Disclaimer: I own nothing apart from Esme and Jenna! I just borrowed the others to play with for a while. This Prologue is a bit short but subsequent chapters will be longer.

Prologue

"So Esme what would you like to talk about today?"

Rolling her eyes, Esme slouched further down in her chair.

"I don't know, the weather?" she answered.

Dr. Lacey frowned over the top of her glasses which she had pulled down to the tip of her nose. In Esme's opinion it made her look even more ridiculous than usual.

"I suppose you think you're terribly funny," Dr. Lacey replied, "Maybe we should talk about your mother today."

"Why would I want to talk about my mother?" Esme snapped. She knew she sounded like a petulant child but she had no inclination to talk to this stupid woman about anything.

"Well that's why we are here is it not? After all—"

"I don't want to talk about my mother," Esme frowned, she needed a way to steer this conversation in a different direction and quickly, "I keep having this dream, every night, always the same dream. It used to be just once a night and I'd go back to sleep and everything would be fine but lately it's every time I close my eyes. Sometimes I'll dream about it 5 or 6 times a night."

Dr. Lacey arched her eyebrow and leaned back in her chair, "Alright, go on."

"There's this lake," Esme began, "well at least I think it's a lake. It could be a river, I'm really not sure. But I'm under the water and I can't get out. All around me everything is dark, but I can see the moon shining through the water just a little bit above me. I try to swim up towards it but I'm struggling to get my head above the water. I just need to break the surface so that I can take a breath but no matter how hard I try I just can't seem to get out. I'm sinking further instead of rising. Then there are hands grabbing me and they're lifting me up out of the water and suddenly there's this overwhelming smell of pine, as if I'm in the middle of a forest or something. Then I wake up. Every night it's the same, I wake up right at the same part, I never get to see who's helping me. I never get past that point."

"What do think this dream of yours means? Is the place familiar to you? Could it be a memory from when your mother—"

"Damn it! Why do you think everything I say is about her? It has nothing to do with my mother, NOTHING! It's just a stupid dream!"

"It is a dream that you felt a need to mention here. A dream about a lake of all things Esme and you think it has nothing to do with your mother? Really, I think it's about time that we got around to the reason you're here. If you don't deal with what happened your panic attacks will continue and they will worsen. You need to try—"

A bell sounded and Esme grabbed her bag from the chair next to her and made her way to the door.

"I didn't even say it was a lake! It might have been a river. For all I know it could have been a bloody bathtub! No matter what it was I should have known you'd find a way to make it about my mother anyway, I'm out of here."

Esme stormed out of the office slamming the door behind her. Muttering to herself, she pulled her phone out of her bag and dialled Jenna. Jenna had been her best friend since they were kids; she'd been with her through everything and always knew how to cheer her up, especially when it came to her mother. Just as memories of the lake and that weekend started to resurface Jenna answered.

"Hey Ez, what's up?"

Fighting back the tears that were welling up Esme sighed, "Just got out of a session with the lovely Dr. Lacey. She kept wanting to talk about my mother again Jen. She just wouldn't let it go."

Jenna sighed, "Wow, she just won't leave that one alone huh?"

Esme shook her head in response before realising that her friend couldn't see her.

"Does she ever? Jen, I told her about the dream. She thinks it's about my Mom but it isn't, I know it isn't. It's nothing like what happened."

Esme heard a door shut on the other end of the line, "I'll meet you at yours, I'll bring the pizza."

"Thanks Jen."

An hour later and Jenna was sat crossed legged on the bed in Esme's room stuffing her face full of Pepperoni pizza while Esme was sitting at her desk in her chair leaning as far back as it would allow without her falling.

"It all feels so real, I swear I'm there I can feel the water, the hands grabbing me and that smell of pine. It's not just a dream. I know it isn't."

Jenna forced down the mouthful of pizza she was chewing, "Maybe it is a memory though Ez like the doc said? I mean ok it might not be related to your mother and all that stuff but it could be a memory from when you were little that you've forgotten about till now. You spent a lot of summers up at that lake, maybe something else happened up there?"

Esme frowned as she leaned back in her chair even further.

"It feels different though Jen, I can't describe it but I really think it's something more than just a memory," she insisted.

"What do you mean more than a memory? Like maybe a premonition or something?" Jenna asked.

Esme didn't get a chance to answer. The back legs on her chair suddenly gave way causing her to go crashing backwards towards the ground and sending Jenna into a laughing fit.

"You big klutz, how did you even manage that?" Jenna laughed.

She jumped down from the bed to help Esme off the floor only to realise the chair was empty.

"Ez? EZ!? What the hell!?"

Esme was gone.

TBC