Hi everyone!
I just wanted to let you know... I realized, after I started this story, that it is a lot like Susan Kay's novel Phantom of Manhattan. I hereby state that I have NEVER read her book, and I actually got the idea for this story in a dream. Dead serious. So, no flames, okay? I really like how this story is turning out!!!
The night of Don Juan Triumphant was both an ending and a beginning. We all know the ending, but what began during the time that Madame Giry showed Raoul the way and he escaped from one of the hundreds of trap doors…?
...
"…no kind word from anyone! No compassion anywhere! Christine… why?!" Erik sang as he looked into Christine's eyes in front of the mannequin.
"WHY?!" he shouted.
She simply stood silent.
The Phantom shook his head. He wrapped his arm around Christine so she wouldn't get away, then for the first time, began to undress the mannequin. When he finished, Erik shoved the dress at Christine and not-so-gently pushed her to the room with the swan-bed so she could change. Eager to get away for a bit, Christine walked to the room, still silent as a mouse. Erik left her alone for a while, but then he looked at the Christine-replica in her undergarments and suddenly realized that the REAL Christine was undressing in his own lair!
He smiled maniacally, and stalked up to her room.
Christine didn't notice his footsteps, too deeply absorbed in her own thoughts. But she did notice him standing in the archway. She let out a shriek and tried to cover herself with her hands. Erik boldly walked into the room, wrapped his arms around her body seductively, and began to undo the ties of her corset.
"Erik - no - please!"
"Christine…" he cooed into her ear, stopping for a moment. "Christine…Christine…"
She stopped resisting. A tear rolled down her cheek. Of her own free will, and with trembling hands, she began to undo the buttons on Erik's shirt.
...
After that fateful night, Raoul and Christine thought they would never see their Opera Ghost again. They married, and soon discovered that Christine was pregnant. She didn't have the heart or the reason to tell Raoul about what happened between her and Erik.
...
But it couldn't have been the end, because otherwise I wouldn't be writing this story, would I?
...
A scream from the de Chagny mansion pierced the night. And another. And another.
It was baby time!
Christine, Raoul, and 2 midwives were all in the bedroom, the latter scurrying about, getting ready for the baby to be born. Raoul winced as Christine squeezed his hand so tightly, her nails poked through his skin, and a single drop of blood seeped through. The beads of sweat on her forehead had turned to nearly buckets pouring down her back and frizzing her hair.
Skipping the gross part…
A midwife finally took hold of the child and proclaimed, "It's a gir… oh my Lord!"
"What?!" Christine and Raoul shrieked in unison. The woman all but tossed the baby girl to Christine. A horribly familiar deformity cover the right side of her little girl's face: the eyelid drooped, and angry red patches ran from her forehead to underneath her cheekbone, which protruded out slightly.
"Oh no… no!" Christine cried.
"Christine, it's okay, we'll go see a doctor immediately in the morning." Raoul comforted. He still had no idea!
...
The doctor examined the girl as Christine and Raoul sat nervously for the verdict. The doctor looked at the couple, then back at the baby, and muttered, "That's odd…"
"What?" Christine said.
"Well, believe it or not, I have seen this before. While as yet incurable and quite rare, this particular deformity tends to be more hereditary than otherwise. But neither of you have any of this…" he trailed off, fearing the worst.
"Madame de Chagny… have you ever in your lifetime, slept with another man?"
Both of them paled. Raoul turned to her and softly said her name.
She couldn't meet his eyes. "Oh no…" she whispered. "Oh no… Erik…"
"NO!" Raoul nearly shouted. "You didn't!"
"I did… we did… he did…" Christine buried her face in her hands, ashamed.
"When?" Raoul squeaked.
"The night of Don Juan… he carried me off… I didn't know you would come… figured I should… get used to it…" her sentence was interrupted by her gasping for air in between sobs.
Raoul was dumbstruck, until he meekly turned to the doctor and said, "What can we do?"
"Well," the doctor said businesslike, "usually, if a baby is deformed, the parents choose to send it to an institution-"
Christine let out a huff and said, "My baby is not crazy! She's barely a day old!"
"What else can we do with it?" Raoul said to his wife. There was silence.
"My daughter is not an IT!" Christine hissed.
"Christine…" Raoul said warningly.
"No! We will keep and raise this baby, Raoul, and you will never again call her IT!"
"What should I call her, then?" he said sarcastically.
"Simone. You will call her Simone de Chagny!" Simone, Christine thought, taking back her baby. The perfect name for the Phantom's daughter.
Well, there it is. I'll update again soon! Reviews are MUCH apprieciated!!!!