My Rival

By

LouEthelip

A door with flower design moved along the tracks from the door vault into the scare room. Once it arrived at its proper location a device elevated from the floor to grab it and place it in its proper location holding it steady so two other door holders could grab it from the side. Next to the door was a control panel with all sorts of buttons for the doors activation into the human world.

The scare floor itself was empty of staff except for two individuals. One was the vice president of Monsters Inc. George Sanderson a former scarer who turned into a top notched laugh getter getting the job after Mike Wozowski had retired.

"Are all the security procedures in place George?", spoke the words of James Sullivan, top scarer and eventual manager of the company.

"Yes, the staff won't be in for another 45 minutes. You've got that long to get in. Do your business and get out.", the orange haired monster informed him as he activated the door.

As the red light turned Sully turned the knob and took a deep breath. Every year at this time he had returned to Boo for a brief visit. He had watched her grow up into an amazing women. He got the surprise of his life when he learned that Boo was going to have a child of her own. Through the years he was amazed at how her brood grew to eventually become two boy's and three girls all of whom he was privileged to meet and watch grow up. Now little Boo who was anything but little now was a grandmother. Each of her children having married and gotten kids of their own. He wondered what surprises were in store for him this year.

Opening the door he entered cautiously in case he had not been expected. One year he walked in and accidently scared one of the kids before he had been introduced to them. He never forgot the look of anger in Boo's face for having woken the baby. This time however something was very wrong.

All the furniture had been removed from the room. The curtains also removed from the sill. In fact the only thing in the room that was familiar was a elderly man standing up with the aid of a cane from the corner of the room. Sully knew the figure so it didn't alarm him. It was Boo's husband of many years Bob. As he had done many times before Bob looked at Sully with a scowl on his face. In all of his visits he could never remember the man having smiled at him once.

"Hiya Sullivan.", greeted the man.

"Hi. What's going on? Where's Boo?", replied Sullivan.

The man's face grew even more dour if such a thing could be possible. It looked like he would do anything to avoid saying what he had to say.

"Mary died…about 2 months ago.", he finally admitted.

The news hit Sullivan hard almost causing him to collapse against the wall. It was something he had never before considered. Of course he knew all about it. At his advanced age he had seen many a friend pass on including Mike yet the thought of it happening to Boo never occurred to him. Now that it was a reality he wasn't sure how to respond so the husband continued.

"She was coming home from the hospital after being called in for an emergency. This drunk driver coming from the from the opposite direction fell asleep behind the wheel. His vehicle crossed over into Mary and struck her head on. The collision killed her instantly according to the paramedic's."

The man never moved from against the wall as he told the story. He didn't seem to show any indication of showing compassion for Sully's loss.

"I sold the house but moved the closing to today because I knew you would show up tonight. Part of me wanted to let you wonder what happened to Mary but that wouldn't be fair to her. She loved you a lot. Tomorrow I'll be moving to Colorado to live with my daughter Misty and her family until I can find a place of my own."

Sully smiled knowing that the man showed an incredible act of kindness by his action. There was no longer a need for him to stay in the human world. Turning the knob to the closet the man spoke again.

"Sullivan. Before you go I've got one last thing to say and I don't know if I'll ever get the chance to say them. I know you and I have never had a close relationship. In fact it wouldn't be a stretch to say that I often looked at you as my rival."

This got Sully's attention. Turning his head back to the gentleman he knew more was about to be said.

"You two had a very special relationship and yes I was envious of it. You always had a special place in Mary's heart and it made me jealous. Sometimes when we'd argue she'd hit me with the 'why can't you be more like Kitty' remark that made my blood boil. I guess it all came down to the point that I didn't like the idea of sharing Mary with you. Maybe its irrational but even now I feel this way. That is why I never liked you. You were close to her before I was close to her and it drove me crazy. Luckily after tonight though I doubt I'll ever see you again.

The furry monster nodded his head in agreement and opened up the door to return to the monster world. As he closed the door George noticed the expression on Sully's face and knew something was wrong. Turning the knob to complete its closure Sully rested his head knowing he'd never be able to see Boo again. After a deep sigh he commanded George.

"Bring me a door shredder."