Chapter One: A Strange Discovery

June 2005 San Diego, California

Rosalyn stepped on the gas of her SL500 Roadster, careening along the familiar curves of La Jolla Shores Drive. With the top down, she took in the refreshing scent of the ocean as her hair fluttered wildly, creating a frenzied dance with the wind. Damn, she thought. She was going to have a hell of a time brushing her hair after this! Whenever she could not sleep or had a lot on her mind, she would take off to the beach in her convertible, blasting the music so she could hear it above the wind. Tonight it was System of a Down. The loud guitar riffs energized her and made her want to scream until her voice became hoarse, until her problems were out of her system.

"Why have you forsaken me?

In your eyes forsaken me,

In your thoughts forsaken me,

In your heart forsaken me, ohhh

I don't think you trust

in… my… self-righteous suicide

I cry

when angels deserve to die."

As she pulled into a parking spot on the left, she looked at her watch. 3:00 AM. Thankfully, she would have the beach to herself. She tried to run her fingers through her hair and found a knotted mess. As she made her way down the steps toward the beach, she pulled her hair into a low and sloppy bun, tugging the hood of her sweater over her head. "Maybe I should've worn toe socks," she muttered under her breath, glancing down to the flip flops on her feet. She sat down on one of the boulders above the sandy beach and closed her eyes to listen to the sound of the waves crashing against one another. No matter how long she had lived in San Diego, she found that she could never grow tired of the beach and the ocean.

She couldn't sleep that night…again. Done with finals, she thought the summer break would be a welcome relief to the constant worry of term papers and midterms, but boredom had settled earlier than she expected. Only ten days had passed since her last final and she was restless already. Maybe I should take a road trip, or fly off to an exotic location! She furrowed her brow and looked as far as she could at the dark horizon. Procrastination! That was her problem. She dreamed of visiting far away destinations yet she never managed to actually begin planning these trips, making one excuse or another.

She looked down to the sandy shore on the left of the boulders, trying to decide whether or not she wanted the feeling of sand between her toes. From the corner of her eye she saw a form being pushed by the waves toward the shore. Holy shit, was that a body? Quickly, yet careful enough that she wouldn't slip on the slick boulders, she made her way toward it and dragged it out of the water. It was a man! "Hey, are you ok?" she yelled. She struggled to pull the man further away from the waves, gently placing his head in her lap. As she turned him face up, she gasped at the deformed face that stared back at her. The rise and fall of the man's chest signaled that he was breathing yet unconscious. She hovered above his face and strained to look at it with what little light the moon gave. Only the right side of his face was deformed, the skin pink with scars that resembled boils. The blue-green veins were visible beneath the thin skin and stood out more prominently, creating more ridges in his face. His right eye looked sunken and slightly lower than his left eye. The right side of his nose was caved in, as if it did not exist. His hairline was also different on the right, receding further than the left.

Poor guy, she thought. I bet he had one hell of a childhood! Kids can be so cruel! She remembered channel surfing on another night she couldn't sleep and came upon a show about extraordinary operations. There were kids with conditions that caused their face to continue growing, making parts of their face swell up to twice its normal size. Maybe he could get plastic surgery to fix his face. She caressed the deformed cheek, brushing some of his hair behind his ear. At that moment, his hand shot up and grabbed her wrist. He turned away from her and violently coughed up salt water, his head rolling off her lap and onto the wet sand.

"Hey are you ok?" she asked, distressed and relieved that he had awoken. "Ouch you're hurting my wrist! Please let go!" He continued to grip her wrist until the coughing fit subsided.

"Ou' suis-je?" he asked hoarsely. Where am I? Erik was sure he was dead, for how could he have survived the ocean? He even felt Christine's touch upon his face! Suddenly he opened his eyes and realized he was very much alive and someone was looking upon his face. Quick as lightning, he dropped her wrist and touched his unmasked face. He moved away from the person, conscious of the excruciating pain he received from being tossed about in the ocean.

"Qui 'etes-vouz?" he roared, his eyes glowing with anger. Who are you?

As the man let go of her wrist and moved away from her, she was thrown off balance and landed on her side. Was that French he was speaking? She attempted to recall the French she had taken in high school, trying to sound as calm as possible.

"Parlez-vouz Anglais?... Je m'appelle Rosalyn..." Jeez, I am just butchering this language, she thought. "You are on a beach in San Diego. My name is Rosalyn. I found you here passed out and pulled you out of the water so you wouldn't drown."

Erik gripped his head with both hands, trying to comprehend what the girl had told him. Suddenly dizzy, he fell back down on the sand. She rushed to his side upon seeing that, helping him to a sitting position. Tossing his left arm around her shoulder, she tried to help him to his feet slowly.

"Come on, you can do it," she encouraged. "Slowly now. My car is up past those boulders and up the stairs. Do you think you can make it?"

Normally, he would've killed any person who had looked upon his face without the mask. But he was too weak as well as amazed that anyone would want to help a monster like him. He nodded in the affirmative to his question. As he stood up, he felt a sharp pain in his left leg and leaned on her for support. What a support she was! She stood a full foot shorter than him!

"Damn! You are a lot taller and bigger than I thought! But we can do it. It looks like your left leg is injured. Just try not to put too much weight on it!"

Painstakingly they made their way up toward the car, pausing to climb each boulder one at a time, though the tread of many beach goers had created a path that made the boulders more like uneven steps. Erik slowly lifted up his head and glanced around. The pavement was smooth unlike the cobblestone streets of Paris and in front of them sat a curious contraption. It beeped twice and flashed lights twice as Rosalyn pressed the remote control to unlock the doors to her car. She opened the door and slid him onto the passenger seat before running around to her side. Nothing made sense to him. What was all this? As Rosalyn started the engine, Erik fell back unconscious, barely feeling the wind whipping at his face.

What am I doing? Rosalyn looked over at her sleeping companion.

"Who are you? Maybe I should bring him to the hospital. But he's soaking wet! If he didn't change into dry clothes, he could get pneumonia!" she argued with herself. Who's going to change him? You?

"I'll worry about that when the time comes. I know! I'll just bring him home." Home? Are you crazy? What if he were some psycho killer?

"Just for tonight. Then we'll ask him questions tomorrow, like what the hell are you doing in the ocean? I'll just make sure to lock my door tonight in case he is a crazy psycho killer." Her subconscious resigned, she sped back to her condo as quick as she could.