Reality Is a Lie

Shuffle

I looked down at my clothes.
"Oh, sweet Dorothy of Oz." I sighed to myself. I wore an embellished red sash over a white shirt with medals and other bits of gold that I didn't even know how to describe. "Not him. Not... Creativity." I was utterly disgusted. The foul clothes that I was donning, plus the river of ideas flowing through my mind left an unpleasant taste in my mouth, and as I looked towards the door I heard the screams and cries of my fellow sides. That was when it dawned on me:

"Oh fuck." I said aloud. "Thomas must be a mess."

It was as I spoke these words that we were summoned to a very distressed Thomas' side.

"You guys need to tell me what on Earth is going on, or else I will start bawling right in front of you all!"

"Well... you see Thomas..." The person that spoke seemed to be Logan, as he usually stood quite straight, with his hands very still, either in front or behind him. Today, however, Logan was quite different. His stance seemed... rigid. More so than before. His lip trembled when he spoke, and his breathing seemed irregular, as if he were about to weep. His hands also shook behind his back, and his leg did not seem to want to keep still. The most obvious, telltale sign of Logan's new position were his eyes, or, more so the large dark circles underneath them that seemed to age him significantly.

Logan was Anxiety.

There was a split second of silence, before tears erupted from Thomas. "What do you mean it's complicated?! What's going on? Why won't you tell me? Why am I feeling like this?" A thousand ideas of how to resolve these tears popped into my head, and I suddenly realised why the Prince sometimes ended up acting so... strangely; some of these ideas were utterly awful, and truly random.

"Sorry guys. I think this is me." Morality said to himself. He seemed to be holding himself in a similar manner to Roman; his head held high, his arms crossed lightly and his stance strong. Not much had changed about him, except for the fact he was in tears as well.

"All of these emotions and decisions are just so new to me. I'm so sorry." Roman, the new morality, buried his face in his hands and wept.

I turned to look at Logic, who I assumed would be calm and reasonable in a situation as disastrous as this.

Alas, I was mistaken. A single tear rolled down Logic's face. And, by process of elimination, Patton had to be Logic. However, his body language had completely changed. Patton normally bounced, with his hands in front of him, his eyes wide and smiling. However, Patton's hands were at his side, and he stood completely still. It was almost eerie to see him like this, but most of all I wondered why.

"Logic is the side least affected by emotions. My emotions work differently to how they did before. I can still feel, but it... it's not the same anymore." He looked down blankly.

"You mean to tell me i'm the only person in this room who has kept themself together? Really?" I looked around in shock at the others, but mostly in shock of myself. Whilst my anxiety had not disappeared, it seemed that through my years of being Anxiety, I was able to cope much better than the others with what I deemed to be extreme situations.

"I would say I have kept it together quite well." Logan said quietly.

"You are skating on thin ice, Logan. And I'm pretty sure said ice already has several cracks and you are about to descend into the freezing water below."

The room went silent, and I realised how the Prince felt whenever he said something foolish like that.

"I'm sorry did you just call Anxiety... Logan? But that's Logan!" Thomas pointed to Patton.

There was a few second of silence, in which everyone turned to stare at me, most of which through red and tears eyes.

"What on Earth are you looking at me for?" I pulled my hand to my chest.

"Virgil, it's as you said. You're the only one keeping it together... so would you mind explaining? Please?" Logan looked at me pleadingly. I wasn't wrong about him being on the brink of a breakdown, apparently, and I knew the other two were in no position to explain.

"Alright then." I sighed, and just as I was about to begin, Thomas interrupted me.

"You're Virgil?! But you're so calm!" He looked at me in shock.

"Yes, I am. Because I have spent my entire life dealing with constant floods anxiety, I am able to cope with it much better than anyone else. After all, I have years of experience, and they have none. But, anyways, that isn't relevant to our... current situation. In simple terms, we swapped."

Thomas looked at me in shock.

"You guys can do that?" He looked around at the other sides.

"To be honest, we don't know how it happened either." I sighed, and, once again, everyone looked at me.

"What?" I looked back at them. The other sides glanced at each other, and then me.

"It's just... you and Patton were the first ones to be swapped, and you did run off angry the night before..." Roman said, sniffling and wiping his tears.
Now it was my turn to be shocked. Was I guilty? Perhaps a little, if being angry were a crime! It was Deceit who had done all of this! And yet... I supposed... these light sides still didn't see me as one of them, did they?

"I'll be taking my leave, thank you." I gave them no chance to respond, and exited, now also close to tears.

Were they correct? Was it... my fault? I played a tiny, minuscule part, yet should I have been better prepared? Should I not have kept my door locked? Though, had a locked door ever stopped Deceit? As I opened the door to Romans room - since going into the Anxiety corner might cause some more... major issues, I was greeted - yet again - by the home invader, Deceit, sitting on Roman's desk, inspecting his gloves.

"It would seem that even with a new position, those 'light sides' really don't ever change, do they?" He turned to face me. "Why, hello there, Virgil." He smiled at me.
"Hello, Deceit."