This is a little bit of a heavier story, just a warning, but I hope you like it. I also don't own anything in regards to the story except for the plot and the OCs. I hope you like it!
Zippy
"Hey, I think we're all set, homework time is go." Fear muttered under his breath.
"Excellent, everybody to your stations!" I yell. "We need to finish this quickly if we're going to have any time to hang out with Riley and the others tonight. We'll be the only ones done with tonight's homework of course. Except maybe Riley,"
"She's so great, in a league of her own," Sadness exclaimed. "She probably doesn't like us."
"As great as the others are, they're still nowhere near responsible enough to get the grades they need to succeed." Disgust piped in, taking his seat at the console.
"But not Alex, he's better than that. We make sure of it." I reply.
Being a newly minted junior in high school is a difficult thing. People complain all the time, procrastinate their work, whining about how they don't get enough support. I can't blame them though, some people have it rougher than others, but we take care of them, and I make it happen.
I'm the drive behind this well-oiled machine we run. Sadness helps Alex be compassionate, Fear keeps Alex alive, Disgust keeps us alive socially, but I do everythings else. Anger is connotated to be such a negative emotion. It gets such a bad rap, but they can think what they'd like about me. Without me, nothing would get done around here. Because of my leadership, we're getting straight A's, have great friends, work part-time at the call center, go to church, and rock pretty much every other aspect of our lives. No biggie.
"I don't know, today's calculus seemed a little rougher today, the derivatives seemed so easy before." Fear stuttered.
"Doesn't matter." I retort, manning my central position of the console. "We'll get through this like we always do." Alex had already gotten out the textbook from his backpack. A sharpened pencil marked the page where today's homework was. "Fear, let's recall today's lesson." I state affirmatively.
"You got it." Fear replied, typing in several commands on the console. Several memories began to project themselves. "We can't forget the chain rule today."
"Yeah, we looked awful last time we missed that question. What's derivative of Cosine x again?" Disgust asked.
"Sine x," I answered. "And because we're finding the output of the derivative of that function at pi over two, the answer one."
"Dang, we're so good at math." Disgust commented. "Thanks boss."
"Anytime. Next problem."
Suddenly, a loud groan echoed through the room. I sighed. "Fear, go take care of that."
"I took care of him last time, it's Disgust's turn."
"No, I took care of it this morning."
"Um, actually, I did it this morning, he's not doing to well."
I mumble quietly under my breath. "Fine, make me do everything! Finish these quickly, I'll be back."
I stand up to walk upstairs, bracing myself. I'm not fond of coming up here either, it's not a pretty sight. Nevertheless, I'll do what needs to be done. In the center of the upstairs section, a makeshift bed was resting on the floor. He had been laying on there for months, groaning when he needed something. His leg was bandaged on the upper thigh to keep the circulation restrained. Below his bandage was the black infection that had completely immobilized him. Try as we might, not even Sadness can do anything to help him.
"Hey Joy." I mutter solemnly. "How can I help?"
"H-hey," Joy replied, forcing a smile. "Why so glum, chum?"
"What can I get for you, we're doing homework."
"Just something to drink, I drained my water bottle again."
I chuckle. "That's the third time today, I get you're just trying to keep up on your fluids, but this is ridiculous."
Joy let out a soft chuckle. "Hey, that was funny."
I nodded, grabbing the water bottle. "Yeah, let's get you taken care of." I stroll over to the sink, and fill up the bottle. As I place it by his bedside again, I take a look at the wound. "Is it getting better at all?"
"Um, yes?"
"Joy," I retort. "Be honest."
"I'd like to, but, grim facts aren't really my thing."
"I know. Just keep resting, I'm sure it'll get better eventually."
"I'll try."
"Hang in there Joy, we'll get this sorted out, and life will work itself out."
"Thanks."
"Cool, see ya."
"Bye,"
I hate seeing him like this. I tend to be hard on the others, but only because it makes them better. When they're not careful, they end up like Joy. If only he listened. As I walked past the core memories, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. A small blemish on one of the core memories; a little spot of black sat square on the religion ball. I scratch at the yellow luminescent orb, but the mark stays. "Was that always here?" I asked.
"Was what always where?" Fear called back.
"The core memory for religion, and family? What's wrong with them?"
"I don't know," Sadness mentioned. "I saw that this morning, but I didn't want to try and fix it. The memories are in a bad enough shape as it is."
I sighed. "Joy needs to get better soon. That's probably what it is."
