Chapter 10: In Which an Old Friend is Resurrected.
As the mind's "sky" began to glow bright with the sense of day, and the workers were gathering outside their establishment murmuring questions, the light from the softly glowing cells spilled through the windows of headquarters.
They are funny things, cells. They exist with the sole purpose of keeping our mind and body flowing like a river. If a single drop of polluted muck enters, a brain cell could die and cause a terrible chain reaction. The only comfort was that cells were always dying and regenerating, as is the natural order of life itself. They move through the mind's sky like jellyfish in the deepest ocean, translucent and swift, creating an array of colours with their bioluminescent light.
These cells, next to the memory orbs were the most vital thing to Riley's head. They were there to hold knowledge as well as keep blood pressure steady. Ever since her accident, they had been acting strange however. They looked paler than before, a few of them at least, we're starting to curl up and fade at the edges.
Riley opened one eye only to be greeted with the feeling that she hadn't slept at didn't feel tired, but she wasn't exactly well rested either.
It took her a moment to realise that none of it had been a dream, even the parts where there had been dreams. She could smell the salty fragrance of tears, the worn out woolen fabric she had buried underneath the night before. As she moved, she heard the sound of sand inside the beanbag bed and thought of Sadness. Poor Sadness; having to share her room with an intruder. She had gone now, her blue bedsheets pulled right up. Tumbling out from under the pile of turtlenecks, Riley willed herself to walk, her legs shaking and looking half-frozen. The only thing that kept her going was the fact that there were people she knew do7wnstairs-well, people who knew her.
She stumbled down the ramp, ignoring her nausea and saw the faces of Joy, Anger, Sadness, Fear and Disgust, all sat in a small circle around a shelf full of white folders, some had been taken out and thrown to the floor whilst others were still being poured over. Each were labeled with a subject on how to control the happenings of Riley's helad. She noticed "Long Term Memory Retrieval," "The Complete Guide to Thoughts" and "So You're Dealing with Chemical Imbalance?"
Joy was sitting cross legged with Sadness who looked so absorbed in every word she read, unlike her friend who was falling asleep. Disgust lay on her stomach, kicking her olive legs leafing through pages, whilst Fear studied each book carefully, avoiding the fright of a sharp paper cut. Anger however was reading furthest away from the group, reading a manual that was singed slightly at the corners of the spine, evidence of a previous rage.
"Hello." said Riley, somewhat weakly.
Sadness saw her and nudged Joy who had been snoring with her elbow on the spine of her book. When she was shaken slightly she let out a loud snort and sat bolt upright, "Huh?! Wha-?! Oh, Good Morning Riley. If it is morning, Fear is it morning?"
"Not sure Joy, but judging everything's still out of order including the clock, I can't imagine it'd be that early."
"Well, Good Day then! Did you sleep well?"
"Fine thanks," Riley replied, "like a log actually." This was the truth. Sadness's jumpers and blankets wore the nicest of aroma, like sea salt and old dusty volumes. She joined her emotions on the floor, looking around at all the dark grey orbs sitting on the shelves above them.
"Why are these memories not glowing like the rest?" she asked. Joy answered her grabbing yet another book.
"Everything's still shut down. Has been since last night everything has. It was a miracle Fear managed to get the moniter working. The reason those memories are still glowing is because they're core. Core memories can't be forgotten easily."
"You're Welcome," Sadness sighed dully behind her copy of "Are you a Memory Expert?"
"So, these are my main memories then?" said Riley staring at them.
"Well, they're at your brain's core so yes," said Joy.
"Sorry," Riley laughed, "I just have so many more questions-"
"Well, hold on no longer! Whadaya want to ask?"
Riley thought; What did she want to ask? Aside from the fact that she was still convinced she had just hit her head too hard on the windshield and this was all a hallucinogenic fantasy.
"Well...I'd still kinda like to know what purpose you all have, up here I mean."
