A Day in the Life

A girl goes through a typical morning with her high-functioning autistic brother.

7:31

Blink once… Blink twice.

7:31

7:31? Are you kidding me? I went to bed at twelve! I probably fell asleep around twelve thirty. Why the hell am I up so early?

I roll over and close my eyes.

Tanya.

Hmm… who?

“Tanya,” there are a few sharp knocks on the door to accompany the muffled baritone recitation of my name.

I grunt my reply to let the voice know I can hear it, unsure if the sound actually formed a word or not.

“Do you want to get up now so I can train you more to beat Brian?”

Oh, now the voice has a name. Jordan. That makes sense, he always gets up early. Well, early in my book anyway.

I glance over at my digital alarm clock, glowing red numbers glaring at me in defiance.

8:40

Yuck! Weekends were made for people to sleep in. Nevertheless…

“I’ll be up in twenty,” I breathe out through a yawn, shutting my eyes once again. It’s unfortunately already plenty bright outside and because of the damn skylight my room is already flooded with hair-bleaching, skin-burning solar rays; so instead of black, the insides of my eyelids are fire-engine red.

“Ok,” is his only reply. Well, that and the sound of Mario shooting off a fireball.

“Jordan?” another voice, oh joy. This time it belongs to a woman, “Jordan, you should turn that down so your sister can sleep.”

“No, she is getting up soon to play with me,” comes his parry. I can just picture it: my stepmother looking straight at Jordan, competing against a video game for his attention as he blows her off with his answer without so much as a sideways glance her way.

I’m not sure if she says anything in rebuttal, but when I hear the door shut softly I begin to untangle myself from my fuzzy red blanket. I quickly change into a comfortable shirt and pair of pants, giving myself a once over in the mirror. Once I am convinced I don’t look like death warmed over, frozen, and then reheated again I open up the door.

 I am greeted by the excited sounds of “Super Smash Brothers: Brawl” and look over at my brother, dressed in the dirty clothes he had been wearing since yesterday morning. His light brown hair was uncombed and his sky blue eyes were trained on the tiny, six inch screen he had the Wii hooked up to. He heard me come in, but his eyes never lost focus.

I walk over to the ugly blue and white couch that seems to swallow up any item that has the misfortune of being set on it and plop down next to him, directing my eyes at the television screen, my mind somewhere else as he finished up his match. His smell caught my attention. Lord knows I love the kid, but I really don’t love the way he smells. It is strange because I think he developed the combination of dirt plus B.O. plus I-don’t-know-what-else odor a couple of years ago when he refused to bathe for two weeks. Ick! Nobody wanted to be in the same room with him during that phase. Ever since then the smell seems to be permanent, regardless of how much better he is with hygiene nowadays. It tends to sink into his clothes, pillows and blankets too, the poor kid. Oh well, he’s my brother, and he is what he is.

I snap out of my daydream and go to poke him in the side, “C’mon, dude, I have to train! I don’t want Brian to beat me.”

He looks away from the screen for the first time this morning and grins at me, handing over the old, purple GameCube controller he knows I prefer.

“Alright, last time I beat you like, a bazillion times with Sonic, so if you want to beat him then you’ll have to defeat me.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” I reply. He doesn’t have to remind me. That damned ridiculous blue hedgehog is too fast for my preferred character. It’d help if we knew who Brian played as the most so we didn’t have to go through every single character.

“Sonic!” I hear the ecstatic announcer’s voice yell. Jordan chose the bane of my existence yet again.

“Zelda!” the announcer exclaims as I select my weapon of choice.

One match…

Four matches…

Fifteen matches lost against that stupid blue mammal!

Jordan is laughing at me, “Come on, Tawnie, it’s not that hard!”

Yes, it is. Wait…

Punch, dodge, punch, dodge.

“S**t!” Jordan’s voice.

Knock that stupid blue animal in his stupid red running shoes off the platform.

“F**k!” Jordan’s voice sounds again.

“The winner is - Zelda!”

Finally. Jordan looks annoyed though. Isn’t the point of this whole training session so that I can win without him going easy on me?

“Ok, well, you only beat me once.”

“I know bro, but let’s move on.”

He looks reluctant, but this isn’t so that he can throttle me a thousand times and get a fat head. It’s so I can beat my crush at a game he probably plays a hell of a lot more than I do.

Ness - beaten!

Pokémon Trainer - beaten!

Donkey Kong - beaten!

Mario - beaten!

“Falco!” the announcer shouts. I don’t really know this character.

