Trisha Comes to Life

Naboo and Bollo were back at the loft in 10 minutes. In which time, Howard had told ‘Trisha’ to get changed.

“Something I really don’t understand is, where am I?” She asked the three of them once she was changed. “And why is there a monkey in here, and not in a zoo?”

“Gorilla.” Bollo corrected her.

“He’s my familiar, Bollo.” Naboo told her.

“And who are you?”

“I’m Naboo, that’s who.” Naboo smiled at her, the way he did whenever he said those four words. She looked away with her eyes only and raised her eyebrows.

“And I’m Howard.” Howard said. “What's the last thing you remember?”

“I can’t remember a lot. I do remember having an argument with someone though. A really bad one.” Trisha thought back. "But I have no idea who with or what about."

“Do you remember anything about someone called Vince?” Naboo asked. Trisha slowly shook her head. “What is your last name?”

“Blanc. My name’s Trisha Blanc.”

“Noir and blanc, black and white, coincidence?” Howard asked Naboo, who just shrugged.

“So when is your birthday?” Naboo asked.

“21st May 1978. Why?”

“Because that’s Vince’s birthday. This is all a little strange. You are basically the female equivalent of Vince, same birthday, same origin of surname, plus Vince once said he had a double called Trisha. When we worked at the zoo that was.” Howard said.

“But what does this have to do with me? I don’t even know how I got here.” Trisha said. “I just wanna go home. Except..." She looked away awkwardly. "I can’t remember where home is.”

“You’re welcome to stay here. We need to change you back anyway.” Naboo told her.

“Whoa, hold on. What do you mean change back? I don’t need changing back.” Trisha said. “I’m sorry about your mate Vince and everything, but I’m not him. One thing, I’m not a bloke.”

“But you must be, how else would you be in his bed? You look similar to him, how can you not be Vince?” Howard asked.

“I don’t know, but I definitely know that I’m not a bloke called Vince. Now I’m gonna go and find my place.” She got up and walked past the group. Howard, Naboo and Bollo all looked at each other.

“Howard, you better go get her.” Naboo said.

“Why me?” He asked.

“Because I’m going to find a cure for this and get Vince back. Now get going, you don’t want to lose her.” Howard sighed and left after Trisha. It was easy to spot her out on the street, it was pretty deserted.

“Trisha!” He called out, trying to catch up with her.

“Leave me alone Howard.” She said.

“Trisha, please just listen to me.” Trisha kept walking down the street, they were approaching a busy street. “Please, let me get coffee or something and we can talk about this. And you said yourself that you don't know where you live.” She sighed and stopped. She turned to face him.

“Fair comment. Ok Howard, one cup of coffee, but if I don’t like what your saying, I’m leaving and I won’t be coming back, got it?”

“Perfectly. I know this great place down here…”

They ordered their drinks (Howard a coffee and Trisha a cappuccino) and walked downstairs to the basement, which had no one down there. “Now, tell me what you wanted.”

“I know you might walk out as soon as I start talking, but I’m telling you that you were Vince.”

“Howard, I…”

“Wait, let me finish. Please just let me do that.” She nodded. “Thank you. I need to start where this all started. It was last night, Vince was ill and had some potions to take from Naboo, but we think that he had taken them in a wrong order, which made him change into you. You believe in magic?”

“Yes.” Trisha said, taking a sip from her drink.

“Naboo is a shaman, kind of like a wizard yeah? Bollo is his familiar.”

“Right ok. That explains his get up." Trisha said. "But how do you and this Vince fit in with them?”

We worked at a place called the Zooniverse a few years ago. We all met there and when it blew up, we moved here and started at the Nabootique. But moving back on the subject, we’ve had trouble with potions and lotions before. They have wacky side effects sometimes, like what happened with you.”

“But I’m not Vince, I told you already.”

“Prove it then, show me your stomach.” Trisha raised an eyebrow at him.

"Howard, I don't like where this is about to go..."

"No, let me explain." Howard said. Trisha nodded and Howard continued. “Vince has a massive scar on his stomach where he fell asleep on his Nicky Clarke straighteners. If you were never him, it shouldn’t be there.”

"Ok then, but I know for a fact there isn't one there." Trisha stood up and raised her t-shirt… to reveal a red scar, right where Vince had burnt himself. She looked stunned.

“I told you.” Howard said.

“But, I don’t remember anything, I can remember my own history, part of it at least, but… how?” She sat back down.

“I don’t know. But what I do know is that you must have been Vince, because you didn’t recognise that scar and Vince has had that there for 8 years. Trisha, I’m not asking for you to fully trust me, but you have to come back to the loft with me. Just so we can work this out.” Howard finished his drink and Trisha did the same. “Are you ready to go back now?”

Trisha nodded. “Yeah.” They both got up and left the café to go back to the loft, where Naboo and Bollo were trying to discover a cure, waiting for the return of Howard and Trisha.