Joy shrugged, "What else is there to say really? We help you make decisions."
"Yeah, like Spots and Stripes together, No Way!" said Disgust.
"Someone doesn't give you a discount after you order the wrong pizza-that someone's gonna pay!" snarled Anger.
"Or not going for a sleep...I mean a walk in the woods..." murmured Fear his head drooping on his manual.
"Wake up you!" Disgust said nudging him, "You are not giving me more of your drool to clean up!"
"Sorry," he mumbled, groggily placing the book back on the shelf.
Riley stared at the mountains of manuals piled up in the middle of the circle. "Looks like you've all been...pretty busy,"
"Since last night," Joy replied, "we all woke up, thinking about what the best way to help you would be!"
"You woke us up!" Anger corrected her.
"Anyway, we haven't really had a lot of luck yet, but don't worry we're still working on it, right Fear? Fear? Fear!"
Fear had gotten up to pour himself a mug of coffee. He was now emptying the contents of his white cup onto the floor.
"Woah, Woah! Fear, you're missing your mouth!" giggled Joy, opening his jaw and pouring the coffee into it. Instantly the violet emotion lit up and his bow tie spun around crazily. "I'm WIDE AWAKE! Thank you Joy!" he said saluting her.
"Alright people! Books Down!" Joy ordered briskly clapping her hands, "Now tell me what you've learnt"
"Are you kidding me?!"
"Joy, there's seriously like nothing in these dumb old books!"
"Yeah all I found were *gulp* ways to get rid of nightmares!"
"Oh! I'm too sad to read anymore!"
Joy exhaled, "You Guys, we spent hours looking at these last night! Please try and think!"
"Um...well I've got something..."
"You do? Sadness that's great!" she said lighting up, Whatcha find?"
"It says here," began Sadness holding up the book "that Riley has got to wake herself up by scaring herself...umm, no wait that's not right..." she adjusted her glasses.
"Agh, this is pointless! I'm throwin' in the towel!" said Anger, thrusting his book to one side and storming off.
"And let Riley down? Some help you are!" Disgust called after him.
"What exactly is it you're looking for?" asked Riley.
"Answers," said Disgust simply, them raising her voice in Anger's direction, she added "to questions like "Why are SOME people are total morons around here?!"
"Disgust, can't this wait until we know what we're doing before we start arguing?" pleaded Fear, "It's clear Riley is looking for the same thing we are, after all, no one can know everything!"
Joy stopped. "Everything? Everything! Of course! Disgust! Pull the secret lever and bring me Volume 33."
"You want me to touch that dusty old thing?"
"Pleeeeeaasse?" she said with a wide grin.
Disgust rolled her eyes and groaned. "Fine!"
Riley watched as Disgust pushed aside brown covered book until a small black joystick was visible. Turning her head with an emerald swish as if to avoid a horrid smell, she yanked down on it. Instantly, the rows of books dispelled and revealed a tiny compartment hidden in the wall. Petite green fingers typed a code and the safe opened in a cloud of dust, leaving it's finder spluttering.
"Eww! Eww, ugh blegh! It went in my mouth!"
Letting her worker bee get some hair, Joy stepped forward and picked out the contents tenderly. Riley saw that it was a tattered, musty old book, with the letters on the spine close to faded. Riley turned her nose up a little at the stains and tears but Joy looked at it as though it were the rarest treasure in the world.
"I haven't seen this in forever!" she said delightedly blowing the remaining dust off the cover.
"Joy!" whined Disgust, "don't get more dust in the air! I'm still getting rid of the taste!"
"Isn't that just the taste of your complaining?" muttered Anger, arms crossed.
"What...was that?"
Knowing he may have made a grave mistake he coughed into his fist awkwardly, before gruffly responding "Nothing."
Joy presented the book to Riley happily, "Riley, do you know what this is?"
The girl lifted one of the pages, crisp and cracking under her touch, "A...journal?"
