Eden

Ten

I think, then decide that instead of just bluntly asking Lexi whether she killed herself, I'll just let the conversation continue, and see what I learn. It seems a less confrontational way to learn about her, and I can just stop if it doesn't go well. At least, I hope that I can.

I look at Lexi, and wonder how to start. "Um," I say in the end. "So you drowned?"

She nods.

"Um," I say. "Where?"

Lexi looks surprised. "Where did I drown? In a lake."

I sigh. "No, I mean, whereabouts did that happen. Where in the world? Where are you from?"

She looks even more surprised, like that's obvious. "Well, Russia," she says. "Yekaterinburg."

I think about that. About her thinking it's obvious that I know she's from Russia. I'm about to say her English is good, but then I stop and think, and wonder, suddenly, if I'm assuming things. I don't know why I think of this, but I do, and I'm actually quite proud of myself for realizing.

"What language are you talking right now?" I ask.

"Russian," she says. "Why?" Then she stops and looks at me. "Oh. You don't think I am, do you?"

"No."

She thinks about that. "What do you think we're talking in? English?"

I nod.

"I'm hearing Russian," she says. "And that you have a Moscow accent."

"I'm hearing English," I say. "And kind of like the TV. Like no accent, really. But maybe something American or British."

"Yeah," she says. "That's what I mean. Like the news people on the TV."

I nod. That's quite interesting, I think. That somehow we can talk to each other, without actually being able to.

"I wonder if that means we can talk to everyone else as well," I say slowly.

Lexi seems to be thinking too. "It probably does," she says.

We both go quiet for a moment, considering that. It seems like a good thing, I think, being able to talk to everyone. It seems helpful, anyway. Everything would have been far more complicated if we'd had to try and find people who spoke the same languages as us. And we wouldn't have been able to talk to each other, either. There's that, too.

"I think it's a good thing," I say. "That we can talk."

"Yeah, me too."

"I don't know how it's possible, though," I say.

"Sort of like how dying and then waking up isn't possible?"

We look at each other.

"Yeah," I say.

"I thought it was a bit odd we were both from Russia," Lexi says. She looks at me, and then quickly down at my wrists, and then she says, "So what are you? American?"

I ignore what that glance was probably meaning, and shake my head. "Australian," I say.

"Like kangaroos and stuff?"

I nod slowly. "Yeah."

We stand there a moment longer, still looking at each other. I'm not quite sure what to do now.

"Well, come on then," Lexi says. "Let's go over to that city and find out what's going on. Standing here won't help anything, will it?"

"No," I say. "I suppose not."