[Drowning]

Chapter 0: None of this exists, now.

"None of this exists, now."

Her own words. Not his. Only in his voice, confirming her worries, her fears, her anxieties. A drip of water started above her head, striking just down below her eyes, drops rolling down her cheeks.

The level of water was at her waist now. She needed to find the leak. It wasn't anywhere in her sight-she turned and turned, glaring around the room desperately, but she saw nothing. "I don't want to go..."

She heard him laugh softly, like she had just told an amusing joke. "You have to. There's no choice in the matter."

The water was up to her neck. She felt it now, frigid upon her skin. She flailed her arms and legs frantically, trying to keep herself afloat. But she was drowning. "Michael!"

"Goodbye, Emily."

The water rose above her head, and she felt her hair float upward in its icy grasp, limbs growing numb, and she was sinking, despite her best efforts to raise herself. Her heart was in her throat, beating hard; her emotions running wild, waves of panic clouding her judgement.

And then she was sitting up, the darkness around her overwhelming, the reality of moist sweat soaking the bed around her, the smell of her own fear and sadness... a sensory overload.

She let her face sink into the comforting grasp of her own hands, crying.