Erik's POV

I truly believed that I was going to die… The pain I was in was more agonizing than anything I had ever felt before. Christine made her way around the house blindly, searching for any kind of medical supplies she could find. I nearly passed out when she began tending to my foot. I would consider myself lucky if I didn't end up losing it in the near future due to infection.

"Your ankle," Christine gasped, pressing her fingers against the black and purple flesh. "It's sprained…"

"I would have died if I didn't jump," I began. "The platform was almost engulfed in flames."

"I'll wrap it for you..."

When Christine was finished, she reached out to help me up, but I wasn't going to move. It was bad enough that I was stuck in this house of horrors. If there was one thing I didn't wish to do, it was to sleep in my old room. My room didn't have a bed, and yes, my mother's room did, but I wasn't about to spend the night sleeping there.

"Christine," I moaned. "I'll be ok here on the couch."

"Erik, you need to be in a bed. You're deathly ill and the family room is a bit drafty…"

"It's late," I argued. "There are some blankets in the closet… Bring some out and we'll bunk here for the night. We'd be much warmer if we lay together on the floor. You could build a small fire in the hearth…that would keep us warm."

Christine didn't argue a moment more. She did as I asked her to and brought out the piles of blankets and pillows my mother always kept in the hallway closet. After spreading them out on the floor, I scooted myself off the couch and made myself comfortable.

"Erik, does your mother have a dress I could borrow?"

"Her room is on the other side of the house," I replied. "Though, I wouldn't advise you going alone."

Christine lit a candle and assured me that she would be back in a few moments. The girl had built a small fire in the hearth, so while she was gone, I lay there looking into the flames. If there was one thing I wished my mother would have believed in, it was medicine. The woman was so hell bent on praying that she never believed in keeping pain killers or any kind of medicine in the house. She believed that praying would cure any ailment, and that medicine did nothing but poison our bodies. Praying was not going to take away the agony in my foot and ankle…

Christine returned a few moments later dressed in one of my mother's robes. It fit her well, and I couldn't help but feel that it looked better on her than it did on my mother.

"I found a clean shirt you could wear…"

Christine leaned down and began to unbutton my charred shirt that I had been wearing. She helped me into one of my father's shirts… After my father died, my mother never got rid of his belongings. In a fit of rage one night, she told me that she would rather dispose of me than to ever throw out anything that belonged to her sweet, innocent Charles.

"I thought you said that your father died before you were born?" Christine said as she lay beside me.

"He did… My mother couldn't get rid of his things."

"It fits you well…"

"Tomorrow, when the sun is out, I will see to it that my mother's room is freshened up for you. You will need a bed to sleep in."

"And what about you? You're more important…"

"This house holds four bedrooms… One was my mothers, one was my own and the other two were used as guest rooms and my mother's sewing room. My mother's room is the only one with a suitable bed…"

"Then we should share it," Christine suggested. "You and I could both sleep in her bed."

"I couldn't ask that of you, Christine. It's my fault that you're lying beside me right now."

"Don't say that, Erik…"

Christine snuggled down beside me and closed her eyes.

"Are you comfortable?" she asked me.

"As comfortable as I'm going to get. My mother never believed in storing medicine in the house… There is a small town just down the road with little shops and cafes. You will need to go there at some point tomorrow and pick up some fresh bandages and disinfectant. Morphine wouldn't be a bad idea either…"

There was a pause of silence, and then, Christine's nervous tone.

"Erik?"

"Yes, Christine?"

"Tonight, at the Opera House…"

"Yes?"

"When they took me back to the Opera House after they found me in the woods… They weren't certain that I came back unharmed. Carlotta had a doctor look over me to insure that I was all right."

"I didn't harm you, Christine. If you came back to the Opera House with scrapes and bruises, it was because you needed to run for your life. I'm sorry you had to go through that…"

"The doctor didn't find any scrapes or bruising."

Christine paused again.

"What?" I asked. "What's wrong?"

"It's… It's nothing. He didn't find anything wrong with me. But…But there was something, something that caused the Opera House to predict your return to me. I'm so sorry, Erik… I shouldn't have gone back to them. I should have stayed out in the woods with you, for if I had, the Opera House wouldn't have been burned down."

"Christine," I brushed my hand through her curls. "There is nothing you could have done to prevent what happened. You and I are here now and that's all that matters. I am going to protect you with my life, do you understand?"

She nodded. "Promise that you will never leave me…"

"I swear it… Is there anything else you wish to tell me?"

