Wandering Child

Chapter 16- The Truth

"Really?" Erik asked, skeptical that figuring out his name would be so simple. "How?"

"Well," She said. "Why don't I start at the beginning."

Erik nodded and sat down. "We're safe here." He said, and he crossed his legs.

"Lessee..." She muttered, "Well, I was born on April twenty-seventh, in the year 1988. I have always assumed that I was adopted because my "mother" never really seemed like a mother to me. I've always seemed to have friends, but when I turned eighteen, I just sort of drifted away from all of them. Just after school ended-" Here, Erik interrupted her.

"What is "school"?" He asked.

"It's a place where lots of kids go to learn. They start when they're about five or six, and they finish at eighteen. They don't sleep there, though. They go home in the middle of the afternoon, and then they return the next morning at about eight-thirty am."

"Oh." Erik said, still a little confused.

"Anyway, just as school was ending, and it was one of the last days of the year-you only have to study ten out of twelve months each year. Studies start in September, and end in July-I was in the library when I found a manuscript for a musical. Unfortunately, it was taken from me, so I can't show it to you. But it was titled, Don Juan Triumphant." Erik looked at her in surprise.

"On the cover, it had the initials, A. O. M., and on the inside, it said, To my darling daughter, etc, etc. I don't remember all of it. Anyways, I was almost killed, yadda, yadda. Then I met AM1, AM2, AM4, and Joey. They are all members of a group called, The Council of Music. I bet you can't guess why they're called that." She challenged with a twinkle in her eye.

"Most likely not." Erik suppressed a sigh. She was dragging the explanation out for far too long. Although, he was interested as to how-if what she had said was true-she had come to appear here.

"The AM stands for Angel of Music." Rebecca stated matter-of-factly. "They wanted me to go back in time to retrieve you, so you could lead their group."

"And why did they want me to lead their group?" Erik asked.

"Because...well...uh..."Her voice faltered. "They are deformed. And they believe, since you have such a following in my time, that if you were to lead them, then they would be considered more acceptable in society."

Erik tried to keep his voice steady. "How exactly is it that I have a following?" He asked.

"Because," Rebecca said. "Someone is going to write a book about you, and then millions of girls will read it, not to mention that it will become a famous musical, and then all those girls start feeling bad because everyone treated you like you were worthless-which, by the way, you aren't-and then they started to daydream and fantasize about you. Before you know it, you have millions of girls wishing they were able to go back in time so they could date you." She paused for a gulp of air.

"So you expect me to believe that you went back in time to retrieve me, because this...Council of Music wanted me to lead them, because there are millions of girl who are obsessed with me?" He asked incredulously.

-

"No." I said. "I don't expect you to believe it. But that doesn't mean that it's not true." I looked at Erik with an almost-solemn expression on my face. Then, out of the clear blue, I said, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Erik asked.

"I'm sorry that things didn't work out between you two." I said.

Erik's face hardened. "It's none of your business." He stood up. "I think it's time you went home." He said.

"That's a little difficult." I replied.

"How?" Erik asked.

"Well," I said slowly, pulling out a crumpled piece of paper from my pocket. "The codes that Joey wrote down are all smudged. I don't know how to tell which is which now." I paused. "I could be looking at a three, but it looks like an eight, or a six."

"Then you will have to find your own way in this time." Erik replied. "Because I will not house you any longer."

I didn't answer him. For some reason, I didn't want to leave him. I remembered what AM1 and AM2 had told me about Erik committing suicide.

"I-I can't do that." I choked out. There was a lump in my throat and I swallowed hard before continuing. "I mean, the book said..." I took deep breaths to calm myself. Relax, I told myself. It's not that big of a deal.

"The book said that you were going to commit suicide."

Erik's face changed to surprise, then horror, and then anger. "I'm not going to commit suicide." He said between clenched teeth.

I stood up to face him. I was just over half his height. "You're right." I said, my voice a little wobbly. "Because I'm not going to let you." I put my hands on my hips and stood straight in front of him.

Erik laughed. "You?" He asked incredulously. "You couldn't prevent a fly from biting you!" Erik laughed again.

That really hurt, and I was sure it showed on my face. I quickly covered it up. "You know," she said. "I used to think that you weren't all that bad; that you were just misunderstood. Now I know better." I gathered myself up to my full height. "You're not just ugly on the outside. You're ugly on the inside, too."

Erik had stopped laughing, and I could see expressions of surprise, then hurt, and then anger cross his face. He reached out on hand and grabbed my wrist, wrenching it. I let out an unearthly scream that echoed through the tunnels. I couldn't prevent the tears from streaking down my face.

"LET GO OF ME!" I screamed in pain again.

Erik let go of my wrist and I fell to the floor. I held my wrist in my hand, cradling it. I could feel Erik's burning eyes glaring at me with hatred.

I whimpered and rocked back and forth on the floor. It's true that what I had said was cruel, some might even say heartless. But he had laughed at me.

I've been lying. I've never really had much for friends. I did finally have friends when I was in my senior year of high school, but before that I didn't. I had been a loner.

So when Erik had laughed at me like that, it had brought up all those years of pain and heartache, of not knowing what I had done wrong, of wanting to be accepted. My first reaction had been to retaliate, and that's just what I had done.

As I rocked back and forth on the floor, whimpering because of the pain, I heard a grating noise. I looked up, and saw that Erik was standing stiff as stone. Someone had realized that the stone blocking the tunnel we were in could be moved.

I stood up on shaking legs. "Erik." I whispered. I looked up at him with tears trickling down my cheeks. Erik looked down at me with a bleak expression on his face. Then he grabbed my other wrist, the one he hadn't hurt, and ran, with me close behind.

A/N: Okay, okay. I know what Rebecca said was mean. Don't worry; she apologizes for it in the next chapter. Please review and tell me what you think. (Don't hurt me!)