The Star Fox theme song comes on. Damn, this is a fast one too. He unlocks his special move. Falco’s voice rings out as a giant tanks falls out of the sky to pummel Zelda, “I like you better dead!”

“I like you better dead,” Jordan parrots as his character obliterates mine.

Zelda - beaten!

Jeez, my thumbs are sore, but I want to beat this guy.

Another match.

“I like you better dead,” Jordan’s voice, “I like you better dead!”

Oh boy, he’s stuck in a loop again.

“I like you better dead! I like you better dead! I like you better dead! I like you bet-”

“Dude, STOP!” I explode. I’ve been told that I am the only person who can yell at Jordan without him completely flipping his lid. He gets scared when I yell, or so my mom claims.

“Sorry Tanya, I guess I am getting a little anxious.”

I just wish he could sense my aggravation before I boil over. I really hate shouting at him.

“It’s cool,” I reply.

“Kids.” Hm, a voice we haven’t heard yet today.

“Yeah, dad?”

“Time to stop playing, we have to make breakfast,” my father pokes his head through the doorway.

“Ok,” I reply.

As soon as my dad walks out Jordan begins to set up another match.

“Bro, we have to go make breakfast.”

He hesitates before shutting off the game. Hopefully we’ll be able to get through the whole day without him throwing a tantrum. So far so good.

 

Author's Note

I wrote this in high school as part of my senior project on autism. The goal was to give people a subtle idea of how life is when growing up with a sibling with autism. I edited it down a bit recently, but I am open to suggestions on how to make it better. Constructive criticism is welcome.

I have just been informed that this story will be published in the Larcenist's fourth issue. Very exciting, this is the first time I have been published.

Reviews

[JordanIsaacSmith]

Fantastic piece of writing and great story. I'd have organised the sentence structure a little differently, but that's just me! I like a fairly complex sentence structure. There are a few grammar mistakes and a couple of spelling mistakes that I noticed. Other than that keep up the great work.

[Ashira Macy]

Thank you for your honest review Jordan, I am so happy you liked it.

[Shapirta]

if her brother is autistic, i think you should try to make it more clear that he is, but other than that, great story! it was really descriptive!

[Ashira Macy]

Thanks hun. This is actually a scene straight out of my life. My little brother is autistic. Still one of the smartest kids I know, but there are subtle things. I will revisit it and see if there is anything I can add. =)

[Shapirta]

thats so sad. was he, like autistic autistic? or just aspergers?

[John Preston]

I can't improve story.
Is it fact.
Very well done on getting it published.
I know how you feel
I'm having a poem published
in a children's poetry book. I'll have my copy's end of October.
Can't wait.

[Ashira Macy]

Thank you John, and congratulations on your publication, it is such a wonderful feeling, isn't it?

[Sophy Freebirds]

Okay girl! ! Congratulations and celebrations!! ;) i am gonna recite that as an autism patient.. As this is gonna be published i will say hell no suggestions.. but you could add some part of sight disorder- they have sensitive vision for bright colours.You have done it right with the speech part.Jordan aping the same lines continuosly.. so you can do a thing or two with the video game colour or colour of the couch.. :)★hugs★

~Sophy

[Ashira Macy]

Thank you so much darling, I am so happy you enjoyed it. My brother is autistic and never had issues with colors before, though he used to freak out about loud noises like fireworks. This was based on day to day interaction with him. What is so amazing about the autism spectrum is just how versatile it is. There is always more we can learn. Thank you for reading this dear!

[Sophy Freebirds]

Yea.. you are welcome sweetie.Yes there are a plethora of problems regarding this..★wishes for your brother dear★ :)

[Ashira Macy]

Thanks so much hun. He is brilliant, so he will be ok. =)

[Sophy Freebirds]

:) o yea.. lucky lad!

[Sophy Freebirds]

:) o yea.. lucky lad!

[Nusquam Esse]

This is not at all traditional fiction; it is an excellent depiction of what it is like to live with someone who lacks social tact or understanding. I don't really see anything to be improved on except to read this aloud a few times, and see if you can get the syntax and choppy sentences to flow a bit better... but with a theme like this, it isn't really necessary. Thanks for sharing this, I found it interesting and insightful. Let me know when you put up any more stories. I think the mature tag isn't necessary; I would say that 'teen' is more appropriate. Swearing a couple times isn't enough to make this mature in my opinion. I mean, if there is actual dirty language, or cursing on every line, I think that is one thing...

