It was a teddy bear, and I hadn't seen it since I put it away in my wardrobe a few years before (I had refused to sell it). I stared at it, then at the wardobe. Multiple voices in my brain were shouting at me.
     "It's not there, you're still dreaming!"
     "Phoebe can't be real, you just imagined her."
     "She is real, and she put the bear there!"
     Reaching out to pick the bear up, my hand felt an eerie chill coming from it, and the toy itself was ice cold. My toes had even gone numb from having it sitting on them. As I got out of bed, I wondered whether my mothers ought to have known about it, but decided against it as it sounded too unbelievable.
     Then, a short, sharp noise came from the wardrobe. I looked over at it again, tensed my muscles and slowly climbed back into the warmth of my duvet. It remained totally silent, until Charlotte's alarm went off and made me jump.

     I went out into the corridor to go to the toilet, Charlotte opening her bedroom door as I passed it.
     "You're up early," she said. She was already wearing a bright yellow exercise outfit, complete with wristbands and headphones, making her look like someone from one of those 80's exercise videos.
     "I see you do mind sleeping in," I replied.
     "Well, I do if I have to go to the gym every morning."
     "I've never asked: how expensive is it?"
     "Fairly, but..." She leaned in and lowered her voice. "One of the girls that works there gives me a discount because I go so often. Ironically, she just has to sit at a desk in the entrance and eat chocolate from the vending machine."
     "Sounds ideal," I said.
     "Only if you eat a little. Chocolate has more fat in it that you realise." And with that she rushed downstairs to look for her trainers.

     As Charlotte had said the night before, I had nothing to do that day, so I just sat in front of the TV with some cereal. But I couldn't concentrate because of my dream. What if Phoebe had been real? But then again, surely I would have remembered her. You don't just forget someone when they die. If she did die, that is. I could easily have imagined her.
     I was confusing myself, so I watched the news for a while, and by the time Amanda woke up and came downstairs I had forgotten about the dream entirely.

     "Why is there a teddy bear on your bed?" Amanda asked me.
     I started to answer, but realised that I had completely forgotten. "I can't remember," was my eventual reply.
     "Well you must have gotten it out of the box."
     "I know, I just can't remember doing it. I could have been sleepwalking."
     "That's true; you used to do that sometimes when you were little."
     Little. All of a sudden I could remember the whole dream.
     "Did I have a twin sister?" I asked.
     Amanda's expression changed, a mixture of mild surprise and puzzlement.
     "That's a pretty weird question."
     "Why?"
     "Why do you think? Of course you don't have a sister."
     "But I dreamed about her last night. She was called Phoebe and she died when she... we were still young."
     "It was just a dream. If not a random one. I think I'd remember if my kid died."
     "That's what I thought too."
     "Then why'd you need to ask? Had breakfast yet?"
     I showed her my empty cereal bowl, and she nodded and left the room to go to work.

     Amanda was a hairdresser, and her shop was just a few minutes away from the house, as you heard Charlotte say. This was the main reason she had bright blue hair: she dyed it a new colour every few months, and had gone through pretty much every colour in the rainbow and all of the more natural colours. She must have had a high, as I don't think Charlotte even had a job, but she's good at baking and I had sold some of her cakes at my school in a bake sale. She never seemed to eat any cake though, but then again she was crazy about fitness and healthy eating.

     After a few hours I decided that I should do something productive. Being home alone, I didn't have many options, and I had no homework to finish. I decided instead to have a look through the box of toys in my wardrobe, just for some nostalgia (even if they were only memories from a few years before). There were more teddy bears, some dolls from a really long time ago and a toy car. But right at the bottom of the box was a folded piece of paper. I couldn't remember there being any paper in the box when I had put it away, so I decided to look at it. Like the teddy bear that morning, it was very cold, but not so cold that I couldn't hold it. It was a note, written in what looked like my handwriting.

     Hi Evie.
     I had a feeling you would look in this box soon, so I left this note for you. I didn't get a proper chance to speak to you last night, so here's what you need to know:
     I died in a car crash when we were about three or four years old. You may not remember it: I and all the memories that feature me seem to have been erased from yours and our mothers' minds.
     I am trying to contact you, and I believe I have found a way to physically be with you all again. It may not work, but since we had a conversation via your dream last night, I am hoping that it will. Speaking of dreams, I might try to update your memory tonight, just so you have a clearer picture of what happened.
     Hope to see you soon,
     Phoebe x x x

     My hands were shaking, but I couldn't put the letter down. My heart rate had increased and was thumping steadily in my ears. I wasn't sure I believed what I had just read, but at the same time I dreaded going to sleep for fear that it was true. Looking at my watch, I found that I had spent nearly fifteen minutes reading the letter over and over. Amanda would be back from work soon, and now I wondered whether I should show it to her. She would probably think I just wrote it, and if she did, what would she think of me? That I've gone insane?

     I had hoped to spend the rest of the day doing something productive, but instead found myself lying on my bed for a couple of hours, my thoughts empty of everything but Phoebe.