Author's note~ Ah! So this is a revamp of a story that is actually quite recent called Have I gone Insane?, but when I went back and read it I thought 'uck! How could I think I was doing a good job?' Si I restarted it. Hopefully it is better and more believable. I think the last one was moving much to quickly
It was that time, that time between sleeping, and being awake, that time when all your thoughts mingle and become one. It was the time when you could believe anything was real, even if it was the most insane idea ever. Sabrina was right in the middle of the time, and enjoying every second of it. Her thoughts were, of course, ludicrous and wouldn't make sense as soon as she woke up, but she liked believing in the impossible, even if it were for such a short period of time. Sabrina call it the magical time, because anything, even magic, could be as real as the nose on her face in that time.
But something was wrong…Sabrina furrowed her brow in her sleep, growing restless. Something was weaving its way into her ingenious thoughts, interrupting them. It sounded like some sort of music, but Sabrina couldn't tell for sure, and it was really beginning to annoy her. Stirring, Sabrina blinked her eyes groggily, deciding that if some stupid music was going to interrupt her magical time of insane thoughts then she might as well get up. She sat up and stretched, rubbing her eyes, trying to get the sleep out of them. It was always hard for her to wake up in the morning, no matter how early she went to bed the previous night. Eva said it was because Sabrina stayed up playing video games all night, and Sabrina argued fervently that that wasn't true…even though most of the time it was.
Kicking a few possibly dirty articles of clothing aside, Sabrina walked over to her closet, pushing aside the white paneling. There wasn't much to choose from. Most of her closet space was taken up with the uniform she had to wear to school, polo's and khakis. But even though her uniform wasn't the most flattering thing to wear, Sabrina could not help but love her school. So Sabrina chose her favorite polo and pair of khakis and pulled them on, then gracefully stumbled to her mirror, locating her brush on her explosion of a desk and running it through her hair, wincing whenever it caught a snag. Once she was satisfied that her hair was tame enough she combed it back into a ponytail, straightening her bangs, and finally ready to go.
Sabrina smiled at her image and grabbed her bag, heading out her bedroom door and down the stairs to the backdoor of her house. Eva, Sabrina's best friend, was standing outside by the door, waiting for her. The raven haired girl was sitting astride her bike, waiting for her friend to come out. When her blonde friend burst out the door and threw a leg over her bike, Eva smiled ear to ear.
"So you excited for today?" Eva asked, grinning at Sabrina, who kicked up the kick stand to her bike and put her foot to the peddle.
Sabrina gave her friend a confused look, cocking her head slightly to the side, "what's so special about today?" She asked Eva, pushing down on the peddle and heading on her way.
Eva promptly followed, riding up beside Sabrina, reaching her leg out and tapping Sabrina's knee with her toe, swerving, and putting her foot back on the peddle. "How could you have forgotten? It's your birthday!" Eva cried, throwing up her hands and swerving again.
Sabrina's face lit up immediately and she slapped her forehead, "Oh yeah! I totally spaced! You know how I am in the morning!" Eva laughed and Sabrina laughed at herself too. She could make all the excuses she wanted, but she couldn't believe she had forgotten it was her birthday! She was seventeen today!
"Well good thing I'm your friend," Eva said haughtily, puffing out her chest, "I booked us a party at Chucky Cheese tonight after school!"
"Chucky Cheese, Eva? Aren't we a little bit old for that place?" Sabrina asked. She wasn't entirely surprised, but she liked to tease her friend all the same.
"Hells yes! I'm so stoked for that ball pit!" Eva cried, standing up to gain speed.
Sabrina rolled her eyes and stood as well to keep up with the hyper girl. "Eva I don't know how you have all this energy in the morning!" She huffed, pouting as she peddled harder, trying to keep up with her raven haired friend.
"Its cause I eat right, stay active, and go to bed at Eight O' Eight every night!" Eva said, sticking her chin in the air and smiling, obviously quoting Sportacus, a character from a children's show.
