Chapter Three: Gifts And Curses- Part One

Leonora let out a small gasp of astonishment and walked up to the gate, clutching the bars and gazing at the man at the organ. He had on a white dress shirt stained with drops of blood; it looked suitable to be worn while in the opera, Don Juan Triumphant. He had on black pants and tall black boots that continuously stomped at the pedals of the organ in angry frustration. But the music that emerged was now anything but angry; it was calm and flowed through the air like a gliding bird in the sky.

The man heard Leonora's sigh and spun around on the stool, his hand covering one side of his face in a desperate act of protection. He stood up, quickly, causing the stool to collapse onto the ground as he sank into the shadows like a frightened animal.

"Please come out," Leonora pleaded, squinting, trying to get a better look. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to see who you are."

He let out a sigh of remorse and shifted in the darkness, nervously as Leonora passed a hand through the bars and reached out to him as if she were giving him her hand.

"Please," she whispered. "I heard your music." The man stopped shifting and stared at her in fascination. "It is very beautiful."

There was a pause as they both stared at one another, curiously. She smiled into the darkness as he took a single step towards the light.

"Thank you," he said, meekly as if he were afraid of compliments. "Who are you?"

"My name is Leonora," she replied. "I'm a chorus girl in the opera." She saw him bow his head at the word chorus girl and she knew it kept a memory that he longed to be rid of. "Who are you?"

He took another step towards the light. "My name is Erik," he whispered. "Were you the girl who wascrying?"

Leonora blushed and bowed her head as he had while remembering six year old Annette trying to comfort her by hugging her and giving her a handkerchief.

"Yes, that was me," she admitted, embarrassed. "It was because that repulsive ballerina, Micha made fun of my leg. Everyone laughed."

Erik glanced at her leg only to find it engulfed in the dark waters of the lake. He found it hard to believe she was also deformed because everyone had treated him like an outsider of the human race. But this girl was deformed and she was able to perform in the Opera Populaire like any other person. He was about to ask her if he could see it, but found that a tear was sliding down her cheek and realized that she was very sensitive about it. Who was she to cry, though? Of course they laughed at her…they always do…

"They laugh at things they don't understand," he whispered, remembering his childhood in the fair and how everyone had jeered at him. "They always do."

Leonora looked up at him and the words escaped her mouth before she could censor them.

"Is it your face?" She asked, to her own surprise. He started to shrink back into the shadows as she clasped a hand over her mouth. "I'm so sorry! Please forgive me for being so…"

"It's alright," he said, half heartedly. After all, she also knew about deformities…He reached for the lever to open the gate.

Suddenly, Leonora felt the gate rising and she immediately dropped her hands to her side, waiting for the gate to be lifted enough for her to enter. She looked around as she walked inside, intrigued by the sheet music and the many paintings…but frightened by the smashed mirrors and the toy model of the opera house, complete with tiny figures of the entire company. She shivered as she noticed the scene which the figures where set in- Miserere…

"How did you do that," she asked, intrigued as she noticed that the figures were all people she knew and they were in their own positions. He laughed softly.

"I used to watch the practices all the time in Box Five and in the rafters above the stage," he replied, his voice getting distant as it trailed off. "But now, I really don't have a reason to…"

Leonora lingered at the model for a while and noticed a small girl in her own position. She had black hair and was extremely fair skinned, just like her, and had a sad expression about her face. Leonora picked the figure up and studied it in silence.

"You always look so sad, even while not performing Miserere," he explained, with a hint of a confused tone in his voice. "Why is that?"

Leonora looked up at him and sighed in sadness. "My parents abandoned me on the steps of the Opera Populaire, disgusted with my leg," she said. "They wanted their daughter to be a dancer and no one would tolerate a dancer with a deformed leg. So, by leaving me at the opera, I didn't really have a choice…" She looked at him with tears in her eyes. "I have been alone ever since. I only have one person to trust but she is only six and the patron- I think he loves me but I can't stand him!... Everyone else calls me a burden."

She pressed the figure to her chest and closed her eyes. She had never spoken with such trust to anyone before and, for all she knew, he could be a spy of the patron's. She turned to face him.

"Please," she whispered. "Remove your hand from your face and come into the light." She signaled to the model, the paintings, the mirrors and the music. "I must see the man who has done all of this, deformed or not; you are not alone."

Erik hesitantly removed his hand from his face and stepped into the light.

Leonora felt no fear or disgust towards Erik. She didn't loathe his scarred, red skin or the fact that some of his dark brown hair was missing or that his left lower eyelid was pulled down, slightly revealing red tissue below his eyeball. He had talked to her with kindness; all that she ever wanted.

Before she could resist, she embraced him. Erik couldn't figure out if it was in spite of love or pity but he savored the tiny moment of knowing he was not alone and that there was another person to share that feeling with.

Blushing, Leonora let go and placed the figure back in her spot in the model, making sure not to touch another figure and set off a domino effect.

"Thank you," she breathed. "For being here."

A/N- A new friendship is forming under the opera as Erik and Leonora finally find someone they can trust. But, will friendship turn into something more? Read more and…. Please review! I have some great ideas going with this one so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review!