Imagination Is Everything

You've Been Strong For Far Too Long

"We're not the only ones being  targeted."

.       .       .

"What the hell d'ya mean we're not the only ones?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows. "It's exactly how it sounds like, Sheila," he replied, his expression grim. "We need all the help we can get."

"Then whadaya waitin' for?"

.       .       .

We ran at full speed back to the workshop, not saying a single word to each other after he finally realized the awkward position he got us in. It was fine by me. I wouldn't know what to say to him anyway.

When we finally reached, I jumped out of my separate hole to see him standing there, with nobody else around. "Where is everybody?" I asked, looking around the empty workshop. 

Then a completely innocent and random thought suddenly came to my mind.

"Oh, crap. What if this is actually one of those 'fake emergency' scenarios teenage girls love writing about?"

Interrupting my thoughts, he nudged my arm with his paw and indicated for me to follow him down a brightly-lit  hallway.

"This way," he said as he hurried towards the destination. I shook my head clear of my overactive imagination-filled thoughts and the millions and millions of possible scenarios.

I proceeded to follow him.

Seeing him so troubled was...well, rare. I mean, sure, he's grumpy most of the time. But there was something familiar about the aura that wasn't his own that lingered on him. I just couldn't put my paw on it. Our troubled expressions probably looked completely out of place with North's merry workshop.

We finally stopped in front of a redwood door as we slowed our pace. "Brace yerself for what y'er about ta see in there," he turned his head to face me, his eyes now being completely clouded over with sadness. I looked at him, confusion and worry were probably etched on my face. He reached out for the doorknob, but pulled his hand back. 

He wanted me to open it for myself.

So I stepped forward and placed my hand on the cold steel of the doorknob. A sudden pang of emotion went through me. It washed over me completely, suddenly weighing me down with the familiar feeling of despair. It was then I understood.

This wasn't sadness we were feeling. There was no way we could feel this much of the same emotion in such a short time.

This was the life force of a dying spirit.