Warning(s):
This is purely written as reading material from a fan. I do not mean to offend, insult, or give anyone ideas.
I only say this because Religion and Sexuality both play somewhat big parts in my story and there may be some scenes when it seems that a religion or people that believe the religion within the story are based on only what is stereotyped in the media…
My writing will not help with real life or offer any sort of advice.
I ask that you do not use these scenarios in an attempt to put yourself into a coma. This is only a story. Nothing more.
You will only succeed in seriously and permanently damaging your brain, end up in a vegetative state, or dead.
This story is rated 'M' for swearing, sexual scenes, blood shed and what could be, offensive material.

Disclaimer:
I do not own The Phantom of the Opera or any of the characters within the movie... or novels… which ever I have placed this fiction under. This is why I try my best to make this story as accurate as I could and so my story would not have conflict with the story line. I'm trying my best to get the character's personalities or how they would react to be just as accurate. I would appreciate some feed back if I make any of the characters out of character.

Claim…er?:
You will notice that are more characters that are not mentioned within the movie as well, this is because they are not in it… Well at least I don't think that they are. But either way, they are only extras for this story… I have read the Leroux novel and watched the 2004 movie countless times… I only wish that I read the Susan Kay novel.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy the short story and Welcome to the Coma Series: "The Phantom of the Opera" edition.

Please Review!
~SafetyPinStitches

A state of deep, often prolonged unconsciousness, usually the result of injury, disease, poison, or in rare cases the individual is manually placed into the state in which an individual is incapable of sensing or responding to external stimuli and internal needs.

[Greek: kōma, deep sleep.]

Cursed
Introduction: Kyla

_
The Crows Curse.
Crows or Crowe, give or take a letter, is an ironic last name in my opinion.
I got a question. Was a crow always labelled as an omen of death?
I always figured it would have changed to a vulture by now, but no… in legends and myths it remains as the ultimate bad omen.
The reason why I find it ironic is because I was born with a curse, and my last name has 'crow' in it. It actually means 'The Crow' in french. Think me over dramatic if you want. I'm dead serious… if you had a dark sense of humour; you might have given a little giggle.

The curse started with my great, great, great grandmother back in the 1600s somewhere in Europe. Back in the day when they burned witches on a steak and tossed them in a river after being tied to a chair and every family had at least ten kids.

Yes, I am a witch's descendant. If you want to technical, I am a demon's spawn. Or was it vampire? I can't remember.

I was never allowed to look into my family's history or listen to my late grandfather's stories. Mom said he was crazy. Either way, I think it is very surprising that the family wasn't totally wiped out all those years ago. But the curse just had to live on, and you know that with each generation the blood grows weaker and thinner until it is hardly there anymore? The very same happened to the family, and it was said that the curse was lifted.

'God smiled upon the Crowe family'

This didn't happen until the late 1800s… or was it the early 1900s… It doesn't matter.

The curse suddenly made an appearance a little while after my late aunty got married and before the doctors had given a diagnoses she killed herself. Some books and websites say that said 'curse' kind of screws around with your mind too so, I don't think she was herself when she jumped off the hospital. If that wasn't shocking enough, could imagine the expressions on everyone's faces when the doctors told them what they found in her blood? I bet it would have been priceless. I wish I was there to see them all.

My aunty died before I was born… six months before, actually. And that was when my mom and dad figured that I might have had the same sickness my aunty had and that would explain the complications without my mom's pregnancy when she was carrying me. But the doctors couldn't determine that until I was born. They kept my mom in the hospital until she went into labour, leaving my dad to take care of Oliver and grieve over his little sister's death.

Then one morning, I apparently decided that I wanted to see the outside world. I put my mom through almost three days of excruciating pain.

Needless to say, I almost killed my mom. But when I was finally yanked out of her, my dad snapped out of his depression and I became his pride and joy. Seriously, I am the original daddy's girl and very proud of it. I love my daddy… and my mom. I love her too. I just really share a bond as special as the one I have with my dad.

