Erik followed me as I led him to the study/guest room. "That's an awfully small bed."

"This coming from a man who sleeps in a coffin," I said removing the clean laundry from the bed. He stared at the cabinet at the foot of the bed. "What is it?"

"What is this little black box? I noticed in the other rooms screens similar to this only they were slimmer and flatter."

"That's a television."

"What does it do?"

"It's a device that allows you to watch movies and stuff."

"Movies… those are the things you were telling me about that they made the different versions of me with, right?"

"Right."

He looked up at the collection of DVDs above the TV. "Are these movies?"

"Yes they are. You wanna watch one?"

"I suppose I could. Do you have any of those movies you were telling me about?"

"Unfortunately not."

"Alright. What do you recommend then?"

"Whatever you want. You pick."

He skimmed through the collection until he finally pulled one out. "This looks interesting. What is it?"

He handed me the DVD. The cover had a pale man covered in scars with a girl wrapped around him. "It's Edward Scissorhands." Interesting that out of all the movies here, he picked this one, I thought.

"I can read the title. But what is it about?"

"It's about this guy, with scissors for hands, of course, who spends his life in a dark, isolated castle, and one day this woman shows up and brings him home with her and he has to adjust to normal life as well as falls in love with the woman's daughter."

"Sounds interesting."

"So we're watching this then?"

"I suppose so."

"Alrighty then. Hold on." I ran upstairs to grab my glasses and ran back downstairs to Erik still waiting for me in the study. "Let's go." He followed me back to the family room while I set up the DVD. "Do you want any popcorn while we watch?"

"What's popcorn?"

"It's a snack that people eat when watching movies."

"Oh, then no thank you."

"Alright, well I'm going to make some for me then." While the menu played I went to go pop some popcorn in the kitchen. "I'll check back in a few minutes," I said sitting on the couch beside Erik and pressed play.

After about five minutes I went back into the kitchen to get some popcorn along with a couple other things and returned to the family room to find Erik watching intensely. "What are those?" he asked referring to the other things in my hand besides the bowl of popcorn.

"Butter spray and garlic powder."

"Butter spray?" he asked, seemingly turned off.

"Yeah. I put these on popcorn to give it more flavor," I said as I sprayed the popcorn and sprinkled a little powder on top. "Are you sure you don't want to try just a little bit?"

"The smell is intoxicating," he said, turning back towards the movie.

"Alright then. Suit yourself," I said popping a handful into my mouth.

After a few moments Erik turned back to me. "Although the smell is also strangely rather enticing.

"I knew you'd give in," I said smiling as I filled up a second bowel. "Do you want anything on it?"

"Yes," he said almost ashamed of himself.

"Alright. Just don't touch anything after you eat. The spray makes your fingers all oily." After handing him his bowel of popcorn, he just stared at it. "What's wrong? Afraid to take off your mask?"

"Yes."

After thinking for a moment, I came up with an idea. "How about this, how about we switch sides. This way the only way I could see your face would be if I turned around, which I promise I won't do."

"Do you promise?"

"I promise."

With that I stood up and sat in his spot as he moved towards where I was sitting. In the corner of my eye I saw him place the mask on the table, resisting every urge to take a peak. But I made a promise and Erik trusted me, so tempted as I was I didn't look.

Once we were out of popcorn I paused the movie and sent Erik into the kitchen to wash his hands. "Julia, the lever isn't working!"

I sighed as I stood up. "Alright, cover your face, I'm coming in." When I came into the kitchen, he was hiding his face with his arms like a child counting to ten in a game of hide and seek. "Erik, look." He stood behind me as I demonstrated. "On, off, on, off," and headed back to the family room after washing my hands. After he did the same thing, I saw his hand reach for his mask. Once I knew it was back on his face, I turned around and smiled before continuing the movie.

"So what did you think?" I asked once the movie was over.

"I very much enjoyed it."

"Good. And the popcorn?"

"It was delicious."

"Good. I'm glad."

I was about to turn off the TV when Erik stood up and looked at the other covers on the shelf under the TV. "Are these more movies?"

"Most of them. Some of them are video games."

"Video games?"

"I'll show you." I motioned for him to sit while I set up the Wii. I sat down next to him once everything was set. "How about a little Super Smash Brawl action?" When it was time to choose a character, I chose Peach. "I always choose her." When it was time to choose a stage, I chose Luigi's Mansion. "I always pick this stage." The game had paired me with Sonic. "You're going down you little blue freak!" I shouted at the screen.

After I won I turned towards Erik waiting for him to say something. "I'm afraid I still don't understand."

I sighed. "I'll show you again." I picked Peach and Luigi's Mansion again, and this time they had me paired with Link. After I finished I turned towards him again. "Do you get it now? The premise of this game really isn't that hard."

"So let me get this straight: you basically try to kill someone over and over again for five minutes?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"How is that fun?"

"This coming from a man who's a skilled assassin?"

"Yes, but killing people in real life is more fun. Besides, when you kill someone in real life they don't keep coming back." I stood up to turn the Wii off as Erik got up to look at the other covers. "I thought you said that you didn't own any of the movies about me that we spoke about."

"I don't."

"Then what's this?" he asked holding up a DVD.

I stared in horror at the DVD he was holding. On the cover was a man with a white half-face mask, who frankly was too good-looking to be Erik, holding in his arms a woman with long brown curls. Not that I found the movie itself as horrifying as most people, but I was afraid of Erik's reaction. "Um… I kinda forgot to tell you about that one," I said nervously.

"Alright. Then let's watch it."

"Wait! Before we watch it, there's something you must do. Come with me." Erik followed me out of the family room. "Wait here," I said at the foot of the staircase as I ran upstairs.

"Can't I come up with you?"

"Let me make this clear," I said over the banister. "You are not allowed upstairs, especially in my room, got it?" Before I could get an answer, I ran to my room, grabbed the CD I needed, and ran back downstairs.

He followed me back to the study as I set up the first CD in the set of two on the computer. As I did this, he looked at the cover, plain black with a full-face white mask in the bottom corner and a rose next to the title: The Phantom of the Opera. "What is this? Why is my mask white?"

"Let me explain?"

"And why do I have only half a mask on the movie box? And why is Christine brunette?"

"Are you going to let me explain or not?"

"I'm sorry. Please continue."

"Thank you. As I was saying, this is without a doubt the most famous version of your story. This is a different musical than the one I was telling you about. This is from the 1980s, the music is by a man named Andrew Lloyd Webber, Christine is portrayed by his then wife Sarah Brightman, and you are played by a man named Michael Crawford. They made a movie of this musical in 2004, and I think you really need to hear the music before watching the movie."

"Why? Won't I just hear the same music in the movie?"

"Trust me, you'll thank me. I'll be back down here in an hour to change disks." With that I went upstairs and closed the doors to my room and watched TV for the next hour.