The grass below Riley Andersen's feet was green. That's what she noticed as she stared down at it, like a miniature forest beneath her. It would be relaxing, peaceful even, under any other circumstance - but the situation was anything but peaceful. She incredulously noted that less than five minutes ago, she was happily playing that stupid alphabet game with her mom and dad as they traveled down the highway...
"I see a 'U' on that sign!" her mom quickly pointed out, before the green square had the chance to pass them, "exit 314 - Buffalo!"
"Ahh! Beat me to it!" Riley giggled, "I was literally just about to say that!"
"Gonna have to be quicker than that!" her mother playfully taunted. Riley shoved her gaze out the window at that. The gantlet had been thrown down. 'Challenge accepted!' Her steeled gaze peering down the highway. She scoured the horizon for anything at all, determined to be the next to call a letter out. 'Okay, V,' she thought to herself, 'V... V... V...' she searched and searched, but her confidence was short lived. As time ticked by, not a single license plate produced the elusive letter, and no sign came by to give it to her.
All she saw for miles was the endless North Dakotan scenery, their car continuing East. There was a signpost. Next to it, a tree. They just passed a bridge. But not a single letter V came out of hiding to give her a chance, all there was was the big blue sky, the nearly-endless highway, and that dead animal.
Riley did a double-take.
Yep, she'd seen it, and if her eyes deceived her, the disgusted groan of her mom and the shift of dad swerving aside most certainly did not deceive her: that was a nice big slice of road pizza, looking as stomach-churning as broccoli... maybe even moreso. She couldn't tell what that twisted, heaping mass of fur even used to be. It had clearly been hit by a car - its corpse was by the side of the road, tongue dangling out and dead eyes staring into nothing, its head twisted around to an impossible angle. Beneath it its innards had burst out like the contents of spilled spaghetti. A black cloud of flies was furiously encircling it, dense enough for some to splatter against Riley's window as the car passed.
"Ewww! Ew ew ew eeeww!" Disgust squealed in her head. The little green thing was hopping up and down, eyes squinted nearly shut and one hand up against her mouth (the other was busy tapping the nearest button). "Oh my gosh, did you guys see its tongue! So gross! So gross!"
"That poor thing had its head almost completely snapped off..." Sadness groaned.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it please don't remind me!" Disgust hissed.
"We could've been like that just half an hour ago!" Fear said, nearly spilling his tea as his fingers sniped a button on the panel.
"Wow, you're right!" Sadness whimpered in agreement, cringing back from the monitor.
"No, no, no, guys! Please, just take it easy..." Joy said, "Look, you're gonna make Disgust sick!"
It was true; the poor green emotion literally had her hands full. Both palms were now slammed over her mouth, puffing up her cheeks as much as her swollen green eyes were widened (which only served to punctuate how tiny her pupils had shrunk). 'Calm down, calm down, Disgust...' she thought to herself. 'Breathe in, breathe out... it's all gone...'
Her eyes caught a glimpse of Anger's newspaper, complete with a giant photograph of the dead animal carcass. Anger himself even jerked his head back from the sight, one eye growing larger than the other. Disgust looked away, slamming her eyelids shut.
Riley did the same, moving her head away from the window where the flies had become so many little snot-colored splatters. 'Gross!' she thought as her stomach briefly tightened.
"You gonna be okay?" Joy asked, putting a concerned hand on her shoulder.
"Do you need your bucket?" Sadness offered.
"No, I'm..." Disgust exhaled, then swallowed and forced that nauseating feeling to vanish. She adjusted her dress, her scarf, and her hair, then - with what she hoped was a dignified, dainty air - said, "I'm fine."
"Oh, good," Sadness said with relief, leaning on the console, "Cause now we've got a biiig stomach pain, and it almost feels like we're gonna throw-"
Joy slammed a hand over Sadness's mouth. "Sadness!" she said, "Not helping!"
Sadness looked up into Joy's face. "Oh... sorry," she said, only the golden hand blocking her converted it to "Mwh... smfhff."
But it was too late. Disgust twitched an eye, frozen solid. She spread her hands out. "No, calm down... calm..." she said to herself. All eyes went up to the monitor.
It felt as if an iron hand grabbed Riley's stomach and squeezed it completely shut. Her tissue sent a ripping, tightening pain up her entire abdomen. She doubled over, knees up to her chest and eyes closed tight.
"N-Nope. Nope!" Disgust said, pressing a button, "It's happening."
"Aaah!" Fear squealed, grabbing Disgust by the shoulders and looking her in the eye, "Please tell me we're not gonna hurl in the car! What if we distract Dad and he crashes and we die?!"
Sadness began bawling. Joy groaned and slammed her hands into her face. The situation was quickly spiraling out of control. Sadness yanked a lever, reacting to the vice that had seized Riley's gut. But the brief blue flicker was soon gone, replaced entirely by a nauseating green tidal wave. Disgust had sprawled across the console's surface, clutching her own gut and groaning.
