They call me Different.

My name is Keylin Andrews, and I love to read. How are you? I have a disease called Autism, so I get lots of books, and I read them. I love books. I can pretend I am anything I want to when I read them, so I read them all the time.

I didn't think i could write a book, and I thought that if I could, I wouldn't know what I would write about. But Cade says i can. he says I can be anything I want to be, so I believe him. Cade knows everything. How are you?

Cade is not where my story begins, though. it is much earlier than that. It is from when I was born, to now, but Cade is a big part of it. He makes me who I am, and when I am not with him, I feel different again. Feeling that way scares me, see? I felt it all my life, and now, I just want to be normal. How are you?

I was born in a place called West Point, but Mom and Dad never told me what state. They said I was too tired, or too hungry to know. I don't remember if I was. I can hardly remember anything, where they are concerned. I got angry at them for putting me in the Medical Lake facility for Mentally Ill patients, so I quit remembering. I think when I am older, and when I am better at understanding, I'll remember though. how are you?

Some people say I ask how they are too much. I think that is a good thing. How do you know what people are feeling, if you don't ask? Miss Stevensen says you can't have too much of a good thing, so I think I won't stop. I like to know how people are, because that way, I can understand them. How are you?

Miss Stevensen is kind. She is a nurse in our home for mental people. She doesn't call me stupid, like some of the people do, when they come. Some of the kids, who come on field trips, call me stupid, or glare at me. I don't know why, and when I asked someone, they threw gum at me, and it got stuck on my head. Miss Stevensen said some people are just ignorant, but I don't know what that means, really. How are you?

Have you ever been in a place you hate so very much, that it could burn to the ground, and you wouldn't care? I have. I don't think I belong here. People scream at night, and bang on their doors, and I think they want to get out, just like me. Once, I tried to help a little girl who hears voices when she sleeps, but I got put in a box room for thaat. I had to hug myself all day long. She isn't stupid or different, she's just scared. I'd be scared too, if I heard voices, i reckon. how are you?

In my mental home, there is an old man. His wife and daughter were murdered right in front of him. He sings lullabies to them every night, cause his little girl was only eight, and she loved them. I've listened to him every night, since I was three. That's how long I've been here, see? I like that old man. When I have a bad dream, which I do every single night, I wake up, and I pound on his wall. he wakes up, and he sings me to sleep again. I'll miss him, if I ever get out of here. how are you?

I suppose I should begin my story, stead of going off track, though. I can't help it. I can't concentrate, like normal people can. I want to, but I guess, I'm different there. Cade helps me, though. I miss him now. he makes me feel better, specially when we go swimming, or when we talk. he doesn't think I'm different, for asking how he is all the time. I'm glad. I think much of him, and Miss Stevensen said he can come to see me whenever he likes, or take me with him, if he brings my medicine. he does, too, and I love it. We go everywhere. how are you?

When my mother was pregnant with me, she took lots of medicines. I got sick, inside of her, and that's why i came out different. I have the disease, cause my mother liked her medicine. I don't, though. I never want that medicine. how are you?

I have two brothers. One is eighteen, and he is living near my home. he comes to see me often, but he has a girlfriend, so H can't come too much. His name is Petey, and he's a gangster. I don't know what them are, but since Petey's nice, that means that the rest of them are, I reckon. Lauren is my other brother. he is sixteen, and mom says he's a nymph. I don't know what that is, either, but Lauren's nice, so that makes nymphs nice too. How are you?

When I was three, mom says I was a major pain in the ass. i guess i would get lost, and everyone got tired of me asking how they were. So she put me in the mental ward, with the people who scream and bang on things. Some of them want to kill people, and some of them are here cause they had their way with someone, and got put here. Is having your way with someone a bad thing? how are you?

I like most of the people here, though. People like the old man, and the little girl make me feel better. The little girl calls me Uncle, and the old man calls me sonny. He says that means I am like his own boy. I like that. I don't know much about the little girl. her name is Sally Jean, and she has blonde curls and green eyes. She's small for her age, they say, but that's all right, cause she can get on my knee and bounce, that way. She's four. She likes Whinny the Pooh, and Minny mouse, and she says she wants to be a bird, so she can fly far away from the home. I want to be one, too, so I can go and see Cade. I like Cade. How are you?

The old man's name is Terry Stenzgar. he is sixty, I think. his hair is gray, and his eyes are blue, like Miss Stevenson's. he likes her, too. but Sally reminds him of his daughter, so it makes him cry sometimes, and that makes Sally very sad. She climbs on his knee, and pretends to be his daughter all the time, and then I know to call her Rachel for the day. Other times, she's just Sally, and we play house. I get to be the husband, but we don't do anything, cause i love Cade. Maybe, when he comes more, we can play house, too. I pretend, when i play, that Sally is my mother, or she's my little girl sometimes, and we go get candy. Miss Stevensen doesn't like it, but I think she's lying, cause she leaves us candy, and once, she left us a whole soda. I liked to share that with Sally. how are you?

Sally says she's going to grow up and drive away from here in a car. I want to go with her, and I will, cause Cade says i can do whatever i want. I want to go to see him, again. I like to. Sally wants to meet him, and I hope she can, someday. I think she'd like him very much. I do. I like him, cause I don't feel different. I like being normal, but then, I think that Terry and Sally are normal, too. How are you?

Terry says that when he gets out of this place, he wants to adopt a family in Iraq. I think he can. i think it's a good idea. Terry would be a good daddy. Sometimes, I imagine he's my own daddy, or my grandpa, and I cry myself asleep. I never knew my grandpa. Mom and Dad said that was cause I am too different, and I'd drive him into a heart a attack, or give him a stroke. I don't know what to think of that. how are you?

I think, if I could choose a family, Sally would be my daughter, and Terry would be my father. Miss Stevensen would be my mother, and as for others, I want to place them as I get to them. Miss Stevensen is pretty, though, and she's what i always imagined my mom to be. i think, I'd love my parents, if they loved me, but since they don't, I have to be here. I have to be trapped in the medical lake medical Home, and when I die, only three people will know. Cade will. I made Miss Stevensen promise she'll tell him. Sally and Terry will, but that's cause they live with me, and the said they'd know. i believe them, as much as i do Cade. How are you?