Driven by Emotions by Elise Allen Read Free Book Online

about that memory: that Riley had missed the winning shot in the game and felt so awful she wanted to quit. Then Mom and Dad came to talk to her—because
of Sadness! They came to talk to Riley because of Sadness. My entire favorite happy memory…it wouldn’t have happened if Sadness hadn’t gotten Mom, Dad, and the team to comfort
Riley—the same way Sadness had comforted Bing Bong in Imagination Land.
    Riley
needed
Sadness. The same way she needed me. In fact, maybe Riley’s Joy was even more joyful because she also had Sadness in her life.
    It was crazy enough to make my head want to explode, but all of a sudden, I knew for a fact that it was true. I had to find Sadness and bring her back to Headquarters right away!
    “Come on, Bing Bong!” I shouted, leaping to my feet. “We have to get back up there!”
    “Joy,” he said sadly, “we’re stuck down here. We might as well be on another planet.”
    Another planet. Yes! Another planet! Bing Bong had wanted to take Riley to the moon in his rocket…a rocket that was already thrown into the dump and ran on song power! I started singing
as loud as I could. It took a while, but then we heard the rocket beeping back at us! We ran to the sound and dug down through fading memories until we found it. Then we dragged it to the perfect
spot, a place in the dump with two giant hills of memories: one we could ride down to gain speed, and one we could zoom up again. If we got the rocket moving quickly enough, we could soar off the
top of the second hill and shoot all the way back up to the Long Term Memory cliffs!
    We pulled the rocket to the top of the first hill and climbed in. As we rolled down, Bing Bong and I both sang his song. The rocket gained power with each word. It roared to life, picking up
speed as it raced down one hill and up the other. It was moving so quickly at the top of the second hill that it soared into the air…
    …and crashed to the ground long before it got anywhere near the cliff’s edge.
    I couldn’t give up, though. Bing Bong and I dragged the rocket all the way back to the first hill. We sang even louder, even stronger, and the rocket felt more powerful under our bodies. I
just knew this time we’d make it out.
    Except we didn’t. We crashed again. We needed something more—a way to get more power—but I didn’t know what to do.
    “Come on, Joy, one more time,” Bing Bong said. “I’ve got a feeling about this one.”
    So we tried again. We did things a little differently this time. Bing Bong found the steepest memory hill, and we dragged the rocket all the way to its tip-top. We both climbed into the rocket
and sang Bing Bong’s song, and when the rocket roared to life, we sang even
louder
. We whipped down the first hill and zoomed up the second one. Suddenly, it felt like we shot forward
with an extra boost of energy. The rocket flew off the top of that second hill, soared into the air…
    …and made the jump! The rocket flew all the way out of the dump and landed on the cliff’s edge. Bing Bong and I were saved!
    “Woo-hoo!” I cheered. “Bing Bong, we did it! We—”
    But then I turned around and realized Bing Bong was gone.
    “Bing Bong?” I called. “Bing Bong!”
    I heard laughter. I looked down into the dump. He was there. Bing Bong. He was dancing and smiling and happier than I’d ever seen him.
    “Ya-ha-ha!” he cheered. “You made it! Go! Go save Riley! Take her to the moon for me, okay?”
    He waved good-bye…then disappeared. Riley’s imaginary friend was gone forever.
    “I’ll try, Bing Bong. I promise,” I said.
    Suddenly, I understood. That’s why the rocket had been so fast on the second hill. Bing Bong had jumped off. He’d sacrificed himself for me. For Riley.
    It was the most loving thing I’d ever seen anyone do.
    I wanted to take a moment to sit there and think about him, but the world around me started to rumble, and I knew I didn’t have time. I had to get back to Headquarters,