Chapter One

"You little bastard! You realize it was your fault your team lost!"

"Luc, calm down!"

"No! My son is supposed to be a star athlete, yet he didn't make a single goal! Not one!"

The little blonde watching was sure the explosive fights that always raged between his parents were his fault. Every time something came out of his mouth, his father would yell at him or his mother. The boy was adamant that if he stopped talking, all the family's troubles would dissipate.

He walked over to his mother and tugged on her sleeve. "Mommy?"

"Yes, Cloud?"

"I… I don't feel so good…"

Mrs. Strife looked down in time to see Cloud topple over, his eyes rolling back into his head. She screamed and looked at Luc. "Call an ambulance!"

"No."

"What?"

"No. It's God's punishment on him for being bad."

"Luc!"

"No."

The woman stood up, tears streaming down her face. "I hate you. When Cloud is out of the hospital, we're getting a divorce."

"Fine by me. Whore."

The woman strained to pick up Cloud, and when she finally did, she fled the house, still crying. She flagged down a cab and got into it, clutching her son's limp body. Through her tears, she managed to gasp, "Hospital, please."

"Geez, lady, are you okay?"

"Yes. There's something wrong with my son, though."

"Oh, damn. This ride'll be free."

"Thank you, sir. There really are kind people left."

The taxi screeched off into the dank and oppressing fog that was coating the city in a sinister frosting.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

The doctor adjusted his glasses, peering down at his clipboard. "Well, he seems to be okay now. He's sitting up, but he's just staring off into space. He won't speak to any of us, and when we tried to make eye contact with him, he would jerk his head away forcefully…"

"So…?"

"Cari, I'm sorry…"

Cloud's mother brought a hand to her mouth. "What does it mean? Brain damage?"

"No. We have reason to believe Cloud is autistic. He wasn't born this way; something forced him into it. Has he been showing any unusual symptoms, such as being so focused on one activity that he totally forgets about another, or not speaking to anyone for long periods of time, even people he's extremely close to?"

Cari's mind flashed back to that afternoon, when Cloud had been in a soccer game. He was usually the strongest player on the team, but he had seemed so focused on his footwork that he had completely missed the goal. Afterwards, he wouldn't speak to anyone and just sat in the car, staring at the ceiling.

She started crying. "Oh my god… Doctor, he has been acting like that."

"I'm so sorry, Cari… He may not be able to speak again… When he collapsed, he was having a minor seizure… He shut down that part of his brain. He may be able to speak again, but only with intensive training and a huge amount of luck. We sent a nurse in earlier with a pad of paper and a pen to see what was wrong. He thinks it's his fault you and Luc are breaking up."

"So… So this is my fault?"

The doctor looked nervous about what the results would be. "Um… Partly…"

"Oh god… I'm going to be sick…" She ran into the bathroom and a few seconds later, the sounds of retching issued.