I was born with my mom's eye shape, lips and hair color: Black/overly dark shade of brunette. I had dad's eye color, ear shape, eye lash length (pretty damn long) and smile. They both had straight hair, though mom permed it a lot, so I was not lucky enough to have natural curls or wavy-ness. So I got stuck of boring pin straight hair.

After we were released from the hospital, I lived seven happy years with my mom, dad, older brother named, Oliver and my Pomeranian named, Sheshko. I always wanted to have a pet cat but mom was never on good terms with the felines so dad got a dog that looked like a cat… well he tried to find one that looked like a cat. It was the thought that counts, right?

But again, right now I am a legal adult if I was to live in Canada and I said 'seven happy years.' My mom took me for my dental check up.

Although it wasn't a very big deal, it was a concern for a child my age to have such large canines. They took a few x-rays, and said for me to come back when my baby teeth are gone and my grown up teeth were poking out of my gums. At this time, Oliver's baby teeth had already fallen out and he was almost completely toothless. I left the dentist office with a new ninja turtles tooth brush knowing it would make Oliver jealous.

I was only seven, so I didn't know or cared for what was going on with grown-ups, but even I noticed that my mom began to act a little weird.

A few days later, she took me back to have the very same teeth removed. I don't think my dad knew what she was up to because when I got home he got mad when he seen that little necklace with the plastic tooth around my neck. Remember the one; the dentist would give you to keep your teeth safe so you could give it to the tooth fairy?

They never argued in front of me and Oliver, but we knew when they were because they would send us out to play in the backyard and close the door behind us. While we waited for them to call us back inside, Oliver asked to see my teeth inside the plastic tooth. I said no at first, and then he said he would show me something really cool. So I showed him.

When he was done inspecting all four of them, he pried my mouth open and laughed at me and said 'That's why you're talking funny!' He got me mad because I didn't know I was talking weird until he pointed it out. I had a lisp thanks to my mom and that damn dentist. But my anger completely vanished when he finally showed me what was really cool.

His adult teeth were growing in. I thought it looked really cool and got a closer look and he pointed to his canines. You know when a canine tooth is growing from the gum and it's like a small point? Well he had two! On each of his canines, top and bottom, there was the front and an extra tooth growing in the back of it. It reminded me of the time I first watched Jaws, with all the rows of teeth in the shark's mouth. For awhile I thought my brother was changing into a shark.

After he showed me he made me pinky-promise never to tell mom or dad. He was scared that mom would do the same thing she did to me and get his teeth pulled out. I made the promise, and we were finally called inside. We had to brush our teeth first and the bristles hurt my gums and made me bleed. I didn't want mom or dad taking me to a hospital or anything so I swallowed it, toothpaste and all. Gross.

Mom and dad tucked us in and made sure my teeth were safely placed under my pillow before putting on the new power rangers movie to help us fall asleep. My favourite was always the green ranger.

The next morning I woke up to find five whole dollars under my pillow. 5 dollars! I felt so rich to have that much money all for myself and ran to my mom and dad to show them. Dad couldn't stop laughing at me because of the lisp and because I couldn't eat without having my food mashed together.

Then I forgot about my brother's totally awesome shark teeth, I lost all my baby teeth, the lisp and my adult teeth came in.

Everything got really messed up when I turned nine, and one morning my brother was really pale and looked really sick. I asked him what was wrong and he shoved me away from him and my shoulder hit against the corner of the table.

Don't get me wrong, I fought with my brother many times before but this time was very different. I was really scared and I didn't know why. It might have been the blood or the sound my skin made when it ripped, I'm still not really sure. Oliver checked on me right away and asked if I was okay before begging me not to cry. I nodded and told him my arm hurts. He asked if I wanted him to kiss it better and I nodded.

I should have said no, because after he kissed my shoulder I seen blood on his lips and he licked it away… then Oliver started licking at the blood on the table. My blood, he was licking my blood off the table!

I asked him why he was doing that-- totally freaked out of my mind! Then he turned to me, held me down so I was lying on my stomach, kept his hand over my mouth saying he would tell on me if I yelled, then licked and sucked at my bleeding shoulder. My mom walked in to the kitchen. She didn't see us under the table and made herself something to drink. She was there for awhile with her crossword puzzle, calling to dad to hurry up and calling for me and Oliver to come for breakfast.