"Kind of! Good guess! It's an Encyclopedia, of your life!" she opened the spine and found a pair of white gloves taped to the inside. Joy slipped them on and began to flick through the pages. "It's pretty beat now, the older you get the older this gets, just think about how it will look when you turn to 50!" "If..." sighed Sadness, but her comment seemed to go ignored by Joy, who was busy pulling making out the texts on the first pages. "A-Ha! The introduction!
"After the birth of a child, one must be prepared for ups and downs. One must watch them with a guided eye and use emotional abilities to help him/her sustain a healthy lifestyle. Failure to do so will result in mood swings, disorders and unwanted behavioural problems."
"I'll show you unwanted behaviour problems if you don't skip to what we're looking for!"
"Easy Anger! Just let me find it! Now, where was it, I knew I bookmarked it in some way..."
"Page 12: When a Problem Arises."
"Oh, uh thanks Sadness! Yeah, here it is!
"During your stay with your personamin..."
"Huh?"
"Oh, it's what the book refers to non-emotions. "you will find that during their lifespan you shall become attached to them in personality, flaws, good deeds and faults. It is however important to note that during your long stay with them that complications will arise." Joy scanned the pages with a bright finger. "Hmm. It says here that-Oh."
"What is it Joy?" asked Fear nervously.
"Ummm..." Not wishing to alarm him but at the same time not wishing to keep Riley in the dark any longer she said, "Now Fear. I don't want you to panic or anything!" The purple nerve began to shake, "But I need to read out here what it says under "Worst Case Scenarios." Is that okay? Fear. Fear?"
The other emotions turned to the sofa where a grey trousered rear was sticking out between the cushions and a whimpering noise could be heard.
"So much for trying not to panic," scoffed Disgust.
"Read it out Joy," said Sadness looking up at her with almost pleading eyes from behind her spectacles.
Joy cleared her throat and read out:
"Worst Case Scenarios and how to Deal with Them.
1. Cancer.
Cancer is an illness that many personamins may suffer from in their lifetime. There are different types, including blood, bone, stomach, bowel, breast, cervical, esophageal...tes-tic-u-lar..."
She stopped. Looking up at the quartet of emotions and her own personamin who stood there incredulous at how one problem could come on so many forms. Joy cleared her throat as the flickers on Anger's head indicated he was growing impatient again.
"Uhh...Problem 2: Dealing with Disorders.
Disorders come in many overwhelming ways but examples include OCD, Bipolar, Depression, Anorexia, Bullemia, Aspergers..."
"I don't wanna hear any more!" wailed Fear covering his nearly non existent ears.
"I'd like to!" Sadness whispered.
"Don't pay any attention, Riley!" Disgust told her, "these books are so outdated!"
"Yeah Riley, it's all just-!" Joy began, but was stopped as she scrolled down, "Oh."
"What? What is it?!" quivered Fear.
Joy shrugged smiling. "It's okay Fear, I was just looking for number 10 and I thought for a minute there were more problems to come-!" As she spoke she lifted the other page and a long list fell to her feet. "-Oh. I was wrong, it appears." She tried to keep calm gathering up the list, confusion written on her glowing face. Fear on the other hand was sprinting around the room screaming his head off.
"Is there anything in that book that tells us how to actually help Riley?" Anger grumbled.
"Preferably anything with no disease?" offered Disgust.
"Is there anything with with no solution?" asked Sadness dismally.
"Uhh, just give me sec," Joy gathered up the notes and continued reading. "OH! Here! Comas. It tells you a whole bunch of stuff down here!"
The rest of the emotions cheered, a chorus of "Finally!" "Great!" "Oh good!"
Fear who had stopped yelling had slowed down and was now panicking under the couch.
"Fear, come out of there," Joy coaxed but the purple nerve continued to rock back and forth whining like a puppy.
