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Chapter 9
5 Years Later
"Emma! Emma!"
"Yeah?"
"It's time!"
"I know! I 'm coming!"
I walked out my room and over to the organ that Erik was sitting at.
"You're late," he said.
"I know, sorry," I replied.
"Just don't do it again. Now, do you remember the song from yesterday?"
"Yes, I do. For the most part, at least."
"Then play," Erik said shortly.
I placed my fingers on the keys and began to play a piece from Aida. It was one of the easier songs, and I was not yet ready for the difficult songs, Erik told me. When Iobjected to his statement, he would only shake his head. Half way through the song, my fingers stopped playing.
"Why have you stopped playing?" Erik asked questioningly.
"I just thought of something," I replied.
"What could be so important as to stop you from playing?"
I could tell that Erik was annoyed with me, but I did not mind. "Well, tomorrow is my 10th birthday and…"
"So what?" Erik said sarcastically. "I never did anything for my birthday, so why should you get anything?"
"Well I just thought that…"
"Well what you thought was wrong. You are not getting anything and that is final."
"Fine," I said. "But real parents would have let me do something."
Erik just smirked, and I knew what he was going to say. "You don't even remember your parents, so I am the only thing you have. And your parents haven't even looked for you, so they obviously don't care!"
"I do too remember my parents!" I screamed back at him.
"Oh, really? What were their names?"
"I… umm…"
"See? You don't remember them. Now, come back and play again."
I did not go sit down. He knew that he had hit a hard spot for me, so I decided to do the same to him.
"At least I am not a monster that everybody hates!"
I was sure that the comment would make him mad, but I did not fear him. I knew that he would never to anything to harm me. This was something that was probably not the best thing for him, because I could say anything that I wanted.
"You are right," Erik said weakly. "At least people do not scorn you or laugh at you." Erik took a pause. "You may go to your room, we are done practicing for today." He rose from the bench and looked away from me.
My mouth hung open. I was stunned. Never before had he not yelled at me when I said something of this accord. At first I did not know what to do. But then I set my mouth into a hard line. He was just playing games with me. He wanted me to pity him and run to him for forgiveness. Well, he was not going to get that from me.
I turned slowly away from him and went to my room. Taking out my doll from its drawer, I sat down on my bed.
"I am not sorry…" I whispered to myself. "I am not sorry…"
I was trying to make myself believe this, but deep down, I did not mean what I had said. Over the past few years, Erik had shown me great kindness when he did not have too. He was not a monster, and I knew it, but he did not. He believed this so deeply that I nearly pitied him. I wanted to go out there and say that I did not mean what I had said, but then… What? What made me so sure that this was just one of his little games? What if I had really hurt him?
I stood up from my bed and marched out into the other room. I looked around, but I did not see Erik. 'Where is he?' I thought. He never went outside, never in the whole time that I lived here. Hanging my head, I knew this was my fault. Just as I was about to turn and go back to my room, I heard footsteps from behind me.
Quickly turning around, I saw Erik standing there. At first I did not know what to do, but then I tossed all my thoughts to the side. I ran up to him and gave him a hug. I had never hugged him before, and my hands only reached to barely the middle of his back.
"I am so sorry," I said to him. "I did not mean what I said."
"No," he said. "You were right. I shouldn't have said that about parents. So…" Erik reached into a brown paper bag that he held at his side and pulled something out. "Here," he said while handing a little black box to me. "I gave this to your mother, but she returned it to me."
I opened up the box and saw the ring that I had found earlier. It was a very beautiful ring, with the blue stone and diamonds.
"It probably won't fit yet, but you can hang on to it until you are older."
"Thank you, Erik," I said.
I do not think that anyone had ever said "Thank you" to Erik before, because he suddenly hugged me. His hands pressed against the brown curls on my head. Then he pulled back and walked over to the organ. He sat down on the bench and began to play a song that I had never heard him play before.
It was a very beautiful song, well written. Only part way into the song, he stopped.
"Did you write that?" I asked.
"Yes,"he said softly. "It's called Music of the Night. I wrote it for your mother."
"How did you know her?" I asked
"That… is a story for when you are older."
"Alright…" I said, quite disappointed. He would never talk about my mother, and whenever I did get him on that subject, he always changed it again.
"Well, I think that it is your bedtime," Erik told me.
"But..." I objected.
"Come on, go to bed."
"Fine," I said while walking in the direction of my room.
"Thank you again for the ring," I said before entering my room.
I could tell that Erik was smiling behind me. Lying in my bed, I began to think that living here would actually turn out all right.