The family lived as usual after some days passed since Erik's sudden mental breakdown, and after he finally found inner peace about his past when confessing how his childhood went to Mahtab. It was a huge stone that fell off of his heart, as he really wanted to share his deepest secrets and fears about his childhood to someone, but he always feared to tell. Christine, his sweet Christine, though she was his wife for 21 years already, she still seemed to be so fragile, yet she could be, of course, an incredibly strong woman if she wanted, but one can never know with her. That angel could not handle such a childhood, such stories as he had to tell… Christine still could cry over an injured animal, even that. How could a man of so much sufferings then, list a lifetime of horrors to give her endless nightmares and sorrow? She would have died if she had to hear. Even those bits of crumbs she received so far, were already too much for her sometimes. But Mahtab was so mature, so understanding! He felt relieved that the teen learned about it, and seemingly accepted the story and believed him when he stated he no longer felt he shouldn't have fathered a child. It was also a matter they had to discuss once- his feelings about the little baby Mahtab, the feelings and thoughts he had buried deep in his soul, long long time ago, because he felt it as a shame in these days, but indeed, these feelings were crucial to Mahtab's development and a step to accept himself. Yet Erik was happy Mahtab still did not know about everything. There were parts of his past he never wished to reveal- For example what REALLY happened in Persia, or that Belle wasn't Mahtab's real sister. They should never know the truth about that child.
Speaking of Belle, she was already a small lady. It was strange for Erik to have a daughter in his family, a daughter who actually acts like a girl and does not want herself to be referred as "he". Belle was fond of everything a girl can be fond of – tea parties with dolls, nice clothes, jewelry, make up accessories and ballerinas. She already had long hair falling down to her waist which Christine loved to brush for her. Christine, even though she was against the idea for a time, finally allowed Belle to have her nails polished by the time she turned 4 years old, even though she still considered the young girl too small for that, and only allowed her to wear make-up at home. She owned many dresses and she adored to wear them, dressing up for every possible occasion, even if she wasn't yet taken to social events by the family, she though, did own tea gowns and even had a ball gown she adored. Others might have had the opinion that Belle was a bit of spoiled- which was partly true. Christine adored to have a small daughter and she taught her how to act like a woman, which she so wished to do with Mahtab earlier, and finally had a real girl in the house, which made her pleased, and maybe this made her allow things to Belle she would not have allowed earlier. And Erik, surprisingly, wasn't as much consistent and strict with Belle as he was with the boys. Boys will be boys, they need to be handled more strictly, they tend to talk back, they are more likely to break rules. A girl is mostly shy, meek, polite and does not need to be lectured seven times a day, so Erik, when talking to Belle, could finally relax a bit and save his energies for later. He would allow the young girl more things as well, and say "if she does not hurt anyone with it, why not", so he wasn't bothered by make up or expensive clothes for the lady. Though Belle, as all of the other children, did receive lectures or punishments if she deserved them, which was a rare occasion, so she wasn't really that much "spoiled". She was only raised by a mother who yearned for a daughter for too long, and an old and partly tired and apathetic father, who liked to avoid conflicts, which was hard with two teen boys.
Belle had a talent which surprised her family by the time she grew old enough to show it. She loved poems and would adore to hear her mother or any older sibling reciting a poem for her, and she was a very fast learner. She could tell a poem by heart she heard for two or three times, no matter how long it was. Erik was glad for this ability and talent, teaching proudly The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe to Belle, who told Papa the long poem not even knowing what she said. Christine was a bit of worried she might be a bit too young for such a poem, but Belle seemed to like it a lot, especially because Papa praised her so heartfelt about being so clever to memorize such a difficult and long text. Christine found out that Belle also liked to hear about the stories of operas. She at first told the story of The Magic Flute, and showed her the music, but Belle was more into the lyrics and the script than music. She started to entertain herself by making small scenarios which she played with her toys. These mini plays included many things she heard from stories and opera plots, so they ended up being interesting enough to the point it was funny. The only problem was that she could not really play them for anyone in the house. Papa was away for most of the day, and so were the boys, and even if Noel and Flo were home, they were too busy for her. Noel would always study physics or such nonsense, and Flo was in love with his violin, and would always say "Later, Belle, I am busy." Later never came, because if he wasn't playing the violin or reading music, he left to give concerts or attend social events with Papa, so the only one she could show her plays was Mahtab. Mahtab was the oldest though, and he would sometimes point out flaws of the story Belle was too young to consider, so she did not really like to play for Mahtab, as he was too picky. Noel was the worst audience, though, as he would just simply say "Leave me alone with this stupidity, I have to study."
