"Logical Me."

My world did not exist outside of the hallway. Everything I ever needed was in that hallway. There was my room, the bathroom, the room in which I played games, and the room where they made sure I was healthy. They gave me a pill to take everyday - to help me sleep they said - but it was expensive so they had to change it. That's when I met Seth.

To me, Seth meant freedom. He came from the outside, something that had never existed before he came. All his stories, even though they were very logical - and to me, boring - still somehow fascinated me. He never told me stories of what he had been doing recently, oh no. Who Seth was remained a mystery. What he did tell me, where stories of his childhood. I had no real stories to tell him, so I made stories up. He loved them so, they held him captive, but in the end he always ruined them with his so-called scientific logic.

I didn't mind though. Seth was someone to talk to. Around the time Seth showed up I began to hear these voices outside my window at night. All sorts of voices from all sorts of people, and most of them sounded like the bad sort of people. They were dark and moody, brooding and angry about this so called outside world. They told stories of rape and murder outside my window, keeping me up all night with these terrible stories.

Then one day, when Seth and I were coloring in the games room, we both heard footsteps coming down the hallway. He became frantic… scared. He made me promise something. It seemed really odd coming from him - not logical at all - but I promised him.

I promised never to tell anyone about him. He left, apologizing for leaving so early in the day and promising to come back tomorrow. I made him swear on anything he was willing to. He was my best friend. My only friend.

The lady that made sure I was healthy entered the room and asked me some questions. She wrote things down when I answered then left. She came back and gave me yet another medication, and left again.

That night, there were no voices outside my window, and the next day, Seth never showed up. For the next few weeks I waited for Seth, but he never came. I became frantic, searching for him, thinking he was playing a trick on me, or started a game of hide and seek without telling me.

I searched everywhere - even in places that no human could fit in. In cups, under plates and bowls, I screamed at people if they stacked dishes without checking them for Seth first. I was illogical - missing all traces of my logic - I was missing Seth.

Months passed and I became more and more illogical - blaming random strangers on the disappearance of Seth. I never stopped searching, never stopped blaming. I placed the blame on me, on the voices outside my window.

Then one day a new lady came to see me. She asked me who Seth was. That question completely baffled me. How could she not know? Everyone knew Seth. She asked me if Seth was my imaginary friend.

"No. Seth is real." I told her. She smiled gently.

"Is Seth in this room with us?" She asked me.

"No. Seth's missing. They did something to him. The voices took him. They took him away."

"Who is 'The Voices'?" She asked, her pencil poised over the paper.

"Everything bad in this world." I told her. "They came from the outside. Seth came from the outside."

She tried to reason with me. She asked me how could a boy be real but never seen by anyone else in the house, but I couldn't be reasoned with. Seth took all my reason with him when he went away.

I remember the talk I had with Seth. The talk we had day he left. He asked me questions. Weird questions.

He asked me why my door was metal, why it was always locked, why my window was small and had bars across it. He asked me why I was here, if I remembered life outside of this place.

I told him I didn't understand. He gripped my shoulders. He shook me. He said I must understand.

I don't understand Seth. I don't.

Please Anna. Use your brain. Think. Why are you here?

I live here! I always lived here!

No! You had a life outside of this place. You had a family. What about your childhood?

I… I don't remember.

You have to remember. Anna, I think the reason you are here is because of me.

What do you mean?

Its my fault. Your stuck here because of me. I should just go away.

No. Please don't go away. Don't leave me. Never leave me.

No matter where I go, there I will always be with you. He tapped my head. In here.

I don't want you in there! I want you out here! With me! I screamed at him.

He shook his head sadly.

That's not a choice we get to make, Anna.

"Anna, Anna! Will you answer me please?" The lady was talking to me again.

"What?"

"Who is Seth." she asked. I paused. I thought it over. I used my brain, Seth would have loved it.

"Seth is logic."

She stared at me.

"Seth is one emotion?"

I thought about it.

"Seth is everything good."

"Is? Or was?"

"Seth left, but he's still here. He's still here with me." I tapped my head. I stood up from my bed and got the picture we colored together from under my bed. "We colored this together." The lady glanced at the picture, and quickly looked away, visibly torn. I didn't understand.

Anna what do you remember of your childhood? Seth asked.

This is my childhood, I told him. He looked at me funny.

Your not a child anymore, Anna. What happened in your childhood? I closed my eyes, trying to remember.

I remember….

Tires squealing. A loud crash. Screaming. Red, everywhere. A small bicycle. Familiar legs, arms, sticking out of the wreckage. A familiar car in ruins

No. I don't want to remember.

You must. What happened Anna?

People were crying. Was I crying? They were dressed in black. There were three boxes. Wooden boxes. They buried the boxes.

Something happened to them.

To who Anna?

My family.

A white van. Men in white suits. Rain. I remember Seth. You were there. So were the voices. They were everywhere. They wouldn't leave me alone.

They took you from me.

I didn't want to go.

Anna.. What am I?

You're…

"Anna."

"What?"

"Come this way. There is something you must see." She stood up and opened the door for me with her key. We left my room, and walked down the hallway. She entered a new room, one I had never been in before. I hesitated, but she nodded, and so I entered.

The room was dark. There was a man sitting in a chair in front of a wall full of screens. There was one showing the game room, the hallway, my bedroom, and more.

"There are cameras in each room you go into, except the bathroom, to make sure that you do not harm yourself or others." She looked at me. "Do you understand?" I nodded. "We will rewind to the last day you say Seth was here. You say you two were in the game room?" She nodded at the man. He pushed some buttons and all the screens disappeared except the one of the game room, which enlarged.

It showed me, in the game room, coloring. Completely alone. Talking and laughing with someone that was never there. The picture I was coloring was the one I showed the lady earlier. The one Seth and I colored together.

"No. Where's Seth?" I asked the lady. She didn't answer me. I pointed at the screen. "He's not in there. Where is he!?" I demanded. The lady bit her lip.

"That's what we would like to know." She looked at me carefully. "Anna, the medication you took was not sleeping medication. Yes, it helped you sleep, but that's not the purpose of the medication. Do you understand so far?" I nodded numbly.

Promise me, Seth. Promise you won't leave me.

I won't ever leave you Anna. I can't leave you.

The lady studied the screen, still biting her lip. She turned back to me. "When you were very little your family was killed in a car crash. This event shattered your reality - you refused to face it - so the parts of you that had to deal with it.. Separated from your consciousness. To deal with them you created persona for them - in this case Seth and The Voices." I shook my head, processing all the new information.

"Seth is the side of you that you called 'logic' and 'everything good'. When your family died you gave up your childhood, even the fact you had a family, but logic was always at the corners of your consciousness, telling you something was wrong."

What am I Anna?

You're… me.