Never Forget
More Than You Can Imagine (Part 1 of 3)
More Than You Can Imagine (Part 1 of 3)
It was a rather cold evening in a small quiet town in Paris, and a mother and daughter could be seen, sat on the corner of the street, talking quietly, It was pretty obvious they were immediate family, they looked ever so similar. They both shared the golden hair, the bright blue eyes and the fair skin. Colette Maria and her daughter Aimee Maria lived on the streets. They were outcasts, friends of the gypsies, and of course, that was looked down on in the society they lived in.
A few days ago, they had left the area surround Notre Dame, and Aimee, being quite curious, wondered why.
“Mum, why did you decide not to go into the town around Notre Dame?”. Colette sighed, her daughter knew nothing of her past and family, and it came into play with the reason why she had decided against entering the town by the treasured cathedral, Notre Dame.
“There is someone who doesn’t want me there, so don’t you worry about it”. Aimee gave her a grumpy look, along with a sigh,
“Who?”. Colette laughed, a little nervously, but Aimee didn’t pick up on it,
“Oh, you ask too many questions, just like your father”. The two fell silent; they rarely talked about Anthony, Colette’s husband and Aimee’s father.
He was killed two years ago during a raid on a gypsy camp the small family were living in. He had tried to protect his family, and the many innocent gypsy people. Most survived, but had fled in different directions, which meant both Colette and Aimee hadn’t seen any of their friends since.
It was Colette, who broke the silence a few moments later,
“You hungry?”. Aimee gave her mother a concerned look, with a frown to accompany it,
“Not really...but you’ve gotta have the next food we get”. The young girl was worried, her mother was losing weight and getting weaker every day, and Colette was giving up all her resources just to make sure Aimee survived out on the streets.
Colette wouldn’t even be on the streets, if it wasn’t from her harsh, strict and cruel family, whom she has had no contact with for many, many years. It was actually family, her brother in fact, which had made her decide not to go to Notre Dame. Colette was brought up in a wealthy household, in an upper-class family, and yet never saw why the scorned the gypsies. Against her father’s wishes, she became close friends with them.
She had also had a planned marriage awaited her. Her soon to be husband was rich, very rich. However, he was crude and mean. Colette had actually met an English man, who had moved to Paris. The two had fallen in love, and Colette constantly lied to protect her true love from the wrath of her father and planned husband.
One night, Colette’s arranged husband grew impatient, and took advantage of Colette. He put her through a merciless night of sexual activity against her will. She told her parents, and her brother Claude Frollo, but they turned a blind eye and told her she was lying. Colette came out with the story of her true love, the English man Anthony, and her family turned on her.
Her father shouted and cursed, her mother complained and spoke of her severe disappointment with her daughter, and her brother who had once cared about her did nothing, seeing nothing but hate for his sister. Her parents chucked her out near her 20th birthday, Colette was alone, and unknown to her, pregnant. Not with Aimee however...
She found Anthony, and told her what happened, with both her family and her former fiancé. Anthony craved revenge but Colette told him he had no chance against families of the upper-class, and so the two went away and lived with the gypsies. Colette soon found out her evil fiancé had impregnated her, and gave birth to a healthy boy. Anthony accepted him as his own, and the two raised him despite the fact he was the child of a rapist.
She tried to seek out her brother Claude many times for support, in case he had changed his mind about her. She just realized he had become powerful and controlling, the Judge of the Palace of Justice. She almost feared him, for he was exactly like her father. She just hoped that Aimee wouldn’t have to meet him eventually.
Colette snapped out of the thoughts of her past, her son went away a long time ago.
“Don’t be silly honey, you need to eat”, she murmured, she fumbled around in her bag for some bread she had saved. To her dismay, she couldn’t find it. “Damn it, those soldiers must of taken in when they searched my bag...those stupid a-",
“It’s ok Mum”, Aimee said, cutting her off, leaning over to hug her. Colette was all too happy to return the hug; Aimee smiled and broke it to speak properly. “I love you”. Colette reached out and stroked her daughter’s cheek lovingly,
“I love you too, more than you can imagine”.
