(1:5) Portent


Disgust blinked at the bright light for a second, her eyes adjusting. As her pupils shrank from the influx of light, she looked around the Mind Worker and into the room beyond.

A fairly crowded room greeted her. Many Mind Workers of various colors were wandering around, putting away random prop pieces, which varied from random clothing like eyepatches, dresses, and another one of those gross sheep wools, to a model car and a pair of functional wings. Various pieces of equipment for filming were off in one corner, and a group of figures that Disgust recognized from various dreams were sitting around a short table in another. The ceiling blocked off high above her head, and electric lights swayed slightly for illumination.

Her guide moved towards a small group of Mind Workers sitting in a circle of chairs, and Disgust followed. She watched as the Mind Worker pulled up a chair.

"So, anything interesting happen while I was gone?"

One member of the group nodded. "There was an attack on the front door just an hour ago."

Disgust's guide sighed. "They're getting bolder."

Disgust leaned on the back of the chair in front of her. "So… what kind of fears are you dealing with here?"

"Well, it's mostly the ones that can actually get out of the subconscious," said one of the Mind Workers, a green one, on the other side of the circle. "Jangles has been around wreaking things, and grandma's vacuum has been causing trouble."

"So you need to get them back in the Subconscious?"

"That's the goal," stated one of the Mind Workers that looked like a policeman.

Disgust's eyes flickered over the rest of the room, touching upon many different objects and persons before coming back to rest on her guide. A plan formed in her mind. She smiled. "I might have an idea…"


Inspector Chandler strolled through the gate into the middle school with a confident air. As the gate creaked shut behind him, he walked through the empty grounds and up to the front door.

He hadn't had cause to be at this particular middle school before, so he looked down the halls with a modicum of interest. Random paraphernalia bedecked the walls that weren't filled with lockers. Muted voices came through the doors on either side as he strolled up to a staircase and began to climb. He could see the students through the windows on the doors, most of which looked slightly bored.

He came up to the third floor and turned the corner, walking over to a door in the wall with a bench beside it. He knocked politely.

"Come in!" a voice from inside shouted through the door.

His eye caught on a brass sign by the entrance.

He grasped the handle, pushed the door open, and walked inside of Principal Hill's office.


Reynie slowly pushed himself out of the booth and looked back and forth. His hand rubbed against his forehead as he tried not to wince. He somehow had both completely forgotten a conversation with a girl he had bought breakfast, and gotten a headache in the process. He shook his head to clear it, and walked towards the door of the diner.

The bell jangled as he pushed the door open and walked into the street, the busy traffic hammering its beat into his brain.

He stumbled down the street towards his apartment.


Inspector Chandler looked at the man across the room from him. He was looking over several sheets of paper on a desk, obviously not quite paying attention. The man looked up.

The Inspector walked over to the desk and held out his hand. "Hello. Principle Hill, I presume?"

The man stood up from his swivel chair and grasped his hand. "Yes. And you are…" - he looked down at his sheets - "Bryan Chandler?"

"Inspector Chandler, if you would." The Inspector dropped the principal's hand. "I'm here to learn about one of your more recent students."

"Recent?" The principal looked slightly confused. "What's happened?"

"In theory, she ran away." The Inspector leaned in. "I need everything you have on a certain Riley Andersen."


Sadness groaned as she stumbled down another step. The wooden stairs creaked under her feet as she leaned on the glass rail on her left. The wood gave way to metal as she continued down the lengthy staircase.

Bing Bong was bounding down the stairs in front of her, landing with a thump on one of the coral stepping stones. "Come on! We're almost there!"

Sadness looked over the edge of the last stair and over the salty water. She reached out her stubby foot and just managed to hook it over the edge of the hard shell. Pushing off from the stair behind her, she gripped the rough side of the exposed organism, pulling herself up.

As she stood on top of the rounded coral, the building warped and the water in front of her dropped out of the sky. She peeked over the edge of the newfound technological floating disc, and saw a gaping pit. She shuddered slightly, and looked up.

The next floating panel floated closer, and she pushed herself up, stepping over the shortening gap. The metallic blue gleamed under her feet as the mechanical imagining floated over to the other side of the pit.

"I've got you." Bing Bong reached a hand down, and she grasped it. He began to pull her up-

The building warped.

Sadness watched as Bing Bong's sandstone cliff vanished and a tree grew around her. As gravity once again took hold, her hand gripped her friend's hand tighter. Her stomach fell with a thump onto the tree house that had taken shape, and her hands scrabbled at Bing Bong's, trying to keep him from falling. "Bing Bong!"

The noise assaulted her ears - he was panicking, his voice ricocheting against the crystal wall across the pit of lava. "No, no no no, Sadness!"

Her tiny hands gripped his giant pink ones, and she groaned as pieces she didn't know she had stretched against the weight. Her feet dug into the wooden slats behind her, stopping her from falling into the pit. His hand gripped tighter, and his eyes met hers.

His fur started to slip through her fingers…

There was a rush of wind.


Joy shivered the wind cut through her dress. She scrunched her legs closer to her chest as she gazed out over the lake. The sun shimmered down, but the cold whipping off of the water kept her chilly under her green dress.

Putting out her hand, she really looked at herself for the first time since she'd arrived. Her skin, instead of glowing like she was used to, didn't even shine like the occasional passerby next to her bench, who varied in color.

Unlike the passersby, however, her hair was a stark blue, and while it didn't glow, it did offer some reassurance that she hadn't lost all of what she looked like. Her hand gripped her green dress slightly tighter.

In a voice so quiet it almost was lost to the wind, she whispered to herself.

"What am I going to do?"


Riley slowly, but efficiently, plodded down the street. Clouds blocked out the sun, but she still knew that it was about midday based on the beeping her watch had been making. Her sneakers squished against the ground, slightly wet from the rain and puddles. Her face passively neutral, she turned a corner.

Five blocks to go…


Somewhere inside her Mind Space…

Isolated in a graying light…

A figure grinned.


End of Arc I


I made it! Had to stay up late, but posted it before the end of the day.

Being sick really sucks.