Sadness' thoughts:

"Okay, people," Joy started with her enthusiastic voice, "after the events of today I've decided that I need to allow more control of Riley's life between all of us. That's why I've decided," Joy pulls a whiteboard out of nowhere, "that we will have a balanced scheduling system for dream duty that repeats every five days. Tomorrow, that schedule starts with me," she says, pointing to the board, "then Sadness, then Fear, then Anger, then Disgust. Tonight, though, since this has been a very important day for Riley, I will let Sadness on dream duty. Is that clear with everyone?"

Anger stands up from the couch he was resting on and, for the first time since the crisis, speaks. "Why do we need to do this?"

Joy glides around Anger, finally resting her elbow on his head. "Why don't we need to do this? There's no hurt in letting Sadness run. As long as someone is watching, we're safe."

Anger didn't wish to probe further. "Well, that's good enough for me. I'll see you all tomorrow." Anger sub-consciously stomped up the ramp into the tiny abode that is the emotion's resting home. Joy, Fear, and Disgust closely followed.

Just before walking in, Joy turned her head around, saying, "If you're having trouble, it's okay to come to me. I don't mind waking up tonight. I haven't slept in two days." Joy then walked into the house, stretching tentatively and yawning. I turn back to the screen, where the dream is starting.

Riley is sitting on the bus, much like the one she was on before I fixed everything. The only difference was, this Riley wasn't moving; she simply sat there and stared out the window as the bus rolled through the city.

It was then that a man sat next to her. He wore a black leather coat and dark jeans. Despite the warm weather of San Francisco, the man still shivers. Riley paid no attention to this man other than a quick glance in his direction.

He sat with her as the bus drove from San Francisco to Minnesota. And suddenly, as she walked out of the bus to meet her old home, the man grabbed her and lifted her up, keeping a hand over her mouth to prevent Riley from screaming for help. Riley squirmed and kicked, but to no avail, and the man brought Riley to an abandoned building not far from where they were.

Once inside, Riley begged of the man to let him go, be he would have none of it. He beat her across the face and said mean things about her. Finally, he brought a knife to her throat. At this, Riley screamed with more power than she had ever screamed before.

Suddenly, at this scream, her parents, almost like superheroes, busted the door open and rushed to help. The estranged man attempted to flee from the scene by jumping out the window, but dad catches him and throws him against the wall; he's knocked out, cold. Mom instantly called 911 from her cell and explained the situation, and after disclosing the address of the area, rushes to Riley to investigate the damage.

Riley had a black eye, some bruises, and a minor cut on her throat where the man put a knife to it. Mom speeds to heal the cut, fussing over the wraps she found in a first aid kit not far down the hall.

After all is done, she hugs Riley like she was what kept her alive. The father soon joins the hug and the three are now huddled on the floor of the abandoned apartment, exchanging their warmth through the long-drawn hug.

The police soon arrive after this, along with an ambulance to check on Riley's injuries to see if they go any further than a cut or bruise. The man is apprehended and Riley is carried off on a stretcher, despite being able to walk herself. Her parents are both on their knees, stretcher-side to Riley, once she is settled in the ambulance.

"Honey," her mother starts gently, "You had us worried. We called the school, then the police, and, we figured you'd gone back to Minnesota. We followed you and when we saw that man take you, we were so far away, we thought that we were too late when we came in. We're so sorry we ever did this to you, Riley." Her mother then breaks up and starts crying into her husbands shoulder.

The image of her mother crying blurred and the colors mixed and mixed until... Riley awoke. She opened her eyes to find her parents, squatting down to meet her eyes. They looked very worried, and from what Riley can see, it was late in the night.

"You were having a bad dream. We didn't notice until you started screaming. We rushed in as soon as we could and," Mom wiped a few tears from her eyes, "we're sorry this is having such an impact on you. We," a few more tears, "know how you feel right now and, um," she paused, "just try to go back to sleep. I want my baby girl getting as much sleep as she can."

Mom leaned in to kiss Riley on the forehead, followed by her father, and soon they were out the door. It didn't take long for Riley to fall asleep again, and soon, I was alone as Dream Productions seems to have had enough fun for one night and has kept quiet. I can't believe they gave up on dreams tonight. I can't just let Riley sleep with no dreams. Well, there is this thing I saw Joy do once.

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Sadness pushed a few buttons on the console. Instantly, the memory with the twisted tree popped into her hands. "I think she did this..." she said, sliding her finger across the surface until the color turned from golden to blue. She then let it levitate into place, where it was projected into Riley's dream. Sadness watched as Riley sat alone on the branch of the twisted tree.

It was the day that the Prairie Dogs lost; when Riley missed the winning shot. Afterward, she felt awful about it and it almost drove her to quit hockey all-together. Shortly after the memory started, her parents climbed up onto the branch where Riley sat, and cuddled up with her. There was a minute of silence, and as time ticked slowly by, Sadness saw how truly solemn the silence was.

Soon, though, a cheer erupted from behind the tree. Riley and her parents all got down and went around, where the rest of the team picked Riley up and cheered for her; cheered for trying. The cheering kept on for another minute, then, the memory faded to a stop and Riley was awake again. This time, looking at the clock, it read 7:00, and Riley has to get ready for the day.

Sadness went upstairs to wake up the other emotions, and when she opened the front door, Joy fell forward onto her face. It was clear she was eavesdropping in the middle of the night and fell asleep.

"Hi, Joy," Sadness said, "uh, I see you were checking up on me."

Joy looked up, terrified that she was caught in the act. "Well, you know, it was your first night, and I was just trying to be alert for when – if you needed help."

Sadness only shook her head and walked back to the console. "Wake the others for me, please." Joy was then left facing the floor, wondering if what she did was right. It wasn't.

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Hey again. It feels great coming back to this series. I only want to say that the current chapters that have already been written will come out every other week, so as to give me breathing room. After that, the chapters will be released when they are written. Thanks for reading! Again, check out some of Steevele's works, and if you're done with his stories, I also suggest PotterPhantomKitten. I love both of these authors and I read their stories all the time.