Chompy (ONC 2021)

~12~

Chompy, Roary, and I couldn't stop laughing, the three of us were in stitches as we imitated Toothy's shriek when he heard his father call for him.

"I'm never gonna forget how funny you sounded," Chompy wiped tears from his eyes. "But on another note, where are we?"

Luca brushed some leaves and dirt off his Roaring Thunders jersey. "Looks like we're at the scene of the crime. Mt. Helleron."

From our spot on the mountain, we could see the sun rising in the valley below. To think all of this had happened in one night was crazy. I could hardly wrap my mind around it. Was this what it felt like? To have friends? I'd never met people who could make me laugh like this until I lost track of time. I wasn't sure about many things in life, but I knew I didn't want this to end.

"The good thing about the m-monster world is that we do most of our activities at night, so we can carry out our p-plan without you two 'going missing'," Roary sat up. "We should get you home before your parents realize you're not tucked in b-bed."

The five of us glooped to the Guiluliani residence, all of us collapsing in exhaustion on the floorboards. We were running on too much adrenaline to fall asleep, so I pulled out my secret stash of snacks and passed them around. Luca even introduced Toothy to the liquid gold that was instant coffee, and the look in the Nightcrawler's eyes after his first sip said it all.

"I don't think I can ever drink water again. Can I get a refill?"

Luca and I both tiptoed downstairs. We needed more snacks and Luca needed to grab another cup of instant coffee. But as we rounded the corner that led to the kitchen, we found our parents sitting at the dining table.

"I really didn't want to be right this time," our dad crumpled in his chair. Mom, too, buried her face in her hands, clearly disappointed.

"Now I want you both to be very honest. Luca, why have been you coming home so often without telling us? And Isa, why have your grades been dropping? Mr. Zeno called us and said you scored a 70 on your spelling test! You know that's unacceptable. When you're a doctor, do you think it'll be okay to misspell things?" Dad furrowed his brows.

Mom gestured for us to take a seat, and at that moment, I knew there was no way out of this. Luca had spent all this time trying to protect me. He gave up everything so that I could have a shot at following my dreams. But here I was falling into the same trap.

"I'm sick and tired of all this," I snapped.

"Little bean," Luca rested a hand on my shoulder, but I shrugged it off.

"Why do you get to choose for us? You know all these useless science and math facts, but I bet you don't even know my favorite color!" I stood up and slammed a fist on the table.

"Do you know anything about me? Or Luca? Don't you ever wonder what my favorite songs are? Or how many goals Luca scores at his games? Do you know the kind of look he gets in his eyes when he runs across the field? Why do you keep seeing us as numbers? We're people! Humans!"

Mom and Dad stared at me, mouths hanging open in shock.

"We thought your hobby was studying," Mom started.

Luca laughed at her comment. "Yeah, that's a good one."

"Don't you get smart with me," our mother warned. But her expression softened as she tried to process my words. "So tell me. How do you like to spend your rainy days?"

"Baking. Whenever Luca had free time in high school, he'd help me bake all sorts of things," I remembered fondly. "I just want to be me."

Luca and I jumped at the sound of applause, and we turned to see Roary, Chompy, and Toothy peeking around the corner.

"You guys aren't supposed to be here!" Luca shifted his gaze from the monsters to our parents. I was pretty sure Mom and Dad would faint if they heard another word from the three scaly creatures.

"Honey! Didn't I tell you I heard voices at night? And this explains the crumbs we've been seeing!" Mom laughed.

Even Dad wore a small smile. "Wow, mystery solved," he mused. "To be honest, we've been suspecting that something has been going on in the house for the past couple weeks, but we thought maybe we were imagining it. You must be Toothy. You look a lot like your father, you know?"

Toothy's eyes nearly popped out of his head. And his tail tapped against the wooden planks anxiously. "You know me? And my father?"

Dad sighed and took a deep breath. "You can come out now, Fang."

From the shadows, a large figure took shape, easily eight feet in height. He was so tall, he had to crouch to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling.

"Seriously, Leonardo. You need to put in a word to the housing department to design homes with higher, monster-friendly ceilings. I'm going to get such a bad crick in my neck," Fang boomed. His voice matched the deep one we heard earlier at the soccer stadium.

"DAD!" Chompy and Toothy exclaimed simultaneously.

"Kids, this is Leonardo Guiluliani–the scientist I've been working with on projects to incorporate monsters back into the human world," Fang Nightcrawler gestured to Dad.

Luca turned to our father in disbelief. "How long have you known each other? So you knew about monsters and still told us they didn't exist after checking under our beds each night? Why didn't you tell us the truth?"

Dad ran his fingers through his salt-and-pepper hair and readjusted the wire-rimmed glasses perched on his nose. "I didn't think you two were ready to know the truth. I thought you'd be scared. I thought maybe once you grew up, we could all work on a solution together. I pushed you hard because I wanted you to learn everything possible so that you could use our knowledge on Earth to create habitats and environments suitable for monsters. And we could make so many advances in the field of medicine. Just imagine what we could accomplish!"

Fang sighed. "Leonardo, that doesn't excuse us from robbing our kids of their dreams. We both messed up in that department, didn't we?"

All of us nodded (including Roary.)

"It looks like our children have the same idea we've been working on since graduating university," Fang nudged Dad. "You should have seen Luca playing against the Spike Outs.  He blended right in!"

Dad reached out his hands, placing one over my arm and another over Luca's. "You two are the strongest kids I know. I'm sorry that I was so blinded by my greed to reshape the world that I ignored what you two wanted. In the end, I want you both to be happy. I want you to do something that you can see yourself doing for the rest of your life with a smile on your face. So be it if it's soccer or baking."

Mom rubbed her signature soothing circles into my shoulder with the pad of her thumb. "I'm sorry, too. We shouldn't have kept something this big from you. Isa, Luca, Chompy, Toothy, and your little green friend over there–you guys are the future. Can you find it in your heart to forgive us and start anew?"

I felt the tears welling up in my eyes as mom reached out her arms for a hug. Luca, too, seemed like he was on the verge of crying. Naturally, it would be hard for him to accept all of this after dedicating most of his life to be a doctor.

"It'll take time," Fang added, pulling his own kids and Roary into a tight hug. "But with time, I'm hoping you children will be even stronger and braver."

"Mr. Nightcrawler, s-speaking of being b-brave, I actually have a plan that I hoped could help convince the h-humans that we're nice," Roary interjected.

Dad pulled up more chairs and a few stools for everyone to gather around the table. Chompy grinned when he noticed my mom pulling out a pad of paper to take notes and draw up a plan.

"Looks like it runs in the family," Chompy nudged my side.

I smiled warmly. "I guess it does."

"So," Fang drummed his claws on the table, "what's phase two?"

Roary glanced at Chompy and me, beaming brightly. "F-For starters, it all depends on a heavenly batch of cookies."