Maybe it really was heaven

 Both women looked at each other, then back at me, and I tried to keep my breathing under control.

“You don't remember us?” asked the taller of the two.

“It's me, Toshi,” said the other, patting the centre of her chest with a hand, smiling tentatively. “I know I probably look different after all this time but you should at least remember Ko, right? She hasn't changed at all.”

“I'm going to take that as a compliment even if that's not what you meant,” said Ko, turning concerned eyes back to me. “Did you hit your head when you fell? Is that why you took so long to find us again?”

“I wasn't look- ” Toshi's stare rippled like I had just dropped a pebble into it. I switched tactics at once. “-I mean, look. I'm really grateful that you saved me and all, but I think you've got the wrong person. My name isn't Shizuka.”

“What did you think your name was then?” asked Ko, definitely speaking slightly slower than before.

I hesitated to reveal my real name this time. Probably because the person they had mistaken me for was clearly closer to them than they had been to Ras.

“It's Sheila,” I said. “And I know this doesn't make any sense but I was hit by a – I died in a completely different place and then I ended up here. I don't know how or why.”

Their concern flickered and then flared like a flame exposed to different degrees of airflow.

“So you did die?” murmured Ko.

“We knew that already though,” said Toshi.

“Yeah but I was hit by a car.”

“A car?” questioned Ko.

“What's a car?” asked Toshi at the same time.

I paused and pinched the back of my hand through the sleeve of my kimono. It hurt. I subtly tugged the end of my hair, which was black and hung in front of my shoulders all the way down to my waist. My scalp stung.

“Oh god,” I muttered. “This really is real, isn't it?”

“What are you doing?” asked Ko, reaching for my hand. “You should probably sit down.”

“You know what? You're right. I probably should,” I said.

She led me over to what looked like a hay bale that had been harvested years ago and had been falling out of its weakening rope restrains for months. I wasn't sure whether she noticed my hesitation but she untied a short rusty red kimono jacket from around her waist and laid it out atop the hay before I sat down. She knelt beside me as Toshi joined us, placing a hand on the hay next to mine.

“Shizu- Sheila,” she said, clearly trying not to grimace. “Do you not remember us at all?”

I shook my head. “Sorry.”

“You don't have to say sorry,” she replied at once. “Do you remember anything about where we live?”

“I – don't think I've ever lived here,” I said.

“Where do you think you live?” Toshi scratched the side of her neck and glanced sideways at Ko.

She looked like my younger sister, who had been texting my ex-boyfriend under the disguise of a different name. I rubbed my forehead, my skin surprising soft beneath my fingertips, and wished I had a mirror. Clearly I looked like Shizuka which would only make it harder to convince them that I wasn't.

“This is going to sound crazy, and I understand if you don't believe me,” I said. “To be honest I don't really know exactly what's going on myself.”

They didn't rush me but their combined gaze started to melt my self-confidence.

“I think I came from somewhere else,” I admitted.

“Somewhere else? You mean a different town?” asked Ko.

“More like –” I laughed shakily. “– a different world.”

Ko frowned but didn't look at Toshi as she spoke. “I think we need some food and water here.”

“On it,” said the younger woman.

She vanished without warning and I jumped as the door slammed shut as if blown by a sudden gust of wind.

“So does everyone here have powers?” I asked before the heavy silence could crush my composure. Ko didn't answer straight away. “Back in my wor- where I'm from, no one has powers. Just money.”

“Money?” she asked quietly.

“Yeah, coins and notes. You use them to buy stuff.”

This world didn't have money? What kind of system did it run on then? My past museum experiences and encyclopaedia knowledge flitted through my head in only partially helpful flashes. Maybe it really was heaven.

“And buying stuff with money in your world makes people more powerful?” Ko stood up and I swallowed, reminded again how much taller she was.

“You could say that.” I chuckled tightly.

“Tell me more about this world of yours,” she said, pacing in a wide circle around a mouldy table with broken chairs.

“Like I said, no one there can throw mud around or trap people in metal.” I crossed one arm over my stomach and gestured dismissively with my other. “At least, not like you and that other guy did. Even if we used spades or machines, we still wouldn't be able to do it like that.”

“So you don't have elemental wielders.” Ko nodded. “What about psychic warriors? Or shapeshifters?”

“The only places we see people like that are in movies,” I said, adding quickly. “Movies are kind of like plays, just with a bit more people involved. Do you all have plays here?”

“A play? Do you mean when people go on stage an act out stories?” she asked. I nodded. “Psychic warriors and shapeshifters aren't real to you then?”

“I'm not even a hundred per cent sure I'm real right now.” I smiled. “But I've never heard of anyone like that existing in my world. Except in fiction.”

“You don't know if you're real or not, yet you seem to think this other world of yours definitely exists.” Ko stopped pacing to look at me, her grin strained. “Why is that?”

“Good question.” I flicked my forefinger at her. “It's probably because most things made sense until I ended up here.”

“You said you got hit by a car and that's how you got here, didn't you?” she replied. “What does that mean?”

“It's kind of like getting hit by a running horse.” I faltered. “You do have horses here, right?”

“Yeah, we know what horses are.” Her curled lips pressed together. “You remember dying like that. You don't remember falling anywhere?”

“I mean, I must've fallen after I got hit because I ended up on the floor first.” The crunch of bones breaking and warm blood spreading through my clothes took over my thoughts. I shook my head against a sudden wave of nausea and pressed my fingers to my mouth. “I guess that's not how your Shizuka died, huh?”

“No.” Ko's grin disappeared.

“What happened to-?”

Toshi reappeared, nearly ripping the door off its old hinges, her face ashen. She didn't seem to have any food or water with her as she grabbed Ko's upper arm.

“They're coming,” she said urgently. “We can't let them find her.”