---
8
---
Christine struggled with her broken dress. With the piece the Phantom had torn off being gone, the material kept slipping down. Finally, after seeing it was useless to keep trying, she gave up and wrapped the cape tighter around her body to prevent the cold from attacking.
She and the Phantom walked along a path cut out in the woods, not having the slightest clue of their pursuer, Raoul, who was proclaiming his hate for the Phantom at the very same moment in the cabin they had just been inside some minutes before. They had decided to leave after a mutual decision that they were not safe there and needed to find somewhere else to reside until they figured out what was really going to happen.
Christine suggested that they should flee through the woods so that no one would see them as they would if they were to walk along in clear view. Erik agreed and then they left. Now they were wandering through the cutout in the trees without much idea of where they were headed.
Raoul had left the ice cabin and taken the Phantom's noose from the unconscious man's throat. It hung loosely in one hand as he walked away from the cabin in pursuit of Erik and Christine whom he decided must have gone off through the woods.
The woods were silent. There were no animals scurrying, birds chirping or trees swaying in the wind. The only sound was the that of Erik and Christine's footsteps crunching in the snowy earth.
"Someone who cares," The Phantom sang, breaking the silence.
"Without you I'd be scared," Christine replied.
"Broke through the chains and now we're free to live life as we want it to be!" They proclaimed in unison.
"But the chains are still unbroken," said Phantom.
"And living life is not yet free," Replied Christine.
"We must try to survive so then they can see..." In unison.
Phantom, "You care."
Christine, "You're there."
Both, "And one day we'll be free!"
When their voices stopped, the forest returned to its normal state of silence, as though there had never been a word said.
As Raoul walked, he had heard the faintest noise coming from within the forest when they had sung. Even with such a faint sound, though, he knew it was them. He gritted his teeth and quickened his pace.
The Phantom and Christine came to a fork in the path suddenly and had to decide which of four different paths they would take. Erik looked at Christine, trying to see if she had any idea which path they should choose. She replied by giving him a look of indifference. Therefore it was up to him to decide.
After a quick moment's thought, he began towards the path to the most right, Christine going along with the decision without hesitation. The new path they had taken was notably darker than the original path they had walked. The trees on this path seemed larger and their branches reached out at the path, resembling bony fingers. The trunks of the trees were thick, they had curls and were gnarled in an ugly fashion. The atmosphere changed as well. A fog began crawling up from the snow ahead, enveloping them in a thick mist of smoke. It hindered their vision, they could no longer see where they were going. It also became difficult to breath in the fog and Christine started coughing.
Erik patted her on the back, soothingly, trying to stop her coughing. Shortly, her coughing began to tide over, but it was still fairly difficult for both of them to intake air. They had presumed that it would eventually clear up, but there was no such luck. The forest only seemed to grow darker and colder, the fog thicker, the trees uglier and scarier. The tree branches reached out at them as they passed, as though they were grabbing at them like the bony hands they resembled.
Raoul came to the fork in the path and stopped immediately. At first seeing the splitting, he was confused. But then the confusion grew to disgruntlement, for he had to choose the correct path in order to continue following them. If he made one wrong move, he would lose them. He sucked in a big breath of air and held it in as he surveyed each turnoff. Finally he let out his breath, turned to the outermost path on the left and started on it.
He set foot on the path and stopped to listen to the silent forest. He cocked his head at an angle and stood like that for a moment before shaking it. He just had the wrong feeling about the path. He could sense that it was not the one Erik and Christine had taken.
Raoul turned back to the main path and decided to go with the path next to the one he had tried, the innermost left path. He started on it and did not stop this time. He could not sense the feeling he had about it being the incorrect path like on the previous one-- But he could not sense a feeling telling him that it was the correct path either. He decided that it was a good thing. Unfortunately for Raoul, it really wasn't as good of a thing as he had presumed. But for Erik and Christine it was.
The fog surrounding Erik and Christine became so thick they could not even see eachother. Christine groped for Erik blindly in the white mist, just barely able to see her own hands. But all she felt was empty air. Suddenly she felt a hand wrap around her waist from behind and she jumped in fear. As she looked to the side to see who it was, she saw the vague outline of Erik next to her and calmed down.
The conditions of the forest only seemed to be growing worse and Christine was weary and frightened. She sniffed back a few tears and looked at Erik's silhouette next to her. "Erik," She said, her voice breaking the silence of the forest. "Must we really walk this path?"
"Are you not enjoying it?" He asked, not so much as turning his head away from the path to look at her. He was focused.
"Enjoying it! Are you enjoying it?"
"I like the feeling of being shrouded in the unknown. But I suppose, if it's really bothering you we don't have to."
"Yes. I would appreciate that very much."
Erik sighed and began pulling her off to the side where the gnarled trees lay with their pointy branches. The fog was not as strong there and Christine could see that they were going to go off the path and through the woods instead. She had not wanted to do that.
"I thought we might turn back and try one of those other paths rather than cutting through the forest," She said.
"This way is more secluded."
Christine opened her mouth to reply, then decided there was no point in trying and closed her mouth again. The branches poked out at them from every angle, trying to grab and wound. The only benefit of their change in directions was that the fog was starting to clear up and she could see perfectly once more-- Which may not have been a good thing. She could see all the gnarled trees which protruded from the ground at odd angles with their intimidating branches which got in your face, making you have to push them out of your way. She could see the way the snow under their feet glowed with a certain deathly grayish look that made you want to be sick. She could see the way the forest was mildly illuminated by the crooked cracks between the trees which let in only the smallest amount of light. The light allowed took on a hellish look because of the odd shape of the cracks which let it in. Other than that there was no other light and the forest was very dark.
