"Hannah, are you still with me?" asked Dr. Monotone. I opened my eyes to look at him. I took a closer look at him this time to notice how much of a nerd he was with his thick glasses. He seemed like the type to carry around a calculator solely to feel the satisfaction and pride of owning one. I shouldn't be judging this guy though. Look where that got me, I thought. In a chair. That's where it had gotten me.

"Yes," I sighed. "But if this is twenty-questions then you're already down to sixteen. Better make them count," I said with a smirk. Apparently, he was used to our bantering by now and returned my smirk with a small smile.

"Let me start with an easy one then. Who do you remember seeing while in the V.C.R?"

I had to think hard on that one. So many faces, but of course, most of them were the ones who had hurt me the most.

"I saw my mom, my dad, Jessica, Justin, Courtney, Zach, Tyler, Alex, Sheri, Mr. Porter, Marcus, Tony, Clay, and…" I couldn't say the rest. The last name hurt me in every way possible. If what happened with him had been real…. if what had been done to me had been real what could I do now? I had already tried to tell Mr. Porter and was dismissed without any consideration to help me in the way I needed. I had tried reaching out and it didn't-

"Hannah," Dr. Monotone said gently. He had stopped writing since it seemed I wasn't giving him more of an answer. Concern etched across his pale face he asked, "why are you crying? Are the needles painful?"

"Uh…um…" I stammered, now back to reality. Without waiting for my answer, he walked over to my side and then hesitated, really taking in the gravity of my self-harm carved on my arms. He regained himself, took out all the needles as quickly as possible, and then unstrapped the restraints. We waited in awkward silence for what seemed like an eternity but may have only been a minute. Trying to break the awkward tension hanging in the air, I shouted, "FREEDOM! LIBERTY AT LAST!" as I pumped my fist in the air. I looked at Dr. Monotone and noticed a smile spreading across his face.

"Well, well, well Dr. Monotone. Did I manage to make you genuinely smile?" I asked.

"As a matter of fact, you did. A rare and incredible feet, I may add. Congratulations are in order, but first we must get back to the questions. I promise there aren't many more. Just remember if you feel uncomfortable answering a question, you don't have to." He looked up at me with a reassuring expression.

"Thank you," I managed to say. Showing appreciation sucked but it seemed like we were now on the same level.

"Okay, this may seem stupid, but on a scale of one to ten how would you rate each of the senses you experienced while in the simulation?"

"A solid ten for everything. Touch, smell, sound. It all just felt so real. In fact, I wasn't even sure if I had just been dreaming this," I gestured around the room.

"I'm flattered that I would be in your dream then," Dr. Monotone said with his ego reaching new heights. "Alright, the next question is an easy one. Who heard the tapes in the simulation?"

"At first, they made their way around to the people who were on them so Justin, Jessica, Alex, Courtney, Sheri, Zach, Tyler, Marcus, Tony, Clay, Mr. Porter, and even my parents. Heck, they even made it to people I don't even know but not to someone I had intended it for." I thought about it some more. The plan I had to leave those tapes, to make people feel guilty, as kind of a last curb-stomp to some people who deserved it. I intended for people to get what they deserved and feel guilty but would that even work on a guy like Bryce? Bryce was incapable of emotion, let alone guilt.

Good old Bryce. It was hard to imagine "good" and "Bryce" in the same sentence but there they were together. Most people would associate him with "good" and that's where most people would be wrong. It was because of his name that he was entitled to so much. It was also because of his sickening name that he felt entitled to things that would get other kids his age landed in jail. It was also his name that was his super-power: getting him out of any trouble or consequence that could damage the reputation of the precious family name. I had tried to imagine a few times what it would be like to have that kind of power but I couldn't lawyer my way out of my mistakes like he could. No, that was a God-given talent and I still had to face the music.

I fell back down to reality and looked over at Dr. Monotone who was still scribbling on his clipboard. He finished and looked up at me to say, "last question, Hannah. This will assess how ready you are to try the real world again. Why did you do it?"

Was this guy for real? I explained this on the tapes. There were plenty of reasons why I did it. There was the secrets, the bullying, the hatred, the lies, the rumors….horrible things had happened to me. There was so much that had happened to me. But if it really boiled down to one thing…then it was…

"Loneliness," I said. I sounded hollow and worn. So many people had left me alone. Jessica and Alex, the only real friends I had, had left me and slammed the door on me on their way out. My parents didn't even notice me as they were wrapped up in their store. Mr. Porter didn't even help me when I needed someone to believe me. Clay barely looked at me. I was. Alone. And dealing with the pain and hurt I had felt for so long alone was…unbearable. I composed myself. I could feel the walls rebuilding themselves around my heart. Just because Dr. Monotone and I had been getting along doesn't mean I should let him see me at my lowest. Who did this guy think he was asking me a question like that?

"Okay, Hannah, this is actually the last question: how did the previous question make you feel?" He looked up at me and quickly tensed.

"How do you think?" I snapped. "You knew perfectly well how that would make me feel. Didn't you listen to the tapes? Do you have any idea what I went through?" I was breathing heavily now. Pain radiated from both my hands where I had apparently been clenching my fists. Blood started to seep out of the small, nail-shaped indents in my palms.

Dr. Monotone looked at the anger I had cut into my palms and calmly got out some bandages for both my hands. He said nothing as he wrapped my hands carefully, giving me time to simmer down. There was an eternity of silence until finally I turned to him and asked, "why did you ask me that?"

He paused for a moment, admiring his bandaging skills, seeming as if he didn't even notice I had asked him a question. Sighing, he stood up and, taking his time, started walking towards the door. Before he opened it, he turned around and looked directly at me. His gaze was gentle, as if he was trying to comfort me with it.

"Because, Hannah, if you had said you had felt nothing, then I would have had to put you back in there, again."