Chapter 4: A Joyful Get-Together
Todd led Riley through the assorted stations, until her feet were tired and then some. After what felt like hours of walking, they finally arrived at a small nook, occupied by four people.
One of them had pale skin, and dirty blonde hair. She was tall, and actually looked almost like Riley. Besides her was a tall man, somewhat lanky and had a long nose. There were two girls besides them, about average height. One of them had thick glasses and a warm turtleneck, while the other had long lashes and a beautiful dress.
"Are these⦠the rest of my emotions?" Riley asked. She was still struggling to get the idea of her emotions being people through her head. They nodded enthusiastically.
There was a chilling silence in the air after that, before the tall girl ran up and hugged her. "I've wanted to hug you for so long!"
The girl in the dress rolled her eyes. "If you haven't guessed yet, she's your Joy."
Joy nodded. "It's so good to see you in person, even if it had to come to this so early."
The man shivered. "Let's hope nothing like that happens again."
"Yeah." Riley sighed. But she quickly smiled again. Even without her Joy working at the panel, she was a perky girl. "I just can't believe it! I'm meeting my emotions!"
Joy nodded. "And I'm so glad to have met you! I can't believe it either!"
The shorter girl waved. "Hi. I'm your Sadness."
"And I'm Fear." Said the taller guy.
"Disgust." Said the other time. "And I assume you've met Anger." He nodded.
Riley thought for a second. "Do you all have names other than what you are? I mean, Anger said he was Todd."
Joy smiled even wider. "That's the cool part. We actually forgot who we were when we were your emotions. But now that we're back here, we can remember. I'm Abigail, and I'm so excited to get to know you, and re-get to know my old friends."
Sadness approached them. "That's such a beautiful name. I'm Merilee."
"And I'm Jessica."
Riley smiled. "I've always loved that name."
Fear sighed. "I'm Merik, but, I've been a Fear so long, I've started calling myself that."
She was confused. "You've been a Fear for a long time?"
He nodded, and turned his head a bit to the left. "Most people, when they've done Emotion Duty, go straight up to heaven. But I just keep choosing to go back."
"Why?" Sadness asked him. "Don't you miss your family?"
He shrugged. "Yeah. I just enjoy being Fear."
The emotions began to get into conversation. About life, and all that fun stuff. And for the first time in a while, she was beginning to feel her heart lighten a bit. It felt nice to have friends, even if they were the voices in her head. She didn't feel quite so alone and isolated.
And it was good to have some answers to something, for once. She finally knew where emotions came from! And she would get to be one!
"Hey!" Anger but in. "I think we should be including Riley a bit more. I know we've all wanted to have a heart-to-heart with her."
They all nodded, and walked to the girl, who backed away from being overwhelmed.
"Do you think we could find somewhere better to talk?" She asked.
"Well, there's a nice hotel around here." Fear suggested. "It's free, the rooms are infinite, and you won't even be asked to move over a room to explain a theory." She didn't get it, but she just shrugged it off. The mention of a hotel, however, suddenly reminded her of how sleepy she was.
"Cool." She nodded with a yawn. "That sounds great."
Thanks for all of you who are reading! I know it's getting a bit slow, but I promise It'll be picking up steam soon. Please, feel free to comment. Not just compliments, but honest opinions. Just, I would appreciate if you didn't write it just to insult me. Constructive criticism is highly appreciated. Thanks!
