Weeks later, Lonely was walking down the path to Zajed again, his pockets filled with coins from ancient China. A new author had emerged on Earth, one he had worked on that morning and he wanted to know what they wrote. For as long as there had been books, there had been Lonely, desperate to own as many as he could.

As per usual, Zajed was bustling with movement. There was always something to do, something new that someone had discovered or built. A stage play a group had decided to perform based on the works of Shakespeare, or a town-wide picnic in the garden, one he hadn’t been invited to. The last one he’d seen, they told him that they forgot to invite him. That was what he got for living outside of town.

It wasn’t his choice. It was the house he’d been given by Sadness when he awoke on the grassy fields outside of Zajed and stated his emotion to the world. That was the way things worked, there was no changing them, even if he hated it. He didn’t hate his home though, despite everything, it was a calm place for him, one he had loved since he was given it.

There was no picnic or stage play or anything town-wide when he walked in, just the usual marketplace. The stalls changed on the daily, but Wisdom’s stall always had set days, ones Lonely had memorised a long time ago.

The elderly-looking man gave him a short wave when he arrived, stacking books on the polished benches that made up his stall. He would have only just opened and Lonely would be his first customer. He gave a pleased smile when he saw Wisdom pick up a book by the new author.

“Ah, heard of this one, have you?” Wisdom asked and handed it to him. “It’s only new. You find out about these things quickly, Lonely.”

He gave a weak smile. “I suppose,” he muttered and fished through his pockets for the coins. He didn’t want Wisdom to know how he had found out about the author, even though a lot of them found new things through their work. “I would like all of their works, please.”

“There’s only three,” Wisdom replied.

“That will do for now,” he said and handed over a bundle of coins. Wisdom gasped when they fell into his hands and held one up to the sun. Lonely grabbed the books and with a quick nod that Wisdom didn’t pay attention to, he left, almost crashing into the small frame of a young man.

Fear jolted backwards with a gasp. “Sorry!” he said and let out a shaky laugh. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“No, it’s alright,” Lonely said with a shake of his head. “It was my fault.”

Fear wrung his hands together, his eyes focused on the ground and Lonely’s heart plummeted into his stomach. Sometimes, Fear tried to talk to him, most likely out of some kind of pity and each time it made Lonely feel awful in a way he couldn’t describe. It was obvious that Fear didn’t want to talk to him, but it was some of the only conversations he had, so he didn’t dare run away.

“Some new books?” Fear asked and pointed at them.

“Oh, yes, a new author. A man named Dickens,” Lonely explained, but from the way Fear looked away from him, he wasn’t all that interested in the answer. He was just being polite.

The smaller man hummed noncommittally. “Interesting,” he said even though it was obvious he thought it wasn’t.

“Yes. Well, I had best be off, I really want-”

He never got a chance to say what he wanted to do because a hand clapped down on Fear’s shoulder and he jumped backwards. It took Lonely a moment to recognise the blonde man desperately trying to apologise for startling the literal embodiment of fear.

“Ah, Fear, I’m so sorry!” Confidence said, hands up in mock surrender. “I just wanted to say hello.”

Fear had a hand over his heart. “Well, that was one way to do it,” he hissed and took in a deep breath. “It’s quite alright, I’m used to it.”

Lonely stood there in silence, his new books pressed tightly against his chest. “I’m still sorry,” Confidence said and laughed, before turning to him. “You were here a few weeks ago, weren’t you? I don’t think I caught your name.”

The feeling in his stomach grew worse. Confidence remembered him making a fool out of himself the last time they met, but there was nothing he could do about it. “I’m Lonely,” he muttered and scuffed his foot against the ground.

Confidence stuck out a hand. “Nice to meet you properly,” he said as Lonely tentatively shook it. “I haven’t seen you around much, not that I’ve seen many people. Stress had me working pretty hard these last few centuries, you know?”

He was a rambler and Lonely didn’t know how to keep up with it. No one had ever spoken to him so much in one go and he struggled to catch it all. There was a lot about work and Stress, who was known to keep people working far longer than necessary. Lonely hadn’t seen Confidence around at all if he was remembering correctly, but he had gotten to the stage where he no longer saw all their faces.

