Chompy (ONC 2021)

~3~

"Have you ever glooped before?"

Now I've done many crazy things in my nine years of life–pretending to have a cold and skipping school, putting a slice of cheese in my PB&J (don't try this at home)–but I've never glooped.

We had stayed up all last night trying to come up with a plan to save Chompy from his family, and the monster figured showing me the situation would help me process things better. He explained there were only two ways in and out of the monster world. One was said glooping, and the other cast a dark shadow across the monster's face.

It couldn't be that bad... could it?

Chompy gnawed on his bottom lip. "There's a portal in the mountains, but that's Nightcrawler territory. The whole place will be swarming with elite monsters. I don't think I can handle it, forget about you."

I peered out my window past the treetops at the hills that led into the mountains. My elementary school often took us hiking during the spring and fall to look at the cool plants. But to me, nothing about it was cool. It was a great reminder how out of shape I was–a reminder that I spent all my time sharpening only my mind. WAIT!

"Chompy, are you free this Friday?" I sat up excitedly. Maybe it was a good thing I dedicated most of my free time to study because otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to think outside the box.

"Friday..." the monster pulled out a small blob from his side. A digital screen lit up the blob, and he swiped the surface as if it were a smartphone. It made me all the more eager to see the monster world for myself.

"Ooh, I have a dentist appointment in the morning. Gotta sharpen my fangs, you know?" He continued scrolling down his schedule, face lighting up as he showed me the screen. "Looks like I'm free all afternoon and evening. I do have to be back by night to clock in for my under-the-bed shift."

I couldn't stop the corners of my lips from raising into a smile. Just four more days. But in the meantime, I needed to learn as much as possible.

"What's that?" Chompy asked.

I'd never been happier to reach for my big, purple binder. I'd had the old thing since first grade, and it was jammed full of notes. Slowly, I turned to a new section and added a sticker label. Mom always told me it was good practice to label and divide the subjects I studied in my binder, something I came to dread because that meant another section full of notes I'd have to commit to memory. My glittery purple ink pen scratched at the label. ALL ABOUT MONSTERS.

"Tell me everything," I beamed. "I wanna know all about your world. Let's start with glooping. What's that?"

Chompy used hand gestures and tried to summarize the process in words, but he could tell I wasn't following along. After he had said "you just gloop" for the thousandth time, I waved my hand to stop him.

"How about a demonstration? Maybe if I see this so-called glooping, I can write about it." I readied myself, pen in one hand and my eyes fixated on the blue creature. But the whole thing happened so fast, I wasn't sure if I had blinked and missed everything.

"One more time," I pleaded. "Can you try going in slow-motion?"

Chompy shifted his weight between his feet like he was preparing to go into a boxing match. He steadied his breathing before inhaling sharply and–

"Whoa," I breathed. Just like that, Chompy melted into a slimy, blue puddle and evaporated into thin air. And seconds later, small blue droplets appeared out of the air, condensating into a puddle.

"Ta-da!" Chompy panted once he'd completely reformed. "Glooping is one of those things you need to do fast. Imagine going down a slide. It takes less effort to simply go down and give into the forces of gravity. But when you try to slow yourself down, it takes more effort to slow your momentum. Same with glooping."

My pen scribbled fervently across the page. "Now you're using words I understand."

I watched Chompy gloop a few more times, recording every detail I could. The most interesting part was that he didn't make a sound. There were no plops, or bumps, or "ouch, my head!" as he reformed.

"Do you think I can gloop, too?" I never thought I'd add wanting to evaporate to my bucket list, but then again, I never planned on meeting the monster under my bed. Life was just that unpredictable.

Grumble~

Before Chompy could answer, another low rumble vibrated through the floorboards. It was already 5 AM, and in an hour, I'd have to start getting ready for school. It wouldn't hurt to eat breakfast a little early.

"Sorry, I usually eat around 3 AM, but we were so caught up talking about things." Chompy reached his hand up, letting it evaporate into a cloud of bubbles. He made a face as if he were sliding his hand along a shelf searching for something, and finally, his hand materialized again with a granola bar in his fist.

"Oh, I didn't mean to startle you. I forgot to mention that it's possible to gloop certain body parts. For instance, my friend Roary has a younger brother that always gets into trouble in Monstruo City. So Roary usually gloops his tail to smack some sense into him whenever he's working in the human world. It's a neat feature."

At that moment, I was thankful this ability was limited to monsters. I couldn't imagine getting a bad grade on a test and seeing Mom's hand come out of nowhere to smack me. Curiously, I poked out the granola bar in Chompy's fist and gagged.

"Ew, that's the gross stuff grown-ups eat. Come with me. It's my turn to introduce you to the human world."

Even though we had another thirty minutes until my parents woke up, I wanted to be extra careful. One wrong move, and my parents could catch us. I pointed out to Chompy which floorboards creaked and which didn't. He was amazed by my memorization skills, but then again, I did what it took to survive in this household.

I helped Chompy into a chair before whisking myself into the pantry to grab some snacks. Chips, cookies, jello, chocolate pudding–I stuffed as much as I could into my tiny arms. Chompy was a big fan of the jalapeno chips, and he chomped cookie after cookie until his stomach ached. One slurp of jello, and breakfast nearly made a reappearance. Apparently, the consistency of jello reminded the monster too much of the gelatinous substance he became when glooping. I could see how that could be off-putting.

With our time together slowly winding down, I packed a few cookies and a bag of chips for Chompy to-go. Daylight was approaching, and it was time for Chompy to gloop back to the monster world. Soon, I'd have to go to school myself and return back to my dull life. I secretly wished that the day would pass fast, so that I could talk with Chompy all night. But part of me was nervous. What if night time came around, and there was no monster under my bed? What if I opened my eyes and realized Chompy was one big dream?