CHAPTER RATING: PG

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Just so you know, she hasn't gone crazy, she's just...been by herself for a while.

Winifred pushed at her cold carrots with her fork. She'd learned to stretch a meal out for nearly two hours in order to kill time. The trouble was that, when one eats slowly, one can be full with very little food in her stomach. She stabbed a carrot and held it close to her face, examining it. It looked like it had a little mouth and little eyes. What would that mouth say? What would it say? What would it say?

"Run, darling, run."

"Alright," Winifred replied to the carrot, and popped it in her mouth. She giggled at herself, then sighed. "Alright," she repeated, and stood and got dressed in a light dress. What else? What else? Bible. Shoes. Clothes? Later.

She walked to her window and opened it, looking out into the dark of night. She was really going to do it. She was running away.

She was on the second story and there was no way to climb down. She climbed onto the windowsill, back facing outside, gripped the sides of the opening, and slowly walked down the side of her house. When she was low enough, she carefully slid her hands down to the bottom of the windowsill and then dropped her feet so that she was hanging by her hands, body pressed against the wall. Then reality hit her and she began to panic. It wasn't until then that she remembered a trick with tying knots in bed sheets to make a rope. She wished she'd thought of that before. So she hung there until her hands and arms couldn't take it anymore and let go. She hit the ground feet first. Mild pain shot up her shins, but a great pain hit her between the stomach and the hips. She keeled over and lay on the ground for several minutes. Just a moment. I'll get up in just a moment. When she did, she walked a few feet, but stopped when her vision was drowned by a purple light inside her head. The light faded and she continued on to Johnathan's house. Once there, she did not knock, but she went straight to the stables and retrieved the Phantom's black horse. She mounted it and started for the operahouse in a full gallop. She was reminded of her fantasies, only now she did not have Erik at her side.

When she reached the lake in the operahouse, she saw that the boat was gone. She didn't know what to do. "Hello?" she called. "Erik?" She felt as she did the first time she came looking for the Phantom. When no one answered her, she went to the water's edge and stared down into the murky depths. What lay beneath the surface? Was there anything living? Winifred cringed when she thought of stepping on a fish or crab or something squishy. She decided to leave her shoes on, and stepped into the chilly water. The water nearly reached her waist, and her dress poofed up around her. Leaving her Bible on the stone shore, Winifred walked slowly through the water. Over and over again, she had visions of some underwater monster or demon grabbing her legs. At one point, something brushed across her calf and she screamed, but then she realized that is was only a plant.

When she finally got to the passageway to the Phantom's domain, she saw that the gate was down. "Erik?" she called, grabbing onto the gate. "Are you there? Let me in."

No answer.

"Erik! Let me in! Please! Hello?"

"Why should I do as you say?" came his voice from a distant room. It sounded cold.

"What?" Winifred replied, confused. "I thought- I didn't mean to-" She took a breath, trying to calm herself, but burst into uncontrollable tears. "Erik, please let me in!" she sobbed. "For the past three weeks, I've been locked inside my room by my father. I've been kept from you all this time, and I finally escaped. Now this gate is keeping me from you. Do not force me to break it down." She laughed hysterically through her tears.

What if she had been right the night she'd come home before her father locked her away? What if Erik hated her?

Then the gate began to rise. It was all Winifred could do not to dive beneath the water and swim under, but she controlled herself long enough for the opening to reach the surface. As she made her way as quickly as she could through the water, Erik appeared, dressed, masked, and wigged, and met her at the shore. He took her in his arms and held her tight as she cried into his chest.

He couldn't hate her. She could feelit in his touch.

Winifred looked up, and through her tear-filled eyes she saw Erik's face. It was full of concern...worry...desire.

He said, "I assumed you'd-"

"I'd never," Winifred whispered, cutting him short.

He kissed her forehead, and they held each other for a moment more, until Winifred announced that she was cold.

"Of course," Erik replied in a raspy voice. "There are some things in the black trunk in the bedroom that you can change into if you like." He led her to a side room and said, "Call me when you're finished."

"Alright."

Winifred found a lacy nightgown to change into, though when Erik entered the room, she suddenly felt rather exposed. She'd never been dressed for bed in front of a man before. Erik turned down the bed- an amazing golden bed shaped like a bird- for her. As she climbed in, he turned down the lamps and made to leave the room.

"Wait," Winifred heard herself say.

"Yes?" Erik replied, turning.

"Can...can you stay? I don't want to be alone." She was afraid of her own words.

Erik watched her for a moment, his silhouette unmoving in the doorway, and then said, "Alright." He came and sat on the side of the bed and removed his shoes, shirt and disguise. He then slid under the sheets next to Winifred and pulled a cord, lowering a black lace draping around the bed. Lying down, he took Winifred in his arms, her back against his front, and held her. Suddenly, and for the first time in a long while, Winifred felt safe.

"Erik?" she whispered, afraid to speak in a normal tone in the darkness.

"Yes?" came his soft reply.

"Is it...too early...to...love you?"

"What?" He sounded rather shocked.

"Is it too soon? I mean, it's never been explained to me."

She heard Erik take a shuddering breath, which sent fire rushing through her veins. He gently squeezed her wrist and said, "No, it's not too early. It can't be."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: That's it! I've got a sequel in my head that might have slightly better writing since I'm out of school and actually have the time. It's just a short little in the Phantom's POV. I just wanna know if it's worth writing. Do you guys feel like you could read a chapter or two more of my pathetic Mary-Sue?

AUTHOR'S RANDOM STORY: That bit where she jumps from her window is taken from something that really happened to me. I was helping to clean out my friend's drained pool. I was wearing my glasses at the time, so my depth perception was screwed up and I thought it would be okay to sit on the side and slid into the deep end and land on my feet. It wasn't okay. So Winifred's little experience is a recount of that, except I wasn't able to walk it off like she was and couldn't drive home that night, but I think I fell farther than she did.