Chapter 2

The escape from hell

"While we can still find our way without being searched for we must leave here as fast as we can. Come now, let's try to find the train station, we will sneak onto the train and hide.My dear Christine,the time has come for me toteach you the art of disappearing in a crowd. Watch me, and pay attention, our life depends onour success."

Christine was pensive and lacking confidence under such pressure. She could only imagine the consequences if she could not succeed in disappearing in the crowds. "I shall do my best, Ido not wish to paythe price if I fail."

They found the train station a short time later, after following the tracks, and listening for the bustle of the depot. They hid in the trees that were not far from the small station they had at last found.

Deep in thought as the train grew closer, Erik saw it slowing down, preparing to make their move while it was stopped,they would hidein the luggage car.They could safely ensconce themselves there afterthey were finished unloading and reloading the compartment. They cared not where the train was bound, only that it was away from Paris, and towards a new life together.

Erik looked at Christine and could see in an instant that she wasshaking with anxiety. He grabbed her hand and said, "We must get ready, the train will be quick to accomplish its routines. Areyou up to being smooth and natural in your movements towards the luggage compartment?Theonly way we won't be seen is if we canblend in, areyou up to this?"

Christine made a face and said, "Honestly, I don't know, but I guess all we can do is try!"

"Very well, then, let's start to walk slowly over to the station….."

"Slowly, huh? Well, I didn't expect you to say that, I didn't think you ever did anything slowly!" Christine looked at Erik and smiled, she had to try to lighten things a bit, it was rather off, but she felt a bit less gravity for having said it. This was all just a bit too heavy for her to bear without some humor interjected.

"I have many talents I don't even know yet, but surely will learn with your help!" There, he gave as good as he got. Now, time to get serious again.

They accomplished their goal in remarkably short time, and they were safely ensconced in a soft package someone had placed on the train. Christine was so nervous she could hardly breathe until the train began to move away from the station. They had notyetheardany whistles of the Gendarmes.That meanteither Raoulwas going after them himself,or that he had not made it to the Gendarme yet. Obviously, there was no way of knowing exactly which it was. They were both thinking this, though, true to his feelings for Raoul, Erik was thinking, maybe, just maybe Raoul didn't make it out of the Opera house alive at all. After a bit, Erik's thoughts turned to what Christine had said to him at the lair, the rush of emotions he felt when he looked at her chestnut head lying against him for security was something he never dared feel. No one would have ever thought to seek security from him before; much less willingly choose to be so close to him, not even his mother. There in thejumble of feeling he felt was gratitude to God for allowing him some time borrowed in heaven, though he was sure hell would rear its ugly head eventually, it always did. Then he thought further, how I can be so sure that I will return to hell, I have never truly left it before now, I glimpsed the outside when I would listen to Christine sing, but I never truly left hell until now.

He realized that his eyes were wet, the same time that Christine did. She could feel and hear him draw in his breath in stutters, and she knew that was emotions escaping. She turned her head up to look into his eyes, and the serene smile she gave him made him draw her to him close and breathe in her essence through those chestnut curls tickling his unmasked side of the face. I am whole, for the first time in my life, I am whole, thanks to this beautiful angel you have sent to me. To hold me and to guide me, she shall show me the way to salvation through her love. He had no idea how to show her love any other way than to feel her skin on his, a contact he had never experienced in kindness and love before, and he was beyond happy at the discovery that not everyone was afraid to touch him. She truly loved him; saw the man behind the loathsome face. He softly caressed the side of her face that was not lying against him totally amazed at the incredible feeling of her soft and warm skin. It was a feeling he would never tire of. What unimaginable beauty there was in a touch.

"Erik, what are you thinking? You seem so deep in thought, and you seem sad."

"Oh no, quite the opposite, I am disbelieving, hoping I never wake up, it is too much to dare hope this is not a dream. I fear if I move too fast, I will wake and you will be gone, or worse, I will find that I am dead, and that hell is crueler than I ever dared imagine, taking me to happiness then dashing it from sight. I have never been touched nor allowed to touch anotherin love before you. Christine, I shall never know another's touch,you are the one who I would do anything for the touch of, I love you so far beyond words or actions, I cherish you and will always do all I must for your safety and happiness."