"He's impossible, Joy" sighed Disgust, tossing her bangs aside "you'd need a hot poker to get him out of there."
At this Fear crawled further under the couch. "I didn't say she was going to!" Disgust yelled in his direction. She rolled her eyes and turned to her yellow clad co worker, "Come on, read it already!"
Joy cleared her throat; "According to the manual on Section A113 Paragraph 6 line 278, once in a coma the personamin is inconsolable, thus your headquarters will be either temporarily or permanently shut down," she cringed at this but tried not to let Disgust, Anger, Sadness and especially Riley see her. Poor Riley. She was just standing there on the cold floor in her bare feet, the edges of her star pyjama bottoms touching the floor as she kicked an invisible ball. "However, some comas do not last forever. It is important to note that during this struggle you and your fellow emotions must pull together and not lose hope. Instead, work on recalling every memory you can, to stimulate your personamin's senses. It has been known that a certain voice, animal, song or sound can jolt a person awake. If help is needed, take the glass elevator down to Midbrain Headquarters and dial the nerve connectors to send up secretions of noredrelin via the nerve lines.
Well that's it then!" she concluded closing the manual, "We need to make Riley remember a time when her senses were new and active!"
"Are you sure about this?" inquired Sadness, "I mean, we've never been in this situation before, I think Fear and I should be control panel buddies again."
"No!" Joy said, firm at first but then gentler, before laughing nervously, "No, Sadness remember the last time you and Fear worked at the control panel?"
"But the front door opened while we were asleep and Fear woke up when I was on dream duty, if a burglar had come and taken us, Mom and Dad would have been sooooo saaaad."
Fear finally emerged from his face of panic, "I can vouch with that!" he announced, "that noise could have been a thousand things," he counted them off on his stringy fingers, "a bear, rabid dog, monster, giant rat, huge spider, evil -ghost -from- that -video- game -we -played, a burglar, a thief, Freddy Krueger, a wide mouth...see that's a thousand!" he held up ten.
"It was the wind," said Anger bluntly.
"So?! It could have been a lot worse!"
"Uh, Excuse me?"
The emotions turned to Riley who stood patiently behind them, her eyes hopeful, "Does that mean that...I can see my parents again?"
She watched as the emotions looked to Joy, who stepped forward her own expression uncertain. "Oh, Sweetie we don't know that yet...But don't worry! I promise we are going to get you back to Mom and Dad we're just running low on fuel at the moment."
"What kind of Fuel does it run on?" Riley asked.
Immediately Joy lit up, a white light emanating from her glowing particles, "I'm So Glad you Asked!" she danced like a butterfly as she lead her girl gently by the arm, carrying her swiftly across the room towards the windows overlooking the stretch of the Memory Dump. Attached to Headquarters tower was a what looked like a small steel engine that was puffing out clouds of pink dust. Riley saw two creatures tipping a dark green bucket full of what appeared to be live stars in into a tube that connected to it. The creatures both wore blue caps and white ties, one was large and purple the other a sky blue. They reminded Riley of gumdrops.
"See that tank?" said Joy stabbing a finger on the glass.
"Uh huh."
"That's your brain power. It's what makes you do all the cool stuff your good at. Like, how you work in school, your creativity and just about every arts and crafts project you've ever done!"
"Wow," Riley breathed creating condensation on the clear glassy surface. The mind workers outside began noticed their bucket was beginning to stop producing it's contents. The larger one tipped it upside down, but only tiny flecks of light fell at his feet. "What's wrong?"
"Oh no!" Joy groaned. It's empty!"
"Don't all things eventually run out?" Riley asked puzzled.
"Well yeah they do, but in the outside. A tumbler can run out of water and your Pez dispenser can run out of candy but in here you as a living breathing person have unlimited brain power."
"So what happens when I runs out of brain power?" Riley asked cautiously.
Joy frowned, "Hmm. We uh- haven't really figured that out yet either. There are a lot of things we haven't figured out."
