Chapter 4
"I'm such a fool!" Erik screamed as he trudged through his home, knocking over everything and anything that got in his way. Whether it was his old leather bound books, large golden candelabrums, brass and wooden instruments, yellowing sheet music, or valuable china and trinkets, he didn't care if they fell and broke. The only thing that ran through his mind was Christine.
"Why did I go to her?" He plopped himself down in his old, over sized armchair. "I can't go back to her." He ran his hands down the front of his mask, then sighed deeply. "She hasn't changed, the stupid girl. She claims to love me, and would to anything to see me again, but I can see right through her. She loves that bastard, that arrogant, self centered, ignorant, vain child. But, despite his numerous flaws, he is capable of loving her, no just physically giving himself to her, or his heart. If he wanted, every last bit of his soul could belong to her. He could please her in every way possible for a man to please his wife. He has beauty, charm, endless money, stature in society, and the most overwhelming quality he has above me is acceptance. They can be received anywhere they please, they could do anything." He took his porcelain mask off, threw it to the floor, and watched it shatter into a hundred little pieces. "Your a fool, Erik. Christine isn't in love with you, old fool. She is a married women. She has a child with another man. She is a countess, what more could she ask for?" He told himself, even thou in his heart he knew she wasn't happy with her life. He was just trying to rationalize it in his mind.
"She doesn't love me. Oh she has a simple, childish need for an older man. She wants a father, not a lover. She made a mistake, that I don't plan on letting her make again." He got up off the chair, and walked over to his bed room. In the corner of his dresser, he kept a small music box, that had a figure of a Persian monkey on top of the main box. He opened it, allowing the soft melodies of masquerade to fill the room, as he pulled out a small oval onyx ring. He had given it to Christine, to show his love for her, but she returned it to him when she left with Raoul. He tightened his fist around the ring, till it began to cut into his palm, causing his blood to spill over it. He threw it out into the hall, it skipped over the ground, landing among the pieces of his mask.
"She will return for me, I know she will. I can't face her... and I won't... I'll leave, right know. I'll leave and never come back to this cursed place." He when to his closet, grabbed on of his warmer cloaks, and his fedora, then stormed out of his house, planing never to return.
