Chapter 7

Meanwhile, on the Outside…

EDIT: Formatting Gloss up.

Thursday Afternoon…

Jill Andersen was exhausted. Exhausted and emotionally distraught. After they'd heard Riley scream and saw her seemingly faint into their arms, she and Bill immediately called 911 and got their daughter taken to the hospital. It was a very stressful initial hour. Not helped by what the doctor told them after their initial examination in the emergency room.

"I'm not entirely sure what to make of this. She is unresponsive towards normal stimuli, but her breathing is strong enough that she doesn't need a ventilator yet. We're going to do a CAT scan to see if we can identify any cerebral hemorrhages, but having one at this age is pretty rare. Do you have any idea what might have caused this?"

Jill glanced at her husband before speaking. "Only a few days ago, Riley began to show schizophrenic symptoms. She admitted to hearing voices she couldn't see. Had mood swings and seemingly began having unusual dreams about a place she might've wanted to be more than the real world. It really seemed to affect her school life, with calls about her supposedly cheating on a test, skipping class, and getting into arguments with her classmates. Then this happened tonight. All she could tell us before losing consciousness was that her head hurt."

Doctor Cooley frowned. "That's not exactly a clear connection. And outside my area of expertise in connecting psychological issues to this kind of physiological emergency." Seeing the parents distressed looks, Dr. Cooley went on. "It's possible that the stress of these new symptoms might have caused a reaction, but looking at her medical records, Riley had a good bill of health at her last check up. Nothing that would suggest something this severe. There must be something else. Is there anything at all that might've caused a reaction like this for Riley?"

Bill thought for a moment, but shrugged helplessly. "The only other idea I have is that something might have happened during Hockey practice. Apparently, she got into a pretty big collision during practice, but she seemed coherent and aware when we picked her up yesterday."

Dr. Cooley still seemed perplexed, but his gaze became somber. "Hmm. Well, unfortunately, we can't proceed until we have more information. However, if Riley shows any signs of an artery rupture, then we will have to operate on her immediately." Seeing their frightened looks, the doctor looked them straight in their eyes. "It's the only way to protect your daughter from any potentially lethal effects. Even if we don't know the cause, if the symptoms are clear, we'll have to move fast to save Riley's life and her future."

Both Bill and Jill reached for each other's hands. They looked at each other, and neither of their expressions were calm. They both felt a fear even greater than when Riley went missing for a day.

Jill bit her lip. The most terrifying thing was the seemingly random connection between Riley's schizophrenic symptoms and this shocking turn of events. It was the only thing that made any sense to her, but it still seemed so weird that anything like this might've led to Riley's hospitalization. And the strangeness didn't stop there.

After their CAT scans and a few additional tests, Dr. Cooley came back utterly confused. While Riley's blood pressure was higher than normal, there'd been no signs of rupturing despite this fitting all the normal symptoms. There was some swelling in certain brain arteries, but none to a surgical level. The only thing they could do at first was partially relieve the brain pressure through a medical injection. Riley had seemingly stabilized, but was still in a Coma. And Doctor Cooley decided to keep Riley in the emergency ward on life support systems to monitor her condition. And to be prepared to do brain surgery if anything changed.

Seeing no better alternative, She and Bill agreed and returned home. Though as a precaution, they'd both signed off on conducting emergency surgery if the need arose. It'd been a messy rest of the night and day. They'd done a little exhausted arguing after getting back over whether they should've just gone for a surgery right away. Then neither of them had slept well. Bill had to go back into work, but said that he'd ask for time off for emotional distress. (Something Jill deeply appreciated) And Jill had mostly done busy work to try and keep her mind off of waiting for a call that may or may not come regarding her daughter from the hospital.

Jill then ran her hands over her face. This was much worse than what happened last year. Not only had Riley seemingly turned on them, but now her life was at risk. How could this have happened so fast after only a year in San Francisco? Maybe this move just wasn't good for their family. Sure, it was all because of Bill's new job, but if this was going to keep hurting Riley, maybe they should think about a new solution so their child wasn't under so much stress in her life.

Suddenly, Jill heard the doorbell. She quickly looked over at the clock. It was about the time when Riley might come home. That only made her heart ache more, but she held her emotions together as she answered the door. But seeing who was on the other side only made her draw a breath. She knew this person being here meant a hard conversation she wasn't ready for. She recognized them by their hair dye.

In Ann's headquarters, Fear and Sadness were driving hand in hand together on the console. Though on occasion, Anger and Disgust had a button or two to contribute. They'd been going non stop for the last two days. Ever since Riley called them a traitor in the hall, it was as if all her worst fears came true at once. Fear and Sadness had been inconsolable for a good long while. Anger had given Tracy some choice words afterwards too, shocking everyone in HQ that a certain word was part of the curse word library.

