Le Couer Noir
By: AngelElspeth
Preface
Shattering glass, a woman sobbing, an angry cry of disbelief and then…nothing. Perhaps the conclusion of that episode never occurred. Perhaps it had all been wiped from the mind of the child in a wash of unbridled fury and rage…but, whatever the reason, he had always been unable to recall the remainder of that fateful afternoon. The day when he finally understood the disgust and loathing his mother always showed him. Odd that on this day, his birthday of all days, he would experience a rebirth. The budding emergence of the man he would become as opposed to the man he should have been. And it was that afternoon which caused the world to lose the greatest man it had never known.
Chapter One
For the hundredth time, the flowing, pulsing music allowed me to escape. Just when it seemed I would be swallowed by the anger and darkness that fill my heart, I am given release. When the silence once again fills the room I am reluctant to look down. I half expect the cool, ivory keys of my organ to be tarnished and stained by the hatred they have drawn out of me. As I tentatively glance down at my skeletal hands resting on their purity I am relieved to see that the keys remain untainted. With a sigh the man at the pipe organ rises. Turning from his beloved instrument, his cape swirls majestically around him as it has so many times before. But now the image doesn't catch in the heart of a young woman. She doesn't shudder to think of the mystery lying deep within the eyes of this elusive stranger.
She sits in her room, staring sightlessly into her mirror and absently brushing her lovely dark hair until it gleams in the steady glow of the gaslight. Finally, getting up at length she wanders, like a lost child, to her bed. As she lays down under the heavily quilted comforter she shivers…she's remembering…remembering a time when she had the love of an angel. She drifts off to another night of troubled dreams. A whisper escapes her lips…more of a breath than anything…almost unintelligible… "Erik…"
He knew he had released her; had willingly allowed her to walk out of his life forever, God, I even forced her to do just that. However, he still couldn't register the fact that she was gone, truly gone, for good.
The six months that they had spent in each other's company could have been six years or six seconds for all the difference it made, but the past month had been unbearable. It's so quiet here now, he thought. He could still picture her moving purposefully around his underground home, his "lair", as he had become fond of calling it. Cleaning, straightening, fixing that abysmal tea while all the while humming quietly to herself. The memory brought a bittersweet smile to his lips.
"She will be happy now…", he murmured quietly. He closed his eyes on the threat of tears as the empty platitude brought no comfort. An unbidden picture of her in his arms brought the ever present monster in his blood roiling closer to the surface. Ah yes, him…I had almost forgotten about him. From the day he had first seen the two young people together he had known for a fact; Raoul would be trouble. At first, I thought it would be possible to combat this force which threatened to rip Christine and I apart. But now I realize how futile my efforts were…for who could ever learn to love a beast.
Walking slowly towards his bedroom he pauses. Reverently, he caresses the door to an adjoining room. Then with a cautious motion he turns the handle. Entering the room brings back a flood of emotions. As he drifts noiselessly around the room he runs his fingers over her remaining possessions. In her headlong flight out of the "nightmare", as the boy called it, she had left behind a few personal items. A hairbrush with a few strands of her chestnut hair still strung around the tines, an delicate, lace shawl…picking up the ethereal piece of fabric he brings it to his lips… "Christine…"
Author's note: I wrote this about 5 years ago...it's completed with 15 chaps as is but I thought I'd post the chapters once a week because I want to revise them as I go...sigh...this is my firstfanfic post ever!