Resurfacing

Chapter 10

January 2024 (present)

It was a new year and yet she felt as stuck in the past as ever. While refreshing as it was to be out of the hospital and part of a family again, it felt oddly weird and unfamiliar to her. She tried being a part of the lives of her niece and nephews but living in the world outside the hospital was strange.

Once moved in with her sister and her family, she had been contacted by the news agency she worked for. They had sent out a representative to give all condolences on what had transpired and the loss of her team. Also delivering a check for the time while hostage, hoping that it would help her in the future and that if she wanted to resume being a correspondent, they would welcome her back.

Even thinking about working was triggering. She thanked them for their kindness and sent them away. Proceeding to have a meltdown of anger, breaking a few items in the process. Her life in shambles.

When she had gone with her sister and husband to her niece's Christmas Recital, she received looks from adults around her. Asking her sister about it after the recital her sister told her that her story had made national news. Headlines of 'Journalist taken Hostage' were across the internet with either a regular head shot, or one she recognized as the day she was taken captive. Hair unkempt, dirty from the bombing debris, eyes unfocused. She remembered the bright flash of white after taking off her vest.

Rebecca told her how news outlets had been camped on their lawn for weeks after she had been taken hostage, but it had died down after a couple months but roared back to life once it was known that she was alive.

Now staring out at the white falling snow, she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. Therapy had been helping as she was working to release more of what she had endured, but would it ever be enough?

Sighing she got up from staring out the window to head into her kitchen to make lunch. Hearing footsteps coming up the inside stairs, she started momentarily but calmed herself down, noting that by the lightness, it was the kids.

Jeremy and Anna burst into the apartment.

"You've got mail!" They exclaimed together. She hadn't gotten any mail since returning, at least none that she knew of.

Reaching for the outstretched envelope she took it, looking at where it came from. It was postmarked Greece. Did she know anyone there?

When her doctors began questioning her on her life before the assignment, she couldn't remember many things. After enduring what she had gone through they surmised it was a retrograde amnesia. To survive she forgot everything. To survive her only focus was survival itself, effectively caging and forgetting other short-term memories.

"Thanks for bringing it to me." She told them.

"Aren't you going to open it?" Anna asked curiously.

"I don't know anyone from Greece. I'll open it later. I need to get lunch and head to an appointment." The kids nodded and took off back down the stairs.

—

She hadn't opened the letter by that night. Letting it sit on the counter face up as she got ready for bed. Drinking a glass of water, she stared at it. Why would someone in Greece write to her? Had she ever gone to Greece. Her memories going back about three years were muddled and incomplete. Gaps missing from her personal life mainly and a few from her professional one.

She had googled herself once seeing what the internet brought up about her. Some were the stories that she had contributed too and then others about the missing journalist taken hostage by a militant group.

Still looking at it, she set the glass down and took the envelope to open it up. Inside was a single paper.

~~

My Eliza,

I don't even know where to begin. I was in Athens when a friend showed me an article about an American journalist named Elizabeth who had been found after nine months of being held captive. When I saw your picture, I died inside.

I emailed you for months after your last email but heard nothing from you. I thought maybe it was over for you.

I love you, my Eliza. I hope you return to me someday if you are able.

Your Greek God, Nik

~~

Placing the letter down, nothing made sense about the letter and no memory was coming up from reading it.

Knowing it was late, she made her way to the house looking for Rebecca, who was in the kitchen also getting a drink.

"Becca, have I ever gone to Greece?" Becca looked at Eliza strangely.

"I'm not sure. You had a couple of weeks between your last assignments, but you never told me where you had gone."

"Read this letter." Eliza thrust the page forward, Becca tentatively taking it and reading.

"You never mentioned going to Greece and you certainly never mentioned meeting someone."

"Do you think it's real?" Eliza asked.

"It seems real. Maybe sleep on it and then talk with your therapist about it." Eliza nodding to the suggestion.

—

Sleep didn't come easy as Eliza's mind reeled from the letter, but as soon as she fell into sleep, dreams permeated her consciousness.

It was like seeing flashbacks in a movie. A picture here or a picture there. A man treading water in front of her, laughing. A string of lights with what sounded like music in the background. A beach of soft and smooth sand, turquoise water and rocky cliffs.

It didn't make any sense and when she awoke in the morning she wasn't rested and was more irritable about the letter.

—

"Maybe you went to Greece in the time between your last assignments." Diane, her mental health therapist asked her.

"I don't know, and I don't have anything telling me I did go."

"Let's say you did go to Greece, where would you go?"

"The beach. I used to love the water." She had hardly taken showers due to her head being under water, resorting to sponge baths and dry shampoo. Showering was a necessity if her hair was too oily. A whole body of water just downright scared her though.

"Water doesn't mean the same as it once did." Diane knew of her being forcefully drowned.

"It terrifies me. Something I loved so much, now scares me more than death itself." Eliza contemplated for a moment. "If I would have gone to Greece, I would have wanted to stay near a beach. To be able to see it from my room and swim whenever I wanted."

"Sounds like a dream."

"More of a nightmare now."

"Fears can be overcome, in time and with the right people around you."

"I'm not sure I'm ready to face whatever this is yet."

"And that's OK."