Chapter 9

I lay awake that night. I don't know why it was that I couldn't sleep. The small light by my bed bathed the room in a warm glow.

I rolled over and closed my eyes. The doctor had told me to come back in a couple of days, so it wasn't like I needed to get up early. I had a class tomorrow afternoon but Meg had told the professor that I would be missing a week due to personal problems.

Soft music made me open my eyes again. Light piano song. I sat up.

Erik

I climbed out of bed, slipping shoes onto my bare feet. I was on dressed in a white nightdress but I didn't feel cold. I left the room, following the sweet sound. Down the staircase, I moved as if I were in a trance. And I think I was. It was as if the music had possessed me.

The door to the Music Room was slightly ajar. I slipped around it and stopped to see Erik sat at the piano. He was only wearing black trousers and the curtains were open wide. White moonlight shone into the room, coating him with silver.

I'm not sure how long I stood there. It may have been only a few minutes or it may have been hours. I started to walk closer, still entranced by the sound. Erik stopped his playing and turned his head slightly.

I must have looked like a ghost in that dark room. Dressed all in white, with my dark hair falling around my face. I spoke softly.

"Keep playing."

He put his hands back on the ivory keys and started to play that music again. I didn't know the song but I kept walking until I was stood next to him. So close that I could feel the heat of his back, see every dark hair on his head. I sat next to him, turning to look at his face, the half that wasn't covered by the mask. He finished the piece of music and stood, walking to the windows to gaze over the gardens and hills, all illuminated in that heavenly glow.

I stood too and went to stand next to him.

"What is it called?" I asked, referring to the music.

"It is the Music of the Night." He said, turning to look at me.

God help me, but I couldn't take my eyes off of him. I was under the spell of the night, a mixture of that music, the moon and him. I reached up and touched his cheek with the tips of my fingers. The skin was smooth and warm. I ran my fingers over the high cheek bones, over the forehead, the nose, the mouth. He closed his eyes, letting me explore his face.

And then I reached up with my other hand and removed the mask from his face. I gasped and dropped it, the white mask clattering as it hit the floor. The spell broke. Erik cried aloud and jerked back.

His face… it was…horrifying. The skin was deformed into angry red marks. The surface of the skin was twisted and uneven, sore and painful looking. I couldn't help staring at it in horror. It was so opposite to the other side of his face. Two halves of the same being.

I only saw it for a moment because he had pulled back into the shadows of the room, leaving me alone in the light. I stared at the dark outline and saw his hands were covering his face. And he spoke just one word.

"Why?"

I looked down at the mask, lying at my feet. I couldn't speak. Erik shouted this time,

"Why? Answer me!"

"I… I'm sorry." I stammered. Erik was staring at me through the darkness.

"Christine…" he whispered, bowing his head. I blinked back tears and knelt to pick up the mask. I held it in my hands and looked up at his shadow.

"Erik, please… don't hide in the shadows."

"I have been hiding in shadows my whole life, Christine. This face… my parents could not bear to look at me. Anyone who saw past the mask either ran or tried to kill me. Shadows are my only protection."

"I'm not running." I said simply.

He looked up sharply. I couldn't see his expression but pressed on.

"I'm not going to run, Erik."

"Why not?" He asked, genuinely confused at my behaviour. I blinked hard, refusing to cry again.

"Because I don't want to be anywhere else but here. I need you, Erik. Please don't hide in the shadows anymore."

He moved closer, still in the shadows.

"I don't… why are you…?" He said, as if struggling to understand. I swallowed.

"Come into the light."

"Christine… my face…" he said, his hand moving impulsively to the left side of his face. I stared at him.

"Erik, I don't care. I don't care if your face is like that. It doesn't mean anything."

He stayed in the shadows still.

"Why don't you care? Why aren't you frightened?" He asked, still not understanding. I held up the mask, letting the moonlight gleam off its surface. And I said something that I never intended to say, and didn't even realise was true until that moment.

"Because I didn't fall in love with the mask."

And he came out of the shadows. He stepped into the glow of the light. The light illuminated the disfigured side of his face. I dropped the mask and crossed the short space between us, reached up and pressed my lips to his left cheek. When I pulled back my mouth tasted of salt from the tears that glistened on his face. I stared up at him. He was trembling as he put a hand to my face, as if testing to see if I was really there.

"You're not… not going to run?"

"Never. You're not alone anymore." I whispered.

And then he kissed me. It was… incredible. It was as if new sensations were stirring within me, exploding into something there were no words for.

That kiss was so powerful. It was filled with hunger and passion, but so sweet and beautiful. His tears mingled with mine and I pressed my face desperately to his. He held me tightly to him, as if scared that I would run after all.

