Chapter 11

Erik was tossing and turning in the frightful throes of a nightmare. He had hardly been asleep more then half an hour in his new surroundings when the night terror had begun. In the nightmare, Erik had been standing in one of the many torch lit halls of the Opera House during the night hours. Mme. Giry had obviously made her rounds already, because there was no patter or footsteps or hushed whispering coming from any of the doors, which lined the hallway. Erik was unsure of where he exactly was in the Opera House but he managed to make a choice and began to steadily make his way down, occasionally groping the walls when there wasn't enough light to see by. After many minutes of travelling like this, he noticed that the hallway was getting darker by the minute and he stopped in mid stride. A feeling of foreboding came over him and he backed up, heading towards the way he had come. His eyes never left the darkness, for he could only guess what things came out at night. He was about to turn around when his eyes caught a flicker of a shadow. He, of course, wouldn't have given this a second thought except that he recognised the shadow as the one he saw when he followed Mme. Giry and the two managers unsuspectingly. He halted his movements, but the shadow seemed to have noticed and disappeared in an instant blending with the other shadows from the torches. Erik had no idea what possessed him but he grasped the torch nearest to him and peered down the hall where the shadow had disappeared.

"Wait!" he called and ran forwards, desperate to find out this time, what or who the shadow was. His legs pumped hard and he breathed heavily as he dashed down the corridors, noticing briefly that his hand was not bandaged and so the pain did not slow him down. "Wait, who are you?" he called again as he spotted the shadow a few meters before him and it froze in place. If it had a face the being turned so that the face was looking at Erik, but he could not distinguish the features because it was still dark. The body language told Erik that it was wary, but keen on hearing what Erik had to say. Erik came to a halt, keeping a respectful distance lest it be scared away.

"The question is, who are you?" it replied. Erik's eyes blinked in surprise, from the voice he could tell it was a woman.

"I'm Erik." Erik said, not really knowing what else to add. The shadow seemed to hover just beyond the reach of the torch's flame.

"A singer." The shadow said it as more of a statement then a question and Erik nodded, unsure of whether or not the being could actually see him.

"I've been here two days." Said Erik not wanting the silence to continue. The shadow moved closer towards him and he could see the bottom of a white dress emerging from the shadows however the face stayed in the dark. Now I know it's a woman, thought Erik.

"Yes, I am a woman Erik." She said reading his thoughts and he took a step back in surprise. "And I've seen you before." Erik fidgeted nervously with his night shirt and tried to look innocent because he did not want this woman to get a bad impression of him. God knows, he'd had enough of bad impressions to last him the rest of his life.

"I think I saw you too." Said Erik putting his trust in fate. The woman stepped forward menacingly and Erik took another step back, frightened this time. However from the tone in the woman's voice, she seemed happy almost.

"I do believe you have Erik." Erik could have sworn that if he could see her face she would be smiling at him. "When you were out of bed early and listening in on a conversation that you weren't supposed to hear." Erik gulped and began to look for a way to get away from this woman. He had been caught, she was sure to tell Mme. Giry and the manager's about him, and then he'd be kicked out, despite what Richard would say. When none came to his eyes he looked back at the white dress, which stood before him. "You however, have to reason to fear me Erik. If I had wanted to kill you, I would have done so earlier. If I had wanted you kicked out of the Opera House, I would have seen to it earlier as well." Erik cast a suspicious glance at the white dress and muddled over her words. He had barely begun to think, when the woman turned herself around and began to walk quietly away. He was snapped out of his thoughts and looked after the disappearing woman.

"Wait!" He called after her and began to run again. The woman turned around again, although this time her body language told him that he had better be quick about his business. He swallowed hard and took in a breath sharply. "You didn't say who you were."

"Maybe…" she replied quickly, "…I chose not to tell you." Erik considered this for a moment and then shook his head.

"I'm sorry…I just wanted to know."

"It's not important for you to know at this moment."

"Will I see you again?" Erik said, feeling more confident and more sure of himself then he actually was. The woman seemed to think this over carefully, and she took longer to reply to him. She kept her face in the shadows but came very close to Erik and laid her hands gently on his shoulders. He could feel her soft, cool breath on his face and it seemed to relax him. Erik knew she was right there in front of him, but some part of him told him that she wasn't really there, that she was a part of his imagination. She seemed real, but looked so frail with the flame flickering off her dress and the shadows creeping around her, threatening to make her dissolve if he and her did not speak to each other. He had no idea why he had such a strong draw towards her, something about her, compelled Erik to be with her and know more about her.

