Opera Ghost

Chapter Twenty Nine

Jessalyn felt like her fingers had gone numb and would fall off her hands as she stared between them at the two men. She examined them closely. Daniel had scratches on the left side of his head that were bleeding. The sweat from being in the torture chamber had soaked through his shirt, which was sliding off one shoulder. His hands hung at his sides, but still twitched anxiously. He wanted to make his move, but Dan knew better.

Erik's black robe was also starting to fall from his shoulders as he gazed at Jess, waiting for her decision. Jess couldn't tell if it was her imagination, but it looked like that every time Erik inhaled, his body quivered and became transparent. She extended her hand to him.

"I can't…" she whispered. "I can't choose."

The eyes beneath Erik's mask widened, stunned. He was so intent on watching her that he didn't notice Dan edging closer to her. Jess moved her extended hand in a warning gesture telling him to stop. "How can you ask me to choose, when the mention of the command tears my heart in two? I can't choose!"

Erik shook her head at her protest and strolled solemnly over to the mantle. His sudden calmness disturbed her. He picked up a long stemmed rose from one of the many that stood in a vase. She could smell the dirty water it had been resting in, and as Erik twirled it in it his fingers, she could see that it was black and withered. "Perhaps I should choose for you?" he asked sinisterly. Jess tried not to react physically to his twisted comment. She had to stay in control. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment.

It was now or never.

"No you won't!" she protested.

"Excuse me?" He was mocking her once again.

"You won't force me to choose, and you won't make my decision for me. You never could and you never will," she said, quivering with newfound strength and defiance. Erik started toward her step by step, the dead flower still hanging from his fingers. "You couldn't make Christine choose, and you won't make me!" she finally shouted at him.

"You don't have your facts straight, my dear. Christine turned the scorpion."

Jessalyn backed away from the loveseat that had her cornered, into the open space of the room, but Erik was still coming at her. He inched closer, and Jess started to take her own steps…backwards. "Yes only after you threatened to kill her lover. If she answered 'no' you would have killed her along with everyone in the opera house. What choice did she have?"

"Would you like me to impose the same circumstances now?" Erik challenged.

"You won't dare…"

"Watch me! Christine decided to marry me. She was mine!" Erik bellowed. He had gained on her with his unnatural and unnoticed speed. His jaw trembled in anger as he jabbed out his hand. Jess flinched and brought her hands up to defend her face but opened her eyes to see it was just the rose he had pressed against her hand. She took it.

"I know you Erik. You wouldn't hurt Christine. I'll bet even if she had reached for the…" she wracked her mind trying to think back to the novel and all the things Dan had said. "The grasshopper, you would have stopped her, because you couldn't stand to see her gone…"

"I would rather die than not be with her…" Erik started.

Jess quickly cut him off. "I'm not finished!" Erik's bony hand gripped tightly around her right forearm, but she didn't stop. "You couldn't stand it if she died, even if you had perished with her. You would be overwhelmed with guilt knowing you drove her to choose death…"

"Jess, stop it." Dan's voice cut across the room. Jess glanced to see the look of terror sprawled over his face, knowing she was evoking Erik's dangerous anger.

"You couldn't kill her, and you won't kill me," Jess said, then looked down at the plain gold ring and the black rose in her hand. She let the rose drop to the floor. Erik watched her. Then she let her hand find it way to her right one, and despite Erik's grip she twisted to reach and remove the ring.

That set him off, and before she knew it, his other hand was around her neck, strong fingers closing around her windpipe. He didn't use enough force to crush it though. She heard Dan scream her name. "Stay back Dan!" she managed to get out before Erik squeezed harder.

She clearly saw Erik's narrowed eyes glow yellow, as if a light behind the sockets pulsed with his rage. "Why? What gives you faith? What give you hope that I won't kill you right now?" he asked in a husky whisper.

Jessalyn felt tears creep from under her closed eyelids and flow down her cheeks. She opened her eyes and smiled at him. "Because you let her go…" she said simply.

Erik's grip started to relax so that she could now breathe and speak easily. "Even though you had her, even when Christine was ready to be your wife, you still let her go." Jess took a moment to catch her breath. When she looked up she saw the same look on Erik and Dan's faces.

"She's right…" Dan echoed. "Even though you loved Christine, you still let her go." Erik turned to look at him, and with his attention diverted Jess finally slipped out of his grip and pulled away from where he had cornered her. She watched the reaction between the two men.

Erik shook his head in disbelief. "No…"

"Yes, you did. You let her go." Dan protested then turned to look at Jess. "Why can't you do the same now?" He was directing the question at both of them.

"No, that not true…" Erik looked at Jessalyn in desperation. "Tell him it's not…it's…tell me the truth, Christine," he pleaded.

