A New Life

It had been 8 months since that terrifying red eye flight and Lisa surprisingly felt rejuvenated from the experience, but always on high alert. Her father, Cynthia and her co-workers were all impressed at how she gained strength instead of falling apart like most people would have expected. She was doing so well that at first her father suggested that she see a therapist in case Lisa was repressing her feelings. She adamantly refused saying the experience itself was releasing and in time he accepted her explanation. The final battle between her and Jackson was a catharsis, she no longer felt victimized by him or even the terrible thoughts of the rape that had occurred three years prior. It was a game of chess and she had won. Checkmate.

It was a Sunday night, and Lisa was sitting nestled in her soft plush coach in front of her television watching the news and drinking a cup of her favourite herbal tea. It was a regular quiet evening, it was dusk and her mind drifted to all the things she had to do at work tomorrow. Her life had more or less went back to normal and she was frustrated and restless by the boredom. Before the red eye flight Lisa was committed to her work as if she were married to it. But now, it gave her no satisfaction. It was so boring, so inane serving those ungrateful customers who were so thankless….a thankless job was how Jackson had described the woman at the check-in counter at the airport. Damn it! She thought. I have to get him out of my head. Lisa had yet to train herself from getting him out of her mind when he did drift in from time to time. She felt pride beating him at his own game and she would go over the details again and again.

Suddenly the phone rang bringing her out of her reverie. She picked it up and cradled it in the nook of her neck, so she could hold the warm mug with both hands.

"Hello?"

"Hello, is this Ms. Lisa Reisert?"

"Yes, speaking. May I know who is calling?"

"I'm Sydney Bristow. I heard your story about the flight from Texas to Miami and I know this is highly unusual but I was wondering whether we could meet and chat about it?"

Lisa paused for a moment confused. The press and media had been hounding her for the first few week after the flight trying to get an interview with her, wanting to know every single detail about the assassination attempt and the mysterious, elusive stranger who had almost succeeded. Lisa, stayed tight-lipped not wanting to speak publicly about the whole ordeal, despite some very tempting offers. This call seemed no different then the rest.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not interested in selling my story to you or anyone else for that matter--" Lisa was going to go into her entire speech, one that she had plenty of practice reciting to journalists from newspapers and television networks but Sydney had cut her off.

"Ms. Reisert I'm sorry if I gave the wrong impression but I am not interested in getting a story. I'm calling in regards to a professional matter which I would much rather speak to you about in person. I know this is short notice but would you be able to meet me for coffee at Café Alberti at the corner of Avenue Road and 4th Street in about an hour?"

"Could you tell me more about yourself? I really don't know anything about you."

"Well, I'm married, have two wonderful kids a boy and a girl and I play hockey on my spare time." The woman laughed, or it sounded more like a giggle. Lisa was surprised to hear how Sydney's voice changed from pure professionalism to such a casual demeanour.

Lisa did not know what to think and she grew more suspicious by the moment. A strange woman who didn't identify why she was calling or who she worked for wanted to meet. It didn't make sense, why couldn't she say anything more over the phone? Unless, she was in league with Jackson and his unsavoury business dealings. Lisa wanted no part in that and she certainly wasn't going to brought into it again by a third party.

"I don't really, I mean…" Lisa's confidence was faltering, she didn't know how to reject the offer of meeting without sounding rude. Sydney picked up on her hesitation and right on que she interceded.

"Look I know I've put you in an awkward situation but if it helps I'll be at the coffee shop with my son. If I wanted to try anything I obviously would not bring him along. I just want to have a friendly conversation. So what do you say?"

Lisa reconsidered the situation. They were going to a public place so if she were to try anything there would be plenty of people around to see and with a kid in tow how dangerous could she be? Lisa looked down at her attire, she was still in her pajamas from last night. She sighed at the lack of her social life and decided to take a chance.

"I'll see you in an hour then."

"Great. I'll be wearing jeans and a black t-shirt. I'm looking forward to finally meeting you. See you soon." And with that the line went dead.