Echoes of the Past
From the roof of the Opera House he could see all of Paris spread out below him. He leaned on the balustrade and took it all in. It was here he often came to clear his mind after days of being holed up in the 5th cellar composing. He especially liked the roof at night when it was just he, alone, and Apollo and the other statues representing the arts of poetry and music. They never judged him. Nor turned from him in horror. Just silently stood guard over the Opera and the city which burned and glittered like some magical presence while the stars above seemed so close, he almost felt tempted to reach out and take hold of one.
He raised a hand towards the heavens, and then, laughing to himself, lowered it, again. Heaven, and all its stars and planets were always just out of reach. HIS reach, anyway. He shook his head, and stood up straight, trying to regain his composure.
He should have known better than to revisit old wounds. The night he followed Christine up to this very spot and, concealed from view, his heart in his throat, unable to breathe lest he disturb her reverie, when to his surprise she was joined, momentarily, by that wastrel, Raoul. A man with money and a title but without a poetic bone in his body. Erik could remember the scene in vivid detail. Before he could help himself he had let out a strangled cry that was almost lost on the winds that forever swept over the roof. But Christine heard it. And startled, she turned in his direction, until Raoul took her hand drew her back to him pulling her close in an embrace.
This was long ago. So long ago the image had been buried deep within his subconscious, until tonight, because Christine was his, now. His wife. He adored her with his whole heart and soul, such as it was. He had come up here while she was in rehearsal. He had visited with Madame Giry and watched Meg, now a prima ballerina, as she practiced in the mirrored dance rehearsal room.
Something made him come up to the scene of the night that had once pushed him to the brink of life or death. A life without Christine would not have been a life worth living. Remembering it now, that vision of Raoul and Christine, watching as Raoul murmured to her, whispering things that even his keen hearing could not make out. He crept closer and heard the words that forever changed his perceptions of what he was witnessing.
It seemed as if Christine had betrayed him. She was divulging his secrets to that boy who had replied, passionately, that he hated Erik for what he had put Christine through, and as Erik listened he felt his hand go instinctively to the Punjab lasso secreted in a pocket of his cape.
Then Raoul asked Christine to tell him that she, too, hated Erik.
"No," Christine replied.
Raoul, releasing her hands and confronting her had snarled "Of course not ... it's plain you love him! Your horror of this man is just love and love of the most intense and passionate kind, a love you cannot even admit it to yourself…" here Raoul paused, then spat out "The kind of love that is so
secret it excites you when you think of it... this man who lives only for you in a mysterious home underground!"
Hearing the vehemence in these words, Christine stumbled backwards. Raoul made a grab for her… but something blocked his way. Or rather, someone.
Erik had stepped out of the shadows and between Christine and Raoul, who stared in disbelief at the appearance of this masked, caped Phantom.
"You had better leave now" Erik spoke so quietly and yet, the implied threat made Raoul stop in his tracks. He looked questioningly at Christine, who stood behind Erik and nodded to him. "Go, Raoul. Erik would never hurt me… would you?"
"Never" he replied, not taking his eyes from Raoul. "Don't play the hero, young man" Erik continued.
" she already has one."
And with that, wordlessly, Raoul retreated to the stairs leading down.
"Wait!" Christine cried out," causing both Erik and Raoul to stare at her, uncomprehendingly.
She moved towards Raoul, as Erik felt his heart stop, but instead of taking Raoul's hand and leaving him behind, she said, "You are right, Raoul. I do love him. It was a love I kept secret and wouldn't admit to myself. You made me realize that I had to accept it. That I could never love anyone else, not even you, my dear friend, so please, please, do not go to the authorities. I am not in any danger. Promise me that. Please, Raoul."
He looked at her, and spoke, at last "I promise you, Christine. I will tell no one." Then, bravely glaring back at Erik, who was still mystified by what he had heard, he spoke evenly "But if you ever hurt her, you will have to answer to me, and me alone. Understand?" and to his surprise, Erik nodded. And then Raoul disappeared down the stairs and away from the Opera House and their lives.
Oddly, because of this scene, Erik granted Raoul a respect that he seldom gave to anyone who had ever crossed him. For, he saw, now, that Raoul did indeed love Christine. He had loved her so much he had given her to a man he himself feared and loathed because she could not live without him.
"I must remember to send him a Christmas card," Erik muttered as he followed the stairs down, down and made his way to Box 5 where he enjoyed Christine's finale of the rehearsal for his latest opera, "Lights and Stars" about a love affair between diva and an impresario as told by a pair of statues representing love and music.