Then dad walked in, he didn't see us either and sat next to mom asking if me and Oliver were playing in the backyard with Sheshko. Mom said no and said that Sheshko was still in the laundry room. They got worried and jumped up from their seats to go looking for us. They didn't take two steps until I screamed because Oliver bit me. Mom looked under the table first and screamed as if she seen Chucky the killer was with us.

Then the table was suddenly flipped off the floor and dad quickly ripped Oliver off of me- and when I say 'ripped,' I mean that literally because Oliver had a chunk of my skin in his mouth while dad held him away from me. Oliver must have realised what happened and started to cry and tried to say sorry to me.

I was left on the floor, crying my eyes out and trying to tell him sorry. I don't know what I was sorry for, and while my dad hugged Oliver as he was crying, my mom stared down at her son as if he was a monster then looked down to me. I didn't like the way she was looking at me and crawled away from her when she finally tried to hug me.

I guess this is a good time as ever to tell you that my dad was a policeman.

My mom refused to come with us to the hospital unless my dad agreed to take his police car and put Oliver in the backseat where the criminals sit. He said it was foolish to do that to him and just left her standing in the driveway with me and Oliver in the car. The whole ride to the hospital was very quiet and tense, especially for dad because he had to keep telling Oliver to press the rag onto my shoulder while we were stifling sobs. I felt bad for leaving mom home alone. I was scared of Oliver, but I was kind of happy to see that he didn't look as sick.

I thought the doctor would have us there for a little while and let us go home with a lollipop, but I was so wrong.

After they asked my dad what happened, and questioned me and Oliver, they kept us there for hours. Mom didn't show up until they finished giving me stitches, I got something called a tetanus shot and Oliver and I were changed into hospital gowns. She didn't make the visit any better. Infact she made it all worse. She told the doctors about dad's half of the family and what happened to his sister.

It was her fault we got so many needles shoved into our arms… and it was thanks to her that Oliver and I had to live there for months at a time. I was told what my condition was and how serious it is, but you know how doctors explain things. With all these long, sophisticated words, they might as well be speaking alien-ese.

So I didn't think it was a big deal and neither did my dad.

On the way to the hospital dad decided to take us to McDonalds before we were forced to live on pills and IV bags. Mom was at work or shopping, so there was no stopping us. I was so happy to see the play room with all the bright colors. But I was fourteen, so I was not allowed to play with the rest of the kids… er… children. But we were lucky because Oliver's friends; Jacques, Shane, Dylan and Sam, were there and dad let us eat with them while he went to pick up a car part. Leaving us there with no parental supervision and slipping fifty dollars into our pockets.

After ordering our food and each of us having Oreo McFlurries, the conversation changed to a 'Who-has-the-biggest-balls' contest. It's a guy version of truth or dare, just without truth, and I watched them all do the dumbest things ever. It was hilarious! And after awhile the game died down when no one wanted to take Sam's challenge to go into the play room. Then they have the nerve to laugh at me when I said I would do it. When they seen that I was serious, they decided to raise the stakes. So not only would I have to play in there but I had to emerge from the swirly slide with four different socks from the kids already playing inside, and if I did they would bestow the 'Biggest-Balls' award to me. If I didn't do it, I had to buy everyone another McFlurry. Not wanting my money to be wasted on someone else's stomachs. I entered the play room, my brother and his friends watching. Sat down next to a happily married couple and waited for the worker inside to leave the room, and when she did- I quickly took off my shoes and ran like hell!

I could hear them laughing and saying how they couldn't believe I was actually doing it and grinned like mad. I approached a little girl and we played that huge tic-tac-toe game, her name was Alyssa and she won the game. She was the first to give me a sock, and I crawled my way up to the bridge, Alyssa following right behind me. On the bridge a couple of boys were hogging the bridge, saying it was theirs.