"I love you as I have never dreamed I could love. When my father died, I was so frightened of the world, so fearful of my future, uncertain, with nothing to offer anyone. You came and taught me to sing, to live, trust and finally to love, again. Raoul inspired such differentemotions, and I was so shaken with theknowledge that you were human and you appeared to love me. I felt sure that I had lost your love when I took your mask off to see your face. You spat such venom at me, I was scared of your fury, sure you would do me harm. Raoul offered me safety when I was afraid I had lost you for my foolishness, and fear of your angry rage at me. I had known him from my youth, and trusted him, for a time. He grew to be possessive of me, and insistent that I should stay away from the Opera house, even alluding to my leaving music when our family began. I didn't know if I could do it, that made my fears grow worse yet again. I truly felt abandoned once more. First my father abandoned me when he died, then I had found you and now I felt abandoned by you, my angel of music. Finding out you were a real man and that you were decieving me all this time, I was afraid, my feelings were for an angel, what would I do now that my prayers were answered and you were a real, mortal man.My soul told me to trust you, that you were still the angel of music, the only thing that had changed was that you were flesh and blood, as I had prayed you were all that time.

Erik, sense indicated to me I would do nothing but anger you further, and you might hurt me if I did, so I tried to turn my affections to Raoul. All that resolve died when we met at "The Point of no return" when I felt and saw that you mirrored my feelings and I knew that you would be captured if I didn't make you angry so you would escape quickly. I knew that you were lost in the feelings overwhelming us and frankly didn't care if you were caught at that moment, and I had to pull back and draw upon that fury one last time beforeI could ensure that you were safe and free. I was scared beyond reason, for you and for me. I am so sorry for taking your mask off in front of the whole Opera house, I didn't know how else to save you from Raoul's plan to catch you.You destroyed my heart in your pain when I did that. The look you gave me tore my soul to pieces right there. I wanted to die!My heart saw the truth andmy mind had to learn to trust the heart. That was when I knew that I could not go with Raoul. I am so sorry for playing such games with our hearts and souls. I will not do that again, I have made up my mind. I didn't want you to kill Raoul or Raoul to kill you, neither one of you deserves that, we have to all live in this world together without finding and hurting one another any longer. Surely that will be what destroys me, if we cannot come to an arrangementwhich will allow us to live in peace."

With that said, Christine laid her head back on Erik's chest, spent with emotions, she closed her eyes and her breathing grew slow and even, she had gone to blissful slumber. Erik sat and watched the countryside go by out the back of the train, wondering where they would end up. Hoping that there would be a future for them. He had grabbed his money saved from the opera's he had written for the Opera Populaire. Erik would miss his organ; he created so much beauty upon it that would not happen any longer, those days were gone, to be replaced by the warmth of love he and Christine would really be able to share. Trying to really believe this was the future, his head bobbed, nodding off, though his ears were alert with the caution they were trained many years past to listen for at every moment.

Suddenly, the train lurched, it began to slow down. Erik looked out the back of the train and saw that it was morning, the train was coming to the station, he could see there were buildings. He gently shook Christine…"Christine, we are coming to the station, we must get off the train now. If we linger too long, we will be found out, then we will draw attention to us. I don't know for sure, but I am willing to bet the Gendarme have been alerted and are watching the trains leaving Paris by now.

Christine replied, "Maybe we should consider going back to Paris, after all, they have no doubt searched Paris and satisfied the question of whether we were still there. We could hide out in the lair for a while, and then we could leave Paris for good after the coast was clear and they had given up on finding us? What do you think?"

"I think that we have to get off this train now, it is almost stopped, we have lost night as our cover, and we are going to be in trouble at the very least for stowing away here."

"Show me what to do and we shall disappear in the crowd again."

