I don't think I ever dreamed this story would come this far. I honestly never imagined I'd get the support for this story that I do. I was so worried that it wasn't good enough. It's because of your amazing kindness that I can continue to write.

I do apologize, though, as the most recent chapters are kind of downers... I promise things perk up again. Also, remember to tell me if you ever think that the rating of the tale needs altering. I don't think anything in this chapter would cause a change, but later chapters might.

Again, you may contact me for any questions or concerns. I am here every day and will respond as quickly as I can!

Please read and review. I am starting on the next chapter right away!

Chapter 28: Extinguished

I don't think it was alive.

It was like the whole world ground to a sudden halt. Riley could feel the blood drain from her head, a cold chill speed down her spine. She froze as her broken mind groped blindly for a response. Her eyes, now the size of saucers, were glued to her cousins face, studying her expression of empathy and understanding. She began to feel lightheaded, stumbling backwards a few steps to keep from losing her balance.

Her emotion couldn't be dead! Could it?

Perhaps, the young girl thought, it wasn't an emotion? What if it really was some form of black bug? But she was forced to quickly dismiss this thought. She knew her cousin could tell the difference between a true insect and what she described as a "shadowy demon bug". Then, was she sure it was... dead?

Riley turned to check how her other emotions had taken the news. Fear's eyes slowly rolled back, and he collapsed onto the hard wood floor. Disgust clasped her dainty hands to her mouth, green eyes glistening with tears. Anger, eyes wide, mouth agape, could only bring himself to shake his head. They couldn't accept that one of their coworkers, whom they had worked and lived with their entire lives, could be deceased. It just couldn't be so.

"Wh-what..." The young girl turned back to her cousin, placing a hand to her chest in an attempt to control her rapid breathing. "What do you mean?"

The other girl, unable to look her young relative in the eyes any longer, lowered her gaze, beginning to fuss with her own hands. "Well..." She shrugged. "I couldn't really see it through that smoke they make. But it was laying on the floor not moving. I tried talking to it like you do, but it didn't even hiss at all." She sighed and shook her head. "I even touched it. No response. I'm so sorry, Riley."

A sickly feeling twisted in the young girls stomach as the severity of the situation began to truly sink in. Even at his worst, Fear had still reacted to being touched. It really did sound like this emotion was... dead. What would that mean for Riley? Would she ever feel that feeling again? Would she still be able to return the others to her mind? Could she really function the rest of her life as an unfinished puzzle, missing one of the five key pieces?

"I... I have to go... I have to see it..." Riley said at last, a stern, focused expression taking hold of her face. "I just need to see for myself."

In an instant, the three emotions were up and at the girls ankles. They grabbed wildly at the tops of her socks, all talking at once over each other, begging to accompany the girl. They all wanted to see, too. They had to confirm with one hundred percent certainty that their colleague was indeed deceased.

Riley, careful not to hurt the creatures, lifted a foot and shook their small hands off of her. "Hey, hey!" She shouted, too worried about this fourth emotion to deal with their shenanigans. "No! You guys aren't coming! This isn't a parade!"

Shocked, disappointed, and somewhat hurt, the trio solemnly backed up, their faces falling.

"Look, I'm sorry." Riley knelt down to them. "I just... This is hard enough as it is. I'll bring them here for you to see, but I can't handle all of you going at once." She pointed at the lavender figure. "You'll start freaking out..." Her finger moved to the stout, red emotion. "And you'll try and break something."

Knowing full well that the young girl spoke the truth, the emotions were forced to agree. They sighed and nodded, accepting defeat.

"Well, c-could..." Fear stammered, tightly clenching his hands together. "Could you at least br-bring Disgust? I mean, just in case their not... not..."

Disgust, mildly surprised at the request, looked to Riley with an expectant glint in her emerald eyes.

Riley lowered her shoulders. It wasn't a bad idea to bring one of them along. And Disgust seemed to be the one least likely to add to the chaos. So the young girl nodded and reached her hand to the floor.

From atop the bed, the older girl had watched the entire interaction between her cousin and the tiny black bugs. It was still hard for her to believe that that hissing actually meant something, but knew at this point that it had to be true. Once the single beast was nestled in the young girls hand, the two cousins exchanged a solemn look, then began their trek to the fallen creature.


Riley stood in front of the old, aging structure, staring at the faded wooden door. She was trying her best to mentally prepare herself for what lay inside, but it was proving futile. Nothing could relieve the awful twisting feeling in her stomach, the tightness in her chest. She looked to the lime green figure resting in her palm for support, but the creature had only her own worried expression to offer. So she tried instead looking to the older girl who stood behind her, but she just looked away. Realizing that she had no where left to turn, Riley decided to get it over with.

She reached a hand out and eased the old door open with a creak. The morning sunlight quickly poured into the small space, illuminating the dusty mess of cobwebs and old tools stacked to the ceiling. The smell of aging wood and dirt hit her hard, stirring a cough from her throat. Riley's eyes anxiously scanned the room, quickly finding the tiny fallen creature by the wall immediately to her right.

