Blind Mask

(by Nicole Gruebel)

Disclaimer: … see chapter 1

Summary of the past chapters: Erik fled the burning opera, after he sent Christine away with Raoul. Now he wished he could win her back, but first he has to take care of Noelle, a young woman who was wounded - and it even seems blinded - by the fire he had caused.

Many thanks to TheGoddessofDeath, who did not only give me some good advice for my writing but offered to be a beta-reader, too (and noticed when I accidentally uploaded the uncorrected version).

I want to thank all my reviewers! Spikes Bint, EriksSylvia, Nico Morrison, Erik'sTrueAngel and those who told me their comments per mail. It's really a big help … I'll try my best!

Chapter 4 – First steps

After their rather unusual mutual introduction Erik and Noelle seemed to be more at ease with each other. She relaxed into a large cushion and was obviously quite exhausted, while he went over to the closet with the medical equipment to collect some medicine and new bandages.

Her head felt heavy and clouded. There was not a single spot on her body that didn't seem to hurt, but she couldn't tell for sure if the nausea that began to overwhelm her was caused by the pain or the shock and disorientation. Sleep was beginning to win her back, but Noelle didn't want to give into it yet. Instead, she tried to focus on the sounds which Erik made by moving around. On one hand she didn't want to be surprised again by him and on the other hand she was curious what he was up to. 'Why did he take me in? He speaks like a gentleman, but he behaves like a man who is hiding something.' She noticed that there suddenly was no sound at all and assumed that Erik had stopped whatever he was doing or had left the room. When Noelle heard his voice to the left of her it was as if he was standing next to the bed. She realized that she hadn't noticed him approach again. Her blindness made her angry and nervous, but the soft masculine sound comforted her somehow.

"I have to demand that you don't do anything without my assistance. Just stay in bed and rest. You already cut yourself when you broke my glass-figurines, and I don't have an endless stock of clean bandages. This place is ... special ... you can't just move around here alone yet, perhaps later. If you need anything, just ask." Erik started to clean the bleeding hands while he was talking, noticing that she didn't even flinch when he touched her this time. 'She surely would run away if she saw my unmasked face now.' Her hands were rather rough and already marked by other little scars ... obviously they had known hard work. Still, they were as small and slender as Christine's hands and seemed so lost in his much larger ones.

Noelle listened closely to his words. She wasn't exactly a very trusting person, not anymore. But right at the moment she just felt too weak to flee this place and this man. 'It can't get any worse ...' she thought, considering what her life had been like till now. "I'll do what you say, Monsieur. But surely you have better things to do than take care of me. I don't want to be a burden." Although she tried to meet his mysterious behavior with equal courtesy her mind dreaded the moment when he finally would ask for some sort of payment after all.

"Don't worry, I can spare the time. There is no one else in my home and it's not very big. So just call out, I'll hear you. Sometimes I might have to leave for a short while, but I'll make sure you have everything you need then." At that moment, Ayesha discovered a loose end of a bandage and jumped for it.

Noelle let out a little startled cry when something furry brushed against her leg. "What was that!" She imagined to be kept in an old building, probably in some hidden backyard, where rats ran around and the walls and floors were instable. Surely this man was some kind of run-down doctor who lost his job because he was a drunkard or had stolen or something like that. 'I have to get out of here!' she suddenly thought feverishly.

"No need to be frightened. This is just my cat - Ayesha, another reason why you shouldn't walk around on your own." Erik noticed that his pet acted rather strange. She usually was rather shy and stayed away from other people than himself. Christine had had some special trouble with her, because the cat had seemed determined to not like her at all. Whenever the singer had tried to come near her Ayesha had hissed and sometimes even attacked her with sharp claws. Now the Siamese cat sat on the bed and eyed Noelle with curious blue eyes.

"A cat?" the woman asked while she added silently to herself: 'Well, at least a cat will keep the rats away.' Her heart began to slow down again. "Where is she? May I stroke her, Monsieur?" Since she was out of Noelle's reach at the moment, Erik gently helped her to lean forward and guided her hand towards the cat. Ayesha didn't move; she was far too proud to meet just any stranger's tempting fingers. Finally the bandaged hand touched a small wet nose and the cat jumped off the bed. Noelle made a disappointed sound and thought: 'Stupid cat - come back'. She was painfully reminded that she couldn't even get up and look for her.

After all residents of the place had finally met, Erik stood up and took another closer look at his patient. The bandages seemed striking white on her, since her skin, hair and clothes appeared rather dark. While he had been treating her injuries there had been only time to clean the wounds and nothing more. Although Erik led a life without the rules and habits of the common society, which never wanted to accept him anyway, he was used to a decent appearance of himself and others. When his mind was not busy with more pressing problems at the moment he was aware that he himself needed a bath and another change of clothes. Still, this woman looked more like she had been living on the street, rather than he just had picked her up there. Considering the few things he knew about her, this might as well be true.

During his silent observation, Noelle sat unmoving and seemed to be at a loss of words, just like he himself. "Mademoiselle ..." her head moved slowly to face him. She had been about to fall asleep again, especially since there had been no sound to concentrate on for a few minutes. "If you like, I could guide you to the bathroom. In any case, I advise that you change your dress and leave the bed for a few moments, so that I can change the sheets." Noelle blushed a little bit, but nodded silently. Her head had been either too busy or too clouded till now to think of such things, and if it were up to her, she would prefer to ignore them for some more time and just sleep.

