"I remember there was mist."
He heard her tender soprano voice singing behind him. He sighed inwardly with pleasure. It amazed him that she didn't sound frightened or displeased.
"And in the boat there was a man…"
Allowing himself to turn, he saw her angelic face. Could she be smiling?
Facing his music, he smiled to himself. He felt quite content, if not relieved. Perhaps she would come to truly want to be with him.
Having heard her soft steps behind him, he knew she was standing close. Then, he felt her touch.
She was singing but her words melted away before they could reach his ears, as if it were a dream. He felt her slender hands caress his face.
He was less surprised than he would have thought himself to be. Maybe he hadn't the sense to be shocked. He was floating in heaven, for once not worrying about his deformity.
Closing his eyes, he leaned back towards her. There was one thing in his mind: his Christine was willingly standing close beside him, even touching him. Nothing could destroy this blissful moment that he had waited for all his life.
Suddenly, he felt the muggy, wet air of the cavern stab at his face. In an instant, his hand covered his horrific disfigurement. He threw Christine's delicate form to the ground, as if she was a rag doll.
What had happened? Where was the heaven he had experienced mere seconds ago? He had sincerely begun to believe that she maybe held some affection for him.
No, he realized, she had come only to gawk at the monstrosity like all the others. How had he started to think that she could ever love a creature as ugly and terrifying as himself?
Anger flared up inside him. She had tricked him! Perhaps it was only her inconvenient curiosity. Her words returned to him. "Whose is the face in the mask?" If it was her inquiring mind, then curse the curiosity of silly young girls!
Any thoughts he had previously had of living a happy, normal life with his Christine were disappearing. How dare she come so close to him, make him love her even more, only to rip off his mask for her own satisfaction.
He was shouting before he even realized it.
"Damn you! You little prying Pandora!"
If he were to let her go now, would she return to something so hateful? Oh, his poor Christine, she shouldn't have to share in his burden.
"Now you cannot ever be free…"
He stood with his back to her, breathing heavily. He recalled her terrified face as she cowered on the ground. She couldn't have been expecting anything hideous as what she was granted. She was probably shocked most of all. Yet, she had still been horrified, just like everyone else. Just like everyone else.
"Stranger than you dreamt it…"