The Things We Left Behind

Chapter 1

On the outskirts of a New Oreland's street, a blanket of dusk lingered over the town. Beneath it streetlights emitted colour over impending shadows. Small but significant. Down the solitary road, a lithe shape scuttled under a car. Sharp, quick, lying in wait and alert like a cat. Randall kept his head down, understanding that if he could return home, find a door… then Monstropolis would ambush him. Even without banishment, he would remain a criminal now.

He slept an hour. Until awoken by an excessive roar. Apart from his heavy breathing and pounding heart, nothing more approached. It was just the thunder. Once the storm passed, Randall snaked his way out and buried his face in his hands. He was ashamed and despised the face staring back at him in a nearby puddle. It all came from having nothing to do. He shuddered from the crisp air and snuck across the street. Stopping for a moment, he drew in a breath. Nothing. Just silence.

Until they threw the net.

Randall gulped and tried to throw it off. His eyes widened as two men cackled.

"Well look at this."

"Is that… a lizard?" the second asked.

"I guess. Let's hand him over to Animal Control. Huh Carl?"

Carl smirked. "This thing's coming with us."

Randall swallowed hard. Any hope of escaping was short lived the second Carl grabbed his neck. He bared his teeth and hissed. Catching Carl off guard, Randall bit his hand. As Carl let go, he tried to run but the man pinned him in a fleeting moment.

"You're dreaming if you think you're going to get away, lizard!"

Randall froze, immobilised. He thrashed under Carl as something harsh pierced into his ribcage. A sheet of darkness covered his eyes as both men lowered him inside a van. Randall remembered everything after waking up. Even the nausea.

The room was white, the lights florescent. Randall regretted opening his eyes. The first thing he saw was Carl looming outside the chamber, motionless and ghost-like. His arms were folded and there was a cold look in his eyes. Randall knew humans were dangerous, but Monstropolis had been wrong to think children were a threat. Carl was a grown man and nothing more than a monster at best. He feigned remorse and ran a hand through his hair.

"Don't look at me like that. You know I'll enjoy having you here."

Evidently satisfied with terrorising Randall, Carl sauntered to the far side of the room and came back holding something. Recognition happened too late as Carl left him behind glass, shuddering on the ground. Rivulets of water snaking down his scales.

Carl shot him a wicked grin. "I'm just getting started with you. GET UP!"

Randall coiled away and hissed.

"Don't make this any harder for yourself," Carl taunted, "I wanted to bring you in because you're a rare specimen, you are. Things like you we keep."

Carl stood over him with a wide grin. No remorse, no misgiving.

For three months, Randall was confined behind a wall of glass. A skinny monster with tired eyes stared back at him from the other side of his prison, eyes sunken. Peeling scales around newly formed scratches were works of self-infliction. The beginning of his descent onto a darker path.

The repeated clang against the glass walls announced the arrival of his tormentor. Randall faced him and glared.

"You know, you supposed to be here with us. No one misses you, you freak!"

He blinked; feeling a hand tremble near his already peeling arms, aware this was true. The cheers from every factory worker must have been reigning out and spreading across town. He looked away and buried his face in his hands.

"Look at you, barely keeping yourself together," Carl taunted.

Before Randall was given a chance to react, the door swung open. Carl paraded towards him, grinning. He dragged Randall into another bright room, throwing him onto a nearby bed. Carl stood above him with a needle in hand, the other lodged tight around the creature's throat.

"Don't make this harder."

His breath shot away, out of reach and failed to return. Sensitivity fell from the hands around his throat, as dark tentacles reached out and dragged him into a nightmare. His vision spun, only one object staying on target. Carl. His mind grew hazy, as the earth came to meet him. Then there was nothing.

Carl let go, for a moment stunned. He turned away, then looked back to find Randall gone. No hesitation came as Carl was hurled forward, sending a blow to his jaw. Randall pinned him, clasping a blade at his throat. He took great delight in seeing his captor squirm under his wrath, trembling, eyes wide. Randall smirked and lowered the blade.

"Take your hands off me you freak!"

His eyes narrowed. Rising to his full height, he stood over Carl with tightened eyes.

"NO!"

The needle dropped from Carl's hand. Randall sent a blow to his face, shoving him against the wall. Like a bullet he darted out of the labs, daring not to look back. Adrenaline consumed him as he kept on running, ignoring the burning sensation in his legs, followed by the erratic sounds of his quaking heart.

A/N: This is my first Monsters Inc story, I hope you enjoy. Monster's University is excellent too!