“You mostly stick with Sadness and Happy and all of them, don’t you?” Fear said, interrupting Confidence’s little tirade, for which Lonely was grateful. And all of a sudden, it made sense why he hadn’t seen much of Confidence. He was with Sadness, so surely he should know who Lonely was and that he wasn’t supposed to speak with him any longer than necessary.

The taller man nodded, a smile on his face. “Yeah, they took me in pretty quick when Stress finally let me out,” he said and laughed. Once again, he clapped Fear on the shoulder and the man didn’t jump. “Love said he misses you, by the way. You should come see us in the garden sometime.”

Fear looked terrified by the idea. “Maybe one day,” he said and shrugged.

Confidence seemed to like that answer, even though it wasn’t much of one and turned back towards Lonely, who was still trying to find a good excuse to leave. “Where do you live? I don’t see you around at all,” Confidence said, a blush spreading out on his tan cheeks. “Actually, that was a little rude, wasn’t it? I’m sorry.”

Lonely waved him away, trying to ignore to awful feeling in his stomach. “Not at all,” he mumbled and pointed at the hills behind Confidence. “I’m up on the hills back there.”

There was a strange expression on the other man’s face and it took Lonely a moment to realise that Confidence had heard about him before. He was friends with Sadness, after all, he would have been told not to talk to the man who lived on the hill. It wouldn’t be long before Confidence made up some excuse to leave.

“What’s it like up there? Is it nice?” he asked, shocking both him and Fear.

It took him a moment to answer, shocked into silence. “It is, just quiet,” he answered. What would happen if Sadness or someone else saw them talking like they were? Fear wouldn’t say a word, he would be too scared to, but someone else could if they recognised him.

What he couldn’t understand was why Confidence was talking to him in the first place. Maybe he wanted to meet as many people as possible, seeing as Stress had kept him at work for so long. If that was the case, then it wouldn’t take long for him to do what everyone else did and start ignoring him. He was a boring person, it seemed, and those who did try to talk to him didn’t do so for long.

“No animals? Confidence asked, pulling Lonely from his thoughts.

“No,” he said and shook his head.

The other man frowned and shoved his hands in his pockets. He wore clothes of a similar style to Lonely’s, but instead of just a plain waistcoat, he wore a pinstripe suit jacket and a dark tie with it. It suited him. “Damn, I wish this place had animals,” he muttered, disappointment lacing his voice.

“We can take some,” Fear said and a wide-eyed look came upon his face again. “You should see all the animals I have. I take the from the zoos that don’t look after them properly and nurse them back to health.”

Confidence gasped, a strange sort of excitement pulling at his perfect features. “Really? That’s amazing. I want some pets of my own but I’ve always been so worried about them dying, you know,” he said and Lonely kept his eyes locked on the stone road. “That’s kind of why I wish there were some in the forests.”

The conversation drifted quickly until it was just Confidence and Fear going on about animals. Part of him wanted to contribute, but he didn’t know what. Any mention of the one pet he’d had would only make people sad, but Confidence was being nice to him, the least he could do was attempt to join the conversation.

“I watch them sometimes when I’m working,” he muttered. There were sometimes animals around when he was seeing the visions and he would linger on them for as long as he could to watch them play.

But neither of the men before him were paying any attention to him. They were lost in their conversation, laughing like good friends and forgetting that Lonely existed. With his books still against his chest, he took a step back and let out a quiet sigh. At least he could say that he tried.

He did what he should have done ages ago and stepped away from the other two. “I should get going. I have things… To do,” he said but didn’t even know why he bothered for Fear and Confidence weren’t even looking in his direction.

Ignoring the raging thoughts in his mind and the prick of tears in his eyes, he stalked back through the marketplace. No one took any notice of him and he passed in relative peace until he was back on the path to his home. As he walked, all he could think about was what it would be like if deer jumped across the path ahead of him or birds sang in the trees around him, but all he got was silence.

When he got back to his home and dumped the books on the growing piles, all he could think was how much he wished he wasn’t who he was. Even Fear, who was scared of everything, was able to have friends. But he was Lonely, destined to be alone forever. He didn’t want it. He wished to be anyone else, to do anything else, but it was impossible. He was who he was and there was no changing that.