There were so many questions and Lissa wasn’t exactly sure how this conversation was going to go as she approached Bethany after her shift. Lissa had figured out when her shift ended thanks to asking a few of the right questions.
“Be-” she paused having almost called her Bethany. “Elizabeth,” Lissa called with a smile when she saw her. “Hi, I’m Zasha, Rina’s younger sister.” Those words alone seemed so strange to Lissa seeing as Rina/Alex was actually more like her niece, not her sister.
“Do you have a minute?”
This wasn’t the first time that someone had approached Liz out of work, especially as she usually was seen with scrubs on and easily stoppable. But, at least the girl introducing herself didn't immediately start in on what kind of sore it was on her hip like more than a few men had done to her in the past.
She was always friendly enough to greet a stranger with a smile, and Zasha was no exception. “Hi, sure but-” She thumbed back at the clinic, “we’re closed now, so you’ll have to make an appointment for tomorrow if it’s medical related? Unless it’s an emergency then-” Well, panic would likely be there, and not just a serene smile that greeted her. “Just don’t tell me Gary got arrested.”
Lissa blinked surprised at the medical questions it shouldn’t have thrown her, but Lissa was never sick and all the different memories crashing together made everything a little more confusing.
Laughing softly she shook her head coming out of her own confusion. “No, no one is arrested, and I’m perfectly healthy,” Lissa told her with a soft smile. “I actually had something completely different to talk to you about, if that’s okay with you.”
Liz relaxed her stance a little knowing that Gary wasn’t arrested and she wasn’t about to run and give someone CPR. That left probably being talked to about religion? Liz didn’t know, but she reminded herself to stop making snap judgements, and smiled back. “Sure. Is it something I need to sit down for? Because there’s a cafe right next door we could walk to..?”
Lissa thought for a second. “It’s probably best to be sitting down,” she actually wished she’d been sitting down more as she fully remembered everything from Atlantis, from Breckenridge (not Breckentale) and her life in general. “A café is a good idea,” she agreed and nodded in the right direction. Once in the café, they took a seat and Lissa waited until they both had a chance to order something.
“I know this is all going to sound strange, but have you noticed anything different about Breckentale recently? Or felt out of place here?”
With an ice tea in hand and her purse at her feet, Liz leaned back in her chair to stare at Zasha. That wasn’t really where she expected the conversation to go, and almost immediately, she had to stop herself from a quick no! Especially given recent events. This week itself had been a little crazier than normal, that she could remember.
Twirling her straw around in her cup, Liz gave a little humorless laugh. “You mean besides several freak lightning storms, air literally picking people up, rainbow rain and several people going into mysterious comas?” Okay so when it was put out there all stacked up, it seemed pretty crazy. “It’s a little weirder than a full moon? I don’t think I’ve felt out of place, though.”
Lissa laughed softly. Having been one of the people who had been in a coma she knew it was shocking, rattling and confusing. Lissa assumed it had to do with the magic that caused whatever it was that brought them here in the first place.
She nodded, listening carefully. “What if I told you that this wasn’t where we belong, or that we live somewhere else and we’ve been part of a group fighting a war to save creativity?” Lissa didn’t want to bombard her but she also felt like giving the information out slowly would be really more confusing. “We’re from all different places, but we’ve all been living in a place called Atlantis where we were recruited from our homeworlds to battle against a group that is trying to rid all worlds of creativity, I’m not sure how it happened, but from what I can gather we’ve been placed here,” she waved her arm around, “in Breckentale, which is oddly a close resemblance to a place called Breckenridge a few months ago with all new memories, all new remembered experiences but I don’t think we’ve lived them.” She paused taking a sip of her own tea to give some time for what she’d just said to sink in.
Liz sat back in her seat, slowly. The words were sinking in, though she was completely silent as she thought about it. Reviewed every single word. If this had been her brother, she might’ve thought it was some elaborate prank. But the woman across from her had a trusting face, and didn’t seem like the sort to play into Gary’s idea of amusing.
The medical professional in her immediately processed this with worry - for Lissa. Diagnosing on the spot wasn’t something she was fond of, but mental health issues could easily explain this conversation. But why her? The empathetic person in her worried what a person had to go through, finding out information like this.
Eventually, she spoke up, but was quiet. “Atlantis. Are you the only one that believes this? Is it…” She waved a hand around to the strangers frequenting the cafe. “Everyone? All of us?”
“There are some that are here, like the tourists that come and go that aren’t from where we are from, but there are a lot of us, most of us that live and work here seem to be from Atlantis.” She answered knowing how insane it sounds.
“I know it sounds insane, and I’d probably be wondering if I was delusional, or suffering from something,” Lissa did think that. “But my name isn’t Zasha, it’s Lissa Dragomir, my sister Rina who is one of the med students, her name is actually Alex and she’s my niece, not my sister.” She hoped that might make more sense, she also hoped that Bethany knew who her sister was.
“The reason I’m telling you is because of your medical background not just here but from where you're from and some of your knowledge, I thought you’d be someone that could help us figure out how to get things right.”
Liz shook her head, looking down at her ice tea as if she was willing it to give her even more answers. “I’m just a nurse?” It was a question, though she knew what she was, doubt was already creeping in unwillingly. She couldn’t say if she believed all of this just yet, but the doubt was there, and currently casting a shadow across everything.
“I’ll help but-” Of course she’d help. That’s what Liz did. “I don’t really know where you would even start? If you talk to too many people about this, you’ll hit someone who panics.” She didn’t want to jump at the idea of referring Lissa to a psychologist, either. “How did you get to the point of realizing all of this? Remembering it?”
Lissa nodded, “You’re more than just a nurse, but from my experience, it’s easier to discover it yourself, I don’t know you very well from Atlantis, but I know a few basics.” Lissa said with a soft smile. She knew how strange it all sounded.
“Thank you, and that’s why we decided to only tell one person each, there are 9 of us who have, for lack of a better term, ‘woken up’ but we want to make sure we’re careful and make sure we don’t scare anyone.”
“Nine people?” Well, that was more than she’d expected. Holy crap. One was easy to look at and wonder a mental health history or if someone was playing an elaborate prank. But nine? Nine people backing up everything said by the woman across from her?
It made Liz think twice, that was for sure.
“Alright. Okay.” She blew out the breath she’d been holding and sat forward, going over a hundred different things in her head. “What’s next?”
She nodded, she knew it sounded crazy and she knew it probably was really difficult to figure out exactly what was going on, trusting it, anything. Lissa was just glad Bethany didn’t look at her like she was insane.
“Next we meet with everyone else, and we take the next steps from there.” Lissa offered. “We’ll be meeting tomorrow.” She pulled out her bag and wrote down the meeting location. “I’m not completely sure what we’ll figure out, but I’m really glad that you’re willing to help. It’s really best if we just keep it between those of us who know, I don’t want anyone freaking out.”
With gentle fingers, Liz took the meeting location and folded it carefully, threading it through her fingers to give her something to do. Her ice tea was all but forgotten, besides a brief wonder if she could spike it here and now. “I’ll be there. And… hopefully, something will come to me. Or I’ll think of something brilliant after I’ve had a few drinks.”
Lissa nodded, she understood needing a little time and she had a good feeling that Bethany would show up and do whatever she could to help.
“If you need anything at all from me, please reach out.” She said as she put money down and they both got ready to leave.
“I will, absolutely,” Liz slung her bag back over her shoulder, and then reached out to gently touch Lissa’s arm. “And same to you, okay? We’ll figure this out, one way or another.”