I never thought this story was going to be that popular. It makes me feel so proud to have found something to do then sit around my dorm all day and do homework yuck! I went walking with a friend the other day and at a used bookstore I found a copy of Phantom done by Leroux. So I'll be working on reading that. Now that I have good food, good music, and plenty of free time here comes ch.19.

Note: The lair is kind of a cross between the lair seen in the 2004 movie production and the silent film of 1925. I just like the idea of doors, so the characters have privacy. And if you didn't guess or know in the last chapter Erik sleeps in a coffin so that he wouldn't fear the longest sleep in life: death.

Chapter 19: Haunting Memories

Once the kittens had been situated Lotte got cleaned up and changed into a pair of brown pants, a white poet's shirt, and knee high brown boots. She had found out the hard way that wondering the opera house in a dress was rather difficult. She came into the music room and worked at brushing her hair.

"Where do you plan on going?" Erik asked her glancing up from his music.

"I thought I'd show Pierre around. This is going to be his home for awhile now too."

"That's sweet of you. Now what do I want you to remember?"

"To always be careful and think before I do something right?" she asked as she leaned her forehead against his.

"Exactly and stay out of the fly system. I still need to fix those planks. I'm thinking of redoing all the ropes, because I'm not sure how strong they are. Lastly this better not be an excuse for you and Pierre to do something behind my back."

"Father I don't love him that way, not yet."

"I'm just saying for your safety. No one is going to take my girl away from me until I'm ready to let her go."

"When will that be?"

"Not sure exactly, but I can tell you it's not right now," he said kissing her forehead.

She pulled back and smiled at him. He turned to go back to his work, when he felt her wrap her arms around his neck. "When the day comes to let me go, what if I'm not ready to go?"

"Then you will be welcome to stay with me till your ready. Once we're both sure we can make it on our own we'll know when the time has come. Are you ready yet?"

"No, because I still love you Father."

She kissed his cheek, and then went off to find Pierre, who was reading a book in his room. He was so into it that he didn't look up when she came in. She came over to the couch and pushed the book down. He raised an eyebrow and brought the book up again. She got a bit closer and this time as she pushed the book down she kissed him on the lips.

He let the book fall and held her. She pulled back a bit. "Must have been one interesting book?"

"It's a book on building things. But I see you have something more important to do then read a book hmmm?"

"I want to give you a tour of your new home. What do you say?"

"Sure, let me get my boots on."

He pulled on his boots and put the book down on the table. Lotte grabbed his hand and led him into the music room. "Father, may we take the boat?" she asked as Erik leaned over to write down some more notes.

"Just be careful." He turned to look at them and saw the two of them holding hands. He gave Lotte a half smile half glare, but she returned it with a smile. Leading Pierre she climbed into the boat and attached the lantern to the front. He climbed in and using the pole pushed off from shore. Lotte looked back to see her father standing on the shore. She waved back at him before they turned the corner.

The tunnels were quite dark, but with the lantern it gave the place a soft warm glow. They reached the opposite dock and Pierre saw a path, but he had no clue where it went. Lotte climbed out and tied the boat up to a post sticking out of the nearby pillar. She lifted the lantern off the front of the boat and taking Pierre's hand led him up through the darkness.

He was a bit afraid, but with Lotte's hand in his and her calm voice he began to relax as they continued on. They turned a corner and after a final stretch of darkness they reached a two-way mirror. As Lotte located the switch Pierre noticed another path hidden back in the darkness. "What's down that way?"

"It's another path to the lair that doesn't use the boat, but it's longer then this path. All the mirrors in the Opera House are two-way mirrors my father installed to get around without being seen. I know where a few are, but not all of them. Aha here it is."

The mirror creaked open and Lotte stepped through. Once she did she almost regretted it. They had come into her mother's old living quarters and the images of the accident began forming in her mind. The blood from her father's wound had dried into the sheets and the door still lay on the floor after being kicked in.

"Anything wrong, Lotte?" Pierre asked as he came in behind her holding the lantern.

She shook her head. "No, nothing's wrong. I was just letting my eyes adjust to the light that's all." He walked past her and into the back stage. She was supposed to be having a good time and she wanted to forget about what happened. She followed after him and made sure not to look back.

