Chapter 3

"You've got to go on, Christian…"

"I can't go on without you…"

"You've got… so much… to give… Tell our story, Christian…"

"No…"

"Promise me… promise me…"

"N-no…"

"I'll always… be with you…"

"Christian… Christian…-Christian… Christian…"

I felt reality closing in on me, more thankfully than unfortunately… Someone was calling my name.

"Christian! Oh, no, he's dead!" Scott's voice.

"Oh, please, no one can just drop dead like that. Besides, he's still breathing!" Joseph's voice.

"Bweathing," Margaret.

"Oh, come on, Monsieur Christian! How come he just fell like that, huh?"

"Maybe he was overwhelmed by your constant talk," Joseph said.

"Do you really think that! No! NO!"

I opened my eyes slightly, and a blurry figure of the parlor ceiling and three faces started to come into view.

"MORNING!" Margaret cried.

"Not now, Margaret," Scott said, glaring at Joseph. "No, I couldn't have made him pass out."

"He's awake," Joseph said smartly.

"Ah-" He froze with his index finger in the air, then turned to me and stared in surprise. "Monsieur Christian! You're awake at last!"

"Sa… Satine… Where---"

"Satine?" Scott asked. "What about her?"

"All right, I've got a wet cloth to wipe his forehead with, Scott, now explain to me on how you met him and why you weren't at home watching--- Oh…"

Satine! She was standing there with a wet cloth in her hand, staring at me. I stumbled onto my feet, but had to sit down because I was still overwhelmed. I couldn't keep my eyes off of her. "Sa… Sa…"

"You shouldn't get up so fast. You'll pass out again," She said, handing the cloth to me.

"I didn't get to introduce you properly, Monsieur Christian! Selene! This is Monsieur Christian! He wrote that book I've told you about!"

"The book that you told everyone about," Joseph said. Scott glared at him again, then smiled again.

"Monsieur Christian, this is my sister, Mademoiselle Selene!"

"S… Selene…?" I questioned. Surely that was a mistake. This was Satine, the woman I loved! She was standing there before me, her big, dazzling, blue eyes sparkling at me. "No."

"No?" She questioned. "Excuse me?"

"Monsieur Christian, what's wrong?" Scott asked.

"May I… speak to you in private for a moment, Scott?" I asked, smiling rather frantically.

"SURE!" He said gleefully.

"All right, come along you two," Satine said, leading the children from the room.

"What's the matter, Monsieur Chris-"

"Is this some sort of sick game to you?" I questioned, glaring at him.

"Wh-what?"

"Is this part of your obsession? -or are you just out to scare me?" I got up in his face to make sure he was listening.

"I… I am not sure what you're talking about, I assure you, Monsieur Christian. Really… what is it?"

"You can't possibly tell me that that woman is someone else! I know who that is!"

"Selene?"

"That's Satine!"

Scott burst out laughing. "SATINE! No, no! That's my sister, Selene. You really," He snorted, "really think that she looks like her? Satine is so much more wild, and her hair is longer, and-"

"Don't act as if you knew her personally!" I yelled, standing. "I know that's her! I knew Satine better than just about everyone! I can assure you that I know what she looks like!"

"You're… yelling at me…" Scott said fearfully, backing up.

I froze, realizing what I had done. "Oh…" I said, my shoulders slumping. "I'm sorry…I just got so caught up and I…"

"It's all right, I understand," Scott said, smiling again. "-but, seriously… Do you really think Selene looks like her?"

"I thought she was!" I said, holding my arms out. "I've never seen anyone look so much like someone else in my entire life… Was this part of your plan?"

"Plan? I really don't have a plan, Monsieur Christian," Scott said innocently. "Besides, I didn't even notice to tell you the truth. Usually she's not home, or I've got my nose in your book. How shameful of me! -and I've been calling myself your biggest fan!" He turned his back on me and pouted.

"Does… she sing?…" I asked after a few moments of silence.

"Yes, she does," He said, turning back around. "-but nothing nearly as wild as Satine. My sister is far from believing that diamonds are a girl's best friend."

"Scott-" The Satine look-alike entered the room once again. "Are you done?"

"Yes," I said, staring at her. I couldn't look away. My mind was telling me that it wasn't her, but my heart was refusing to believe it! "Yes…"

"Please," She said, glaring at Scott. "You'll have to excuse my brother. He gets a bit carried away… He didn't kidnap you, did he?"

"Oh, no! No… He invited me to dinner," I said. Her voice… I was melting at the sound of her voice… It was Satine, it had to of been… either that or God was playing a cruel trick on me…

"Did he?" She questioned, rather surprised, a smile on her face that warned of trouble. "Well, then, --Monsieur Christian, was it?--- Are you spending the night as well?"

"If… If you want me to," I said innocently, stumbling on my words slightly. Scott snorted with laughter and tried to cover it with a cough. Selene turned towards him giving a look that made him quiet immediately. "I--- I didn't mean it that way, of course, I mean… If you thought that I was thinking that because I wasn't thinking that at all!"

Selene stared at me. Scott looked like he was just about to bust a gut from holding in his laughter. He was gnawing on his lower lip, and his eyes were filled with tears. A few snickers were escaping, but thankfully (for him) Selene had been too engulfed in my discomfort to give her dearest brother a second glance.

"Really, now? Because from what I've learned in my twenty-two years of living is that whenever a man has to assure a woman that he wasn't thinking about this certain subject, I've always found that they actually were thinking of this certain subject and trying to cover their tracks to make themselves look innocent and good!" -and her smile was gone.