"I hope you're right." Sadness muttered, manning the console. "It's a shame though, Alex has had a rough day. First the missed problem in math, then dad and Harriet got into another fight. Nobody likes us now!" Sadness ranted exasperated, laying his head on the console. "Today was a nightmare." Suddenly a light began to blink, a little beeping sound accompanying it. Sadness turned to see what was going on, but went dead silent. The alarm in question was the puberty button, but the button itself didn't provide very much noise. "Um, guys?" Sadness muttered, his voice shakier than ever.
I turned to see what was going on. As I do so, Joy lets out a loud cry, but after I see the button going off, I know what's wrong with him. I paled, as much as I could anyway. Fear should've fainted, but hadn't in years. Good, we need all the help we can get for what's coming. "GET THE DOOR!" he yells.
I'm SO not in a good position for this right now. The core memory station and window are clear on the other side of the room compared to the entrance. I sprint towards the door, but I know we're out of time. It never knocks anymore.
The door suddenly flies off of it's hinges, hurdling straight towards me. I roll out of the way, only to be grabbed by a black, oozing tentacle. There it is, the Beast. It doesn't have a face, it looks like a black pile of sand and mud, its enormous size seems to only grow as it holds me. I'm effortlessly thrown me across the room, landing me towards the console. The others frantically rush towards me, but I brush them aside to grab the chair. I charged towards the Beast, as it slides across the room. However, another tentacle shoots out of the amorphous figure. I'm pinned against the wall, some of the memories falling off of the shelf.
"Hey ugly!" Disgust yells. The majority of the glob turns its attention towards the green emotion, envious of the attention. "Have some of this!" Disgust had grabbed the stool again, and smacked the beast across its body, splattering dark goop across the floor of the room. Disgust tried to land another hit, but the force was negated by another tentacle meeting the chair halfway. The blob used the chair to throw Disgust against the window, cracking the substance slightly.
"Don't let it get to the console!" I scream weakly. Fear began throwing excess memories at the beast, but they bounced harmlessly off of it. The Beast used the chair to knock over Fear, Sadness quickly rushing to his side.
"Fear!" he exclaimed.
I gaze on the sorrowful sight. If I'm not careful, someone else will get hurt! Something begins to burn inside of me. I use this energy, channeling it towards my skin. The Beast retracts its tentacle, dropping me to the floor. I rush in front of the Sadness and Fear. "Stay back!" I yell. "I won't let you hurt Alex again!"
The Beast let out a roar lurching forward with incredible speed. I use the energy I've built up again, my head igniting in the process. I use it like a flamethrower to stop the beast in its tracks. It lets out a blood curdling scream as I continue the fiery onslaught. It's beginning to retreat, when suddenly, a tentacle fires out of the side, pinning me against the wall. The heat is gone now, and there's nothing stopping the beast from smashing me repeatedly against the walls of the room, eventually throwing slamming me to the ground. I'm seeing black, I hope it's just me, yet the last thing I see is the beast oozing once again to the console.
"Boss!" I hear a voice scream at me. "Please get up!" Light begins to peer through my eyes again. There's Fear, standing over me. "Oh, thank goodness." he continued, calming slightly.
"Where's the Beast?"
"Gone, Dad came to check on us and he vanished."
"Did you see what Alex was doing this time?"
"No, no I didn't."
"Blast it." I muttered, massaging the back of my head. "Where's everyone else?"
"Disgust went to check on Joy, but everyone's okay."
"And Sadness?"
Fear pointed to the console. "Over there."
I glanced at the console, sure enough Sadness was sobbing on the controls. I stumble to my feet and make my way to the console, placing a reassuring hand on Sadness' shoulder. "Sadness, what happened."
"I-" he stuttered. "I couldn't stop him, I'm such a failure."
"Sadness, I need you to tell me, what did Alex do?" I pleaded.
Sadness looked at me with eyes which sorrow seemed to rival that of the emotion shedding the tears. "I, can't, I don't know."
"Boss," Fear interrupted. "What if that monster never goes away?"
"We'll get him, we just have to keep trying." I argued. "We need to take care of this quietly, no one else can know. Sadness?"
"What?"
"Manage the console, but leave no trace, we can't have anyone even think for a moment there's a problem, understood?"
"O-Okay,"
"Fear, go call support up, we need to clean this place up."
"Sure thing,"
As they leave, a thought occurs. There's a saying, that there is a calm before the storm. That button doesn't make a lot of noise, it never has. However, we've come to learn, through experience, that particular button brings only misery to Alex. I walk over to the 'Days without incident' counter we got years ago. We can do this, I know we can! We have to!
I reset the counter from three to zero.
Hey, this was just a thought I had for a story idea, does anyone want me to continue it. Be sure to leave a review, I'd love any positive criticism. Until next time, I hope.
Zippy