I've decided to dedicate this chapter to Erik's feelings, most particularly towards his relationship with Christine and their developing affections for one another. Enjoy! :)
(Erik)
What had happened between them? Just was a mere week since they had first met. Before then she had simply been another face in the crowd. Another person who would look upon him with fear and revulsion at the sight of his hideousness. But she was different. She had entered his life and had taken control with the snap of her pretty little fingers, and he had succumbed heart and soul. He would give his life to keep her by his side for the rest of time. His every waking thought was of her and her innocence and beauty and even in dreams, her laugh or smile or lips would call his name and wrap him in the sweetest of rose scented embraces.
Locked away in his music room, collapsed over his beloved organ, he wept silent tears of grief. A kiss. The simple act of one person pressing their flesh against another's in the most intimate of acts, the first time in his fifty years of existence. The wounds of his love for Christine were deeper than the superficial scars that marred his skeletal body from continual years of torture and suffering, the pain that he knew how to cope with. It was the pain of rejection from the woman who held his heart in her childish hands that caused him to weep afresh. He had destroyed any chances of happiness with his complete stupidity. He had expected too much from her. A monster such as himself should not expect to have the love of an angel like Christine. He should be thanking whichever deity resided above that she even dared to talk with him daily and share his company.
A sharp pain resided in his chest. He knew little of love, having never been struck by cupid's arrow, and yet this pain was not that of malady, but of joy. It embraced his dormant black heart and crept into his soul. Half a century upon the planet and he knew as much about love and happiness now as he did the day God saw fit to create a monster out of the most foul of materials and cast the being upon the earth to be shunned and tormented. He berated himself as the thought of Christine and her angelic beauty danced before his eyes, the sweet scent of her skin, the feel of her silken curls tickling his skin and her lips, swollen from their kiss as she flew from his embrace.
He craved the mind numbing oblivion of morphine, the sweet high followed by the periods of nothings that would soothe his aching heart and act like a consoling balm around his wounded heart.
"Erik. Erik. Where are you? Please come out and talk to me." He could hear Christine calling to him from the living room, and silencing his laboured breathing, he could hear the quiet sob of Christine's tears as they fell and he paled in shame and confusion. Why was Christine crying? What was it that caused her heart so much pain? It clicked. She was so repulsed with her actions that she could not contain her tears of disgust and regret.
"Christine." He murmured, savouring her name, and struck the keys vigorously, the haunting notes echoing around the cavernous room, unleashing the pain and frustration that consumed him. Hurt soon turned to anger, chords clashing as his long bony fingers flew over the keys, the noise produced painful even to his musical ears. If only he had never met her, with her seductive smiles and innocent touches. Did she have any idea what torture she caused him, how he suffered at her hands. He growled in frustration, and launched into an aggressive crescendo, a rugged, pained noise erupting from his throat.
But his trained ears could detect the sweetest of notes originating from outside his door, and he paused mid-lament, listening to Christine's pained melody.
"Ave Maria, Maria de quem cano
Nos sunt petens vobis misericordia
Dum enim jam
Totaliter spes
Totaliter spes
Ave Maria
Ave Maria, S. Maria
Exaudi preces Maria
Ubi multo passione iam facta
Quid semper magis nocere sequi magis nocere
Populus fidem iterum
Eis intelligere et dimitte
Omnes populi fieri amicis
Et omnes gentes esse fratres
Ave Maria".
Despite her obvious lack of structured training, the beauty of her words and the innocence and purity of her voice sent tears spilling from beneath Erik's lids, and fumbling for a handkerchief, pressed the cool linen to his heated eyes. Her could hear the rasp of her breathing as she tried to quell the wave of tears, and abruptly standing to his feet, he left his haven and sought her out, collapsing at her pretty little feet like a dog.
"Oh Christine. My Christine." He lamented, rubbing his face against the ivory, smooth skin of her slender feet as bitter tears splashed against the lacy hem of her garment. He could feel her small warm palm stoke the back of his skull, her little fingers weaving into the fine hair of his dark wig.
"Erik, do not cry. Please. I implore you." She chocked, tears running down her cheeks to plop onto Erik's bowed head.
"Christine. I am crying for you. You deserve so much better Christine. It is no wonder that you fled from the embrace of a monster. I asked too much of you, to kiss my hideous lips, and I hurt you. Christine." He raised his eyes to her, seeking something, and Christine's plump lower lip trembled.
