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During the day, Robecca did a lot of things in Monster High: she did homework, she helped her friends with things, she helped Frankie do some things for a school project that would be presented to the entire school, and so on and so forth. But she couldn’t help shake the feeling that she was missing something important. But what? She did everything that she had to do for the day so why was she… missing something important?
She went around the school, wondering what she had missed but she couldn’t put her finger on it. While she did that, she saw someone shriek in pain and put their hand on their own chest. She didn’t know why they did that. And then it hit.
“Huh, I haven’t seen Hoodude the entire day”, she thought. “I wonder where he is.”
She went around the school in search of him but she didn’t know where he was. She became increasingly worried: she remembered him leaving with her to school, so where was he?
She asked everyone where he was, but no one knew either. Now she was becoming even more worried.
While she rushed around the school, the bell rang, but she knew she had to keep looking, she knew that he had to be in the school somewhere… She knew she had to keep looking.
She managed to hide herself in her locker to avoid getting seen, and then she remembered that she didn’t go to the one room that she shouldn’t walk into due to her being a ghoul: the mansters bathroom.
While a few teachers passed by the corridors to go to their final lessons of the day, she went as fast as she could to that bathroom and when she opened the door, she immediately shut it behind her. But when she did that, she heard a very startled gasp coming from one of the stalls.
“Who’s there?”, Robecca asked.
There was no answer.
“I won’t tell the teachers that you’re here, just please tell me who you are”, Robecca said as she went closer and closer to the stall.
There was still no answer.
“I’m sorry”, the voice finally answered. It was Hoodude’s. It sounded like he was… crying?
“Hoodude, is that you?”, she asked.
“I’m sorry that I’m here-”
“It’s fine, but… Could you tell me where you were today?”
There was no answer. Robecca could almost hear suppressed cries from the stall.
“What happened?”
There was no answer again. Robecca now could hear clearly that he was crying.
“Hoodude, please tell me.”
“I…” There was a sniff coming from the stall. “I don’t want to upset you.”
Robecca got confused. “Why would you upset me?”
There was an agitated cry coming from it.
“Hoodude, I’m here for you”, Robecca touched the door of the stall. “You know that, right?”
There was no answer. And then the door was opened, for the first time since Hoodude went in there in the morning.
Robecca didn’t expect to see him like that: his button eyes were filled with tears, his hair was messy and there was no smile on his face. What she saw was a very broken monster.
“Are-Are you okay?”, she asked.
Hoodude just looked at her and tried to suppress his crying before he hugged her.
“You can let it all out”, Robecca responded as he started to cry even more. “What happened?”
He sniffed. “It’s a stupid reason to cry to.”
“Whatever it was, I’m sure it wasn’t stupid”, she assured him. When she did that, he started to suppress another cry.
“Robecca, tell me the truth”, he said in an agitated breath.
“What truth?”
“Am… Am I… Worthless?”
That shook Robecca. “What? No, no, you’re not, why-why would you think that to yourself?”
Hoodude started crying even more. “I knew you wouldn’t understand.”
“No, tell me, just tell me”, she persisted.
“I’m not like you, Robecca,” he stopped hugging her and started holding himself, “I’m not like the rest of those monsters,” he started grabbing himself even tightly before crying more, “I hurt people and it’s ALL MY FAULT!”
“No, it’s not-”
“I hurt people, Robecca! Open your eyes!”, he then put his hands on his head while looking at the ground, “I’m the reason why everyone gets hurt! I’m the reason why they fear getting hurt whenever they get hurt! I’m the reason why nobody likes me!”, he fell to the ground, “I’m the… I’m… I’m…”, he slowly put his hands on his face, “I’m the reason… why nobody… likes me.”
Robecca didn’t know what to say. She then bent down to meet his eye level. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
Hoodude started breathing even more agitatedly. “I didn’t want you to worry. I didn’t want you to worry, I didn’t want you to worry, I didn’t want you to wORRY, I DIDN’T WANT YOU TO WOR-”
“Hey, hey,” she put her hand on his cheek, “it’s okay. It’s okay.”
There was silence between them, though it was briefly interrupted by Hoodude’s agitated breaths.
“Robecca,” he then looked at her, “am I a monster?”
“Of course you are-”
“I mean, as a… horrible monster?”