"Bullshit Eva! All you do is eat meat and lay about you heifer!" Sabrina crowed, laughing so hard she bent over her handle bars.
Eva made an outraged noise, looking at her friend sharply with her mouth all agape, scandalized. "How dare you make such false allegations!" She sniffed, looking away and sticking her nose back in the air.
That only made Sabrina laugh more, and shake her head at her friend's actions. Soon their school was in sight, and Sabrina smiled broadly. In her opinion, Herron High School was the best high school. She might be a little biased, but school had always been terrible for her, until she came to Herron, that is.
The two of them pulled into the parking lot, dodging cars and students, yelling greetings to friends and pretending they were going to run a few over. They pulled up to the bike rack and secured their rides, turning to go up the stone steps to their educational domain. It was easily an hour before school started, but it was a good time to get there. It was a nice time to visit with friends and eat breakfast before school. Eva and Sabrina walked into what the students called the 'Gallery'. It was really their cafeteria, but the school used to be a College Art school, and their cafeteria used to be the gallery. So it was dubbed as such.
Their friends had already gathered at one table. Their friends consisted of mainly boys. Their group was notorious around the school for being delightful freaks. Sirius was there with Peter who, to the delight of the others, had red hair and brown eyes, just like Disney's Peter Pan. Sirius on the other hand was dark haired with ice blue eyes gleaming with mischief. Sabrina skipped over and sat down next to Sirius, who grinned and cocked his head in greeting to the two girls. Sirius lifted his bag off the floor and waggled his eyebrows at them.
"Breakfast today girls is either blue berry muffins or some scone thing." Sirius told them, pulling out said food items. Sabrina grabbed the muffin and unwrapped it, giving Sirius a grin.
"Thanks as always Sirius," She said, biting into the muffin. Eva chose a scone after a bit of deliberation, and was picking at it happily. "Much better than the school's breakfast." She continued, taking another chunk out of her muffin.
Sirius chuckled and took a muffin for himself. It was always like this. They all met in the morning, an hour before school. Sirius brought breakfast and the others paid him weekly. The teens loved the free time in the morning; it allowed them to slide into the school day easily, instead of diving right in to the boring academics.
But unfortunately it could not last forever, and before they knew it they were being released for class. Sabrina let out a loud audible moan and snatched up her bag, flinging it over her shoulder and grumbling about having to sit through seminar. Fortunately, however, Sabrina got to sit by Sirius in the back and the two spent the entire day making stupid jokes and trying to conceal obnoxious laughter behind their hands. Second period was much less eventful. Sabrina's Economics class was very small, consisting of only eight people. Their teacher, Ms. Frey, was nice enough, but you couldn't really jazz up Economics too much, though she did her best.
It was in Third period, however, that things began getting strange. Sabrina had all but forgotten about the music this morning that had interrupted her thoughts. Then again she hardly ever remembered anything from that time, but sitting there in Tech Theatre Sabrina began to hear it again. It wasn't any music she was used to hearing. It sounded like it should be played on a piano, and it wasn't even really a song, it sounded like jumbled notes being hummed and then flipped about, as if a song was being created in her head, but Sabrina had no music talent what so ever, and the song in her head was sounding quite beautiful, unfinished as it was…
Bothered by the fact that music was being written inside her own mind, Sabrina shook her head, trying to clear away the humming notes, and for a moment they did stop, but then slowly picked back up again. It was as if whoever (since it certainly could not be her!) was humming in her mind had paused, waiting for the interruption to cease, before resuming their song writing. Well that was weird…Maybe Sabrina was just losing her mind….yeah that had to be it. She was only hearing voices in her head…nothing to worry about.
Sabrina tried not to hyperventilate.
