Autism (Don't Define a Person)

Fifteen year old Madison Harper walked into her new high school, her stomach swirling with nervousness. With anyone else, that nervousness would have been mixed with excitement, but not her.

Madison was, you could say, the social outcast. No one ever wanted to be friends with her. People thought of her as weird and quiet. They looked at her like she was so kind of disease.

The reason for all this hate was: Madison had autism. Not just any old autism, Madison had non-verbal autism. That meant that Madison couldn’t or wouldn’t speak. She used sign language, gestures, and writing to get across what she wanted to say.

Shaking herself from her thoughts, she started her journey back to her locker. Before she got very far, she body-slammed into another person and fell backwards, landing backpack first on the tilted floor.

Luckily, she wasn’t hurt much, but the books she held in her hand went flying everywhere. The familiar heat rose up in her face as her ears caught wind of snickers behind her.

Biting down on her lip to keep from crying, Madison pushed herself up to her knees and started to pick up her books.

“Hey, you alright”, a kind voice asked.

Startled, Madison looked up and saw a boy of no more than seventeen years old holding out two of her books for her. The boy had a nice oval-shaped head and, on his chin, the first peeks of a beard were showing. His eyes were a beautiful shade of ocean blue and his mouth was tipped into a concerned frown.

Madison blushed at the look on his face and turned her thumb up-ward, giving him the “okay” signal.

The boy visibly relaxed and extended a hand to help her up.

“I’m Niklas…Niklas Kronwall. And who might you be,” he questioned, tilting his head as she snatched her books from his hand.

Madison swallowed hard and took his hand, pulling it close to her body and spelling out, in sign language: “I A-M M-A-D-I-S-O-N H-A-R-P-E-R.”

Niklas instantly understood what she was doing—after all, he was taking a sign language class—and smiled.

“Well, Madison, it’s nice to have you here. Are you new here?”

When the younger one nodded, Niklas continued.

“Not to be rude or anything, but…are you heard of hearing?”

Madison again shook her head and placed her fingers against his palm.

“N-O I A-M N-O-T H-A-R-D O-F H-E-A-R-I-N-G. I H-A-V-E T-O S-P-E-L-L B-E-C-A-U-S-E I C-A-N-T T-A-L-K.”

Before Niklas could reply to her comment, one of his best friends, Jason, made a noise of disgust.

Madison looked at him to see what the commotion was about and she went pale as a ghost. In Jason’s hand was the paper she was to present to her teacher explaining her situation.

“Stay away from her, Kronner. Really, stay away. She’s got non-verbal autism. It’s a sickness.”

Madison’s eyes filled with tears while Niklas gave him a dirty look and snatched the paper from him.

“First of all, Jason, you need to leave her alone. She didn’t do anything to you. Secondly, no, it’s not a sickness. It’s a learning difference. She learns differently than we do. And lastly, even if it was a sickness, I’d rather have that than your stupidity!”

As the kids went “ooh, burn” around them, Jason became angry. No, he was more than angry. He was enraged. There was no way some stupid girl was going to get in the way of his friendship with Niklas.

Clenching his fists, Jason rushed at Madison and gave her a hard shove, knocking her down on the floor and forcing her to lose her breath. He then proceeded to raise his foot and kick her in the side with a bruising force.

As Madison’s eyes filled with tears and she screamed in pain, Niklas gave Jason a hard punch in the
jaw.

“How DARE you hurt her!!! She did nothing to you, you scumbag. I hope you rot in a fiery furnace,” he snarled before gently picking Madison up in his arms and carrying her away.

Her cries of pain and the way she clung to him made Niklas feel sick to his stomach. He didn’t or couldn’t understand why Jason hurt her the way he did. Just because she was autistic? Why did that matter in any way to the grand scheme of things?

Sighing, he brought her into the nurse’s office and laid her down on the sheet-covered table. He wanted to make sure those ribs weren’t broken.

“Niklas? What happened,” Nurse Rajaniemi asked, coming into the room.

Madison whimpered and grabbed his arm with both hands with enough force to make Niklas wince.

Of course, being the gentleman that he was, Niklas ignored the pain and gave the nurse a head tilt.

“She was kicked in the ribs by another student and I wanted to make sure they weren’t broken.”

