Insanity Was A Man

8. Family of Emotions

"I'm gonna be in so much trouble when I get home."

I looked at him curiously. "Why?"

"My dad is Protectiveness," he answered. "It's got to be the most annoying feeling ever."

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold up," I stopped him. "Your dad?"

"Yeah. My dad. We live like normal families, you know."

"But I thought you all just kind of floated around messing with humans?"

"Well, we used too. But as we got more influence, we got more powerful. We got abilities. Like changing our bodies. We live differently now. Me, my dad, and my sister, Fear, live in this small house away from the rest of the spirits. My dad is afraid they'll hurt us."

I didn't want anymore crazy information to deal with, but it looked like I was getting some.
"So...you have a family?"

"Yeah. Feelings are related, you know."

I nodded, even though I was still terrible confused.

"I ran away from home. That's why I'm gonna be in trouble. I don't want to even think of what my dad's going to do," he shuddered.

"Why did you run away?"

"To find you," he said. "Knowledge told me you were looking for your grandma. She told me where to find you. Your grandma..."

My interest to gaining information had completely returned. "Your grandpa. Who is your grandpa?"

My mind flashed back to what Max had told me earlier.

'You're grandma's at my grandpa's house.'

So who was he?

"Well...he's what was affecting her. The Father of the human mind, the first spirit that we all came from..."

He looked me straight in the eye.

"Insanity."

****

Neither of us said anything for a while. The land around us was getting less dark and depressing. Actually, yet again, it was changing a great deal. The sun was coming out, birds were chirping, lush bushes and plants sprouted from the ground. It was definitely a good change, but with everything spinning around in my head, it was hard to enjoy.

"We're here... Remember, I told you we had some abilities...well, one of those is to live secluded from humans, in a place you can't find. You're about to go somewhere most people never do."

I wasn't sure how to feel about that. It was all so bizarre. I had never expected my grandmother to be in some fantasy world. Honestly, when I had met Max, I didn't really think he would be able to help me at all. But now that I was close, I had to be willing to do this.

"Great..." I sighed.

Max, or Sympathy, pointed ahead. Not so far away was a small log cabin just in front of the woods. It had a rather tall fence around it, and outside it, a little girl was trimming some shrubs.

"That's my house. And that's my sister, Fear. I'm surprised she's outside the fence."

"She looks human too."

He nodded. "Yeah. That's the form we feel comfortable in. Others come in all shapes and sizes."

"All shapes and sizes..." I wasn't sure if I wanted to have any encounters with them.

As we got closer to the house, the girl stopped trimming and looked up at me with wide, untrusting eyes. She was shorter than Max, and in appearance about eight years old, though she was probably thousands. She had brown hair and blue eyes like sparkling pools.

"Dad!" she shrieked.

Max's mouth feel open. Apparently he wasn't ready to face his father yet. "No! He's a friend!"

But alas, door to the cabin burst open, producing a rather short man in a simple white T-shirt and jeans that were ripped at the bottom. He appeared to be in his mid or late twenties. He was barefoot, and his brown hair was cut very short.

"Dad, someone we don't know is here!"

The man walked towards us, but his eyes weren't on me. He was glaring fiercely at Max.

"Well, look who came back," he said. It wasn't in a cruel or sneered way, but more so just upset and disappointed.

"Dad..."

"Where the hell have you been? I've been worrying my ass off. And who is this?" he gestured towards me.

"Dad, it's Greg! His grandma is at Grandpa Insanity's palace!"

Protectiveness's eyes sweeped over to me. "Oh, she is? I heard a human had gotten in again. Let me guess, you wanted to help them, Sympathy? I understand your feeling, but you know you aren't allowed to go anywhere outside house without my supervision. And this is just crossing the line...you went all the way into the human world, didn't you?"

Max looked down. "Maybe."

Protectiveness shook his head.

"But dad, I just wanted to help them! I felt bad for them!"

Protectiveness crossed his arms. "But you could have gotten lost. Now, go to your room. You're grounded."

"Dad!"

"Go. And you," Fear's head whipped around to face her Father. "What are you doing outside the fence? Get in the house!"

She ran inside.

Protectiveness turned to look at me.

"Who are you?"

I hesitated, unsure of how to introduce myself. What if he didn't like humans or something?

"I already know you're a human. You aren't supposed to be here."

I subconsciously took a step back. "W-why not?"

"Because this isn't your world," he said, shrugging as if it was the most obvious thing he could have said. "Look, I know you want to find your grandmother and all, but if we're being honest, she's probably already dead. Now, why don't you come inside? I'll pour you a nice glass of tea, and we'll figure out what to do with you."

He began walking towards the door.