The bridge was the only way to get to the slide without climbing back out of the play house so I bribed them to let me through and give me their socks. But I only got two because the third said his mom would be mad if he didn't have his sock. So I gave them my key chain of Greenday and they let me pass. I just needed one more sock when one of the employees came into the room and told me to get out of there. I gave up and was going to slide down until this little girl came climbing up the slide and looked at me oddly. She looked so cute, with her little pig-tails and asked how old I was. I asked if I could have her sock, she said 'no, mommy would get mad.'

Why were these kids being so difficult? They were going to get the socks back.

I asked again, saying that I would buy her and the other kids that gave me a sock, happy meals to take home. She gave me the sock. The employee below was getting annoyed and began to call me down from the tunnel slide I was currently in. I only smiled and slid down, hardly giving the guy any warning and I knocked him over. I blushed so red. He landed on top of me while I was on my back and we were face to face. He was very good looking and his eyes had a really nice shade of brown.

Then whatever moment we were having was ruined when the four kids I got socks from came sliding down all at once, there feet hitting my back and I hit my forehead against the guy's nose.

I couldn't help but laugh, and I held up the socks for all to see, in victory. The guys started to yell and whistle for me and the guy helped me up, saying he was sorry and handed me my shoes. I was awarded the 'Biggest-Balls' award. My brother yelled "My sister has the biggest balls here!" My face flashed red, parents glared in our direction and I still owed the kids their happy meals. And as luck would have it, the employee that served me the happy meals was the same guy that fell on top of me. I couldn't stop blushing, but we started talking as I waited for my order. He was two or three years older than me, he had a car, driver's licence, his name tag said Jeff, but his name was Jamie and he was my first boyfriend.

That relationship didn't last very long. Two months. He didn't like having to see his girlfriend in a hospital all the time, but I found out that he was really cheating on me with one of the girls that worked at the same McDonalds. Better to have loved then lost, than to have never loved at all, huh? Nope! I wish I was still innocently unaware of those feelings because now I keep blushing and think guys are checking me out every now and then. Hate it. On the bright side, at least now I know how to kiss… unless he was a really bad teacher. Damnit, how will I figure this out?

Then, when I was fifteen and I was in the hospital again, dad and mom were talking about a divorce. It scared me a lot and I told my shrink about it. He said it wasn't that uncommon for parents to have fights and it will be over soon, the divorce forgotten. Oliver didn't think so and told me not to believe any bullshit the shrink had to say.

Oliver and I shared a room… sort of. There was a glass wall between us and we could talk to one another through a phone. Like they do in prison.

One night, Oliver got out of his room and took me out of mine. We ran down stairs to the cafeteria. Since I started being forced into the hospital they had me on vitamins and vegetables: a strict diet that didn't involve meat in the slightest, so you could imagine the joy I felt when I first laid eyes on that slab of bacon.

So, Oliver locked the doors from the inside and it was only him and me in there. He kept an eye out for anyone while I cooked the meat and when I was done… Oh. My. God! I can't describe the feeling that went through me, and we were done all too soon. We wanted more meat. Then we found the meat that is made in the sandwiches and we started eating those. While we were eating, he asked if I liked it. I said yeah and continued eating, he gave me a Pepsi and told me 'this doesn't come close to what I felt when I pushed you.'

I almost choked on my bologna and stared at him for the longest time. I was scared he was going to try eat me.

He seen the way I was looking at him and explained what he meant. "It's like you're completely full and your stomach is telling you it's happy." I didn't really understand and he asked me if I felt anything when I took that first bite of the bacon. I realised how good it was and said yes. Then he went very serious and explained, in horrific detail of what we both had. To keep our sanity and to keep ourselves healthy and looking like everyone else, our bodies needed something that was only found in human. We needed to eat other people's remains or drink blood to be happy and normal. Disgusting right? I guess that's why it's called 'The Vampire Disease' on the internet. I never heard it from the doctors.

That was why the doctors had us on so many pills and kept asking how we felt. Iron pills… got me very sick. I couldn't handle it. It was worse for Oliver. The difference between Oliver and me was that I was 'levelled' and my sickness was being maintained. Oliver on the other hand, had already had a taste of human flesh and blood; his body was craving for it. I guess it was my fault he was worse than I was. He did promise me that he would make my stomach happy: Pinky-Promised. And as much as that is disturbing, I found it sweet and said it would me my Christmas present. I was only joking when I said that, just to make that clear.

