Wandering Child

Chapter 14- Whispers in Sickness

Erik was playing his finished piece when he recalled where he had first heard the words. This thought allowed him to remember Rebecca.

He stopped his playing and went to see if she was awake. As he passed through the doorway of his music room, he glanced at the clock. It said that it was 8 o'clock in the morning.

When Erik looked to see if Rebecca was awake, he saw that she wasn't. He left her to sleep a little longer. Then, when she had fully woken, he would lead her out of the tunnels and outside. From the opera, she would be able to make her way home.

Erik checked on her an hour later. She was still fast asleep. Then he noticed the beads of sweat on her forehead, and how her breathing was shallow and irregular. He realized then that she was sick. She must have developed a fever overnight.

Erik left the room and went into the kitchen. He took a large bowl out of the cupboard and filled it with cool water from the lake. Taking a cloth with him, he returned to Rebecca's side. He dipped the cloth in the water and dabbed her forehead with it.

The cool water seemed to revive her enough so that she was at least somewhat aware of her surroundings. She tried to sit up, but Erik pushed her back down.

"Don't get up." He said gruffly.

She lifted her hand to her eyes. "What's going on?" She asked. "Where am I?"

"You're sick." Was all Erik said. He continued to dab her forehead with the cloth.

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. At first, Erik thought that she was asleep again, but then she opened her eyes again and looked at him.

"Joey," She murmured. "Joey is always nice. She makes me laugh. I have a friend now, and I am always going to have a friend." Erik listened as she babbled on about always having friends, and then not having any for a longtime. She was obviously hallucinating.

"But Joey is my friend now." She continued. "And we'll be friends forever. Unless I can't go home. If the time machine breaks, then I won't be able to go home. But that's okay. I kind of like it here."

Time machine? Erik thought. What is a time machine? Is it something that can go to the future? Then a thought struck him. The bracelet. Of course. She was talking to someone who she thought she knew, and who she thought knew about this time machine. He quickly brought his mind back to the present so he could figure out what she was saying.

"AM1 and AM2 sent me to the year 1870 to find him. They want him to lead them. I think that's stupid. It doesn't matter what you look like. I really don't think that Joey, AM1, AM2, and AM4 have to feel ashamed. Don't people nowadays know that it's what's one the inside, not the outside that counts? I mean, come on! It's the twenty-first century for crying out loud. Show some respect."

She stopped talking, and her eyes turned to him. They were glazed over. A tear trickled down her cheek. She reached out her hand to his face.

But just before she could touch his mask, she let her hand drop to her side. Another tear slid down her cheek, and her eyes seemed to clear.

"I told Joey the truth about her. I told her the truth about everyone who feels they're not good enough. I said to her, "You are precious no matter what you look like. And you are beautiful. You are so beautiful, you can't possibly imagine.

" "People think that because they don't look like everyone else, or because they don't dress like everyone else, then that makes them weird, or makes them a freak. But that's not true. I have believed that about myself, too.

" "I know what it's like to lie awake at night wondering what is wrong with me. Wondering, and asking God to fix me.

" "But if there is weakness, strength will replace it. Where there is hatred, love will appear. Beauty blossoms from ugliness, and when you are caged, there will always be someone to set you free. You are always beautiful, and you always have been. You are loved. Never forget that." " She fell silent, and she closed her eyes in slumber. Her arm was hanging halfway off of the couch.

Erik tucked her arm under the blanket, and sat back to watch the fire. A tear slid down his left cheek. It traveled down his chin, and dripped onto his pants.

The words that Rebecca had spoken felt as though they had come from somewhere else. Somewhere in his head, that he hadn't wanted to acknowledge in his heart. Erik then gave himself up. He allowed himself a luxury that he hadn't had in a while: the luxury of a good cry.

-

I woke up to see Erik sitting in front of the fire. He was staring at the flames so fiercely, that I feared they would burn the whole house to the ground.

I sat up slowly. I vaguely remembered a dream where I was talking to my mother, and explaining to her how I had felt for so long, how I had made a friend, and why I was gone for so long.

I shook the memory out of my head and ran my hand through my hair. What I really needed at that moment was a good wash. I decided to ask Erik if there was a place where I could bathe. But then I remembered that I was supposed to "go home". I decide to ask him if he was going to lead me through the tunnels.

But before I could, he turned his head slightly so that I was able to see part of the left half of his face. For a moment, he looked as though he'd been crying, but I pushed that thought away. I figured it to be the reflection of the fire.

