The Ugly Truth
A/N: Okay, so ironically enough, I wrote this less than twelve hours after I finished "OCD." I promise I'm not bi-polar... I just want to experiment with different story types. I whould have another chapter of "Voice of an Angel" uploaded soon... I haven't given up on it; I simply needed to take a break from that particular story.
Just as a warning: this is NOT a happy story.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own "Phantom of the Opera..." Gaston Leroux owns it.
Erik is dead.
My knuckles turned white as I gripped the paper. Though I had known it was coming, reading those words still sent a wave of shock through me.
Initially, I wanted to deny it. No… Erik couldn't be dead; was powerful, unstoppable. I told myself this so many times that I was soon convinced that it must be true. Still, I had to have a definite answer, which meant that I would have to return to the Opera Garnier.
Raoul was away on a business trip, so I only hesitated for a moment before grabbing my cloak and calling a carriage. I also took one more thing with me: the gold ring Erik had given me. I fingered it as the carriage took me to the opera house and lost myself to memories. To my surprise, I was looking forward to seeing Erik again, despite the fact that I couldn't explain why I felt that way. All I knew was the carriage wasn't moving fast enough once the opera house was in sight.
o0o
Erik is dead.
The thought raced through my mind cruelly and relentlessly over and over again. I felt numb. Not so long before, I had been screaming and wailing. Now, all I could do was kneel before poor Erik's coffin.
I hated myself for screaming when I first saw his face. I gazed into it now sorrowfully. Tentatively, I stroked his dead flesh with my fingers. His skin was ice-cold, but what did that matter? I was even colder inside.
For the next few hours, I just sat with Erik, but I finally realized that I ought to return home. I took his ring and gently put it on his finger.
"Thank you for all that you did for me," I whispered. "Rest in peace, Angel." I then gave him a tender kiss on the forehead before rising to my feet. I allowed my eyes to wander around the room one last time. I saw a sheet of music and took it in my hands. The title read, Christine, mon ange. Tears fell again, for I could tell by the notes that the song was a combination between love and despair. I placed the piece of music in my pocket. Then, I hurriedly left the opera house forever.
o0o
Erik is dead.
I thought his death would bring me a sense of security. Oh, what a foolish girl I am! Only now, when it's too late, do I realize how much I truly loved him. Yet, I allowed myself to be frightened away by something as insignificant as his face.
I despise myself.
Despite all of the lies he led me to believe, and despite all of his deception, he was my Angel of Music, and I loved him. This is the ugly truth.
I had a chance to be everything to Erik… to be his real, living wife. Instead, I am just Christine, and I am dead.
What irony! While Erik's body was a corpse, he was alive and beautiful on the inside. I, on the other hand, appear to be full of life to everyone else, and I alone know that in my heart, I am dead.
Erik is dead…
End.