Our midnight snack didn't last very long after that. A voice on the intercom kept saying 'Patients missing' and repeated our bracelet numbers and what our sickness was. We decided to hurry back before things got bad and when we stepped out of the elevator we were suddenly shoved onto the floor, face down and the male nurses worked on binding our hands with some plastic that used on labelling clothes or keeping shoes together. I didn't know what the hell was going and started to panic, having a little flashback of the time Oliver held me down and bit at my shoulder… it didn't last long though. When I calmed down and Oliver stopped fighting back, we were strapped down to the beds and had to wait until our parents got there. All the while, the doctors asked us where we were and why we left. I had nothing much to say and didn't know if I was supposed to lie for Oliver.

Mom was the first to show up, and they asked us if we went to the room that held organs that were donated and if we ate them. Right in front of our mom. We said 'no' but they didn't believe us and pumped our stomachs… I had to laugh when they found bacon, Pepsi, pills and bologna. I honestly didn't know that they had a room like that in the hospital.

Well, I apparently ruined all the progress I made and I was switched to a different system thing that was created by a medical college.

Did I ever mention that Oliver and me were examined by interns and other medical students. Even a few professors. I didn't think I wouldn't like the attention, but it was really… I felt like some freak, or I belonged in Ripley's Believe it or Not. It wasn't fun.

When I was sixteen, my parents divorced and there was no custody battle. It was just me, Oliver and dad. Mom died to me that year, and apparently she died to dad and Oliver too. Dad was never the same and alcohol found him. He couldn't look at me and Oliver without tearing up or unless he had a bottle in his hand. I hated her for turning dad into some drunk.

Thankfully, this didn't last long and my uncle moved in. The man that married my suicidal aunty. His name was Jeff, his real name was Jeff. I had to ask a couple of times and asked to see his drivers license before I finally believed him.

He got my dad to stop drinking, and helped with the bills and even drove me and Oliver to the hospital or school. I got close to him, and it was like having a really old, older brother. What made things even better was that he knew about the illness we had and only wanted to understand it more and he was a nurse! So we didn't have to go to the hospital anymore!

He was the one that kept us on our college-made plan and made sure we had these nasty drinks every morning before we went to school. It made things a lot easier and I really liked having a normal-ish life. I got friends and kept them for a long time. I even got to spend Christmas with a tree instead of the branch sitting on the nurse's desk in the hospital.

But word got out in school about our illness, and there was a little meeting about it between parents, teachers, dad and uncle Jeff. I didn't go because no students were allowed inside these sorts of meetings, but I heard the yelling from the door. Parents seriously didn't want me or Oliver to be in the school unless we were under some sort of supervision. After an hour or so, an agreement was reached and Oliver and I were carefully looked after by the teachers and had occasional check ups by random nurses and policemen.

I lost my friends when I began to get bullied. One day I came to my locker and seen a picture of Hannibal taped to the door. I found it cool and re-taped it inside of my locker, but after that I got called Hannibal or Cannibal… then Dyke.

I didn't understand it until some of my friends started talking to me again and some of the older girls said to be careful around me, or else I'll eat their pussies right out. Oliver only laughed and said he was getting the same treatment, but got a lot of girls asking to date him. When I realised Oliver wasn't going to help me, I never wanted to go back to school and begged to be put back into the hospital.

I got my wish, and I was alone in the hospital. Then they tried to change my plan and switch me off to something else that involved stem-cells. But dad and Jeff said no for me. I was glad they said no when I found out what it was. I don't think I would have been comfortable with myself if I ate a fetus… or baby.

That was the year I turned 17, and for my birthday I got to choose between going to six flags or getting my hair done any way I wanted.

I got my hair done. And it was beautiful. It's cut short, but was still able to cover my ears but not touch my shoulders with lots of layers. And the under side was all green and so was my bangs. I may have looked emo or 'scene' but I freakin' loved it! Green and black hair, my dream come true. The hardest part was keeping the color, until I was introduced to kool-aid and punky color. I totally looked like a girl version of Sasuke Uchiha, only more happy and wearing a lot of hospital bands/bracelets. I was really confident since then. It was the same year when I finally got to have a TV in my hospital room, and I fell head over heels for the Phantom of the Opera.

