Neurodiverse

Episode 1: Number Boy

Waiting sucks but I waited for my dad that day. I was looking up at the bottom of the stairway in the basement. How did I get here? I was kicked down here of course, duh. Isn't that what happens to everyone else? I thought so but not after getting a nice beating from your father and having your own blood dripping from down the stairs and not being able to see because your eyes were bloodshot. What did I do to deserve this? I don't fucking know. My dad was a math teacher and he was great at his job. I loved him so much, he was such a good dad to me and treated my mom like she was the only woman in the world. They were together for a long ass time before I came along. I had nothing special about me and spent most of my days just trapped here in the basement. What happened was horrible though.

I am an orphan, well at least I was before my mom and dad took me in. They couldn't have children, I am seventeen and waiting for new opportunities in life. I was before I got depressed and my pops started using me as a personal punch bag. Mom died because the Flipped attacked. I was standing there, we had just finished shopping. Got my new game and was excited to get home and play it. She was being beaten to a pulp and I could hear her bones crack, this lady was strong and I think I knew her. She was my aunt and I didn't understand why she would do what she was doing. Mom was already dead by the time the first punch hit her and her head was smashed against the pavement. I ran as fast as I could, I never stopped running. That new game was left behind on the floor. I couldn't do anything, all I could do was run and being ten at the time didn't help at all. When I got home and opened the door dad was already there.

I looked at him and screamed about what happened. With his back turned and me basically hitting him as hard as I could, he turned around and he asked me what was wrong. Picking me up in his arms he saw the tears in my eyes. I told him what happened to mom and he looked at me as if I was crazy. "You've been playing more games than I thought my boy," he said, slightly grinning and I couldn't say another word because I kept playing back what just happened in my head. He sat me down on the chair and turned on the TV. Two hours later the police showed up at our door and told him what took place. It was then he believed it. While talking to the police he turned his head, looking at me with empty eyes. He closed the door after talking to the police and with tears running from his wide opened eyes he walked up the stairs. With those footsteps, along went my well composed, math teacher of a dad.

The next day came and the next and the one after that. He didn't come down, I didn't go to school and ate only cereal. Things happened and there we were one day. In a faceoff together, looking straight at each other, no words were said. He came straight at me and beat me to a pulp. I was there laying on the floor, bloody and untreated.

Thrown into the basement and that's how I got here. It was a long time since then and each day I was beaten. I wasn't alone, I was down here with a sea of knowledge. Dad was an asshole but he had all his math textbooks here, a giant library of math. I read it all cover to cover applying it on any paper I could find laying around. He opened the basement door and began his descent down the stairs. This time I was scared but I felt fairly confident that day. Crawled into my usual corner I looked at him. I was frail and weak but I reminded myself that it doesn't matter as long as I got the math on my side. I struggled to my feet, I had all the energy of a boy eating his pops scraps for god knows how long.

He didn't speak to me as usual and instead just opened his eyes widely in shock that I stood up. Drawing his arm back, locked and loaded like a gun he aimed and with all his might and was about to punch me into oblivion. Something was different this time. I could see it, math, all around me like some sort of code, it was surrounding his arm and everything else. Blood rushed to my head. It almost seemed like I knew what to do. Instinctively I moved out of the way. Obviously not what big guy was expecting so he swung again and again but for some reason was unable to hit me. It was like I was some sort of human calculator. I ran circles around him and grabbed a nearby unused piece of wood to smash his fucking head in. I was shocked just as much as he was. He came at me again, this time running. I saw it and simply stepped aside at the right time, seeing the right formula to avoid something like that. I hit him in the head again, this time with all the strength I could muster and run up the stair as quickly as humanly possible. I shut the door behind me and locked it. "How the fuck do you like it, daddy?" I shouted at the top of my lungs feeling proud of my achievement. Dropping to the floor I saw the kitchen "I am so fucking hungry for actual food it's insane!"

Walking over there was like a dream come true. Dad bashed against the door but I wasn't gonna leave any scraps for him. Looked for the cookbook and decided to make a chicken stew. I walked over to the couch with the plate in my hand and noticed something along the way. The digital clock was on the wall and it said the time and date. I realized I was seventeen and my birthday was long gone. Damn it! I wasn't even able to get a present! Sitting down on a soft couch and not the ground for the first time in seven years was great, Turned on the TV and nothing came on. Walking outside I noticed just how fucked up the world looked on the outside while I was gone. walking back inside, locked that door too and slept on the couch. What happened to the world? Is this what it looks like now? Cool! I can get out and explore like in my video games. My name is Zero and I get a chance to live my life for the first time.

Stepping outside all dramatically and in awesome mode, I tripped on a crack in the ground."Like WTF, they can't fix this shit! I am trying to be cool here".