He'll Always Be There Singing Songs In My Head

Prologue

The first morning without Erik seemed to be the worst of what I could have imagined. Waking up alone was so miserable; he had always been there to kiss my head and to tell me how wonderful the morning was because he got to see my face each and every day. Thoughts of him flooded my memory; from the first time I saw him walk into my home to the police telling me the shocking news. It all just seemed to happen too fast. Tears flowed from my face as a I turned over to my pillow so my father wouldn't hear my separate sobs. He never knew about me and Erik and I surely couldn't ever let him found. After all, he was my teacher for heaven's sakes! But love has no boundaries. Love can make anyone fall in love and certainly Cupid's arrow hit both of us. As I sat up from my bed, I looked in my mirror to see my face wet with tears and my hair a complete mess of tangled waves. My father couldn't see me like this I thought to myself. I quickly hurried to the bathroom to fix myself up before breakfast and as I did suddenly there was a knock at my door.

"Christine? I have something for you..."

It was my father, but what could he have for me at 9am? As I opened the door, he handed me a slip of paper and with a saddened look on his face, he told me that everything was going to be alright and left for the stairs. I closed the door and read the piece of paper which was an invitation to Erik's reading of his will. It seemed he had left something for me. I wasn't sure if my heart could take going to this, but I knew I had to. As I got ready to go, I dressed in all black, customary for the mourning and headed down to my car. This would be a day I would never forget.

Chapter 1

"Happy Birthday Christine!" sang my father from the other side of the dinner table. "Make a wish and blow out your candles!"

As I thought hard for a second, I blew the candles out and an applause came from my father almost right after.

"I can't believe my little girl is 13 today. It seems like almost yesterday you were still in my arms. Your mother would be so proud to see you right now."

I smiled when dad talked about mom. She died when I was very little, so I never got to know her, but from pictures and stories I supposedly was just like her.

"Now Christine, your present isn't here yet, but I'll try to tell you a little about it."

Jumping from my seat, I ran to my father with eagerness.

"Tell me papa! Tell me!"

"Alright little munchkin, I'll tell, but do settle down!"

As I sat down by his feet, he smiled because I looked exactly like my mother. As he began to go into a reverie, I quicky brought him out of it and he began to tell me the exciting news.

"Well, I know how much you love music, Christine. You sing around the house everyday and ALL day to be exact."

I smirked because my father was always such an exaggerator.

"Well, your present is going to help you strengthen your vocal cords so that you can become a great singer one day, exactly like your mother."

"When do I get my present?" I asked, jumping up and down.

Suddenly the doorbell rang and to my happiness, my father announced, "Right now."

I squealed and he opened the door to a man dressed in a tuxedo with a long black cape flowing around him. He had black hair as dark as ebony and he seemed to be tall. He was not skinny, he was muscular at that and I couldn't help but think he was very handsome. The only thing that I wondered about was he wore a white half mask on the right side of his face.

Our eyes met and it seemed like magic because neither of us blinked. We both seemed to be so intrigued in the other, we almost forgot my father was standing right beside us.

"Christine, this is your new music teacher. He will be living with us now."

I smiled at him and he gave a shy smile back. I liked him very much.

From the moment I walked into the room, I couldn't take my eyes off this young child that stood before me. Her father had described her to me before, but not like this. She was young, only 13, but she looked like a woman. Her slender figure, her beautiful smile, and her long brown waves flowed right below her breasts, covering them just slightly. She was so beautiful and I couldn't stop staring at her. Her skin was so fair, and her eyes so green...my God, I can't think this way about a child! But I am only human, I have needs too.

"Christine, why don't you sing something for Mr. Destler?"

I went to the center of the room so that both men could hear me better and I began to sing, "God Help the Outcasts."

"I don't know if you can hear me,

or if your even there. I don't know if you will listen

to a humble prayer. They tell me I am just an outcast,

I shouldn't speak to you. Still I see your face and wonder,

where you once an outcast too? God help the outcasts, hungry from birth

show them the mercy they don't find on earth. The lost and forgotten, they look to you still

God help the outcasts, or nobody will.

I ask for nothing, I can get by,

but I know so many less lucky than I.

God help the outcasts, the poor and down trod

I thought we all were the children of God.

I don't know if there's a reason, why some are blessed some not.

Why the few you seem to favor

They fear us, flee us, try not to see us.

God help the outcasts, the tattered the torn, seeking an answer to why they were born.

Winds of misfortune have blown them about.

You made the outcasts; don't cast them out.

The poor and unlucky, the weak and the odd, I thought we all were the children of God."

Cheering came from my father after I finished, but from Mr. Destler, I only saw tears slowly rolling down his unmasked cheek. Then, he stepped towards me and whispered,

"That was beautiful my dear."

My heart pounded when his voice touched the air. It was so deep and masculine. The way he stared at me with those beautiful green eyes...I knew I was too little to know what love was, but for some reason, I began to see things in a different light.