"My poor, sweet Erik. Do not cry. You misunderstood my actions. I was not fleeing your kiss in shame and horror. If I am honest Erik, I sought more of your kisses. But I spilt my tea and it was staining into the fine cloth of my skirt and I didn't want to ruin it. So I had to go and clean it and change. I would sooner have left it and remained locked in your sweet embrace, but I had no choice. Please Erik, I speak nothing but truth." Christine smiled through her tears, her sweet angelic face touching Erik's soul with the power of her words.
"But why Christine. I am not a good man Christine. I have such terrible things in my life, things that would cause you to truly flee from me. I am ashamed, so ashamed of my actions Christine, but then I never thought that I would have a woman by my side, to share my life with. I wanted to die, Christine, to escape the daily torment of my ugliness, and the only way to do so was to kill. I am a murderer Christine. The blood of many stains my hands. They were not good people, Christine, nor were they innocent or worthy of life, but regardless, I have played God and taken life when I should not. I am bad for you Christine, and I give my permission for you to leave." He could not look her in the eye, ashamed of his past and his actions, instead burying his masked face in the abundant fabric that pooled around Christine's feet.
"Oh Erik, do not speak such words. Regardless of what you have done in your past, you are a good man now, for you took me from my own nightmare and rescued me. No monster or devil would have done such a thing." She whispered, grasping his chin within both of her hands so that she could look him directly in the eye, his molten orbs meeting her chocolate ones, and she gently caressed his masked cheek.
"But I am not. Why can't you see that? Everything that I own, everything that I touch, becomes corrupted and turns bad. And I could not stand to see that happen to you. I care for you too deeply for that to happen." He broke from her grasp, nuzzling his face against the material pulled taught around her shapely thighs, and she brushed his hair with her palms, smoothing the loose strands of hair from his face.
"Erik please. Just stop. I cannot take this. I wanted you to kiss me Erik. I enjoyed it." Christine said, pressing a gentle kiss to the top of Erik's head.
"You are just trying to stop my tears and make me smile Christine. I know that it is not in your nature to hurt and upset. But do not spare my feelings Christine. I want the truth Christine. I forced you to kiss me and I was wrong and..." He was muttering, words spilling from between his lips, and Christine pressed a slim digit to Erik's porcelain lips.
"Kiss me Erik."
"Do not kid me Christine. You do not know how your words cut deep to my soul Christine. I am constantly tortured by your lingering glances and smiles and..." He could not continue his rant as Christine grasped his head from her lap and raising his mask, pressed her lips to his. She could not suppress the moan of delight that left her golden throat and Erik shuddered in delight. That simple noise made him melt, and with shaking hands, placed them on either side of Christine's pretty, delicate face and drew her from the confines of the armchair and onto the more spacious chaise longue. Sat together, the lines of their bodies pressed together from lips to legs, Christine clutched her arms tightly around Erik's thin body, one hand rubbing the hard, prominent bumps of Erik's spine. With a surge of courage, Christine pushed lightly on Erik's chest, and he leaned back to recline the length of the couch, Christine pressed flat against the length of his body as their lips explored one another. His hands were shaking almost uncontrollably as they explored the length of Christine's spine, gliding over the silken material of her robe.
She slowly drew back, pressing a quick kiss to his lips, their breathing heavy as she gazed into his eyes, loose curls dancing in her agitated breath, her ample chest rising and falling heavily through the thin gauzy material and Erik had to struggle internally not to stare, captivated. He sat up suddenly, and Christine scrambled off of his lap, her face creased in worry.
"How can you stand to embrace a monster?" The words, although muttered quietly, held enough power for Christine to gasp in surprise and disbelief.
"What do you mean Erik?" She asked, placing a hand tentatively upon his tense thigh, her eyes like an open book displaying the confusion battling within her heart.
"I am repulsive Christine. I am just over 30 years your senior, old enough to be your father, and if that's not bad enough, I am hideous. I am a corpse Christine, mentally and physically. How can you stand to look at me, let alone kiss me and touch me, to willingly press your sweet self to me and be consumed by my greedy desire? You should be on the arm of a young man, Christine, sharing his candied kisses instead of mine. I am abhorrent Christine. How can you stand to be here with me?"
"Because I love you Erik."
So they've admitted their feelings for one another. I guess was only the natural progression of events! Anyway, here is the English translation of the Latin lyrics that Christine sings;
"Ave Maria, Maria of whom I sing
We are asking you for mercy
For people who have already been waiting so long
Totally without hope
Totally without hope
Ave Maria
Ave Maria, Saint Maria
Hear my prayers Maria
Where much suffering has already occurred
Why always does more hurt follow more hurt
Let the people have faith again
Let them understand and forgive
Then all peoples could become friends
And all the races could be brothers
Ave Maria"
Thank you for reading, please review? :)