wildflower

[bulrushes]

On the doorstep of a little house in Forks, Washington, a basket is placed.

The doorbell rings.

There are footsteps, and then there are not.

Comments

[bulrushes]

Astrid's hair remains stubbornly ecru.

One day she trips badly enough to skin her knee.

She goes to Lynn with an... obviously skinned knee, ragged wound edges and all, without a speck of red anywhere around the injury, sniffling.

[asmyown]

Lynn inspects and doctors this, gently and carefully, cleaning it up with water and putting a large band-aid on it. She doesn't remark on the - lack of blood, the lack of red, she very much does not want to worry her child. Let her worry about that, Astrid does not need to.

"It'll be okay," she soothes, as she observes that Astrid does - leak. A fluid, even. But it's not blood.

Another debate, over if she should be taken to the hospital, again. But what would she say? 'My child skinned her knee and she's not bleeding'? How does a person explain this?

[bulrushes]

Astrid nods, unprotesting at her fosterer's attention to the knee except for occasional flinching. She seems to find not-red unremarkable for a skinned knee.



While school is on spring break, she decides quite firmly to eat nothing but strawberries. This goes on for a week.

Her hair turns distinctly pink.

[asmyown]

She lets Astrid have nothing but strawberries, because it's spring break and as far as junk food goes it's really rather tame. She'll let it go, buy lots of strawberries, try to figure out what the lack of red and the dietary habits mean. And then - pink hair.




What.


What.


Okay. Okay. Calm thoughts. Calm thoughts. Hospital is out, this is not something that a hospital could handle. Astrid does not seem to be human. She looks human, she walks like a human, she talks like a human, but - the strange dietary requirements, the lack of blood, and the hair colors based on - based on food. It's not like the three year old has access to hair dye, if she were a teenager Lynn would write it off as a prank, but - three year old.

"Do you think," she asks, "that if I got you other types of food that were different colors, your hair would change to that, too?"

[bulrushes]

"Ooh. Maybe! Can I do orange, I want to do orange hair."

[asmyown]

It's absurd. It's the most absurd thought of all time - but it explains the ecru. It explains why she doesn't eat a lot and is still fine, it explains why she wants to be outside so much.

So Lynn says, "We can try orange, let me know the minute you feel strange or weak or something, okay?"

And then they try orange.

[bulrushes]

Astrid does not feel strange or weak or anything while she eats (small amounts of) (exclusively) orange fruits and veggies and lentils and some unsalted peanut butter.

And lo, she is a redhead.

[asmyown]

Well. That's a thing. That is happening. To her child.

She does not call the hospital. They would - she has visions of them taking Astrid away to be tested upon in a lab somewhere, treated like a test subject rather than a child. The thought makes her feel so sick that she wants to throw up. She refrains. Lynn hopes that nothing bad ever happens to Astrid, that she stays safe and healthy and never needs to go to the hospital, because she thinks she would rather die than send her child (because she considers Astrid to be her child, now) to that fate.

"Okay," she informs Astrid, "I think I will let you be in charge of your diet from now on, just tell me what you'd like and I'll get it for you."

[bulrushes]

"I want to stay orange," says Astrid placidly.

She investigates all the orange things in the grocery store, and assesses them for foodiness, and also learns that red and yellow make orange together and eats carefully balanced amounts of those two colors, and then also learns that turmeric is an intense orange pigment and reintroduces blander-colored and even outright green food on top of plenty of the spice.

[asmyown]

And lo, Astrid stays orange. Lynn's not even surprised anymore.

She buys a stethoscope. If her daughter is not human, she would like to know by just what measure - how fast is her heartbeat in comparison to a normal human's? It's not pumping blood, obviously - does she even have one?

"Astrid, sweetie, can I try a thing?" she asks, stethoscope in hand.

[bulrushes]

"What thing?"

[asmyown]

"This is a stethoscope," explains Lynn, showing the item to Astrid. "It helps you hear things you can't normally hear without help - you can play with it, if you like, but I'm - going to listen to you, check for something."

[bulrushes]

"Okay."

[asmyown]

Right, stethoscope goes over Astrid's heart, and....?

[bulrushes]

[asmyown]

Lynn tests it on herself, to be sure that it works.

Thump, thump.

Right then. Astrid is not human.

"All right, dear - you know I love you no matter what, right?"

[bulrushes]

"Uh-huh?"

[asmyown]

"Well, I have reason to believe that you're not human." And then, because this is Astrid and not some other child, and therefore would like to know the reasons why, she continues, "My hair color doesn't change based on what I eat, when I get hurt I bleed red, I need to eat more than you do to be healthy, and I - have a heartbeat. You do not seem to."

Pause. "I have no idea what you are, but I love you all the same. Okay?"

[bulrushes]

"What's a heartbeat?"

[asmyown]

"Well, a heart is something that makes sure all parts of an - animal's body gets the oxygen from blood it needs. It does this by pumping. When it does this, it makes a sort of - thump sound. That's called a heartbeat. You can listen to mine, if you like?"

She offers up the stethoscope.

[bulrushes]

Astrid listens to Lynn, and to herself. "I don't thump," she confirms. "So I'm not an animal?"

[asmyown]

"Apparently not," agrees Lynn. "I don't know what you are instead, though."

[bulrushes]

"What else looks like a human?"

[asmyown]

"There are a few animals that walk on two legs, but none that I know of that look like they're human."

[bulrushes]

"But I'm not an animal, what's an not-an-animal that looks like a human?"