After an eternity he pulled away and stared down at me. We clung to each other desperately, hungrily. I looked up into his eyes and I didn't see anything except someone I loved.

"Christine…" he whispered hoarsely, "Why me? Why choose this?" He touched his face. I took the hand away.

"Because you gave me back the music. The music of the night."

He fell to his knees, kneeling before me. I knelt too, pressing my forehead to his. He was crying and I let him as we held each other.

A song that my mother had written came back to me. I started to sing, so quietly he could have only just heard me. It was hard to sing it with tears pouring down my cheeks but I had to.

"Say you'll share with me

One love, one lifetime

Anywhere you go

Let me go too

Love me

That's all I ask of you."

He met my eyes and whispered,

"What is that?"

"My mother wrote it…" I replied. He repeated the last few lines.

"Love me… that's all I ask of you."

"I love you." I said breathily. We were both weeping, shaking and clinging to each other and yet neither of us wanted to move. He kissed me again, kissing every part of my face he could. I wondered if anyone had ever loved him like this.

If anyone had ever loved me like this.

I woke early the next morning and we were still in the music room. The sunlight streamed through the windows. I blinked and frowned. Laying a short way off was a white mask. I stared at it for a moment and then remembered. I sat up quickly, looking around.

"Christine." I looked over my shoulder and saw Erik lying beside me. We must have fallen asleep, lying in each other's arms. I smiled.

"I thought you were gone."

"I would never leave you." He replied, sitting up and putting his arms around me. I leant into his warm chest.

"I saw the mask and I couldn't… I got confused for a moment."

His smile faded. I looked at him in surprise.

"What's wrong?"

"I dreamed last night that I woke up this morning and you were gone. I was looking for you and you weren't anywhere. Because you had seen my face in daylight and you were afraid."

I looked at him sadly.

"Erik, we're going to have a lot of things to deal with. But your face isn't one of them. I love you."

"In spite of it?" He asked. I smiled.

"No, not despite your face. Because of it."

He smiled and lay down again, pulling me back with him. I pressed my cheek against the warm skin of his chest.

"Do you want to get up?" He asked. I shook my head.

"Not yet. I just want to lie here with you for a while. Getting up means having to face people."

"Which people?" he asked. I moved my head so I could see his face.

"Dad. Meg. Raoul. They're not going to understand this. Especially not Raoul."

"Especially since you told him that you were going to talk when he got back."

"We will talk. He'll just have to hear a few things he'd probably rather not." I murmured. Erik sighed.

"Not to mention the age difference. You're just eighteen."

"Nineteen in two weeks." I replied.

"That still makes me 8 years your senior. I'm twenty seven."

"And I don't care." I replied. He looked amused.

"Have you always been this stubborn?"

"Oh, yes."

Eventually we admitted that we should probably get up. I hesitated and then picked up the mask. Erik looked at it and then reached out for it. I gave it to him and he said,

"It's been so long since someone saw me without it…"

"If you want to wear it, you can. As long as you know that I don't care." I assured him. He smiled and slipped it on.

We dressed in our separate rooms and met in the kitchen for breakfast.

"I don't know about you, but I'm starving." I said. He nodded.

"So am I."

"How about bacon sandwiches?" I said, looking over the fridge door. He seemed quite enthusiastic about this idea and started to make tea.

Erik and I spent that perfect day doing everything and nothing. We walked the gardens, we sat by the lake, we played music, we sang and we sat in silence, just looking at everyday things which suddenly seemed so much more beautiful.

We forgot about lunch entirely because of music. By the time dinner arrived we were both starving. I was horrified to learn that Erik had never had pancakes, my favourite food in the whole world.

"How can you never had pancakes?"

"I am extremely limited in culinary skills." He pointed out. I whipped up the mix and poured a little into the pan, making sure it wasn't sticking to the surface. Erik watched in amusement as I attempted to flip it. It flipped into the air and I held the pan to catch it. It landed perfectly and I placed it back on the oven. I gave Erik a smile.

"Now you can try!"

He stepped back.

"Christine, no…"

"Come on, it's easy. Even you can do it." I said as I put the pancake onto a plate. I showed him how to add the batter to the pan and laughed as he attempted to flip it. It fell back into the pan onto the same side.

"Try again." He gave me a look which clearly said I would pay and tried again. This time he managed perfectly. A smile broke across his face and I laughed.

"See!"

One thing we did talk about was my job. Erik confessed that he didn't think it fair to make me keep cleaning but I objected.

"Erik, I don't mind. I took a job and I'm not going to give it up."

"Are you sure?"

"I wouldn't say it if I wasn't." I laughed.

For that one beautiful day, we knew nothing but each other. We both knew that the next day would be hard and the day after even harder.

And we didn't care.