Chapter Seventeen
DISCLAIMER: OK; I don't own phantom of the opera. Plain and simple
Karen was the first one to wake up the next morning. Or was it a few hours after she fell asleep? It was so hard to tell the day from night in Erik's home.Erik slept near the organ; and Meg slept on the right side of Karen. Karen rose carefully; so she would not wake them; and to get out; she touched the canopy; causing it to rise; and once it rose; she put her feet on the side of the swan's neck; and climbed off. Meg and Iris still sleeping soundly. She walked out of the bedroom and into the main room; Erik slept with his mask on; and with his head to the right. Karen tried to move without waking him; but he smiled and started talking.
"Sleep well?" Karen stopped and nodded.
"Yes. I'm sorry if I woke you." He shook his head and moved so there was room for her next to him. She sat beside him; and he draped his arm around her neck.
"You didn't. But you did seem a bit shaken up last night." She rested her head on his shoulder; and he moved his hand so he was stroking her hair and moving the hair infrount of her ear; to the back.
"I was just so glad I finally got the chance to sing; but then I passed out and now my ex-fiance is out to kill me and everyone I care about." Erik held onto her; and kissed her neck.
"Don't worry. I'm going to protect you." He continued to brush the hair behind her ear, further back; calming her and sending a feeling of security through her veins. "He did this to himself; he had lost you on his own."
"But what if he wins? What if he kills you, Meg, and Iris? I won't be able to smile; not ever again."
"Calm down." He cooed gently to her. "No one is dead. The worst that has happened is your arm and that will heal. Don't go thinking were all going to be dead no matter what happens. You know how secure this place is; and even if he could get here with all his limbs; He wouldn't ever make it to you three."
Karen knew Raphael was stubborn. But she didn't know he could throw such a big fit when he didn't get what he wanted. Then again, the last time she saw him; he got exactly what he wanted. She couldn't picture herself being with him; and if she was with him; she knew it would only be because Erik was dead. She couldn't help herself; she pictured it and didn't like what she saw. "Besides, I promised I would never leave you."
"The promise meant that you would not leave me for another woman, but you cannot fight fate."
"I still said I would never leave. As far as I'm concerned; that means I must stay with you in this life."
She had Raphael's wedding ring on her finger; and she didn't have any color to her. She was pale as a ghost; and she looked thin. Every time she would look down at her wedding ring; she would see Erik's face reflected in it. When she turned; there would be nothing but the darkness of her kitchen. She had stopped singing; having lost her voice. Not from singing too much; but from her constant crying; she lost it all. Now she was nothing but a housewife. Having the thoughts of her late fiance in her mind. Sometimes she thought she could hear him singing songs in her head. But every time she went to the cemetery to pay her respects to those she has lost; she would have three graves to visit. One, her late sister; Iris Edalene. Two,Meg Giry, her late best friend, and Three, her late fiance, Erik. She would break down at all three; the memories they had together would overwhelm her. Next to Erik's grave; there sat an empty plot. She had picked two sticks and a pile of stones; fixing a tiny headstone and the sticks made the cross.She would write her name on paper and tie it in the middle of the cross. She may be a moving body; but if her lively hood was judged by her spirit; she was dead as well.
"Karen..Karen..." She snapped back into reality and saw Erik trying to bring her back. "Are you alright? You zoned out."
"Yes. Yes I'm OK." Karen replied; smiling at him.
"You looked so pale. Come. Let's take your mind off of this." He rose; extending his hand to her. She placed her hand in his; and he lifted her up. He took her to the desk and asked her what she wanted to do. She looked through everything he had;like a child, waiting to be taught. She looked through his figures of the cast; chorus; and everything. She found the one of Christine Daae' in the large white dress she wore during "Think of me".
"She looks so pretty." Karen told him; admiring the work he had done.
"She was. But like you said; looks can be deceiving." She set the figure back down; but he picked it right back up and unscrewed the head. Staying silent in fear of saying something wrong.
"Christine sounds like she was more fit for you." Karen replied.But then she shook her head. "But she chose wrong."
"Or maybe she chose right." Erik corrected. "If she had chosen me; you would be with Raphael right now. Wearing Raphael's ring." Karen smiled.
"Fate is inevitable. Christine was always meant to choose Raoul; even though it wasn't the right choice for her. Her choice however; influenced my inevitable choice." Erik smiled and listened to her words of fate. "Those people that died three years ago; it was their time. If they hadn't died at the theater; they'd have died elsewhere. People don't die if it isn't their time. They were meant from birth to die the way they did. It explains your face; you were fated to be banished down here due to it."
"How is it you know so much about fate?" Erik asked; his arms crossed.
"I've read Philosophy books."
"Ok then, if Christine chose wrong; can you tell me what will become of her?"
"I can not predict the future."
"Have you stopped to think that you chose wrong?" Karen looked at him; and shook her head.
"No. No I think I made the right choice."
I'm ending this chapter REALLY early because of all I want to do; but I want to space it out through the chappies. :D I hope you enjoyed the small chappie and all that.
Erik: . your such a geek.
Me: O.O Why do you say that?
Erik: You made sims of Me, Karen, and Iris!
Me: Then deleted them!
Erik: Your still a geek
Me: Quiet baby-cakes.