Riley stood unblinking and frozen staring at the floor, entwineing and unwinding her fingers over and over. Joy felt the girl begin to shiver and immediately put a warm palm on her shoulder. "But we will! Don't worry. I promise!"
Promise. It was something Joy had said what seemed like a long time ago. It haunted her so much she often lay awake thinking about it. She wondered what difference it would have made whether Riley remembered or not, though she felt she would never know as Riley had been so busy lately she hadn't had the time to help her remember. The good times, the fin times. When Riley could color the walls without being reprimanded and where an old cardboard box was a pirate ship.
The one she promised now was not around to see his little girl all grown up.
Yet...
"What's wrong?" Riley noticed Joy was edging away from the window a faraway look on her face.
"Uh-" she stopped and a wide grin appeared on her face, along with a look of urgency and determination. "Wait right there! Okay, don't go anywhere! I'll be right back!"
"Ohh...kay?"
Joy dashed up the stairs like a bolt of lightening, scattering her particles and leaving Riley in the company of the other emotions.
"Where's Joy going?" asked Fear shifting from foot to foot worriedly.
"Who cares?" sighed Anger, at least now the kid will have some peace.
Riley continued to stare out of the window, taking in the view of her own psyche. Her eyes fell upon the islands of personality which wobbled dangerously on their strings of light.
Feeling a tug at her pajama sleeve she looked down to see a pair of dull blue eyes looking back up at her. Sadness was blinking curiously behind her glasses wanting Riley's full attention even if she had nothing to say.
"My friend says she loves you," she said at last.
Riley smiled briefly and nodded, knowing exactly who she was referring to, "I like her too. She's nice"
"Joy? Nice?" came a voice from behind her. Disgust stood shaking her head and tutting. "Honey, the girl's a Saint! She adores you. We all do really," she added flicking her green hair, "We just don't bounce it around as much as she does."
"There's a fine line between being nice all he time and being downright annoying," remarked Anger, "Joy is both."
"Oh, and what? Like you have been nice to anyone in your life?"
Anger grimaced, "Watch it Toots."
"Ooh, another baby name- how hurtful," mocked Disgust, "Anyway Riley, how about we do something fun while Joy's gone?"
Anger slapped a meaty hand to his forehead. "What do you have in mind?"
"You're not invited! And neither are you Whiney!" she said turning to Fear, "Girls Only!"
"Like a makeover or something?" Riley questioned slightly hesitant.
"You think Riley's on board with that?" snarled Anger.
"Like I would make my little girl do anything she didn't want to do!" said Disgust primly. She lead Riley by a lime arm through to one of the closets where Disgust kept mountains upon mountains of clothes. "Come on honey, I've got the cutest little dress just for you!"
Anger and Fear watched as she stuck her long pink tongue out at them as the door closed leaving them waiting for what they were sure to be a while.
"Do you think Disgust is being sincere?" Fear said.
"Yup, unfortunately I do," muttered Anger as he opened another issue of The Mind Reader, "that or somebody's looking for a promotion."
Joy stood in sunlight chamber, adorned with stuffed animals and Rainbow Unicorn posters, she faced in front of her golden mirror placing a hand on the glass, her reflection trembling like water. She looked to the bed, the cotton pillows, the pale yellow sheets, the daffodil duvet. The bag lay strewn over them all, a tiny tube shaped silky container that held an infinity of dreams and wonders. Sighing softly she picked it up and cradled it to her chest, still hearing those final words of his:
Take her to the moon for me...okay?
"I will," she whispered under her breath, "I promise." This time she wasn't promising him. She was promising herself.
Swinging the bag over one shoulder she saluted herself in the mirror and (before rushing back to fix her hair into place,) headed downstairs.
