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Upon instinct Erik rushed forward to catch Christine before she hit the ground.

"Mamma!" Erica cried.

Erik sighed and picked up Christine "take me to her bedroom" he commanded, trying not to appear embarrassed. Erica held back the curtain for him as he walked into a small room containing a wardrobe and a double bed. He gently placed her in the centre and ran his eyes over her despairingly.

"Excuse me?" he looked down to see Erica tugging on his coat. "My Mamma says I have to change out of my school clothes, can you please undo my dress?" she turned around expectantly.

Erik blinked in shock then shrugging, today had been strange enough already, nervously undid her dress trying to avert his eyes. She wiggled out of her dress unashamedly and trotted to the wardrobe, pulling out a frock. She pulled it over her head then ran back to Erik "Will you do this up now please?"

Erik gave a frustrated sigh but didn't say anything. Who would have thought the infamous Phantom of the Opera would be dressing a little girl!

Erica climbed onto the bed next to her mother. "She will be ok won't she?" she looked hopefully at Erik.

"She will be fine." He assured her "just let her sleep"

"She can't sleep for long. She has to go to work."

"She leaves you here alone in the afternoon?"

"She says she has to work, so we can survive."

"I suppose I understand. When does she have to leave?" he checked his watch.

Erica shrugged "she leaves when I go to bed and is always back when I wake up."

"and when is that?" he asked patiently.

She shrugged again. "Do you want me to tell you a story?" she asked suddenly

Erik looked at her strangely then sighed and perched himself on the very edge of the bed. "If you choose"

Erica smiled and cleared her throat proudly:

"Once upon a time there was a pretty maiden who was an orphan. She was very sad and alone, but guess what happened?"

Erik, stuttered, not sure if he was supposed to answer "ah, what?"

"Every evening an Angel would come to her and comfort her. She loved her Angel and he loved her. One day a handsome Prince came to the small village and he fell in love with the pretty maiden. He was jealous of the maiden's Angel so he charmed the maiden into unmasking her Angel" "Oh I forgot, the Angel wore a mask. Mamma tells this story better than I do." "so she took off her Angel's mask and underneath he looked like a monster. He tried to convince her that he was still her Angel and that he still loved her but the Prince was telling her otherwise. The Angel got angry because he was hurt by her betrayal and he did some scary things. The maiden got scared so she let her fear guide her and she ran off with the Prince, even though she didn't really love him, she loved her Angel. She was very sad without her Angel and she knew she'd made a mistake, she couldn't forgive herself." "Are you ready for the ending?" she chirped.

Erik had been so lost in himself, at first he didn't hear Erica but this question shook him back to reality. He was very curious to hear this. "Yes, what happened?" he asked eagerly.

Erica drew herself up proudly for the climax. "She slit her wrists and killed herself."

Erik almost fell off the bed in shock.

"Oh don't worry, I didn't like that ending the first time I heard it either but Mamma said it's a good ending. The maiden deserved a lot worse than that."

Erik paled.