Thanks for the reviews Morte Rouge, Mouse, and Terry who is apparently a crazy Italian. lol. ;-D
Warnings: Violence, Some sexual situations, Language, Adult situations(drug abuse and it's effects)
Preview: Meg's trying to get ready for her date but it seems all hell is breaking loose instead, Erik is not himself and does things he may regret...but it seems there's something else wrong with him. Lots of drama and angst. Some Leroux influences (quote), etc. Enjoy.
Nightmares Can Come True
Christine and Meg went through their closets to find something for Meg to wear. Madame Giry walked into the dormitories. Christine dropped the clothes in her hands, and her and Meg both looked like they were caught doing something they weren't supposed to do.
Meg's mother looked confused by their actions. "Why are you dressed up?" Meg was trying on her most elegant blue silk dress that she received for her 16th birthday. All the girls in the ballet, including Christine, and her Maman saved up for it.
"I forgot to tell you, Maman that I was asked to dinner with someone." Meg replied.
"To whom do you wish to dine with?" The older woman questioned.
"Actually, it's the Vicomte….Raoul."
Madame Giry was taken aback by her answer. Meg decided to continue since her mother didn't respond.
"I was hoping you would allow me." She said.
Madame Giry smiled and fixed her daughter's blonde hair. "Of course you can. And I know you will look beautiful."
Meg jumped up in excitement and hugged her mother. Christine looked on and laughed. Meg continued to inform her of the time and that she was planning on wearing the dress she had on. Christine spotted a dark figure lurking outside the door. She gave a puzzled look. For she knew who he was, but she didn't know why he was hiding in the shadows.
"I'll be right back." She said to Madame Giry and Meg. She walked past them and went to Erik.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
Erik didn't reply to her. He had a cold and icy look in his eyes. Christine grew frightened by his sudden change. She was not afraid for her safety, but she was afraid of what could have happened to him to make him like this.
She noticed a difference in his appearance. He almost looked like a person who was drunk.
"Are you ok?" She continued to question.
He grabbed her arm and pulled her further into the empty and dark part of the hallway. Though his appearance made him look weaker his strength and grip said otherwise.
Erik continued to stare at her. Christine was now uncomfortable under his accusing eyes. He said nothing to her though.
"What is wrong?" Christine started to become frustrated with the fact that he wasn't answering her.
"Do you think this is funny Miss Daae?" He asked.
Christine stared at him in confusion. "Erik what are you talking about?"
"You think playing with my heart is fun?" Erik asked more furiously.
"What is wrong with you?"
"I won't let you hurt me again." He had his hands on her shoulders and pinned her to the wall. He was coming close to having his hands around her neck. She yelped in shock and in pain. Erik had a strong grip on her shoulders.
"Hurt you? What the hell are you talking about Erik?" She was still confused.
"Why are you doing this to me Christine? Couldn't you just let me die? Why do you have to torture me?"
"Erik I…"
"Shut up!" He yelled in her face. Christine now feared for her well being. He was angry and unpredictable again. She began to cry.
His expression did not change at the sight of her crying. "Why else would you be doing all this, unless it was a cruel joke?"
Christine didn't want to answer. But on the inside she was screaming in anger of him accusing her of such things.
"You want to have me in the palm of your hands and then betray me." He said as his right hand was place over her neck. She cried and thought he might actually kill her. "There's probably nothing you want more than to have been so vulnerable and lustful for your body, and then just leave me for some other man."
She couldn't believe her ears. "No! I wouldn't do that."
"I bet you would." He was an inch or two away from her face.
His grip tightened around her neck. Christine started to lose her breath and she became light headed. The force of his hand wasn't enough to make her pass out. He obviously wasn't choking her with all his strength.
"Instead of leading me on and dumping me I'm just going to have it my way." He forced his lips on hers. His left hand traveled around her body while his right hand traveled back to her right shoulder to keep her against the wall.
