[ WP ] You awaken to find yourself in a white room with two beds , one of them yours . In the other bed , lies the girl you saw in your dreams

`` Do n't forget to breathe.'' 
 
 The pressure was rising, picking up tempo like a fevered heartbeat, drumming against the inside of her chest. It had started as a staccato rhythm at first, each beat ricocheting softly around her center mass with small pops. As the sensation of sinking became more pronounced, the pressure inside rose in kind. She could not see, much less breathe. 
 
 `` *Breathe*,'' the voice insisted. Calm yet firm, the words were accompanied by a feathery touch. 
 
 It did n't seem possible. Against the pressure and the rising panic, breathing seemed like the most *im*possible thing at the moment. Still, she tried, opening and closing her mouth in yawning, awkward snaps like a goldfish. The pressure did not abate, but it did n't seem to hinder her frenzied gulps of air, either. She opened her eyes, curling her body towards the touch and the voice. All around her was a grey, fuzzy void but the source of the insistent voice was there beside her. 
 
 `` Do n't worry,'' she said. As she smiled she seemed to become more defined, separate from the foggy nothingness around them. `` You know me, do n't you?'' 
 
 `` We've been... been here? Before? Or after?'' 
 
 `` Both,'' she said, and reached out with both hands to draw her companion closer, threading warm fingers through dark hair. 
 
 `` Ione?'' 
 
 `` Yes,'' she replied, `` And who are you?'' It was a leading question, gently nudging the girl towards the answer that was just barely within reach. 
 
 `` I am...'' she shook her head, as if that would relieve the pressure inside of her chest or the pounding in her head. She clung to Ione with a desperate iron grip, pressing a clammy forehead against the smooth slope of her neck. `` I am Ainsley,'' she whispered, `` I am Ainsley. Me.'' 
 
 `` Yes,'' Ione whispered, her voice cracking almost imperceptibly. `` I have been skrying for you. Do you remember?'' The rest of the question she could not bear to ask, the last word hanging back from the rest, though it was all Ione wanted to ask: *Me? Do you remember me? * 
 
 Ainsley shuddered, feeling the weight of things almost-remembered pressing against the back of her mind. `` Over and over again. How many times have... have we had...?'' 
 
 `` We've dreamed this many times. And I will scry for you again if again we fail,'' Ione soothed, pressing both hands against Ainsley's cheeks to cup her heart-shaped face. `` Again and again. But we must try. Can you try?'' 
 
 `` Yes,'' Ainsley whispered brokenly, and then with more strength: `` Yes.'' 
 
 `` Do n't let go. No matter what you feel. Do n't let go,'' Ione insisted, hooking her arms around Ainsley and clinging tightly. `` I'm taking you with me this time. *I promise*.'' 
 
 *I promise. * 
 
 A steely spike of pain exploded through them both like a lance. The drumming inside of Ainsley's chest reached a fever pitch of thunderclaps, one right after the other. She could hear someone screaming, though if it was her or Ione, she did not know. 
 
 *I promise. * 
 
 Ainsley woke with a startled bark, sitting up so quickly the muscles in the core of her stomach protested the sudden, jack-knife movement. The room she was in was white and warm, flooded with light from the windows on the west wall. There was another bed beside hers, similarly made with white, crisp sheets and a plain, steel frame. Ione pushed the thin sheets back and sat up slowly, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and standing on uncertain, wobbly legs. 
 
 `` I promised,'' she murmured softly, and held out one scarred, pale hand. `` Did n't I?'' 
 