Leaning toward Eva, Sabrina nudged her friend with her elbow, "do you hear music?" She had to ask, just to be sure, and when Eva shook her head she sighed, already trying to resign herself to the possibility of insanity. She tried to actually listen to the music, to hear the notes. Now that she was listening, the music seemed to grow louder and more intense. It was still slightly jumbled and still being pieced together. Then suddenly they stopped. Sabrina was confused and…so was something else inside her mind. It was hard to describe, Sabrina was confused, but there was another feeling of confusion also in her mind, one that was not her own. Whatever was in her head was becoming aware that she was aware of it. Sabrina blinked, staring straight ahead, concentrating on whatever it was, and trying to figure out what it was. It seemed to be struggling, as if it wanted to speak, but couldn't form the words. It was almost as if it weren't strong enough. All it could manage was to hum a melody, to make music.
The bell ringing startled Sabrina so much she let out a little high pitched scream, eyes wide and shaking herself out of her stupor. She had been concentrating so hard on the thing inside her head that she had not noticed the period had ended. Her friends ignored her shriek, as her giving indignant screams when startled wasn't that odd of an occurrence. Eva waited for Sabrina at the door, the good friend that she was, and walked with her out into the hallway.
"Sup witchu?" She asked, looking the blonde girl over. The others may think it was Sabrina being her usual self, but Eva knew better. She practically lived with her after all, preferring to stay with Sabrina rather than her own home. She knew when something was bothering Sabrina.
Sabrina shrugged her shoulders in a dismissive gesture, "nothing, just spaced out again is all." She said absently. Whatever was there in her mind was still trying to communicate to her, and she was concentrating hard on it, trying to help it, but nothing was coming of it. Music still floated through her head though, as if it were trying to use its songs to communicate instead.
Eva gave her a look that clearly said she didn't believe her, but left it alone. Sabrina would tell her eventually, she always did, but Eva would not let it drop so easily. The blonde was lucky it was her birthday.
Only one class was left, English. Sabrina loved English. Her teacher Mr. Shaw was a very sweet man and always making little jokes. He was a total dork and Sabrina loved messing with him. But today Sabrina could barely pay attention; the music had become incessant and refused to quiet. Whatever was there was really trying to speak with her now, but Sabrina couldn't understand garbled music speak! The entire class this went on. Sabrina tried her best to work and act normal, but Mr. Shaw still came over several times that class to ask if she were alright. She said she was of course, but Mr. Shaw clearly didn't believe her either.
The end of the day could not have come fast enough. When that final bell rang Sabrina let out a breath of relief and stood, gathering her things quickly. Ria joined her side outside the classroom and smiled down at her. Ria was a very tall girl and often was teased because of it. Sabrina, however, loved Ria and her tallness. Today however was trying the little blonde girl. The music would not stop, it kept going and going, it was going to drive her to insanity. But she could not bring herself to tell Ria to be quiet, so she just nodded at the appropriate times and kept a smile on her face. The two of them split when it was time to go to their lockers, but met up again in the gallery. The place was even more crowded than it was in the morning. The gallery was the main gathering place for friends to say their good byes each and every day. It was also the place for fifth period, which just added to the mass chaos.
A few students were blasting music from their iPods and phones. It certainly only served to aggravate Sabrina more while she tried to talk with friends, listen to music in her head, and block out the grainy music blaring from tiny speakers. As a joke, one student started playing the opening song to CSI and the repetitive phrase 'Who are you?' could be heard by all those nearby. Suddenly the music in Sabrina's head stopped. It was listening to the song! Then, to Sabrina's great disbelief and shock, it began to recreate the tune. Only the sounds of it, there were no words, but it sang the phrase of musical notes through her thoughts. It took a moment for Sabrina to figure it out, but she let out a gasp when she did. It was asking who she was!
A few of her friends gave her odd looks out of the corners of their eyes, but continued on with what they were doing, ignoring her odd outburst for the most part. Sabrina just stood there wide eyed for a few more seconds, listening to whatever was residing in her thoughts sing to her, asking her who she was. Slowly, very slowly, and feeling absolutely ridiculous, Sabrina replied, Sabrina.
