The Boy From Nowhere
By: Riku Adler
Tags: Fiction, Fiction Writing, Thriller, Writing Prompts

Theo Marchand was no ordinary boy, and Mrs. Lewis, the orphanage’s director knew it from the beginning.

In fact it was her who found the baby boy, when she was just a temporary staff at the orphanage. She found the baby, who was bundled in a thick winter blanket, placed in a box at the footstep of the orphanage’s front doors many years ago.

Coming in for her shift, she arrived at the orphanage freezing from the cold. There was a box by the front doors. Thinking that it was filled with donations, as they usually do during the winter holidays, she grabbed the box and carried it inside to the kitchens.

She opened the box and lo and behold, there was a baby boy. She was thrown aback, not expecting the incredulity of the situation, and accidentally placed her left hand by the open flames of the kitchen stove, burning her . Her right hand went to cover the screams of pain.

Kitchen staffers and even some of the grown up children flocked to her to help. They bandaged her hand after putting on burn creams on the wound. It was a messy sight. The director then, Mrs. Wallace, got the baby boy off the box. She had been there for many decades and the incredulity that Mrs. Lewis found, was for her, normal.

When staffers of the orphanage receive a baby, they tend to name it immediately, as they needed identification prior to filing the police report. After the mandatory paper pushing, tedious administrative processes and its accompanying accoutrements, the baby boy was finally named Theo Marchand.

Growing up, Theo had been a happy, normal baby. Cheeky during his toddler years, inquisitive when he was a child, and now that he is slowly developing his personality, it shows that he is going to be great. Mrs. Lewis knew this secret a long time ago.

When Theo was a baby, he placed his soft tiny hands over Mrs. Lewis’ bandaged hands. She felt warmth and heard the sound of flesh healing. She put Theo back in his crib, and removed the bandage from the burnt hand. It was good as new — no pain, no scars, no history.

Amazed by what she witnessed, she kept her mouth shut and told nobody — out of fear of being called crazy. She needed this job badly. So she learned how to shut her mouth.

When Theo was about 7 or 8 years old, the orphanage hit an almost end — the finances were low and the supplies in the kitchen were running out. With winter coming, mouths to be fed, a house to run, Mrs. Lewis was in despair. She was in her office thinking how to get support. Theo walked in and gave her a “present” so she wouldn’t have to worry. Some of her kids give her trinkets, bits and bobs they find around the house, or craft they did in the local public school. Some kids just give her incessant headaches. Theo, held her hand and placed a shiny crystal on her palm. A gift he said.

That turned out to be a diamond. A real one. She pawned it and with that gift, continued to pay for the finances of the orphanage, until donations and funding came in. She never told anyone that story.

She had many more stories about Theo — all great ones, all unexplainable ones, all that leaves her continuously in awe. In a way, she is protecting Theo from being outcasted or bullied by the other kids. But again, Theo got along really well with the kids, even with the staff.

It was a normal, ordinary day. When out of the blue, two men in suits, all impeccably polished and dressed smartly knocked on to the orphanage’s door.

They were looking for a boy named Theo Marchand.

Mrs. Lewis, who do not judge people by their appearances, let them in her office to discuss the situation over some tea. The men introduced themselves as government agents and were demanding to see Theo.

Of course, Mrs. Lewis was weary, and treated everyone who came to the orphanage as visitors with caution. She had to know why one of her kids had captured the interest of these people. After all, Theo was her favorite.

The agents looked at each other and nodded. From the breast pocket of the other man, he pulled an envelope and gave it to Mrs. Lewis.

The paper had big red CLASSIFIED in the top, with TOP SECRET stamped across the entire page, with a formal looking seal she did not recognized from where. Although the summary was long, few phrases caught her attention:

Blood test at school

Curious findings

Technician posted results online

Government took over the remaining blood samples

Subject not human

The last phrase reverberated in her brain for a long time.

“Subject not human”.