They walked down towards the stage kicking year old dust up from the floor. The once glorious and noisy back stage had become a silent graveyard of rotted wood, ashes, and whispers from the other side. Lotte walked confidently along while Pierre was trying his best to keep himself together. He kept looking over his shoulder afraid something was following them. Just then he heard something.

"Did you hear that?" he asked shining the lantern everywhere.

"Yes, that's the sound of wood crumbling, because it's grown weak and can no longer hold itself up. Relax will you there are no ghosts here and if anyone was behind you it might be Father. Even though no one works here anymore he enjoys sneaking around and making sure everything is just as he left it."

Pierre felt embarrassed. He followed Lotte closely till they reached the center of the stage. Now he was beaming with questions and Lotte willingly shared all she knew about her home.

"I'm going to take a closer look at the chandelier. Maybe there's a chance of rebuilding it."

He took the lantern and headed up to the chandelier and began to picture in his mind how it could be put back together and maybe lifted back up towards the ceiling. Lotte watched from the stage, but then started to look around. It felt good to be home, a place where she felt free and safe. All of a sudden her gaze fell on a dried puddle of bloodupon the floor and a pile of wood. She looked up from where it had come from and saw thefour support ropes that had held the plank, or what was left of them. The sound of the gun rung through her ears and she covered them in agony.

Once again the event was swimming in her head and it pained her to once again she her father in pain. She fell to her knees in shame and gazed at the blood. Her mind was racing with questions. "Should I have come here? My mother had given him emotional pain and right after he's recovered I come along and cause him physical pain. I'm such a failure. Why do these images continue to haunt me?" she questioned quietly. Soon her cries of doubt became louder. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do this. Why god? Why did you curse Father if you knew I was to be included in the jokes? Curse you!" she screamed to the ceiling and then she fell forward slamming her fist into the floor.

Pierre heard as she began to apologize and raced over to her, but didn't reach her until she had hit the floor. Her hand was bleeding and she was now sobbing uncontrollably. He knelt beside her and laid a hand across her back. She sat up for a brief second before collapsing into his arms and sobbing harder. "Lotte whatever is the matter? Why do you curse the all mighty father?"

"He gave my father a curse and because of it I was left to be ridiculed and laughed at. If he had been given a normal face maybe, just maybe he could have been my real father and I would be much happier, but no I was given a life surrounded by secrets and terrible pasts. Now that I'm here my father has suffered more then the emotional pain in his heart when my mother betrayed him, but because of me he almost died. He doesn't need this right now!"

Pierre held her tightly. "Lotte if I could change the world for you I would. But if I had done that you wouldn't have me right now. The Opera House would probably be standing, and you would be living in a house. Would you really want to give this all up and live like everyone else? You'd be giving up the chance to be different and unique among the people of Paris and that's why I love you, because you are so different. Hearing you sing last night gave me the feeling that god had graced me with the presence of one of his angels."

"But so many things in the Opera House make me think of that horrible event; the man at the bar, the blood on the bed and the kicked in door in my mother's old dressing room, and the blood and the planks laying here on the stage. Plus the picture in my sketchbook that remained dry. It haunts me every time I look at it. It seems like it's trying to tell me something, but I have no idea what."

"Is it the one of you and your father resting together?"

Lotte nodded. "I drew it one morning after waking up alone and feeling cold. Then I remembered that when he held me I felt warm and safe. So with that good feeling inside, I drew the image. What does it mean?"

"You want to know what I think. I think the image stands for the bond you and your father share. You have been around him so long that you've grown to love him like a true father. It would be unwise to leave him now. From what I see you two are the most important thing in each others' lives. I'm sure the last thing he wants is to lose you forever and be alone again."

Lotte knew Pierre was right, but she still felt awful. "The only way I can make up for this is to get his mask back. Even though my fine has been cleared if I am found within his presence again I will be in so much trouble. They'll make me tell them where Father is and then they'll probably have me watch as he hangs for his crimes. I don't want to betray him. Not after all he's done for me."

