Chapter 18
In her quiet, empty bedroom, Riley pulled her books out of her backpack and picked up her clothes, ready to pack them in her bag. Then she paused and her expression changed.
Fear was driving. “Are we really doing this? I mean, this is serious,” he said.
Anger pushed Fear aside and took control. “Look,” he said. “We have no core memories. You want Riley to be happy? Let’s get back to Minnesota and make some.” Riley’s worried expression faded and was replaced with anger as she stuffed her clothes into her bag and exited the room.
Out on the cliff, Sadness, Joy, and Bing Bong stared at the empty space where Honesty Island used to be.
“Joy, if we hurry, we can still stop her,” said Sadness, offering a ray of hope.
There was only one island left… and one lightline that they could follow back to Headquarters. “Family Island,” said Joy. “Let’s go!”
They ran along the cliff edge, bolting toward the bridge to Family Island. Sadness saw the island start to quake and yelled, “It’s too dangerous! We won’t make it in time!”
Joy looked out to see pieces of Family Island falling away. “But that’s our only way back!”
The shaking island had caused parts of Long-Term Memory to collapse and break apart. Suddenly, Sadness pointed over to a memory recall tube. The tubes were normally buried deep beneath the shelving of Long-Term Memory, but with all the earthquake-like movement, one of them had become exposed. If they got to it in time, maybe they could get sucked up and sent back to Headquarters.
“A recall tube!” said Joy.
“We can get recalled!” Sadness added.
They ran past the bridge and headed for the tube.
With her bag strapped to her back, Riley walked toward the front door of the house. “Have a great day, sweetheart,” Mom called from the kitchen.
“See you after school, monkey,” Dad added, making monkey noises.
“We love you!” Mom said.
Riley didn’t respond. She just turned and walked right out of the front door, headed for the bus station.
Joy, Sadness, and Bing Bong were closing in on the tube, but Family Island quaked and twisted the bridge like a piece of taffy. Then a large piece of the island broke off!
“Go!” shouted Joy. “Run, run!” A nearby cliff cracked and crashed down into the dump, and the ridge where they were just standing fell away. They screamed as they fled the crumbling chunks of land and headed toward the recall tube.
Joy stepped into the lower section of the recall tube first, with Sadness right behind her. But the tube was small and there wasn’t enough room.
Sadness and Joy jostled against each other and the memories inside the bag started to change color. “Whoa, whoa! Sadness!” Joy cautioned. The bag emitted a blue light, and Joy tried to push Sadness away. “Sadness, stop! You’re hurting Riley!” Joy pulled one of the memories out of the bag. It was bright blue. Sadness stepped back, horrified.
“Oh no!” she said. “I did it again!”
“If you get in here, these core memories will be sad,” Joy said.
RUMBLE! Joy looked to see the source of the terrible sound: the family statue on Family Island was breaking apart. Joy didn’t know what to do! She had to make a quick decision. “I’m sorry… Riley needs to be happy.”
Joy pulled the tube closed and began to ride it up to Headquarters… alone.
“Joy?” Sadness called after her friend as she stood with Bing Bong on the cliff.
Then the intense rumbling from below made the cliffside fall and shook the tube apart. Joy fell from the tube. Bing Bong reached for her, but the ground beneath him disintegrated, causing them both to fall into the abyss.
“Joy!” Sadness cried. Feeling helpless as she stood on the cliff’s edge, she buried her face in her hands.
第 18 章
在安靜而又空蕩蕩的臥室里,萊莉把書從背包里拿出來,接著收拾衣服,準備把這些東西一起放進包里。就在這時,她停住了,臉上的表情發(fā)生了變化。
怕怕在操控,他說:“我們真的要這么做嗎?我的意思是,這可不是鬧著玩的。”
怒怒把怕怕推到一邊,自己操控起來。“你看,”他說,“我們現(xiàn)在沒有核心記憶球,你希望萊莉快樂吧?讓我們回明尼蘇達州再創(chuàng)造一些快樂的記憶。”萊莉臉上的擔憂消失了,變成了憤怒。她把衣服塞進包里,走出臥室。
懸崖邊上的憂憂、樂樂和兵兵盯著誠實島原本所在的地方,現(xiàn)在是一片空洞。
“樂樂,如果我們抓緊時間,還能阻止她。”憂憂想給樂樂一線希望。
只剩下一座島嶼了……這也就意味著只剩下一條可以讓他們回情緒總部的光纜。“家人島,”樂樂說,“我們走!”
他們沿著懸崖邊緣跑了起來,朝通往家人島的那座橋沖去。憂憂發(fā)現(xiàn)家人島也開始搖晃起來,她大聲喊道:“這太危險了!我們趕不過去的!”
樂樂朝外看了看,發(fā)現(xiàn)家人島正一點一點消失:“但那是我們回去的唯一一條路!”
島嶼搖晃著,導致長期記憶存儲庫也跟著開裂和倒塌。突然,憂憂指了指一根記憶球召回管道。那些管道平時都被深埋在長期記憶架的下面,但隨著這些地震般的運動,其中一根管道暴露出來。如果他們及時到達那兒,或許他們會被吸進管道,送回情緒總部。
“那是召回管道!”樂樂說道。
“我們可以被召回去!”憂憂補充道。
他們從橋上跑過,朝管道沖去。
萊莉背著包,朝前門走去。“上學愉快,親愛的。”媽媽從廚房喊道。
“放學后見,小猴子。”爸爸模仿著猴子的聲音,補充了一句。
“我們愛你!”媽媽說道。
萊莉沒有回應。她轉(zhuǎn)了個彎,直接出了前門,朝汽車站走去。
樂樂、憂憂和兵兵正在靠近管道,但是家人島搖晃著,橋像一塊太妃糖一樣被擰彎了。接著,家人島有一大塊裂開了!
“快!”樂樂叫道,“快跑!快跑!”附近的懸崖也裂了開來,轟然倒塌,掉進清理庫里,而他們剛剛站過的山脊也脫落了。他們尖叫著逃離即將大面積崩塌的地面,朝召回管道沖去。
樂樂首先進入召回管道位置較低的那段,憂憂緊隨其后。但是管道太小了,空間不夠。
憂憂和樂樂互相推搡著,此時包里的記憶球開始變了顏色,樂樂趕緊警告憂憂:“停!停!憂憂!”包里射出一道藍色的光,樂樂用力把憂憂推開:“憂憂,住手!你在傷害萊莉!”樂樂從包里取出一個記憶球,球呈現(xiàn)出明亮的藍色。憂憂后退了一步,嚇呆了。
“哦,不!”她說,“我又犯錯了!”
“如果你進來的話,這些核心記憶都會變得悲傷。”樂樂說道。
轟?。窐房戳丝?,發(fā)現(xiàn)了這一可怕聲響的來源:家人島上的家人雕塑正在崩塌。樂樂不知道該怎么辦!她必須迅速做出決定:“對不起……萊莉需要快樂。”
樂樂將管道關了起來,準備前往情緒總部……獨自前往。
“樂樂?”憂憂在她朋友身后喊道,她和兵兵還站在懸崖上。
突然,底下強烈的震動令懸崖的邊緣向下墜去,管道也被震開了,樂樂從管道里掉了出來。兵兵伸出手去拉她,但是他腳下的地面裂開了,他們倆一起跌進了深淵。
“樂樂!”憂憂哭了。她站在懸崖邊,雙手掩面,孤立無助。