Then after school, Ann had told Jordan that they couldn't practice today. After everything, she just wanted to be alone. She'd gone into her room to try and distract herself by working on her next comic strip. But that had come to a head as well.

Ann was working on drawing a person. Just someone for the background of her next project. But she kept missing the mark. Not quite getting it to her liking. Her recycling bin now had wads of paper landing in it. Finally, she tried sketching full sized to make sure she could get the details down on the smaller size. But that was when she realized exactly what was happening. When she looked at what she'd drawn, it was plainly obvious that she'd drawn Riley.

"AAARRRGGGHHH!" Ann unleashed her frustration and grief all at once, pounding a fist on her desk. "Why? Why did you do this, Riley? WHY DON'T YOU TRUST ME? WHY WON'T YOU LET ME HELP YOU?!" She tore the paper in half, frustrated, and finally dropped her head in her arms. She could feel a great big ball of sadness, anger and fear welling up inside her, and she didn't know how to stop it.

A knock came from her door. "Ann, may I come in?"

"Go away, Mom! I want to be alone!"

Despite Ann's words, her door opened, and in came her mother. "Maybe so, but from the sound of things, you need someone to talk to." She sat down on Ann's bed. "What's wrong Ann?"

"I said go.."

"Ann, something clearly happened to you at school. Did Tracy start bothering you again?"

Ann mumbled, "No." Then after a pause. "Well, maybe a little."

"Ann, I thought you were dealing with Tracy alright now that you reconnected with Jordan and made a new friend in Riley."

Ann now raised up her face. There were tears in her eyes. "Mom, the problem IS Riley."

Her mom scooted closer. "What happened?"

Ann didn't say anything at first, trying to figure out how much she did or didn't want to say. It felt like the final betrayal of Riley if she said something, but after all that happened the last few days, she just didn't know what else to do. For herself or for Riley. Maybe she couldn't do anything at all. But just that thought loosened Ann's lips, and before she could stop, the words began to come out.

"These last few days, Riley's been acting…different. It all started when she talked about personifying her emotions, but she got really defensive when Tracy said that she was crazy for thinking that. After our pizza planet trip, Riley seemed like she wasn't as enthusiastic about life anymore. Then during psychology class yesterday, Mr. O'Brian was talking about Schizophrenia, and it really seemed to affect Riley. She…she's afraid that she might have it Mom! But every time I tried to talk to her about it, she just pushed me away! She kept saying, 'I'm not crazy!' or 'I don't need help!' A-And then when I was trying to stand up to Tracy for her today, she called me a traitor for agreeing that she needs help!"

Ann's mother didn't say anything during all this. Just letting Ann continue on.

"Mom, I just wanted to help my friend, and she called ME a traitor! I don't know what to do!" The dam finally burst, and Ann flung herself at her mom, hugging her tightly. She wrapped her arms around Ann, gently holding her, letting her sobs run. Waiting for Ann to be a little more able to listen.

After a few minutes, Ann finally was coherent enough to sit up slightly, wiping her eyes. "And I don't know what the point of saying this is. I'm not in Riley's family. I don't even know if I'm her friend anymore."

"Of COURSE you're her friend."

Ann looked up at her mom incredulously. "Were you even listening to me? Riley said.."

"I heard what Riley said. And Ann, you ARE Riley's friend." Seeing her face, her mom continued. "Look at how much you care about her! If you weren't her friend, you might've turned your back on her after the way she treated you. But you didn't. You still want to help her no matter what."

Ann sniffed. "Because…true friends don't abandon each other."

Her mom smiled. "I remember Jordan said that once, right?" Ann nodded quietly. Her mom paused for a moment, trying to think of the best way to explain what it sounded like Riley was doing. "Ann, put yourself in Riley's mind for a second." The comment made Ann give an odd look, but she stayed quiet. "She lived what seemed like a perfectly fine life before moving here, then she had so much change at once. New state, new school. She took a few weeks to get comfortable, and now she begins to worry she might have a mental disorder? Anyone could get scared about losing what she'd just found for her life."

Ann frowned. "She…did say she didn't want to be seen as a freak."

Mom cooed in sympathy. "Riley's not like that at all. Even if she does have Schizophrenia, that just means she needs a little extra something to enjoy life as much as others. Not that she's a freak or anything like that."

Ann then looked at her mom, sadness and fear still in her eyes. "So, what do I do?"