"There's always a way around situations like that. I'm sure we can find a way to get the mask back without having to betray him. Do you want to continue the tour or do you want to go back down to the lair and rest a bit?"

"I think I should go and lay down. I don't feel that good."

He helped her up with one hand and in the other he picked up the lantern. He took Lotte back to the boat and rowed towards the opposite shore. Erik was playing the organ once again, but when he heard them arrive he looked up.

"Finished already?" Then he saw Lotte's tear streamed face and bloody hand. He immediately rushed over and lifted her out of the boat. She touched his cheek with her clean hand and proceeded to close her eyes. "What happened?" Erik hissed through his teeth.

Pierre explained everything as Erik bandaged Lotte's hand then laid her in her bed and pulled the covers up around her. "The last thing she wants Erik is to betray you. She had told me back at the vineyard that on the night of her birthday her first wish would have been that you could have been normal like everyone else, but she knew that wasn't likely to happen. She's scared. Is there anything we can do to help?"

Erik sat down on the bed and caressed Lotte's cheek. "I'm afraid there isn't much we can do. Its Lotte decision on what she does and doesn't believe. We can't choose it for her. For now all we can do is let her sleep, it will take the three of us to come up with a way into the jail. Those fools took from me my only way of hiding this cursed face and I long to have it back."

"I do not fear you. I did at first I admit, but after Lotte explained to me what had happened I was able to look past that and see the great man she saw. I love her Erik, but I understand how much she loves you still. Don't think I'm trying to take her away from you."

"You're a good lad, Pierre. And I'm sure someday you'll be the greatest thing in Lotte's life, but I'm not ready to let her go and she said she wasn't ready to leave me."

"I understand that as well. I told her I loved her, because she is so unlike other girls. All they want is to marry for money or for other strange reasons, all Lotte wanted was a shoulder to cry on and someone to listen to her."

"Come let's go into the music room," Erik said as Lotte rolled over. "We don't want to disturb her sleep."

Erik pulled the curtain cord and let it fall before blowing out the candle and closing the door. Pierre sat in a chair and held his head in his hands. Then he noticed for the first time that his hand was covered in blood, so was his shirt. "Do you think her hand will be all right?"

"It'll be fine in a few days. She only broke the skin on her knuckles from the blow. From what you tell me it seems Lotte wants someone to blame for these events, but she doesn't know whether to blame god, herself, or me. The truth is no one is to blame. Things happen and you can't always control them. Yet, I won't force her to live with it. She's got to learn that herself like I did."

For quite awhile they sat and talked. Then Erik felt he needed some time alone to think. Pierre nodded and left the room to go clean off his hand and give Erik some peace. As soon as he was gone Erik reached up and felt the deformed side of his face. Tears fell against his hand and he felt awful. As long as he still had Lotte and her love nothing else mattered, but he wondered what would have happened to him if she had never came searching for him in the first place?

He would have withered away and been nothing more then a forgotten legend, which he wouldn't have minded in the least, but Lotte was the only thing giving him a reason to go on. Once again he had that someone to share his composed pieces with and teach them to sing like the angels in heaven. He looked at the closed door and knew what he had to do.

He got up and went to the boat. Rowing quickly he reached the other shore and dashed quickly through the darkness to the small alter down in the cellars of the opera house. He found a box of matches and lit one of the candles sitting on the table. Getting down on his knees he looked at the candle and made a prayer for Lotte.

"Dear Lord, I know you haven't done much to help me, but I beg of you to help Lotte be happy and healthy. I used to ask for you to change, who I am, but I can live with this face. I've been well off for years and now all I want is for my child to find happiness. I'm sorry I did wrong and I'll do anything you ask if you help her. Ahem."

He finished and stood before putting out the flame. He was about to head back up the stairs when he turned back and looked upon the face of the Virgin Mary painted on the wall. He could swear she was smiling at him.

Oh boy was this one long, but I couldn't think of any better way to end it. I think this is the first time I've gone so deep into a piece before. Will Erik's prayer be answered and will he ever get his mask back? You'll just have to wait till the next chapter to find out and I shall be updating that soon. I hope everyone likes it and continues to review.