Say You'll Share With Me One Love, One Lifetime

I awoke late the next evening. It had to have been after seven, or so I guessed. Nothing had come to interrupt my slumber and I was grateful for the rest I received in result. Just as I was going to contemplate when Erik would come back for me, I heard footsteps entering the family tomb. My heart began to race. Erik! Oh how I have waited for you! Come to me, my angel! Love me, Save me! I thought of how much hope and joy had been mirrored in my dreams. I was ecstatic. The delight soon turned to cold fear as Christophe emerged from the shadows. He looked at the cloak that was on the ground and his face contorted with pure rage.

"WHO HAS BEEN HERE? WHAT IS THIS?" I remained silent and he smacked me hard. Somehow, he did not notice the bulge in the hidden pocket, which I knew to be the rose and note. "Well, You have awaken and seem in well enough heath. Care to feel my wrath once more?" He was going to make me beg. The thought of Erik made me refuse. I stared him down, with defiance in my eyes. The blow from the metal shaft startled me and I cried out. He battered me again and again. Finally, the pain made me give in and abandon my will.

"FINE I WILL BEG! PLEASE…PLEASE…" my sobs shook me as I lay on the floor, my spirit broken.

"I knew you'd come to your senses with time."

"Cant you…," I panted, "realize that killing me would only…release me from pain and make me rejoice?" I tried to compose myself and found it to harder than ever before. "And…these daily beatings…are going to push me to death?"

"So what do you suggest I do," he sneered.

"Release me…I am a bird with a crushed wing…I will never fly again…" My pants turned to gasps. He received no resistance when he pulled me up to his eye level by my shoulders.

"Oh no my dear…You will never even be able to sing the song of death on YOUR perch." He kissed me long and hard once more while his hands explored my bleeding body. The force that my head struck the stone behind me caused a blackness to develop over my vision. It took me a moment to realize that he had released me and shoved my head into the wall I was chained to. I crumpled to the floor in utter agony. His voice was freezing as he spoke to me harshly.

"You no longer exist. The friends and acquaintances we once had as a couple, no longer ask of you. I relayed my sad story to them one evening at dinner." He paused letting the pain of his words sink in. "I told them how devastated you were after loosing your parents. That you wished to leave and finish something they never had time to end, although I knew not what. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I bravely recalled the day you left in that carriage drawn by black stallions." His mocking voice turned to sheer hatred. "They pitied my loss! Our friends never once gave you a second thought! You do not exist to the world…so I will see to it that your fate ends as such." I sobbed to myself silently. "You have one more night to live. Tomorrow night I will return to release the broken bird. As she begins to stretch her wings in an attempt at flight, I will pull out my pistol and end her suffering." I did not hear him leave nor did I care. Death would soon come. My only regret was having to leave Erik in such a fashion.

"What do we have here? An angel fallen from heaven?" The low musical voice shocked me. For a moment I thought it was my mind playing a sick joke, but as I raised my head, his white mask emerged from the shadows once more. Weakness overtook me and my head thumped to the ground. I noticed the sound of his fast steps and the soft thud of him kneeling next to me. His hand on my lower back and shoulders were comfortingly distracting me from the pain as he helped me to sit up. I remembered that I was naked and closed my eyes and turned my head away as he looked at me. The sensation of his finger running the length of a scar by my neck was soothing. I heard him gasp. "Your body…I can barely see any unscarred flesh." Tears rolled down my cheeks miserably.
"Oh Erik," managed to rasp out of my mouth. He took a sharp breath in compassion and pity. I felt his cloak upon me once again. He stood and pulled on the chains securing me to the wall.

"I have tried to think of how to break these chains for days now…they are made so strongly I fear I cannot! But I will NOT give up! I must free you…" he worked frantically at pulling the chains. I could feel him jerk countless times upon the metal links each time as unsuccessful as the next. Finally he collapsed next to me in exhaustion. He began to weep. I assumed it was because this one time, when he needed his great strength most of all, it failed to be enough. I wanted so badly to reach out to him but when I tried I was reminded instantly that I was a prisoner by the cold metal holding me. He noticed my attempts and quickly moved next to me with mercy in his eyes. His arms embraced me warmly and I was ashamed that I could not return the compassionate touch. We sobbed in unison. Finally, his crying subsided and only my own remained. He spoke in his most calming voice.

"I must go to the police…they can come and free you…"

"No, you mustn't…you are a wanted man and they would kill you…"

"Even so…I would rather die than live to see you killed."

"And I would rather die than see you hang in the gallows." He stared at me as I met his gaze. The deep breath he took was more out of irritation than fatigue.

"I will NOT let him touch you again…"

I smiled at him. "I know, my love…I feel safe when you are near. Even when you left just your cloak here for me…it was a great comfort."

