Ok Sorry about the long time it took me to update. I have been working on a novel to publish and I finally got it done and sent out. Thanks again for the reviews and I hope to get more as the chapters continue. Any suggestions? Send them on over.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Phantom of the Opera….Unfortunately

And so it continues.

That night, I didn't bother the man named "Erik" any more. After bandaging his legs up like he asked me to, I came back to the caravan to rest. As I lied there in my bed, I glanced out the window to see Erik's tent still lit by candle light. I wondered if he ate the meal I had made for him and if he had enjoyed it. There were many things about Erik that I still didn't understand and wanted to find out. I didn't want to sound curious, but I wanted to know what he was hiding behind his mask. Was there really anything in this world so horrible, that one felt the need to hide it? I wasn't sure, but in time, I was going to make sure to find out. I tried to stay awake as long as possible, waiting for those candles within Erik's tent to go out but after watching them for hours, they never did. I had guessed that they never did, but I wasn't sure because I fell asleep long before I could find out. The following morning, I awoke to Esmeralda tapping me on my shoulder. I rolled over to find her standing at the end of my bed with her hands on her hips.

"You're back to being well again Lauralye, and it's time to start earning your keep again." she replied.

I rolled over and pulled the covers over my head, but Esmeralda just pulled them off me and forced me to my feet. I quickly dressed, and sat down to eat my breakfast, before Esmeralda handed me the basket of food to deliver. After throwing on my cloak, I turned to leave when Esmeralda stopped me.

"And don't be stopping to visit the boss. Finish delivering the food first before you even think of stepping foot inside his tent."

I nodded, and walked outside the caravan carrying the heavy basket of food in my hand. It was snowing again, and I couldn't help but begin wonder when spring was going to arrive. I wanted to visit Erik so badly, but knew that I had to deliver the food first before stopping to do so. I knew that if I stopped in to visit Erik, he would surly scold me for putting him before my job. After delivering the food to every single tent within the fairgrounds, I finally walked to Erik's tent and wiped my snowy feet before entering. Once inside, the first thing I noticed was that the small stove was not lit and the temperature within the tent was dreadfully cold. After sitting down the empty basket, I threw a few logs into the stove and lit, it so heat could once again flourish throughout the freezing tent. I felt terrible for not coming in late last night to check on it, since I knew that Erik couldn't get out of bed to do it himself. Everything within the tent was silent and I began to worry that something was terribly wrong. I didn't call out his name incase he were sleeping, and I walked as quiet as I could around the red curtain. When I was in front of his bed, I looked down,to see that he was indeed fast asleep with every single blanket he owned piled on top of him. He must have gotten cold in the middle of the night and knew that the only way he was going to stay warm was if he pulled every blanket he owned on top of him. My glance turned to the nightstand, where the once food filled tray was now empty. I was certainly surprised to find that he had eaten everything I had made for him. As I leaned over to pick up the empty tray, I noticed that he was still wearing his mask. He probably wore it, just incase I decided to come back and check on him during the night. Just as I was about to quietly walk off with the dirty dishes, the cup that had been filled with hot chocolate fell off the tray and hit the floor with a loud clank. It was only until I bent down to pick it up that I noticed that it had awakened Erik.

"Sorry about that." I replied. "I'm a complete dunce sometimes."

I turned to face him, and noticed that he didn't seem to care that I had waken him up.

"It's completely fine." he said in a tired tone of voice. "I usually don't like sleeping more than four hours a day."

"How do you feel?" I asked.

Erik pressed his head up against his pillow, and groaned out a sound that could only described as if an angel were moaning in pain. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss hearing that beautiful sound.

"Is there anything that you need from me?" I asked.

Erik shook his head no and closed his eyes again, indicating that he wished to be left alone so he could fall back asleep. I picked up the dishes and walked back towards the doorway of the tent to leave, when I heard him call out my name.

"Lauralye."

I turned towards him, waiting for a response, and what he said brightened my day.

"Thank you for dinner, it was very delicious and it put me right to sleep."

