Inside Out reImagined

The Arrow of Time

After a long trek through the mind, which showed just how utilitarian most of the Memory Lanes, as well as Imagination Valley, had become, the sight of Preschool World was unmistakable. This was especially the case as the words "Preschool World" on the gates, that Sadness and Bing Bong had just passed, had a reversed R, as though the thought form writing them was still getting the hang of writing in the first place.

Sadness's thoughts were briefly diverted to how Riley, now in China, was reliving the same process, and when she got to the point of writing characters, she may end up reversing them without even realizing it. However, they were quickly washed away, for Preschool World was the one place in the mind where neither the present nor the future mattered. For all intents and purposes, the present was one where Riley was still a toddler, and was allowed to play around, all day long.

And if toddler Riley ever did come to the place, she would have absolutely loved everything: endless shops for candy and ice cream, dolls and toys of all sorts of sizes and so on.

However, there was one aspect of it all that Sadness cherished more than anything else: for once, she was relieved to not see it change and disappear, before her eyes, once she looked at it. Riley's earliest years, it would seem, were something to treasure — as opposed to a phase that one would need to move past, as soon as possible. This sight made them so relieved, they were more than ready to pick up pace until Imagination Valley was well and truly behind them, at which point they stopped.

"Welcome to Preschool World! Told ya that you would like it, it's like a theme park in the mind!" Bing Bong exclaimed, stopping right in front of Sadness, as though to greet her for the first time, despite the two having trekked for most of the day. "And best of all, I know it like the back of... Riley's... mind. Nevermind that! May I show you around?"

"That's great... Can I go sit down now?" Evidently, the need to collapse somewhere had gone nowhere, and the only change was that now with Bing Bong by her side, Sadness was more courteous about it.

"Oh, but you won't want to sit down once you encounter this!" Bing Bong continued, practically dragging Sadness into a small, secluded area within Preschool World.

It could be described as a field or forest, made entirely out of ice cream trees, with fruit that looked just like ice cream, except it didn't melt when left outside for too long. Mind Workers at the field were plentiful, doing all sorts of jobs, without supervision: picking the cones up from the trees and carrying them, in wheelbarrows, to their shops, where they "sold" them. However, other than that, normal rules didn't apply to Preschool World, and Bing Bong was quick to snap two higher-hanging fruit with his trunk, before handing one of them over to Sadness, who graciously accepted it with a little nod, without saying anything.

Bing Bong then led Sadness to another prominent feature in Preschool World: a playground with gigantic slides and ladders. The mere thought of it excited a child's imaginary friend almost as much as the child herself; yet, Sadness could only think about the pain she would go through if she carelessly fell from ten feet in the air, as well as how, without Fear, no one would be able to keep her safe.

However, in the end, fatigue was a feeling that dominated Sadness more than anything else, and she kept looking for a resting place.

That was when she spotted a park-like area, right by the playground, where a few Mind Workers were already sitting. Looking through it more closely, she was, thankfully, able to locate a completely empty bench, and rushed to sit down in no time.

Sadness had already come to appreciate her new gift of vision. Oftentimes, at work, she would be unable to spot a small detail on the Consciousness Screen, even with her glasses on, and subsequently, this ended up being treated as a personality trait, with her focusing on the big picture, instead of the details.