b r e a t h e // phan

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7 Years Ago

11-year-old Philip Lester was always a hopeful beam of light.

Pretty much anyone that saw him said that he always had a smile on his face. They would all agree that his smile was the brightest thing this planet could hold. His mouth was always a little crooked when he grinned, his tongue poking out a little bit. His eyes would squint together as he leaned back and laughed. He was truly a star.

This particular day though, Phil had a small skip in his step. His smile beamed more than ever. Today was his first day in Year 7, and Phil was ready. He had binders in his backpack and a book to read as well. His pencils were all neatly placed in the front pocket in a little anime pouch, which also contained colored pencils, pens, and a sharpener. He swung a blue and green lunch bag back and forth in his hand, the contents being a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with potato chips and juice in a Pokemon water bottle.

Phil walked to the school gates and into his school.

The blue and white colors surrounded him, as blue and white were the colors of the school team, the Manchester Pirates. There were students standing around, some chatting and some embracing one another in remembrance. The cheerleaders were putting up posters welcoming students back to Manchester Middle. Teachers started to direct children and younger kids in the direction of their first class, as to not get lost.

Phil had his schedule in hand, walking around with a big grin on his pale features. No one smiled back at him, but Phil didn't notice.

Deciding to be social, Phil went to greet some people in his year. The kids sort of glared at him and awkwardly made conversation, as if they were uncomfortable in Phil's presence. The looks only intensified when at one point, Phil pulled out his Pokemon water bottle and drank some juice. The other kids didn't watch anime, much less play Pokemon, and some didn't even know what it was. For some reason they listed him as an outcast, despite the bright smile he gives everyday to every person in sight.

Phil never noticed the looks, nor did he really care.

He walked away from yet another group of awkward conversation and weird glances with a smile. Phil felt he finally made friends, he felt that finally somebody liked him.

The bell rang, and the children all scattered off into their first classes, Phil being one of the first inside the classroom.

•

The day had went smoothly for Phil. He talked to more people, and some loved him so much that they said they felt almost sorry for him. Of course, Phil saw no reason as to why.

The last period had come, and Phil got his stuff packed after the bell rang. He glanced down at his schedule. Choir, room 23, it read. Phil smiled and headed toward the room, stopping to ask a teacher for directions.

Phil finally came to a stop in front of a double-door, where he saw children inside taking chairs from stacks and setting them in groups of which Phil already knew: Sopranos, Altos, Tenors, and Baritones.

He grinned before opening the door and stepping inside, the instant sound of chatter filling Phil's ears. Children talked excitedly all about their first day of school. Phil listened, chuckling slightly at some people's stories even though he wasn't a part of the conversation. He set his chair in the baritone side, as he has always had a naturally deep singing voice. Phil sat down, looking at the boys around him with a smile. The boys scrunched their eyebrows together and looked away, scooting ever so slightly away from Phil. He didn't notice.

There was a hushed silence as everyone's eyes fell on a woman who walked in the room and stood in front of her desk and in front of the students. She was a larger woman, with a curvy figure. She had chopped pixie-cut styled hair that was brown with dyed blonde highlights. She had crystal blue eyes with specks of green around the pupil. The woman had a gray blouse with red fitted jeans, rolled above her ankle with some sandals. She smiled at the class and looked at everyone.

"Hello! You may know me as I know some of your faces, my name is Mrs. Ryn. I am your choir teacher. How was everyone's first day of school?" Mrs. Ryn asked with a smile.

There were shouts of 'good' or 'okay' from around the room, but Phil stayed silent. He had a good day- great, actually- but he just wanted to listen.

After a few minutes of Mrs. Ryn introducing herself and talking about her summer and asking about the students' summer, she smiled and said, "Stand, my butter-bees."

Everyone stood, chuckling at the name. Phil giggled, standing in front of his chair.

"Okay so we are going to warm up." Mrs. Ryn informed the class before going through a series of just, well, warming up. Mrs. Ryn had the students roll their heads from side to side, roll their shoulders forward and backward, and touch their toes. She also taught the students a breathing exercise where they put their hand gently on their diaphragm and suck in breaths on counts like they are sucking through a straw. They would breathe in four counts, then breathe out four counts. Finally, they did one big breath, and Mrs. Ryn finished the warm up with some voice exercises and teaching the students how to sing the vocal scale.

"Before you all sit down, there's something I would like to do," Mrs. Ryn looked around, smiling. Phil caught eye contact with her and he smiled wide.

"I want everybody to put their right hand up," Mrs. Ryn told her students. The students obeyed, all giving each other confused looks.

"I want you to repeat after me." Mrs. Ryn cleared her throat. "I, so and so..."

The class repeated the phrase, putting their names in replacement of 'so and so.'

"Promise to never, ever, ever..." Mrs. Ryn continued.

The class replied the phrase back to the teacher.

Mrs. Ryn looked around for a moment and finished very quietly, "stop breathing."

The students looked around confused to the other kids as they finished, "stop breathing."

What Phil didn't know as he repeated was that he would break that promise much, much sooner than the other students.