First of all (ahem), I would like to thank all of my reviewers! You all inspire me to write more and I really want to keep going with this story! I really appreciate you all! Wow…that was an Oscar speech. Lol. On with the show!
Chapter Four: Gifts and Curses-Part Two
There are many wanderers in the night. Whether it is lovers, beggars, or policemen- they are there. Well, if there were late walkers in the streets on this particular night, passing by the Gounod house, they would have noticed a small light in one of the bedrooms.
Robert paced back and forth in his room, unconcerned of what time was on the clock. The small, single candle was enough to cast dreary shadows upon the wall, making Robert flinch as he noticed them. But he just went back to thinking: thinking of none other than Leonora. He had tried to confront her earlier that day, but she had rejected him and after rehearsal, when he knocked on the dormitory door which she stayed in, he received no reply.
He slammed a fist on the table in frustration, which caused a few papers to stray from the desk to the floor. He pressed his foot on them and ground them into tiny pieces, like pale confetti.
I will have her! He told himself, angrily. I shall wait till the Thanksgiving Ball, two months from tomorrow. He rubbed his hands together, a grin planted on his face. By then, she will have fallen for me…or else…
Leonora watched Erik as he played the organ .It was that same, mysterious melody that had led her there pouring from it like water into an ocean. She watched his hands press the keys as if he were playing with air under his fingers, playing each note with calm delicacy. Her eyes wandered to a few scraps of sheet music scattered upon the organ. She reached over and picked a sheet up, glancing at the music printed upon it right as Erik finished his song.
"That was lovely," she told him. "What is this music?"
He looked at the music in her hand with a pained expression on his face as if it hurt him to even glance at it.
"That is my own opera, Don Juan Triumphant," he whispered, fiddling with the keys, nervously. "I made it for a girl who I loved much more than she loved me." He bowed his head as if in prayer. "She has her man now and I try to forget the whole ordeal."
There was an awkward silence as Leonora gazed back down on the music. All that glorious work-lost. Because of love. Love is a cruel and unfeeling goddess that doesn't care who it descends upon or how, whether it be pure or obsession. She thought of this and a shiver ran up her spine as the word obsession reminded her of Robert for some reason.
"Love makes us do crazy things," she whispered and laid the sheet back on the organ, gently. She crossed her legs and sighed, hoping to hear another song from him.
Erik's eyes caught sight of her bare leg. It was misshapen, but not to the point where she limped, merely scarred as if someone had taken a torch to it and let it rot the core. He could see her blue veins pulsing at a beat under a thin layer of skin.
She saw what he was staring at and pulled her skirt down quickly as if it were some invincible wall of protection. Erik shook his head and looked up at her.
"I'm not alone," he whispered to himself.
"Erik?" She asked, confused by his statement.
"You are the first person I've ever met to have a deformity besides me," he told her in a tone of surprise and strange relief. She laughed softly, almost sadly, and looked around his lair.
"You are, too," she said quietly and stood up, walking to the edge of the lake and gazing into it at her reflection. She felt a hand on her shoulder and saw Erik's reflection join her. Their reflections seemed to fit together like pieces to a distorted, yet somehow beautiful puzzle.
Suddenly, Leonora pulled away like being awoken from a dream.
"I have to get back before dawn," she told him in a disappointed voice. Erik sighed and let her walk into the lake towards the gate. He began back towards the organ and wrapped himself in the shadows once more but her voice stopped him.
"May I come back?" She called from the gate. "I would like to visit you."
For some reason, Erik felt himself blush with humility and he smiled softly at her.
"Yes," he. "I would like that."
A/N- Next week on the OC…Lol. Please R&R!