"I'll always be here in your dreams Erik. I'll always sing to you in your sleep." She said softly releasing his shoulders and turning back away from his for the last time. This time he knew that his time with her was over for that moment, and if he trusted in her words, he would always be able to see her. He reached out towards her back, which was retreating into the shadows, faster and faster with each step she took.

"I'll come back." Erik whispered, afraid that she wouldn't hear him. Without turning around, she acknowledged his answer with a slight nod towards the wall.

"I know you will Erik." She said simply, and disappeared altogether into the pitch, blackness of the night. Erik sank to the cold stone floor and let the torch he was holding fall to the floor and it snuffed out as the heat of the flame met the floor. He put his head in his hands and he began to shake, with what emotion, Erik did not know. "Don't forget Erik, I'm your Angel." Erik smiled as her last words floated down the hallway and he raised his eyes towards the hallway, but suddenly it vanished. Erik screamed, but no sound came out of his mouth, and as quick as the corridor disappeared, Erik was thrown into a small room, which was lined with glass mirrors. The ground was bare, and covered with brown sand, but it felt cold underneath Erik's naked feet. The only object in the room was a tree, and as Erik made his way over to it, he noticed that the tree wasn't alive, even though it was covered with lush green leaves. He ran his hand across the bark and it felt as smooth as glass, and the leaves felt like velvet. Erik stood in wonder at it all when the sound of splitting wood split the silence and reached his ears. He spun around under the canopy of velvet leaves and a rope met his frightened eyes. It was quite a long rope that hung down and was tied off to a sturdy branch up above. He looked at the length of the rope, it was quite long, but didn't quite reach the ground. It just fell to the height of Erik's head.

And at the end of the rope was a noose.

It came to just the right height so that if Erik's neck was in it, he would surely die. Erik was scared stiff that he couldn't seem to move but his brain was screaming at him to move. There's nowhere to go, I'm trapped, thought Erik, where's my Angel? He glanced desperately around, with futile hope that she would be standing nearby to comfort him.

Of course she wasn't there.

It all happened as soon as he took his gaze off the noose. In a flash, it was his neck in the noose, and it was trying to squeeze the breath out of him. To kill him. His mind went blank no thoughts came to mind. He silently screamed, producing no results of course. However, in the moment when his mind started to go into a fog, due to the lack of oxygen, a blur of faces and sounds leaped around his mind. It was all a jumble but he could pick out certain phrases.

"…Nice to perform here gentlemen, thanks for the opportunity."

"You are always welcomed back to the Opera House Jacque."

" Thank you Andre, but I believe a good retirement is in order." Loud drunken laughter rose to a crescendo in Erik's ears and he winced at the volume.

"Are you sure we can't ask you to stay?"

"No, no Firmin. I must be on my way."

"Very well Jacque. Safe travels." In front of Erik's eyes swam a blurry scene which held Andre, Firmin and who he assumed to be Jacque Laffrey all shaking hands. The scene dissolved and screaming was heard in the distance. A cold wet hand seemed to close around Erik's throat and he tried to hold it off, even though there was nothing there. Erik shut his eyes against the voices and visions, hoping they would go away, but he was so wrong.

They multiplied in number and volume.

"Please, I didn't do anything." A scene popped into Erik's head of a darkened corridor, much like that one he was in before. He saw Jacque there whimpering in the corner and holding his hands across his face, trying to shield himself from something. A high-pitched voice screamed right in Erik's ear, quite angry. He saw a blurry hand reach out and grab hold of Jacque's matted black hair and he cried as the hand twisted his head up to face the other person who Erik could not see. "Please, I didn't do anything." Jacque repeated with overwhelming fear in his eyes.

"You betrayed me. You've heard what I do to people when they betray me." Jacque nodded in terror, clawing the wall, trying to leave. It pained Erik to see anyone in this amount of pain, he only wished he could see who was the cause.

"I didn't betray you…I didn't say anything!" Jacque cried, tears now streaming down his face. "Please…have mercy." The voice laughed harshly and Jacque closed his eyes against his attacker. "I don't want to die…" Jacque murmured.

"You should have thought of that before." The voice said in anger. "Be lucky, you've lasted this long." With that a noose, just like the one his own neck was in, was flung around the neck of Jacque. He screamed and ripped at the noose trying to get it off. The struggle lasted only seconds as first Jacque's screams were cut off and then his body fell limply to the side of the wall.

Erik's eyes fluttered open and he was drenched in a cold sweat sitting up in his bed.

A/N: OK, forget what I said about my previous chapters, I LOVED this one the most. Are you all happy to see Christine? Although shh...Erik doesn't know it yet... Ah, I hoped you liked it as much as I do! Squirming characters! R&R!