Chapter 4: Memorandum Morning

Meg woke up to find her mother gone and a note beside her. The paper was simply folded in half, not sealed in any way. Meg sat up and carefully opened the note. It was her mother's handwriting

Dearest Meg,

The events of this night worry me greatly. I was the one who showed Raoul the way to the Phantom and he knows this. I fear for my life but you should not fear for yours, he has promised me not to hurt you unless you go down to the basement, which you must never do. I have gone to stay with an old friend in the countryside, and will return in good time. Stay with Christine if she will have you, or the other ballet girls if not. This way I will be able to find you when I return. You have grown up a great deal, I trust you to look after yourself. I love you and will miss you greatly.

With love,

Your mother

Meg closed the note with a quizzical look on her face. The Phantom was dead, what did her mother have to fear? This was all very wrong, but at this point, she hadn't the slightest idea where to look for the truth.

xxx

After delivering the note, Erik returned to his home and collect things he had bought for Christine. After last night, the whole thing was beginning to seem ridiculous. For what must have been a full hour he had lost it completely. He knew that you couldn't scare someone into love, yet there he was dragging Christine along the passageways, and threatening the man she really loved to force her to stay. He was disgusted with himself for allowing emotion to take over him so thoroughly. He knew he was only angry at being exposed publicly and that people would know how to find him again if they wanted. None of that had really been Christine's fault, and he had been too rash. So, he began to cleanse himself of reminders of this insanity, to try to put it behind him. As he took dresses from hangers and collected various baubles, he walked pas the black curtain surrounding the bed. Against his will a smile crept across his face, she was snoring.

Antoinette had always snored, and she had always been sensitive about it. He remembered her telling him when she was fourteen that the other girls teased her about it. Quietly he depressed the lever to raise the curtain. The bindings on her wrist had caused her to sleep oddly sort of propped up on her face, with her knees drawn up. She was clearly trying to take weight off her shoulder. Her face was unsettled, bringing out the wrinkles in her face. Although she was two years younger than him, she looked much older.

Some small part of him cried out that he should let her go, that he had been rash with her as well. He shouted it down; she had betrayed him to Raoul! That rebellious part of him was persistent though. She only wanted to help Christine! He told himself the reasons didn't matter. Now what do you do then?

Now what, indeed. He thought. He would have to leave her tied, or else she would escape, and in reality what on earth was he going to do with her? Let her go. No, that was not an option she would lead others to him. You loved her once; can you really leave her like this?

Suddenly a whole new wave of pain washed over him, one he had been keeping at bay for years with anger. You should at least untie her! Tired of being dragged to places in his mind he didn't want to be by this rebellious part of him, which he knew was his heart, he surrendered this point. However, he told himself the reason he untied her was it would be a pain to have to be always getting things for her, and he comforted himself that he could threaten her to keep her from leaving.

He walked to the other side of the bed and knelt on it so he could reach to untie her wrists. This must have woken her up, because as soon as he finished she rolled over to face him. "Erik?" she looked up and him, confused. She tried to prop herself up on her arm, but immediately fell back down and rolled onto her back with a cry of pain. "Ow," she said dryly, staring at the ceiling crossly. He knew her shoulders hurt from having her arms twisted behind her back and that her hands were burning as the blood rushed back into them, and he also knew that she was quite mad at him about it. "Are you letting me go?" she asked, still looking at the ceiling. He knew from her voice that she did not expect him to let her go, but she had to ask, just to be clear.

"No," he responded with all emotion shut out of his voice.

"And how is it that you plan to keep me here untied?" She was clarifying the terms, knowing that he would make some threat, probably against Meg. She just wanted to deny him the grandeur of announcing this threat on his own terms. Erik realized this, and a smile snuck across his face. This was why he had missed her in the first place; she was a challenge for him.

"You will remain here, or forfeit your daughter's life!" His forcefulness was diminished by the fact that she had known exactly what he would say.

"And how then do you plan to keep said daughter, or anyone else for that matter, from coming looking for me?" Now she was relying on his pride to get him to tell her his plan.

"I left her a note, in your handwriting, saying you had gone to the countryside because you feared I would make an attempt on your life for leading Raoul here," he told her confidently, "In retrospect that would have been a wise choice of action for you, why did you come he—What are you laughing at?!"

"There is a flaw in your plan Monsieur; everyone believes that you are dead!"

xxx