So many things raced through her mind. One was pure lust, she wanted him. But not like this...she was still wondering why he was acting like this.
Erik forced her lips to part with his tongue and deepened the kiss. This kiss was a lot more passionate. His hands still roamed her body and she soon became too uncomfortable. Things were going way too fast for her.
"Erik, stop!" She managed to say once his mouth left hers. He didn't stop.
Christine panicked and wondered if he would even stop. Would he rape her? He started to pull up her dress which made her really alert and even more uncomfortable. She screamed but it didn't seem to stop him.
Erik continued to kiss her neck and bit down roughly on her delicate skin. Christine tried to push him off of her but he was forcing himself on her with alot of strength.
"Stop it!" She yelled and broke down in tears. He ignored her again.
His hands were forcefully holding her against the wall. The grip he had on her seemed like that of a falcon. It felt like he wouldn't let go, and no one could break his grip. His hands began to roam around her body some more so Christine screamed again. But again he ignored her screaming.
"Erik, please stop!" She yelled as loud as she could which caused Erik to snap out of the influence he was under.
He stopped himself from continuing. He let go of Christine and she fell to her knees. Erik bent down in self loathing of what he almost did to her. He reached out to comfort her but she instantly avoided his touch. She bent over and held her face in her hands.
Madame Giry heard her yelling and ran down the hallway. She saw Erik kneeling next to a broken down Christine.
"Mon Dieu!" She yelled. "What happened?"
Christine got up and ran to the woman she thought of as her mother. Christine hung on to her for dear life and Madame Giry hugged her.
"It's ok Ma fille." Madame Giry whispered to her. "C'est bien ma fille." Christine continued to cry.
"Erik, what have you done?" The woman scorned him. She looked at Christine and saw bruises around her neck and shoulders. Disgust and shock soon filled her face.
"I'm sorry." He said.
Madame Giry let go of the young girl and walked over to Erik who was still kneeling on the floor. She masqueraded as an understanding woman who was about to forgive him.
She helped him onto his feet and patted the left side of his face. But anger overcame her and she slapped him as hard as she could. The impact and the surprise of her sudden action made him stumble backwards. The left side of his face was now beet red.
"Christine, go back to Meg and rest." Christine ran down the dark hallway crying. Madame Giry never took her eyes off Erik. He was now rubbing his face in hopes of easing the burn.
"What did you do to her?" She asked. He barely remembered anything that happened. This was probably because of the adrenaline coursing through his veins along with the morphine. He knew the side effects caused irrational behavior and in his case random violence.
"I...I think I snapped." He said.
She shook her head. "Why?"
"I don't know." He said in a slight daze.
"Erik, you have to quit that God damn morphine!" She yelled.
"I need it!" He replied in a weak manner.
"Bullshit."
Christine didn't leave completely like she was asked. She ran down the hallway and to the side. She hid in the shadows so she could listen to their conversation.
What surprised her most was Madame Giry's braveness. Standing up to that man was not something you saw everyday. She yelled at him with no fear of what he would say or do. Christine actually admired her mother for that.
"I do need it." He eventually said.
"You quit before and God damn it you can do it again." Madame Giry paused. "You have to. Look what it's done to you. You hurt the one person you claimed to love so much."
Erik realized she was right. "God." He whispered. "Oh dear God, what have I done?"
Reality finally returned to him. He felt disgusted by his animal like nature and what he would've done to her. Erik felt as though he would be sick. He fell back to the ground and held his stomach.
"God, what have I done?" He continued to repeat out loud.
Nadir walked past Christine without seeing her and walked towards Madame Giry and Erik. He looked down on a hysterical Erik and asked Madame Giry, "What happened now?"
"He was acting inappropriate towards Christine." She responded.
"Morphine?" He asked with guilt.
Nadir was the one who introduced him to the damn drug and now he felt terrible about doing it. When he met Erik he was so sad and hurt. Erik was trying opium but Nadir suggested something he thought wouldn't be as bad. Little did he know it made Erik worse, and unfortunately made him addicted.
