Chatterbox: Inkwell

Hello everybody! Happy Autism Awareness Month!

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is NOT an April Fools joke. I wouldn't lie about stuff like this.

So anyways, I was thinking, what if we had a story gallery? Like, a place people can post stories, and others can post (nice) comments about them.

But here's the twist. Each story must feature at least ONE character with autism. The story doesn't have to be all about that one character's autism, but you can do that if you want to. Sound fun?

RULES:

-Be nice!

-Be appropriate (duh).

-As I've mentioned before, there must be at least one character with autism. You can add characters with other special needs if you like, too.

-I'd prefer the stories to be realistic fiction, but you can do any genre you like as long as it falls in the fiction category.

-Post as many stories as you like! The more the merrier!

Here's my story (if the formatting is all messed up, blame google docs):

~~~

Puzzle Pieces

Pierre peered over the top of his book at Eric. Eric was on the floor doing a puzzle, his gaze studying the piece in his hand, then looking back at the half-finished puzzle to see where it fit. Eric was exceptionally good at solving puzzles, even he preferred to do the same one over and over. Pierre could almost see the gears turning in his mind, his memory conjuring up images to help find the place for the puzzle piece.

A couple moments passed, and Eric gently fitted the piece into another. Pierre detected a faint smile playing at the corners of Eric's mouth, but as soon as it came, it flickered away. Eric then picked up another piece, and began to study the puzzle again. Pierre watched as Eric jammed the piece into another, but it didn't seem to fit. Eric grunted unhappily. 

Suddenly, a thought sprung into Pierre’s mind. What if Eric wasn't here? What if he wasn't in their home, doing this puzzle? Where would he be now?

“No fit. Bad piece.” Eric's frustrated words startled Pierre out of his thoughts. Eric tossed the piece out in front of him, then rested his arms in his lap. All was quiet for a few moments except the sound of Eric's ragged breathing, due to the fact that Eric had a hole in his face in place of a nose.

Pierre sighed. He loved Eric, but Eric could sometimes be… difficult. Pierre put his book down. It wasn't very interesting, anyways. Even if Eric struggled with many things, at times, he could be pretty interesting.

Eric was still staring straight ahead, his brown-black eye glazed over, an obvious sign, at least to Pierre, that he was thinking about something. “Eric,” Pierre questioned. “what're you thinking about?” 

“Puzzle.” Eric replied blankly.

“You're thinking about your puzzle?”

“No. Puzzle of the world.”

‘Puzzle of the world’? Pierre thought. What on earth could that mean? But he already knew.

“What do you mean, Eric?” Pierre asked, just in case he was wrong.

“World puzzling. Facial expressions, sarcasm, words. Hard to understand. Puzzle.”

Pierre thought about what Eric had said. Even though he already knew that Eric was autistic, but he never really imagined what the world was like through Eric’s eyes. Actually, his one eye. “What is the world like for you?” Pierre wondered aloud. “How is your life different?”

Eric didn't answer for the longest time. He continued to stare emotionlessly at his partly put-together puzzle, his eye glazed over. Finally, he reached over the puzzle for another piece. He held it over a cluster of assembled pieces, and after a few seconds of studying them, he pressed the piece in his hand into its rightful place.

After a little while, Pierre assumed that Eric wasn't going to answer him. After all, Eric could be a little sensitive when it came to talking about his autism. But before Pierre could pick up his book again, Eric spoke.

“No words in mind.” he murmured. “No words, only pictures.”

Pierre sighed in annoyance. He already knew Eric thought mostly in pictures, which was why language was difficult for him. Couldn't Eric tell him something else, another clue to unmasking his world?

But then again, Eric was probably wondering what Pierre’s world was like. Eric was probably wondering what it was like to be neurotypical. He probably felt as if he were an alien from another planet, isolated and oh so terribly alone.

Pierre knew what that felt like. He knew what it was like to feel like nobody understood you, and what it was like to be different. He knew what it was like to feel isolated and alone. But his case was so different from Eric’s. Their worlds were as different as words and pictures, and Pierre could communicate his thoughts and feelings easier than Eric. Pierre could understand body language, while Eric was confused by someone’s smile. Sometimes, as Pierre tried to fall asleep at night, he'd wonder why everything that was so simple him was so challenging for Eric.

Then Pierre started to think back to if Eric wasn't there. Where would he be? Somewhere where he could get the help he needed? Living with his biological father? Pierre didn't want to imagine a life where he had obeyed his parents’ wishes. He couldn't think about how lonely he would be without Eric. Then another thought came to him. What if Pierre had never met Eric? What if Eric's adoptive father had never adopted him? How would their lives be different?

Pierre knew how his life would be different. He knew that he'd still be uncomfortable in his own body, too afraid to tell anyone anything. He knew that he wouldn't be Pierre, and that life wouldn't be the way it was now. Sure there were some things he and Eric struggled with, but Pierre knew that his world, no, her world would be miserable.

And how would Eric's life be different? With no one to be his friend, Eric would've probably… Pierre shuddered. He didn't want to think about it.

Pierre emerged from his thoughts and resumed watching Eric solve his puzzle. The pieces began to click together, slowly assembling themselves into a whole. The process of Eric solving the puzzle reminded Pierre of his own life. Eric was one piece of his life, a single detail. Then came his family, his friends, and his home. Everything fit together to make Pierre whole.

This made him smile. Perhaps Eric was on top of things after all, whether he was aware of it or not.

~~~