The music grew excited with its success, but was at a loss. Sabrina could tell it was learning that she could not understand its random combination of notes, and to her immense horror Sabrina felt it move around a bit, sluggish and weak, trying to find something else to sing to her, to get more information, trying to convey itself to her.
Someone grabbed Sabrina by the arm, breaking her concentration. It was Eva, looking at her blonde friend, concern starting to actually come through. "You ready to go? We have your birthday party to set up you know." She said slowly, wandering if her friend was all there in the head. Sometimes Eva had her doubts, but these last few hours seem to have done a number on Sabrina for some reason. For now she wouldn't push it, but Sabrina couldn't avoid it forever.
It took Sabrina a moment to process what Eva had asked her, but she nodded, forcing a smile. The raven haired girl took her by the hand and led her out of the gallery and all the way outside to their bikes. Sabrina mounted hers without a word and followed Eva out of the school's parking lot.
It was a longer ride to the establishment that was hosting the party, but the girls were used to it. They rode their bikes everywhere, so the distance meant nothing to them. The crossed streets, avoided cars and pedestrians, and struggled up a few hills before finally reaching the Chucky Cheese's. They safely locked up their bikes a strolled inside. The boys, Peter, Sirius, and one named Gerard that didn't go to their school, were already there, setting up decorations in their designated area.
The decorations were a mishmash of all of the things Sabrina loved that they could gather. There were Pokemon and Iron Man streamers, along with Pokemon and owl tablecloths. There was a Pirates of the Caribbean banner that read 'High Adventure' and several pirate balloons. The young blonde was delighted by the sight and hugged all of her friends tightly. They did not let her see the cake, saying it was a special surprise, and Sirius went to go order the pizza as more guests arrived.
Even with all of the excitement Sabrina was aware of the presence in her mind. It was growing more and more excited by the busy environment they were in, and she could tell it was trying to take everything in at once. It tried singing to her again, pleading to communicate, but Sabrina could not make sense of the sounds. It did seem however that the sounds were beginning to form into the semblance of words, but weren't quite there yet.
Sabrina decided to ignore it for now. There was nothing she could do about it at the moment. Her friends quickly distracted her by showering golden tokens on her and betting on how many tickets she would be able to win. Sabrina accepted all challenges and dashed off to play games, Sirius and Peter racing after her to try and thwart her in her quest for all of the tickets in Chucky Cheese's. Needless to say they didn't succeed, and an hour later Sabrina was carry quite a hefty haul back to the table where the others had sat down to pizza.
Eva dragged her into the booth and set the stack of tickets down beside her. "Nice job Sev! Didn't let those pesks get to you!" She said proudly, waving a dismissive hand toward Sirius and Peter. They returned the gesture by sticking out their tongues and throwing their noses into the air. Eva and Sabrina laughed at their antics, and then dove right into the tasty pizza.
Presents came before cake, and Sabrina had a generous pile to get through. Her friends gathered around where she sat, and watched as she peeled the wrapped off each and every present. She got some pretty good ones too. A dinosaur Pillow Pet from Eva, a My Little Pony Doctor Whooves belt from Ria, 20 bucks from Gerard in a Slenderman birthday card he must have found over the internet. Austin and Patrick got her a ceramic owl, and Peter got her the movie 300 which everyone knew she hated and they all got a good laugh out of her opening.
It wasn't until Sirius's gift that anything odd happened. She was aware that the presence was watching everything avidly, but when she opened the gift from Sirius it exploded with activity. Sabrina gaped down at was she had opened, not quite believing her eyes, while the presence went absolutely insane inside her head. Music was blasting in her ears that no one else seemed to here, and it was struggling harder than ever to form coherent words.
