Two chapters in one day! I guess this sort of makes up for my long absence from this story...
A strong wind whipped Erik's cape around him as he moved within the shadows, getting further and further away from the opera house. The wind might have blown off his mask, had he not been holding onto it.
He was doing now as he did almost every night: listening for the faintest sound of an angel's music, trying to find, once again, the true Music of the Night.
Erik did not communicate with anyone, nor did he much care about anyone anymore, including himself. He had not eaten in two days, and now looked more like a skeleton than ever before. His music was all that was keeping him going.
Turning onto a small field, Erik looked up at the moon, wondering, as he'd wondered all his life, how God, if he existed, could allow someone so hideous to live. Did God know how tormented Erik was? Did he even care?
"If you do exist," Erik whispered to the sky, continuing to walk forward with his eyes on the moon, "If you are truly the saviour of men, as some say," he narrowed his eyes, "Then bring me a sign. Show me that my abysmal and tormented life is worth something!"
Erik listened and watched the night, but no miraculous sign came to him; no mighty voice boomed from the heavens to tell him the reason he existed.
Though Erik had expected nothing to happen, he suddenly felt worse than he had all night.
Scowling, Erik continued walking, veering off the street and heading into a field.
He tried to think why he even bothered. Why did he stay at an opera house, of all things?
Because that is all I know, he answered himself. I have known nothing else. Music is what my spirit yearns for... he looked down and kicked up some grass, causing it to scatter about in the high winds.
If Christine cannot realize that, so be it! My life is nothing without her. I have no one to bring my music to life. No one to care for. I have no one, I've always had no one, and I always will have no one. My music is the reason I live. I simply do not have a soul mate. I have no love. I am given none in return. That is the way it is.
An angry tear fell quickly down Erik's cheek, to be carried away by the wind.
Suddenly the wind that had been blowing ferociously died down to a soft whisper, and something on the edge of the field that Erik had not seen before caught his attention.
It looked at first to be a pile of clothing, but as Erik cautiously drew closer, he saw auburn hair flowing gracefully with the soft wind. Though still too far to see much, Erik could hear the sounds of muffled sobbing.
Normally, Erik would have hurriedly hidden in shadows and left, but when he got as close as he dared, he stood transfixed at what he saw.
The girl lying in the grass was covered in blood. Her clothes were tattered and torn, exposing soft, white skin. The clothes looked like they had been ripped apart by some giant claw, for underneath the tattered material were long gouges in the girl's skin, from where she was bleeding.
She was sobbing uncontrollably, coughing up blood and trembling.
Erik, still hidden in shadow, stared at the girl for a while, not quite sure what he was seeing. His breath caught in his throat as she lifted her head and looked to the heavens. Her face, illuminated by moonlight, was white and smooth, marred by nothing save for a thin slash on her left cheek caked with dried blood.
She began whispering words he could not hear, and then she began to cough and her face was hidden once more behind auburn hair.
Erik could do nothing but look at her as she continued her muffled sobbing. There were many questions running through his mind. Who was she? Where did she come from? What happened? Would she heal?
Something about her awakened an almost obsessive desire in Erik to hear her voice. He paused for a moment, then stepped closer - and stepped on a branch. He silently cursed as the branch snapped in two beneath his boot.
The girl immediately sat upright and her fevered stare shifted to the edge of the forest where Erik was hidden in shadow.
"Who's there?" she asked, her voice quavering.
Erik kept as silent as ever, gazing intently at her from the shadows of the forest's edge.
"Not him," the girl said. "No, please, go away... just end it... please... please..."
The girl was becoming faint. She could hardly keep herself sitting up.
Erik cautiously stepped out of the shadows, the moonlight enveloping him and accenting the mask against his face.
For a few moments they stared at each other, taking everything in. Then, suddenly, the girl's eyes rolled back in her head, and she was unconscious in Erik's arms moments later.
Erik gazed at the girl in his arms. Her skin was softer than he had imagined... but there was blood all over her, and she was continuously loosing more. Erik looked at her for a moment, then lifted her as easily as if she were a child. He needed to get her to the opera house before she bled to death. He did not know what would happen, but somehow he felt he needed to take care of her. Somehow he knew he had been sent a sign.