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Erik
I quietly shut my bedroom door as I heard Sabine mounting the steps to her room. Sighing, I laid my head against the back of my door and listened to the silence that surrounded the house. I thought again of Sabine and what had passed between us before I cowardly fled from her into the safety of my room. I wanted her before marriage, but I knew that wasn't allowed. My thoughts turned to what our wedding night would hold. I had thought of this many times and created fantasies in my head that I hoped would come true once there was a golden ring placed on her finger.

Then, my thoughts were interrupted by the thought of Christine. It had been so long since I had thought of her. I had no need to. I had moved on with my life and concluded that she had moved on with hers. Apparently, she had not and now she wanted to become my wife. How could she just expect me to drop the life I had and be with her now, especially after what had passed between us the night she left me for that boy.

I turned down the coverlets on my bed and slid beneath the clean sheets. Laying my head on the softness of my pillow, I thought of what it would mean to be the husband of my first love. Would it really be all I always imagined it to be? I could never fully trust her again because of Raoul. Would the day ever come when he wanted her back? What would become of me then? Sabine surely wouldn't take me back after that. I loved Sabine too much to make her go through what I had gone through with Christine. That would make me as cruel as she had once been to me.

So Don Juan finally left her, did he? Ah, Don Juan. What memories that simple name brings to my mind. What horrible, frightful, painful memories that brings to mind. The night she left me for that damned boy crushed me. I remember escaping the confines of the opera house that night, slipping easily past guards and fleeing into the night like a shadow. The next afternoon, I had come to the house of Madame Giry and begged her to let me stay with her. Meg was away for the afternoon, but her niece, Sabine was there, who had just come a few days before after the death of her parents. I remember when I first beheld Sabine. She was clearing away the luncheon plates and cups, placing them in the sink to be washed. Her golden curls fell to the middle of her back and her crystal blue eyes pierced my soul. When she smiled, her loveliness grew to a point beyond comprehension. And I thought Christine had been beautiful. I knew then that I had been wrong. This young girl was an angel.

And young she was, too. She was only seventeen when we met, nineteen now, and I was at the age of forty-two. Before I had found her, my health had been failing and I had assured Madame Giry that I would only stay no more than a few months before she had to bury me in the ground. That all changed when Sabine had walked into my life. She was my beautiful surprise and second chance at life.

The first time she had seen me without my mask was a beautiful surprise as well. It was about a year ago, shortly before we had become engaged. I had slept late, not feeling quite up to eating breakfast, when I heard a small tap on my bedroom door. Feeling rather sick, I had forgotten that I slept without my mask, as I do all nights, and I bid the knocker to enter. She did, and wandered over to the side of my bed. My eyes were closed and I felt a small kiss on the deformed side of my face. Terror struck me when I remembered my foolishness and when I opened my eyes, she was smiling down at me.

"Oh my love," I had exclaimed, covering my face, "I am sorry!"

She ignored my outburst and whispered, "My dear, are you ill? I was worried when you didn't show up for breakfast this morning."

"Yes I'm not feeling well," I replied, shakily.

"Get some more rest then, darling. Do you need anything?"

"No," I whispered, "I am all right."

She then stroked my almost bald head and placed another kiss on my lips before leaving. I had been stunned.

And I still am stunned every time she sees me unmasked. She acts as if it's the most natural thing in the world to see a deformed older man seated beside her as her lover and future husband.

That night, I dreamed that I was beneath the Opera House once more. Christine was there with Sabine and she was torturing her. She would then look at me and laugh. She turned back around and continued torturing Sabine. I could hear her screams of pain, but was powerless to stop it. When she finished, she showed me what she had done. Sabine's face was torn to shreds. It was terrible to see! Christine flung Sabine into my arms and cried, "Now she is as ugly as you!" She then ran toward me and plunged her knife into my heart.

I woke up in the morning to find Sabine straightening my room. Even before we were married, she still performed her wifely duties. She came to my bedside when she saw that I was awake and kissed me tenderly.

"Good morning, dear," she whispered.

"Good morning, my darling."

"How did you sleep?"

"Very well," I lied, "And you?"

"I slept all right. I can't wait until you are able to sleep with me. I can't wait to feel your body next to mine as I fall asleep."

"I feel the same about you."

She smiled and I reached up to stroke her long golden curls. She responded by laying her head gently beside of mine and smothering me with her hair. I breathed in the smell of her hair and sighed with happiness.