Ann's mom put her hands over Ann's. "The only way Riley can really get help from you is if she accepts it. So the first thing I want you to do tomorrow is to go try and apologize to Riley. Tell her that you didn't mean to upset her yesterday, and that you hope you both can still be friends. If you can start rebuilding a bridge to her that way, then just try to be as understanding and open to what she's going through as you can." Then Ann's mother's expression turned more serious. "If she pushes you away again, then it might be time to go to her parents or to Jordan's mom to have someone with more power to step in and intervene."

"But mom, Riley's so scared of everything, she'll never accept outside action!"

Her mom gave a sad, but firm shake of her head. "If there's any chance Riley might hurt herself and won't listen to you, then others need to step in."

Ann looked down, conflicted. And her mom hugged her again.

"I know it's a lot to ask of you, but that's why you have to first try to just be her friend. Every day is a new day, and Riley might be ready to listen when you talk to her next."

Ann hugged her mom tighter. She still felt scared and exhausted after all the worry Riley was putting her through. But, this did feel good. Having someone older to talk to about it. "Thanks mom."

Her mom patted her a few more times, then stood up. "Remember, you can always tell us anything." Then she pointed at her backpack. "Also, it's getting late. You should finish your homework for tomorrow."

"Moooom!"

Her mom chuckled. She walked back to the door, then paused. "Oh, and if you finish in the next hour, you can have an extra scoop of ice cream."

Ann sighed, but gave a small smile. "Alright. Thanks again mom."

The conversation had been tough for everyone in headquarters. Fear still didn't buy that anything would change. But Joy and Sadness had at least given Ann a good cleansing memory of it all. Giving her a burst of optimism and hope. It didn't create a new core, but it did create an extra bright memory that all the emotions did find nice.

Of course, that optimism the next day had been before the morning home room. That was when Ann noticed that Riley's desk was empty. When she brought it up, their teacher had announced that Riley was going to be absent from school today. Every emotion had been a mess through the rest of the day. Fear ranting about "mind collapses due to knowing about us", Disgust giving Tracy upset glares in the hallway, Anger and Sadness both going off on rants about "blowing it with our best friend!" And poor Joy had barely gotten a moment in. Everyone had fretted over what might've caused Riley's absence.

Finally, once school had gotten out, that was when Joy made a meaningful contribution. Bringing over an idea bulb that simply said Go Talk to Riley's Parents. The other emotions were admittedly a little sheepish that they hadn't thought of something so obvious. But Ann had immediately texted her parents that she was going to be late getting home. That she wanted to check on one of her friends who was sick today. Her mom simply replied, "Riley?" Ann didn't answer that right away, but made her way towards Riley's home.

So, they all now stood at the door of the Andersen house.

"You know," Joy commented, trying to break the tension. "We actually don't get invited over to Riley's house. Maybe we should see if we can spend a weekend at her place once we get through all this."

Disgust though had a skeptical look on her face. "Maybe there's a good reason for that. It doesn't exactly look like they have the most space. Where would we even hang out?"

Joy looked over a little hurt. "Well at least we could see her bedroom."

Disgust then grunted. "Please. You know Ann isn't the sleepover type. Too…childish."

Anger growled slightly. "This is a mess. After yesterday, I'm still mad that she put us in the same category as Tracy as someone who thought she was crazy. That's definitely not fair! And I'm even more mad at Tracy! She turned her back on us, and drove our friend to madness?"

Sadness looked over, giving Anger a small frown. "You saw how upset Riley was on Tuesday after she yelled at us. That's not something you can fake."

Anger sighed. Then glared at the door. "Something is going on beyond Riley getting defensive with us. Whether she knows about us or not, we're not leaving until we figure it out."

Fear meanwhile was nervously twirling a few levers as she was murmuring to herself. "I still don't get why we're digging into this. What if we find out something terrible? Like…Riley got hit by a bus. Or had a brain aneurysm!"

Disgust gave a small eye roll. "From what? What could possibly have stressed Riley's mind so much that her brain reacted so badly?"

Fear didn't respond right away. Just twiddling her thumbs briefly. "This is worse than when Tracy exposed us as uncool. At least Riley stepped in right away. The wondering is the worst part. Almost makes me wish we had another emotion that was much better at thinking about the future right now." She took a glance at the Puberty Alarm in the middle of their console. "I don't suppose we could get one sooner rather than later?"

Joy gave a light pat on Fear's back. "Interesting idea, but Puberty is one of those things that we absolutely can't control about Ann. You heard Jordan's mom."

Any further thoughts of the emotions were cut off as Mrs. Andersen answered the door. And as they looked at her, Disgust immediately gave a small gasp. The other emotions turned in expectation at why Disgust had reacted like that.