That stunned Robecca. She didn’t know he felt like that. She looked at him sympathetically. “No, no, you’re not.”
“But-”
“You’re not. You were just assigned to a horrible fate. You’re not a horrible monster, you’re a good monster with a kind and golden heart. You are a great monster, you’re the greatest I have ever known and seen. You’re not worthless, you should know that. Please don’t forget that.”
“See, here’s the thing,” he shrugged, tears still filling his eyes, “I don’t know how to not forget about that”, he chuckled.
Robecca smiled sympathetically. She had similar times where she forgot about that: that she was a good monster and not wasteful. It was a hard time remembering that, considering she was a robot and she could be replaced just like that. She knew it wouldn’t happen, but she always forgot about that. She sighed and nodded. “I do too.”
That response stunned him. “You… You do?”
“I do.”
“How do you do it?”
“Hm?”
“How do you get people to like you?”
Robecca opened her mouth but a response wasn’t found. She didn’t know how it happened, really. She then remembered. “Friends. What about your friend, Scarah? Isn’t she still arou-”
“I hurt her, Robecca.” Tears started filling rapidly in his eyes. “I hurt her this morning and it’s just… I-”
“Hey, it’s okay, I’m sure she knew-”
“But what if she doesn’t-”
“She does”, Robecca assured him, pulling him in for a hug. “She does, Hoodude, she’s your friend. She was there when you were in your lows and in your highs, and I… sadly wasn’t. And that’s what makes her a good friend. Where is she?”
“I tripped and she also tripped, but she tripped on the stairs instead of the ground so she’s probably still in the infirmary and I don’t know if she’ll-”
“She’ll forgive you, Hoodude, please know that she cares about you. She spends time with you and helps you with whatever you do. She understands what kind of things you’ve been put through. She’s a great person, near a great person, which is you.”
Hoodude was stunned at that sentence.
“Please know that”, she smiled at him. “Breathe in, breathe out.”
She repeated as he breathed in and out as he held her hand. There were some times where he started breathing agitatedly but he still held it. He then rested his head on her shoulder and they repeated the process over and over again. She noticed that he wasn’t crying much and that he was getting better.
After a while, they stopped and there was a long silence between them. They stayed like that for a long time.
“I’m so tired”, Hoodude commented.
“It’s natural, Hoodude”, Robecca nodded and smiled. “You don’t have to worry.”
There was another silence between them.
“Thank you…”, Hoodude’s low voice said.
Robecca looked at him and smiled even more. “That’s what siblings do.”
Hoodude looked at her and smiled weakly. “I’m happy we’re siblings.”
“So do I, Hoodude”, Robecca then hugged him, “So do I.”
They were like that for a long time until the bell rang. Robecca was surprised no one came into the bathroom up until that point, but she was happy that she was there for him.
“I think we should go”, she said.
“Alright”, Hoodude nodded.
They both stood up and got outside of the bathroom. When they both got out their books from their lockers as well as the others, a familiar voice was heard behind Hoodude. “Hey, Hoodude.”
He turned around to see Scarah, she had a cast on her leg and arm and had a plaster underneath her left arm.
“Scarah, I’m so sorry, are you alright-”, he started apologising.
“Hoodude, it’s okay, no need to apologise, I know that you didn’t mean to”, Scarah assured him.
“Yeah, but-”
“It’s okay, Hoodude,” Scarah managed to hug him with her casts and plaster. “I know it’s not your fault, you don’t have to apologise.”
Hoodude felt like about to cry again so he hugged her tightly.
Robecca saw the scene and smiled sympathetically.
“Hey, do you want to go to my house to do homework and watch a movie?”, Scarah said telepathically as she stopped hugging him and put her fingers on the side of her head.
Hoodude let out a little chuckle. “Sure.”
After he put some of his books in his bag, he started helping her get some of her books from her locker into her bag. They both started walking out of the school when Hoodude turned to Robecca.
“Can I go to her house tonight? I hope it’s okay-”, he started explaining.
“Of course, Hoodude”, she nodded.
Hoodude walked with Scarah to where she wanted them to go while Robecca looked at them walk away from her.
She was happy that he met a great friend. She was proud of him in any way, shape or form. She was happy he was created. She was happy that she herself had met such a great friend.