Disgust had done an about face, immediately walking back into the kitchen after I confronted the others, returning minutes later with mugs of tea or coffee for everyone. She's repeated the process three times. After the third trip, she ran out of mugs and had to use juice cups. Now various liquids scatter the room like discarded Skittles, stale and unappetizing.
I shake my head as Anger shoves away another cup, annoyance rising. Disgust merely sits it on the table, blinks hard, then turns back to the kitchen, Anger yelling obscenities at her back.
Sadness quivers on the couch, a pillow and two stuffed animals added to her fortress. I run my hands through my hair as Fear starts to recite various quotes from Lord of the Rings. She's gone from Pirates of the Caribbean to Finding Nemo and has briefly reenacted a scene from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. I cringe as Anger tells her to shut up, not hearing the door open and close.
"Are we having a party?!" squeals a honeyed voice from my right. Joy stands, barefoot, a garland of wildflowers adorning her head. Frolicking in a field of flowers, indeed.
She smiles brightly as I stand from my arm chair and walk over to her. "Thank goodness you're here," I sigh. "They've been like this for an hour." I gesture to the couch where Anger is now shaking Fear. I flinch at her vigor. I look back to Joy, pleading, "Maybe you can talk some sense into them?"
"Hmm..." she murmurs, unhurriedly unwrapping a scarf from her shoulders and hanging it lightly on the hall tree. "How'd they get to be so... strange?"
"That's a long story," I mutter, rubbing the back of my neck. "Sadness and I were talking-"
Her head snaps away from the others to beam at me. "You talked to Sadness? That's wonderful!"
I shrug, uncomfortable with her enthusiasm. "I thought I'd try... I don't know what," I trail off, shaking my head. "Anyway, she said something about each of you having a set of rules--myths-- that you adhere to that might help me understand why it's so hard for me to write. But then Fear interrupted and Anger came home..." I sigh deeply, shrugging slightly again. "With all of them together, I thought maybe I could get some answers, but then..." I gesture to Sadness now clinging to Anger's leg, Anger's attempts to dislodge the weeping leech failing.
"Oh, well, there's a simple explanation for that."
"Oh really?" I scoff. "And what would that be?" I cross my arms and arch an eyebrow.
"Him," she states, pointing to a corner of the room vacant of mugs and crazed aspects.
In the corner stands a tall, slender man dressed in a dapper suit with long gray fingers and deep black eyes. He smiles a little and waves a hesitant hand of acknowledgement my way.
... Join me tomorrow to learn who the mysterious man is and why he caused such a stir.
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