Disclaimer: "Inside Out" belongs to The Walt Disney Company and Pixar Animation Studios.
Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.
That was the only sound Riley Andersen heard as she waited for the school bell to ring. She was in a study hall, last period of the day as a sophomore at Lowell High School. Today was a Friday. And not just any Friday.
She would have the whole small house to herself for the weekend. Her parents had left on Thursday to attend the funeral of one of their friends from Minnesota. This was the first time she would be home alone for a whole weekend.
Five minutes left.
She looked over the math assignment she had been working on. It was finished. Great. Now what to do with the remaining time?
Doodling. That was the answer. She started drawing herself as a hockey player. A professional hockey player. Specifically, she made herself one of the Chicago Blackhawks.
Four minutes left.
She had gotten the head and the chest area complete. But there was more work to be done. It looked more like a CPR dummy than an actual person. She needed to add arms and legs.
Three minutes left.
The arms were rendered. But they needed hands. She filled in the right hand, only to realize that while it had five fingers, the proportions were all wrong. Oh well.
Two minutes left.
Now to work on the left hand. The left hand looked a little better, but not much. She turned her attention to the feet. It would be better if she had a sheet of paper bigger than 8.5 by 11 inches. And without red and blue lines.
One minute.
Time to get ready to leave. She stuck her pencil back in her pocket, closed her binder, and stuffed it in her backpack.
Twenty seconds left.
Nineteen.
Eighteen.
Seventeen.
Sixteen.
Fifteen.
Fourteen.
Thirteen.
Twelve.
Eleven.
Ten.
Nine.
Eight.
Seven.
Six.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
End of the day.
Riley sprang up and took off.
Inside Riley's brain, Joy was in total control of Riley's body, steering Riley through the corridors towards the nearest exit like Jeff Gordon working his way to the front of the pack.
"Slow down, slow down!" cried Fear.
"What for, what for?" Joy asked in a manner mimicking Fear, but in a mocking fashion.
"We don't want to crash into anybody!" was Fear's answer.
"Calm down. We've never hit anybody in the halls before. We're going home, and we're going to have that home ALL TO OURSELVES!" Joy shrieked.
"How can you make that sound good when we've got nobody to talk to?" Sadness asked.
Riley had a long walk home, but it didn't feel like a long walk. She was elated. She was looking forward to being on her own for a few days.
She finished her other homework assignments. Then she made dinner while watching the local and national news on KGO-TV Channel 7. She had a little fun enjoying herself, surfing the internet, watching home movies, and looking through family photos.
But then things started to slow down. And Riley started to get bored.
Stay tuned to see what Riley does next...