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]

The child shrugs. "Not much."

[asmyown]

"Okay, well. Let me know if that changes, all right?"

She considers, briefly, what her next course of action's going to be.

"I'm going to be on the phone for a little while, and then some people might come by to ask you some questions. Do you want me to answer questions for you, so you don't have to?"

[bulrushes]

"What kind of questions?"

[asmyown]

"Like - where you come from, if you remember anything, if there's any sorts of places that you remember - that sort of thing. The people will want to get you back to your parents if a bad person stole you, or away from them if they left you on a doorstep."

[bulrushes]

"Are you sure I have those?"

[asmyown]

"Well, everyone starts out having two parents, but sometimes things happen. So sometimes people only have one or they end up not having any. Do you remember having no parents?"

[bulrushes]

"I don't remember anything before I just woke up," says the child.

[asmyown]

"Okay. But you remember things from after just fine?"

[bulrushes]

"Yeah. You helped me get out of the blanket and you have a name and it's Lynn." She attempts to get out of her basket. The basket tips over on top of her.

[asmyown]

Lynn smiles, just a bit at this. She picks up the basket, revealing the mysterious child.

"That's good, if you couldn't remember that it'd mean you were hurt."

[bulrushes]

"I feel okay except not remembering before."

[asmyown]

She nods. "Okay, that's promising. Maybe you'll start remembering after a while."

[bulrushes]

"That sounds like it would be weird, to start all of a sudden."

[asmyown]

"It would probably be very weird, yeah. I think sometimes it comes back in bits so eventually you have most of everything back, but that would also be a bit weird."

[bulrushes]

"What if I don't do either kind of remembering?"

[asmyown]

"Then you'd make memories from the time when you woke up, onwards."

[bulrushes]

"Here?" asks the child.

[asmyown]

"If we can't find your parents and you want to stay here, with me - yes."

[bulrushes]

"You seem nice."

[asmyown]

"Thank you, I try."

With kids. Adults, it varies, but kids she will always be nice to.

[bulrushes]

"I don't know if my parents are nice."

[asmyown]

"If they aren't, and I knew it, I would not return you to them."

[bulrushes]

The child nods.

"I'm not sure if I'm supposed to have parents but I think I'm supposed to have a name. I can't remember it," she says.

[asmyown]

"Well, you could wait and not have a name for a while and see if the police can find it out for you, or you could pick a name. That could be confusing if they did find it, though."

[bulrushes]

"I don't remember any names that are except yours."