"Yes." Madame Giry replied.
The Persian sighed. "This is all my fault."
"No, don't say that." She said to him.
"It is though. I introduced it to him, so it is partly my fault." Nadir said.
Erik responded, "The only one who is at fault is me. Not you Nadir."
Erik thought back on the past hour and remembered that he was also choking The Persian.
"Was I choking you before?" He asked to make sure.
Nadir replied, "Yes. Actually you did, Erik."
"I'm sorry about that." Erik said as he picked himself up.
"Don't worry about it, I mean…it happens all the time." The Persian said in a joking and sarcastic way.
Christine was also shocked by Nadirs actions to Erik. He too possessed no fear towards the man thought of as the Opera Ghost by so many.
"What exactly did you do to her?" Madame Giry asked.
"I, uhh…I was yelling at her and then I was going to…have sex with her."
Madame Giry slapped him again. And then she started yelling. "How dare you? Erik…what the hell were you thinking?"
"Antoinette, please stop slapping me."
"Or what? Are you going to choke me to death like you almost did to poor Nadir?" Madame Giry continued yelling. "I'd like to see you try."
"Don't tempt me." Erik snarled.
"How could you do that to her? You rapist!"
Erik became enraged. He pushed Madame Giry as hard as he could into the wall. She hit her head against it and she fell to the ground.
Christine heard a loud noise coming from down the hall so she ran to see if he hurt her.
"Maman!" Christine cried and ran to her.
Nadir gave a nasty look to Erik and also went to Madame Giry. The woman was unconscious and was bleeding slightly.
Erik looked shocked by his actions again. "I'm sorry…."
"Just leave, Erik." Nadir instructed in a disappointed and disgusted tone. "You're no good to anyone here."
Erik let out a sob and then ran away. Christine watched him run down the hall. She looked to Nadir and told him to watch over Madame Giry. With that she got up and ran after Erik.
He heard her running behind him but Erik knew he was a lot faster than her. He kept running down the hall to get away from the woman he betrayed and violated.
The feeling of heat and nausea grew throughout his body. Erik felt weak and sick of himself. He grew tired but refused to stop.
"Erik, wait!" Christine was out of breath but she managed to call for him.
He thought about everything he has done. It was too much for him to handle. Because he wasn't paying attention, and he was growing weak and disgusted with himself, he tripped over his own foot.
Erik wanted to get up but his body was telling him he couldn't. At first he was thinking this feeling he had was from what he did, but now he was starting to think otherwise. It felt like he was really sick.
Christine caught up to him and sat down beside him. She was crying, not for herself, but for him.
"Erik..." Her voice was filled with pity for him. She stroked his hair to calm him down.
She noticed he looked a lot worse than before. "Why have you done this to yourself?"
Christine rolled up his sleeves to see if what the Persian said was right. She looked at his arms to see if she could find any marks from the needles he used. Sobs escaped her lips when she saw tons of them on both of his arms.
"My God, Erik!" She said with even more pity and sympathy.
"I don't want you're pity!" He yelled.
"Poor, unhappy Erik." She said and cried for him. Christine kissed him suddenly to show him some sort of comfort and love. He backed away from her kiss.
Erik tried to pick himself up to walk away. He was too embarrassed by everything to face her. His body detested his actions and he fell to the ground again.
"Erik, don't try to get up." Christine said. She looked at him and noticed his lips were starting to turn blue.
"Oh God." She whispered. Erik tried to get up again but this time it was because he felt like he was suffocating. He was gasping for air and Christine started to scream for Nadir or Madame Giry.
Madame Giry was obviously now up and ok because she followed Nadir down the hallway.
"What's wrong with him?" Nadir asked Christine.
"I…I…don't know. He's just…He can't breathe!"
At that point Erik stopped breathing and he fainted. Christine shrieked when she saw his limp body on the floor.
