Fantasia

Ghost

Tchaikovsky. 

Eddy knew that was Brett's signature piece. The famous young reincarnation of Tchaikovksy: that was how people described Brett Yang.

"I don't like Tchaikovksy," Eddy will say aloud during the semester whenever the news was brought up. To be truthful, Eddy was lying through his teeth. Of course, he liked Tchaikovsky. Who doesn't? The genius melody and the creativity of the composition proved that man would be engraved in history forever. Brett Yang will follow next. And him? 

Eddy closed his eyes, feeling like his body was breaking underneath him. Too tired, Eddy's mind drifted as he clutched his still tumulous gut, feeling like his stomach was made of a delicate layer of glass. Tchaikovksy had this too, Eddy thought to himself dreamily. The glass delusion. 

It was a common psychological condition back in the days among noble people. It first became famous as a delusion that haunted the young beautiful princess in the 19th Century who only wore flouncy white dresses. 

"I'm of a very delicate nature," the princess told the crowd. "I have a grand piano inside me...a grand piano made out of glass." 

Princess Alexandra of Bavaria was 23-year-old royal blood, who believed she had swallowed a glass piano when she was a child. She was terrified her whole life that if she knocked into something or was jostled, the glass piano will shatter into thousands of pieces and she will die. 

Apparently, Eddy read somewhere that Tchaikovksy had something similar. Tchaikovksy suffered from debilitating stage-fright and neuroses. One of his fears was that his head, made of glass, was going to fall off while he was conducting, which led him to awkwardly hold his chin with one hand while conducting with the other.  

Eddy wondered as he massaged his delicate stomach, maybe he has swallowed a glass violin the day his father gave up music. The glass violin refused to take anything in his stomach except palatable music. The glass violin rattled and shook when it realized its owner is incompetent, threatening to shatter to pieces if he failed. The glass bow screeched inside his throat as he leaned forward abruptly to gag once again into the toilet, nothing coming out but a dreadful sound of his own dry-heaving filling the air. His glass violin, shattered to pieces, bleeding him. Killing him. Calling him. 

You got to be better. You must be the best.

You don't want to end up like your father, don't you?

.

.

"Eddy, are you there?" Aaron's voice woke Eddy up from a trance. 

Eddy turned his head, blinking, hearing the knock on the bathroom door. 

"Yeah, I'm here," Eddy replied weakly. 

"Are you alright? I have been looking for you. The award ceremony already ended." 

"Yeah, I'm...I think I ate something off for lunch," Eddy stood up, almost losing his balance from dizziness. 

"Really? Do you want me to get someone for you?" Aaron's voice suddenly turned worrisome.

"No, no. I'm alright. I will be out there soon," Eddy rushed through his sentence. 

"Ok, I will be outside," Aaron sighed in relief. "By the way, you did great, Eddy. You won second place!" 

Second. Second place. The first to lose. 

And the first place goes to...

"Come on, they are distributing the award right now. And they have food!" Aaron said excitedly. "Brett Yang won the competition again. He was pretty insane, don't you think?"

And Aaron left the bathroom, leaving Eddy alone with his glass violin screaming inside his stomach at the news.

***

It took a while for Eddy to calm down and look presentable again. 

He reluctantly walked out of the bathroom to see the lobby full of people with glasses of champagne and small dishes of food. The award was already distributed, and everyone was just enjoying the night. Eddy nodded, faking a smile when his classmates came over to congratulate him. He wasn't hungry at all, even the smell of food was nauseating at this moment. His throat was dry though, and Eddy walked over to the food counter to pick up a bottle of water. 

His eyes landed upon a tray of oatmeal raisins cookies piled up in the corner of the counter. Eddy gingerly picked up the cookie, remembering the secret code from the dream. Eddy chanted almost instinctively-  

"Beware of the raisins, they-"

"-are dreadful little surprises." 

A knowing voice completed the rest of the sentence behind Eddy. 

Startled, Eddy spun around to see the winner standing beside him. A small but firm stature, black hair, and eyes, resembling someone Eddy found strangely familiar now. Brett Yang, smirking with his violin bag loosely hung around his shoulder.  

"...what?" Eddy whispered in disbelief. 

"Hello, the thief of the gingerbread house," Brett took the cookie from Eddy's hand, taking a big bite. "I believe we've already met. I'm the phantom of the forest of knives."

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<Author's note>

Thank you for reading! Comments/feedbacks are always appreciated! :)