Problems

Light

Tw: panic attacks, cruelty, yelling at small child, screaming, death.

Virgil's POV

It had been a while since he last had a panic attack but he could tell that something was different about today. He didn't trust how much was going on outside. Virgil jumped when the feminine voice started loudly exclaiming. It started getting louder and the button started glowing a white light. The whole world shook around them and Virgil started to panic. All he could hear was the agonized screams echoing around the void. He curled up in a small ball trying to stop the screaming. It seemed like hours before it finally stopped but Virgil was too deep to even notice that the cries had turned to a higher pitch.

A calm feeling washed over him but this time it was different. Instead of just muting his anxious thoughts, like usual, it pieced them apart and provided logical explanations for what he was panicking about. Once he calmed down he realized that the area around him had greatly changed. Light flooded the area and a portion of the void in front of the platform had turned into some sort of a screen that was showing a blurry image. There was also an unfamiliar young man pressing the button. He wore a polo shirt with a tie and glasses. As Virgil watched the original young man approached him and started talking.

"Heya kiddo! I'm morality-" 'Morality' suddenly cut himself off, looking confused.

"Logic." 'Logic' got the same confused look on his face after speaking.

"You didn't mean to say that either, did you?"

"It seems as if something is preventing us from disclosing our true identities." 'Logic' started to mutter random theories on how and why this could happen, ranging everywhere from highly advanced overlords that where using microchips that were implanted in their brain to control the speech centers of the mind to straight up magic.

'Morality' listened for about ten minuets before getting distracted by the large screen. It was honestly pretty interesting after what felt like months in this void. Though the shapes were blurry, the voices were much clearer. They seamed to be happy about something but the only thing that Virgil could make out was a name. Thomas.

~~~~~~~Time skip~~~~~~~

Thomas was about three, he had finally figured out how to actually function semi-independently. He could actually walk, and talk.... Kinda. His parents had finally had enough of his energetic babble and plopped him in a play pen with some crayons.

The 'mindscape' as 'logic' and 'morality' had coined it had grown, three doors forming, two were bedrooms while one refused to open, no matter how hard they tried. Virgil found that he could not enter their rooms, no matter how hard he tried.

Virgil jumped when a loud bang echoed thru the mindscape. He turned to see the previously locked door wide open with a pair of ridiculously dressed young men holding heroic poses in the doorway. One was wearing a white suit with a red sash while the other had a black suit with a green sash and a mustache. (I just guessed an age but when I looked up a what 3-4 year olds should be doing increased creativity was one of the things!)

"Hello peasants! Your Prince has arrived!" The brighter clothed one was the first to speak, strutting into the room.

'Try hard.' Virgil thought as he floated towards the pompous figure.

The darker dressed young man had a vacant look in his eyes before suddenly screaming, "POOPY PANTS!" And sprinting up to the button.

'Logic' and 'morality' looked mortified by the more ego-friendly man, but the obnoxious, self-proclaimed Prince acted like this was an everyday occurrence.

Everyone flinched when Thomas's mom ran back into the room. "Where did you learn such foul language young man!? We do not use potty words like that!"

Virgil started to panic as she glared down at the young child. 'She's gonna throw us out! Were gonna be homeless! We can't look after ourselves! We can barely walk!' Virgil was at the edge of a panic attack when he heard Thomas speak up.

"Sir grass said it! I told him not to!" Virgil peeked through his fingers to see a half snake looking man at the counsel. Everyone froze.

Thomas's mom sighed. "Well tell sir grass that if he keeps saying things like that then he wouldn't be coming over anymore." Everyone relaxed, thankful that she had bought their lie.

The snake man wore a bowler hat and a short black cape with yellow trim. "Goodbye, my name isn't deceit." He ended up with the same confused look that Virgil had seen on 'logic' and  'morality'.

'Logic' was quick to explain their conundrum, providing theories on why they couldn't say their real names and why he, 'deceit', could only speak in lies. All this while 'morality' was getting to know the two eccentric lads. Virgil quickly found that both of the mysterious gentlemen were creativity, not confusing at all, and they had been prancing around in a fantasy world for the last couple of years. 'Morality' was quick to come up with some nicknames for them.

~~~~~~Time skip~~~~~~

Thomas was about six now and the mindscape was starting to get a bit crowded. It seemed like he felt the need to personify literally everything, which created more characters in his mind. 'Logic' had devised a plan, separating what he termed as 'traits' from all the different characters that their host came up with. There was people who toed the line, like 'sleep', but otherwise the system worked quite well.

That was, until he started school. Thomas's parents were good at dealing with Thomas's more inappropriate outbursts and his occasional lying, but the moment Thomas stepped into that classroom Virgil knew that something was going to go wrong.

It all started when 'the duke', as 'morality' had nicknamed the darker creativity, had an idea during drawing time. It wasn't the first time this had happened but all the other times Thomas's mom just took his drawing with a smile and suggested that they do something else.

When Ms. Wreed, Thomas's teacher, saw his drawing she flipped out, yelling at him for drawing something so graphic. Thomas was honestly confused. He was just drawing a cat he had seen sleeping on the side of the road. Remus had liked it's red spots so that's what they had drawn. By the time Ms. Wreed paused her freaking out Thomas was in tears.

I'm not dead.

I'm not better.

But I'm not giving up yet.