"When I came…you were out cold. At first I was afraid I had found you too late and you had passed on, but then I noticed you were breathing slightly." His eyes glazed as he recalled finding me. "You were laying there…stripped, in your own vomit….chained as you are now…I couldn't bare the sight of you in such a situation. I cleaned the floor and washed off some of the blood from your body. I tried with all my might to break the chains but my attempts were as unsuccessful then as they were now. I couldn't stay. I had to go back to my home and think of some way to rescue you. And so I left, but not before leaving my cloak, a note and a flower…my sad attempt to console you if only slightly." His grip on me became more secure and I leaned into his shoulder, as my tears subsided. We must have fallen asleep like that because when I woke, it was earlier in the evening. Panic set in as I noticed that Erik was not present. Christophe was to return to finish me off shortly. My heart began to race as I heard the familiar sound of footsteps on stone. Erik entered the room and quickly rushed to my side. I sighed and relaxed my body. He then spoke in an urgent whisper.

"How much time do I have to find a way to free you?"

"My guess is less than a half an hour…" I managed to say the words, catching even myself by surprise. He stared at me in shock and utter horror.

"WHAT!"

"Christophe told me that tonight he would murder me…" He began to race around the room. I had no idea what he was doing.

"Is there nothing in this damned place to use as a weapon."

"NO ERIK! Leave…get out of here…he will kill you too! PLEASE…I do not want to see you shot before I die! GET OUT OF HERE!" The look in his eyes spoke of nothing but of his love for me. All the fear, sadness and anxiety that infested him were reflected in his gold and green eyes. Tears soon appeared there as well. He did not try to conceal them, but simply stared at me letting them fall down his uncovered cheek one by one. All I could think of was him. The thought of death did not ruin this moment of glory for me. I had barely noticed Erik was moving until he was in front of me. He kneeled so our faces were level with each other. His lips were against mine and he kissed me passionately. I returned the kiss with equal fervor and perhaps more force. I wanted nothing more than to stay as we were forever. His tongue was gentle inside my mouth and I relished in his taste, which was so warm and sweet. He gently broke away and kissed my forehead once before he walked out of the tomb and my life, for good. It came as a surprise that tears didn't come to annoy me now. Out of all the moments I had felt pain, this was much more difficult to handle and yet, somehow, I remained serene.

Christophe waltzed in shortly after Erik had left. I stared at him. There was no emotion in my heart now and none in my eyes. I was an empty shell and he had come to dispose of what had once been me. Something in his expression changed as he looked at me now.

"Am I not going to get some response? You are now staring your death in the face." I looked at him and shook my head. "No tears? No pleas? Not a single emotion?"

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but no…I am ready for my fate to take hold." For a fleeting second I thought I had seen something that looked like respect cross his face, but it was gone in a moment.

"Very well then, my dearest," he pulled out his pistol and aimed it at me. "My aim is focused on your heart…any last words?"

"It must have escaped your attention, for my heart no longer exists. A man took it with him about an hour ago. It resides safely within him." His stare turned to confusion and he lowered his gun. After dismissing my words as nonsense he raised the weapon once more. I closed my eyes and a shot broke the silence of the room. DEATH! I felt had felt nothing, perhaps it was true that my heart was gone. The room was no longer silent. I opened my eyes, as I noticed that I had not been shot, only to see Christophe wrestling on the floor with a man dressed entirely in black. The gun lay feet away from them both. My heart had returned along with Erik. It was now surging in my throat as they fought. It was impossible to tell who had the upper hand, but I prayed that it was Erik. Almost as if it were happening in slow motion, Christophe was catapulted backwards and toward the wall adjacent to the one I was attached to. Erik held something in his hand as he ran to me. I noticed that it shined in the fading light like…metal!…a key! He held a bronze key! He was working on my bonds at a dazzling pace. I heard one snap open and then the other. Finding that I could not stand on my own, I fell into his arms. He lavished me with kisses. I flung my arms around his neck and laid my head upon his shoulder. Over Erik's shoulder I saw to my horror that Christophe had gotten up and ran to the gun laying forgotten on the floor. I screamed at him and Erik must have guessed what had happened and he turned, placing his body in front of me like a shield. I screamed as the gunshot rang in my ears. Erik's body jolted as a bullet passed into his stomach. He crumpled to the floor in agony. He rolled from his knees to his back and the perfect side of his face was contorted in pain, which made something inside of me shatter into pieces. Christophe ran over in a fury. It seemed that he had forgotten about me because he bent over Erik.

"NO! LEAVE HIM BE! GET OUT OF HERE YOU MONSTER!" I roared in his ear. He shoved me in response and ripped off Erik's mask.