Yay! Chapter 2. I have decided to post the next couple chapters pretty quick to make up for my long absence. I have added a lot about Erik's childhood since I originally posted the chapters so we get more into the relationship between Erik and his mother and what went wrong. I love constructive criticism, emphasis on constructive. I am not an expert on anything I write about so if there is something I get wrong please feel free to let me know.

And if you got a massive amount of random alerts about this fic. Please forgive me I was having issues and it is late at night. I will not explain anymore to save myself extreme embarrassment at my ineptitude.

Here it is chapter 2. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Don't own The Phantom of the Opera no matter how much I wish for it. I only own the twisted ideas that come out of my head.

Chapter 2

A new start

Jen walked around the house trying to find something to do. She was trying to keep her mind busy to keep from thinking about Erik. It has been three days and every time she heard him cry she shuddered. She dreaded having to go take care of him. She went into the library and started dusting shelves. Something she hated doing. She had never had to do housework until she had her son, but cleaning was preferable to having to touch Erik. She thought back to the day after Erik was born when she called all the people who took care of the house and garden and fired them. She couldn't have anyone coming around and seeing Erik. She looked out the window grateful for the first time that they lived outside of town in a field surrounded by woods.

She had complained to her husband, Erik, about how remote the house was. He had loved the house and the property. He was a country boy at heart even though he grew up in a big city. She was a city girl through and through but she loved Erik and would do anything for him. Even moving out to a tiny city in the middle of nowhere. She smiled sadly remembering her lost love and was jolted out of her memories by the angry cry of her child.

She put the rag she was dusting with down. He was hungry again. With a heavy heart she walked down the hall to her bedroom. She walked to the crib to pick him up. She closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to look at him.

"Oh Erik, what am I going to do?" She asked him wishing he were different. She wished she had a normal child like other people. Why was she given a child like this? Why did she have to hide so no one knew how disgusting he was? She would never be able to have a life again. She pushed back the awful feelings she was having. This was her child she shouldn't be having these feelings of disgust and resentment, even if he was ugly. What a horrible mother she was. She quickly fed Erik and made sure he had a clean diaper and set him back in the crib. She touched him as little as possible, avoiding the feel of his papery skin. It freaked her out because it was not supposed to be how a baby's skin should feel.

Looking down at him she felt claustrophobic. Looking around in mild panic she knew had to get him out of her room. She pushed the wheeled crib out of her room. Glancing down at Erik he looked up at her and she could see the accusation in his eyes. Like usual she felt burnt by the anger in his stare. She looked away even more determined to get him out of her room. She decided to move him to a room at the end of the hall. She would still be able to hear him when he cried but she wouldn't feel like she had to be around him.

Stepping out of the room into the hallway she leaned her back against the wall. She was feeling very conflicted and she didn't know what to do about it. She hated him and wanted nothing to do with him but at the same time he was her child and she loved him. She turned away not able to look at him anymore. She felt shame, this was her child and he deserved to be loved more than what she was able to give him.

Pushing off the wall she ran down the hall. She fell onto her bed sobs racking her body. What had she done to deserve this? She hated herself and hated her child. How was she going to survive this?

Jen walked wearily into her home. She had stepped out to go for a walk needing to be alone and get some fresh air. She had forced herself to feed Erik again. It was getting harder and harder to feed him each time. She shuddered whenever he touched her. His touches making her feel dirty and unclean. She had decided that she was going to start using a bottle to feed him to make things easier on her, but she had to figure out how to get bottles without anyone noticing. Maybe Dr. Glenn could get her some. He had been such a big help since Erik was born. Several times in the past week he had picked up baby supplies until the ones she ordered online could be shipped to her. Thank goodness for the internet and online shopping.

She walked down a shady path through the woods and thought about her child. What she hated and loved most about him was his eyes. They were so expressive. They were all black and you could not distinguish any of the usual features of an eye. When he was happy the light in his eyes flickered like the stars leading the way on a dark night. She loved when they were like that, which was not as often as she liked, but when he was angry his eyes burned into her and the stars seemed less like beacons than hellfire.

She felt them burn into her soul. She hated it because it always reminded her that her son was a monster. Even though taking care of him was hard he was still her son and she did love him. She cried every night wondering what she was going to do when he grew older. She did not think that she would not be able to treat him like a normal child. She knew as he got older someday he would realize that she barely touched him, and she grew worried about what might happen when he does.

As she was thinking she heard footsteps behind her and she turned. It was Mrs. Graham, the nosiest lady in the town. Jen grew worried because she knew that if Mrs. Graham found out about Erik she would tell everyone in the city and she would be run out of town.