"Hello! Fellow Emotions!" she called as she re-entered the control room, she stopped in surprise as she saw Disgust pondering her new mannequin that looked exactly like Riley wearing a bright blue dress. Sadness sat cross legged smiling for once, Anger and Fear looked on, Fear giving the thumbs up after Disgust ordered her to twirl, Anger clapping despite the fact he looked like he'd rather be anywhere else.
"Hmm mm, hmm mm," Disgust was saying, "Yeah, I like it very chic!"
Joy giggled delightedly, "Whoa what happened while I was gone?"
"Oh nothing just a little dress up is all," said Disgust proudly.
"Riley you look amazing!" Joy said throwing her arms up, "I love that color on you!"
"Thank you!" said Riley swishing around again, and never having felt this confident, curtsying, "Aunty Disgust made it for me!"
Anger spluttered at the word "Aunty," and Disgust shot him a glower.
"Well you look awesome! Great work Disgust!"
Disgust fained a yawn, "What can I say? I'm just great with my hands!"
"What did I come down here for again? Never mind, OH! NO WAIT! I Got it! Riley..." she lead the girl away from the closet area and over beside Sadness who got to her feet and brushed herself down, "Any idea what this is? And not to pressure you or anything, but it's kinda an important question."
Riley stared blankly at the item in her auric hands. "A...sack?"
"Close enough! This isn't just any old sack, this belonged to somebody really special in your life!"
"In my life?" Riley thought for a moment. "I don't remember my Mom ever owning a bag like that."
"No," urged Joy, "Come on Riley, Think. Think friends."
"Meg?"
"Nuh uh."
"Mandy?"
"Nope!"
"I don't know. Seriously I don't."
Joy glanced at Sadness who was desperately trying to stop her from saying any more. "Joy-no!"
"Just a minute Sadness," she said silencing her friend who looked as if her round frame was about to burst at any minute, let alone one. "Riley," she stepped forward offering her the pink bag, dumping it into her palms and smoothing out the creases, "This bag is. It's very...special, to all of us, but especially you." It was then that Anger, Disgust and Fear all stopped and gathered around to watch for their child's response. They knew who Joy meant and they all felt the same pang of longing .
"I don't know what you mean."
Joy's smile faded ever so slightly at the edges, unnoticeable but still there. "Well-This bag was your childhood Riley, it gave you so many things. Or rather, he did." Joy turned around for a minute and said nothing leaving the room in uncomfortable silence. Sadness took the opportunity to stand near Riley and take her hand.
"He?" Riley asked she felt the ice touch her palm.
Joy turned around very slowly, her eyes were filled with confusion. "Bing Bong. Your, Your imaginary friend of course!"
Now it was Riley's turn to be confused, "Me? I don't have an imaginary friend."
"Sure ya do, well you used to. And you used to play with him every day. He'd take you on adventures and sing you songs and tell you stories. He was..." she tried her best to describe him, "a big guy, really fluffy, part cat, part elephant part dolphin? I think. Isn't this ringing any bells?"
Riley shook her head, "No, I don't remember. I'm Sorry."
I don't remember. These three words stung Joy like an angry wasp, piercing into her metaphorical heart, destroying any hope. Riley watched in dismay as her emotion fell to the floor clutching her chest. Fear rushed over to her and caught her before she toppled on her side. "Joy! Quickly, you guys get her lux!"
Sadness was the first to spring to attention running to a drawer as fast as her short legs would allow her. Anger went straight into professional shoving a stool and plumbing the pillows as best he could. Disgust hurriedly searched for her flannel cloth, as Fear and Riley draped Joy's arms around their shoulders and lead her to the couch. Anger lit his head to provide warmth, Disgust giving up finding the cloth instead took off her scarf and wrapped it around Joy's forehead. The yellow emotion groaned as Fear made her sit up. Riley peered at her face which had been drained of it's natural glow, the dark rims under her eyes, her once vibrant strands of hair a dusky blue, her energetic limbs, still and weak. It horrified her to see her head emotion in this state.