One time when Belle was again chased away by Noel and she was holding her doll sadly, she suddenly noticed Gregory standing in the doorway. Gregory now was well enough to be up and about, so he just wandered along the house sometimes. He was amazed by the luxury which surrounded him. He could not get enough of the fabrics that covered those beautiful furniture, the wallpapers, the many rooms, the toys for the children which he never dared to touch, but admired from a distance, and he knew he had never seen such beauty before. To be honest, Christine and Mahtab were happy he was well enough to walk, and Erik did not want to bother too much, so he allowed the newcomer to explore the house. If he catches him stealing something, he will pay for that anyway. Until that, he shall come and go around. The other children did not find it strange to have Gregory around. Yes, he was injured and Mahtab took him home. Mahtab took injured things home from time to time, and nursed them back to health. It was common he arrived home with a bird or such, but Gregory was the first human being on the list, but nobody found it strange.
It wasn't strange for the children that Gregory was unable to speak. As Erik and Christine wished to raise the children to be aware of disabilities from a young age, unlike society, which tried to hide unfortunate members of it by locking them away in asylums or special homes or institutions, and people in general had no clue how to treat someone who wasn't like them, the parents found it important that their kids shall not be like other people in this aspect and they explained to them about some people were unable to see or hear, or even talk, and that there were people who missed various body parts. The lack of the nose was easily shown to them, for example, and they never found it creepy or scary. Erik was actually "happy" that the children met people like Sophie, who was blind, or knew that Raoul missed fingers on his right, as all of these examples helped them to show an example. When they learned about Gregory's problem, it wasn't an oddity, just another example of a disability.
Gregory got better and better each day, and slowly met all the members of this family he was taken to. He started to get to know each of the people, yet there were so many people together in this family, he never knew one could have so many siblings around. He always felt so lonely in this world and had no idea that others were surrounded by many- many people who loved them. He was always alone, or with various toxic companion, whom he hopelessly started to follow not to be all alone in the world as a 7 year old, because he was yet a child, and needed someone with him. Even if they trained him for wrong things and expected him to commit crimes, he wasn't alone in the dark, and at least he received some food if he earned enough by begging or stealing.
This new bunch of people was something else than he knew before. They used no cusswords between each other. He did not even know people could talk without them for a long time. He was happy for the first time in his life he wasn't able to speak out loud when his wounds were taken care of, as if he was, he would have been utterly ashamed of the various combinations of swear words which came to his mind during the painful processes, and felt that this beautiful woman shall never hear such filthy things.
The mother, Christine, looked like an angel on Earth. She still reminded him of his mother, yet now he knew she wasn't. Yet she spoke so nicely to him, and would often caress his face and give him kind smiles. She also sang, and when she did, he could not help but wonder how it was possible to sing so beautifully. He never heard such a voice yet. Of course, Gregory had no idea about opera and voice training, he only heard the drunken caterwauling of the people at the inn or on the streets of the area he was from, and so he did not like what others have described as "music." He also knew a man with only one eye who played an old and worn violin which only had one rusty G string, he was very proud of the instrument which was told to be from Italy, yet others would often tease him about digging it from under a pile of trash. That man was old, creepy, and a lunatic, he never missed a night from the inn where he showed off his talents with that torture machine. Everyone called him "Fiddler of the Devil", and Gregory hated him not only for the insufferable noise he made, but because the much highly respected instrument's bow was often used as a weapon by the old man, especially against Gregory if he tried to pickpocket him, to follow his companion's orders, and this was the other reason Gregory did not really like "musicians."
Or so he thought. When he was well enough to get up and walk around, he found out that his whole life was a lie yet.
This family contained many people who played music, and Gregory understood only now what that word means. He had never met so beautiful sounds in his life and he was enchanted to listen to them, playing and singing together. They were so happy and love filled up the room, and his soul met an unknown level of peace and a special good feeling overtook him. He stood there, with mouth wide open and smiling, sometimes being afraid that they will send him away because he wasn't worthy of such a pure joy, but no one wanted to chase him out of the room.
It was also a difference. Actually no one wanted to chase or beat him at all. No matter what, he was always treated kindly by all of the people here. Christine was an angel, the man, Erik, seemed to be distant and strict but he was a kind man as well, and even though he was unlikely thin and tall and Gregory was unable to word why, but he wasn't an ordinary man like the ones he saw before. He moved around so softly he did not notice him ever, only by that moment he stood beside the bed or the chair he was placed in, and all his movements were graceful but awkward at the same time. From out of the people there, even though Erik was the most distant and least kind to him, he liked the father the most.
Now, that he stood in the doorway and that beautiful small girl stood in front of him, and he saw she was sad, he knew he should comfort her somehow, but did not know how to do so. He just took a step back, afraid of being yelled at for being here, but Belle looked at him with a smile.
- Do you want to see my play? – She asked hopefully. – No one does. – She added.