Jess sighed and put her hands against her lips. Now she couldn't stop crying. "It is the truth. You loved Christine so much that you let her go. You had her, but you let her leave."

"And look what happen! She died. I didn't want to lose her. Look what my generosity led to, the one thing I feared most…" Erik sobbed. "I can't bear to let that happen again." He dropped to his knees and Jess instantly ran to his side. When her dress brushed against face, he immediately sank lower, scooping up the hem and kissing it, still crying.

"Don't go! Stay with me Christine. You'll be safe with me. You can learn to love me and then you won't have to be afraid of anything. Not even death!" he begged.

"But I can't…" she protested. Jessalyn started to move away, heading towards the wall next to the torture chamber, but the clinging Erik crawled next to her. She didn't have the heart to push him away, and she could see Dan watching them. Erik was now starting to get back on his feet and he took her hands in his. "I can't be your wife!" Jessalyn screamed in desperation, "Because it wouldn't be real!"

"I'm real, Christine." Erik protested. "Can't you feel my hands? I'm here to protect you as your husband. It is your destiny…"

"No it's not!" then she felt the pressure surrounding her hands suddenly fade. She and Erik looked down at them and saw that Erik's once long and opaque hands had started to fade, becoming transparent.

Just like a ghost…

Erik pulled back, seeing the transformation spread up his wrists and to his arms. Jess slipped away from under him. "I told you it's not real," she shouted knowing the words that would follow would break his heart. "It's just a story." She turned to face him, and he reached out for her again.

All three watched in disbelief as Erik's reaching arms passed through her body, swinging out the other side. Erik held up his fading hands to his face, until they had finally vanished. Jess took a deep breath. She hadn't meant what she had said earlier when she had heard the strange noises at night and the singing behind the mirror, but she had to mean it now. It was the only way.

A large tear fell from left eye. "I don't believe in you." The room was still and Jesslayn started to shake uncontrollably.

No, you love him…

"NO I DON'T! I don't believe in you!" she screamed in rage and anguish once again breaking Erik's wounded heart…and her own. She fell to the floor, wailing. Her fists pounded the heavy carpet, scratching and burning her wrists against the harsh material. She couldn't handle all this grief, the lies, constantly wondering if all this were real or not. If she didn't believe, it would just all go away. It had to. It just had to.

Christine…

"No…" she whispered again, then stiffened suddenly as she felt a cold wind surround her, as if someone had filled her entire body with ice for one brief moment. It was gone after an instant. She jerked her head up only to see Daniel first, except his focus wasn't on her. He was staring in complete shock the other way. "Daniel?"

He snapped back at the sound of his name, and within seconds was at her side helping her up. She just wanted to be held by him, encased in his warm limbs. "Dan?" she asked when he didn't response back.

"Jess, look…" he stammered, turning her around in his arms to face the other way. Erik was…hovering above the floor. His dark suit had faded into a shade of midnight blue, and she could see straight through it! His head was hung low as he skulked across the floor. Only the outline of his head, neck and shoulders remained as his legs vanished, replaced by a transparent void.

"Erik?" she called out to him. He didn't answer. He didn't even turn his head.

"Erik!" Now this time Dan called out for him. Nothing.

"Erik, wait!" Jess begged. Now she could see his barely existent frame heave with a sigh. He continued his march until he reached the door to Christine's room. He passed right through it without making a sound. Jess felt Dan stiffen in surprise along with her. She pulled away from him and rushed across to the door. She pulled on the handle only to find that it was locked.

"No!" Jess was frantic. "Erik, let me in. I'm sorry!" She pulled again. Then she remembered that she still had the master key that she had taken. She hadn't removed her necklace were she had placed it before the performance. She ripped it off her neck, breaking the fine metal chain. In desperation she shoved it into the lock, hoping. "Erik, don't go!" The key turned, and she was inside.

Erik was at the far edge of the room, next to something that had been placed in the room after she had left it last. Another beautiful floor length mirror, like the one in her dressing room. He was facing her, his black mask still covering his fading features. He stared at her with cold eyes, but whether they were cold with hatred or defeat, she couldn't tell.

Jessalyn could look right through him, and she her reflection on the other side. "Christine…" Erik started.

"Yes my love?" came a voice from Jess that was not her own.

"I love you more than life itself. If this is what you want, then I'll leave you." He said simply.

Jess shook her head. "No, I don't want that!" By now Erik seemed to have faded into the mirror itself. Jessalyn charged towards him. They had come so far and found the unthinkable, the unimaginable. It couldn't end like this. She had to stop him.

"Erik!" she cried, reaching out her hands to pull him back.

She was greeted only by a sea of shattered mirrors.

A/N: And no this is not a dues ex machina.