for almost two hours. Every scream canister fills up all the way before being whisked away to storage, and every monster comes out looking a tad bit stronger than they were before. Some assistants are even having breakdowns with how fast some of their scarers move. They can't even finish any paperwork or find the time to line up more doors. I've personally been doing fine because it feels like I've been doing this my whole life. I have my dad to thank for that.

Johnny still hasn't shown up though and that's starting to get under my scales. He's not the person to just skip out on his responsibilities, otherwise he wouldn't be the valedictorian I know him as. Luckily Professor King is on his way over.

"Um…Professor?" I ask catching him walk down the Scare Floor as everyone continues their Scaring flawlessly.

His ears perk up a little after observing the station before Johnny's.

"Miss Everett, what's up?" He answers to acknowledge my presence.

"Have you…um…seen Johnny, or at least heard anything about where he might be?" I ask.

The Professor shrugs and looks around my station to make sure I'm not overwhelmed. "I'm unfortunately just as clueless as you are."

"Do you think he's in trouble?" I ask with dread.

"Pfft," He snickers, "If anything, he's the one that started some trouble. I would guess it's something family related."

That doesn't make me feel any better. Everything would be tremendous if he could live without yet another stressful thing he has to worry about. Now that Professor King mentions it, it is just like him to get pulled into yet another unnecessary dilemma.

"I'll keep an ear open for you though. I would like to know why he's making our jobs harder again myself," Professor King adds.

He then helps me with managing Chip's station for another half an hour. He answers any questions I have and watches Chip's scream production closely. Chip went from human children that were scared of bears, to clowns, to loud sounds, and others. It was fun to see how each new door made him approach the door differently. There were times where he was on all fours, times where he was walking in while twitching, some where he would walk in fast while others were slow. There was non-stop thinking coming from him and it showed. While that was happening, I impressed myself by lining up enough doors for him so that he could complete his shift. That should be coming up here in the next half an hour, which also means that I'll be able to see what my dad has in store for his try-out. After everything he's said and done, I feel like he's not going to show us his full potential.

Anyways, Professor King gives me permission to finish up any remaining paperwork that I have for Chip's shift. I've been able to keep up with it the entire time, and I wasn't overstimulated to the point where I felt like this job wasn't for me, so that's a plus. I'll also admit that I enjoyed all of this too. It wasn't too physically demanding nor was it a job that requires so much thinking that my mind would melt like an icicle after a mere hour of labor. I guess there is something wrong with the Scaring Assistants here after all.

Once I finish the paperwork, I take a seat at Chip's desk and wait ten seconds before he closes his current door. I quickly swipe a door identifier card and have it sent down to his station without issue. He gives me a smile before opening up the next Scare profile to study and then leaves me to relax. I nearly begin watching the other monsters, who aren't that impressive to be honest, but I don't get very far into observing. Professor King calls out to me from Johnny's empty station.

"Miss Everett, Johnny seems to have showed up. Please be gentle with him though…he looks dead," The Professor divulges with little emotion.

My ears perk up and my heart begins racing as I look to the front of the Scare Floor. I've been wanting to see him so badly all morning…but Professor King is right…the giant purple monster who's always revealing his infectiously charming and cool nature, is instead drowning in hurt, despair, and possibly some humiliation. The only thing he can do is look down at the floor and wish that he was anywhere but here.

As I twist my body to face his direction, he places his index finger and his thumb in between his eyes to put pressure onto his head. After squinting pretty violently, I assume that he must have a headache or something. I wait for him to make his way down the Scare Floor, and when he comes close, I jump up and throw my arms around his head. He lets out a grunt at first, but then realizes what's happening; That frown immediately turns into a relieved smile, and he pulls me as close as can to replenish everything he lost today. The force he puts between our abdomens is comforting enough for me to know that everything will be alright and that he's not injured.

I bring my claws up to the top of his head, glide them down the side of his head and along his jaw. "Are you alright? What happened?"

"Don't worry about it," He responds with barely any power behind his voice.

Those muscular arms gently push me away and he takes the journey to a chair the Professor pulled up just for him. He also gives Chip a wave after he exits his door, which causes him to lose focus and join up with us.

"No John, we're done with that. Tell m- I mean, tell us what happened," I demand cautiously.

I feel like my mom whenever either me or dad is hiding something. It's either she learns about what happened or it's a week straight of unbearable harassment that's impossible to get rid of.

"Dude, you're almost three hours late. This isn't like you," Chip chimes in.

"And please understand that you're on even thinner ice now that you've technically abandoned your post," Professor King states seriously while checking on every other scarer from a distance.

Now cornered and at the mercy of Professor Kings wrath, he slumps down and lets his head lean against the very top of the chair's backrest. His legs spread out, he sighs heftily, and he wipes his right eye after closing it. Even though he looks more mature than he did a few months ago, he definitely looks more like a middle-aged monster having a crisis now.

"If you're that upset about everything, then you should all go speak with my father. He's the one who kept me from being on time," Johnny answers raspily.

Oh no, his voice is shot too.

"I'm sorry…but I can't tell if your being serious or just giving me another excuse to get me off your back," Professor King counters, "Seriously, you boys have been absolutely infuriating these past few weeks and I'm about done with all this trouble."

Something within me forces me to come to Johnny's aid. "Professor, I don't think he's lying this time. His voice is shot, and he's got bags under his eyes."

I then put the back of my hand against his forehead and feel the temperature of a blazing fire behind his skull.

"Oh Johnny! You have a fever!" I shout.

I can see Chip become worried and restless while the Professor groans and shoves his face into his hands.

"How are you already having health issues, Johnny?!" The Professor asks exhaustively.

Johnny just sighs and says, "I already told you, go talk to my father if you want to know what happened."

"No. I like Miss Everett's idea better. You're going to tell us what's going on so we can make things easier for you rather than unintentionally making this job a living nightmare… And you will also not be Scaring at all until this fever of yours goes away. Company rules," Professor King lectures.

"God damnit," Johnny growls.

Professor King then steps towards me to give me directions about what to do. "Miss Everett, please go to the cafeteria and ask for two bottles of water. They are free for employees, but since you don't have an Employee ID yet, they'll have to look you up in the system. If that doesn't work just tell them that I sent you and to put them on my account or something. I have to go get some mouth swabs to see if Johnny has contracted anything bad, and I'll get some cool washcloths to put to his head and neck."

He then turns to Chip. "As for you, make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. Keep him in the chair and don't let him leave."

Chip nods and watches as Johnny attempts to stand up. I push him back down though and look at his pupils dilate when he looks at me.

"John, stop. If it really is your dad that's caused this mayhem, then there's no reason to fight this."