Chompy (ONC 2021)

~4~

It's funny how my nightmares used to be all about the monster under my bed. With every bump and hiss and scrape, I used to grit my teeth a little harder. If I can't see it, it can't see me. The same phrase fell from my lips like a mantra. But now I didn't have to be asleep to fall into a nightmare. Just like I had feared, Chompy didn't show up night after night. Maybe I really had imagined the whole thing.

"Isa dear, you had a test in science today, right? Can I see your score?" Mom asked with a sweet smile on her face. I forked the paper over, and her worry lines became so prominent, I thought she'd traced them with a permanent marker.

"Isa, are you sure this is yours? Maybe there's some sort of mistake. You've never made a B before. An 85 is too low, dear." Her voice was dangerously low, and even though she chose her words carefully, I could hear the faint hint of anger and disappointment.

"Sorry. I'll do better next time," I apologized. Here it comes.

Mom passed my "bad grade" to Dad who grimaced. He placed his fingers on the bridge of his nose under his wire-rimmed glasses, as all stressed adults do.

"Isa dear, you know your mother and I are both scientists, right?" he started. "And Luca is studying medicine. Science runs through our family's veins."

I wanted to stand up for myself and tell him that no, science didn't run through my veins. Blood did. But I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate my scientific-based answer after scoring badly on my science test. I was certain stuff like this wasn't genetic, though.

"You can't disgrace us by doing poorly in science of all subjects," Dad shook the paper in my face. "I'm going to make practice tests for you based on your weakest topics in science. And you're going to score perfectly in every one of them if you want to go on your hiking field trip tomorrow."

My body froze, and I craned my neck to look at my parents. They couldn't possibly rob me of my class trip to Mt. Helleron. That was my last hope of seeing Chompy again. There was still the slightest possibly he'd rendezvous with me Friday afternoon, but I couldn't get my hopes up. I never walked him through the plan, so he wouldn't even know where to meet me.

"Go to your room and study the parts of a cell. I'll be in to quiz you shortly," Dad pointed to the hallway where my bedroom was. There was no way I was missing out on this trip. Chompy or not, I wanted to see the world of these monsters.

With a little too much zest, I flung myself into my room and reached for my notes on the cell. I wasn't going to let my parents hold me back anymore. My glittery purple gel pen accompanied me throughout the night, both of us memorizing diagram after diagram.

"Mitochondria–powerhouse of the cell," I grumbled under my breath as I drew the squiggly figure in my notes. "Nucleus–the cell's brain."

I studied like that for what felt like hours until Dad came in with practice quizzes like he'd promised. The questions were much more difficult than I'd anticipated. They took what I'd learned and asked me to apply them, kinda like our final exams in school. I shouldn't have expected anything less from my father.

"Remember, if you miss a question, you have to take another quiz," Dad reminded me.

He hovered over me, watching my reasoning before I circled my final answers. The one thing I both loved and hated about my family was that they always thought of me as some puny nine year-old. They didn't understand that I was a force to be reckoned with.

You underestimated me. I handed the completed quiz to Dad who looked it over and sighed. I bet he thought I'd need a few more quizzes to drill the concepts into my mind.