Christine found that she slept surprisingly well that night. She chalked that up to being so exhausted the night before. She didn't wake up once until it was morning; sunlight streaming in through the window near her bed. She felt the warmness on her face, and slowly opened her eyes.
She shot up in bed when she realized how late in the morning it was. How could she be so foolish as to let herself sleep so long? Now planning her escape would be even harder. Erik was sure to come get her at any time, and that darn door didn't have a lock.
She threw the bed covers off and jumped out of bed, being careful to not make too much noise. She tiptoed over to her door and put an ear against it, listening for any signs that Erik was awake.
After a few minutes of total silence, Christine was satisfied. If he did happen to be awake, he was nowhere near her room. She had enough time.
She walked back over to the window, and searched for a way to open it. To her delight, a lever on the left side of the pane proved to do just that. She tugged on it, trying to force the window open. It didn't open easily, but a few tries later and she eventually got it.
Christine silently thanked Erik for putting her room on the first floor. That would be the one thing she would ever thank him for, guaranteed. Now escaping would be much easier, and considerably less dangerous than if she were on the second or third floor.
Christine cautiously put one foot up on the window frame, unsure if it would hold her weight. She may be small, but this certainly didn't seem like the sturdiest window frame ever. To her relief, it held.
She brought her other foot up, struggling just a bit to keep her balance. Unfortunately, Erik hadn't provided her with a chair or stool of any kind. There wasn't a good place to hang on to with her hands, so she would have to move cautiously. The window frame creaked precariously, as if it was going to fall off at any moment.
Suddenly, she heard footsteps right outside her door. Before she had time to react or move, the door swung open, and Erik stormed in.
"What on earth do you think you're doing!" He yelled at Christine, anger in his voice. This was the angriest she had seen him so far, and it frightened her. He was certainly stronger than her, as he had already proved multiple times. There was no telling what he would do.
It didn't take him long to cross the room and reach her. He roughly grabbed her around her waist from behind and pulled her out of the windowsill before she could get down herself.
"Let… me… go!" Christine struggled against his grip of iron, but she knew that she was completely powerless against him. This time was different than the last time he carried her from the woods. Last time his touch was gentle, and he didn't seem to have any intentions of hurting her. This time was completely opposite. He had grabbed her from behind in such a way that Christine knew her ribcage would have bruises.
He was furious and she knew it. His jaw was clenched, and his eyes ablaze. Forcefully, he turned her around and pinned her against the wall by her shoulders, his face a mere two inches away from hers.
"What were you thinking, huh? You thought you could just leave here any time you felt like it?" His words were full of fire, and Christine turned her head to one side and closed her eyes, willing this horrible moment to be over with all her might.
He roughly grabbed her jaw with one hand, forcing her to look at him. His eyes were locked on hers, and one hand still held her against the wall. "You are mine now. Your decisions are no longer your own! I expect you to obey me, is that clear?"
Christine grabbed the wrist of the hand around her jaw with one of her own. His grip loosened enough for her to spit out the words, "It's clear."
He finally released her, causing her to fall onto the floor. She winced, as the bruises on her ribcage became more evident. Erik picked the window pane up off the floor and replaced it in the window with ease. He saw her still in a crumpled heap on the floor, and bent down to her level to speak one more time before leaving. Her eyes never left the floor to meet his gaze, not out of submission, but of fear.
"If you try anything like that again, there will be consequences. I hope I am being understood, because I do not like to repeat myself." He said in a sharp tone. Not waiting for an answer, he picked himself up, and stormed out of the room, slamming the door loudly behind him.
Emotion overcame Christine as soon as he left. The tears could be held back no longer. She began to cry, louder and louder, until she was sure that Erik would hear her and come back to yell at her again.
Face still wet from the freshly shed tears, Christine picked herself up off the floor, but winced as the pain coming from her ribs seemed to shoot to her whole body. It nearly made her cry out, but she held it in, not wanting to be the cause of Erik's return. She forced herself to walk over to the bed, at least that would bring her some comfort. There was no way she was leaving this room when he was undoubtedly still furious. She painstakingly slowly lowered herself onto the covers, as to not cause any more pain than necessary.
She lay there feeling sorry for herself for a good few minutes, and then her sadness and pity turned into red hot rage. Why her? What had she ever done to deserve this? Sure, she wasn't the best person in the world, but at least she tried. Had she not gone through enough in this past year?
Her mind drifted back to the day before, Raoul specifically. Why had she been so cold to him? He didn't deserve that. She would give anything right now to have him here. Raoul always knew what to do.
At least she could take comfort in the fact that Raoul would probably know she was missing soon. She had no way of contacting him, as her cell phone had died. But, just a little scrap of hope remained, and that was all that Christine needed. Raoul would save her, she was sure of it.
