[PATTERN_BREAK]

[SEQUENCE INTERRUPTED] He couldn't see past it. [ATTEMPTING TO BYPASS ROUTE] No. No, the pattern couldn't be broken. It couldn't be. [BYPASS UNSUCCESSFUL. SHUT-DOWN ACTIVATED] His mind went blank...

"Rob?"

[SEQUENCE_INTERRUPTED: ATTEMPTING_TO_BYPASS_ROUTE]

He didn't hear it. It wasn't that he was ignoring them. No, it wasn't on purpose. He had to finish the paragraph. He /had/ to. It was two more sentences. The Speaker could wait.

[ROUTE_BYPASS_STATUS: SUCCESSFUL. SEQUENCE_RE-INITIATED]

"Robert?"

[SEQUENCE_INTERRUPTED: ATTEMPTING_TO_BYPASS_ROUTE]

End of the paragraph. He could look away, now that it was done.

[BYPASS_STATUS: RE-DIRECTED]

Robert looked up at the Speaker. "Yes, Mrs. Mitchell?"

"There is a call for you in the office, Robert. Go ahead and go down," she said softly.

He blinked, letting the information process.

[INCOMING_DATA_STATUS: PROCESSING] He was in Mrs. Mitchell's third hour English class. [INCOMING_DATA_STATUS: 10%] It was Monday, which meant his mother would be home at four-forty and his father would be home at seven-twelve. [INCOMING_DATA_STATUS: 38%] He was reading a book that he had been told to read. [INCOMING_DATA_STATUS: 45%] The door was opened three-quarters of the way, an the window was closed. [INCOMING_DATA_STATUS: 56%] He was seated in the last seat of the third row. [INCOMING_DATA_STATUS: 79%] His blue backpack was beneath his chair, handle facing the whiteboard, and his Bic mechanical pencil was inside the metal hoops of his blue spiral notebook. [INCOMING_DATA_STATUS: 90%] There was a deviation in his pattern being presented in an authoritative way. [INCOMING_DATA_STATUS: PROCESSING_COMPLETED]

"What?"

Mrs. Mitchell huffed. "A phone call? It's from your dad."

[INCOMING_DATA: FATHER_ON_PHONE. BYPASS? (Y/N)]

Rob blinked. "Do I have to go downstairs?"

Mrs. Mitchell shot him one of her most long-suffering looks. "Yes, Robert. Go downstairs."

[DIRECT_COMMAND: OVERRIDE? (Y/N)]

[Y]

"Fine," he grumbled, putting his things away in order. Blue notebook first, then his book before zipping up the big pocket. He opened the smaller pouch and carefully laid his pencil inside horizontally. As he left the room, he muttered to himself about nuisances. It wasn't until he pushed past the office doors that he quit griping.

A friendly Receptionist beamed at him over the counter. "Hello. Can I help you, dear?"

He blinked. [DIRECT_QUESTION: FORMULATING_RESPONSE]

"Mrs. Mitchell said I had a phone call."

The Receptionist's smile stayed fixed. "All right! What's your name, sweetheart?"

[DIRECT_QUESTION: FORMULATING_RESPONSE]

"Robert Spencer."

The Receptionist pressed a button and offered the receiver. "There you are!"

Rob took it. "Hello?"

"Robbie? It's me," his dad gasped. He was breathing heavily into his phone as he spoke. "I'm coming to get you, okay?"

[ERROR! SEQUENCE_THREATENED]

Rob panicked. "Why?" This was /not/ okay. "I have school."

"Your mother is dead. I'm so sorry, Robbie--"

[WARNING! SEQUENCE_FAILURE!] He couldn't see past it. "What?"

"It's all my fault," his dad moaned, his breathing breaking into shuddery sobs.

No. No, the pattern couldn't be broken. It /couldn't/ be. "But... but Mom always gets home at four-forty."

[ATTEMPTING_TO_BYPASS_FAILED_SEQUENCE]

His dad burst into gut-wrenching sobs, blubbering incoherently into into the receiver. All Robert was able to pick out was a string of apologies, interspersed with snippets of other words. /Dads don't cry. Dads CAN'T cry!/

[BYPASS_UNSUCCESSFUL. SHUT-DOWN_ACTIVATED] His mind went blank. All motion halted withing his skull.

[RE-BOOT_INITIATED. ACCESSING_SEQUENCES]

Robert felt his mind re-connect several minutes later. He was in an office. Unattended. A cup in front of him. /Not mine./ He leaned back, letting his mind rebuild itself.

[SEQUENCE_INTERRUPTION_REFILED: SEQUENCE_RE-INITIATED]

Author's Note

Drabbles about fictional people with asperger syndrome. For now, it's just a get-it-out-of-my-head thing, but I'll go back and expand when I have time and motivation. ^_^;

Reviews

[Ufi Auttorri ~ Amy C. T..]

I've never read anything quite like it. Really. I think you're on to something here, Emma. I see what you mean about the 'computer' writing. As an experiment, you might try rewriting it without the blocks and computeresque punch-prose. I'm hearing the voice of the ship's computer in the early Star Trek series or maybe Robbie The Robot from Lost in Space. Is that what you intended? It might be possible to give the reader the flavor of what might be going on inside the mind of a person with asperger syndrome and yet do it in a more human way using the omniscient narrator or some other device that works in the readers mind without the jarring breaks in the pavement, so to speak. This character would be difficult to follow for very long if we had to open their head and peek in side continually. But, as character development, I think it's off to a great start!

[Emma Lee-Riviera]

I just had to get it out of my head, I don't think I'm going to write much more of it... At least, not in this format. It was supposed to be kind of drabble-ish. ^_^;;

Oh, I see what you mean. It does look a little too inhuman, doesn't it? Maybe I'll try it again without the underscores and all the uppercasing. :)

Thanks for the review! :D Very enlightening, as always. ^_^/

[Elena Covaci]

Something truly unique and inspiring is happening here...I'm not sure if I fully understand it but I enjoy it a lot! Good work

[JL Harrington]

This is very engaging and I find myself wanting to see where this goes. I actually quite like the mechanical format.