I begged my dad for a laptop or the novel by Gaston Leroux for Christmas, but he said: 'We'll see' and my dreams shattered. I hated it when he said that, it always meant I wouldn't get what I want. …I know, I'm a brat.

I was surprised that I got the laptop, and YouTube was my life since that was the only way to watch the movie. Gerard Butler became my favourite actor.

Sad to say that I am nothing without my little MP3 player, but that's going off topic a bit. I still got to tell you what Oliver got me for Christmas.

The MP3 player. 4GB and the screen was large enough to watch movies on it.

I still don't know where he got the money to afford it and felt bad because I just gave them all sweaters-- Oh! And Jeff got me sweater that looked exactly like the one I got him, only smaller. We laughed really hard but never had the heart to exchange them and we agreed never to wear them at the same time.

At dinner Jeff cooked and dad carved while Oliver and I played on our new laptops. I had black, he had red and we both played with the web cams. Making funny faces to each other while in the same room. Completely nerdy, but it was fun.

Dad called us to the kitchen and we all ate. Oliver and I were allowed to skip the pills and the tofu crap since it was the holidays and Jeff wasn't our nurse until after New Years. It was delicious and Oliver and I snuck back into the kitchen later on that night and had seconds. I had seconds, Oliver had fourths. Before I bit into the turkey or ham he stopped me and said 'Wait. I have another present for you.'

We went to his room after raiding the fridge and he sat me down on his bed while he went to his closet. I don't know why, but I always found his room a lot better than mine, even if it was really dirty and some of the food growled if you went near it. When he came back, he held a food container and sat down on his computer chair that had wheels before quickly putting a stick-on bow on top and giving it to me. He was grinning really big, I couldn't help but grin back and opened the container and seen a small slice of meat inside. But it wasn't meat I seen before. It kind of looked and smelled like pork and chicken. I laughed and looked back to him. 'You got me food?' I asked. He only grinned wider and nodded, telling me to hurry up and have some before he kicked me out of the room.

I ate it, and it did taste like chicken and pork… or a badly cooked meatloaf. I almost spat it back out before looking to him and he looked away, taking the container back. 'I didn't have that much time to cook it on the stove, so I microwaved it.' he said before looking to me again and gave me his drink to wash it down. 'What was that?' I asked. He gave me a hug and said: 'Your Christmas present.' Then he sent me to my room before Jeff noticed me sneaking around.

The next morning I felt so good! I couldn't explain it but dad said I looked like a happy-healthy Tigger. Oliver seemed to know why, but when I asked him what it was he fed me he kept saying the same thing over and over again. 'Your Christmas present.'

When evening came around, there was a knock on the door and a nice blue car in the driveway. Jeff went to answer the door and I followed after him just to be nosy. When the door opened, it was like I was seeing a ghost and my mom was standing there with another man beside her and they were both holding presents. I couldn't move and watched as Jeff tried to tell her that she shouldn't be there right now, but she seen me and pushed past him and pulled me into a forced hug.

'Oh, Kyla. I missed you so much. Happy Holidays!' she said happily, sounding very well rehearsed and introduced the man behind her as David, her fiancé.

Dad and Oliver must have heard her voice, because they were suddenly behind me and I was suddenly ripped away from mom and arms wrapped around me. Dad told Oliver to take me upstairs and Oliver dragged me up to the top of the stairs where we listened to the argument. I wasn't pretty, and it was the first time I heard dad swear and yell so much. That David guy got in on it too, and soon all four of the adults were yelling at each other. Then it all died down and the door slammed, Jeff called us back down and gave us the presents while dad went to the garage. That was when Jeff told us that mom was trying to take me back. I didn't know how to react to it and stayed quiet for a long time thinking. I didn't even realise that I opened my presents until I looked down to a teddy bear with the year stitched into the foot.

