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r?" Melinda was more surprised. "Mia has autism?" The doctor told Melinda very calmly but Melinda was still scared. "Is she going to die or something?" Melinda was exaggerating but she couldn't be blamed though. "No" the doctor held back her laughter. "Well it is a kind of disability that affects one's verbal and non-verbal communication. Common signs are the reliance on rules and routines, inability to have eye contact, delayed speech, being upset by minor changes and not understanding other people's emotions. There are other symptoms but these are the most common. However autistic people tend to use their brain more differently than normal human beings do, this makes many of them have extraordinary abilities'' the doctor tried her best to break things down in the simplest way. "Wow" Melinda took a huge breath, she was in utter shock. She couldn't figure out what shocked her the most, hearing about autism for the first time or the fact that Mia had Autism for the past 2 years she had spent with them and she had no clue whatsoever. Mia barely fell sick, but the explanation made Melinda to comprehend certain characteristics in Mia that she found strange. She remembered when a kid in the orphanage had used Mia's textbook and didn't return it at the exact spot Mia kept it. That made Mia look for it and she was very unsettled, it made her panic and freak out a lot, she behaved in a way a normal person wouldn't behave. "You can take her home in two hours" the doctor brought Melinda out of her thoughts. "Thank you doctor" Melinda stood up to take her leave while the doctor picked up one of the many files on her table. Melinda took a deep breath before she entered the room Mia was and found her awake. She sat beside her bed and there was an awkward silence "So.. you passed out" Melinda put her hands on her knee while she rocked on the chair which wasn't a rocking chair. "You will get hurt if you don't stop moving like that" Mia warned not taking her eyes off the ceiling. "Thanks" Melinda stopped moving at once. "So.. she also said you have autism Mia. Do you know what that means?" Melinda was saying things very slowly. "Yes, I have known about my disability since I was 3. I am ok with it" Mia hurriedly said, still fixing her gaze on the ceiling. "Ooh. But why didn't you tell anyone? Why did you decide to keep it to yourself?" Melinda was very curious as to why a child would want to hide such "No one is proud of having a disability" Mia looked at her for a second and turned away. "But yet everybody has one" Melinda began to stroke Mia's hair gently. "You don't, you are perfectly fine" Mia blinked severally. "No I am not. I get sad easily, that isn't normal. And if you go through everyone's life then something is definitely wrong with them in one way or the other. I don't want you to feel you are different or you don't belong with the rest okay" Melinda's voice was gradually cracking. Mia was silent again and Melinda couldn't help but cry. Mia turned to look at her and wondered