Suddenly there was something warm around her shoulders - another blanket or a cape, she thought - and Erik helped her to get up. He led her slowly, holding one of her hands and guiding her with his other hand on her back. Obviously there was quite a lot of furniture in the room; at last it seemed to Noelle that they had to make many twists. Her outstretched hand brushed on various objects made of wood and stone, and sometimes Erik warned her before she would knock over something. 'How could I ever find my way alone in here? I don't want to depend on this man completely!' However she had to admit that her knees were far too weak to carry her far right now.

Erik held back the thick curtain which separated the small bathroom from the main-room and shoved Noelle in. Her searching hands found the washbasin and he made sure she would get along alone in here. "I got this for you and I hope it fits. I'm afraid your own clothes have been too damaged by the fire." He closed the fingers of her less injured hand around a long nightgown. Just before Erik let the curtain down again he added: "Try to keep your bandages as dry as possible and call when you're ready."

Noelle felt quite relieved when she sensed that he was gone. It was awkward to be at the mercy of a man you never had seen, especially when you wore nothing but the shreds of some underwear. Fortunately this one seemed to be a gentleman, since he allowed her this privacy to change. Of course it could be a trick, too, but she decided to take the risk. The new clothes felt comfortable on her body, but it was hard to take care of her all by herself due to the injuries and being blind.

Finally she stepped through the curtain and called: "Monsieur Erik?" To keep her balance she held on to the wall. The stone was rough and cold and reminded her of a cellar. Noelle wished she could have looked at herself or her surroundings, but she didn't dare to lift the bandages over her eyes. In fact she wouldn't have seen much anyway, since her host hadn't lit any candles in the bathroom and the mirror was covered with a cloth.

In the meantime Erik had prepared the bed again and cleared away the broken glass. Ayesha watched him from the big armchair. She had given him more or less the same unreadable look when he had prepared the bed shaped like a black swan for Christine in the lair beneath the opera house. When Noelle finally called, he guided her back and made sure she was well covered with warm blankets. He decided against morphine for now, since she seemed tired enough to sleep without it and his medicine for the burns was beginning to take effect and lessened the pain from the injuries. Before he was about to turn away her hand fell on his and Noelle whispered: "Thank you", before falling asleep.

Erik stared at his hand for some moments and then back to the woman. 'You wouldn't thank me, if you knew that I have caused this fire.' When he gathered his hand in a bitterly shaking fist to his chest he regretted the loss of her gentle touch, but at the same time it felt as if his skin had been burnt, too.

OOO

Life was wonderful, as long as he held Christine in his arms and heard her angelic voice. She was singing only for him now. This made up for all the pain he had experienced in his life. She looked at him with love in her eyes and nothing else.

Her beauty and pureness was radiating from her. He didn't need to look around to know that it was even multiplied by all the mirrors that encircled them.

His eyes were closed, and still he could see his beloved clearly in his embrace. Then something brushed his cheek ... his deformed side. He was reluctant to open his eyes, but he must have done it anyway, because the sight in front of him changed.

Christine held his Don Juan mask and turned away from him. He realized they were still surrounded by mirrors, but they didn't seem to show what they should ... and it felt as if they were closing on him ...

OOO

Erik was used to restless sleep, but right at the moment it was annoying him more and more. He wasn't sure if it would get better if he had the chance to rest in a decent sleeping-place again - he always had been falling asleep over his work or in other rather uncomfortable places from time to time. Erik's hand was shaking when he ran it over his sweaty face and through his hair. His body really began to miss the morphine.

Tired and in quite a bad mood he went to the bed to check on Noelle. She was the reason why he hadn't allowed himself to succumb to any sedative in the past few days. The hardly inevitable fever had gotten worse and some of her injuries weren't healing as well as he had hoped. The woman hadn't been in a good condition to start with, so her body was weak and didn't have much strength to recover. Noelle needed constant care, and since she hardly had come out of her delirium after she had wake up the first time, he had to feed her and keep her in a decent clean condition, too.

This left Erik with two major problems which troubled him. First, he hardly had time to go out and look for Christine. Although his patient was asleep most of the time, he didn't dare to leave her alone for more than an hour or two. Instead he had to rely on information he bought in the darker streets of Paris. If they were reliable, Christine and Raoul were still in town, but there were rumors of a marriage - which was his second main problem right now.

'I have to stop this!' he thought bitterly and crumpled up the newspaper which he had snatched away from a street-shop this evening. There were quite a lot of plans and dreams in his mind about him and Christine, but it was difficult to realize them. He felt as if he were trapped in a cage again.

Sighing, Erik sat down next to Noelle and felt her temperature. She was still burning up from within. He had noticed that her skin had a slight bronze color, not unlike some of the gypsies he had known. Although her face was still marked by the slowly healing wounds it seemed as if she was at least of mixed heritage. Perhaps it would be more obvious once she could open again her eyes. So far he had lifted the bandages over them only when she was deep asleep. It still could be fatal if Noelle opened her eyes too soon, and he still wasn't sure if his self-made ointment was working.

Ayesha had started to curl up near the woman's feet a few days ago. Obviously she didn't mind it very much that Noelle's sleep was a bit restless. Erik had packed her up in so many blankets that she hardly could fall out of the bed anymore or move too much, and it was a nice, warm place for a cat. He had lost some of his shyness towards the woman, too - he just thought of her as his patient. But secretly Erik knew that he wouldn't have dared to wash her carefully with a damp piece of cloth or patiently feed her if she hadn't been in her feverish sleep most of the time. He always was afraid that she would wake up any moment, when he was that close to her.

To be continued …