Nadir knelt beside him and listened for a heartbeat. He found one and then opened Erik's left eye and stared into it. He looked up to Madame Giry and asked for a light. She found one and handed it to The Persian.
He put it close to Erik's head so that the light could contract his pupils. They didn't seem to respond to the light. Nadir knew this could be because of an overdose on morphine. Erik had a lot of the symptoms of morphine overdose.
"Is he dead?" Christine asked.
"No." Nadir replied.
"What's going on?" Meg asked. She was wearing her blue dress and had her hair and makeup done. She heard Christine screaming so she came to see if her friend was ok.
"It's ok Meg. You need to get ready." Madame Giry said to her young daughter. Meg looked concerned but Christine gave her a reassuring gesture to go back and get ready. Meg went back realizing she only had a half an hour left.
Nadir picked Erik's body up and wondered where he was going to take him. His lair was too cold, even with all the candles, and that wouldn't help him at all.
"Take him to my room." Madame Giry seemed to read his mind. He nodded and began to pull him to the room. Christine and Madame Giry followed him.
Christine looked over to her, "How's your head?"
"It's ok, don't worry about me." She replied to her.
Nadir carried him over to the bed. Erik was now starting to shake.
"What's wrong with him?" Christine asked. She was also shaking, but in her case it was because of her worry for Erik and his condition.
"I think he's overdosed." Nadir replied.
"Overdosed on what?" Christine asked though she had an idea of what it was.
"The morphine."
Erik sat up suddenly and bent over to the side of the bed and vomited on the floor. He retched and cried at the same time which caused him to shake some more. Christine ran to the other side of the bed and sat on the edge of it. She patted his back to comfort him.
Madame Giry looked on and saw something unique in Christine. Not even 15 minutes ago this man was violating her and yelling, but now she has forgotten about it and is comforting the sick man. She saw so much love in such a young woman that it shocked her.
Nadir looked on to Madame Giry and Christine. "Erik may be like this for the next couple of days."
"How long?" Madame Giry asked.
"I don't know. I'm not a doctor." Nadir said and then looked at Erik who was now lying down again. "How much morphine did you take?" Nadir asked.
Erik didn't look like he was completely there. He finally focused on Nadir's words and answered in a weak voice, "About 110 mgs…"
"110?" Nadir questioned. "In between how many hours?"
"About an hour and a half."
"Shit." The Persian cursed. "Erik, what were you thinking?"
Erik didn't answer. He seemed to zone out after answering the questions.
"Is it that bad?" Christine asked.
He wanted to say that 110 mgs of morphine can cause major complications if taken in a short period of time…Hell, even within a longer period of time it was bad!
"It's treatable." Nadir said. "I don't think he'll die from it."
Madame Giry looked a little dizzy herself. She nearly fell over twice.
"Maman, I think we should call for a doctor…for both of you."
"Don't be silly girl! I'm fine." The older stubborn woman said. Christine looked at Nadir and made a nonverbal suggestion to go get a doctor. Nadir smiled and new what she was thinking about. He went out the door to find the Opera House doctor. Christine worried about what the doctor would think.
"Nadir's going to find a doctor for Erik, what should we do…"
"Don't worry. I am very good friends with Docteur Moreau. He won't tell anyone." Madame Giry reassured her.
Nadir came in with the Doctor. Doctor Moreau walked over to Erik and checked his symptoms. Nadir informed him on what had happened and what his symptoms were but the doctor went to make sure.
"I will be back to get a medicine that he will be able to take." He said. "But as for you…You need to sit down and let me see what's wrong." He said to Madame Giry. She rolled her eyes but cooperated.
He noticed the cut on the back of her head wasn't that bad and she stopped bleeding.
"Do you have a headache?" The doctor asked.
"Well I did hit my head." She laughed.
"Do you feel nausea?"
"A little." She replied.
