Date Unknown
Yakutsk, Siberia, USSR
Ivan left, leaving Jennifer alone, giving her the opportunity to examine her environment and to think about her situation. Jennifer took the opportunity to look around.
The room was long and rectangular, with beds lining both of the long sides. Between each bed there was nightstand type table. There were larger tables with chairs between the two rows of beds. Both of the long sides had windows behind and above the beds. One of the shorter ends has windows as well. The ceiling had plenty of lights hanging down. Many of the beds were occupied and a few nurses were moving in, out, and around.
Jennifer didn't know what to make of it. The room didn't seem like what she expected from a modern hospital. He did say this is Soviet, which would imply the past. … Is this what hospitals used to be like?
I can't be in the past. How would I have gotten to the past? Maybe he is mistaken, using the older name. But this didn't make sense to her. Why would he use the old name? He didn't talk as if he were using an old name. He stated that we are in the Soviet Union. Well, he explicitly used the term Soviet. Soviet Russia. And the only way for that to be the case is if he doesn't know what happened in at least the past 20 years. A government agent would know what is the current government for which he works. Unless this is the past. … Or an alternate reality. Or this isn't real. Jennifer contemplated the possibilities.
What are the other possibilities? This could be a dream or a conspiracy. Jennifer tried to figure out if anyone she knew would want to create this environment as a joke. This doesn't feel like a dream. But Jennifer knew that was the most likely situation. If someone were to create this environment and put her in it, it would feel real, it would be more accurate, but nobody would do this. A pseudo-reality or alternate dimension? Is that simpler or more complex than time travel? … I guess I will need to know the date. Why didn't I ask for the date?
Jennifer was crying again by this time. She felt weak, tired, sore, scared and overwhelmed. I am far from home and don't have access to people who can help me, whom I know. And I don't have a way back. … These people, they see me and they see an American. They don't see me! Nobody ever does. They put people into these boxes, categories, and … and don't understand. They don't understand complexity. … And everyone is supposed to want to be American, but I don't. She could feel the fear in her abdomen, and she felt cold. She picked up her hand and watched it shake. I am not doing well.
A story of an American woman who finds herself in the past in Siberia. Picture book format, currently updating twice a month. View the story posts in chronological order with the archive tab.
19 December 2017
06 December 2017
Initial Arrival 3
Date Unknown
Yakutsk, Siberia, USSR
As he started to leave, however, several issues occurred to Jennifer. “Wait.” Her voice was still soft and weak. He turned back around. She was nervous. She didn't know what to say. This was a bad idea. She turned away from him, closing her eyes and focusing inward as she tried to talk, tried to find the words to explain what she wanted. Or at least to say something, to not feel alone in a hostile world.
“Is there something that you want?”
She struggled to speak and started to cry. She spoke, slowly, trying to grasp the words. “What is going to happen to me? I don't have anywhere to go. I know in the US, and it isn't unique there, that people in the country without permission, if caught, well, the detention centers are really bad. I don't want to go to prison; it does bad things to people and the culture is destructive. And I don't want to go back to the US.”
She paused, thinking, but not looking at Ivan. Her final thought wasn't based on his reaction to what she said. “I promise I won't speak out against your government.” She figured Ivan would know exactly what she meant, although wouldn't know the real reason she would be willing to make such a promise. Unless, of course, he is naive.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
“What happened, it felt like a dream. I don't trust the accuracy of my memory. I need time to process.”
“Alright. For now you should remain here. You aren't yet fully recovered. We will determine what will happen by then. I still expect you to tell me what you remember, but we can wait a couple of days for your memory to recover. For now, you should rest. Later, we can have you talk to the man whose life you saved. Do you know our language?”
“No.”
“You will need to learn it. We can deal with that later.”
Yakutsk, Siberia, USSR
As he started to leave, however, several issues occurred to Jennifer. “Wait.” Her voice was still soft and weak. He turned back around. She was nervous. She didn't know what to say. This was a bad idea. She turned away from him, closing her eyes and focusing inward as she tried to talk, tried to find the words to explain what she wanted. Or at least to say something, to not feel alone in a hostile world.
“Is there something that you want?”
She struggled to speak and started to cry. She spoke, slowly, trying to grasp the words. “What is going to happen to me? I don't have anywhere to go. I know in the US, and it isn't unique there, that people in the country without permission, if caught, well, the detention centers are really bad. I don't want to go to prison; it does bad things to people and the culture is destructive. And I don't want to go back to the US.”
She paused, thinking, but not looking at Ivan. Her final thought wasn't based on his reaction to what she said. “I promise I won't speak out against your government.” She figured Ivan would know exactly what she meant, although wouldn't know the real reason she would be willing to make such a promise. Unless, of course, he is naive.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
“What happened, it felt like a dream. I don't trust the accuracy of my memory. I need time to process.”
“Alright. For now you should remain here. You aren't yet fully recovered. We will determine what will happen by then. I still expect you to tell me what you remember, but we can wait a couple of days for your memory to recover. For now, you should rest. Later, we can have you talk to the man whose life you saved. Do you know our language?”
“No.”
“You will need to learn it. We can deal with that later.”
Status Update
It appears that I continue to delay getting these posts out.
Because I want to get the story out, I will post many of the updates this subchapter without images. It is possible that due to the nature of the dialogs, the large number of images used in the Prologue does not feel natural. It may also just be that putting aside drawing to deal with other things has interfered with my ability to get myself to want to draw.
I will relabel the old Chapter 1 updates with images and repost the updates using the main story tags without updates. By this weekend, I will get out update 3. I will try to get out 2 more updates this month, then switch to a schedule closer to every week until I catch up to where I want to be, with potential delays if there will be images in an update.
Because I want to get the story out, I will post many of the updates this subchapter without images. It is possible that due to the nature of the dialogs, the large number of images used in the Prologue does not feel natural. It may also just be that putting aside drawing to deal with other things has interfered with my ability to get myself to want to draw.
I will relabel the old Chapter 1 updates with images and repost the updates using the main story tags without updates. By this weekend, I will get out update 3. I will try to get out 2 more updates this month, then switch to a schedule closer to every week until I catch up to where I want to be, with potential delays if there will be images in an update.
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