"Why hello Mrs. Graham, How are you today?" She said hoping Mrs. Graham would go away quickly. The old woman eyed her up and down.

"Hello Jen. How is the baby?" Jen had hoped that she would not have to deal with this so soon. She thought quickly trying to figure out what she was going to tell Mrs. Graham.

"The baby died. It was stillborn." She said trying to sound heartbroken from the loss of a child. She knew that Mrs. Graham was suspicious, but hoped that she would buy the lie. Mrs. Graham nodded sadly.

"I am sorry for your loss. We had all hoped that you would give birth to a healthy baby boy. But I guess we cannot have everything we want. I came out to check on you since we did not see you in church on Sunday." Mrs. Graham said they walked back toward her house.

"I am doing as well as can be expected." She saw Mrs. Graham open her mouth and cut her off quickly. She knew she was being rude but she was terrified of the woman finding out what she was hiding. "I'm sorry Mrs. Graham but my walk has tired me out and I am not quite feeling a hundred percent yet. I think I need to take a nap." Mrs. Graham narrowed her eyes at her and then nodded. She patted Jen's hand.

"Yes, you have had a hard time and you need to rest. We hope to see you next Sunday." Jen slipped into her house opening the door as little as possible. She could see Mrs. Graham trying to see inside.

"Thank you for coming to visit have a nice day." Jen said quickly shutting the door in the older woman's face. Jen leaned against the door and took a deep breath as she heard a car door slam and Mrs. Graham drove away.

As Mrs. Graham drove away from the house she frowned. She knew Jen was lying. She did not look like someone who had lost a child at birth. She didn't even look all that upset about it. Unless she was a cold careless person she would not have acted like that if she had really lost her child. She knew that wasn't it though she had seen the doctor that morning and had asked him about the baby. He had said the same thing, but he wouldn't look her in the eye. He had always been a terrible liar. She wondered what was wrong that both the doctor and Jen would lie about the baby.

As she walked through town thinking her wild imagination filled in the gaps that she knew were there. Her eyes widened and she hurried to the local bar where she knew that at this time of day half the town would be. She ran into the door and looked around. She ran up to the bar and sat next to an older man. He looked at her and nodded and she nodded back. She leaned over and whispered in his ear. When she finished his eyes widened and he stood up.

"Are you sure?" He asked his eyes wide. She nodded. His eyes grew wider. "We must do something about it." He quickly walked out the door. Satisfied with her word she stood up from the stool, nodded politely at the bar tender and left. She had come to Ben because he knew most of the people who mattered in the city and he would make sure that everyone knew what was going on. The town needed to know what was going on in the Bennet house.

Dr. Glenn stood in line at the grocery store and nodded as people he knew walked by. Two ladies got into line behind him and he half listened as they gossiped about their neighbors. That was one thing he did not like about living in a small city. There was no respect for privacy. You had to try really hard to hide a secret.

"Bennet gave birth to a demon child…devil worshipper…" He turned his head to hear better as he listened. He knew something like this would happen sooner or later. He had hoped that it wouldn't but he wasn't surprised by the crazy story they were saying about Jen. He smiled at the cashier and paid for him purchase. Walking out to the car he got in and buckled his seatbelt. He put his hands on the steering wheel and sat there a moment thinking about how this was going to affect Jen and Erik. He knew it wasn't good. People could make your life miserable with a few rumors. Turning the key in the ignition he put the car in drive and drove home.

"I'm home." He called walking in the door with his bags. His wife came breezing down the hall and kissed him as she took the bags. He took off his shoes and walked behind her into the kitchen. He sat down at the counter and watched as she finished cooking dinner. She tuned and smiled at him. He smile fell a little when she saw his face.

"What's the matter?" She asked.

"Rumors have started." He said knowing she would know what he meant. He had told her about Erik and Jen and his concerns shortly after Erik had been born. Her eyes softened and she came and hugged him tightly.

"There is nothing more that you can do. There is nothing that is going to stop the cruel people in this town from doing whatever they want." He nodded.

"I know I just feel responsible. I should have made her take him to the hospital." She shook her head.

"If you had the rumors would have started weeks ago. I don't know if you did the right thing but you did what you thought best at the time." Dr. Glenn nodded as his wife turned back to the stove and finished dinner. He thought about what she had said and knew she was right. He still worried about the affect this was going to have on Jen and Erik and hoped they would be able to find a way through what was going to happen.

