Title: Foretaste of the Afterlife
Author: Evelyn Benton
Rating: T
Date: 07/31/06
Category: Drabble
Genre: Angst, Romance
Fandom: The Phantom of the Opera (Erik/Christine)
Archive: Stellar Phenomena and fan fiction dot net; all others, please ask.
Disclaimer: Gaston Leroux, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Susan Kay, and co. own various incarnations of the out of copyright novel The Phantom of the Opera; I own this not-for-profit fan fiction; no copyright infringement (where held) is intended.
Author's Note: This is the reflection of a "generic" Erik that could fit into almost any Phantom incarnation.
Summary: Erik, ever the intellectual, reflects on the almost artistic science of sleeping and Christine's tiny, albeit significant, role in the scheme of his reality.



Every night, when I close my eyes to sleep, I die. Upon awakening, I lack memories of nothingness. Instead, I'm consciously aware of the time that passed by when sleep took me away from the world.

Could this void be a foretaste of the afterlife? Could heaven be Christine's voice and the tiny glimmer of hope that she will one day be mine? Could hell be every other waking moment in this dark reality?

Death apparently transports me not to heaven or hell, but instead into a peaceful oblivion that neither smells sweetly of roses nor stings violently of thorns.




END