Erik pushed branches out of their way with mild difficulty, taking certain caution as to not let any of them touch his beloved Christine. But it only took one fault to contradict his successful actions; as Christine passed along by one of the trees, her foot caught on an unsightly stump and she stumbled forward, falling out of Erik's grasp and rubbing herself against one of the bony hand-like branches. All at once, there was a large gash spreading up the side of her leg. She fell to her knees on the snow covered ground in pain and cried out.
Raoul walked along the path he had chosen, (which in no way resembled the frightening path Erik and Christine had taken in the slightest) searching for any sign he could that would lead him to their whereabouts. All of a sudden a faint scream sounded from somewhere off in the forest. Raoul stopped, realizing it had been female and most likely Christine's.
"You monster!" Raoul called out into the forest in a fury.
Erik's heart pounded with anxiety; his poor Christine was injured. He hurriedly bent down and lifted her into his arms. All of a sudden he heard a male scream in the distance and he froze. Erik swallowed and his eyes trailed over to where Christine had fallen. The snow was soaked crimson with blood.
His heart beat faster and he quickly walked through the trees, carrying Christine, until he saw a large truffle and stopped in front of it. He sat her on the truffle gently and backed away. Her head was turned down and her body shivered all over with fright.
He extended a hand and tilted her head up to look at him. Her eyes were red and puffy, tears poured down her reddened cheeks to no end. Such a sad sight crumbled his heart. He bent down to begin examining her wounds. Before beginning, he saw that her dress had a large rip where it had caught onto the stump. He slowly ran it up her shapely legs and stopped when it reached her thigh. The material sat there loosely, exposing her to the outdoor cold. Erik leaned in closer and placed a gentle hand on the knee of her right leg, the other at the ankle. He turned the leg slowly so he could see it better, careful not to move it too quickly so it would hurt her.
Christine's entire stocking was covered in blood from the wound and shredded from the impact with the stump, preventing him from being able to examine it properly. He took in a deep breath and let go of the leg. He removed her shoes, then placed his hands at top of her stocking, where the garters ended and unclasped both stockings from their holding spots. Then he removed the stocking from the uninjured leg and placed it on the ground next to him. He began repeating the process with the other stocking, but had to go slower because he didn't want to hurt her when removing it.
He slipped the bloody and torn stocking down her wounded leg with care and placed it down on top of the other stocking. Then he returned to examining the gash. It was quite deep. And long. It ranged from just below the knee until the ankle and was on the side of the leg. He supposed that they should clean it somehow, but based on where they were at the moment, there weren't many resources to turn to.
Erik looked up at Christine's tear-soaked face and pushed a lock of hair that hung in the way to the side. He rubbed his hand over her cheek. "Everything will be fine," he said in almost a whisper, then removed his hand. More tears flowed from the wells of her eyes.
He pondered for a moment, then at last came to a conclusion. "We have to stop the bleeding."
Christine sniffed in reply. Erik pulled his shirt tails from being tucked in his pants to not and began ripping off an average sized length of cloth. He bent forward and wrapped the makeshift bandage tightly just below her knee. Instantly the white cloth began soaking red with blood. Erik ripped another piece from the bottom of his shirt and applied it below the previous bandage, so it would cover another section of the long cut. It filled with blood quickly as well.
He duplicated the procedure until he was sure that the bleeding would relinquish. By then, his shirt was down to only some scraps on his body. Christine's tears had subsided as she had watched Erik's forfeit of apparel. She had thought it to be so sweet that he had given up the own shirt off his back. Even though she was in pain, he had made her forget of it with his act of kindness.
She watched as his chest moved up and down steadily while he breathed, covered by not much garment. She noticed the fine indentations on his chest, how carefully his features were sculpted. The way the soft crooked light shining down through the cutouts in the treetops accented his moderately muscular physique made her feel a certain warmness in the pit of her stomach. She saw the hot air he breathed from out of his lips in the cold winter air and at that moment she knew that she wanted to feel him breath that air into her. That sweet, soft air. She longed to hear that air being used to speak her name.
Erik saw Christine's gaze on him and felt strong feelings brewing inside for her as she was feeling for him right now. But these feelings were not new to Erik. He had always felt that way about Christine. He sighed and raised to his feet. "Christine," he said softly, as though reading her thoughts.
She blinked several times at him and felt her heart begin to race ahead with him saying her name. "Erik," She replied. A shiver ran down Erik's spine, hearing her angelic voice utter his own name.
Christine slid down from the truffle and onto her feet in front of Erik, forgetting of her injury, wanting to thank him for helping her, wanting to deliver a kiss to her knight in shining armor who had come to her rescue. Her feet gave away from under her and she fell into his arms. He scooped her up and began carrying her away from the truffle and through the forest again.
"Aren't you cold? Would you like your cape back?" Christine asked.
"No. You need it more than I do. I'm fine."
Christine reached out a finger to his chest and began tracing along the indentations and lines with it. She laughed to herself. "You're a very beautiful man, you know."
"No. I don't know. And you don't either. Clearly you're delusional."
Christine wrapped her arms around his neck and raised her head to kiss his chin. She did it repetitively, much like how he had done to her in the ice fishing cabin. Only now, they were moving and had no time for any of that.
She laughed and kissed his chin. "Your chin makes my lips tickle," she said, laughed and kissed him again.
"Christine, I think you've lost too much blood."
"Ohhh, say my name again, Erik," She said, sounding aroused, and threw her head back. "Lost too much blood? I have more than enough blood to last me..." She passed out in his arms and Erik worried about her condition, yet became contented as it would be easier to go through the forest now.