[21]

i was making soup in the kitchen while waiting for the unconscious stranger to wake up after they had passed out at my door.

as medical students, we were trained for basic first aid.

i looked around to make sure this wasn’t a heist, a skit, or anything else;

turns out, she was alone.

it was extremely weird and unusual for a person to just knock on my door as if they had been here before.

“sit still, does anything hurt?” i asked once i saw her open her eyes. it looked like she just came from war and was exhausted.

“who are you? where is jennie kim?” were her first words.

“jennie kim?” came my bewildered reply.

“yeah, jennie kim. little 8-year old girl, black hair, cat eyes. where is she?”

i paused as i tried to collect my thoughts to figure out how to respond but she continued talking—

“i promised her i would be back after 10 minutes but it seemed like i went a bit far. has anything happened to her?”

i felt myself tense up, finding my thoughts in a scramble, mouth agape.

“jennie kim hasn’t lived here in a long time”, i said slowly as soon as i found the words.

“how long?” she said, brows furrowed.

“six months”, i replied.

“no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. i can’t be six months late, i said ten minutes. i promised her”, she slumped onto the couch looking like she just lost a battle she didn’t even fought.

i studied every detail of her face, but it still made no sense.

lisa. 

she remains unchanged.

her hair still glossy, her skin still fresh.

it took me back to my musings.

how i grew up with faint memories of a young woman asking me for strawberries and telling me stories of her life as a time traveller.

i thought everything was just a dream until i saw a