After New Years I was called back to the hospital and I was introduced to my new Doctor. Doctor David Mackin, my mom's fiancé. He was nice and very smart. He was working on a study to help with my illness and I was apparently the perfect candidate to undergo the guy's plan and since he 'knew' my mom, dad wasn't informed and she signed the papers to allow me to go through with it. I wasn't comfortable with it at all. For four months I was supposed to be getting prepped for his study and during that time I was craving for something. I didn't know what it was and I began to think a lot more than I usually did. I realised that no matter what these doctors did, I would always have this disease and eventually I may kill someone and eat the body as if I were some monster. I couldn't live with myself if I did get away with it, and I did not want to rot in prison. I turned eighteen and tried to kill myself.

I was hooked up to a heart monitor and other machines that I didn't need and just watched as the monitor made the beeping sound with the weird green line. My MP3 battery died a few hours before then and I couldn't get off my bed to turn the TV on. I began to think of my dad, mom, Oliver, Jeff, and wondered if they would even miss me. 'They would only grieve over my death for awhile and get on with their lives. It would be okay.' So I got off the bed, tearing the cords out of my arm and off my chest before running out of the room and into the elevator before anyone noticed the loud beep coming from the flat lining monitor.

I found my way to the cafeteria and locked myself inside. I don't know how long I was standing there in the dark, and when I turned on the light the first thing that caught my eye was the gleam of a knife on the counter, right beside the sink filled with soaking dishes. I took the knife and stared at it for awhile, just wondering how sharp it was. Then the sound of David's voice over the intercom rang in my ears and I felt panicked. He said my full name a few times and had some decency to add in the fact I was the only patient with green hair. I knew it wouldn't be long until they found me there. I passed a few other visitors and nurses on the way down, one of them might have seen that I came in here.

Sure enough, there was banging on the door and I looked back to see some nurses peeking in through the small window. When I seen David's face I quickly brought the knife down to my wrist and applied a little pressure before pulling the knife away. The knife was sharper than I thought, and I didn't feel the sting or pain until the cut opened to reveal my flesh, it reminded me of a puppet's mouth without a set of teeth. After a moment, it began to pool with thick red blood and I made another cut, a little lower than the first where I seen the little blue line hiding under my skin and the same happened.

I didn't think, I just dropped the knife and watched as the blood seeped from my wounds. The nurses and doctors were trying to open the door and the metal soup ladle I used to lock it was bending. When I looked back to my wrist, it began to throb and my fingers were getting a little cold, but the blood was slowing and turned all clumpy. "No, I want to die!" I screamed to my arm and began to claw at the cuts with my nails. When I brought it to my lips and I bit and sucked at my blood I started to get light headed and I sat down on the floor. I did this for awhile, the door and the people behind it forgotten as I enjoyed the feeling in my stomach then my arm was suddenly yanked away from my mouth. I groaned in protest but I must have lost too much blood and the world around me began to fly by me in a blur.

My suicide attempt was not successful. I woke up an hour later, just as the IV was doing it's job and the Doctor was telling my mom and dad that I had to be put under an induced coma so I could undergo his plan without being a threat to myself or the people around me. I kept my eyes closed until my mom and David left the room, and Oliver and Jeff took their places. I sat up and I was hugged and slapped by Oliver.

I barely got to visit them until the doctor came in and said that I had to be prepped for my needle. The female nurses hooked me up to tubes that I'm too embarrassed to say where they were put and I got my hugs and kisses from dad, Jeff, Oliver and mom before they left the room. David said to think of something nice so I wouldn't have a bad dream. I thought of the Phantom of the Opera and how he would have been in the Gaston Leroux novel. Then I watched as he put the needle into my IV and the water looking liquid mixed with my medicine. When he placed his lips on my forehead I suddenly felt a splitting headache and my arm was burning. I wanted to cry how badly it hurt, and everything went black.

So, yeah…

My name is Kyla Evelyn La'Crow, I am eighteen years old, my favourite color is green, I love playing the piano on my laptop, I have a pretty good memory, I am completely obsessed with The Phantom of the Opera and I have a very rare case of Porphyria.

This is how I got The Phantom, also known as Erik, to see that there is something a lot worse than a beautifully disfigured phantom—

Me.

_