"Dizziness?" He continued to question. She nodded her head 'yes'.
"Any ringing in your ears?"
"Yes, a little bit."
"How long were you knocked out?" He asked.
Nadir spoke up, "She was out for about 3 minutes."
"Do you remember what happened?"
"It's kind of a blur actually." She replied. The doctor nodded his head.
"I believe you have a mild to moderate concussion. Nothing too serious though. Just get some rest and stay off your feat. Make sure someone is with you throughout the night, drink some water, and avoid any more collisions to the head."
"Ok, thank you doctor."
"I'll be back to get some medicine for him."
After the doctor was gone Nadir spoke up. "I'll go down to Erik's lair and make something for him."
"Make what?" Christine asked.
"He spent a lot of time with gypsies and in Persia…he knows a lot about medicines than half the doctors in the world do. I know he has recipes written down there somewhere." Nadir explained and then walked away.
Christine waited by Madame Giry, who was now sleeping in the chair, and Erik. Ten minutes later the doctor walked back in to the room.
"Here we are." He said and handed the medicine to Christine. "Give him some everyone 12 hours. I don't want him to overdose on this since it does have a bit of opium in it. So don't give him too much." He instructed.
"How long will he be like this?" She asked.
"I'd say at the most three days, but he may be better by tomorrow evening. It depends on how strong his body is and if it's able to recover quickly."
"Thank you doctor."
"You're Welcome." He said and then dismissed himself from the room.
Meg knocked on the door. Christine told her to come in.
"Raoul will be here any…" Meg stopped when she saw Erik completely knocked out and her mother sleeping on the chair. "Is everything alright?"
"Yes. Erik overdosed on morphine and Maman has a concussion."
"How did she…?"
"Long story. Erik got a little…angry."
"He did this to her!" Meg yelled suddenly.
"Yes, but he's very sick and very confused…I guess that would be the word for it. Mentally confused because of the drugs."
Meg still didn't look convinced. Christine decided to change the subject.
"You look beautiful." She said smiling.
"You think so?" Meg asked.
"Yes! Raoul will be here soon." Christine responded.
"You're right. Wish me luck."
"Not like you'll need it, but good luck." The two girls hugged and then Meg left.
Madame Giry woke up when the door closed. She looked dizzy and slightly confused as to where she was at. Looking at Erik she noticed that he was starting to shake again. Christine got up and walked over to him with a concerned look on her face. Christine knelt down by his bed. She grabbed his left hand and held on to it firmly with hers. He opened his eyes and saw Christine. Fear was present in his eyes.
"You are going to be ok." She said to him. Erik gave a weak smile and then drifted back to sleep. Christine felt his head.
"Does he have a fever?" Madame Giry asked.
"I think so." Christine said still feeling his forehead. "It's pretty warm."
She looked to the white mask that was on his face. Surely he would feel more comfortable without it on. But Christine was afraid to take that chance. If she did take it off it may wake him up and get him upset.
Erik stirred and eventually woke up again. He looked very feverish and looked more confused than Madame Giry did.
"Maman." He called. Christine was taken aback.
"No, Erik…it's me."
"Maman…please. I don't want to wear this stupid mask." He cried.
Christine felt tears building in her eyes.
"Please Maman, don't run away...take care of me. Please!"
'Didn't she take care of her own son when he was sick?' Christine wondered.
Erik continued to cry. It tore Christine's heart out. She buried her head in the sheets and for him.
"Maman, please. I don't feel good."
"I'll take care of you, Erik." Christine soothed him.
"Thank you." Erik calmed down. "Do I have to wear my mask? It's hot."
"No, Erik. You don't have to wear it around me." Christine cried a little and then took of his mask.
"Thank you Maman. That's all I ever wanted…" Erik said.
Christine couldn't handle it anymore. She got up and ran out the door. She fell down to the ground with her hands covering her stomach. Sobs filled the hallways as Christine cried for the man, and the boy named Erik.
