A/n: Next chapter. Nuff said, except for this next chapter is a little darkish I guess. First time I've written something so... dark, but it is always nice to try new things, right?

Chapter 35

"Ugh..." I groaned. Slowly, my eyes fluttered open to meet a dark room with nothing in it, except for the door and me. My back was up against the wall farthest from the door. I placed my head in my hands when a wave of pain rolled over me. My head was pounding and I couldn't remember what happened and didn't even recognize where I was. Gosh... what happened to me? I feel like I've been hit by a bus. Where in the world am I? "Erik, can you come here?" I shouted quietly, as to not further the throbbing of my forehead. "Erik?" Another wave of pain hit me and I doubled over. That is when I remembered. The customer. Looking for hibiscus. Being drugged.

Steadily, I used the wall behind me to stand up. As I went to get off the wall, I nearly crumpled back to the ground because of the numbness in my legs. Stupid useless limbs... Suddenly, there was a sound at the door. It sounded like it was being unlocked, but it could be my imagination. A few seconds later, the door opened up and in flowed a blinding light. I shrouded my eyes with my forearms, defending them from the perpetrating brightness. "I see you're awake now, Tanya." That voice... it sounds so... familiar. It was a woman talking for sure. "Sorry for the whole 'drugging' business and then kidnapping you, but it was my last resort since the other things didn't work." The sound of heels clicked into the room and stopped in about the middle of it.

"Aren't you going to look at me?" the woman asked. "One would think that the person they had kidnapped would like to see who their captor is."

"The light," I said. "It's too bright."

The holder giggled. "Well, if it is dark, how are you going to see me? Just put your arms down. Your eyes will adjust."

I took a deep breath. My arms dropped from my vision slowly. It took just a little bit to adjust to the light, especially after being in the dark for the longest time. When my vision finally evened out, I only had to squint just a little bit to see who it was. "Oh my lord... It's you. None of the things that happened pointed to you. I swore it would have been..."

"Christine?" she interrupted. "No, she only worked for me. You see, when Erik moved here, I hired someone to keep a close eye on him and who he decided to... socialize with. When I got word that he had met a woman, meaning you, I couldn't stay away anymore. Do you know why he even left Paris?"

"No, but..."

"I'll tell you then. You see, we worked together at the Paris Opera House. As soon as I met him, I knew that I loved him. He was so gentlemanly and handsome it was kind of hard not to hold feelings for him. When at last I had got the balls to express how I felt towards him, he pushed me away and said 'I don't feel the same. Sorry if this hurts you.' After that, our friendship went downhill. Big time. He avoided me like the Bubonic Plague, ignored me like that one annoying cousin, and shoved me away like a plate of broccoli. It didn't just hurt anymore, it was as if someone had taken the Eiffel Tower and shoved it into my heart. Then... then..."

"Then what?" I asked.

"Shut up!" she screamed at me. "I was just getting to it. Then, I wrote him a nice, very nice, letter about how I felt. I admit, it took me quite some time to perfect it and get it to where I knew he would take back the rejection he made me feel and make me his one and only. One day, I slipped it into his music folder and waited for him to come walking into my room, but that never happened. During the many hard days it took me to write that stinky letter, he had decided to up and leave town. Leave France. Leave the whole freaking continent and move to the land fill named New York City!" My heart was pounding in my chest. Erik had done nothing wrong, yet she felt like he was the one who had done her wrong. The woman over to me and put on a sad puppy face." I didn't even get to say goodbye, but now I won't have to. Now that I have you, Erik is going to get cast into the scene of my choosing. He'll have to play his part or you'll be kicked out of the production of 'Life'."

"Meg, he'll never have to make that choice because I won't let him." I snapped back at her, finding my courage in knowing what her plan was. Yes; Meg was the one behind this wall. It surprised me very much when I saw her standing there, but when she told me her story, I knew that it couldn't have been anybody else. "I'd rather die than leave him in your very incapable hands." Slap! My face stung quite a bit from her slap, but the burning sensation only spurred the fire in my chest. "I can see why he left when he did. With what I can tell, not even the lowest of scum on this Earth would come within fifty feet of you."

"Quiet! Be quiet, you filthy good for nothing, garden gnome!" Meg screeched at the top of her lungs, stomping her feet and pounding at the air with her fists. Her hand shot out and grabbed my hair, shoving me to my knees and pulling my head back to look her in the eye. "He's mine. Erik is mine and you just can't stand the truth. All you've been is a prop to me, I tried knocking you over so many times, yet you always managed to get set right back up, but now that it's just you here, it'll be easy as breaking a toothpick." Meg threw me to the ground and stormed over to the door, calling for somebody. Footsteps approached and soon, the man who had drugged me came into view. Meg whispered into his ear and he nodded as she walked off. He closed the door and I heard the familiar sound of the door locking. Heh! Like that is going to do anything... Out of nowhere, came this sickly sweet smell and before I knew it, my eyes rolled back into my head and closed tightly.

Erik's POV

My phone started to ring while I was at work. I smiled when I saw the number of the store. Clicking the green button, I brought the phone up to my ear. "Hey sweetie."

"Erik, is this you?" Daisha said from the other side of the line. That's a little odd. "It has to be you since you answered 'sweetie'. Listen, you have to come to the store."

"Daisha, I'm working. Surely it isn't anything that important..." I was cut off by the teen quickly.

"Tanya was kidnapped." I slammed the phone down on the desk and ran as fast as I could out the doors. As I climbed into one of the taxi's that was waiting outside the theatre, I prayed to whatever divine beings there were that Tanya would be okay.

A/n: Did you guys see that one coming or what?! Are you going to review or just sit their contemplating the sheer shock of what just happened? "Don't go wasting your emotions. Lay all your reviews on me." –my version of Lay All Your Love on Me, which doesn't belong to me. It belongs to Abba. Did you enjoy the longer chapter?