Thanks for the reviews... sorry it took so long, but I've been very busy and not had time to write the last days. R&R this if you feel like it. Atrice
Part 23 - Away from the ghosts?
"Here we are… hope you enjoyed the trip!" the skipper said as he put out the landing stage, so that people could come off the ship. Erik took hold of the horse again and Lucille went to where she could hear the landing stage had been put.
"We sure did, it was fun." Said Lucille with a little grin, and Erik knew why. He had the perfect excuse for wearing a mask now – of course, he was a singer, working at a theatre or something. The skipper was a nice man, and helped the blind girl leave the ship. Then Erik came, and they pulled the horse a bit further onto the port before he helped his light up on the horse and jumped up himself. He waved a goodbye to the nice skipper, the first person in the real world who had actually seemed to accept Erik and his mask. He had made a good choice picking England as their home.
It was evening and darkness was beginning to fall, as they finally arrived to London. Lucille was curious, she had never been to England or London before.
"Apart from the language, it sounds a lot like Paris…" she said thoughtfully, as they rode through the streets of London.
"Well, it isn't. This is where we will live, Lucille – a place that is not Paris, filled with ghosts of my past." He said, the voice somewhat gloomy. Silence fell between them again, and the blind girl began to think about those ghosts of his past. The mystery about the fire in the Operahouse had never been fully explained, and one of the diva's called Christine Daae had disappeared with their new and young patron, Raoul de Chagny. Erik had lived below the Operahouse all alone, also after the fire. What had been going on? But her mind stopped working things out, as the horse stopped and Erik jumped down. "I'm glad we arrived today… we need to get up early tomorrow. I've found an inn where we'll stay." Erik said and helped her down. Lucille held the horse while Erik went inside to ask for a room and a place for their horse.
"You've been through a lot with us… he never even told me your name. I doubt you have one – how about Angel? That's a nice name…" Lucille whispered to the horse, who just sniffed as an answer, and she sighed. There were still so many things she didn't know about her future husband. Soon he came out again, and Lucille went with him to the stable he had been told about. Luckily nobody asked questions – they expected the inn-keeper to trust the man with the mask, since he sent him there with the horse.
Before long they had gotten a small room for one night. Erik went down to get something to eat, and returned to Lucille with apples and bread.
"Erik… where are we going to live?" Lucille asked while eating her apple.
"You'll see tomorrow… just a small place for the two of us." He explained with a smile in the voice. But Lucille wasn't satisfied.
"How about the marriage… we ought to get married too, you promised me…" she said, but stopped in her sentence. Who was she to ask questions? Hadn't he swept her off her feet, taken her to England to start a new life? Hadn't he been the one planning everything, probably sending little notes to several people to arrange all this?
"We will be married… Seal our fate by dawn, You know I love to be with you now. But our love needs a seal, let the light take us in – let our dreaming begin!" he sang, and she smiled by the sound of his singing voice. But why this sudden change of melody? He usually sang wonderful and calm songs, and this melody seemed so strict and firm. Perhaps because something would finally happen, she then thought. 'Seal our fate by dawn… our love needs a seal' – that could only mean one thing. Tomorrow they would married!
Much later, Lucille had finally fallen asleep, and Erik sat by the window, looking down on the street. Here there were no ghosts of his past, nothing to stop him. He knew what he wanted to do now, and with Lucille by his side, he could do it. He could pull himself together… ghosts of the past… Christine, who had made his song take flight. Christine, whom he had loved so much, but for all the wrong reasons. He hoped she was doing alright with Raoul somewhere, but wondered what she was doing now. He still remembered her kiss, the first kiss he ever had. Lucille's kiss was better though, for it was filled with true love. And soon they would be married, and he would no longer be denied another thing he had also longed for his entire life. Those joys of the flesh. He just hoped he wouldn't hurt Lucille, so many feelings surpressed for so many years. No, he couldn't hurt her. She was just as unproven in this matter as himself. But with Lucille, he could do anything.
"I longed to teach the world… rise up and reach the world. Lucille would listen, she alone could hear my music…" he sang quietly to himself, smiling because it would happen. He would rise up and reach the world! He had lots of money, saved through most of his life. So far he had rented a small apartment in London, where they would live when married. While they lived there, he could begin to work on his other plans. Lucille had said to him, that she loved him so much, that she almost cried just by the thought of it. Never would he be alone again, no longer would he be that child of the wilderness, trying to laugh in the loneliness…