I hope you enjoy! The previous chapter has substantially been edited so if anyone didn't read that first, I recommend you look it over for this to make sense. Any reviews are greatly appreciated!
Christine woke up and immediately twisted to the edge of the bed, retching onto the floor. Her head was pounding but the nausea abated as she settled back into the bed.
"N-no, stop."
She sat up in shock, her heart racing at the sudden soft whispers, her eyes scanning the room. It was too dark to be her usual room but a glow filtered in from the next room to make out the shape on the bed. She darted from under the covers and took several steps away. A shiver wracked her frame as her arms wrapped around herself as the room started spinning around her.
She felt a sudden twist in her gut and bolted to the bathroom, already aware of its location. She stayed in the bathroom until there was nothing left but the occasional dry heave. She collapsed to the cold floor with tears streaming down her face.
Christine wasn't sure how much time had passed when she finally pushed herself up from the floor. She splashed some water on her face to wipe away the tears and sickness. The cool liquid helped to soothe the pounding in her head but did little to shed light on the situation. She was still in Erik's home, standing bare in the bathroom. She couldn't recall much from the night beyond the drinking but her speculations sent her heart racing as she grasped the edge of the water basin.
She finally stepped out from the bathroom to find Erik blessedly still asleep. She found her clothing in a pile and dressing quickly before taking in the mess on the floor deciding to clean up to give her time to consider her next course of action.
She listened to Erik's continual whimpers as he slept as she mopped at the mess on the floor, each soft plea and whimper sending a pang of pity through her. Several times she considered rousing him from his nightmares, her fingers twitching with the urge to rub circles against his back and whisper soft comforts to soothe him. But even the few times the cries became too much and she stood up from cleaning and take the few steps around the bed to go to him, she would stop short of actually reaching out to him before scurrying back to her work. If he woke and saw her there she'd never be allowed to leave...or perhaps he would force her to go. She wasn't sure which was worse.
She was no closer to a decision when she finished and she found herself standing between the door and the bed watching Erik. He looked so small, with his head hidden under his arms and his legs tucked into his chest. She could faintly make out the crisscrossing of scars that she faintly remembered tracing her fingers over the night before as she had drifted into sleep.
Did she want to stay?
She closed her eyes. She couldn't. Raoul would come looking for her that day if he didn't find her at Madame Giry's and he would bring the force of the gendarmerie with him. He would be too nervous with the public announcement of their engagement just a day before to think anything short of wrongdoing and ransom. The opera house would be the first place they'd looked. The rumors of the opera ghost's possible survival would ignite and spread through the streets again making any escape near impossible. Erik would be caught and he would be hung, Raoul's name would be dragged through the mud again with another scandal attached to the woman he deigned to marry.
It didn't matter what she wanted.
"Please, no."
For a wild moment she thought he had woken up and was speaking to her, aware of her internal conflict but then he curled himself just a little more tightly in the bed and grew silent again. He looked like a child, hiding away from the world. Erik's voice sounded broken, scared and she shuddered at the thought of what demons were plaguing him in his sleep.
She could see the mask left on the floor beside him, briefly recalled removing it the night before. Her thoughts drifted, thinking back to that night, still able to hear the shrieks and gasps coming from the audience from when she had stolen away his only defense and laid his face bare to the world. They would come looking if she stayed. He wouldn't be able to hide then.
She hesitated only a moment more before she turned and walked delicately around the wreckage in the main room that was still illuminated by a few candles, grabbing her coat and shawl on the way out.
The second Christine stepped into the tunnels she broke out into a run, dashing up the surface and into the blinding light of the sun. She stopped momentarily, staggering against the wall of the opera house as her eyes adjusted to the early morning light. She took a step forward before collapsing to her knees in the alleyway she had come through only hours earlier. Tears rushed down her pale cheeks as she let sobs wrack her body.
She wasn't sure how long she had stayed like that but she finally pushed herself up, drying her eyes with her shawl before wrapping it around herself to hide her face and walked out into the main street. It was still early morning and she was thankful for the lack of people on the streets as she made her way to Madame Giry's home.
She was a coward.
I hope you enjoyed! I am considering continuing this into a longer story when I have the time.