"Who is Joey?" He asked. I froze. How could he know that? I asked myself. I decided to play the idiot card.

"Who?" I asked, tilting my head to one side like an eagle.

"Joey, you're friend. Who is she?" He turned to face me fully.

I desperately tried to look confused, but instead I only succeeded in looking even more uncomfortable and nervous. If the idiot card didn't work, then I had no choice but to play the truth card.

"How do you know about Joey?" I asked uncertainly.

"You had a fever." Erik explained. "You were babbling about yourself and your life."

I'm certain that the look on my face was one of pure horror. I covered my mouth with one hand and let out a tiny squeak.

"Did-did I say anything else?" I asked fearfully.

"Yes." Erik replied quietly. His face seemed to harden. Oh, no, I thought. He knows who I am and why I'm here. This is sure to screw with the story.

"What things did I say?" I asked, unsure whether I wanted to know or not.

"You mentioned people named AM4, AM1, and AM2." He said. He examined my face with his eyes. His head never moved. His eyebrows were furrowed in concentration and curiosity.

"What else?" I whispered quietly.

"You mentioned how your friends were always thinking about how rejected they were, and you repeated what you had said to Joey. Words to encourage her."

"Anything else?" I asked, fervently hoping that there wouldn't be anything about the time machine.

"No." Erik said, shaking his head. I let out a loud and obvious sigh of relief. My secret was still safe.

With the relief that Erik still didn't know about the time machine, I noticed three things. One: I was enormously hungry. Two: I needed a bath really badly because I stank worse than a camel's behind. And three: That my dress was positively ruined.

My stomach growled, and Erik pointed to a tray of food on a side table that was near the couch.

"Thank you." I said appreciatively. I walked over to the table and brought the tray with me onto the couch. I crossed my legs and set the tray on my lap. Then I dug into the food with gusto.

There were three slices of bacon, a piece of toast, two small pancakes, and a mountain of fresh fruit. There was some cantaloupe, strawberries, mango, honeydew, and kiwi. I wondered how he could have gotten a hold of such foreign species of fruit.

As I ate, I watched Erik out of the corner of my eye. He was staring at the floor. He had his knees tucked up against his chest, and he was sitting on the floor. I wondered what he was thinking.

-

Erik stared at the floor. He couldn't look at her for fear that she would look at him. He didn't want her to see the shame in his eyes. He didn't want her to know that the words she had spoken had had such an impact on him.

Erik still hadn't introduced himself to Rebecca, but she didn't seem to have a problem with that. She appeared to be content with his decision to keep his identity to himself. He appreciated that more than anything that anyone else had done for him. She respected his privacy, and that was something he treasured. Even when she was hallucinating, she still didn't touch his mask. True, she had nearly touched it. But at the last minute, she had retracted her hand.

Erik sat on the floor, thinking about what Rebecca had said. He wondered if she had actually said those things to her friend, or if she had really been aware of what was going on and had said it for his benefit.

He raised his head when she said something. "Pardon, Mademoiselle?" He asked.

"I said, thank you for breakfast. It was wonderful." She smiled, and Erik stood up. Rebecca stood up, too, and she stretched, yawning widely and noisily. She was definitely NOT a ballet rat. Those girls were sticklers when it came to being ladylike.

-

I looked down at myself with disgust. My dress was all wrinkled, and My hair was still a bit stiff from the previous day's incident in the lake.

I glanced at Erik. He was looking off into the distance and frowning. I wondered if it would be okay to ask if he had any spare dresses. I couldn't ask outright, though. It had to be discreet. A comment would be the best way to go.

"I wish I had something fresh to change into." I stated. It was obvious enough that I figured he would be able to understand. He didn't.

"Well, I wish I could help you, but I can't." He sad.

"That's alright." I said, trying to be gracious. "I suppose that once I get home I can change and get cleaned up." I looked at him. He was still looking off into the distance. The only difference now was that he had started to pace.

"Is something wrong?" I asked. I suddenly had a feeling that something bad was either going to happen, or had already happened.

-

Erik admired how she kept her composure. She was disappointed, but to the average person, it would seem as though it was only a polite remark. He had a feeling that when she said it was alright that he couldn't help her, that she was really expecting him to be able to.

She knows more than she's telling, he thought. He promised himself that he would find out what she was hiding. In the meantime, he had an errand to run. It was time to deliver another message to the new managers of the Opera Populaire.

A/N: This is getting good! Bet you're wondering why Erik didn't tell Rebecca about everything she said when she was sick. You'll have to wait for the next chapter to find out. Review please!