Woe, Woe [ ON A LONG VACAY]

Chapter One

“Have you heard? Love is calling all of us for a meeting.” Shame was trudging along slowly on the prison grounds, staying close to a bald man kneeling on the floor. The man held his head in his hands, and was constantly scratching the back of his neck. I was staying because of him as well, and soon it will be time for Shame and I to leave this place and transfer somewhere else.

“It was always a bit difficult for her to summon all of us,” I said to her.

No one moved a muscle except for Shame. No ordinary human can see, hear, smell, touch, or even taste us. We are simply Emotions who will always be dependent on the many human feelings. We take form in their likeness, though we do not have any other similarities with them. However, ever since I could remember, there has always been a rumor that other than Love who can feel all the Emotions, we continue to evolve, developing hearts, developing feelings and developing emotions of their own…

“Remember that only Love can feel all the Emotions at once, Sorrow. It is the most powerful Emotion of all, right?” she mused as he looked down at my feet.  Shame, as well as Guilt that I do not know why he is not here, can never look into any other Emotion’s eyes, so no one ever knew the color of her eyes. Long dark hair swept over them anyway, and since she’s always the Emotion I meet almost everywhere I go, she is the only one I’m used to talking to. I guess I could call her my best acquaintance, as the humans call it, even if I never really saw her stand up straight through all the many times I’ve encountered her.

The bald man stood up from his kneeling position, and my gut threatened to pull itself away from my body. Soon, I was swimming in a lightless world once more.

When I regained my vision, I was not in any place on earth. I recognized the tall red columns that stretched beyond the sky, holding up an unseen roof. The velvet sky seemed to reach down to us, filling me with emptiness, as everything does. Roses grew in clumps, reminding me of the thousands of heartbreaks I’ve witnessed. The bloody river that ran throughout the whole mountain-like area brought unclear pictures of the violent defilation and murders I have seen with Shame and with Guilt to my mind. Everywhere I look, I see the color red and no other hue. It is the only indication that I have been summoned to the Realm of Love by the oldest Emotion in the history of the human feelings, Love. And every corner, every shadow lurking in the realm sucked out all the life in me. It was almost like I was inhaling poison, but could not die and is forced to live through all my suffering.

Love was on her throne, where she has taken her place all her life, leading us all. In order for us to be summoned, Love has to feel all the Emotions at once, attracting us to the strongest source of feelings; our life source. It was even more difficult to sustain those feelings as she spoke to us, so I figured this would be a very short meeting, for even from a distance, Love looked frail and weak, flickering constantly. She, like many other Emotions such as Gratitude and Happiness, has been like this lately, for a reason I’m not aware of. Fluttering in and out of existence, bordering on the edge of extinction, as I was told.

Love was always special. She was the only one who could summon all of us. There’s something about her that only she can do. We wouldn’t even exist at all if it weren’t for Love.

Shame and her hunched back appeared beside me. So did Guilt, whom I have not seen for more than five months now.

“Hello, Sorrow. Hello, Shame,” he greeted.

“Hello, Guilt,” I replied.

“Hello, Guilt,” Shame replied.

I glanced at Guilt’s hands. He was growing stronger, like me. His fists were clenched, as always. I never saw them open.

Over the many heads of Emotions, a few yards away sat Love. Her voice will echo round the whole realm, and everyone who hears her words will remember them, because no one can ever forget anything when they’re with Love.

“The reason that you are all here…,” Love started, her voice soft, warm, comforting and somehow annoying. With every word she said, the rose petals that adorned her head shook in her hair of an indescribable hue like a trembling leaf, frightened by the wind.

“…is that I am about to die.”

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Hello there, you. Have a nice day.