From Shadows to Starlight

Waking Dream

Chapter Twelve

I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell, I know right now you can't tell, but stay a while and maybe then you'll see a different side of me. --Matchbox 20

Waking Dream

Erik dashed blindly through the rain pouring down on the deserted street. He threw open the stable door, startling the horses and sending them rearing up in their stalls, whinnying in fear. But apart from the chaos and noise, one black horse on the end stood still and whickered a soft, friendly greeting. Erik ran to her stall, opened the door, and threw his arms around Raven’s neck. The mare nuzzled him gently, ever loyal, calm and trusting despite her master’s often erratic behavior. Erik rubbed the horse’s neck, trying to calm himself and make sense of everything.

His heart was pounding. What had just happened? What would have happened had Alana not said something back there in the hotel room? Why had he chosen to sing that song with her, of all the songs in the world? He had sworn he would never sing it again with anyone else. He didn‘t understand what had possessed him to choose that song, and he didn‘t understand what had come over him after they had begun to sing it. One moment, he had been helping Alana with the most difficult piece she had tried thus far.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The next moment, he found himself in a dark corridor, singing as he watched his angel through a small hole in the wall. Christine was singing with him. His heart began to beat faster, the familiar warm feeling he felt every time he saw her washing over him. It consumed him. The song they were singing was their favorite; his version of “La Ci Darem La Mano” suited both of their voices perfectly. For so long, he had sung his song, desperately wanting to join Christine in that little chapel where she sat alone in the night, and now, he could no longer contain himself. He opened a secret door in the stone wall and stepped through.

Christine just stared at him, unafraid despite his sudden appearance and the mask he wore. He finished singing his part and gazed back at her. Then, he was taking her in his arms, holding her close to him, running his hands through her dark brown hair. He had never felt so wonderful in all his life. He was almost…happy.

“I love you,” he whispered, three words he had been longing to say for so long. He let go of her. She was staring up in awe at him, looking more beautiful than ever. Erik took her face in his hands, pulling her back towards him. He was moving his own face slowly closer to hers, their lips just centimeters apart. Then Christine spoke.

“What are you doing?” She looked confused, and not quite like herself.

Erik moved back slightly, looking at her in equal bewilderment. Her eyes were changing. The deep brown eyes he knew, he loved, were becoming a combination of green, blue, brown, and gray, all at the same time. He was stroking her face, but it was changing shape. Mounting panic rose up inside of him. What was happening? Her entire figure was fading fast, transforming into…into what? His hands shook.No, no, don’t go. Don’t leave me again. Please.

Don’t leave me again? What was going on?

“Erik? What are you doing?” That wasn’t Christine’s voice at all.

And then he was standing in his hotel room, Alana looking back at him, her hazel eyes wide with fear.

 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

It had all been a dream. He had dreamt of being with Christine countless times. But he had never seen this vision in his waking hours before. Erik couldn’t believe it. It was one of the strangest experiences he’d ever had, and someone else had been there to witness it. He didn’t understand anything except that he had somehow had a terribly vivid hallucination, and Alana knew it. He had actually believed she was someone else.