Jen looked in the fridge and realized with a sigh that she needed to go to the grocery store. She hated going into the store. She had heard the rumors whispered behind her back as she went about her business in the city. Tears formed in her eyes as she thought about it. Pressing her lips together she wiped her eyes and picked up her purse. She was not going to let those stupid people make her life more miserable then it already was. She ran up the stairs to check on Erik.

He was sleeping in his crib and she had just fed him. Even though he was barely a month he slept very well and did not have to take care of him as much. She made sure there were toys within reach in case he woke up before she got back. She felt a twinge of guilt as she walked out the door. She knew she shouldn't leave him alone like this but she would be quick and they needed food.

She got in her car and drove to the store. She smiled at the men sitting in front of the diner next to the store. They smiled back but the smiles were fake. She knew that as soon as she walked into the store they would turn to each other and start talking about her. She hated it; she used to be a prominent member of this community now she was shunned as if she had the plague. She was surprised that they had not pulled their pitchforks and torches out of their closet and shown up at her house yet.

She quickly moved through the store grabbing what she needed ignoring the stares and whispers. No one came up to her to say hello. Everyone kept their distance as if having demon children was a contagious disease and she was the carrier. She paid and quickly left trying to get to the safety of her home.

She pulled into her drive and turned the car off. How she hated her child and what he did to her. Because of him everyone hates her and wants nothing to do with her. Before she had Erik she had parties all the time and lots of friends. Now she was friendless and no one wanted to come over even if she would let anyone come into her house. If only he had been born normal and not a freak. She shook her head and tried to think happier thoughts. She couldn't stay here much longer. People were making life here unbearable. She needed to find a place she could be anonymous. She was too well known here and everyone was too nosy. She went inside and checked on Erik. He was still sleeping.

She thought about what a horrible mother she was. If he had been normal she would have taken him everywhere and shown him off to as many people as she could. Now she kept him shut up in a small bedroom at the end of the hall. She walked out and went to put her groceries away. After she had finished she sat down at the computer. She was going to have to move and make a new start. Find somewhere she could go and be anonymous, where no one would know about her son.

She searched until Erik woke up. She heard him making noises happy to be alone. She went in and saw that he had rolled over and was playing with the toys in his crib. She knew this was not normal and had questioned Dr. Glenn about it. Dr. Glenn said that a month old was really early for rolling over but it was all right Erik is just developing faster than other children. Erik smiled at her and she flinched. His smile was horrible. It gave her the creeps when he smiled at her. Sometimes she felt like she was in a weird horror movie and was waiting for his head to spin or something to come flying out of his mouth. She forced a smile.

"Hello Erik time to eat." She picked him up and walked to the dining room and put him in his high chair. He babbled to himself as she prepared a bottle for him. He carefully took it from her as she handed it to him. She could tell he was concentrating on holding on to the bottle as he put it in his mouth. He leaned back in the chair and drank his bottle. She was amazed at how he seems to know how to do things and concentrates to get his baby body to do what he wants it to do. Though she was amazed she was scared too. She turned away so that she did not have to watch him and made herself something to eat.

After searching for days she soon found a home outside of a large rural city. The city was big enough that she could be anonymous and the house was far enough outside the city that she would not have visitors. After talking with the realtor she knew that the nearest neighbors were miles away. Satisfied that it was a good place where she could make a new start she made the arrangements and signed all the papers and then the house was hers.

Jen stared at the phone in her hand afraid to press the button. She needed Dr. Glenn's help one last time and she was sad about having to say goodbye. Dr. Glenn was the only one who still talked to her and he stopped by every now and then to check in on them. Pushing the dial button she put the phone to her ear.

"Hello," She heard his gruff voice.

"Hi Dr. Glenn it's Jen."

"Hi Jen. How are you and Erik doing?" He asked and the genuine care in his voice caused her throat to tighten. She cleared her throat.

"Um…fine. We are fine. Dr. Glenn I need your help with something."

"Oh what can I help you with?" He asked and once again the eagerness to help touched her and she blinked back the tears. He had been the only kind one to her in the last few weeks.

"I'm moving and I need someone to meet the movers and make sure they pack everything in the house…" She trailed off and he jumped in.

"Of course I can meet them. When do you need me?" She sighed in relief.

"They will be here at eight in the morning on Saturday." She said quickly.

"No problem. I hope everything works out for you Jen." He said his voice sad. She nodded even though she knew he couldn't see.

"Thank you Dr. Glenn, for everything."

"I know Jen. Good Luck." She said goodbye and hung up. Setting the phone down she stood up to finish packing. She had a lot to do and only a couple days to do it in. She wanted to be well on her way before the movers showed up on Saturday.