Happy 3rd anniversary for Inside Out being released in theaters. It was one of those movies that once I saw it I wish I could have seen it on the big screen. I want to commemorate this happy occasion with two one shot stories regarding the film itself. This first one shot will be about that intense moment early in the movie during Riley's first day of school in San Francisco when Sadness created that core memory. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this one shot.
"Oh no! We're crying at school!" Fear shrieked as he rushes to help the others remove the sad memory orb from being replayed.
Joy will turn her head to notice that Sadness is working the controls. "Whoa! Sadness, what are you doing!?" She says as she pulls the memory down from being played and rushes to pull Sadness away from the controls.
"Uh, sorry." Sadness will say just as a new memory is being made from Riley crying at school.
"It's a core memory." Fear says timidly.
"But it's blue." Disgust says with a confused look on her face.
Joy and the others will watch as they see the core memory roll its way to the holder of the other core memories. The memory will send a beam of light across headquarters and to the outside toward the direction of the other personality islands. A flurry of sparkles will give way to a brand-new island.
The emotions will walk slowly toward the window and peer out to see just what kind of island this memory has made.
"What kind of island is that?" Joy will ask looking intently at the island.
The island itself has a girl that appears to be sad, she is holding one arm and other kids are all around her staring at her with googly eyes.
"That's Insecurity Island." Sadness says to the other emotions.
"So, what is insecurity?" Disgust asks with concern in her voice.
"Well, imagine if you didn't have confidence in yourself or you have doubt about yourself. That's what insecurity is."
"Guys, I'm kind of freaking out here!" Fear says in a panic.
"That's normal too Fear, Riley is going to be suffering from anxiety while she has insecurity in herself."
"Why can't we just pull it out? It won't work as long as it's not in the holder." Anger suggests.
"We can't do that. We must keep that memory in place. Obviously, Riley has to have this island."
But Joy will just look at Sadness, giving an intense stare before talking. "The only reason we have this island now is because of you."
"Joy, I was just trying to-." Sadness will be cut off.
"You were trying to what!? Humiliate Riley on her first day at her new school, make her sad about the past. Sure, Sadness you did a super job embarrassing her in front of her new classmates. Way to go."
"I'm sorry Joy. I should have never touched those controls." Sadness says in a defeated manner.
"A little late for should of." Joy will sigh deeply. "Ok, we still have the rest of the today to work on. Hopefully no more sad moments for a while."
The others will go back to doing their work, guiding Riley throughout the day. Sadness will go back to reading mind manuals and will not influence anymore of Riley's actions.
Riley thought the other classes would never end. She knew that once she got through lunch it was just going to be a few more hours till she could go home. However, as she got her lunch and began to navigate her way through the tables, she noticed that everyone was staring at her. News about what she did in history class was becoming the talk of the school. With every table she passes by she could hear snickering, whispering, and sometimes even laughing. She feels isolated and she doesn't feel compelled to sit at any of the tables. She decides she going to eat by herself today. She finds a lonely bench and she will take her seat. Looking defeated.
Just as she is about to eat her lunch she'll hear a voice say, "Hey! Aren't you that girl that cried during class earlier today?"
Riley will look up and see a girl standing before her. "Uh, yeah that was me. Heh."
"I will totally understand why you wouldn't want to tell me, but I just wanted to know. What brought that on?"
It's hard for Riley to even explain about that moment. She's not even aware what even brought it on. "I just remember something from my home in Minnesota and then I started to get sad and I started to cry."
"Yeah I could see it all over you. You seemed really homesick about it."
"Exactly, but how do you know that feeling?" Riley looks intently at the girl.
"Because I come from Maine, I know what it's like to leave a place that was such a big part of your life."
Riley can only nod at that little sentiment. She'll look down at her lunch, avoiding eye contact.
'No, come on Riley you got to get pass this.'
But Riley will try to make an effort and hold out her hand to the girl that is in front of her. "My name is Riley Andersen."
"Tristen Smith, nice to meet you."
"Likewise. Would you like to join me for lunch?"
"Absolutely." Tristen will sit right next to Riley.
'I can't believe we made a friend on the first day. How exciting.'
