The choices we made

Chapter 6.

*Christine

Fire was spreading around me. I ran forward to save myself. I suddenly turned to the right and froze. I've hit a dead end. I wanted to scream with all my might in despair. I had the impression that the opera house seemed to be built differently, because I was sure that I had been to this part of the opera many times before, and I could easily go further. However, I couldn't think about the layout of the opera house walls right now.

I was trapped.

My back touched the wall as I started coughing. The flames slowly started moving towards me. Tears appeared in my eyes. Is this how I will end? Will I burn alive? Suddenly the fire increased and began to spread around the room at a surprisingly fast pace.

" No! "I screamed in fear to the flames surrounding me

Suddenly I felt heat at my feet. Terrified, I saw that the inevitable had happened. The flames touched my dress. I felt the heat of the flames gradually rising towards the top of the dress. The fabric of the dress had already caught fire and was now burning my skin. I heard a muffled sound. After a while, I realized that it was me who was screaming out of desperation and fear. Tears, as big as peas, were flowing down my cheeks. I couldn't catch my breath. At one point I started to wonder why I was going to die. From the flames or will I suffocate with my own tears.

"Christine" I felt like the flames were hissing.

"Christine," the fire crackled next to my ear.

"Christine" between the hissing flames I thought I heard a voice. He sounded worried.

" Christine, it's just a nightmare, you're safe.... Wake up" I felt a cold touch on my shoulder.

I immediately opened my eyes and jumped out of bed into a sitting position.

My heart was beating like crazy. It felt so true. I could still feel the phantom flames running through my body. A sharp pain shot through my body.

I pulled my knees up to my chin and wrapped my arms around them. I hid my face in my knees. I felt my body tremble. After a while, I realized that something wet was falling on my dressing gown. I was surprised to discover that I was crying.

"It's just a nightmare. It didn't really happen," I repeated in my mind, trying to calm down. To no avail. This was no ordinary nightmare. It was more like a modified memory. I still remembered perfectly every moment, every second, when I tried to get out of the burning opera house.

As I tried to calm down, I felt the bed mattress sag under someone's weight.

Erik.

Due to the excess of emotions swirling inside me, I completely forgot about his presence. 

I couldn't see him, but I could easily imagine him wondering how to help me.

Suddenly I heard his voice. His beautiful, velvety voice. For a moment it seemed as if my imagination was playing tricks on me, but with each subsequent word I became more certain that what I was hearing was true. Erik sang a lullaby. And not just any kind. He sang a lullaby that my father sang to me when I was a child.

My father sang it to me whenever I was afraid of something. I remember singing this lullaby during my first lessons with the Angel of Music to warm up my voice.

I felt my breathing gradually return to normal under the influence of his soothing voice and the strange sense of security that the lullaby brought. I stopped crying some time ago, enchanted by the lullaby.

When I felt like I had calmed down, I lifted my head from my knees. The first thing I saw was Erik's worried eyes staring at me. The last lines of the lullaby were now coming from his lips. Erik sat just within arm's reach.