Disgust looked at the other emotions, and her expression wasn't great. "She's hiding something, and it's not good."

Sadness looked up, and also noticed the rings under her eyes. "Oh no." She pressed a button. "She's upset about something."

The other emotions all looked at each other, and leaned forward.

Ann stuttered briefly. "H-Hi Mrs. Andersen." Ann briefly looked down, unsure of how to ask, but then spoke up with a quiet insistence. "Is…Riley here?"

Jill swallowed. Putting on a brave face. "Ann! You know, I never told you how surprised I was when Riley decided to join a band, but I'm glad she's trying new things." However, Jill's smile didn't quite reach her eyes. And seeing Ann tilt her head slightly only made Jill more on edge. "I'm sorry, but Riley isn't here right now. But I'll be sure to tell her you came by."

Jill moved to close the door, when something in Ann broke, and she realized she couldn't live with herself if she didn't know the truth. And thinking about Jill's turn of phrase, she hotly asked, "Did you send Riley to a mental hospital?!"

Jill stopped her action, looking down in shock. "Ann, why would you say that?"

Ann felt something prickling under her skin. A kind of anger that she'd never really experienced all that much, but she had to express in some way. So with a bit of a hiss, she answered, "Because I know she's been hearing voices!" Catching herself she then said with both fear and sadness, "She told me herself on Tuesday. Did…did it get worse?"

Jill really felt her emotions blowing up stronger than usual. There was a well of sadness that was now trying to get out of her, but she hadn't lived her life without gaining some baseline emotional control. She looked down at this girl who just wanted the truth. Jill wasn't entirely sure what to say, but in the end settled on a subdued, "Why don't you come in for a moment Ann? There's…there's something you should know about Riley."

Ann nervously followed her inside. Her fear was definitely on overdrive, but she had to know the truth. After all, she and Jordan had promised each other to be there for Riley even if the adults didn't understand. And if Riley was in some kind of trouble, she'd be the first there by Riley's side to show that she was still her friend.

Jordan was fiddling with his bass, when his phone went off. Catching his bass just as quickly as he dropped it, Jordan gingerly set it down before reaching for his phone. He supposed he and Ann weren't going to meet today. It was already getting pretty late. But he was surprised when he noticed the caller id was hers. So, he answered it. "Hello?"

There was a soft sound. It almost sounded like crying, but that didn't make much sense. Jordan had NEVER even heard Ann cry. He'd seen her upset and paranoid, sure, but never cry. Jordan spoke again. "Ann, are you okay?"

Finally, Ann's voice came in, and it sounded a little hoarse. "I'm not okay. Jordan…Riley's in the hospital!"

In Jordan's headquarters, Fear promptly pressed the panic button with both his hands. "NO! No, no, this can't be real!

"GET OFF THAT!" Anger shouted. Trying to pry Fear off the console. "Don't be an idiot, we have to respond!"

Sadness then quietly walked up to the side of fear, and pressed a button. The alarms were still going, but the console was now a mixture of purple and blue.

Jordan took a few moments to get his bearings. He was definitely feeling shocked, but also deeply sad. He took a small breath. "Are…are you sure?"

Ann now sounded very quiet. "I…I went over to The Andersen's house after school. Mrs. Andersen told me that she had…what she called a 'thunderclap headache', and then passed out in the middle of the night. She's been unconscious and in the hospital ever since!"

Jordan now suddenly felt very small and scared. This wasn't anything that he'd expect in his life. Especially not with his friends. He quietly asked, "And there's nothing they can do about it?"

Ann's voice now trebled. "She said they have to decide whether she needs Brain Surgery to get her out of her coma!" After a pause, Ann quietly asked, "Did…did we cause this somehow?"

Jordan quickly responded to that. "Ann, how could we cause this?"

"We should've done something! Maybe we could've gotten your mom to intercede yesterday! Or held an intervention? Just…something!"

Jordan really hated that he couldn't see Ann right now. "Ann, I know you're upset…"

"Oh I am much more than upset right now! Riley didn't believe that we'd be there for her, and she shut us out! And now this happened after she started hearing voices? I don't know how, but I know it's connected somehow!" Jordan held the phone slightly away from his ear as Ann went on, then it got quiet for a second. "I…I didn't even get a chance to say I'm sorry about yesterday. I was going to try reaching out again, and she was already gone." And after another pause, "It's not fair."

Jordan winced. This was way above what he'd expected. But, he tried his best to stay calm. "Ann, why don't you try and listen to some music tonight?" with the awkward silence that followed, Jordan continued. "It'll help relax you after this terrible news."

Ann made a small noise, then answered, "Okay." Then, after another pause, "I'm going back tomorrow if Riley isn't better by then. If for no reason then to ask to visit her this weekend."