Sabrina was staring down at a small collection of things. The first being a fake red rose with a black, silk ribbon tied around it, along with a half mask and a hard cover, gilded copy of Susan Kay's Phantom. But the one thing that made Sabrina's heart stop dead in her chest, was the little ring that sat peaceably on a little satin pillow, winking at her teasingly. It was an exact replication of the ring in the 2004 Phantom film…probably not real gems, but still remarkable! Sabrina looked up at Sirius with wide eyes while the others just stared at the gifts in stunned silence, music blasting in her head, trying desperately to communicate with her.
"Sirius…how did you?" Sabrina did not even know how to properly ask her question. These gifts were just so amazing! She blinked up at him, at a complete loss for words. Sirius himself looked a tad bashful and even had a little pink tint to his cheeks.
"It uh…wasn't easy, but I had to. I knew you would love them." He muttered softly, giving her a big grin, trying to banish the blush heating his cheeks.
"Good thing we all went before him!" Austin cackled, sending everyone into roars of laughter, even Sirius and Sabrina.
"That's right! Thank you Sirius I love them!" Sabrina shouted, standing up and throwing her arms around the boy's neck. Everyone kept laughed and started making cooing noises, causing Sirius to pretend to try and push Sabrina away, which only made the girl begin to shower him with forced kisses all over his face, no matter how hard he struggled or how loudly he called out in disgust.
Peter brought out the cake, calling order back to the group. The cake went along with Sirius' gift, a Phantom of the Opera cake, and Sabrina had a feeling that Sirius, Peter, and Gerard planned it this way. The cake was set down before her and the group sang to her, wishing her happy birthday wishes as she blew out the candles.
The cake was delicious, and Sabrina was completely stuffed full when she was done. The others had already begun to clean up, taking down decorations and throwing away trash. Sabrina put away her gifts into an empty back pack Sirius had handed her, but safely put the ring on her finger, afraid it may get lost anywhere else.
Once everything was all tidied up, spoken for, and safely packed away, everyone began to leave. Sabrina cashed in her tickets, winning a stuffed animal and several other pieces of crap the likes of which only Chucky Cheese's could offer. Then she set off with Eva, heading home in the darkening streets.
The presence had not yet ceased, but it was growing tired. The music it was creating grew sluggish and disjointed. Sabrina was anxious to get home. She thought she might had an idea, and that if she knew at least for sure what the presence was she could help it, or make it strong enough to help her understand what it was.
When the bikes were locked up at Sabrina's house the blonde haired girl dashed inside and up the stairs, Eva following behind her giving a cry of indignant protest.
"Damn girl where's the fire?" Eva called after Sabrina, who was already in her room looking through her dvd cases. Eva stood panting in the door, watching her curiously, wandering what in the hell could be so urgent all of a sudden.
Sabrina didn't even look to Eva as she violently shoved a dvd into the player, jabbing at the remote to bypass the commercials to get to the main menu. When Eva saw what the movie was she just rolled her eyes and flopped onto the bed. Phantom of the Opera of course that's what she was so eager about. Eva worried about Sabrina's sanity sometimes. The blonde was obsessed with the story to the point where it may or may not be unhealthy.
Sabrina was very impatient, fast forwarding through the beginning, tapping the remote against her thigh as she watched for the part she was waiting for. She hurriedly pressed play when it got to a certain point, and leaned forward, emerald eyes wide, hoping this would work.
The part she had been so impatient to get to, was when the Phantom was beckoning Christine, calling to her. 'I am your Angel of Music' at those words, the presence exploded inside her head, singing, beckoning to her. The words had begun to come, they were forming. The presence struggled and fought to rise from the back of her thoughts to the front. It was the weirdest thing Sabrina had ever experienced, but it also excited her. Whatever was in her head she was on the verge of finding out what it was. She had had an inkling when it had gotten excited over her gifts from Sirius, but she had to know for sure, and it seemed her answer was here.
"I am the Angel of Music! I am Erik!" With great excitement and passion the words exploded in her head in a rising song of jubilance. Sabrina could clearly tell that it was a male's voice speaking to her in her own thoughts, singing to her. The presence was now more than just a presence, but now active thoughts joining hers. Ever so slowly Sabrina turned around to look at Eva with wide eyes and a pale face.
