Chapter Twenty-two

The Torture Chamber

Suzette and Christine watched as Raoul fingered the edges of the mirror.

"Perhaps it isn't there anymore?" Christine suggested. Raoul looked up and shrugged.

"Perhaps not."

"Please keep trying," Suzette begged, "I must get in there!"

"Don't worry, dear," Christine said assuring, "you will."

When Christine had suggested that Erik might have hidden himself away once more in the house on the dark lake, Suzette had urged them to go to the hidden doorway in the courtyard. To her dismay, when they arrived they found the opening sealed, just as she and Erik had left it years ago.

"He must have found another place to hide," she had told them sadly.

"No." Christine had insisted, "He's here. There is another way in." Suzette had known that the labyrinth was vast and included many miles of tunnel, but she was surprised to learn that they led into the Paris Opera House. She was even more surprised to find that the black lake was really the bottom most cellars of the opera house, which had been flooded by an underground stream as the building was being constructed.

Suddenly, there was a click as Raoul had found the catch and next the creaking sound of the coil unwinding. Moments later, the secret door swung open and the three of them entered. Raoul inserted a heavy book in the doorway, as it is never wise to lock ones own self in one of Erik's passageways.

They made their way down the dark, wet road that led to Erik's house. They passed odd shapes in the dark and heard eerie sounds. The path would change directions suddenly and they would often fumble down steep inversions only to crash into a wall at the bottom. The walls were black and the lantern was of no use to tell what was a black wall or a black opening. Large gusts of stale air blew on them at intervals. At one point of the exhibition, the passageway began to grow smaller. They came to a dead end.

"How do we get through?" Christine asked.

"We must have missed a turn somewhere," said Raoul. The party backed up a few paces only to discover another dead end. Christine was on the verge of panic when a large gust of wind blew against their legs from the direction that they had just come. A passage had opened! Suzette found that a small hole had appeared in the wall that had previously been a dead end. She ducked and tried to step in, but the floor had vanished. She got down on her knees and reached with her hand but found nothing. There was no telling how long a fall it was.

"Now what?" Raoul asked her. Suzette dangled her legs over the side and pushed off. Christine cried out for her to stop, thinking that she would surely fall to her death. In fact, Suzette fell only about two meters and landed gracefully on her feet.

"It's just little drop!" she called to the others.

"The passage has closed up again!" she heard Christine shout. Suzette now thought to herself that the floor must have been moving on a pivot. She took a few paces forward and came across another dead end. Suddenly, the first passage opened and Christine and Raoul came running down the corridor and toward Suzette. As they came, the floor inverted and they were, all three, thrown into yet another passage.

Suzette began to wonder if they were now lost forever when, suddenly, Christine let out a cry and Suzette saw what seemed to be creatures of fire, snarling at her.

"It's only the furnaces." Raoul whispered, "This is the right way." And so they continued on. Only just after they had put the fire demons safely behind them, Suzette heard a strange sound. A soft pattering sound, like the sound of rain, and coming closer and closer to them. Suddenly, all three were jumping up and down and shrieking. The floor had become a waving sea of small yellow eyes. The three tried desperately to kick away the horrid creatures that scurried over their legs.

"Run!" cried Raoul, "Or we shall be eaten alive!" Christine and Suzette ran a few steps, but suddenly a low and black figure emerged from the shadows and in a hoarse, old voice said, "Be still." The figure went past them and the rats all followed as if he were the pied piper. They trembled as they watched him disappear with the sea of rats.

"The rat catcher." Raoul said in amazement. Christine moaned in horror. Suzette hoped they would find that lake soon. She wanted to dive in and get the rat touch off of her legs.

"Is it too much further?" she asked Raoul. Raoul turned to her. He was all but gasping for breath.

"Why don't we just go back?" he cried, "It will be a miracle if we get to the lake alive and then he'll only kill us all!" He was met with two sad gazes. Raoul sighed and turned away. Suzette was furious.

"You can go if you want. I don't care if it takes me a hundred years! I will not leave him in this dark, hateful place alone!" Christine took his hand.

"Come now, let's hurry!" He nodded and they continued on toward the lake. After what seemed like hours to Suzette, the dark corridor was filled with the blue reflection of the black, ink-like water. The boat was sitting peacefully on the shore. Either it had returned there on its own accord, or Erik had another way into his lair. Suzette ran to the boat and started to push it into the water.

"Hold it!" cried Raoul bewildered, "What do you think you're doing?"

"The house is on the other side of the lake, right?"

"You can't just row right up to it! We have to think of a way to surprise him."

"I don't want to surprise him," cried Suzette, "I want to hold him and kiss him and take him home right now!"

"Raoul is right, dear." Christine told her gently, "That water is not safe to cross with out Erik guiding you himself."

"I am going," she said determinedly, "I am going right now. Will you come or not?" Christine glanced out at the dark, still water. Who knew what was out there? Then she looked back at Suzette's pleading eyes and she sighed. She stepped gingerly into the boat. Raoul stared at these two women. They were both mad, he decided, and it was all the monster's fault. He too, sighed and got in; quite sure that he would never see the daylight again.