Something You Need To Know (Part 2 of 3)
In the time passed, Colette and Aimee had found a large doorway to settle down in for the night. They rarely came across a house that would take them, and a doorway was usually the next best thing. Colette took out the blankets from her bag and placed them down, Aimee was stood up, staring out into the distance. She was just reflecting on the past two years, things hadn’t gone well since her father died. Sighing, she sat in the door way, shivering as a gust of wind passed.
Colette passed her another blanket and Aimee gratefully wrapped it around her, savouring the warmth. She smiled at her mother, the only thing she had left. The 14 year old didn’t know what she would do without her. She sighed yet again, getting comfortable. Her mother however, watched her with caring eyes. The woman was weak, and knew her time to go was soon.
She could see her daughter was growing tired, and Colette had things to get off her chest.
“Aimee...there’s something you need to know”. Aimee looked up at her mother, curious of what she had to say. It couldn’t be anything bad surely. “There has something I’ve been keeping from you, because I thought you wouldn’t need to know, but...the thing is...”. Aimee gave her a bewildered look, followed by a gasp at her next words.
“You have a brother”. Aimee was taken aback for a moment, surely her parents would have told her.
“What? Who is he? How...how come I’ve never seen him?”. Colette sighed, taking a deep yet shaking breath to talk,
“His name is L-Louis, and...your dad wasn’t the f-father. And you have seen him...but you were just a year old. He left with his older friends around the age of 12. He didn’t come back”.
Aimee had plenty of questions and began to ask them all,
“What does he look like? Do you know where he went? Is...he still alive? And who-” she paused for a moment, “Who was the father?”. Colette rubbed the back of her neck nervously, she didn’t want to tell Aimee what had happened to her and that the father was still out there.
“He’s still alive yes...I haven’t seen him exactly but I know he’s still alive. I can feel it. A-And don’t you worry about who the f-father is. H-He won’t bother us anymore”. Aimee could tell something was up. She had never seen such a twinkle of fear in her mother’s eye. The young girl was left to dwell on the news in silence for a while, until she saw her mother reach for the back of her neck.
She undid her silver cross necklace and took Aimee’s hand, placing it into it. “This necklace...was given to me by my grandmother, Lillian Maria, because my mother didn’t want it. Now, I want to give it to you”. Aimee took the necklace excitedly and put it on,
“It’s beautiful, I’ve always liked it”. She admired for a moment before giving her mother a happy grin, “Thanks mum, it means a lot”. Colette’s lips curved into a smile, she was so glad Aimee wanted it. The woman took her the young girl’s hand again,
“Aimee...I’m not sure how long I’m going to be around for”, she started, but was interrupted by her daughter,
“Don’t say things like that Mum!”, her eyes wide with anxiety.
“Hush now, let me finish”, Aimee silenced herself, interested in what she was going to say but dreading it at the same time, Colette continued,
“You mean the world to me darling, and we’ve been through a lot. With your father’s passing, I wasn’t sure if I was able to look after you on my own. And I did. But, if my time does come soon, I just want you to know...that I love you. I love you more than words can describe. Promise me you’ll look after yourself, and you won’t let anyone harm you, or do anything to you if you’re not ready”, she took her daughters face in her hands, “Promise me Aimee”.
“I promise”, Aimee whispered. Colette relaxed; she had a feeling her daughter would manage on her own, if something bad happened to herself. As much as she didn’t want to leave her daughter, and knew it would devastate her, Colette knew she had to say such things. Letting go of her daughter, who she had grasped so gently but in a needy motherly way, she spoke again softly,
"Goodnight night honey, see you in the morning”. Aimee gave her mother a small smile,
“Goodnight mum”. She lay back against the stone, softened by the blankets but still rather hard. There was silence, just the sound of the wind and the occasional person passing by, taking no notice of them like usual. Aimee was left to reflect. Her emotions were all over the place, but a yawn told her she needed sleep. She slowly drifted off into a sleep, dreaming of her past life. A life of no worries and a life were her family were at one with each other.
I like it a lot! Keep it up 
<3