It lay on its side, its back to the girl, motionless. The little flecks of light that made its skin were almost completely grey, emitting next to no light as they did in the other creatures. Its silky sundress, decorated with little bursts of color, was crusted in layers of filth and debris. Its cerulean blue hair a gross, matted disaster. The poor creature was in terrible shape, and showed no signs of life.

"Joy..!" The little figure in Riley's hand cried.

The young girl, completely at a loss as to what she should do, decided to let the emotion figure it out. Besides, it was clear that the green creature was anxious to assist its former coworker. As soon as the hand it was in met the rotting wood floor, she was off, running towards the other emotion, ignoring the cobwebs that clung to her ankles.

Disgust fell to her knees in a puff of dust just behind Joy's back. With a jolt of nervous energy, she reached her arms out and quickly rolled Joy's limp body over to face her. Upon gazing at the emotions ventral half, the green figure inhaled a sharp gasp and covered her mouth with her hands, feeling her insides go cold.

The tightly clumped particles that once made up the golden emotions face were incomplete. A giant crevasse of missing light specks ran from above Joy's left eye down her cheek and to her neck. Similar gashes were present up and down her exposed arms and legs, along with tiny tears in her clothing.

"Joy!" Disgust cried, tears trickling from her face and onto the figure below. She put both hands on her coworkers dusty shoulder and began to push on it repeatedly. "Joy! Get up!"

The creature didn't react in the slightest.

Riley felt her own warm tears stream down her face as she watched her poor emotion try so desperately to rouse the other. But Joy did nothing to respond. She didn't even open her eyes. She just laid there, limp and lifeless, as Disgust collapsed on top of her and sobbed.

Finally, the young girl forced herself to walk towards them. Disgust, hearing the approaching footsteps, stood up, wiped her eyes with an arm, and backed away, allowing a clear path to Joy. Slowly, sniffling, Riley leaned forward and scooped the fourth emotion into her hand, raising the figure in front of her face.

"Oh, Joy..." The young girl cried, squinting through tears, feeling a wave of guilt overtake her. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

The gentle sound of Riley's voice awakened something deep within the fallen creatures body. Joy's face began to twitch, a quiet, gentle moan escaping her lips. She weakly strained and struggled to open her eyes.

It took a full seven seconds of fighting for her deep blue eyes finally appear, and they immediately focused on the soft face of the young girl ahead. Joy sputtered the tiniest, hoarsest cough, before producing a weak smile. She focused all her energy on extending a single, shaky arm, reaching her hand out towards the familiar face.

"R...Ril..ey..." Joy barely wheezed, the energy in her arm expiring, causing it to collapse. "I... I al..ways... dreamed... I'd see you... i-in person..." She smiled.

"Joy!" Riley beamed. "Are you alright!?"

As quickly as her vitality had come, it faded. Joy's eyes flickered shut and her face and body fell limp once more. But that didn't matter to Riley right now. She was alive. She didn't know how, but her emotion was still alive. She gently pressed the dusty gold creature to her face and smiled. For the first time in days, Riley felt a stronger feeling of happiness.

Burning with a renewed sense of purpose, the young girl quickly plucked the lime green emotion from the floor. "Come on, Disgust!" She shouted, turning back towards the house. "Let's get her inside!"

Riley shot from the shed and across the yard at a tremendous speed, darting past her cousin, who looked on in confusion. Taking care to keep the injured creature safe, she slammed through the back door, skidded across the kitchen floor and flew up the stairs and into her bedroom.

Fear and Anger, who had heard her racing footsteps approaching from the floor below, ran just alongside Riley's feet as she sped into the room and towards the beds on the floor. They were dying to hear the news from the shed. But they would have to wait. The young girl was running on pure adrenaline, way too wrapped up in Joy's predicament to talk.

She hastily placed Disgust on the floor, then eased Joy onto the closest makeshift bed. She was immediately surrounded by the other three emotions. Fear and Anger began to shout an assortment of questions that flew through their racing minds, all of which were fielded by Disgust, as Joy was still unconscious.

Before any of the emotions could say anything to her, Riley was back out of the room, into the hall, and down the stairs to the kitchen. As she threw open the fridge door, she noticed her cousin approach from behind.

"What is going on?" The older girl shouted.

"She's alive." Riley panted, rummaging through the appliance. "But only barely. I'm gonna get her something to eat to see if that doesn't help."

Finally finding what she was looking for, Riley plucked the container of yogurt from the fridge and slammed it shut once again. Taking one more moment to swipe a skewer from the drawer, Riley raced through the dining room and back to the second floor, nearly tripping over her own two feet as she entered her bedroom and knelt back down to the four emotions.

"Joy..." The young girl called out, hoping her voice would once again cause the emotion to stir. "Please. You have to wake up."

Surprisingly, it worked, though not nearly as effectively as before. It was clear that her energy reserves were running severely low. Not able to open her eyes this time, Joy only had the strength to turn her heavy head in the girls direction.

"R...Riley..." She gasped, with the other emotions watching her in quiet awe. "You... you need your... emotions... Honey, y-you need to... to get us... home..."

"I'm trying Joy." Riley put a hand on the foam mattress. "But I don't know how."

"Th... The Recall Pulses..." Joy moaned. "They'll... open the way back..."