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My name is Stephen Leeds, and I am perfectly sane My hallucinations, however, are all quitefro tooutside his door--I’d learned to keep them there--and pushed un raised in two hands, sighting at a picture of Osa Very loudly

"I was trying to have a conversation!" I yelled

JC didn’t hearan assortet close He ht accidentally shoot me if I surprised him

I didn’t knoould happen if one of my hallucinations shot me Hoould my ists who’d want to write a paper on it I wasn’t inclined to give them the opportunity

"JC!" I screalanced toward rin froo learned to stop being inti up the handgun "Care to fire off aor two? You could use the practice"

I took the gun froe installed in the mansion for a purpose, JC Use it"

"Terrorists don’t usually find e Well, it did happen that once Pure coincidence"

I sighed, taking the re down the un up in the air, then er "Safety first, kid"

"It’s an i it back to him

"Yeah, sure"

JC doesn’t believe that he’s a hallucination, which is unusual Most of the without being bulky, square-faced but not distinctive, he had the eyes of a killer Or so he claimed Perhaps he kept theun, then eyed the picture of bin Laden

"Don’t," I warned

"But--"

"He’s dead anyway They got hio"

"That’s a story we told the public, skinny" JC holstered the gun "I’d explain, but you don’t have clearance"

"Stephen?" a voice came from the doorway

I turned Tobias is another hallucination--or "aspect," as I sometimes call thee-wrinkled cheeks He kept his greying hair very short, and wore a loose, informal business suit with no necktie

"I wasyou intend to keep that poorTobias in the hallway The two of us began walking away from JC’s room

"He was very polite, Stephen," Tobias said

Behind us, JC started shooting again I groaned

"I’ll go speak to JC," Tobias said in a soothing voice "He’s just trying to keep up his skills He wants to be of use to you"

"Fine, whatever" I left Tobias and rounded a corner in the lush mansion I had forty-seven rooms They were nearly all filled At the end of the hallway, I entered a s and wood panels I threw myself down on the black leather couch in the center

Ivy sat at her chair beside the couch "You intend to continue through that?" she asked over the sound of the gunshots

"Tobias is going to speak to hi a notation on her notepad She wore a dark business suit, with slacks and a jacket Her blonde hair was up in a bun She was in her early forties, and was one of the aspects I’d had the longest

"How does itto disobey you?"

"Most do obey me," I said defensively "JC has never paid attention to what I tell hietting worse?"

I didn’t say anything

She made a notation

"You turned away another petitioner, didn’t you?" Ivy asked "They come to you for help"

"I’unshots? Goingmore mad," I said "I’ve stabilized I’m practically nores that"

Ivy said nothing In the distance, the gunshots finally stopped, and I sighed in relief, raising ers to my temples "The formal definition of insanity," I said, "is actually quite fluid Two people can have the exact same condition, with the exact same severity, but one can be considered sane by the official standards while the other is considered insane You cross the line into insanity when yourable to have a normal life By those standards, I’m not the least bit insane"

"You call this a norlanced to the side Ivy had covered up the wastebasket with a clipboard, as usual

Tobias entered a few moments later "That petitioner is still there, Stephen"

"What?" Ivy said, givingthe poor ht, fine!" I leaped off the couch "I’ll send hiround floor, into the grand entryway

Wilson, my butler--who is a real person, not a hallucination--stood outside the closed door to the sitting room He looked over his bifocals at me