"D-Di.. uh, Disgust... I just... I need to..." Fear timidly said, but his little green friend kept rolling back and forth, lighting up the controls in more green. Fear stuttered and stammered, and looked over to the monitor. He could feel it, too, now; Riley was seconds away from losing her lunch... or, well, her gas station snack, but still! The purple emotion quickly whispered, "Sorry," then shoved Disgust aside. He gave a lever a good yank.
"Stop the car!" Riley shouted (perhaps a bit too loudly, but this was an emergency), "I'm gonna throw up!"
Screech! the brakes squealed.
Click! went the seatbelt.
Slam! went the car door, and Riley was there, standing by the roadside, staring down at that forest of green grass below her feet.
In her head, Disgust was just getting up, eyebrows still collapsed into a grimace. "Ugh..." she groaned.
"Uh... uh..." Joy panicked. She didn't want Riley to throw up. But more than that (though she'd never admit it) she didn't want to hear what Disgust would say about picking that suspicious-looking grape soda over the safer water at the gas station. She looked at Sadness. "Sadness! Say something to, uh, I don't know, make Disgust feel better!"
Before she could protest, Sadness was scooted up next to her currently nauseated friend. At the same time, the shadow of Riley's parents appeared on either side of their daughter.
"Easy, now, Monkey, easy..." her father's soothing voice said.
Sadness hesitantly placed a calming hand on Disgust's back and patted. "Uh... It's gone now, isn't it, at least?" she tried, "I mean... oh... oh that's so sad..." her eyes had trailed off to the screen, where Riley noticed a colony of little blue ants carrying the corpse of a dying grasshopper to their mound. Disgust noticed, too. Her body twisted over again, stomach tighter than ever as she slammed her face into the console, lighting up the surface in a sickly green glow.
"B-B-Bucket! Now!" she cried out.
"Okay!" Sadness said with a smile. She turned and let her little legs carry her off. She was happy to be so helpful.
"What... what should-" Joy began, but was interrupted by a bitter laugh.
"Sorry, Joy," Disgust said, "But we've gotta get this out of our system!"
With that, a curled green fist slammed into a button, and the inevitable happened. The grass, anthill, ants, and grasshopper were all drowned in a nauseating sea of mushy purple slime, former contents of Riley's stomach. It made a sickening wet sound, like a dozen wet rags smacking the sidewalk.
The deed done, Riley gratefully accepted a bottle of water from her mother, and - when she'd rinsed her mouth out and wiped her face clean - she paused to see if she felt any better. It only took a second, and the nausea passed away. "Okay," she said, "I'm fine now. Sorry about that."
"It's okay, sweetie," her mom said.
"Can't blame ya, yuck!" her father added, wiping away the last of those dead flies from her window with some napkins, "But I thought monkeys liked bugs, especially to eat 'em."
His attempt at humor was met with a nervous chuckle from Riley and a brief glare from her mom. Still, all was well. They hopped back in the car, and were back to driving again.
Inside Riley's head, Anger had been kicked off the couch to make room for Disgust's sprawled figure. Her bucket was full (all that needs to be said on the matter), and here eyes were half-closed after the strain of the incident finally faded. As she looked up to Joy standing nearby, she couldn't help but raise her eyebrows in an "I-told-you-so" stare.
Joy looked down at the ground and sighed, hands behind her back. Disgust was right, of course. Even without the aided help of that roadkill, Riley would've soon gotten carsick from that cheap-looking gas station soda; the brand that always made them a little queasy. She should've let Disgust do her job. She let her controlling nature get the better of her. Again.
And Riley suffered for it.
Disgust noticed Joy's slouched shoulders and frowning demeanor. The green feeling looked down at the floor, considering something, then bit her lip. She nodded to herself, whispered, "Okay," then cleared her throat and got Joy's attention. "Hey, uh... where... where were we on the alphabet game?" the green emotion asked with a smile.
Joy faintly smiled in reply, but sorrow still lingered.
Disgust decided she felt well enough to sit up again, so she did just that. "I bet I can beat you!" she said, "I bet I find the V before you do!"
"You wish!" Joy exclaimed, her signature brightness returning
"You're on!" said Disgust.
Joy raced back over to the console, eager to beat Disgust and be the first to point out the next letter.
"Now, where were we?" Riley asked tauntingly.
Her mother took a moment to ponder it. "I think we were on-"
"V!" Riley shouted eagerly, pointing at a passing Sedan, "2NV NBN! Hah! Score another one for me!"
Her mother scoffed playfully. "I didn't know we were taking score."
"We are now, old lady!"
"Ouch!" chuckled Mr. Andersen.
"Oh... it's on, in that case!" his wife said to their daughter.
Riley laughed and then went back to looking out the window. 'The next one is mine!' she thought, excited and happy once more.