Wandering Child

Chapter 15- Poor Erik

A/N: The part of PotO where Raoul is being captured is from the book. Most of the happenings are actually a combination of the book, and the 2004 movie. (I can't remember everything in the book, so I added some of what I know about the movie.)

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It was evening and I sat in front of the fire reading a book. Erik had gone out on an errand, and I was alone with my thoughts. I tried to pay attention to the words, but I couldn't. Something was bothering me.

I put down the book and got up to get a glass of water. As I drank the cool liquid, I finally realized what was bugging me: Erik had lied. I knew he had. He had looked so angry when he had said that I had been talking in my sleep. I knew it was because I had spoken about the time machine. The question was, why had he not said so? And why did he not decide then and there to just strangle me with his lasso?

I returned to the parlor and sat on the couch. There was something else that was bugging me, too. Why had Erik not told me who he was? True, I already knew who he was, but he didn't know that I knew that.

I curled up on the couch. There were so many questions that needed answers. And they were answers that I didn't have. How was I going to get Erik to come back with me to the twenty-first century? And at what point in the story had I come in? I didn't know, but I had a feeling that I would find out soon enough.

I decided to do a little exploring. I knew that I shouldn't go in Erik's room; that was automatically off limits. I wasn't planning on going there, though. I was planning on finding the statue of Christine. Joey had told me about how Erik was obsessed with her, and how he had had a life-like mannequin made of her. I figured that if I had entered at the end of the story, the statue would no longer be there.

But just as I was about to leave the parlor, I heard voices. I thought that Erik was most likely returning. Unfortunately, I knew that he had someone with him. There was more than one voice, and the second voice was high, and not at all like Erik's.

I quickly made a decision. AM4 and Joey had said that I wasn't to interfere with the basic storyline of the book, so I hid.

I threw open a closet door and saw it was just a storage area. I went inside and shut the door behind me. I would have cleaned up my stuff in the parlor, but I had no time.

The voices were louder now, and I could hear sobbing. I waited with baited breath as the sobbing grew louder and I could hear someone wailing.

I heard Erik's gruff voice drowning out the woman's sobs for a moment. She was obviously begging him to do something.

I recalled what Joey had said about the story. This was most likely the part where Raoul was in Erik's torture chamber, and Christine was being made to watch as he and the Persian were tortured. Joey had described the method to me. I shuddered.

I waited in the closet a long time. There were many noises, and I couldn't quite remember exactly what Joey had said happened after the torture chamber started to fill with water. I remembered that there were supposed to be barrels in the cellar below the chamber. The barrels were filled with gunpowder.

Erik had been intending to blow up the Opera house. I knew that he eventually allowed Christine to go and run off with Raoul. I smiled briefly as I remembered Joey vehemently calling Raoul a stupid fop, and Christine a moronic bimbo.

All of a sudden, I realized that the sounds had stopped. Not a sound could be heard. I figured that Erik had already allowed Christine to leave. That meant that there would be a mob coming pretty soon.

Slowly and cautiously, I opened the door of the closet. All was silent as I crept out of the closet, and back into the parlor. It was empty. I searched nearly every room in the house. It was empty. Had Erik left without me? I didn't think that he would. Then again, I didn't know how ruthless he could be.

After I had checked every room but Erik's, and the room that I thought to be Christine's, I knocked on Erik's door. No answering sound came from behind the closed wooden door.

I knocked again. "Erik?" I called out tentatively. Still no answer. It didn't even occur to me to open the door. Either way, though, I would never have betrayed Erik's privacy like that. If I wanted him to trust and respect me and be my friend, then I would have to trust and respect him.

I assumed that Erik didn't want to talk, or wasn't there. So I went up to the doorway of the room that I believed to be Christine's. I knocked tentatively on the door. I thought I heard a shuffling sound on the other side. I hoped that I was right when I assumed that Christine had already gone off with Raoul.