[Ashira Macy]

Thank you so much, I am glad that you enjoyed it and I will take the mature rating off of it. I just like to be careful in case anyone is sensitive about language. You are correct, it is kind of in its own little category of fiction. I guess it is sort of classified as prose as well though I will be honest in saying that I don't really know all that much about prose.

[Jack Wolfe]

Again, Congrats on the publication, sorry it took me so long, got distracted by fireflies. . .

I would offer a few suggestions, but seeing as this is going to be published it's probably already copy-set. I liked it, and being somewhat of a gamer myself I could relate. Not to mention, you brought up games I haven't played in a very long time.

Thanks for the entertaining read.

[Ashira Macy]

Thank you Jack! I am glad you were able to relate to this, Super Smash Bros is one of my favorite games to play, so it was a lot of fun to write about.

[uNmAsKeD-dEluSiOns]

You have a way of spreading out your writing that keeps the reader curious and interested on what's coming next. Sad yet moving piece that tells a good story. I'm impressed this was part of your senior project- great job!

[Ashira Macy]

Thanks much Unmasked, that is good to hear. I am glad you enjoyed it. =)

[raj24]

i enjoyed it...fight with siblings for a video match n thn beating each other match after match,...i loved the whole plot...i liked the moments of smile..when tanya beats jordon in the game and when jordon keep his eyes of the game..thanks for sharing..n i hope u got great marks in the project too..:)

Raj

[Ashira Macy]

Thanks so much for reading this one Raj! And thank you, I did very well on that project. =)

[Lady Glitter]

Your dialogue is very well-formatted, with a change in speaker starting a new paragraph. Makes it so much easier to read. This non-fiction story is so very poignant that it wrings my heart, especially the last several lines, starting with this one, "...“I like you better dead,” Jordan parrots as his character obliterates mine...." When we care for and love someone, we sacrifice, which is what you did when you played with him with sore thumbs. Sure you wanted to beat him, but that means that you treated him as a worthy opponent, which added value to his life. And how emotionally wrenching to have to yell at him. But I think it strengthened him, because your love and care was always there.

I like the way that you laid out this line, "...“I like you better dead,” Jordan’s voice, “I like you better dead!” You clipped it to "Jordan's voice," rather than Jordan said, Jordan repeated, etc. Good writing is to write like people think, especially with dialogue. We think in short, clipped fragments.

[Ashira Macy]

Thank you for taking the time to read this one my dear, for me my stories usually get less attention than my poetry which is fine, but I love the feedback on both. I agree that the ending is where you really see his behavior come out, instead of it being in my memory or thought process. And thank you, I like writing in the way that we think. I feel it brings the reader closer to the narrative. =)

[Glen Yumang Manese]

Its a sound narrative as I read it...I could only fathom what's its like to grow up with someone with Autism...my sister is Bipolar and we dealt with her progression...and wrote a verse for her and was published at Banana Writers...as for some areas...I did see places where the grammar can be tweaked:

“Tanya,” there are a few sharp knocks on the door to accompany the muffled baritone recitation of my name.
I grunt my reply to let the voice know I can hear it, unsure if the sound actually formed a word or not.
“Do you want to get up now so I can train you more to beat Brian?”

---

“Tanya,” A few sharp knocks on the door to accompany the muffled baritone recitation of my name.
I grunt my reply to let the voice know I can hear it, unsure if the sound actually formed a word or not.
“Do you want to get up now so I can train you on how to beat Brian?”

---

“Ok,” is his only reply. Well, that and the sound of Mario shooting off a fireball.
“Jordan?” another voice, oh joy. This time it belongs to a woman, “Jordan, you should turn that down so your
---
“Ok,” his only reply and the sound of Mario shooting off a fireball.
“Jordan?” another voice, oh joy. This time it belongs to a woman, “Jordan, turn that down so your
---
its minor here and there...but gives the read more --- if you look at your work...they come out --- just read over this a few times...and you'll see them...

[Ashira Macy]

Thank you again Glen, I appreciate the editing advice. I will read through it a few times when time permits and tweak things here and there.

[Glen Yumang Manese]

I could of done a full edit...but I believe you have what it takes to finish the job...with this one...

[Ashira Macy]

I wouldn't ask you to, that'd be too much. =P

[Glen Yumang Manese]

There is another writer here --- I read -- he did a piece on Autism also...he plays out the character as an Autistic person...really good read...I have to remember his name...

[Ashira Macy]

I'd love to take a look at that. I am always trying to understand more about the spectrum.