Sadness never really got all those things the poets they make you read in high school were talking about. She never fell for someone so hard her head got cloudy and she couldn't speak. She needed more specific instructions than "Follow your heart."
Or at least, she used to. When the tall woman with the blue hair walked up to the counter, she nearly passed out and cracked her skull on the way down. This woman was drop dead gorgeous. But Sadness reigned herself in. She knew the story of really attractive people you had no emotional connection to all too well.
"Hi. I ordered the book, 'I Am the Messenger' to be sent to my house and it never came."
Damn it all to Hell.
She was nice the whole time. And she laughed. At. EVERYTHING. And it wasn't some sarcastic, asshole laugh. She was the human embodiment of happiness and sunshine. And from start to finish, the only thing Sadness learned was her name (Joy. HOW FITTING), and her address. And that's what led to her sitting here at 1 AM at her desk, head in hands, staring at a blank piece of paper.
'Jeez. This is harder than all those old poets made it look.'
'Just start with her name you fool!'
So she wrote "Joy," in the top left corner, and immediately got stuck again. 'Come on. This is creepy and weird. You don't even know if she's dating anyone. Oh God what if she's dating someone? WHO WOULDN'T DATE HER SHE'S TOTALLY DATING SOMEONE.'
'Snap out of it. You've at least gotta write it all out. Look at you. You're talking to yourself. In your head.'
'I don't know how!'
'Ok. Get a picture of her in your mind.' 'Right.'
'Good. Now write things.'
'What things?'
'Any things! Just write!'
Sadness wrote.
She stood, staring at Joy's mailbox at 3 AM wondering how her life could get so difficult in one afternoon. How could one single woman throw her total equilibrium out the freaking window? That woman…was coming up her sidewalk.
'Oh shit oh shit.'
Sadness had always liked to think she could react in a crisis, but apparently not. All she could do was stare as Joy walked to her mailbox. Carrying a baseball bat.
'Please God if I die at least let me see her face one last time first.'
'Wow. You are far gone.'
But no one would lose their lives this night. When Joy saw who it was, she dropped the bat to her side and said "I'm sorry, there's just been this bear around here lately and I thought you were it. Didn't want to scare it away with a flashlight."
"YOU WERE GOING TO TAKE ON A BEAR WITH A BASEBALL BAT?!" Is what Sadness meant to say. Instead, she just stuttered out "Unk", shoved her letter into Joy's hands, and bolted down the street back to her parked car.
"Hi. I ordered the book, 'I Am the Messenger' to be sent to my house and it never came."
Sadness looked up, not believing what she was hearing.
"But I got something much better instead."