From Blanc to Noir

Trisha woke up and looked around her. There was a cottage that was almost burnt down, it was still kind of on fire. Near to her there was a boy, around her age, and a grown man. But she didn’t know who they were. She didn’t remember anything, except her name. Patricia. She wrinkled her nose at that. She didn’t like that name. She decided that she wanted to be… Trisha.

She walked away from the people on the ground and towards the road. She wanted to find someone, she wanted her mummy and daddy.

She wandered down the road, for ages. Her feet hurt a lot and she couldn’t see anyone, it was too dark. She was about to sit down and start crying when a car came up behind her. It stopped a little in front of her. It was the first car she had seen since she started walking.

“Hello darling. What are you doing out here at 11 o’clock at night? Are you lost?” The woman who got out of the car sounded kind. Her voice was comforting. A man, her husband, got out of the car and walked towards them. Trisha nodded. “What’s your name?”

“Trisha.” She said timidly.

“Where do you live Trisha?” The man asked.

“Dunno. Can’t remember anything.”

“Nothing?” The man asked.

Trisha shook her head. “I woke up in the woods today and but I know my name. I want my mummy and daddy. Are you my mummy and daddy?” She asked them.

“No, we’re not darling.” The woman said, a sad smile on her face. The meaning behind the smile was that she could never have children, she would never know what it felt like to call a child her own.

“Why not? Please be my mummy.” Trisha wrapped her arms around her.

“Tori, this is the chance we’ve been waiting for.” The man said to his wife. “Why can’t we adopt her?”

“Because, Nathan, she has a real family somewhere.” Tori was close to tears.

“Tori, look at me. This is the sign we have been waiting for. A child, with no past, alone and a couple, childless and unable to adopt. This is our chance.”

Tori looked from Nathan to Trisha. “Trisha,” The child looked up at her. “Would you like to come home with us?”

“Would you be my mummy and daddy?” She asked in a quiet voice.

“Yes darling.” Nathan smiled. “We’ll be your new mummy and daddy.” Trisha grinned and hugged Tori as tightly as her 6 year old self could.

A Month Later

Vince had finally gotten over the shock of loosing his parents while Bryan was looking after him and trying to figure out where Trisha was. After a month of searching, he didn’t think it was likely that he would find her. She could be anywhere by now.

4 miles down the road, just inside the outskirts of London, a couple, only in their late 20’s, and their young daughter were visiting the park. Nathan and Tori Blanc smiled at Trisha. She had only remembered her first and middle names and her birthday.

She could not remember anything else. Nathan spoke to one of his friends, high up in the government, to get a fake birth certificate made for Trisha. It had been made and she was now officially Trisha Blanc. They had moved to a different area, giving Trisha a chance to mingle with other children her age, not to be isolated.

Trisha had adjusted well too. She knew that Tori and Nathan were not her real parents, but she didn’t know who her real parents were, so they could be. But she was an intelligent 6 year old and was told by her daddy that if anyone asked, she was their child. She knew that if she told anyone else the truth, that she would be taken away from her new family, and she didn’t want that to happen. She had made lots of friends here, and she didn’t want to be taken away from them either.

Both Vince and Trisha grew older and lived different, but similar lives. Both loved fashion, music, Gary Numan’s music. At the age of 9, Vince met a Jazz loving poet called Howard. Although he was 9 too, he looked to be a lot older. But despite everything, they became great friends instantly. They were rarely apart.

They went to the same secondary school, in the same classes, the same college. There was that week where Howard did his own thing, worked in the sewers, became a bin man, that sort of thing, that the two of them were separate, but they stayed together at the Zooniverse, in the band, now at the Nabootique.

Trisha grew up to be a beautiful young woman. She had men swooning all over her. But despite everything in her life, a great job, great friends and fantastic parents, she couldn’t help but feel something in her life was missing. Whenever she thought of this, her hand went up to her necklace, a black T on a black chain. She’d had it since she could remember, which was when she was 6.

She always knew her parents weren’t her real parents, but she lost her memory when she was 6 and they found her wandering down a long road. By 18, she had a successful life, she’d done college and was going onto uni. But another tragedy struck her when she was 21. Her adopted parents were in an airplane when it went down.

There had been no survivors.

She was devastated, but got on as well as she could with her life.