With that, Erik and Christine removed themselves from the train and blended into the throng of people bustling about the train station. Occasionally Christine would look at Erik, smiling and totally secure in the knowledge that his brilliance would find a way for them to be together forever. Surely there were no others with the genius he held for the way the human mind works. Especially when it was torment and torture driving it, as no doubt Raoul's mind was feeling at this time, for the first time in his life, so much second nature for Erik. She did feel badly for Raoul, but honestly, she knew no way to have kept him from his quest for her. She didn't necessarily want or invite his attentions at the beginning, he was very insistent and she was so powerless, and a bit flattered to have the 'Patron' himself wooing her. What girl would not have felt that way? It was when she realized that she had already given her heart to Erik that she felt the true remorse for what she was doing to Raoul, though by then it was already too late. She felt that she had no more choice. Hurting either one of them was killing her inside. She had too tender and kind a heart to want anything bad to happen to either one of them.

Erik had been tortured by his past and Joseph Bouquet was always talking about how monstrous the Gypsies said he was, he had people fearing him instead of respecting him, all he truly wished until he saw Christine, and heard her sing. He finally had enough of Joseph and in his great pain he took his life, though upon realizing what he was doing, he then let the rope go, though it was too late. As for Piangi, he was just such a bad singer and a blow hard; he could not take the torturous rendition of his music any longer. Piangi was harmless, but he was so loud that Erik had to be sure he could not alert the Gendarme, so he had to render him unconscious, unaware that he had killed him at the time. Truly he was a victim of his passion and his terrible treatment through a life time of heartbreak. There must be a vow on Erik's part to never kill again, it was a sin he must not commit purposefully, it would tear their souls in two.

"Erik, I have no idea where we are right now, do you?"

"No, Christine I do not, but we will find out,rest and eat while we are here. We need to have a little time toplan our next move from here. I don't really want to go back to the Opera Populaire; I want to keep going forward, it is most urgent that we do. On to our new life, Where ever that may be.

"Should we try to find out what Raoul's intentions are, perhaps let us know that I went with you willingly, so he leaves us alone?Should we perhapslay the past to rest before wemove forward?He does not consider you to be human, more like an animal, and he will kill you next time. You have done the last, greatest insult, you have taken me from him, or so he will think if I do not try to tell him that Iwent willingly. Thinking that you took me forcablywill fuel him beyond reason. I am sorry that it is like this, it was already this way when I realized that he was not whom I wished to be with. I have made such a mess of things, as if my life was not mess enough, why could it not have just continued on the way it was before the Opera was sold to Andre' and Firmin? It was easier then."

"Because, my dear, that would be too easy. Many a night I wished the same thing. They never paid me the salary due, they were not conducive to my needs for attending the opera, and they showed me no respect. That was the downfall of the Opera Populaire."

"You are right, Erik, but so much would have never happened if we had not suffered the change of Andre and Firmin as owners, and Raoul as Patron. You would not have had to act out so rashly and there would be no murder charges today. Still, I pray that it is as it is meant to be, not a gross distortion of reality, but a fact of life. God, I hope Raoul can accept it as such."

"We shall see now, won't we?" Erik replied in an ominous tone. "Now let us finish our quest for a place to rest and some food for us to eat. We have to separate so that you appear to be traveling alone, find a room at the inn over there, see it? Sign in under the name Madeline DeLecat, order some food brought up. I will be off in the distance waiting to find you at the window, open it and I will come to you when you are safely inside. They won't be suspicious if you are alone andthey do not see me. I draw attention everywhere, and shall endanger you too much to accompany you."

"Who is this Madeline DeLecat, Erik?"

"The name Madeline was my mothers, and she met my father, Charles in the Rue de Lecat. I always liked the name, and my mother was almost as beautiful as you. By giving you that alias, I can imagine that my mother actually cared for me, was not afraid of me, for a brief time. That is why I would be grateful if you would use that name. Might you consider that, my Christine?"

Christine looked at him, her heart breaking at the thought that a mother could throw such a passionate soul away for simply his looks. "I will agree, if you will remember that I am not at all like your mother, and I don't need to pretend to care for you!"

"I know that, Christine, she never was as beautiful as you, not to mention her shallow soul, unable to truly love anything that she could not reason. Nothing like you, I know that."

"Very well, then, Erik, until we meet at the window, adieu, mon amoureux!"

"Adieu, ma chérie, adieu! Be careful and leave if there is suspicion, it is not worth your capture."

Erik gave Christine several hundred franc and let her go, his heart wary of the task she was undertaking on their behalf. He watched with anticipation, devising a plan for any eventuality that may occur.