Jordan mulled this over, then answered, "Then I'm coming with you. Riley's my friend too, and we should be there to support her family."

Ann sniffed on her end of the phone. "Thanks Jordan. See…see you tomorrow."

The call ended, and Jordan gave a small sigh. Way above what he'd expected out of life for sure. He then made his way back downstairs. "Hey mom? Can you help me with something?"

Meanwhile, further away from Jordan, Ann and the Andersens….

Tracy slumped into her bed, exhausted. She should've felt relief. Riley wasn't in class today. She was safe for now. There was no chance for that schizophrenic crazy girl to threaten her sanity or safety. Maybe she got taken away to an asylum after all. And yet…somewhere inside her, she felt an odd sensation. She wasn't sure what it was, but it didn't give her any satisfaction about today at all.

"Get away from there!"

"You can't stop me! This has gone on too long!"

"Dogpile her!"

Tracy's Sadness was fighting like a football player, dragging and pushing the other emotions. Trying her best to push some buttons on the console. She'd managed to push one or two, only to have that feeling mixed in with disgust or joy or fear. No matter how she tried, she couldn't get a memory orb to herself for Tracy. Finally, the other emotions dragged Sadness to their thinking couch.

"What is WRONG with you?" Tracy's Joy asked. "Riley's gone. We're safe. That crazy girl is out of our life! Why on EARTH do you want Tracy to be sad about that?"

"I don't know!" Sadness's scream echoed through headquarters. "I don't know, okay? It just doesn't seem right to be glad that anyone's missing. No matter how dangerous she might be, Riley never actually hurt us. Not even when it looked like she was going to slap us yesterday."

Fear spoke next. "But she could've! If she heard her emotions, then she'd pass that on to us before long, and then Tracy would crack! It's much safer for all of us that we hope to NEVER see Riley Kaitlyn Andersen again!"

Anger then contributed. "And it's the only justice we deserve! Getting even for what she did with Ann."

Finally, Disgust stepped in front of Sadness. "Sadness, this was…a strange evening with your pressing, but maybe you should take a break. Turn in early for the night. We still have a stupid Math test to work on, so there's no need for sadness there."

Sadness felt something inside her break, and sobbed into her hands. "Why are you all so mean to me?"

Disgust gave an exasperated sigh. "Sadness, it's all for Tracy. After what happened in 3rd grade, we made a promise to stay strong no matter what. To be the coolest, best girl in the world. And there just isn't room for you in that equation. What kind of strong person needs to be sad about anything?"

Sadness looked up, but didn't say anything. The expression was somewhere between horror and shattered. She then quietly got up without a word, and walked over to the ramp up to the bedrooms. For a moment, the other four emotions sighed in relief. Until, they heard a small clicking sound from near the ramp. And one phrase. "You are strong enough to not be afraid of being sad for others."

Tracy squirmed uneasily. Something was nagging at the back of her mind. Something telling her that she could be strong even when it meant empathizing with others. But that made no sense. Strength makes you strong. Not sadness. Not empathy.

She sighed. Maybe after sleeping it off, the strange unease she was feeling would go away. No, Riley Andersen wouldn't plague her dreams or her desk. At least she hoped so.

A/N: Have you ever had a moment where you suddenly realized what you were doing and had to pull yourself back from the brink? This chapter did that to me. And I ended up reworking it twice.

The big issue was being challenged to balance 3 things at once.

I realized I had to be EXTREMELY careful not to go over a PG rating. For a moment, I stared into the abyss of Riley under heavy surgical support, clinging to life, needing her head shaved and an emergency surgery. Thus shaking up the mind world, and throwing all the storylines into chaos. But I see that as putting things straight into T rating, and I won't do that because it doesn't fit what I see Intercom as. Not really.

Second, I was trying to figure out how to square that concern with how I'd written chapter 2, because it screamed "You Need Brain Surgery" from the outside, and I did want to keep that spirit of the original story of having the mind world translate accidentally to psychologically identifiable symptoms without being quite the right thing.

And third, there was the issue of Chapter 4 in the original Intercom. It was when the emotions first talked about what it would mean for Riley to get brain surgery. And I want to use that in a different way than have it just "happen".

On a lighter note, I also had a eureka moment. When going back through Intercom, I realized I accidentally created a perfect "flashback" in chapter 4 to give Ann a crisis in my version of the story. So I expanded in that section more.

I don't know if I'm overthinking things, or if I even pulled off what I wanted without breaking the story. So please review and let me know what you think.

Next time: Heroes travel, emotions bounce off each other, and we start to see more of the Unconscious.