Change My Mind (Liam Payne Fiction)

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The white blanket from the month of March had melted, taking the last traces of winter with it, and spring was now in full swing, with the meadows already sprinkled with flowers.  But Aria Byrne was not enjoying the evergreens that scented the air with their new growth, because she had been running on less than 5 hours of sleep that March morning. 

She looked down at herself and gave a huge sigh, more out of frustration than exhaustion.  Her brand-new muck boots were already dirty; her shirt looked like a Jackson Pollock painting, if he painted with grime; and she could feel strands of her chestnut hair pulling out of the ponytail she so carefully fixed earlier that morning.  She went to bed after midnight, putting finishing touches on her History report on The 1950s:  Emergence of the Modern Civil Rights Movement, and had been up since 4:30am doing ranch chores. 

She stifled another yawn, sort of believing that doing so would reduce her sleepiness, and then scooped up a small load of hay, straw, and horse droppings.  She tossed the load against the wall of the stall the way her grandfather showed her years ago, and the horse droppings fell to the bottom.  Then she scooped them up and tossed them into a wheelbarrow. 

“That’s it,” Aria said approvingly, as she scooped and tossed, making a neat square near the door of the stall.  “One more and I’m outta here.” 

She was removing the soiled straw from the middle when her phone vibrated.  She took her gloves off and fished the phone out of her pocket, smiling because only 2 people could possibly call her at 6:45 in the morning:  her next-door neighbor and best friend Bruce Edwards, when their old and grumpy bull Barnaby escapes, and he wants to know if it had wandered to her neck of the woods; and her other best friend, Betty Lou Stevens, when she doesn’t want to talk to herself over a movie she’d seen before going to bed, or that humongous zit that appeared on her nose the night before a big date.

But the smile died on Aria’s lips as she glanced at the screen indicating that it was the East Haddam Fire Department calling.  Her legs felt heavy like lead, and she had to sit down at the edge of the wheelbarrow to ready herself for what she was about to hear.  She pressed the phone’s green button, but didn’t say anything; she just waited for somebody to speak. 

“Good morning, Aria.  Deputy Fire Chief Kevin Boynton here.” The voice on the other end of the line was familiar.  “We’re calling about your brother Max,” he informed her, as if she didn’t already know. 

Aria looked up to stop the tears that were pooling in her eyes from falling, and let out a huge exhale.  “I’ll be right there, Chief.”  And with that, she dropped the long steel-tipped rake she was still holding, and raced out of the barn. 

It took Aria almost fifteen minutes to get to the town’s water tower because she had to leave a note telling their grandparents where she was going, and by the time she was able to maneuver her truck to park as close to the tower as possible, people have already started gathering.  She ignored their pitying looks and shaking heads, and ran to where Chief Boynton was standing.  When she reached him, he just glanced upwards to where Max was perched, almost near the top of the water tower.  She said a silent prayer of thanks that it was not raining, when Max could easily slip, fall and injure himself climbing the tower. 

Feeling as if her heartbeat stopped and accelerated four times over at the same time, Aria started calling to Max using her singsong voice that he loved so much.  “Max,” she called gently.  “Why don’t you come down here so we can go home and play Wii?  We can play Just Dance and do your favorite song.” 

But Max looked like he heard nothing.  The painfully familiar blank stare was on his face and he was looking ahead, as if trying to see what lies beyond what his sight can reach. 

Taking a deep breath, Aria started singing softly, “Do you ever feel like a plastic bag?”  Singing in front of other people was one of the things Aria hated the most, but she would do anything for Max.  “Drifting through the wind, wanting to start again?”

“Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin,” she continued.  “Like a house of cards, one blow from caving in?”  Her voice almost broke as she was hit with the realization that the truth behind the song’s lyrics related directly to how she felt at the moment. 

“You just gotta ignite the light, and let it shine,” Aria sang a little louder this time.  She concentrated on her brother, and tried to ignore the stares from her peripheral vision.  “Just own the night like the 4th of July.”

“’Cause baby you’re a firework…”  Upon hearing the part of the song that was the most familiar to him, Max’s head turned to where Aria was singing, and a smile appeared on his face.

“Aria!”  He called out her name, clapping like a 2-year old seeing a magician pull out a rabbit out of a hat.  “Aria!  I come down!”

“Okay!  I’ll be here waiting!”  She hasn’t fully breathed out her sigh of relief, when Chief Boynton appeared on her side. 

“That’s the second time this month, Aria.”  He said matter-of-factly, as if the thought hadn’t haunted Aria and kept her up at night.  “You know I’m going to have to report him to Child Services the next time he does this, right?”

“Yes, we know,” she answered, not really looking at him.  She didn’t want to deal with that at the moment.  Right now, she just wanted her brother to come down safely so he can run to her, and she can put her arms around him and take him home.  She shrugged and started walking to where the sheriff was talking to his brother.  “I’m sorry for your trouble.”

********

The drive home was anticlimactic and Aria welcomed it.  She gave her phone to Max, knowing that he was going to play Angry Birds, although she’s certain he doesn’t understand the mechanics of it.  While stopped at a red light, Aria glanced over to her brother who was laughing softly over aimlessly firing the birds. 

Max is autistic.  When he was 2 and Aria was 8, she didn’t understand why he wouldn’t look at or talk to her.  He would often stare into space, and would not respond to his name.  When their parents put him on the floor to play, he would usually just repeatedly rock, flap his hands, or spin.  He didn’t play his toys the way they were meant to be played with.  Instead, he lined them all up, and would throw a fit if it got changed even in the slightest way. 

When he was 3, he was diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS).  Their parents explained to Aria that they called it that because Max exhibited certain autistic qualities, but did not fully meet the criteria of a specific type of autism.  It was difficult for Aria to wrap her head around the idea of her brother being different, but she loved him with all her heart, and she knew he was special.