Seal My Fate•Phantom of the Opera Fanfiction

Chapter 7: Everyone Has Secrets

Helloooo! :D

[Insert hilarious reference]

Good news: I have a chapter for you, and I hope you enjoy it!

Bad news: I still don't have the rights to The Phantom of the Opera.

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Christine/Emma

"I can't swim!"

My 4-year-old brother's voice echoed through my head.

"Emma, I can't swim! Emma, no!"

I laughed as I grabbed him under the arms and held him over our pool.

"Emma, what are you doing? Emma, stop! EMMA!!!"

I dropped the screaming child out of my hands, letting him fall through the black, endless pit. His screams continued to echo, his growing quieter and mine growing louder until I couldn't tell whether or not I was the only one left screaming.

My eyes flew open and I gasped for breath. I didn't know where I was, and I didn't care. I hadn't had that dream in years. It always left me feeling so helpless and guilty, as though I really had meant to drown my little brother. Once I had it, I usually couldn't shake the feeling away for months.

I closed my eyes and carefully remembered exactly what had really happened, in an attempt to make myself feel better, but it didn't work.

Not that I expected it to, of course. The dream was so similar to reality in so many ways that the differences were hard enough to find, let alone cling to.

"Emma, watch your brother, would you?"

I hesitantly agreed. I wasn't in the best mood that day. I didn't want to be bothered.

Still, I figured, I wouldn't have to actually watch him. I just needed to be there in case he needed something. If someone knocked on the door, I'd be the one to answer it, and if he called my name, I'd help him with whatever he needed help with, but other than that I could spend the day how I spent most of my at-home days: sitting on my bed watching fencing tutorials.

I loved fencing at the time. I was really good at it, too. Saber fencing, specifically. I could never get my mind off of it. I was only 9, but boy was I obsessed with fencing.

"Emma!" my brother called.

"Just a minute, I'll be out when I finish this video."

There was no reply. I watched the video, carefully observing their moves, before fulfilling my promise and stepping onto the back porch.

It was too late. I walked outside to find my brother's lifeless body floating in the pool, bobbing up and down with the little waves the wind formed on the surface of the water. I couldn't bear to look any longer. I turned away in a panic and called for my mother, but she wasn't home. Of course she wasn't, that was why I was supposed to watch him in the first place.

I couldn't bring myself to call her, so I ran upstairs and hid in my room. I furiously grabbed all of my fencing materials and threw them in the garbage, then proceeded to lay on my bed sobbing until my mother came home. I couldn't speak to her. She could hardly speak to me. She never punished me for it. She must have figured that the trauma I'd be forced to live with, and the brokenness of my relationship with her and my sister would be punishment enough.

I shook it off. I was guilty, I understood that, but there was nothing I could do to fix it now.

In fact, I thought, realizing where I was, I don't even exist anymore. Not to them.