14 Comments
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Jack Williams's avatar

I enjoyed the short story. Well worth the read. Thanks for sharing.

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Scott Roche - he/him's avatar

Thanks, Jack!

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EJ Trask's avatar

great story! love these characters

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Ezra Mendoza's avatar

This is awesome!

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Scott Roche - he/him's avatar

Thanks, Ezra!

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Victor Jimenez's avatar

Very good. Built it up really well.

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Scott Roche - he/him's avatar

Thank you, Victor!

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C. Lee McKenzie's avatar

Beautifully tense, Scott. I couldn't stop until I knew Pauly and his dad were safe. As scary as it was, it still had a genuine warmth.

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Scott Roche - he/him's avatar

Thanks you! I tried to infuse as much of my own feelings as I child into the dad.

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Julie Atwood's avatar

Ooh, this is really good! My son is on the Autism spectrum as well, and I know each kid is an individual, but man can I relate to the toys (now action figures and "collectibles") lined up up on the shelves in very specific ways.

I like to think Autism and ADHD are the brain's way of adapting/evolving, and I this story is a very cool(and kinda scary) way of showing how an autistic person's brain could be more advanced. I love it.

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Scott Roche - he/him's avatar

Julie - I'm glad it resonated with you. My young man has different interests now that he's grown, but he's still got that sweet boy at his core.

And I agree about the story being scary. It's one of the few stories I've ever written that scared me as I wrote it.

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Julie Atwood's avatar

Mine is 28 and in his own place, so the interests have changed, but the habits are still very similar. And as someone who failed at quitting smoking many times, I can't really judge his habits.

It IS scary, but in the best way. 🙂

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Chris White's avatar

Great read. We have close friends, parents of an autistic child we’ve watched growing up over a decade now. Had dinner with them last night. I saw so many parallels with their experiences. As another poster stated; beautifully tense, but there’s a sweetness in the father-son relationship that’s uniquely identifiable and authentic. Well done.

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Scott Roche - he/him's avatar

Thanks! All three of my kids are on the spectrum as, I believe, am I. Paul in this story is loosely based on my son Killian. His sweetness and fascination with webs and doors is straight from my son's behavior. Bill's exhaustion is my exhaustion, though I was never a single dad, thank the lord.

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