A/N: I hope you all liked my last chapter!! Here's the next one…with just a little more drama…more of Aaralyn's past…Enjoy! PLZ R&R even if you don't like it…J
CHAPTER 8
"Mama…? Why does he have a knife?" I had asked in my inferior, childish lack of common sense.
"Hush, Aaralyn!" she had replied, avoiding my question. "Go to my room. Sleep there tonight…"
Little did I know that those would be some of my mother's last words…I made my way to her bedroom, completely unaware of why my stepfather had been brandishing a knife in my mother's face. She had been so strong, his size and sheer dominance not frightening her. I remember her scream as she tried to overpower him…she couldn't. I knew what had happened. Covering my ears as I shouted, I ran to my mother's room where I lay there, burying my face in her blankets, her sweet scent filling my nose. I only cried harder, for hours, not moving from her bed…
I had no idea how I ended up at my real father's house…I just remember an officer asking me lots of questions and…it's all a blur. Maybe because I had been crying the whole time…
My father was a kind and gentle man. I had only met him a few times in my life before but now I ran to his arms and let him hold me through my terror.
I spent my entire childhood with him and his uncontrollable passion for music. I learned to play the piano at about seven years old, accompanying my father's violin or sometimes his voice.
But night after night, I would hear my mother's last command…I would cry myself to sleep every night…I couldn't help but feel her death had been my fault, that I could have helped her instead of running to her room like the frightened six-year-old I had been. Father would hear me weeping, and come up to my room. He would take me in his arms and sing me to sleep…
"Sleep there tonight…"
"No! Charles! Wha-? Stop!!" I could hear her newly lifeless form slump to the floor over and over in my dreams…
Aaralyn sat straight up in her bed under the Opera, tears streaking her face and sweat drenching her temples. She gasped for breath, still crying incessantly.
"Erik…" She said quietly. "Erik…"she said louder.
Rising from her bed shakily, she nearly shrieked, "Erik!"
In less than a moment's time, he emerged from his adjoining room, fearful concern accenting his words. "Aaralyn! What? What happened?"
She could barely speak. "My…my mother…" Looking up at him from her place on the floor outside her bedroom where she had sunk, he understood.
He took her hands and gently forced her to stand. Trembling, she placed her hands on her shoulders, as if to calm her raging insides. Carefully wrapping his arms around her, as if not to break her, Erik laid his head on hers as she cried onto his night-shirt.
After a few glorious moments, Aaralyn lifted her face from his chest, only slightly drawing back from his embrace. "My mother…she…was killed…"
Erik placed a finger over her trembling lips to silence her. She continued crying, knowing he understood. He tucked a stray dark piece of hair behind her ear as she moaned, further soaking his attire.
Calmly and carefully, he picked her up into his arms and carried her gently to her bedroom. Lying her on the bed, she tried to speak, but thought better of it. He sat on the edge of her bed and softly sang to her a song he had often sung to Christine. As she slipped into a deep sleep, he felt his eyes sting with the tears of remembrance of an awful past. Making sure that she was asleep, he gently covered her tightly with the blanket to make sure she was warm, and kissed her lightly on the forehead-something he would never do if she had been awake…
He turned from the bed and walked from the room, a new curiosity invading his thoughts.
No. He would not ask Aaralyn of her past, not yet.
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A/N: please R&R!! Thank you all for reviewing in the past, I love you al! please keep it up!
Phantomgurl33: I know, I know…I decided not to drag Christine into this…yet…;) Don't worry! I'll get to her!! (email me…I'll explain…;)