Christine thought a few moments before shaking her head.

"Nothing, Erik…"

"Then we should sleep. It's been a long day for the both of us…"

The following morning I woke with a terrible fever… I knew my foot was infected, for why else would I have contracted a fever? The room we were in was now lit by sunlight, causing the once familiar wallpaper and furniture to come rushing back to me. It all made me sick, but at least we were safe. But Christine, she wasn't beside me… Why? Where had she gone?

"Christine, where are you?"

I called out her name and sat up to look around. She was indeed nowhere to be found. A few moments later, I heard a loud sound come from down the hallway. It startled me, so much that I struggled to my feet and waited. If this was an intruder, I would do my best to fight them off. Though, a few moments later, Christine came walking out from the hall carrying a framed picture. I sighed and plopped down on the couch. Oh, this girl caused more problems than she was worth.

"Erik, you don't look so well… I'm sorry that I wasn't beside you when you woke. When I saw the sun shinning in through the window this morning, I couldn't help myself. I went into your mother's room and cleaned up a bit. I found some clean linens and swept up the dust…I found this too."

Christine took a seat beside me and placed the picture frame in my hand. I knew this picture all too well, for it was the only one my mother cherished more than her own child. It was a picture of her and my father on their wedding day.

"Is this your mother and father?"

I nodded. "Yes, Christine. Madeleine and Charles Mulheim. I don't think my father loved anyone like he loved my mother. That's the way I imagined with the way my mother spoke about him. She used to tell me how he would leave her a rose every Friday because they met on a Friday. It was the simple things in life that made my mother love him so dearly."

Christine looked at the picture and smiled. "You look like him. You have his eyes and his boney cheeks."

"My mother told me that I was not of him, but of the devil… She loved her handsome Charles and didn't understand how the two of them could have made something so hideous. That's why she told me that the devil was my father. For a long time I believed it… I believed it right up until I found out where babies came from."

Christine put the picture down and made this face as though something were wrong.

"Christine?"

"It's nothing…Nothing…"

"Is there something wrong?"

"No, there's not… I just don't understand how your mother could have hated you when you were part of her Charles. She should have loved you for who you were and cherished the offspring of her only love. That's what I would have done…"

"If you were my mother, you would have understood why I was such a disappointment. If God had any love for me, he will do his best to insure that I am unable to ever conceive a child. That child would live a life of hell, this I know…"

Christine didn't say a word after that, and I couldn't help but find it strange. A while later, Christine moved me into my mother's old room and placed me into her bed. My fever was overtaking me, and I knew once Nadir arrived I would most likely lose my foot. Christine did her best to help me, but there wasn't much to be done, especially when my foot was burning hot with agony. That night, while Christine was downstairs making dinner, I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Curious, I opened my eyes and saw Nadir entering my room. He smiled and approached my bed.

"Still hanging on I see…" he chuckled.

"What took you so long?"

"I had some business to take care of with the Opera House. I also had some business at the Manor."

I rolled my eyes. "You had to get one last burst of pleasure didn't you?"

"No, I couldn't leave Paris for good without confessing my love to Mandy. She came with me…She's downstairs helping Christine with dinner."

"You didn't?" I growled. "You didn't bring her here…"

"Of course I did. She knows a few things about medicine, and plus, it's better that Christine has another woman to talk to with her being pregnant with your child and all…"

My heart ceased within my chest. Christine? Pregnant? With my child?!

"What?"

Nadir's eyes went wide and he soon found out that I didn't know about Christine.

"She didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"That she was pregnant with your child? That's why she had to leave Paris… The employees from the Opera House found out about the baby… That's why they knew you would return. They thought you knew about it and would come back for her."

"I didn't know…Oh, Nadir, I didn't know… I didn't think that it could have happened. What am I to do now? Pregnant? I can't be a father… I don't know how… What if the child comes out like me? What if it's bound to walk the earth unloved and hideous? I would never forgive myself."

"There's a reason why Christine didn't tell you she was with child, Erik. But like it or not, this baby is going to be here in eight months. The only thing you can do now is get better so you can be there for it when it's born. I brought along some ointment for your foot…I'm going to get it ready for you."

And when Nadir left me alone, all I could think about was Christine and why she hadn't told me about the child she was carrying? Oh, but I knew about it now and there would be no denying it from this day forward.


Only 5 chapters left! And there is more drama on the way...These kids aren't out of the woods just yet. Please review! And if you haven't switched over to my new story "A Memory Stirs," I suggest you do so... Thanks again!