No one came to the door, so I knocked again. Another shuffling sound, and then the muffled sound of music. It was a simple melody that was being played, an every so often, I could hear the faint clash of tiny cymbals. I realized with a start that it must be the music box that Joey had told me about.

"Erik?" I asked hesitantly. Abruptly, the music stopped. Slowly, I opened the door. Erik was sitting on the swan bed, staring at the little music box with the monkey playing the cymbals. Erik was holding the revolving pin that was located at the back of the music box. That way, the pin couldn't turn and play music.

Erik slowly turned his head to face me. I didn't shudder, nor flinch, nor gasp. I simply looked at him like I would look at a normal human being. He wasn't wearing his mask. I don't know whether it was because AM1 had already shown me her face, so I knew what that kind of deformity looked like. Or if it was because Joey had told me all about Erik and how he was sensitive about his deformity.

The pain in his eyes was all too real. I slowly took a step forward, and Erik flinched. I came toward him and kneeled in front of him.

"I'm sorry," I murmured, not knowing what else to say. Erik said nothing, but continued to hold the music box in his hands. He had let go of the pin, and I could faintly hear the soft music, partnered with the tiny clash of the monkey's cymbals.

We both sat there for what seemed like a long time without saying anything. My feet itched to run. If one or both of us was found here, we would both be killed. This I knew for certain.

"You know," I said softly. "When I was sick, you said that I had repeated what I had said to my friend, Joey. Those words can apply to anyone, not just her." I watched his face for even the tiniest reaction. Then, as an after thought, I added, "Although, she was in the same situation as you."

Erik seemed to snort contemptuously. I thought I heard him whisper, "Not exactly the same situation."

I gently laid a hand on his arm. I felt the skin underneath his sleeve flinch at my touch. "Erik," I said gently. "We have to leave. If they find you here, they...well, they won't be happy." I finished lamely. I couldn't bring myself to say that they would kill him. He knew that already, and repeating it would only make him feel worse.

Slowly, as though every movement pained him, he stood up. I quickly stood up as well. I had always thought that I was a pretty good size, being 5'6. After standing beside him, I never thought that again. He was at least six feet tall, if not taller.

"I will lead you to an exit where you can find your way home," He said slowly. Then he left the room. He didn't take his mask with him. I grabbed it and shoved it into one of the hidden pockets in my rumpled dress. Then I followed him.

I found him by his piano. It was in his music room. For reasons that I will never understand, Erik had several mirrors in his music room. I thought that, for someone who doesn't like their appearance, he sure had quite a few mirrors.

Erik looked at the mirrors contemptuously, as though they had been the cause of all his problems. Then Erik picked up a paperweight that he had on a desk nearby and smashed the first mirror. The glass shattered into a million tiny pieces.

A larger piece cut me on the cheek. I barely noticed. I watched as Erik smashed every single mirror in the room. The last mirror he hit even harder than the previous ones. Behind the shattered remains of the mirror was a small, dark space.

Without hesitating, Erik stepped through. I followed and Erik let down a curtain in front of the mirror, form the other side. Then he slid a large rock in front of the opening, just to be sure. The opening securely sealed, Erik strode off into the darkness.

I followed, keeping close to him because I couldn't see a thing in the darkness. We traveled for what seemed like days before Erik seemed to notice that I was tiring. He stopped, and I bumped into his back.

Erik struck a light. It was small, and did nothing to chase away the shadows that lurked around every corner.

I plopped down on the ground and took off my sneakers. It felt strange to have something like that with me. I had felt as though my old life was merely a dream since I had arrived, and it felt strange to tell myself that it wasn't a dream; that it was real.

"I don't suppose you thought to bring anything to eat?" I asked, fingering the "bracelet" around my wrist.

"No." He said flatly.

"Didn't think so." I said. There was a long pause where neither of us said anything.

"How do you know my name?" Erik asked slowly.

"Oh, that's easy." I said matter-of-factly. I was tired of lying. I was going to tell the truth.

A/N: Review, please! (I wonder how many chapters this is going to end up having? It already has 15.)