"What's happening to her?" panted Riley trying her best not to have a nervous breakdown again.
"It's her light, she's running low," Fear replied, who certainly did look like he was about to have his own nervous breakdown. "She's having one of her spells, it happens whenever there's a huge devastating catastrophe even she can't fix."
"Will she be alright?"
"She will if Eeyore hurries up," said Anger wringing his hands.
"Oh where are you Sadness!" wailed Fear. As if on cue, the blue emotion came charging out of the other room, unscrewing a lilac perfume bottle marked. LL"
"It's about time," said Disgust, shaking her gently.
"I'm Sorry it was sitting under all your old shoes," replied Sadness surprisingly cattily.
"This is not the time you guys!" shouted Fear, feeling her forehead, "she's growing cold! Tip the bottle into her mouth!"
Sadness finally popped open the clutch and poured the camomile ultraviolet mixture down Joy's throat. Almost instantly Joy gave a loud gasp and her light returned in a flash. She sat up gasping before realising where she was. "Oh! Thank you Fear, Sadness."
"That was a close one!" scolded Anger, "Be Careful Joy, you were almost a goner!"
"I know, I know." She sat up and offered Riley her classic smile, "Sorry I scared you Riley, it's nothing worse than asthma."
Riley knew she was lying but didn't contradict her, "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Oh yeah! I'm fine! it's just an allergic reaction, that's all."
Anger wiped his brows from stress then let out a sound like a groan and a sigh merged together. "Grr! That damn black cloud's back!"
Riley saw where he was pointing a tiny black raincloud that she sure wasn't there before and that she sure couldn't possibly have gotten through the window glass. It floated in a single space, a pathetic heap of smoke and water, tiny bolts of electricity running through it.
"Oh not again!" moaned Joy, "I sent a letter to the mind worker to get them to fix that"
"Well it's back!" snapped Anger.
"She can see that!" retorted Disgust imitating his rhythm, something he hated for being pretentious and impertinent.
"You got any idea how to take care of it?" he snarled back.
"Yeah, I could always throw you in there so it could have something to eat."
"What is that thing?" said Riley laughing out if sheer perplexity.
"We don't know," replied Joy who was still recovering on the sofa, "All we know is it showed up outside the window one day and I let it in because it was lost. But it kept coming back and whenever it did, you were hopelessly distressed. We had to get it out of Headquarters territory and I was blaming myself because I thought I was hurting you."
"Which you weren't," Fear reassured her, "you had no idea it had come to cause trouble."
"Kinda, cute isn't it?" said Riley studying the cloud, which was now puffing out little beads of black smog.
"Oh Sure! it look cute, but it's a nuisance,!" said Anger banging his fist on the coffee table.
"That's what I thought too," said Joy, as though embarrassed. "I couldn't find out what it's called or what it does only that the smaller it is the easier it is to take care of but if it gets bigger, the cloud gets thicker and thicker until none of your thought patterns are visible."
"Yeah," agreed Fear, "one time we let it in and it grew to the size of that model dinosaur we saw on that crazy vacation."
"You know about that?" said Riley.
"I logged down every holiday you Mom and Dad ever went on," said Joy, "the black cloud stays away then most of the time. Whenever it comes in here, your fuel tank slows down. It always makes you so sad, it makes you so miserable, even Sadness hates it."
Riley watched Sadness by the window as she used a large broom hitting the cloud to try and reduce it to a pulp. She tried puffing her cheeks together like a blue pufferfish and blowing the black mass away. "Come on! Out you go!" she prompted, soft but firm. When the cloud refused to move an inch, Riley went to help. Sadness gave her the broom and she began whacking it furiously. When that didn't work, Sadness leapt up suddenly, "Wait! I know!" She took the bottle from the coffee table as the others watched nodding their heads in satisfaction. Riley on the other hand could only observe as Sadness pulled the cork and clutch open just a fracture before spilling a drop of the bright potion onto the fog. Immediately it seemed to writhe, gliding through the glass and leaving Riley speechless as it flew off into the mind's sky.
