Monty’s Accident

Warnings: death of a parent, drunk driving, injury, mental illness (I'm not an expert in this particular one), and Monty is Deceit's name

It's been a few years since the car accident that killed his mother and put his father in jail. As for himself? Well, as far as Monty knew, all he had to deal with were blisters and broken bones, but nothing unexpected of someone whose father wanted to be free of his family without the obligation of reuniting. Ever since then, he lived with his godfather, Dr. Logan Cooper. Monty had been taught new ways of learning and interpreting the world around him. Apart from some minuscule differences, he was still the same as he usually was away from his father.

Then, middle school happened. Although he still kept his friends from elementary school, there were still some people who called him names or avoided him when he tried to approach them. After the first day of school, some of the teachers called Monty out on his way of working. However, the days after that just consisted of those teachers letting him be, yet still giving him death glares. The hallways were more crowded, so he found himself bumping into people that seemed to come out of nowhere. He tried to say that he couldn't see them, but they seemed even more upset. As for the books he was introduced to, well, since they weren't like the books he had at home, he had to rely on read-aloud sessions so that he didn't miss pieces of the story.

One day, after accidentally bumping into people on the way to Logan's car, he looked down silently at his lap. As much as Logan was comcentrating on the road, he hoped to hear at least a little bit about his day. Monty didn't say anything until they made it inside the house.

"Logan? Is something wrong with me?" he nervously asked.

Logan was surprised to hear such a question from Monty and wasn't sure which direction to take his answer in.

"Well, middle school is the age group where people start to go through changes physically and mentally. Why do you ask?" Logan clarified.

Monty sat on the couch and looked down.

"I keep bumping into people, I miss out on books I read, I'm a target to some and, I guess, ugly to others...did the accident break me?"

Logan sighed at Monty's explanation. He knew that Monty was smart even after what happened. He figured 12 was the right time to tell Monty of what happened, yet he was thinking about waiting until he was a little more mature to show him everything else. Logan sat next to his godson and gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Monty," he said while thinking of a careful way to explain, "during that accident, you hit your head very hard, so it caused a change that not a lot of people can understand."

"So, I really am broken?"

"Well...yes and no. On one hand, you're still the same smart young man that your mother would be proud of if she saw you. On the other hand, because part of your brain was damaged as a result of that injury, you can only see and remember half of the world around you."

Logan moved in front of Monty and stuck up both of his hands so that the young boy would get a better idea.

"Which hand do you see?" Logan asked him.

"Um, your left, my right," Monty answered.

His eyes widened as Logan sat back down and tried to think over his experiences. Looking back at what he couldn't see allowed things to make sense to the boy.

"When I draw shapes or write letters and numbers for you to copy, I'm actually drawing or writing them twice and connecting them so that the outcome would be no different than if I were to draw or write the figure once," Logan explained.

He showed a chart of the alphabet he made for Monty that had each of the letters written twice and conjoint. Something about it made Monty smile and he hugged Logan.

"What is this called?" Monty asked.

"A simple name is One-Side Neglect," Logan told him.

Once Logan finally returned the hug, they remained in their own thoughts. Logan was brought back to Earth as he heard "Will you homeschool me?" from Monty.

"I'll have to do some paperwork and make some phone calls, but I'll see what I can do," he answered with a smile.

Monty made his way to his room, but stopped halfway before turning around to face his godfather.

"Logan, the other kids can't see the One-Side Neglect, so why do some of them avoid me?"

Logan noticed the boy's face as he asked. Even with half of it burnt, he could still tell the boy was completely concerned.

"I'll tell you in a few years when it'll be easier for you to take it," he told the boy.

Monty nodded in understanding and went back to his room. Logan really cared about him and wanted to make sure he labeled himself as himself before what the accident did to him.