She woke in bed with a crown of ice upon her head and a silent chain tugging upon her neck so that she could not speak a single word, and when she opened her mouth and tightened her throat, not a single sound came out.

She put a hand to her head, fingers delicately pressing upon the crown, trying to feel its coolness, and the ice melted, running softly down along her face like tears down porcelain.

Who was I? Why am I here?

She put a hand to her throat and felt hair run through her fingers, soft, golden hair that was not her own. She traced the hair with her hands and realized that the wave of hair ran down all the way along her body, tangling in her legs, wrapping around her toes, tickling the bottom of her feet. She turned her head and for the first time realized someone else was in the room with her, a girl, asleep, her chest rising and falling softly.

Who is she? Why is her hair so long? Why am I laying next to her, entangled in her hair?

The girl struggled to sit up and look around her, but in doing so tugged the hair of her companion up along with her, waking the other.

“Ow!”

The girl put a hand to her throat, trying to respond, but no sound came out.

“Who are you?”

They sat and stared at each other, both naked, both utterly confused.

“Who am I? Why am I here?”

They were the same questions the girl wanted to ask, but now she knew her companion had just as little memory as she did. Again she put a hand to her throat but no voice came out.

“You can’t speak?”

The girl nodded. She wanted to write, but without anything about her but the soft, fluffy bed and dark, stone brick walls, she could find nothing to write with. So instead she set about detangling their hair from one another.

“Oh… oh fine, let me help you. Ow! Why do I have so much hair?”

For the first time the girl burst into laughter, a peal of sound that sparkled like dewdrops in the sun, and, surprised at the sound, pressed a hand to her neck. She tried again to speak words but nothing came out. She looked up to find her companion staring at her, and after a moment the both of them burst into laughter again, this time together, her companion’s giggles echoing through the room like wind washing over a wheat field.

After some time, they finally detangled from one another and the girl eased herself off the bed gingerly, afraid to stand but unsure why. She wanted to look around, yet somehow the thought of getting up and walking felt more unnatural to her than exploring from the bed, which made no sense.

She took a step.

Immediately a burning pain shot up through her legs, from the bottom of her feet, as though being stabbed by a hundred knives, and she crumpled on to the floor.