The doctor arrived two hours later, those two hours Erik spent by Christine's bedside, sponging her face.
As he examined her he confirmed it was the Spanish Flu, the Influenza. Though she was in the early stages and with proper treatment and food she would definitely survive, though probably weakened for some time after and it would take a while for her heart to regain full strength.
He had woken her out of her state of unconsciousness and told her to rest and get sleep. He then turned to Erik as she closed her eyes.
"There is no cure yet to be found, but I can offer some treatments; wear carbolic masks as it may be airborne, cool drinks, soup, cold sponging to bring down fever, aspirin, orange flower water, fresh air, constant attention" the doctor explained.
"No cure…" said Erik, his eyes wide.
"No cure, if she begins to wander" the doctor began but was cut off.
"Wander?" Erik cut him off, perplexed.
"Lapse in and out of sleep, unable to rouse her, starts to hallucinate or have delusions, you must try your hardest to rouse her. If she begins to do these things it means she's slipping away. Rouse her with things she likes; play her favourite music or even things she hates, feed Christine her most hated food or drink. Either way those both have had a good rate of success. And talk to her, the whole time you're with her, talk to her, this keeps them with us," the doctor instructed and Erik looked worriedly at his darling Christine "I shall return in two days, if you need me send for me then"
Erik nodded in a daze.
This could not be happening.
Over the next couple days Meg and Maric journeyed along the roads to Bordeaux, the first night staying overnight at an inn and the second they rode through the night.
On the third night they stopped at an inn they saw at five o clock, meg protesting that they needed to ride on but Maric pointing our that if she went any longer without sleep she would collapse and then where would Erik and Christine be?
Accepting defeat she tied her horse up with his and walked into the bar.
They couldn't get a room each, there was only one vacancy, and it had a double bed only.
"Are you sure there's no other rooms?" Meg asked, never having slept in the same room as a man before.
"Hun, if you don't want to sleep with this guy then find another inn, we have one room only" the woman said, smoking a cigarette and Meg blushed.
"No, it's fine" she said, annoyed at the woman's lack of cooperation. They sat at the bar and Maric ordered two beers. When Meg objected saying she didn't drink he said it would help and he wasn't going to get her drunk.
They sat as they drank their pints, talking about what had happened.
"So why has this Erik abducted your sister?" he said conversationally.
"He loves her," she said bluntly, depressed at the thought of what was happening to Christine now.
"That's no reason to kidnap her? Tell me, what happened?" he requested and she sighed.
She began to explain about how at the dress rehearsals for the production of "Hannibal" someone let a backdrop fall onto Carlotta and though she was not hurt, she threw a hissy fit, and quit. Christine sang for the new managers and took Carlotta's role that night. The new patron the Vicomte De Chagny recognised Christine as they had known each other as children and invited her out after the performance. Christine then told Meg of her music tutor, a mysterious man who she thought was an angel of music that was really her father. Really this angel was a man who had lived underneath the Opera House since he was eight years old-Erik. That night she disappeared and the next morning when she returned she was in shame as everyone had thought she had gone and slept with Raoul, the Vicomte. So, despite Erik, who had written letters to the managers, Raoul and Carlotta explaining how he wanted his theatre to be run, they cast Carlotta as the lead in 'Il Muto' and Christine as the silent pageboy. In anger, Erik used his skills of ventriloquism to make it seem as if Carlotta was croaking and she ran screaming from the stage.
Maric laughed at this and Meg smiled.
"You were there, I remember that now, you saw all of that didn't you-in Il Muto?" she said.
"Yes, then that poor stagehand Buquet hanged himself by an accident with the ropes" he proceeded but then saw the look on Megs face "That was an accident was it not?"
"Erik did that, Buquet saw him on the catwalks above the stage and tried to catch him, that ended in Erik lassoing him" she said gravely, remembering she had been onstage at that terrifying moment when Buquet's body had fallen onto the stage, shaking from the strangulation. She shivered at the memory and continued to tell Maric of how Christine had told her later, that she had taken Raoul to the rooftop, as she knew Erik would kill him. It was there that Raoul and Christine had fallen in love, and planned to run away.
"For three months after that we saw, nor heard, from the opera ghost" Meg concluded the first half of the story and Maric looked at her.
She went on to tell him about Erik's reappearance at the New Years Eve masquerade, how he had ordered them to perform his new opera 'Don Juan Triumphant', taunted the guests then stole Christine's engagement ring. How Christine had gone to the grave of her father to truly see whether or not her father was the angel of music. Raoul interrupted and Erik and him had a swordfight, ending in Erik's defeat but Christine had pleaded with Raoul not to kill him. Later Raoul suggested that they could capture Erik using Christine as bait in his new opera. That night of the opera, Erik killed their tenor Piangi and took his place as Don Juan. He then seduced Christine with his song onstage and when they all thought Christine was lost to this man she ripped off his mask, revealing a hideous deformity on the right side of his face. He then cut some ropes and pulled Christine through a trapdoor. From the cut ropes the Grande chandelier fell onto the stalls of the audience and a fire started and pandemonium broke loose. Her mother had taken Raoul to find Christine and Meg had to hold off the angry mob that was out to kill Erik.
She couldn't hold them off and by the time they got down to his lair, he was gone and Christine and Raoul also. There was no sign of his mask, money or wig.
Maric sat in a stunned silence. He would never expect an innocent looking girl like Meg to have gone through so much, to have seen so many lies and murders.
"Wow, that's so exciting, I wish my life was half as exciting as yours," he said, taking a last gulp of his beer-the pint glass now empty. He looked at hers, which was only half full. Her face had darkened.
"Do you wish your sister was kidnapped, your friend and future brother-in-law dead and your mother arrested? Because that's what all this excitement has done to my life. My mother is in prison because of that damn bastard Erik. Once I've found him, warned him and saved him I'm going to kill that asshole!" she said, frustrated and upset by the position her mother had put her in and she drank in half of what was left of her beer.
"Don't worry, your mother will be fine, we'll figure out a way to get her legally out of prison and we'll find Christine, don't you worry," he soothed, shocked by this girl who'd been quietly sipping her beer and now was gulping it down.
She looked at him "How can I be calm when I don't know what's happened to my sister? She could be sick, injured, and is definitely suffering from Raoul's death" she said, worried for her only sister.
"Listen, tonight all we can do is get a good rest and make sure we're on the road there early, we should arrive there in another days ride" he said.
They headed upstairs to their room and started to make sleeping arrangements; he would put his pillow at the foot of the bed and sleep that way and then she would sleep the other way. They settled down, and fell asleep talking to each other about everything, like two innocent children, just talking and nothing else.
