Chapter 2: Escape from this devils lair
The next morning when Meg awoke, to find her door unlocked, Erik must have forgotten to lock it before going to bed last night she thought. In a sleepy daze, she walked out of the room and then an idea struck her; this was her chance to escape, while Erik was still sleeping. She jumped in the water, and ran towards the gate At that moment his bedroom door flung open, the first thing he saw was Meg, forcefully trying to lift up the gate, then heard a splash behind her, it was Erik and he didn't look to pleased. Megs leg wasn't fully healed so she couldn't run anywhere. She was trapped. 'You're a foolish girl Meg.' Erik bellowed.
'Please monsieur just let me go!' Meg cried, lowering her head. 'Why are you doing this?'
Ignoring everything she said Erik took Meg by the arm and led her back to shore, where he started tying her to a pole.
'No monsieur, please no! Stop! I beg of you!' Meg screamed.
'Well it's either I tie you here or to your bed.' He laughed, and sat down at his organ, he began to play a passionate fast melody at first, then it slowed down to an eerie, haunting tune.
Meg was tied to the pole all night until Erik decided to go the bed, then he simply untied her, revealing red marks on her on her wrists where the rope had been, 'Go to bed, you need your rest' Erik said, Meg turned away to walk to her bedroom, 'Oh and Meg, don't try anything like that again, or the punishment will be worse.' He said calmly. Meg just walked to her bedroom. How was she going to live with this man? She thought, she would rather die than spend another day with him.
In the morning Meg went straight to the kitchen and found a knife and returned to her room, when out of the corner of her eyes she saw Erik, leaning against the door frame, Meg quickly hid the knife, but Erik had seen it already. He raised an eyebrow and walked slowly towards her, but Meg got up and backed away from him. 'Little Meg, what were you planning on doing with that knife?'
Meg was silent, she continued to back away until she hit the wall. Once again she was trapped. What was he going to do to her? Erik now stood in front of her with his hands either side of her on the wall.
'I'll ask you once more Meg, and once only, what were you going to do with that knife?'
'N-no-nothing, nothing' Meg lied.
'Don't lie to me Meg; was it to kill yourself or me?'
Meg lowered her head 'It was to kill me.' She sighed.
'Now why would you want to do that?' Erik asked hypnotically.
A tear rolled down Meg's cheek, 'I, don't like it here. I wanted to leave, even if it meant taking my own life monsieur.' She sighed, 'But, what I want to know is why are you keeping me prisoner?'
'I cant let you out again until I know I can trust you, I don't want people knowing the opera ghost is back.'
'If you let me go, I will not tell anyone.'
'Surely your clothes must be wet from yesterday's activities.' Meg nodded. So Erik opened a door that led to a dressing rooms, in there he had one of Christine's dresses, it was a light blue corset with an attached skirt, he handed it to Meg and left the room for her to change, but she knew she wouldn't be able to do up the corset herself. 'Um, Erik, it's a corset…'
'Yes I know Meg.'
'I wont be able to do it up.' She said blushing.
'Oh, of course I will do it up just call me when it needs doing.'
'Thank-you' she muttered as Erik left the room.
Meg peeled of her grey (once-white) ballet dress, and pulled on the beautiful blue dress, it was surely impossible to do it up herself so she called in Erik. He soon stood behind her pulling the strings of her corset tight, A silence filled the room, so Meg started up a conversation.
'Monsieur, if you are not and opera ghost nor a phantom, than what am I to call you?' she asked,
'Well, you may call me Erik if you wish,'
'Erik' Meg repeated to herself 'Ok then.'
'Erik, thank you for the dress'
'No problem' he answered. 'I think you will be needing a night-gown too, and a few other essentials.'
The nest day Meg's wardrobe was filled with nightgowns, dresses, blouses, skirts, shoes, a comb for her hair. This was more than she had when she worked at The corps de ballet
She was grateful to Erik for these things he had ordered for her. She had never dreamed that she could treat Erik like a person, she thought that until he let her go, she would hat him every waking hour, but things turned out to be surprisingly ok. Sometimes she would even sit next to Erik while he was playing his organ, watching his fingers gently touch the keys as if caressing them.
On Megs 16th birthday Erik bought her new ballet slippers, as he liked to watch her dance, they were light pink with white beads on the laces. Day by day the two became closer and closer. One day Erik called Meg over to where he was sitting,
'Yes Erik?' Meg asked.
'Meg, I cant help but ask, How did your mother die?'
'Well, we just about escaped the fire at the opera, we were both quite ill for a few days from smoke inhalation, but mother continued to get worse and worse for days…' Megs eyes started to fill up with water, but she tried to blink away the tears. 'And the lack of food and water didn't help, one day she was so bad she couldn't breathe, and then she just…' Tears started rolling down her face, Erik could see it was hurting her talk about it. 'So I had to carry on, on my own, so I had no choice but to turn to…prostitution.' She sobbed, 'It was so awful Erik, it was so bad!' Meg broke out into fits of tears, not knowing what to do, Erik put his broad arms around her and drew her into his chest, Meg buried her head into he should, trying to hold back the sobs.
'It's alright Meg, don't cry, it's ok, there's no chance you'll be going back there.'
Meg looked up at him, 'Erik…. would you stay with me tonight, maybe if there's someone else with me, I will be able to peacefully sleep.'
'Ok Meg,' With that Erik lead her to the bedroom, where he took of his boots and undid a few buttons of his shirt, and helped meg get out of her corset, so she could change into her nightgown. They both climbed under the sheets and slept on different sides of the double bed.
Meg woke up first in the morning to find her legs entwined with Erik's and his arms round her waist, Erik still wore his mask, Meg had already seen his face at Don Juan, his deformity didn't bother Meg at all. His face looked uncomfortable with the white cage on his face, so she lightly lifted it up from his face, and put it on the bedside table. She buried her head in his shoulder and fell peacefully back to sleep.
Reminder: Meg and Erik are not an item yet. Meg finds Erik handsome, and likes his personality, but that's it until the next few chapters.
