4. Love Spirit

Gustave didn't want the kiss to stop. It was bliss; he closed his eyes and continued feeling happy that Louise did not protest. He then stopped and leant his forehead on Louise's.
"Do you believe in true love?" he whispered. Louise smiled and placed her hand on Gustave's.
"I'm not sure I have never really thought about, could this be it?" she pondered holding Gustave's hand and intertwining her fingers with his. Gustave smiled and kissed her on the forehead.
"I believe I've found it" he said softly in her ear. Louise smiled and giggled as Gustave's breath tickled her ear. Louise pulled back and stared into Gustave's eyes.
"You must tell me more about yourself" she laughed. Gustave nodded obediently.
"What would you like to know?" he asked. Louise pursed her lips and thought.
"Well your accent is very bizarre it seems to be a mixture of two" she said. Gustave nodded.
"Well I originally lived in France and moved here so that could be the answer" he said leaning against a mirror. Louise nodded and curled up next to him.
"Why did you move?" she whispered sleepily.
"Well my mother performed a lot when I was younger all over France but she was asked to come here to sing by who I now know to be my Father. I was so confused as I had been raised by another man but I have learnt to accept what happened" Gustave said looking back at the past. Louise nodded and looked up at him.
"Why do you want to leave then?" she whispered.
"Well I want independence, I love my parents but they can be a bit overbearing and I dream of finding new horizons and adventures. But I guess the tragedy all those years ago has prevented me from leaving" Gustave said sadly. Louise sat up at this.
"Tragedy?" she asked. Gustave nodded.
"Well my Mother was shot by a crazed woman who tried to drown me. She was made insane by her jealousy of my Father and Mother's relationship. I think that's probably why I'm so afraid of open water sometimes and due to nearly losing my mother once I can't bare to leave her" Gustave said facing away from Louise. Louise placed her hand on Gustave's face and turned him back to her.
"You have nothing to fear" she said sweetly stroking his cheek.
"I think Meg Giry has had a bad effect on this place for me" He continued. Louise nodded.
"Mad Meg?" she asked inquisitively. Gustave stared at her and nodded.
"The children sing an eerie song around the beach about her, its something like. Mad Meg lost all she had, wanted revenge which turned her sad, but little did she know she'd gone mad" Louise recited. Gustave nodded and shuddered at the chilling rhyme.
"Well she is long gone" Gustave said calming him and comforting Louise. The two sat with each other for a while until Gustave sat back up.
"We had better get you home otherwise your father will be furious!" Gustave exclaimed. Louise's eyes widened.
"And your mother will be angry" she hissed. Gustave nodded. He stood up and helped Louise up and they both quickly ran back to The Masquerade.
Louise turned to Gustave and romantically kissed him.
"I want to see you tomorrow, are you free?" she said. Gustave nodded.
"I sense I will be in trouble for tonight but I can offer to repaint the carousel horses, perhaps you want to help. Or watch?" he asked. Louise nodded.
"It sounds great" she said and kissed him once more before she left. Gustave stood in the doorway to The Masquerade dreamily and blew Louise a kiss as she left.

The next morning Louise wandered around the closed amusement park looking out for Gustave carefully, it was a different world in the early morning and it cast a kind of mystery to the surroundings.
"Gustave?" Louise hissed looking around. Louise stopped as she heard a shuffling sound.
"Boo!" Gustave yelled jumping out from behind a carousel horse. Louise shrieked and nearly fell over but Gustave caught her in mid air.
"Gustave that's not funny!" she scolded but then burst into a fit of giggles. Gustave smiled and leant down and kissed her gently on the forehead.
"Well we have a job ahead of us, these horses need some tender loving care" He said looking at the cracked and chipped paint on them. Louise nodded and walked around a particularly sorry looking horse whose paint was a mess. Louise smiled and patted its head.
"I would like to help this one" she said happily. Gustave nodded and handed her a paintbrush and set down the paint next to the horse.
"Are you sure you want to paint? I don't want you to ruin your dress" he said with a smile. Louise shrugged.
"The messier you are shows how much fun you actually had" she said trying to sound philosophical with a laugh. Gustave nodded and began to paint the horse as did Louise.
"So how much trouble were you in?" Louise asked.
"Not too much" Gustave said dabbing the brush in the paint "but my mother has always had a soft spot for me" he laughed. Louise smiled and moved round the horse closer to Gustave to dab her brush in the paint. They both did this at the same point and this made them stare deeply into each others eyes. Gustave smiled and kissed her on the lips. As a reply Louise dabbed Gustave on the nose with the brush and started to laugh. Gustave too joined in and dabbed Louise on the nose, at this Louise pulled Gustave closer and the two embraced and kissed fiercely. Gustave leant Louise back and knocked over a can of paint which distracted the two and made them laugh.

After a while the two completed the horse and they stood together admiring their work holding hands. The horse was now beautiful it was painted white and pink and Louise had painted love hearts and flowers into its Maine and tail and Gustave had painted a cherub on its side. The two looked at each other and smiled.
"Now all it needs is a name" Gustave said to Louise. Louise smiled and walked up to the horse's neck a picked up a paintbrush.

"Love Spirit" she said painting the name onto its neck. Gustave smiled.
When she was done Louise smiled at the horse and admired some of the other horses. She found another beautiful horse and studied it. It had half a white face and it had a gold Maine and tail and had roses painted onto it.
"This is beautiful" she whispered and looked at its name which read "Angel" Gustave walked round to it.
"This is one my mother and father painted together" He placing his hand on the horses head. Louise smiled and looked up at Gustave.
"Well I think that Love Spirit is much more beautiful" she whispered.