I asked Ayer once, not long after that day, why they believed me. What was it about me that made it so believable? Was it just the slip-ups? The outdated words, disused phrases, was it my false name, was it the poor lies I told?

Ayer told me it was my accent. My way of saying things, my unawareness of certain topics. And, yea, the lies. I believed all that for a while, tried to learn more different things, tried to avoid talking about certain topics I didn't know much of, even tried to hide my accent more, despite Ayers insistence it wasn't necessary.

Looking back though, I don't really think it was any of those things. Maybe a bit, but not entirely. I kind of think now that Ayer was just like that. They believed anything anyone told them, any story, any 'fact'. I guess it's rude to consider them gullible, but I've never been able to think of any kinder word. What I first took as a carefree personality ended up being more of being in absolute denial that anyone would ever do them wrong. That anyone would lie to them, trick them, abuse them.

It was frustrating at times. Part of me wondered how they'd been able to survive this long in a world like this. But I was grateful for it, at first. It kind of made things easier, which, looking back, might not have been all that much of a good thing.

Ayer had sat by me in the stairwell, and when I was feeling better a bit later they asked me more about what I'd said. I was still a bit shaky, still a bit unnerved, but I tried to be honest, while still debating just how much I wanted to say.

"2018..." they started. "That's a very long time ago..."

I nodded. "Yes." I said, relieved my voice didn't break.

"That's more than a thousand years ago."

"Yep."

"Are you a time traveler? Have you been to other times?"

They sounded more shocked now, like it was sinking in a bit more.

"I think I time traveled. I just blinked one day, and then I was here. I felt no time pass. This is the only place I've been."

I thought it would hurt to say, or that at least I'd hesitate before saying it, debate if I should, debate if I could, but it was easy. It was as though I was just talking about something that just happened, something that didn't mean much to me, just a part of my day, no real event.

I traveled forward in time a thousand years. It wasn't much. No big deal. Barely noticed. I'm kind of proud of it, really. It was the kind of reaction Io would have had. Of course, that was one of very, very few times that I actually got it right. Or maybe it really wasn't me, maybe I was just too tired to do anything else. That was probably it.

"Time traveled... you think? You didn't want to? 2018... oh." Ayer paled a bit. They looked worse than I'd ever seen them. I felt a bit bad, for that.

"It was late 2018, December actually. So not too bad.”

"December... that was the last one, it was a winter time, I remember that." They shook their head a bit, seemed to be processing something. "Around the new year... so almost 2019, even."

I nodded. It felt weird hearing them talk about the things that were so normal in my life as something from history. They said it in the same tone as I would say something like "Right, people lit their houses with candles back then", or "right, people didn't know what germs were back then."

I was history to them. Like a medieval peasant thrown into a time of computers and cell phones. They said they studied history, and there I was, history in front of them. A person from a time of winter, a time of December, to a time of… a time without, really, a time without any seasons at all.

"That's unbelievable, to go from so long ago to now- Oh, wait, how have you been doing here? How did you, how are you, did you just wander around until someone helped you? How did you tell them? How long have you been here? All this couldn't have been easy, how have you been handling it?"

They sounded so concerned for me, so surprised that I'd gotten along as well as I had. And they were right, it was hard, but some part of me, some uncomfortable, doubtful part couldn't help but feel like they were overreacting a bit.

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I didn't deserve their concern. As difficult as it was, I should have been able to take it. I should have been able to get along on my own. I'm older now, I should be better than this.

"It's been fine." I said. "I've only been here..." should I lie? "Only a few months. It hasn't been that bad."

Hearing their concern made me feel guilty. Like I'd been complaining over nothing, and now they were worried for no reason, like I'd overreacted over something small and now they thought it was a bigger deal than it was.

It made me feel silly. Selfish. And why shouldn't I? I'd been surviving on my own well enough. I had food, water, shelter, everything I needed. Why did I need to drag them into my problems too? I'd thought I was better than that.

I frowned at myself under my helmet, and leaned forward off the wall.