Raoul started to offer to row the boat, but it was unnecessary. The boat started out toward the phantom's house on it's own. Raoul's mind raced. What could he do to protect them from the phantom? If he crept upon them in the darkness of his own lair, they wouldn't have a prayer. The lake was much larger than it seemed. It came up to a black wall and seemed to end there, but the little boat found a passageway and they came into an even larger section. Suzette looked up and saw no ceiling above her. It seemed to go on forever as a starless night sky. The house was nowhere to be seen. Suzette recalled that she had seen stars above the lake when Erik had brought her there so long ago. She hoped that they weren't floating away from the house perhaps to some dark place where even Erik didn't go. The boat went on and suddenly, the house appeared to them, as if by magic. Raoul saw that Erik had no intention of sneaking up on them; he was waiting for them at the bank with his arms crossed and his eyes burning.

He said nothing as they pulled the boat ashore. Suzette saw that he was again wearing the frightful, deathly still, white mask. She leaped out and ran toward him as if to fall into his arms, but he caught her and pushed her away.

"Erik, please stop," she pleaded tearfully, "What have I done? Why are you angry with me?" He said nothing and looked away. Suzette tried again.

"Come on, now. It's me. Suzette. Come on, take my hand and let's go home." He turned to her sharply and said in a low, dark voice, "What do you mean, dear child? This is my home. This is where I belong." Suzette was crestfallen. The phantom then turned to Christine and said, "You are, as always, welcome to stay here, though I would advise against it. If you stay in this darkness long enough you'll find that there is no returning to the light. At least not for more than a spell." Suzette reached out to take him again and he pushed her away.

"You had better go too, my dear." he said coldly, "I have had my moment of peace, and you have a whole life ahead of you. Besides, you wouldn't want to upset the phantom, now would you? You see, when he is in a rage not even he can control himself."

"Erik, you are not a phantom, nor a ghost, nor a monster, nor anything else save a man and my friend and I will not leave you here."

"Very well, stay then, if it pleases you." He turned from them and went inside the house. Suzette quickly followed and the Viscount and Viscountess came behind. They found him sitting on the floor of the drawing room, apparently engrossed in a book. Suzette approached him again and knelt beside him.

"What are you reading?" she asked timidly. He ignored her and turned away.

"Won't you at least talk to me?" she sobbed, "What on earth have I done to deserve this?" She once again attempted to embrace him, but he leapt to his feet, dropping her in an ungraceful heap on the floor. He slammed the book on the table and uttered a terrifying howl, which must have been heard in every corner of the opera house above.

"Talk to me!" Suzette cried sorrowfully, "Please Erik, aren't I your friend? Haven't I been by your side for nearly nine years now? I don't understand! How can you shut yourself away from me, who has been like your own daughter? Why have you become this new creature, who is as emotionless as that hateful mask you are wearing?" He seemed to change for a brief moment. He turned to her and said gently, "What do you wish to talk about, Suzette?"

"Going home right now!" she said.

"No." he answered, turning away again.

"Why you have shut yourself up down here?" He shook his head no. Suzette was lost. She looked to Christine and Raoul for help. Christine looked back with helplessness and compassion. Raoul held her to him tightly and had his face buried in her hair. Suddenly Suzette got another idea.

"Monsieur le Viscount told me before that you had a torture chamber in here. But I don't remember you ever showing me that."

"You wish to see the torture chamber?" Erik asked sarcastically and began to laugh, "Well it's all around you. Look at it! I built it myself, with my own hands. Would you all like a tour, my dears? This is the drawing room. I decorated it myself. Here I sat alone for years and years, composing my Don Juan Triumphant. As you remember, it is usually adorned with flowers but I am just moving back in and haven't been to the market yet.That door leads to my little bedroom. I sleep in a coffin because I am a corpse. That door over there goes into a second room where I kept you while you where here and where I kept my dear Christine. Out by the lake, there is a nice place to eat alone. Now, I suppose you wish to know how the tortures work. After all, that is the fun in it.

Well you see, when you first begin your sentence, you don't even notice the pain. You believe that you own the place, but it really owns you. You live here alone, bereaved of light, bereaved of love. Years pass and you begin to feel it. The tortures burn you up from the inside and begin to feast on your soul. You become consumed by hatred for those who curse you and jealousy for those who do not suffer your fate. But you still have some hope and you begin to plan your escape. You open doors and search around until you find the way out, but just when you can feel the light of day on your outstretched arms, you fall back into the darkness. Time goes on and you try your escape again and again, but each time you fail and each time you lose a little more hope and a little more of your humanity. Now I suppose you are wondering if there is really any way to escape at all? You really ought to ask Joseph Buquet, who found the only way out long before I did, when he came into the torture chamber by accident while I was away. There is only one way out of my torture chamber, you know, and it has nothing to do with a boat or a trap door. It happens when all of your soul has been destroyed by hatred and suffering. Then you are not even a shadow of humanity and you are dead inside and out. You grow cold and the your suffering ends." Erik paused here and when he continued his voice was soft and gentle.

"Now you see, my dear child, why it is better that you leave now and go back to the world and have all the happiness that my fate has deprived me of. Christine is your cousin and she will love you. She'll be your friend and teach you how to live. You can be married some day and have children. You can have anything that your heart desires. That is my wish for you because I still love you as best I can. So, please, go and leave me to my sorrows."

And with that, he left the three of them stunned, and went into the Louis-Philippe room, where all three of them had rested at different terms, and closed the door softly behind him.