Erik's POV

All throughout the night I tossed and turned as a fever took control of my body. I was freezing, so much that I needed to get warm. My bedroom was the coldest area of my home, making it nearly impossible to do so. Knowing what I had to do, I placed on my mask, wrapped the thickest quilt I owned around my body and stood to my feet. I nearly tumbled five times in my attempt to leave my room, but I was always able to catch onto something before I could completely fall on the floor.

I held onto the walls as I made my way out into my family room… Family room, what a ridiculous name for such a place. Why was it called a "Family room" anyway? Not everybody has a family, especially me. I knew that I never would have a wife or a child to entertain, and I knew that there was no changing it either. Everyone brags about how they fell in love with that special person, but to this day, I have yet to feel anything but hate towards people, women especially. They always left me feeling embarrassed with myself, and that was worse than feeling hated. I've lived on this earth for thirty five years and I have never looked into the eyes of a woman and felt anything but jealousy and hate.

The family room was dark, all expect for the red flames of the fire that was burning in the hearth. I approached my couch that was in front of it and was about to take a seat when I noticed the girl sleeping there. Oh, this was awkward… Why did Nadir force this girl to stay with me? She should be in her own bedroom, not this sorry excuse of a home I owned and sleeping on a couch. But how to wake her? She was just lying across my couch with a blanket draped messily over her back.

"Girl…" I called her name in an attempt to wake her, my legs starting to feel weak. I leaned against the couch, knowing that if I didn't sit down soon, I was going to collapse.

"Girl!" I shouted her name this time, causing her to jolt awake and gasp in fear. I knew I was going to frighten her, for that's all I ever did was frighten people.

"Monsieur," she breathlessly gasped. "What are you doing up and out of bed at this hour? Actually, what are you doing up at all?"

"Don't you ever question me, girl! You are not to ask questions in my home. You are to do as you're told, and right now, I want to sit in front of the fire."

My tone had obviously frightened the girl, for she hurried to her feet, allowing me to finally sit. The girl stood there for a few moments before she made her point to leave the room…or so I thought. I shivered from beneath the quilt as I stared into the flames of the fire. The heat was making my eyes burn with exhaustion and there was nothing more that I wanted to do than to sleep right now…but I couldn't.

"Monsieur, I can't help but notice that you're shivering…And…And your face, it's pale."

She leaned over and pressed the back of her hand against my exposed cheek, causing me to flinch. No one had ever done this to me before… No one had ever touched my face, flawless cheek or no flawless cheek. To the world, every part of me was hideous because of my deformity that I hid beneath my mask.

"You're burning up, monsieur," she gasped. "You have a fever."

"Just go back to bed, girl," I growled. "I'm going to sit here in front of the fire and get warm."

"I…I can't go back to bed, monsieur," she mewed. "You're sitting on it."

I was in no mood for games and she must have known this, for she disappeared. Oh, silence, finally, there was silence. I placed my hands beneath my armpits in an attempt to stop shaking, but it was no use, I had a terrible case of the chills. A few seconds later, the girl plopped down on the couch beside me, an action that I was completely uncomfortable with.

"Girl, what are you…"

But I never got the chance to answer her, for she placed a unbearably cold and soaking wet cloth on my hot forehead.

"Enough!"

I pushed her hand away and wiped my cold forehead with my hand to get it warm again.

"Y…You're going to make me colder! I'm cold enough as it is without having a freezing cloth against my head. You know nothing on how to help me."

"You don't understand, monsieur… When you have a fever, the only way to break it is to apply cool compresses to the forehead. I…I was only trying to help you. If you don't break your fever, you will become extremely sick."

"And just how do you know? You're only a child, one that should still be living at home with her mother."

"I never knew my mother." She pouted.

"Of course you didn't, she was most likely one of those whores from the city."

The girl gasped, a few tears falling from her cheeks.

"My mother died giving birth to me…"

I was speechless now… Yes, all I had ever known was hatred but sometimes I spoke before I thought. Maybe I assumed that her mother had been a whore because my mother was one. She never truly cared about me… Sometimes she would bring home a man and lock me in the attic. I never forgot the sounds they made…The ungodly sound of her making love to these strange men that she met at church or in town. Sometimes I still wake, thinking that I'm hearing her voice screaming, when in reality, I know that she's dead.

