The People Inside Your Head [Inside Out]

The Subconscious

The Subconscious was not as bad as I thought it'd be.

... It was worse.

The first part was just simply... darkness. A black void, all-consuming. I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face. Chills raced up my spine.

Then I could hear it. Footsteps. Something was waiting in the darkness.

"S... Sadness?" I croaked. "Disgust?"

No response. The footsteps were getting louder.

I stepped backwards, but I couldn't see the exit. My hands began to shake.

Nonononono-

"Edaliyah!"

I perked up. Disgust had grabbed my arm.

"If you don't stay focused, you'll start imagining things," she told me.

"You can't blame her..." Sadness' voice appeared by my side. "We all saw... it..."

My heart jumped. I knew what it was. The creature of my nightmares, always in the corner of my dreams... waiting for me. As soon as I let my guard down for a mere moment...

"Let's go," Disgust ordered, voice wavering.

We moved forward, darkness still looming around us. I saw shapes sitting in the dark, such as the shape of a giant gingerbread man. Frosting made up its distorted face, jelly-beans creating the illusion of buttons on a shirt. Its icing twisted into a large, daunting grin.

"Take a bite," it encouraged, holding out its hand. "Yummy yummy!"

I picked up the pace, Sadness holding onto my arm.

Suddenly, my ear began screaming in pain. I heard a screeching pierce; a squeal that sounded like someone choking a goose. The guitar - if you could call it that - was completely out of tune. I didn't need to be a muso to know it needed to be thrown in a fire.

"Horses kickin' me in the back..."

"What the hell is that?" I grunted, covering my ears.

"I hate this song..." Sadness mumbled.

The source of the wretched singing was an old cowboy strumming a half-broken guitar, rocking back and forth on a rickety old chair.

"Country music..." I grimaced.

Disgust kept flinching every ten seconds. Her expression hardened.

"How far is the giant lock?" I asked, uncovering one of my ears.

Disgust grimaced. "We'll find out soon enough."

We continued to walk, the 'music' finally quietening down. While my ears got a respite, my nose was not so lucky. A certain smell was creeping up. It was a familiar, horrid odor. My stomach lurched.

"Aughhh," Disgust gagged.

Right beside us were my dad's gym socks... except there were hundreds of them, sitting in a massive pile. My eyes watered from the stench; I covered my nose, gritting my teeth. I forced myself not to throw up.

"Oh no..." Sadness mumbled.

On top of that nightmare stench was an enormous pile of dog poop. The less said about it the better; I wish I had brought a gas mask into the Subconscious. I couldn't even bear to look at it...

Disgust was shaking pretty bad; then again, she was my emotion of disgust. Of course she'd be taking this the hardest.

We finally managed to get far enough away from the poop and the socks that I wasn't constantly gagging. I took a deep breath; at last, we finally got a break.

That was when I heard a boom in the distance. The ground began to tremble, like an earthquake.

THUMP. THUMP.

"W... what is that?" I whimpered.

The thumping grew louder. I began to realize it wasn't an earthquake. It was footsteps. Large, heavy footsteps were coming towards us.

Disgust muttered a curse. "Run!"

I heard a screeching roar. A shadow covered my entire form; I looked over my shoulder, only to nearly pass out on the spot. It was a large tyrannosaurus rex, looming above me. Its mouth was open wide, revealing rows of jagged teeth. Its head was massive; the jaws were big enough to fit an entire car.

Sweat dripped down my face. Ever since I'd seen the Jurassic Park movies as a young kid, the dinosaurs had appeared in my nightmares, taunting me throughout my sleep. I couldn't tell you how many times I woke up crying for my parents. They always told me the same thing, 'dinosaurs are extinct! They're just nightmares, they can't hurt you'.

And now... my nightmare was real, standing in front of me. I was done for.

"Ed!" Disgust cried out.

I snapped out of it, racing after Sadness and Disgust. The t-rex's jaws came slashing down, biting the spot where I'd just been. I gripped the key in my pocket like a lifeline; I wished this was just another nightmare. I wished I was a child once more, so I could wake up and cry to my parents, and they'd tell me everything was okay.

But no. This was reality. There was no escape. All I could do was try to run.

We slipped past country singers, dangerous drivers, and groups of people glaring at me. The people were all massed in one blob; only their narrowed eyes were visible, scrutinizing my every move. I swear I could see human features on them, but as soon as I looked away they disappeared again.

It was like I knew who they were, but at the same time, I couldn't recognise any of them.

"Everyone hates you," they taunted. "You spineless, lonely NOTHING! LONELY, lonely, LONELY!"

I covered my ears, forcing my legs to keep moving. The t-rex let out another booming roar. Its jaws appeared behind me once more, nearly biting my arms off. Sadness and Disgust stayed nearby me, ushering me along.

Tears were in my eyes.

"Lonely..." I uttered.

"Hates us..." Sadness agreed.

"There it is!" Disgust cried.

I perked up. Ahead, I could see a large, dark purple padlock, connected to what looked like a wire of neurons. The neurons glowed, sparks of electricity racing across them. They were spread across the entire back wall, almost like tree roots. It was beautiful, harrowing... existential.

This is my mind... I created this...

"You have the key, right?!" Disgust asked.

I nodded, pulling out the tiny, silver key.

"Unlock it," Disgust told me, "we'll distract the t-rex."

"Won't you get hurt?!" I asked.

"Nothing hurts as bad as seeing you unhappy..." Sadness told me, tears in her own eyes.

"Sadness..." my voice choked up.

"We don't have time!" Disgust cried out. "Unlock it, now!"

The t-rex roared again, yellow eyes set on me.

"Over here!" Disgust threw the bag at its legs.

I breathed in one last time. I walked over to the padlock, gazing at the wall of neurons. This was me. This was my mind.

This is it, then...

I put the key into the lock. I twisted it; the neurons began to glow even brighter. The padlock opened up, the whole thing turning white.

"Haha... at last!"

Wait, who's-

"No!" I heard Disgust cry out. "Love, don't-"

Before I could register anything else, everything blacked out.