Thank you all for reviewing my story. And welcome to all my new readers (and reviewers)! So glad that you all like it. This chapter is longer than my other ones, which, I hope, will be a good thing. Oh! and if you guys want to... you can go and review the other chpaters I have for this story or my other poem for POTO. But only if you want to. Well hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 12

Waiting in my bedroom, I had expected Erik to come charging in at any moment, but he never came. I had been sitting there for ten minutes, and still I saw no sign of an angry Erik. He would usually never let me get away with any rude comment I said to him, but he did not seem to mind my last words. Wondering what could be the matter with him, I stalked into the other room. When I did not find him there, I took my gaze to his room. I was not sure whether or not I should go in there, with my last experience of so long ago, but I felt that he and I needed to talk.

Stealthily I walked over to the entrance of his room. I slowly inserted a little bit of my head inside of the room. I saw Erik standing by a desk looking at some sort of drawing or painting. Following his gaze, my eyes fell upon a poorly painted picture of a woman with curly brown hair in a white dress. I knew that Erik probably had painted that picture, but I was unsure of who it was; she did look familiar though. Taking my head back out of the room, I took a deep breath and stepped into his room.

At his first sight of me, Erik looked shocked, but that shock turned quickly into anger.

"What are you doing in my room? I thought I told you to never come in here again." Erik said coldly.

"I just thought that maybe we could use a little talk." my voice said shakily.

"A talk? Why, I guess I could manage a talk. Would you like to talk about how you tried escaping or how you mocked me? Or you can choose from all the other dirty things you did. Go on take your pick."

"This is not fair. I said that I was sorry."

"You show no signs of being sorry," he sneered back at me.

"I thought that trying to talk to you would be a sign of that, but you are still playing childish games with me."

"Why shouldn't I? You are only a child after all."

"Just because I am a child does not mean that I cannot think as an adult does, and figure out all their tricks." I said angrily. Erik was pushing all my buttons, and he knew it too. He always had a way to get to me, and he always would accomplish it, too. Even though he and I did not always get along, I did not like him being angry with me.

"And even if I was not intelligent," I continued. "You raised me that way. I bet if my parents would have raised me, I would be quite bright."

"Your parents," Erik exclaimed, "were dumb enough to think that they could out smart me! That, young Emma, was everyone's biggest misconception. Thinking that they could outsmart me, the one who practically built this place, made it a true masterpiece, was one of their truest mistakes. And now, you too are thinking the same way. Are you not?" Erik asked while bending himself down to my level.

I did not answer.

"Ah, no answer, I take it? You cannot beat me at my own game, Emma." He took a thoughtful pause. "I do not like treating you this way, but you have left me no choice."

"I said I was sorry…" I said on the verge of tears.

"Yes, but you do not respect me. Now go. It is past your bedtime." I turned to leave. "And, Emma, do not ever come back into my room again, unless I tell you that you can do so."

With tears filling to the brim of my eyes, I turned and fled his room. Once I was safely out of his room and his sight, I began to fully cry. I did not know what had made him so angry with me, and I wanted him to feel better, I truly did. But he was so closed on the idea of people actually being nice to him, that he did not think for one moment that somebody could.

I walked over to a miniature stage with wooden figures on it. One of the characters looked like Erik, another looked like the woman he had painted, and there were some other people dressed in black. I picked up the one that resembled Erik and observed the wooden figure. It was very precise in the makeup of Erik, and it surprised me that Erik was this good at building things. Looking around the platform, I found a couple of wooden blocks and picked one up. Assuming that this was what he made the figures out of, I got an idea on how to cheer up Erik. Glancing around some more, I discovered a utensil that I could possibly use to carve the block with.

With my newly found items, I trailed off to my room, expecting to create a masterpiece that even Erik would appreciate. I knew that my task would be a hard one to complete, but I knew that I had to try.

Sitting down on my bed, I began to etch out my project. The wood was considerably harder to carve than I had previously presumed. I sat there for a while, but my project was not coming along. As I put the wood down and stared at it, I realized that I could not do this. The wood did not look anything like it was supposed to. Tossing the wood down onto the floor, I hung my head. I wanted to do this for Erik so badly, but my skills were not allowing me to.

Since it was getting late, I decided that I should go to bed. Tomorrow would be a big day for me and I wanted my sleep.

I awoke the next morning slightly afraid of the day ahead. Not knowing if Erik would be nice to me today or not, I did not exactly want to go into the main room, but I knew I had to at some point. Stiffly rising from my bed, I hesitantly went into the other room.

Erik was sitting at the organ, about to play a song, when I walked out there. At the sound of my footsteps, Erik quickly turned his head to look at me. My head was slightly cocked to the side, wondering if Erik knew what day it was for me.

As he turned back to face his organ he said, "I suppose you are wondering if I remember what day it is. And yes, I do. It is your birthday, and oh, you must be so excited."

"I would be more excited if I knew that today would be a pleasant one between us, but I suppose that that will not happen." As I said this I began walking over to the little stage that I had seen yesterday.

Without even watching me go over to the stage, Erik said, "Do not touch that. I spent a long time carving those figures."

"I tried to carve one last night," I said quietly. "But it was extremely difficult."

"Yes, it is difficult. Not everyone is as talented as I am. Obviously, you are not even close to my skills."

My breath quickened and a frown spread across my face. I wanted to retort to his comment, but I knew that it would only make things worse, and I did not want that.

I took a deep breath and said, "Can we at least try to get along today, since it is my birthday?"

"I guess… that we can try to work something out… but only if you treat me with more respect," Erik said.

"Me? I have tried over the past few days to be nicer to you, but you would not accept any of it! Now you want me to treat you with more respect? How can I when there is no more respect that I can give?"

"Once you figure out a way," Erik said slowly, "Then we can talk." And with that he stood up and went into his room. I was about to follow him, but remembered what he had told me before.

I stood in that same spot for some time, thinking of what I could do. Then I glanced all around me and noticed the organ sitting there. I walked stiffly over to it and sat down on the wooden bench. I placed my shaking hands down on the keys and began to play the piece from Aida that Erik had taught me before. I had never played the piece without Erik before, but I put my fears aside and tried to play it as best as I could. Luckily, my memory served me well and I played the song nearly perfect. By the time that I was done, Erik was standing a couple feet behind me listening.

"That was not that bad. At least for the first time playing it on your own," Erik said almost approvingly.

"Thank you," I replied quietly. "Do you actually think that I was not horrible?" I asked raising my eyes.

"Yes, you were certainly not horrible, but of course you still have much learning to do."

"Do you mean to say that you are still willing to teach me? And that I am not completely awful?" I asked with hope in my voice.

"Yes, I will still continue to teach you, but you must treat me better."

A smile spread across my face, and my body began to fill with joy; I had actually done something that pleased Erik.

"Now," Erik said, "let me show you how to really play." I stood up from the seat and moved aside to let Erik play. He casually placed his hands down onto the keys and began to play leisurely. I was not sure what song he was playing, but it sounded wonderful, nonetheless.

When he removed his hands from the keys and looked over at me, I was sure that my birthday might turn out to be an all right day.