Nurse Rajaniemi shook her head and made her way to Madison’s side.

“I’m gonna need you to stay still for me, sweetie, so I look you over properly.”

Madison made a noise or two of pain but managed to stay still during the check-up; Niklas right there holding her hand. When it was finally done, the nurse looked up.

“Bruised but not broken,” was her diagnoses.

**Lunch Time**

Niklas was laughing as Madison grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the classroom.

“Slow down there, sweetheart. Lunch isn’t going anywhere.”

Madison stopped and gave him a large pout, batting her eyes.

Niklas smiled and ruffled her hair before taking her hand again. Her hand felt warm and small in his, but that didn’t matter of course.

Halfway to the cafeteria, Madison stopped in her tracks and tilted her head sideways. The sound of music was coming from one of the rooms on the left.

Niklas, feeling her stop, turned to look at her.

“What is it?”

Madison gave his hand another tug and led him towards the sound, following her ears. Her ears and feet found a large room—not as big as the cafeteria, of course—but still pretty big. Standing in the doorway was her former music teacher at her old high school, Ms. Diamond.

She looked up as the kids came in and smiled.

“Hi, Madison! Hello, Niklas.”

Madison gave a squeal, detached herself from Niklas and gave her former teacher a hug. The smile on her face was enough to light up the room.

Diamond hugged her back and then let her go, laughing quietly as she skipped over to the radio.

Then, the teacher went to Niklas and laid a hand on his arm.

“I can tell you like her. Thank you so much for taking care of her and helping her out. She doesn’t have very many friends as you can tell, so she’ll be attached at the hip with you for a long time. She loves coming in her so she can dance and not be made fun of. And, she loves being spun around. Will you do that for her?”

Niklas blushed at the praise and the question, but smiled and nodded.

“Yes, ma’am! I’ll take care of her.”

Diamond thanked him again, patted his shoulder, and left the room.

Niklas then entered the room and sat down in the chair close to the center of the room, where

Madison was standing. Suddenly, Superstition by Stevie Wonder came over the radio. It was then Madison started dancing—well, it was more like spinning—and Niklas’s grin grew.

Madison was so beautiful in that moment. Her curly blond hair flying around her like a cape, her blue eyes shining like stars in the sky, the smile on her face was the sunshine of the room.
Suddenly Madison came skipping up to him and held out her hand. She was inviting him to dance with her.

Niklas knew what she wanted, but he instead took her hand and kissed it.

The kiss was as soft as a whisper, but Madison’s face turned a deep shade of red, almost cherry red.

“W-I-L-L Y-O-U D-A-N-C-E W-I-T-H M-E N-I-K-L-A-S?”

Niklas stood up and led her to the center of the room again, her little hand still held tightly in his.

“I’d love nothing more than to dance with you, sweetheart,” he whispered into her ear before taking her hand and spinning her around.

Madison squealed with delight and her laughter filled the room. It was a clear, loud laugh that warmed Niklas’s heart. He hadn’t known her for long, but he was in love with her.

After a few minutes of spinning her in circles, Niklas spun her…right back into his chest.

Madison gasped a little at the contact of their bodies, but she quickly recovered and lifted her head to gaze at him.

Niklas smiled and, with a gentle hand, stroked the hair back from her face.

“Hi there, pretty girl,” he breathed, resting a hand on her cheek.

Madison’s face turned a flaming red and she looked down, but with ginger fingers, Niklas brought her face back up to look at him.

In her eyes, Niklas saw trust, innocent, admiration, and love. She trusted him to keep her safe, to befriend her, to care for her, to protect her. She was putting her faith in him. He had seen the longing in her eyes when Jason had insulted her: the longing for someone to see her as a human and not a disease. In that moment—and in this one—Niklas vowed to love, care, and protect her.

Slowly, he dropped his head down and pressed his lips against hers. He didn’t keep them there for long, only a few seconds, but it was enough to let Madison know he loved her.

“I love you, Madison, and I’m going to protect you. Forever and always.”

Madison pressed into his chest and spelled into his palm: “I L-O-V-E Y-O-U T-O-O.”

As he held her close, Niklas remembered his dad’s words when talking to him about autism: “Autism doesn’t define a person; the love in their heart does.”