Disclaimer: I do not own Phantom. blah blah blah. Same thing you've read in every other chapter...
Alrighty...here is the new chapter, please don't hurt me! It gets better, I promise!
"Can you come with me, please?" He said. The man had a wonderful face. The kind you imagine Prince Charming to have. But I was still uneasy. And it must have shown through in my face.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you, I just have business proposition." Business proposition? This confused me a bit. What kind of business could he do with me? I packed up all my things and took them with me as I went after him.
I followed him down the road to a more secluded area.
"Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Gabriel Sully. I'm sure you're wondering why I brought you here." I nodded. "I work as an art seller in New York City. I'm quite well known up there actually." He laughed. "Anyway, every now and then I go across the country to see if I can find certain artists who have exceptional talent, but aren't known as well as they should be."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. If I wasn't mistaken, he was offering me…
"What I'm offering you is that we sell your art together. I get some of the profit of course, but the portion that you get will be much more than what you are getting right now. What's your last name?" He asked.
Without thinking I gave him the last name that I gave anyone who asked. "Dautry. And Monsieur, what of a place to live? I don't have much money." I said.
"That will all be taken care of. Well Roxanne Dautry, what do you say?" He smiled at me. I thought for a second. Then my sudden surprised happiness left when I remember that Erik couldn't come with me. It would be too risky in New York City. It would be too risky to travel, even the travel that we had accomplished, we had to keep him hidden.
"Can I get back to you?"
"Well, that's going to be hard, I'm leaving tonight. How about this? I'll wait for you outside the ticket booth of the train station at 8 PM, if you're not there by 8:30 then I'll leave, but if you're there I'll buy you a ticket and we can leave."
I agreed.
"I hope to see you tonight, Miss Dautry."
And then he left.
That night when I got home, it was around 6:30. Erik greeted me. We ate dinner together. Everything we normally did. But I was quiet. I answered him in one word sentences.
I wasn't being too discrete about the fact that there was something on my mind.
"Ma biche? What is it? You've been quiet all evening." By this time it was 7:15 according to Erik's watch.
I walked over to him and I pulled his arms around me. He completed the embrace by pulling me closer. We stood there for a second, then I spoke.
"I like it when you hold me." I said.
"I like holding you." His hand stroked the my hair.
"Erik, I have to tell you something." I pulled out of his hold.
"What is it, ma cherie?"
"Today I met a man, he told me that he liked my art. And he wants me to go to New York City with him to sell my art there." My eyes were about to start filling up with tears.
"What do you want to do?" He asked quietly.
"That's the problem! I want to go! But I can't leave."
"Why can't you leave?"
"Because of you! I can't leave you." Tears were running down my face leaving wet paths on my cheeks.
He was silent.
"Roxanne…you have to go."
"What? You mean you don't want me here?" I shrieked. I was so terribly scared. For a moment I thought that the one person I had ever really loved no longer wanted me.
"Ma biche, of course it's not that. It would never be that. I would never send you away because I didn't want you."
"What is it then?" I said.
"Follow your dream, Roxanne. Remember that time a few days after we first met when I asked you what you would do if you could do anything with your life? Do you remember your answer? You wanted to be an artist. I couldn't be out in the open about my passion, but you can. You have to follow your dream."
I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to do. I wanted to stay with Erik. But I wanted to go to New York.
"You have to go." He repeated.
I looked him straight in the eyes. I put my hands up and removed his mask. I let it fall to the ground. I raised my hand to his face. I pulled my fingers down the side of his face. "I want to stay with you forever," I whispered.
I could see his eyes studying my face. I ran my fingers over his lips. They were uneven and mismatched but they were soft. I put my hands on the sides of his cheeks, cupping his face.
Slowly I brought my face closer to his. Our lips were but an inch away. Then without thinking I closed the gap creating an unexpected jolt through me and I had a feeling through him as well. Within a second I had pulled away. It was now my turn to study his face. He wasn't angry or upset as far as I could see.
"I love you." I said. After a moment he spoke.
"Je t'aime aussi, ma biche." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. And then he pulled me close to him and held me. I wanted to hold him like this always. "I love you, Roxanne, and that's why I'm telling you to go. Because I believe that this is what you've always wanted. Am I wrong?"
"No, but…" I started.
"Look at me," I obeyed, "Ma biche, ma cherie, you must go!"
"But I can't!" I pleaded.
"Yes you can, and you will. Please, go."
"I can't leave you…"
"Ma cherie, we'll always have the precious memories and we'll treasure them forever. Even if we're not together physically, our spirits will always be. I love you, Roxanne, and at this point I don't know if anything can change that. But you must go. Please, Roxanne, I need to know that your life has been successful."
"But Erik…"
"Please, Roxanne…"
Finally, I decided.
"Alright, I'll go."
"Now hurry and pack your things and get to train station."
I put all my things together. I put them by the door. Erik was standing close by to me.
"Erik…what if we never see each other again?"
"Roxanne, you'll always be with me."
I dropped my things, ran to him and flung my arms around his neck and began to cry all over again.
"Kiss me, one more time Erik? I want to remember this."
Slowly he brought is mouth to mine, but this time, it no longer just a kiss, it was a symbol full of passion, desire, and sorrow.
We pulled away and I let go of him.
"Goodbye, Erik." I said.
"Goodbye, ma biche." And with that, I left the house and began running for the train station.
When I got there, It was around 8:25 and Gabriel Sully was just about to leave.
"Monsieur!" I yelled. "I'm coming!" He turned around, a grin on his face.
"Oh, good! Come on then!" He went back to the ticket booth and bought me a ticket. Then we both boarded the train. It was my first time riding in the actual passenger part of a train.
"What made you decide to come?" he asked as we sat down. I was silent, I didn't really want to think about Erik, but I couldn't help it.
"Oh, well, a friend…told me that he thought it would be good for me."
"You have a smart friend." He said. "You will have so many new opportunities! Your work will be in museums, in people's homes, in art galleries. We will have your apartment figured out and of course you won't have to pay the full price…" He was rambling. I tuned him out and looked out the window.
I would soon be leaving the place where my love was. The one who I loved and who loved me back. Knowing this made harder to leave. Knowing that he felt the same way as I did.
Erik…My Erik.
I was leaving him possibly forever. It was so hard to think that, but the sad things was, it was probably reality.
Gabriel Sully continued to talk, leaving me free to think about whatever I wanted. And what I wanted to think about was Erik. But at the same time I wanted to think nothing of him.
Soon enough I could hear the engine start and then the train started to move, making it too late for me to go back.
I felt so empty. So hollow. Maybe that's what the dictionary meant by "oneness." That you feel incomplete without the other. Because I knew that I definitely felt incomplete.
The train started moving faster taking me away from the one thing I had ever known as love.
Then all of a sudden I thought of the poem…
"Faintly I smell the color,"
"Faintly I see the love.
Faintly I wish to be in it.
It's something I was void of.
'Paint it over' she told me.
'Paint it with love'
Now I sit, painting it over.
I paint my life over."
I was definitely painting my life over whether I liked it or not. Vaguely I felt as if I was being painted over without my consent.
Yay! And that's the chapter! Please don't hurt me, it gets better!