Learning Your Language: A Neurodivergent He Falls First Short Story

His college psychology professor looked over his test results and asked kindly, “You are feeling okay most of the time, right?” The professor stared deep into his eyes to make sure he answered honestly.

“I guess so. Nothing strange is happening with me,” Vikentiy replied.

He had this conversation with his college professor in Ukraine, right as Vikentiy was graduating from college. It was his final exam for a psychology class. His favorite professor, who taught him all about human behavior, looked completely shocked by Vikentiy’s personality test results.

“Vikentiy, don’t get me wrong,” the professor said. “But your test shows a lot of repeating patterns. Do you ever get stuck with thoughts that bother you all the time? Or do you frequently find yourself doing something repetitively as if you were inside some kind of a vicious cycle? That…” The professor stopped. He looked at Vikentiy, who was just smiling innocently. He forced himself not to say anything except, “You can go now. Good job.”

As soon as Vikentiy left the room, the professor sighed heavily, “You will find out about it soon enough,” he muttered. “But for now, go and enjoy your life.”

***

The wild deer lay in the damp grass, her breath rising like smoke in the chilly morning air. She tried hard to lift her heavy body, pushing down against the dirt with all the strength she had left. But her trembling legs gave out almost immediately, shaking under the weight. With a soft sigh, she fell back into the fallen leaves, her wide, dark eyes filled with a quiet sadness as she realized she was simply too weak to stand up anymore. But she attempted to stand up again. And again.

A crowd of people stood around her, holding up their glowing iPhones to film her struggle. She could feel the cold stare of all those camera lenses pointed right at her face. A sudden wave of fear gave her a quick burst of energy. She desperately wanted to force her weak legs to stand up, look past the screens, and find just one person who would stop filming and give her the help she needed.

The caption right under the video explained the tragic situation. It read: “This deer lay on the ground without water at a hotel in Bukovel, a busy tourist area in Western Ukraine. She was left there for several days. Instead of helping, the hotel owners decided she was going to die anyway, so they just abandoned her. They left her completely alone without any medical care or water.”

The deer was kept at a hotel in Bukovel, a famous tourist town in Ukraine. She lived in a “touching zoo” so visitors could pet her. When she was healthy, tourists loved to pet her and take pictures with her. But when she got sick, everything changed. Nobody bothered to call a vet to help her. Nobody even bothered to give her water during her final days on this earth.

Nothing had changed, Vikentiy thought. Everything was exactly the way it was twenty years ago when he left Ukraine for the United States. There was only one person who dared to call the police and a vet for that poor deer. Only one person refused to walk past. Only one person called for help. What about everyone else? All the other guests at that Ukrainian hotel just watched the dying deer for days, doing nothing to ease her pain.

Eventually, the police arrived, and the deer died. People were upset, but Vikentiy knew that nobody would be punished. That was how everything worked in Ukraine. It was always like that. If you have money and connections, you are never the one to blame. You will never get arrested for anything, not even for animal abuse or cruelty. It’s Ukraine, where people protect other people—even when those people do monstrous things, like refusing to give a single drop of water to a dying animal in an enclosure.

Good that I left Ukraine twenty years ago. Vikentiy thought.

He remembered dreaming about studying in the United States ever since he was a teenager. It was not really about the education itself. He simply wanted to get out. He wanted to escape. For him, the only way out was to apply for a student visa. He wanted to live in a country without corruption, or at least a place where people were not completely rotten to the core. He wanted a chance to see fairness win. He wanted a place where you could succeed, even if you did not have money or connections in the government.

As soon as Vikentiy got his college diploma, he applied to a graduate school program. He was accepted with a full fellowship. This special financial aid paid for his tuition, covered his living costs, and gave him a generous monthly allowance. The school was a small, private university in the American Midwest. During those days, Vikentiy was happier than he had ever been in his life.

Vikentiy loved studying in the United States, even though he faced a few small challenges. For example, he changed his name from Vikentiy to Vincent. This made it much easier for Americans to say. Someone told him that people with easy names had a better chance of getting promoted at work. Vincent decided to follow that advice.

Everything in America felt brand new to him. The green lawn at his college was cut so perfectly that it looked like a piece of art. He loved having the freedom to study whatever he wanted while getting a good allowance to live on. Back in Ukraine, he could barely get by, even though his university there was free and gave him a monthly allowance too.

His college roommate in America was great, too. A few times, they did not quite understand each other. Vincent just saw these moments as small cultural misunderstandings that he was happy to fix. His roommate was a little confused when Vincent asked him not to clink the dishes while cooking. But other than that small detail, life was absolutely perfect.