Disclaimer:I own none of the original characters. I only ownIsabelle, and other characters I made up.

Chapter 5

The next morning Isabelle woke up very tired and even sorer than she had been the night before. She went to the wash basin and got out a cloth to wash her face. Catching her reflection in the mirror she gasped, and dropped the cloth. Her eyes and nose were completely black and purple; her eyes were bloodshot from her broken nose. She scrubbed her face, and combed her hair, deciding she should at least look nice in other ways, since her face was so battered.

She made her way down the stairs and into the dining room. As she sat down, she noticed there was only food for one person. Gertrude had just come in to serve some tea.

"Is Erik not coming for breakfast?" Isabelle questioned.

"No mademoiselle, he is in his room, and asked not to be disturbed," Gertrude answered.

"Oh, thank you Gertrude," Isabelle stated simply.

"You're very welcome mademoiselle," Gertrude said.

"Please call me Isabelle," Isabelle said, thinking she and Gertrude could become friends.

"Alright, Isabelle, you may call me Gertie then, I find that Gertrude sounds so old," Gertie replied, hoping she could spark a friendship with someone around her age.

With that Gertie excused herself to do more house chores, leaving Isabelle alone.

Isabelle sat their silently picking at her eggs, and staring out the window, all of the sudden she felt very alone in the world, and the thought terrified her. The realization of her parents never being there for her again tore at her heart. No one would be there when she got scared, or even at her own wedding. Thinking about all this made tears stab at her eyes, she tried very hard not to start crying, but at last they freely started making wet trails down her cheeks. Isabelle put her fork down and ran up to her room and locked the door. She sat on the edge of her bed, as sobs racked her frail and bruised frame.

Isabelle spent the rest of the afternoon in her room, telling Gertie she was not feeling well and not to bother fetching her for lunch. She was laying on her bed, the tears gone, but the hiccups a reminder of her sorrow. The sun was setting and Isabelle decided she should go down to dinner at least, maybe then she could talk to Gertie. Isabelle went down to the dining room to find Erik, sitting at the table. He stood up when she entered the room, and helped her to her seat, then sat down himself.

"Good evening Isabelle, I hope you are feeling well, Gertrude said that were you feeling ill this afternoon," Erik said cordially.

"Oh, uh, yes I am feeling much better, thank you for asking," Isabelle lied, hoping her face didn't make the lie obvious. They silently ate, occasionally talking about the meal.

"Do you miss your parents?" Erik asked, suddenly. Erik had noticed her bloodshot puffy eyes, and knew she had been crying.

"Yes, even more since I had time to myself to think," Isabelle stated sadly, taken aback by his sudden question.

"I'm sorry I didn't join you for breakfast," Erik said, " I was very tired last night, and needed rest from the long journey."

"There is no need to apologize, I am sorry I wasn't at lunch," Isabelle replied, "You do not need to feel obligated to join me at meals, or anything else."

"I do not feel obligated at all, it is rather nice having company around, but I do, also like to be by myself a lot," Erik said, truthfully.

Once they finished their dinner, Isabelle decided to take a walk, she invited Erik, but he declined, saying he had a letter to write and finish a piece he was composing. She continued outside by herself. The house had a lot of property Gertrude had told them. They made most of the money off the apple orchards they had and some crops they sold in the town. Isabelle saw the apple orchards over the field and decided to go see them.

On the way Isabelle met the groundskeeper of the manor, his name was Maurice and he seemed like a very kind, gentle person. He escorted her to the apple orchard and told her to help herself to some of the plentiful apples.

Erik sat in what he called the music room, as there was a piano in it and a few other instruments. He sat at the piano, gently playing a few notes, and finally started playing a song. The music sounded very dark, and depressing. It suited Erik's mood perfectly, as he continued playing.

Isabelle was walking down the hallway to the kitchen with some apples, when she heard music coming from a room. She followed the sound and found Erik sitting at the piano, playing a very sad tune, she thought. Realizing she probably should not disturb him she slowly backed away from the room, but just as she was about to turn and leave completely, Erik spoke to her.

"You can come in if you like Isabelle," Erik said.

"How did you know I was there?" Isabelle asked, surprised he did know her silent presence.

"I simply heard the door creak," He stated, knowingly. "Do you play the piano?"

"I used to, but have not had interest," she said, " My mother had been teaching me since I was little, but it does not interest me anymore. I suppose because it reminds me of her."

"I see," he said, "It was a shame and waste of effort on your mothers part then."

"Do not speak to me of my mother in such a way!" Isabelle hissed, and stormed out of the music room, leaving a shocked Erik staring where she had been standing. Neither of them saw or spoke to each other the rest of the evening.

Isabelle woke, gasping and sweating, she had had another nightmare. The same one, only her uncle captured her and tortured her in the dream. She got up from the bed and stared out her window at the large estate. The night sky was very cloudy, probably going to rain soon, she suspected.

Making her way to the wash basin, she heard a muffled voice shouting. Quietly she opened her door and looked around the darkened hallway, she heard the voice coming from Erik's bedroom. Walking towards his room, the voice got stronger, it sounded like shouting. She opened his door as quietly as possible and saw Erik asleep on his bed, his body tense and jaw clenched. He was obviously dreaming. She went to his bed, grabbed hold of his shoulders and started to shake him very lightly.

"Erik?" She said, "Erik, wake up, you're dreaming." Suddenly his arm came around, and knocked her in the face, very hard, and he pushed her forcefully away. Isabelle fell back to the ground and quickly scooted away from his bed, whimpering, and clutching her bleeding nose.

Erik felt someone shaking him, still in his dreaming state he hit at whoever it was, and pushed them away. Suddenly he realized he wasn't dreaming anymore, and looked frantically around his room, and spotted Isabelle on the floor. Her hands were covered in blood and she was whimpering. Swearing silently he got off the bed and knelt next to her. Instinctively, she scooted further from him.

"Christ, Isabelle, I am so sorry, please let me see your face," Erik pleaded.

Shaking her head, Isabelle scooted further away.

"Please Isabelle?" Erik begged. She nodded slowly and allowed him to pull her hands away. There was a lot of blood, but her nose, thankfully, was not broken again. He got up and grabbed a cloth, soaked it and wiped the blood away from her face. He saw she had tears in her eyes and felt terribly guilty.

"Is my nose broken again?" She asked, her voice quivering.

"No, it's still sensitive though, I apologize, I had a nightmare, and thought it was in my dream, please forgive me," Erik said.

"I'm sorry to have caused this, I heard your voice and saw you were dreaming and tried to wake you, I did not mean to startle you," she said, she got up and apologized again, and silently, and quickly left the room. Erik felt terrible, he rubbed his face, and that's when it dawned on him. He hadn't worn his mask that night, and Isabelle had seen him. He thought about it for a moment, and remembered she never flinched at all when she looked up at him, maybe she couldn't see it. He hoped that was the reason.