Chapter Two: Work Suckles.

The walk to her work was only a few blocks away but today it seemed longer. The air was cool and the sun was shinning. It was the perfect day to perform in the park. She tried to imagine what music she might play.

"Maybe, maybe Verdi's Prelude to 'La Traviata' or maybe Paradiso's Sicilienne, any violin solo would be nice…," She thought. Just then, the curse started to hurt. Erin held up her left hand to examine it. It was shaking horribly. Memories of the accident came flooding back.

@--}--}----

"Hey, how's my babe?" Josh said drunkenly.

 "I'm just fine hun. Are you enjoying the party?" Josh looked around the crowed living room.

"Oh yeah." He took another drink of his beer. "But do you know what would make this even better?" Erin just gave him a curios stare. "If me and you got it on." Josh advance toward Erin, but she pushed him away.

"Um, no. You're really drunk. And I don't want you to." She gave Josh a stern face but that only turned him on more.

"Come on, Erin!" Josh pulled her though the crowed party and into a dark bedroom. He flung her on the bed and unzipped his pants. Josh climbed on top of Erin and started to undress her.

"You schizophrenic cheese bat! I said 'NO!'. Doesn't that mean any thing to you?" Erin screamed as loud as she could but he still didn't listen. "You leave me no choice!" She lifted her leg and it came down hard on his groin. Josh fell over in pain. Erin gave him one more kick and then turned to leave when she was grabbed from the behind.

"You'll do as I say!" Josh spat. He pushed her onto the desk that was near the door. "And I say we have sex!" He started to give her sloppy kisses all over her face.

"GOOBERFISH!" She struggled to get up but he pushed her back. "Let me go!"

"What are you waiting for?!" Josh stopped and looked directly into Erin's eyes. "Are you waiting for your precious Erik? Pitiful woman, there is no 'Erik' for you." He started to laugh and then he leaned close to her. "You don't deserve one!" Erin only gave him an evil glare. She had been teased before about wanting an 'Erik' of her own. This was no different. He would never crush her. Josh suddenly realized that she wouldn't give in and got angry. "THERE IS NO ERIK! THERE NEVER WAS AND NEVER WILL BE!" He picked up the iron paperweight that was on the desk and smashed it on her hand. Erin aloud herself to let out only one cry of pain. "You like that? Well, there's more coming." Josh raised his hand again and brought it down harder that ever. "You'll never play again."

"That's it!" Erin used all her strength to shove him away from her. She grabbed a letter opener that was also on the desk and stabbed Josh in the leg. He fell, once again, in pain. This time, Erin kept her back to the wall as she walked to the door.

Erin didn't remember meting Carley and them going to the hospital, but she did remember the doctor's words.

"Your hand was badly broken. A lot of the bones where shattered and we couldn't find them. We did our best to rebuild the hand and you're very lucky. If you practice, maybe one day, you'll be able to grasp things, like a door handle."

"Maybe?" Erin asked weakly.

"Yes, as I said, the hand was badly damaged and well…" The doctor paused to look for the right words. "I don't think you'll be able to use your left hand… ever.  I'm sorry. That's just the truth."

"Never playing the violin, never typing, never even being able to hold a f-ing pencil!" Hot tears began to flow down her cheeks. "Never feeling Erik again…" Erin looked helplessly toward Carley who was staring at the hands in her lap. "Never…"

@---}-}---

Erin was back on the street, walking, on her way to work. She forced the memories to the back of her head and focused on the future. Erin soon arrived at work and hurried to see Nate in the manager's office. She burst in the room and nearly fell over trying to catch her breath.

"OK, I know I'm late but forgive please. My cat died-,"

"You don't have a cat." Nate answered flatly.

"Cat? Did I say cat? Silly me, I meant rat. My rat died-,"

"You don't have a rat."

"Right again!" Erin calmed down and took a deep breath and dug into her emergency tears. "My… my hand is bothering me. I had to go to the doctor's office and have it checked out to make sure that everything is healing right. I'm sorry; I got out of there as soon as I could.  I'm sorry." She buried her head in her hands and started to sob.

"Now there, there." Nate got up and patted her on the back. "It's all right. Just next time make sure we know that you have an appointment. Okay?"

Erin nodded her head and left the office with a smile.

"He fell for it?! Again?!"

"Yeah. I couldn't believe it either. I thought I was busted." Erin had just told the story to one of the older employees that worked at the electronic store. "It wasn't even my best performances…"

"You're just pure luck. When I try to pull something like that I always get caught." The woman heaved a big sigh and then turned to the ringing telephone. "Zap-it Electronics, this is Mary how may I help you? Yes we do. Yes you can. Today is fine. Okay, we'll have someone wrap it up for you. Okay? Have a good day. Bye." Mary turned back around to face Erin. "Some weirdoes want a 25 inch TV. And they want it wrapped up so they can just take it home real quick."

"You don't want me to…?"

"Yep. Go back to the TV's and find a real nice set for this person and wrap it up." Mary gave a smile and turned back around to the desk.

"Oh I'd be delighted to!" Erin made a face at the back of Mary's head and started toward the back of the store. She mumbled to herself as she walked. "Why do I have to wrap it up? It's just a stupid TV. And are these people so lazy that they can't even carry it out by themselves? What a lazy generation." She spent about 10 minutes in the back room looking for the right set. "Here you are. It's always the last box. Why, you may ask? Well I don't know. It just feels like being the last one on the shelf. Stupid TV." Erin hissed at the box as she pulled it off the shelf and on to a near by cart. She pulled the cart out of the back room and into the display area. Every one of the TVs was playing the same channel. It was… The Monkee's. What happened next both confused and scared Erin. It was as if one of the TVs was calling to her. Begging her to come closer. She obeyed as if she had no other choice. When she reached the set, Erin snapped out of the trance she was in and realized what she was doing. She let out a small giggle at her weirdness and began to walk away when she noticed a small black dot on the TV. It looked like some little kid had rubbed his dirty finger on the set and it left a mark. So, like any other person would do, Erin tried to get it off, but as soon as she touched the screen, she blacked out.