I stepped back slightly, overwhelmed. "No, I think you misunderstood me…" I said nervously. Her blue eyes were sending a glare at me that sent chills down my spine… and not the good kind. "I'm just a- a-"

"Writer? Oh, yes, I've heard all about you from my wildly exaggerating brother here!"

"It's not exaggerating!" Scott finally chimed in to postpone my punishment. "It's all true! The book says so! It's true! Tell her, Monsieur Christian!"

"Um… If you wish for me to leave, I'll just gather my things and go…" I said. My heart was starting to pound rather uneasily, for even as respectful as I was, as a man, I was doing all I could to keep from bursting out in a frenzy and singing and crying and yelling out my affections for her… Well… not for her, for Satine, but of course, she certainly was enough like her physically… All of her… Oh, my father would be having a riot right now.

"NO!" Scott cried. "Don't go! I still need to talk to you!" He ran in front of me defensively and threw his arms around my chest, holding me protectively. I had to say that I was a bit disturbed about the boy's affection for me, but I wasn't exactly in the position to say anything at the moment.

"Scott-" Selene began.

He turned his face towards her, giving her a look that, even though I could only see the top of his head, I knew was absolutely adorable. "Selene… Please let him stay! I'll cook dinner myself, and I'll even walk him home!"

She crossed her arms. The look on her face gave away that she was starting to give in. "Scott, what have I told you about-"

Scott was suddenly over with his sister with his arm around her waist. "He thinks you're really beautiful…" He coaxed, raising his eyebrows.

I felt a lump in my throat. I couldn't swallow it no matter how much I wanted to. I was about ready to pass out again.

She turned towards me. "I never heard him say that, Scott…" She seemed offended.

Scott grinned sheepishly. It was time for stage three. "PLEASE PLEASE! Please, let him stay, Selene!" He begged, dropping to his knees and placing his hands in praying position. "I'll do your half of the chores for a week!"

"A month."

"Aw, c'mon, Selene!"

"A month."

"Look, just 'cause that guy said that he didn't like you doesn't me you have to hate men for it!"

She looked shocked… then her shock was overcome with hurt. Scott looked guilty suddenly, realizing he said something he shouldn't have. I myself couldn't believe my ears. What man in his right mind would turn down her? She was a sparkling diamond… but I was making references to Satine again. This was different… Satine would go to the highest bidder… that is until she met me…

"I just remembered something I have to do," Selene said, walking out of the room. "Scott, start dinner. I'll be back soon."

Scott's shoulders slumped. "Yes, ma'am…"

-and she was gone.

"You've got to be joking…" I said.

Scott turned to me, still looking guilty and rather hurt himself. "About what, Monsieur Christian?"

"A man… t-turned down… h-her?" I stammered.

"Our neighbor…" Scott said, sitting down on the piano stand. "She's been in love with him since we first moved in here last year after our parents died… She thought he was beautiful… but that was about as far as he went, but she was blind to that…"

I sat down next to him, listening intently.

"I'm not entirely sure if she actually, really loved him… Maybe… -maybe she was just trying to ease her loneliness. She was really close to Mother and Father… After all, she was their first born… When they died, she was suddenly all alone. She couldn't be babied anymore. Now she had to baby us… and she was young, and she still is… She really can't do it alone… I try to help as best as I can, but… I'm a screw-up. Every job I've ever tried to do, I've failed miserably… Just when I was just about to give up hope, I saw your book in a store window, went inside, and began to read. I read and read and read all day long. When I finished it, I read it again and again. The words inspired me, and I realized something. I could make something out of nothing. You were just an innocent boy who had no talent except writing when you arrived here in Paris, and I realized that I must have a talent too!"

I couldn't believe that my words had effected him in that way. I thought he just enjoyed reading it. I didn't know I'd inspired him so much.

"-but… I'm getting off of the subject…" He smiled rather sadly. "She finally told that man next door how she felt… or how she thought she felt about him… about a few weeks ago… He told her that he was engaged to be married to a woman who was much richer without the little tag-alongs… He was talking about Margaret, Joseph, and me… I feel like she hated us for awhile because of that… and when he broke her already fragile heart, she decided to swear off of the emotion of love… Unfortunately… I mean, I'd just fallen into the words of the Bohemian Revolution, and I believed in truth, beauty, freedom, and love more than anything. I tried to get her to read the book… I thought she could regain hope like I did when I read it… but she refuses to because it's a story about love. I wish she would learn to love again… so that I wouldn't be so miserable… and neither would she…"

"What are you planning to do about it?" I questioned. I actually wanted to ask if he'd punched the man in the nose yet, but I figured that was fairly inappropriate.

"Well, first, I'm going to gain enough money so we'll live like kings!" He said hopefully, clenching his fists together and looking into my eyes with his own. It seemed there was a sort of magic in his eyes that went beyond a normal boy's. He had seen more than most had, and he had lost dreams… and he had gained new ones. "Then I'll find a nice young man to introduce to my sister! It'll be just like a novel! They'll meet, fall in love at first sight, and live happily!"

"How do you plan to make all that money?" I asked, standing.

"Well, that's what I need you for… That's a part of my plan," He said, smiling deviously at me.

"What plan!" I questioned rather fearfully.

"I'll tell you after dinner when I walk you home," He said, walking past me. "I'm going to start dinner."

"What about S-"

"Selene will be fine in awhile… She just went up to her room to be alone for a little while…"

I glanced up the stairs as Scott disappeared into the kitchen, then slowly headed up.