"I should get going. I still need to unpack my stuff from quarantine. I'll see you at work." I began to head towards the stairs, but Ayer got up to stop me.

"Wait, wait, no, you can't just walk away after saying something like that! You were just, you were just, I mean, are you okay? 'It's been fine' it clearly hasn't been! Do you need help? I can help you get better settled here, I know other people that can help too, there's so many who'd be curious to learn from you about the past and they'd love to help you get settled."

"What? No." I stepped back. "No, no. No one can know I'm from the past. No one. Please don't tell anyone, anyone at all, that's all I ask. I don't need anything more. And I don't plan on getting settled here."

"Really? No o-"

"No one."

"Well, okay, but what do you mean you're not planning on settling here? Where are you planning to go?"

"I'm trying to find a way home. A way back."

"You want to... time travel back?"

"Yes."

They processed, and took a breath. "And if there is no way back?"

"There has to be. I can't live here, I just can't. I can't stay here, there's nothing for me here, I'm not supposed to be here, I hate it here I just can't stay." If nothing else, I knew the homesickness would kill me.

"You... you really can't stay? You really hate it that much here?"

"Yea..." I'd said too much. "I guess."

They looked sad, at that. Looking back, it was kind of an insult, but really, didn't they see it? The dizziness of the lights, the crushing presence of the towering buildings and endless crowds, the empty feeling that grows when you're alone and the exhaustion that slips in no matter how much you rest? Were they immune to it all? Maybe I envied them, for that.

They seemed thoughtful for a moment, and I considered apologizing, but they looked up soon enough.

"Time travel... you're proof it's... real, I guess. Then there... we could look for a way to send you back. I can help you find it, I know people, and I know this time, if you're looking for a way back, I can help you find it. You'd have much better chances of finding it with someone from this time, you have to let me help you with this. And yes, I promise I won't tell anyone. I won't let anyone know, if that's what you want."

I considered for a bit. What they said made sense. It would be so much easier with someone who knew how and where to search for the information I needed. And someone who studied history would know the best places to get obscure information. And if it didn't put them too much out of their way, if it wasn't too much of a burden, then maybe it'd all work out fine. Maybe something good could come out of telling them I was from the past.

I still wished I hadn't said anything. But I did. And now they knew, and could do anything with that information. As nice as they seemed, they were still a part of this world. I knew nothing about them.

But then, combined with all of that, was the part of me that wanted to trust them. The feeling of not wanting to be alone hadn't gone away, and the thought of having someone else around to at least point me in the right direction was tempting.

My choice was guaranteed from the moment I told them I was a time traveler. They knew. That couldn't be changed. And they could help me. Anything, anything at all that could help me get home, would be worth it. At the time I didn't really know how selfish it all was. I just thought it'd work out, in the end.

So I nodded. Just once, like Io would. And we had a deal.

"I want to help you in return though." I said as they grabbed their bag off the floor. "What can I do?"

"Easy," they said, grabbing a book out of their bag. "You're living history. I wanna hear about your time, a lot of our documents from that time are corrupted or missing information, you can look at them some time and tell me which parts are true, and maybe give your own accounts on what life was like back then. And beyond that... I want to show you parts of this time too. Some of the things we've learned since back then, so you can take it back with you to your time and tell them some of what you know."

I nodded. "Sounds reasonable. But for the last part, I'm not really sure anyone would believe me if I told them about any of this." I can think of a few people who definitely wouldn't.

"Why not?"

"Well, it's not like I'll have any proof."

"Proof..." they thought for a bit. "Well, I'm sure we can find some somewhere. This is honestly such a once in a lifetime opportunity, for the both of us. I'll get to learn about your world, you'll get to learn about mine, and we'll both end up learning so much stuff we never would get the chance to otherwise."

I nodded. I'd never really thought of it that way, but the way they'd said it made it sound nicer than I'd been seeing it.

"Yea." I said as we started making our way back up the stairs. "I guess you're right."