"Decisions made from desperation; no way to go
Internal instincts craving isolation, for me to grow
Fell in a river of illusion, and apathy
Drowning in a self-induced confusion, I'd rather be"
-Godsmack, "Re-Align"
Erik rapidly looked up from his intense staring at the ground at the sound of a loud bang. The rather loud commotion upstairs stirred all of the prisoners out of their thoughts. Erik groaned, rather annoyed. What could possibly be going on now?
Another loud bang was heard, but this bang was different. It was the sound of a gunshot. The other bang had been more of the sound you hear when someone falls down very hard. In this case, Erik thought, someone was probably knocked down very hard, and that's what caused the first bang. And then someone was shot.
He concentrated on listening to see if he could hear what the prison guards were saying. All he heard was muffled voices. He couldn't make out what they were saying. Then, unexpectedly, he heard the shouting of two men, and then another gunshot and another loud bang like the first one.
The two guards located down by the cells exchanged worried glances. Erik noticed one whisper something into the other's ear, and then leave to go upstairs and see what was happening. No sooner than two minutes after the guard left, there was yet another gunshot.
The remaining guard pulled out his gun and mumbled something that sounded to Erik like "Conspiracy." Erik chuckled slightly to himself. A conspiracy is exactly what this prison needs, he thought. Not likely to happen, though. A man could only wish.
Suddenly, he heard the guard burst out laughing and then try to cover it up with a cough. Erik looked around to see what was so amusing to this man. His cell was positioned at the very back of the prison, so he didn't have a very good view of what was going on. He did hear light footsteps though that he could have sworn belonged to a woman.
Then, confirming his suspicion, he heard a woman's voice. "Drop your weapon and I might let you live," she said. Erik was surprised at the powerfulness of her voice. He admired how she used her voice to be assertive, along with her words. Erik strained to attempt to see this woman but she was just out of his view.
At her words, most of the inmates started to cheer and whistle like a bunch of animals. Erik shook his head. He didn't belong here. He knew he deserved to be here, but he didn't belong here. He was nothing like those men. They weren't very intelligent, he had noticed while sharing their company for the past week. He didn't want anything to do with them, so he isolated himself in his tiny cell. He just wanted to be alone his last few days.
The guard let a chuckle escape his lips. That turned out to be a big mistake. In what seemed like no time at all, the woman managed to somehow knock the gun out of the guard's grasp and get him into a headlock … all before he had sufficient time to react.
Now, Erik had a good view of the mysterious woman. Because of the strength of her voice, he imagined her to be a larger woman, be she was quite the opposite. She was, in fact, very thin with straight, brown hair and green eyes. He let a small smile appear on his face. She was quite an attractive woman.
Of course, Erik was even more surprised at that fact that she killed or wounded several of the prison guards upstairs…maybe all of them. He didn't know for sure how many there were exactly. Anyway, he'd never known of any woman to be assertive like this woman was. Usually, the woman just did what the men told them to. They were hardly capable of being completely independent. But this woman, Erik thought, she's different, and apparently strong, too. The guard was having a difficult time trying to get out of the headlock.
Erik watched in horrifying delight as the woman quickly slid her hands up to the man's head, and sharply twisted his neck to the right so that it broke. He smiled. This woman has guts. He let his eyes follow her, as she seemed to walk down the rows of prison cells, examining each convict, as if not knowing exactly what she was looking for.
To his astonishment, she stopped in front of his cell. He barely breathed as she looked him over carefully. He stared into her eyes, looking for any kind of emotion. Mostly he was looking for fear, since most women found his visage absolutely repulsive. He saw no fear though. He saw nothing. Apparently, this strange woman was a master at hiding her emotions. A useful skill, he thought.
That's when he realized that he didn't have his mask on. His heart beat a little faster and he reluctantly resisted the urge to pick up his mask and put it on to hide his horribly deformed face.
When Julianna was done examining him, she walked back over to the dead guard, and pulled his keys out of his pocket. Then she walked back over to Erik's cell and unlocked the door. She stepped inside his cell and looked him directly in the eyes. Strangely, all she could see was pain in his eyes. She wondered what could have caused so much pain. Then she realized that the pain in his beautiful, blue eyes matched what she saw in Christine's.
"Phantom?" she questioned, gently.
"Yes?" he said, unsure of his own voice.
"Come with me," she said, unlocking the chains around his ankles. "I'll explain along the way. It's very important that you cooperate."
"D'accord," he said. "Okay."
Julianna gently took hold of his hand and helped him up. "Come, we must hurry. More guards will come."
He nodded and they started running towards the way out of the prison. "Wait," he said, when they neared the door. "I forgot something."
Julianna nodded. "Hurry." While he was racing back down into the prison, Julianna had some time to take in all that had happened. She was surprised when she first saw the Phantom. She expected him to be a skeleton with a horrible face, but he wasn't. It wasn't as bad as people let on. In fact, he was quite handsome, if you only saw the left side of his face. And the other side wasn't so bad. She never in a million years expected him to look so good. Even in his present state, dressed in rags and not having had a proper bath in days, she was still attracted to him. She could definitely see why Christine had fallen in love with him. And those eyes of his made her heart beat just a little faster. They were so beautiful and deep, almost like you could see his very soul. And the genius that he truly was. You could see that in his eyes as well.
At that moment, he came sprinting back up the stairs, carrying his mask. Julianna nodded in understanding, and they continued to run in silence until they got to Julianna's horse. "Okay," she said. "Let me try to explain very quickly. Christine sent me to get you out of there." She noticed his eyes lit up at the mention of Christine's name. He must really lover her. "It's not safe for you to stay in the city, so I'm going to let you stay at my house. It's just outside of the city limits. And it's important that I have your trust, Phantom."
He nodded. "I trust you."
"Good then," she said. "By the way, my name is Julianna."
"Julianna," he repeated, letting the name imprint itself in his mind. Pretty name, he thought to himself. It suits her.
"May I ask your name?" she asked. "Or shall I just call you Phantom?"
After a few moments of silence, he replied, "Erik."
"Well, Erik," Julianna said, letting his name roll off her tongue. "We'd better hurry. We have a long way to travel." She climbed up on the horse and then let Erik climb up behind her.
The feeling of his warm body pressed up against her relieved her a little. He was, in fact, a man, not a ghost. Of course, she knew that from the second she first laid her eyes on him, but being able to feel him was reassuring. She remembered what Christine had said. He was very much a man.
Julianna smiled. "Erik, you might want to hold on. This is going to be a rough ride," she said.
He gently wrapped his arms around her, letting them rest on her stomach, right below her breasts. She let out a small breath of pleasure at his actions and gave her horse a slight kick on the side. Before long, they were galloping swiftly through the streets of Paris, and Erik was thankful he had Julianna to hold on to.
Well there's Chapter 7. I hope you all like it. I just finished writing it and it's 3:30 in the morning. I'm really tired. And I'm sorry if there are any spelling/grammar mistakes. I'll re-read this tomorrow and correct any I find. Anyway, please review. And for all of you that did review, thanks. : )