The next few days pass quickly, I watch the rehearsals and eat dinner with Meg, with whom I have become fast friends. I have also met the other girls a few times they seem quite nice, however Christine seems a bit strange, she's nerves all the time and is always sneaking off.
One afternoon I tell Meg I feel unwell so will have to miss supper, however I do not, instead I follow Christine to the chapel, hiding myself carefully, just after she lights a candle I hear a voice, the voice that saved me from myself many a time, the voice of my Phantom, my Erik. I wait patiently until I see Christine leave, then I sep away from my hiding place into the light and ask the shadows "are you there? Phantom? Erik?" suddenly a strong large hand gabbed my small throat from behind pulling me flush against a hard chest, my panic dies as a familiar voice questions with anger "how do you know that name?" I smile slightly as he squeezes lightly and answer "Erik, its me Annie. I have returned to you, just as I promised." with that the pressure on my throat is gone and I am turned to face my Phantom.
I smile into his golden eyes as he whispers unsure "Annie? Is it truly you?" I nod ever so and reach for my chain, showing him his gift to me. He carefully takes the watch in his hand then cups my cheek with the other "Annie, you have returned, for so long I thought you only a dream, but here you stand, the rebellious child now a brave woman." I smile to him and say "and you have not changed Erik, for that I am thankful. Is there some place we can talk, there is so much I wish to tell you and to hear." he smiles to me and says "yes your room, the room in which we met. I will come to you with in the hour." I nod my head and walk gleefully to my room.
I sit eagerly awaiting him and sing -
((Carrie Underwood - Inside Your Heaven))
I've been downNow I'm blessedI felt a revelation coming aroundI guess its right, it's so amazingEverytime I see you I'm aliveYou're all I've gotYou lift me upThe sun and the moonlightAll my dreams are in your eyesI wanna be inside your heavenTake me to the place you cry fromWhere the storm blows your wayI wanna be the earth that holds youEvery bit of air you're breathin' inA soothin' windI wanna be inside your heavenWhen we touch, when we loveThe stars light upThe wrong becomes undoneNaturally, my soul surrendersThe sun and the moonlightAll my dreams are in your eyesAnd I wanna be inside your heavenTake me to the place you cry fromWhere the storm blows you awayAnd I wanna be the earth that holds youEvery bit of air you're breathing inA soothing windI wanna be inside your heavenWhen minutes turn to days and yearsIf mountains fall, I'll still be hereHoldin you until the day I dieAnd I wanna be inside your heavenTake me to the place you cry fromWhere the storm blows you awayI wanna be inside your heavenTake me to the place you cry fromWhere the storm blows you awayI wanna be the earth that holds youEvery bit of air you're breathin' inA soothin' windI wanna be inside your heavenOh yes I doI wanna be inside your heaven
As I finish singing I hear a noise from behind me and turn to he Erik standing with a hand on his heart. I run to him and hug him tightly as I say "you came" he smiles town to me and says "of course. Now tell me about your life since we last met" I take his hand and we sit on the bench as I begin.
"Erik my life became quite tragic after I left France. I woke a few weeks after returning to England to find my mother gone, she ran away and left my sister and I alone to face my fathers wrath. We received word a few years later that she had been taken ill and died After she was gone he only got worse, more drink, more women, more using me as a human punching bag. To the world outside he was a perfect gentleman and I the clumsy daughter. On my thirteenth birthday I befriended our new neighbours children, Isabella and Daniel, twins. They where older than I by a year. Soon enough Bella and I were best friends and Daniel and I were courting. The year of my fourteenth my baby sister Louise grew ill and perished. My father was beside himself, he's never hurt Louise, she was his favourite. On my fifteenth Daniel proposed, I was happy, I loved him deeply, however his and Bella's house was the victim of an arson attack, they were dead before the flames reached them." I stopped for a moment as I felt him wiping at my tears then continued.
"after that I just drifted, not even bothering to scream when my father beat me. Then Liam, Daniels best friend, invited me to a party, to avoid a beating from father I went, however on the way home I felt faint, it turns out that Liam spiked my drink, that night I lost my virtue and gained a child. When father found out he was disgraced, so beat my child from me. A few mouth ago I saw Liam again, and I ran home, took my fathers pistol, found him again, relieving himself in an alleyway and I shot him. Then I went home and did the same to father, with his death I inherited everything and made the arrangements to return to France." I looked up to my Phantom with glazed over eyes and ask "do you think me wicked?" I takes my face in his hands and says "never, you have suffered more than most and have a right to avenge yourself" I smile and fly into his arms.
As he holds me telling me of Christine and how he has helped her, comforted her lonely soul and of how he loves her, my heart brakes at hearing this, but I stay quite, knowing that if she makes him happy I must leave them be. As time passes we fall into a comfortable silence while my Phantom rocks me into slumber.