Brandon Sanderson - Legion: Skin Deep

by Brandon Sanderson

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My name is Stephen Leeds, and I am perfectly sane. My hallucinations, however, are all quite mad.

The gunshots coming from J.C.s room popped like firecrackers. Grumbling to myself, I grabbed the earmuffs hanging outside his doorId learned to keep them thereand pushed my way in. J.C. wore his own earmuffs, his handgun raised in two hands, sighting at a picture of Osama bin Laden on the wall.

Beethoven was playing. Very loudly.

I was trying to have a conversation! I yelled.

J.C. didnt hear me. He emptied a clip into bin Ladens face, punching an assortment of holes through the wall in the process. I didnt dare get close. He might accidentally shoot me if I surprised him.

I didnt know what would happen if one of my hallucinations shot me. How would my mind interpret that? Undoubtedly, there were a dozen psychologists whod want to write a paper on it. I wasnt inclined to give them the opportunity.

J.C.! I screamed as he stopped to reload.

He glanced toward me, then grinned, taking off his earmuffs. Any grin from J.C. looks half like a scowl, but Id long ago learned to stop being intimidated by him.

Eh, skinny, he said, holding up the handgun. Care to fire off a mag or two? You could use the practice.

I took the gun from him. We had a shooting range installed in the mansion for a purpose, J.C. Use it.

Terrorists dont usually find me in a shooting range. Well, it did happen that once. Pure coincidence.

I sighed, taking the remote from the end table, then turning down the music. J.C. reached out, pointing the tip of the gun up in the air, then moving my finger off the trigger. Safety first, kid.

Its an imaginary gun anyway, I said, handing it back to him.

Yeah, sure.

J.C. doesnt believe that hes a hallucination, which is unusual. Most of them accept it, to one extent or another. Not J.C. Big without being bulky, square-faced but not distinctive, he had the eyes of a killer. Or so he claimed. Perhaps he kept them in his pocket.

He slapped a new clip into the gun, then eyed the picture of bin Laden.

Dont, I warned.

But

Hes dead anyway. They got him ages ago.

Thats a story we told the public, skinny. J.C. holstered the gun. Id explain, but you dont have clearance.

Stephen? a voice came from the doorway.

I turned. Tobias is another hallucinationor aspect, as I sometimes call them. Lanky and ebony-skinned, he had dark freckles on his age-wrinkled cheeks. He kept his greying hair very short, and wore a loose, informal business suit with no necktie.

I was merely wondering, Tobias said, how long you intend to keep that poor man waiting.

Until he leaves, I said, joining Tobias in the hallway. The two of us began walking away from J.C.s room.

He was very polite, Stephen, Tobias said.

Behind us, J.C. started shooting again. I groaned.

Ill go speak to J.C., Tobias said in a soothing voice. Hes 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 small room decorated with a Persian rug 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 him.

I see, Ivy said, making 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 Id had the longest.

How does it make you feel, she said, that your projections are beginning to disobey you?

Most do obey me, I said defensively. J.C. has never paid attention to what I tell him. That hasnt changed.

You deny that its getting worse?

I didnt say anything.

She made a notation.

You turned away another petitioner, didnt you? Ivy asked. They come to you for help.

Im busy.

Doing what? Listening to gunshots? Going more mad?

Im not going more mad, I said. Ive stabilized. Im practically normal. Even my non-hallucinatory psychiatrist acknowledges that.

Ivy said nothing. In the distance, the gunshots finally stopped, and I sighed in relief, raising my fingers 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 your mental state stops you from being able to function, from being able to have a normal life. By those standards, Im not the least bit insane.

You call this a normal life? she asked.

It works well enough. I glanced 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, giving me a glare. Youre making the poor man wait? Its been four hours .

All right, fine! I leaped off the couch. Ill send him away. I strode out of the room and down the steps to the ground floor, into the grand entryway.

Wilson, my butlerwho is a real person, not a hallucinationstood outside the closed door to the sitting room. He looked over his bifocals at me.

You too? I asked.

Four hours, master?

I had to get myself under control, Wilson.

You like to use that excuse, Master Leeds. One wonders if moments like this are a matter of laziness more than control.

Youre not paid to wonder things like that, I said.

He raised an eyebrow, and I felt ashamed. Wilson didnt deserve snappishness; he was an excellent servant, and an excellent person. It wasnt easy to find house staff willing to put up with my... particularities.

Im sorry, I said. Ive been feeling a little worn down lately.

I will fetch you some lemonade, Master Leeds, he said. For...

Three of us, I said, nodding to Tobias and Ivywho, of course, Wilson couldnt see. Plus the petitioner.

No ice in mine, please, Tobias said.

Ill have a glass of water instead, Ivy added.

No ice for Tobias, I said, absently pushing open the door. Water for Ivy.

Wilson nodded, off to do as requested. He was a good butler. Without him, I think Id go insane.

A young man in a polo shirt and slacks waited in the sitting room. He leaped up from one of the chairs. Master Legion?

I winced at the nickname. That had been chosen by a particularly gifted psychologist. Gifted in dramatics, that is. Not really so much in the psychology department.

Call me Stephen, I said, holding the door for Ivy and Tobias. What can we do for you?

We? the boy asked.

Figure of speech, I said, walking into the room and taking one of the chairs across from the young man.

I... uh... I hear you help people, when nobody else will. The boy swallowed. I brought two thousand. Cash. He tossed an envelope with my name and address on it onto the table.