Sabine

I was lying in a strange bed with my hands and my legs tied to the bed itself. I felt strangely dizzy and had a feeling like I was going to be sick. It was then that I realized that I had been raped. I was very sore and my dress had been thrown off into a corner and from the waist down I was wearing no clothes. I tried to get loose from my bonds, but I was too weak. Exhausted and with a pounding headache, I laid back on the pillow.

I don't remember what happened to me. The only thing I remember is that Christine had come again, at least I think that was her name, and Erik had asked me to go get some refreshments. I wasn't too happy about leaving Erik and this woman alone together, but I didn't want to refuse my husband's command. Dutifully, I rose and made my way to the back of the kitchen, putting cookies on to a plate and boiling water for tea.

I had my back turned to the door the entire time I was working, which was my downfall. Suddenly, as I was finishing the cookie tray, I remember someone grabbing me from behind and stuffing a cloth into my face. I struggled and tried to cry out for Erik, but then everything went black.

Now I was here, wherever 'here' was. It smelled musty and smoky. I tried to cry out, but was too weak. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine that I was back home with my husband. Before Christine had arrived, Erik had given me a Christmas present, which turned out to be a stunning diamond bracelet. I had given him a new pocket watch since his old one had broke last month. I glanced at my wrist and noticed that the bracelet had been removed.

"Ah, you're finally awake, are you?"

I looked above me to see a man towering over me. He was a big man with a very fit body and a head full of dark hair. Even though he was rather handsome, he looked dangerous and I immediately knew that I was looking at my rapist.

"You're husband decided to drop in, but we're about to take care of him," he spoke in French with an English accent.

As he was saying this, he was quickly undoing the buttons on his pants. This crime was going to be inflicted on me once again, so I did the only thing I could. I finally found my courage and strength to scream.

"Sabine!" I heard my husband cry from just beyond the curtain that separated us.

With that, the curtain was opened and beyond a small lake of water, I saw my husband standing by a metal gate with a woman standing only a few yards away from him holding a pistol to his head.

"Erik!" I exclaimed and tried to loosen my bonds with no success.

"Would you like to watch, Erik?" the man asked as he grinned and knelt down at my feet. "Would you like to watch me rape your wife before you both die? Christine, move a little so he can see what's going on."

What happened next came so fast that it all seems like a dream now. When she moved a few feet to the side, Erik threw himself at her and knocked her down into the water. The man kneeling at my feet sprinted towards the action and I heard a gunshot ring through the empty space. Suddenly, Christine struggled out of the water and staring at the blood coming from Erik's left shoulder. Her hand went to her mouth and her eyes widened as she dropped the pistol.

"Oh God, what have I done?" she screamed and fell to the floor crying hysterically.

Erik and the Englishman rushed towards the neglected pistol as it fell to the ground. Erik grabbed it and as the Englishman struggled with him, another gun shot rang out and I watched in a mixture of horror and relief as the other fell face first into the water, blood coming from his chest.

I saw Erik turn the gun on Christine, but whether it was out of pity or remorse, he didn't shoot, but pocketed the gun.

"Sabine!" I heard him exclaimed as he rushed over to untie me.

"Erik!"

I threw my arms around his neck as he cradled me in his arms. I then felt a wet stickiness on the back of my shoulder and it was then that I remembered that he was injured.

"Oh my darling, you've been shot."

"It's just in the shoulder. It's nothing to worry over," he whispered as he looked into my eyes and smiled sadly.

"We need to stop the bleeding and retrieve the bullet."

I quickly jumped off of the bedding and clothed myself. Afterwards, I tore off a bit of the bottom of my corset and wrapped it around the wound, tying it securely.

"I'll try and take the bullet out after we get home," I said. "There's nothing down here to extract it."

He nodded and he bid me to stay in the bed, actually I realized that it was a boat, and walked over to Christine. Instead of comforting her like I half expected him to, he roughly grabbed her by the wrist and tore something off of her exclaiming, "I believe that this belongs to my wife! I hope you're happy with tonight's results! If I ever see you again or if you ever bring harm to me or my wife ever again, I will not hesitate to have you shot. I don't know why in hell I cannot bring myself to have it done with tonight, but I can't. You've changed, Christine and you disgust me thoroughly. You're not the woman I hoped you would become. You're still a sniveling little bitch!"

He dealt her a hard blow across the face, which surprised me, and then returned to the boat. After placing my bracelet back on my wrist and fervently kissing my hand, he threw the ropes that had tied me to the boat out onto the floor and began to carefully piloted the boat out onto the water. After lifting the gate with one gesture of his hand, he pushed the boat further out into the lake, which extended out more than I originally thought.

I glanced back at Christine and noticed that she was still in a heap on the floor, holding her injured cheek where Erik had hit her, no longer crying but whimpering softly. If it would have been anyone else, I would have felt pity for her, but not for this woman. What had made her act like this? What had made her do this to us? Was it the fact that Raoul had left her or was it simply because she wanted attention once more from her Angel of Music? She couldn't possibly have been jealous of me, could she?

I turned my head away as she vanished from sight. As we reached the shore, Erik helped me out of the boat and then pressed me to his body, tears streaming down his face and sobs escaping from his throat.

"My darling," I whispered, alarmed. "What's wrong? Is it your shoulder?"

"No, my love," he answered, pulling me away from his body and looking at me. "I almost lost you tonight. When we married I swore to protect you and I didn't. I have already failed as a husband."

"My dear, you did protect me. You risked your own life to save me. You haven't failed at all. Now hurry. You are loosing blood rapidly. We have to get you home as soon as possible."

Again, sorry for the long wait, but the site wouldn't let me update! Hopefully I've found a new way to do that. Thanks for waiting! I appreciate it!