Gregory nodded and shyly walked closer to Belle, who happily ran towards her room, excitedly showing the way to the boy. Gregory did not even dare to sit down in that beautiful room of that small girl, he was silently standing on the edge of the rug, looking at Belle, waiting for the happenings to come. Belle was grinning, and started to act out the story she just wrote in her mind. Greg was slowly getting more and more comfortable, and eventually he knelt down to her to see well. He was fascinated by the story, and he admired the girl who could come up with such a complicated play. When it ended, he clapped and smiled at her, pointing at the doll she was playing with.
- Her name is Annie. – Belle explained. – I got her for my Birthday from Mama.
Gregory questioningly looked at her and reached out with shaky hands. He so wished to hold that toy for just a second. He was afraid of rejection, because he was so poor and just taken in out of pity, he really shall not hold such a thing… but Belle gave it to him.
- Here, she wants you to hug her. – She smiled.
Gregory hugged the doll close to himself. This was the first time ever that he held a toy in his hands, and felt like a real child. Maybe here everything will be otherwise?
He spent a nice afternoon with Belle. He was feeling so well, better than any time in his life before. He was allowed to get his hands on the toys and he liked to play with toy soldiers the most. When Erik arrived home, and saw that Greg plays with the toys, the boy jumped up with sudden fright. Maybe the man did not allow him to touch his children's belongings and maybe he will beat him for that… He lifted his hand in front of his face, to be able to protect his head from hits, and Erik's heart nearly broke upon seeing this. It so much reminded him of that young masked boy in Germany, who did the exact same thing after being caught petting a horse in the old smith's stable after being taken as an aid. He did not like to admit, but he felt sorry for the poor mute thing.
- Don't worry. – He said simply. – You are fine.
He did not touch Gregory, or did not lean closer to him, but his intonation was calming enough for the young child to relax, but he looked down in fright just a second later, when he realized this small scene made him wet his pants in fright. With shame, he closed his eyes and started crying, knowing that he had just ruined that rug, and that he was going to get it for this act. Erik just had another flashback from his childhood, noticing this, and even though he wished to be grumpy about this happening, he ended up just calmly asking the boy to go to take a bath and change his clothes.
- Do you need help with washing yourself or you are fine doing it alone? – He added, knowing the boy had rare opportunities to wash normally before. When the boy just nodded and walked away, he just started cleaning up the puddle without any disgust or dismay.
When the boy arrived back, in a nice clean outfit and noticeably with wet hair, Erik nodded and patted the boy's shoulder gently, not to scare him.
- It happens. – He said matter of factly. – You don't have to feel sorry about it.
The boy did not understand why everyone was so kind to him, including each of the children, the parents, and the old black man called "Tonton" by the children. No matter how bad or stupid things he was doing, no matter that he did not exactly know how to use knife and fork, no matter he could not tie his shoes and Christine had to teach him how to use a handkerchief, and no matter he could not talk, the family was kind and patient to him. He, even though he wasn't treated as a family member by Erik, as he felt it, followed the father around a lot. He did not know why, but he felt a special connection between them, as they were similar in a way. Erik did not mind it too much, he was already used to being followed by a child. He noticed though, that when the family or just a family member played music, Gregory was always near, listening in awe.
- Are you interested in music? – He asked the child casually once, while playing a Beethoven sonata, noticing his presence behind him again.
Gregory nodded and walked closer to the piano, pointing at it, then at his ear.
- It indeed sounds nice, but only if you can play it well. – Erik replied.
Gregory pointed at himself, then at the piano with a questioning expression.
- You want to try? – Erik leaned closer.
A faint nod came as an answer, but Greg was already afraid he asked something too much. Erik again pitied the poor child for being so scared over each request of his, so he just lifted the boy up to the chair next to himself and put the child's right hand on the keys. Softly, he placed his bony, yet graceful long fingers on top of the child's, and gently pushed Gregory's finger which was laid on top of the correct note, and put the boy's hand to the right position when it was needed. The song was simple enough for a beginner pianist, which gave Gregory some self-confidence to try it alone after some tries. Not perfectly, but he was able to play "London bridge is falling down" by right hand after a few tries.
Erik was surprised it was so easy to tutor a child which wasn't a family member. He nodded and praised the boy, who looked at him with such a thankful expression that Erik's "cold stone heart" as he called it sometimes playfully, was about to melt. Maybe this little thing isn't all hopeless either, as none of the children are on this earth. Even young Erik deserved a chance of a life. And this child, at least, isn't ugly, and even has a nose.
- Tomorrow we are going to continue the lesson with the left hand part. – Erik stated. – Until that, you are free to go wherever you want. I am going to continue playing.
He put Greg down from the piano bench and turned back to play the rest of the sonata. While that, he constantly felt the boy's adoring glance on himself.