I nodded and wanted to tell him that it was the least I could have done for him, but knew that he hated the thought of me thanking him and so I left without another word. I had wanted to stay but knew that Erik was a man of his privacy and I wanted to give him as much of it as possible. I returned to his tent later that night to find his bed completely empty. I became scared at the thought of him either falling out of it, or being injured somewhere. Quickly I walked around to the other side of his bed to see that he wasn't there. That's when I heard the sound of beautiful music begin to play. The sound was soft, but so beautiful and sad at the same time. I followed the music out to the front of the tent only to find Erik sitting at the piano playing it gracefully. I didn't understand how he had gotten out of bed and over to the piano, but at the moment I didn't care. I was more interested in how wonderfully he played and if the song had lyrics to it. I slowly approached the piano, and stood behind him as he continued playing. When the song ended, I watched as he placed his head down sadly and mumble a name, but not just any name, Christine…

That's when I interrupted by tapping him on the shoulder. He quickly turned around in a quick hostel motion, and grabbed a hold of my arm with his violent strength.

"You're hurting me." I groaned as his grip tightened.

As soon as he saw that it was me, he let me go and turned back to his piano.

"I'm dreadfully sorry about that Lauralye." he replied. "I'm not used to being in the presence of company."

"I understand Erik." I said as I stood there not knowing what to say.

After a few minutes of silence, I asked him the question I was wondering about earlier.

"How did you get out of bed on your own?"

Erik turned towards me once more and grabbed hold of a wooden crutch that was leaning up against the piano.

"It's amazing what one finds in his closet."

"Why do you have it?" I asked.

Erik patted the empty space on his piano bench, motioning me to sit beside him. Once I did, he began to play again. The tune he played was a little happier, but I still couldn't help but think of it to be sad.

"Years ago I lived in Persia and worked in the palace as a dark magician." said Erik after a few moments. "I had an acquaintance, named Nadir and one evening he fell down in the palace and broke his leg. I gave him this crutch to help him walk and he must have given it back to me when he was well again."

"You were a magician?" I asked in a curious tone.

He nodded as he continued to play.

"I have had many careers in my lifetime." he replied.

"Who did you entertain?" I asked.

"The Emperor and his people."

"Why did you leave?" I asked.

Erik stopped playing, and his face went blank. He didn't say a word, and for several minutes, he stared into complete space before answering.

"I didn't leave, I escaped."

"Why?" was all I could get out before he grabbed his crutch, and got to his feet to walk over to his desk.

"I've said too much about myself little girl."

"My life was just as hard as yours Erik." I replied angrily.

That was the worst thing I could have ever said, because within seconds, Erik was up and in my face. He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me closer to him. I had never been so close to him before and the closer he pulled me to him, the more I became frightened of him. Erik defiantly had a terrible temper and saying what I had just said was one of the many ways for him to bring it out.

"No one will ever know the pain and suffering I've been through, and no one will ever live a life more horrible than mine. Everyday my heart aches for the life I had been given, and everyday I pray to God to take it away. And yet day after day I awake and I'm still here."

When he let go of me, I fell back onto his carpet and lied there watching him as he stumbled over to his desk. There was something paining Erik deep down within his heart and I badly wanted to help him, but he wouldn't let me. I wanted to know more about his life and why he his heart was full of so much hate, but he wouldn't say a thing. He kept all his emotions bottled up within his soul and there was nothing I could do to release them.

"Haven't you anything better to do then to just sit there?" he yelled as he began to write something down onto a piece of parchment.

I got to my feet and walked outside the tent to leave him be. Seeing that it nearly dark, I knew that I had to go back to the caravan to deliver the food out before the show started or else Esmeralda would have my head for not showing up. Once I walked through the door, she was just finishing loading the basket up with food.

"Back just in time." she replied as she closed its wicker lid.

I nodded, and took the basket to begin my trek to all the tents. Many of the workers were not in their tents because they were too busy setting up for the night's show. I handed the food to their wives and children instead of handing it to them. Their were a few dwarfs shoveling the snow and a few other freaks stringing new lights around the stages. I wondered what was so interesting about the show and tonight decided that I would watch. Once the food was finished being delivered, I walked back to the caravan where Esmeralda was there to greet me. I placed the basket down on the counter, like I always did and that's when she asked me about doing her a favor.

"Lauralye." she replied. "The one who runs the ticket booth is sick tonight. He wanted me to ask you if you wanted to give out tickets tonight in his place."

I thought about it for a few minutes and realized that I hadn't anything better to do and so I agreed.

"Come then, I'll show you what to do." she replied putting on her cloak.

Esmeralda walked me over to the ticket booth and took out all the supplies: a book, a tray with a few francs inside it, and a roll of ticket stubs.

"Pretty simple, it's four francs per ticket. You take the francs, tear off a ticket, tear the ticket in half and hand them the torn halve."

"What do I do with the money at the end of the night?" I asked.

"Someone comes around and collects it so just stay put in the booth until then. If you need help, you know where to find me." she replied.

