MONSTERS IN THE HOUSE

Once upon a time there was a studious, happy 13 year-old girl name Izzy.
Izzy, however, harbors a terrible secret. At night, and on weekends, her parents turn into monsters.
Her father transforms into a Gronkite, eating lightbulbs, creating chaos, and sucking all the air out of the room.
Her mother transforms into a Burpangel, avoiding her father's outbursts by eating herself into a coma every night.
During the day, her parents pass as humans, and sometimes Izzy has fun with them, but more than anything in the world, Izzy wants a normal family. She overcompensates for her shame by being nice to everybody but close to nobody.

Every day Izzy hides her strange family from the world and makes people believe her life is perfect.
She changes all the lightbulbs, sweeps up all the broken glass, and helps with the cooking and shopping.
At night and on the weekends, she convinces her parents not to leave the house.
She is the perfect classmate and student and lies to her friends that her parents don't come to school functions because they are doctors who are saving people's lives.
When other girls like Daisy and Shaniqua ask her over, she politely rebuffs them so that she won't have to reciprocate, and never lets anybody come near where she lives even though she feels incredibly left out.

Until one day Izzy's risks going to a school dance, and can't be around to monitor and take care of her parents.
Her mother falls asleep in front of a candle because all of the lightbulbs have been eaten.
Her father, not paying attention and yelling because his wife has fallen asleep on him again, rails and thrashes his tail about, knocking over the candle and causing the house to catch on fire and burn to the ground.
Now the entire neighborhood knows that Izzy's parents are truly monsters.

Because of that the police visit Izzy at school to take her away from her parents and put her in a foster home where her foster parent turns out to be a monster as well, a Slothagon who burns books, doesn't let Izzy read, and forces her foster children to do all the housework.
Izzy starts failing tests. Her teachers smile sympathetically in her presence but whisper behind her back.
Her schoolmates call her a liar for saying her parents were doctors; she eats alone in the lunchroom and walks down the halls while people throw spitballs at her.
Izzy's parents try to get Izzy back because they love her but are told they will have to stop being monsters in order to be allowed parental rights again. They laugh at the authorities—who do the police think they are to call them monsters?— and threaten the police with legal action.

Because of all that Izzy runs away to a mall. Izzy's parents are told by the police that she's missing and they scream at the police, becoming monsters in the daylight for the first time.
The police find Izzy but she refuses to return to the foster home. She says the foster parent is a monster and she'd rather be with her own monsters than an unfamiliar one.
Her schoolmate, Daisy Adams, sees Izzy at the mall while shopping with her grandmother. They invite Izzy to come stay with them. Izzy feels embarrassed, but Daisy admits to Izzy that she lives with her grandmother because her parents are monsters too.
For the first night in years, Izzy gets to act like a kid. She and Daisy eat ice cream for dinner, they play with Daisy's dog, and they watch a funny movie together. Izzy's parents phone to make sure she is okay, but Izzy refuses to speak to them in their monstrous form.

Because of that Izzy's parents storm into her school to take Izzy back.
Izzy's parents frighten everyone.
The teachers phone the police while Izzy's parents thrash and growl and run down the halls.
There is a standoff at the school with the police.

Until finally, Izzy breaks down in tears.
Izzy tells her parents to look in the mirror.
She confirms what everyone has been telling them: that they are monsters.
She asks them to let her go and to learn to stop being monsters.
She asks them to surrender, and out of their love for Izzy and their heartbreak, they do.

And ever since then, Izzy has been living with Daisy and her grandmother.
Izzy is learning that she is not her parents. She is focused on taking care of herself and being a teenager and having fun. Izzy is once again thriving at school.
Izzy and Daisy have become best friends and they have cobbled together their own form of normal family with Daisy's grandmother.
And Izzy's parents attend weekly group therapy where they are working on not becoming monsters. But sometimes...sometimes the Gronkite can't help himself. Sometimes the lightbulbs just taste too good.