"See, told you I knew," giggled Sadness.
"What is that?" Riley asked peering at the bottle. Sadness held it up for her to see better. "Oh this? It's called Liquid Lux, I found it when we were exploring Goofball Island one day, there's a whole cavern of it down there."
Riley nodded in understanding. "Cool. What do you use it for?"
Sadness shrugged, "Well, I mostly keep it by my bed in case of an emergency, like when you felt you weren't good enough, I sprinkled a little in the fuel tank. Then one day Joy just collapsed so I figured it might help, so now it's her medicine. That's all really, it's like joy in a jar."
Riley's chest settled slightly, as if a feeling if relief in her heart, (if she still had one) had restored her calm. The effect may have come from the liquid lux, or the banishment of the raincloud, though for whichever reason, she was glad.
"You were trying to get her to remember weren't you?" whispered Fear as Riley followed her Sadness to put away the lux, "about-?"
"Yeah," said Joy resting her chin on her knees. "I just thought that maybe she would."
"But I thought you said Bing Bong disappeared in the Memory Dump?" chimed in Disgust.
"He did."
"Well I hate to break this to ya, but he's gone," stated Anger, "Nothing ever comes back from the dump, you know that."
"Yes, I know." Joy curled up further as Sadness and Riley returned to up in them. Sadness sat next to Joy and patted her knee with her tiny blue hand. "I'm sorry you're upset about Bing Bong," she said sadly, "I am too!" with that she crumbled hot, fat tears spurting down her cheeks.
"Sadness, don't make her feel worse," sighed Disgust.
"I'm sh-sh-sh-sharing m-m-myy feelings!" Sadness bawled into her hands. Joy smirked and enveloped her in a hug, "Thanks for trying," she soothed.
"Hey, I could help," said Riley, "my Mom always says you can help someone if you just take the time to listen."
"Well okay. I better explain, I already know you're boggled enough!" Joy chuckled, "When you were very young, you had an imaginary friend called Bing Bong. You two were inseparable, you always played together, ate together and went on road trips together. Once Dad took us camping and you and Bing Bong blabbered away while staring at the skies." She sighed bittersweetly, "I'll never forget the nice things he did for us."
Riley who had smiling all this time at what a dear friend this character was, suddenly looked solemn. "What happened to him?"
Joy shrugged, offering an unhappy smile, "He. He's Gone. He disappeared in the Memory Dump. He...did it to save you."
Riley looked taken aback. "Save me?"
Joy nodded, "You were about to run away from home. Not even Fear, Anger or Disgust could get the idea out of the panel. If Bing Bong hadn't sacrificed himself for me to get back to Headquarters, I would never have found Sadness so she could remove the idea and get you home." Riley stared shaking her head for a minute. "But that's impossible! I thought of that! Nobody was messing with my brain, I just realised I had made a mistake is all!"
"I told you, Riley. We're Emotions. We can't make you think, or speak and we can't always help you make decisions, we can only make you feel. We use the right emotion to match your tone of voice or lend you an idea but that's all."
"So, if Bing Bong knew me so well," began Riley, wouldn't he know how to help me?"
Joy shook her head. "He's gone Riley, he can't help us." She hung her head for a few moments or so. As much as she knew Bing Bong would have jumped the Grand Canyon to save Riley if he knew about her condition, there was no way that he would be able to now. Even if Riley did remember even the faintest glimmer of him there was no way to bring him back.
Unless...
"Guys," said Joy steadily, "get my the train of thought on the phone."
"What for Joy?" said Sadness.
Looking at Riley then back to the others who all stared at her incredulously, she worked up the strength to lift herself from the sofa, smooth down her dress and clench her fists.
"We're going on a little field trip!"
Liquid Lux- Euphoria
Black Rain Cloud- Depression