'And this Tristen girl seems to be really nice and she knows all too well about how we are feeling right now.'
'Hold on, they're still talking.'
"So, after class I asked around to all the other kids and all of them asked the same thing. 'Is Riley ok?' '' Tristen will add, hopefully it will comfort Riley.
That will shock Riley. She knows all too well that other kids can find any opportunity to make fun of someone. "Really, there wasn't like one kid that thought my incident was funny."
"I'm sure when they talked about it to other students is when they might laugh about it. But all of us in the class were just concern. That's all."
Riley will just rub the back of her head as she tries to play it off as something funny that happened to her. "Well if I can make some people laugh over that moment, I guess it's a funny moment than anything else."
'That's it Riley, keep thinking positive.'
"There you go, it was just a silly moment. Pretty soon something else will happen and everyone will be talking about that."
"Tristen, you're awesome and I think this the beginning of bueatiful friendship."
Tristen can only laugh at that cheesy line. "You're a character, Riley Andersen."
"That was amazing guys." Joy say with surprise and satisfaction.
But the others will not say anything they will just look at her with intense stares.
"Ok, what's up with you guys? We just saw a beautiful moment take place."
Anger will be the first to speak his peace. "I'll tell you what's up. You are to hands on all the time and you don't let us at the controls as often as we need too."
Joy will only look down at her feet. Not wanting to listen.
"We think it's great for Riley to be happy, but she needs to also feel other emotions." Disgust adds to the defense.
"Yeah sometimes you let Riley be happy over something that is not at all something to be happy over." Fear says.
"So maybe, you can let us at the controls, we'll make sure Riley is happy. That is first and foremost, but she needs to feel her other emotions too." Anger adds with a calmness in his voice.
"And, maybe you can let Sadness work the controls once in a while." Disgust suggests.
Trying not to listen was impossible for Joy, she heard it all. She'll look toward the other emotions and say with a deep sigh. "Ok, you guys are right. If we want Riley to be who she is she needs to experience all her emotions." She'll take another deep sigh before continuing. "Including Sadness."
School was finally over, and Riley was back home with her parents, they're sitting down to dinner. Jill is making conversation while Bill is not even listening. Riley is quietly eating but is looking a little nervous. She hopes the question doesn't pop up, but it does. Jill will ask Riley about her first day at her new school.
'Oh no! we can't tell her we cried.'
'We have to.'
'But how?'
'Sadness get over here.'
'I already told you I'm not touching those controls.'
'We're trying something new. Please help us.'
Riley will sigh, and her attitude will become a little somber. "Actually, something did happen at school."
"Something good I hope." Jill will smile intently.
"Well, not exactly." She'll take another sigh, this is so hard for her. "I uh, cried."
"You did what?" That got Bill's attention.
"Yeah, the teacher asked me to introduce myself and she asked me about what it's like in Minnesota. As I was talking I felt this heavy feeling and I just started crying."
Jill's smile will fade, and her look is that of empathy toward her daughter. 'Oh Riley, I'm so sorry."
"It's only natural for you to be feeling this way monkey." Bill will say trying to comfort his daughter.
"Exactly sweetie. We just pulled you away from everything you knew and now you have to start a new life somewhere else. But remember this Riley, it will get better. It's just getting over the initial shock of being somewhere new." Jill will explain caringly to her daughter.
"I guess you're right." Riley will still look sad, looking down at the table.
"Did something else happen?" Bill will ask.
That question will cause Riley to look up with at least a small smile. "I made a friend."
"Really? Well that's awesome." Jill's smile will return.
"Her name is Tristen and she was originally from Maine."
"So, she knows exactly what you're going through." Bill will also smile.
"Exactly."
"So, in a way it was a good first day?" Inquired Jill.
The smile on Riley's face will only get bigger. "I think so."
"Just remember it's only going to get better from here." Bill will say.
"I'll remember. Thanks guys."
"Anytime monkey." The family will continue to eat their dinner.
And it did only get better for Riley. She continued to make strides in her new situation. She made more friends, joined the junior hockey team in the city. She adapted well to her new life in San Francisco and it was all thanks to a little sadness.