Sometimes she dreams about her husband. About her parents and even her dogs. Those dreams usually do not end well, as she always wakes to a door locked from the outside. Otherwise, the institution seems rather nice. She has no point of comparison but the food is decent, there are plenty of things to read, and the doctors seem sympathetic.
It even helps. As the days go by, she tells those nodding heads all about her life in the past.
And they nod.
And listen.
And give her medications that fuzz her head in a way that is very dream- like indeed.
She never intends to say anything about the hours she'd spent playing a console called an X-Box and even less about a game called Mass Effect. However, as the days wear on, she finds herself becoming quietly desperate for an explanation. What had happened to her? It seems like she must have gone crazy. That was what the doctors were delicately saying and they seemed so wise. So concerned. And it makes sense.
She doesn't mean to tell them. But the words spill forth anyway.
She has enough sense left, barely, to speak slowly and choose her words. She references the events of the first game only, grasping the abstract concept of not screwing up a timeline with the fervency that only a science fiction fan could muster. Bailey had not met Shepard yet. That was in the second game, wasn't it? Maybe. She thinks perhaps…
The doctor puts her on dosages of something called Prateviec-Z and explains how sometimes people make up stories to cope with difficult situations. He hints that perhaps she had been on the Citadel when it was attacked, when the Reaper Sovereign nearly killed everyone and everything. Being powerless in that situation herself, she has fixated on Commander Shepard, imaged herself as controlling the situation through the hero. Did she remember…?
The girl does not.
That doesn't stop her from nodding, from faintly agreeing with him and from taking her dosages regularly.
But part of her… part of her deep down and protected inside… begins waiting.
Waiting to see if colonies start disappearing…