Eva just cocked an eyebrow at her. "What bitch? Finally losing your mind?" She asked, sounding slightly bored. She furrowed her brows when Sabrina didn't react in the positive or negative and just continued to sit there with a pale face. "Ok, I'll bite, what is it?"
Sabrina didn't even know how to begin to tell Eva she had heard Erik's voice in her head, but she had to say something or she thought she might explode. "I think I finally have lost my mind." She said tremulously.
Nodding, Eva didn't seem too surprised. "You gonna tell Eva about it?" She inquired in the third person, raising both eyebrows at her friend now.
It was now or never, "I think…I'm hearing Erik's voice in my head." Sabrina said bluntly, not having a clue on how to phrase it any other way. She looked imploringly up at Eva, begging for the raven haired girl to believe her. If anyone would it would be Eva.
Eva watched Sabrina's face for a minute, seriously thinking over what Sabrina was saying. She knew when the blonde was playing around, and there was no joke in Sabrina's face, only dead serious and a lack of blood. "Well, so you finally lost your mind, what now?" She asked, propping her elbow up and laying her head in her hand.
Sabrina shrugged, some of the color returning to her face now that she knew Eva was going to at least support her in her insanity. "I don't know, but I know damn well I am not going to school tomorrow." She said, a grin spreading across her face.
Erik was stirring in her head now, growing stronger by the second. Just by knowing that it was him gave him strength and allowed him to make himself more coherent. He was still singing bits and pieces of songs, but soon he was getting a handle on his new position in her mind, and whole sentences could be produced. "Who…are…you?" His question came laboriously, but it was clear.
My name is Sabrina. Sabrina answered, mouth twisting in concentration. Eva was watching her curiously, but Sabrina was to focused on Erik that she could not worried about what her friend must be thinking.
` Erik rustled around in her thoughts a bit. It seemed as if he were trying to get more comfortable in her mind. It was a very odd and disconcerting feeling to be sure, but once he was nestled it was easier for him to speak. "What now?" He sounded very uncomfortable. She could tell he was trying to sift through her head without her noticing, rifling through memories and ideas. Nothing to interesting until he came to the part of her mind that was filled with her Art. Erik could see her ideas for new drawings and fond memories of particularly successful ones. He was quite impressed and began digging for more of her talents.
'Do you mind?' she inquired a bit irritated. He was quite nosy, and rude considering they had technically just met, are sharing the same mind, her mind, and making himself quite cozy in her inner personal musings.
Erik ignored her and continued his snooping. He skimmed thought after thought, jumped through memories and flipped through ideas, nosing around until, abruptly, he hit a sort of…wall. He pushed against it with all of his will, but it did not give. "What is this?" He asked indignantly, resting once more in the forefront of her mind.
'You didn't seriously think I was going to let you just stick your nose into all my thoughts did you?' She responded, internally rolling her eyes at him.
Erik gave a huff and turned his thoughts from her. She could still sense he was there, but it was clear he was not talking to her. Rolling her eyes she shoved Eva over to give herself room in the bed. Eva scooted over, laying down on her side and watching her best friend.
Once Sabrina was settled with her eyes closed she let out a deep breath, glad Eva wasn't interrogating her. But what was she going to do with Erik? Would she be able to function carrying him around with her as a constant companion? It looked like she was going to have to.
As her thoughts wound down she felt Erik relax and get comfortable. A favorite song of her wafted through her thoughts, drifting through like a sift breeze. The old Phantom in her head let out a pleased sigh and seemed to cuddle up next to her thoughts. Sabrina couldn't help but smile at his actions, as while she drifted to sleep the song continued to lull them away to the land of dreams.
Maybe it wouldn't be so bad…
Author~ So there you are! Not to terrible I think, but please Read and Review!
Your faithful Author- Jay Phillips~
