Joey woke up to the buzz of his alarm clock. It said '10:55'. That couldn't be true, it was still pretty dark outside. He ignored that for now and went downstairs for breakfast.

As he arrived in the kitchen, he noticed something. The house he was in looked like his, but it didn't seem like it was really was. He didn't know exactly what it was, but it was strange.

Joey turned to see his mom at the oven. Her back was facing him. "Good morning Joey!" She said, almost sensing his presence. She didn't sound like herself. Her voice was scratchy. Joey figured she must have a cold or something like that.

Joey watched as his mom pulled a tray out of the oven. "Cookies!" Joey exclaimed. His mom never made cookies for breakfast! He darted over to her as she turned towards him. Upon seeing the cookies, Joey lost all his appetite.

Instead of chocolate chips or nuts, these cookies were filled with squirming cockroaches and mealworms! "Mom! I can't eat this!" Joey said in fright. "Listen Joey, these are the type of cookies we eat around here." his mom said in her unusual scratchy voice. He looked up to see her face. It wasn't his mom!

It was a monster that looked like his mom! He knew because the mom he knew didn't have wrinkly green skin, bulging yellow eyes and crooked brown teeth! Joey backed away. "Joey, I can explain.". He didn't want to hear an explanation, he wanted to leave!

Joey ran back upstairs. He had to find Dad. "Dad! Dad! Mom's a monster! Dad!" he screamed in pure fear. He found his dad in his office, as usual. "Dad! Mom's a monster! You gotta-". Joey's dad turned around. He was a monster too!

"Joey, we need to explain something to you." His dad said in a similar scratchy voice. Joey didn't want to know what was going on. He wanted to get out of here! He saw that a nearby window was opened. Without thinking, he threw himself through it!

Fortunately, Joey landed on a bush. Unfortunately, it was a thorn bush! "Since when were there thorn bushes on my lawn?" He questioned. After a minute of struggling, he freed himself from the thorns and looked around.

This wasn't his neighborhood! In fact, it didn't look like any place he knew! The sky was dark. It appeared to be twilight. Low fog clung to the ground, which was littered with dry grass and tumbleweeds. Strange, familiar looking houses were scattered here and there.

Joey turned towards his front door to see his 'parents' standing there. "We know you're afraid, but you have to listen to us!" Mom said.

He just wanted to get away from these monsters! He turned back and saw a dead tree on a steep hill. "I could make it if I run." Joey thought to himself. So, he did. He ran as fast as he could towards that hill.

"Joey, get back here!" Mom and Dad screeched at him. They weren't far behind! Joey scrambled up the hill. It was even steeper than he thought! Coal black dirt covered his hands and knees as he climbed. He pulled himself up with roots and rocks. Mom and Dad were right behind him!

After what felt like an hour, he reached the tree! Quickly, he grabbed a branch and hoisted himself up."Don't you dare!" He heard Mom yell. Joey tried to grab a higher branch, but the one he was on snapped! He fell right into the arms of Dad!

Joey tried to escape, but it was no use. Dad sat him down on a rock so they could talk to him. "Listen Joey, we're not your real parents. We're actually monsters." Dad explained. "Tell me something I don't know!" Joey said sarcastically.

"Well, this isn't the realm you're used to." Mom added in. "This is the Shadow Lands, the part of the planet that doesn't get a whole lot of the sun's light. It's always dark like this." Joey was even more confused.

"We're monsters. We like to pull pranks on humans." Dad continued. "We swapped you with our son. He's at your house now.". "You mean the one over there?" Joey asked, pointing to the house. "No, no. You're real house. We just redesigned ours to look like yours, so you'd feel more at home!"

It was starting to make some sense to Joey. "So, you want me to feel at home? Is that also why you look like my parents too?". They nodded "Yes.". "You know-" Joey added in. "I really liked my old house in, um, human world. So, could you guys swap me back?"

Mom and Dad both chuckled. "Our son was a handful! We don't want him back!". "What?" Joey said under his breath. "Yep. He gnawed my arm off!" Dad said as he removed his prosthetic left arm. "However, you appear to be a wonderful child so far!" Mom continued. "We plan on keeping you here.....FOREVER!"