Roses in Heaven

Chapter 17: Inside An Autistic Mind

I stood at the door for an hour, waiting for Grace to come back. She didn't.
I swallowed my pills as the one of the guys nudged my back.
"Hey, man. Don't let your Baconator get cold."
I closed my eyes for a second, then went to the table, and sat down. Dominic reached for the guacamole; Billy chewed at his fries, and Samuel and Sean shared the same McChicken sandwiches.
As I ate my burger, I still had the look Grace had on her face before she ran out of the house.
"It'll be okay, mate," comforted Dominic, his clean hand rubbing my back affectionately.
Sean added, "You'll be all right, Dave. Grace'll come back in no time."
"What if she doesn't?" I muttered.
"Don't think negative, man," Billy said.
"What hurts you makes you stronger," said Samuel. I buried my face in my hands, crying softly.
"I shouldn't have said that if she wanted a normal life, she should've asked her mom. She didn't even tell me that her mother was gone. God gave me two things: my ex is dead and the girl I love is with her sister."
I can hear Billy rubbing his chin while Dom whispered in Sean's ear.
"Hey, I've got an idea: why don't you try and get in Grace's shoes? Literally?"
"What do you mean by literally getting in her shoes?"
"I mean, put yourself in things that Grace loves," Billy answered.
"We have a whole list of what she likes," said Samuel.
"She likes plucking down feathers."
"Gnawing on chewable stuff."
"Listen to music."
"She likes night-swimming."
"Don't go to places that are loud"-
"Wa-Wait a minute, guys. When I first met Grace, you didn't tell me what she had before I found out about her autism."
They all looked at each other like meerkats and said in unison, "We wanted to surprise you."
"So be in an autistic person's mind, eh?"
The guys leaned in, waiting for my response.
I nodded once and said, "Thanks for the idea, guys."
"You're welcome," they said.

Sean gave me an old down jacket.
He also gave me a pair of tweezers to cut a slit in the sleeve and pull out the feathers. When I did, I caressed my skin with a large feather and they told me that Grace likes to bite off the pokey part of the down. I did that, then spit it out.
Honestly...it felt wickedly good.
After that, I went to Dollar Tree and bought myself a small, rubbery chewable.
When I tore off the wrap, I said, "Here goes nothing."
Hearing the squeak coming from the toy as I gnawed on it made some happy chemicals zoom through my body.