Avery sat down on her bed, nervously wringing her hands together. She looked up as Jessica entered the room and put her bag next to the other bag.
"Are you ok?" Jessica asked, sitting down beside her.
"I think so," Avery replied, glancing over at her sister. "Is it going to hurt?"
"Not at all." Jessica shook her head, and put an arm carefully around Avery. "You won't even know. We don't have to do this if you're not comfortable."
"No, no, it's ok."
Jessica rubbed Avery's shoulder reassuringly, wondering when it was that she and Avery stopped being so close.
As kids, they'd been virtually inseparable, they'd had to team up against the boys or risk getting pranked. Together, they'd been a pretty unstoppable team, but somewhere along the way, they'd both changed and had gone in different directions. Jessica blamed her own rebellious phase, she'd pushed everyone in the family away, and it had always been the hardest to get a relationship back with Avery. She supposed it was because Avery had always been able to hear her innermost thoughts, and back then, they hadn't exactly been favourable towards her family. Maybe that was why Avery had kept her at arms length for so long.
But now, with Avery's memory being what it was, it was almost a blessing in disguise. Maybe now they could get their relationship back on track and be as close as they had been once upon a time.
Avery looked at Jessica curiously, picking up bits and pieces from her thought process.
"Do we not like each other?" she asked.
Jessica was quiet for a second, thinking about how to answer. "No, we do... we don't really know each other anymore. It's both of our faults. But I hope... I hope we can change that, because I miss you."
"I'm sorry," Avery replied. "I want to remember all of this, but... I just..."
"It's ok." Jessica reached over and gave her a hug. "It'll come back, I know it."
"Thank you."
~*~*~*~
A few hours later, Avery was sleeping, but not peacefully. She let out a scared whimper, and that's when Jessica knew it was time to help her. She steadied her breathing, focusing on entering the dream plane.
She was met with the familiar sight of the dream orbs, and paused for a second, trying to remember the melody of Avery's to call it over. Finally remembering, she hummed the tune, and the orb flew to her hand. It was darker than it had been before, and Jessica stretched it out and walked into it.
Avery was twelve again. She was sitting in a dark room, crying out for Taylor, eyes round with fear. Her face was streaked with her tears, and her knuckles were grazed. Jessica surmised that this must be a memory from when she and Taylor had been kidnapped. She thought for a second, trying to think how to repair this dream. As horrible as it was, Avery needed these memories to remember who she was. Bad parts and all.
Instead of fixing the dream, Jessica decided to just give her a new dream, but slowly, so that it didn't jolt her too much and hurt her on the dream plane. She started fading the room Avery was in, gradually so it faded to black, then brought up another area slowly, the colours getting brighter as it came more into focus.
Jessica knew that Avery drew a lot of her own strength from the peacefulness of nature. Even as a kid, Avery had always dragged her along to the park, and when they got a little older, to the woods, she found peace in greenery. So she changed the background to a forest, green and lush, peaceful.
For now, that was enough, just to get her out of the cycle of nightmares, and she left the orb, shrinking it back down. She kept Avery's orb in the front, so she could easily access it, before leaving the dream plane and closing her eyes tiredly.
Meanwhile, Avery's whimpers had stopped and a slight smile quirked her lips as she slept.