"You always assume something before you even know the truth," she spat. "You are a cruel and wicked man."

"And if I am," I growled. "It is only because the world has made me this way. I dish out the same respect I get in return, which is nothing."

"I don't understand why or how you could run an opera house? If you hate the world, then why did you build it an opera house?"

"Girl, just because you hate the world, doesn't mean that you can't love music. I am in love with it… Music has been the only thing I have loved my entire life. It kept me company during my darkest hours and still does to this day. Without music, there would be no reason to live."

The girl stood there looking at the compress she had in her hand. What was she waiting for? Did she want me to apologize for calling her mother a whore? That would be the day… I never apologize and truly mean it.

"My father raised me," she began. "He loved music too… Sometimes I thought he loved music more than me. But he once told me that I was music itself. I never understood what he was talking about. He made me promise that when I became of age, I would come to the opera house. I wasn't sure what he wanted me to come here for, but here I am."

"Why don't you ask him this yourself? If he wanted you to come to my opera house and you wish to know why, then why not ask him?"

"Because he died when I was very young. That's why I was warning you about the fever… That's how I know what a fever can do. It took my papa away from me."

Right then and there, the girl started to cry again. Well, I didn't want to die and I wanted to stop her from making an ass out of herself in front of me. Therefore, I held out my hand and motioned her to give me the compress. Oh, how it made me feel sick when the chilly cloth was against my forehead again, but it seemed to stop her from crying.

"I was visiting his grave when you saved me from that terrible snowstorm," she said. "He was buried here and I would like to visit his grave as much as possible."

If there was one thing I didn't like, it was having this girl for company in my home. Yes, she did a decent job at cleaning and keeping everything tidy, but that didn't make up for her curiosity. Even so, she was young and the last thing I wanted was for her to fall into trouble again on another outing to her father's grave.

"Girl, look," I began. "I want you to promise me that you won't travel to your father's grave alone again. The winters here are very brutal and the sunniest of days can turn to the darkest of winters in an instant. I should be able to get up and about on my own by next week. If you'd like, I could take you to visit your papa's grave. It would be safer…"

The girl smiled. "I…I would like that, monsieur. That is very kind of you."

"The city is dangerous at night, especially alone. I have a horse and I will take you there myself."

"Thank you, monsieur…But why?"

"What did I tell you about asking questions?" I snapped. "Ask me again, and I won't think twice about changing my mind."

"Monsieur?"

"Yes?"

"I was going to head down to the kitchen for a cup of tea. Would you like me to bring you back anything? Perhaps some toast? Or a warm glass of milk?"

Knowing what I wanted, I pushed my aching body to stand and approached the cabinet that I kept my medicine in. Over the years I had become accustomed to taking all sorts of medications for my aches and pains. If there was one thing I most certainly needed to take in order to continue functioning, it was my pain medicine for my scars. So many years of torment and abuse at the end of a whip had not only caused constant flashbacks, but excruciating agony in every lumpy scar as well. Sometimes, the slightest touch on my arm caused me ten minutes of agony. After grabbing the small tin that was hidden behind a few other things, I placed it into the girl's hand.

"Make me a cup of tea, no milk or sugar. Afterwards, pour a little of this powder into the cup and stir it with a spoon."

The girl looked at the tin and then back at me.

"What is this stuff?"

I could feel my blood boiling over her curiosity and questions, but this time, I answered her.

"It's medicine to help me sleep."

"I thought Nadir brought me something to give you for that already? I gave you the pills after your meal the other day and you immediately fell asleep."

"This is another form of medicine for sleeping." I growled. "Now not another question about it. Remember, just tea, nothing else mixed in with it. Otherwise the powder will do things other than what it's supposed to do."

"Like what? Keep you up?"

I was about to pull what little hair I had left out. Feeling a headache coming on, I leaned back against the couch and eventually collapsed back into the cushions.

"I'll be back in a few moments," she said, placing on her robe and heading to the door. "I shouldn't be more than fifteen minutes."

And when she was gone, I leaned my head back against the pillows and closed my eyes. It was finally good to be alone again. This girl wasn't the worst person in the world, but she certainly wasn't the best either. One of these days her curiosity was going to get her into big trouble and I wasn't going to be there to get her out of it… Then again, perhaps she was indeed more trouble than she was worth.