Once Esmeralda left, a thin man dressed in a black trench coat approached the wooden gate and glanced at me.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"What do you do in the show?" I asked.

"I do the lighting and open and close the gate. I haven't seen you around here before." he replied.

"I'm new. I came here a few days ago. I hand out the food."

"Right. Then again I don't live within the walls; I live in town which explains the reason why I haven't seen you before."

He then approached me and held out his hand.

"I'm Lonnie, Lonnie Markeet."

I shook his hand and smiled.

"Lauralye."

"Well hopefully I'll be seeing you around more often." he replied as he walked back over to the closed gate.

Lonnie was handsome, but I couldn't see us as anything more than good friends. I had never been in love before and I often wondered when it would occur, or when I would meet someone? Once the gates opened, the large crowd standing behind it rushed in and over to my booth. They were like rabid animals trying to get in as fast as they could to see the main attraction. I could hardly get a pause between receiving the money and giving out the tickets. For every ticket I gave out there were twenty more people wanting them. I didn't mind doing the job tonight, but I couldn't imagine being the one who did the job night after night. I hoped that in the morning the one who worked the booth would feel better again so I didn't have to repeat this job the following night.

Hours past and I stood there in the ticket booth with the crowd finally gone and no one else to give tickets to. The streets of Paris were dead except for a passing carriage every now and then but the shops had long closed down for the evening. When the last person left the fairgrounds, Lonnie shut the gate, as I waited for someone to collect the money off me. As I gathered up all the francs, I knocked down the book that was full of all the receipts. I bent down to pick it up when I heard a hand slam down on the surface of the booth and a familiar voice speak to me.

"Carnie, do you have the francs? It's freezing out here, and I'd like to get back to the warmth of my tent."

I knew whom the voice belonged to and immediately bent back up to see Erik standing there with his dark cloak draped around him. As soon as he seen that it was me standing behind the booth, his serious expression changed.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Um…Carnie…is that his name? well he got sick and couldn't work the booth tonight."

"Well then, thank you for taking over." he replied.

I handed the bag of francs to Erik and came out of the booth.

"Well goodnight then." I replied.

"You look cold." said Erik before I could turn away from him. "Why don't you come to my tent for a while and warm up by the fire?"

I was somewhat cold and couldn't say no to his offer, and so I agreed. We walked in silence back to his tent as he used his crutch to keep himself from falling over.

"You're the one who shouldn't be out in this." I replied.

"Just because I'm sick doesn't mean I can afford to stay off my feet. I've got a whole fair to take care of."

"I could have brought the money to your tent." I replied.

"That's very kind of you but I had other things to attend to as well."

Once we were back at his tent, I had a seat on the opposite side of his desk as he sat down and spilled the francs out onto its surface. He then began to count them as I sat there in silence watching him. Once he was finished, he opened his desk drawer and took out the box of chocolates he had offered me a few nights ago and offered them to me again…and this time I accepted. I chose a square shaped one and indulged myself into its sweetness. To this day, I have no idea what flavor it was, but it was the best piece of chocolate I had ever eaten.

"Oh before I forget." began Erik after watching me eat the chocolate for a few moments. He went into his desk, pulled out a small bag of francs, and handed them to me.

"That's your weeks pay. I added a little more so that you could buy yourself some soap and what ever else a girl such as yourself needs to survive."

"That's very kind of you Erik, but I can't accept it." I replied.

"It's perfectly fine girl, you need the money more than me."

"It doesn't seem right to take the extra money though." I argued.

He sighed, and then looked back up at me again.

"Tell you what; if you feel so bad about the extra francs then give me something in return."

"Like what?" I asked.

"Well it has been a long time since I had someone for dinner. Why not join me in a meal tomorrow night? You and I just eating something and taking part in conversation."

"Doesn't seem fair." I replied. "It makes it seem as though you're buying my friendship."

He gave me a dirty look before going back to counting his francs.

"You're right, forget I even asked." was all I got out of him.

I felt completely bad about rejecting his offer and so I did the only thing I knew how to do…agree.

"I'm sorry Erik; I would love to join you for supper tomorrow night."

He looked up at me and nodded.

"Ok then, tomorrow night after you finished delivering the food."

Once again, I nodded and stood to leave.

"See you tomorrow night then."

I then walked back to the caravan, knowing that tomorrow night I would be dining with the man I owed my life to.

Ok End of chapter 4...Let me know what you think. Thanks again everyone a new chapter should be up as soon as possible.