A/N: Hello everyone... FreeMind Annette here! I'm sorry for the massive delay for the updates and all since I had to work almost everyday for the past three weeks for both of my jobs (sighs). But now that I'm begining to have a little more free time... I'm happy to announce that chapter 7 is now up and running for your reading enjoyment! Yay! (claps)
Enjoy my latest
chapter... oh, and if you could please R and R... that would be awesome
(I gladly take constructive criticism and advice too)
Disclaimer: I don't own POTO in any kind of way... except for the soundtrack that is...
Phantom of the
Summerhouse
Day 5: Forbidden Fruit
Another day, another fun adventure for the trio; Christine and Raoul, in shorts and t-shirts, were outside on the front porch steps of the summerhouse, waiting for Erik.
"Man, Erik sure takes his sweet ass time getting dressed." Raoul said, looking at his pocket watch. "We've been waiting for ten minutes already!"
"I'm sure Erik has a very good reason as to why he is taking so long to get ready." Christine kept watching the front door intently. "He should be coming anytime now."
As if on cue, the front door opened and Erik came out, wearing his usual tuxedo and cloak, and a broad brim black hat.
"Ummm… isn't that a little too formal for what we're going to do?" Raoul asked.
"What are you talking about?" Erik looked down on his outfit, which is all nothing but black. "There's nothing wrong with a little formality."
"A little, you look like you're out and ready to stalk and Punjab someone!"
"Well… if you put it that way then…" With his hand resting on his chin, Erik had that evil glint in his eyes. "That can be gladly arranged…"
"No! Forget what I just said!" Raoul shook his head. "I'm not giving you any crazy ideas, anymore!"
"As long as you're fine wearing that in broad daylight, I don't think it's a big issue at all." Christine commented. "I hope you don't get too hot in that outfit."
"That's where this hat comes in." Erik proudly tipped back his hat and put his cloak on. "Now let's get this over with quickly."
"Geez Erik, could you be a little more enthusiastic about this. It's the least you can do." Raoul scolded with a slight tone of sarcasm.
"But berry picking in the forest is so boring." Erik crossed his arms and leaned against the front porch post. "I have better things to do than wasting my time wandering aimlessly around the wilderness for just a bunch of berries."
"Then why did you join us in the first place?" Raoul asked in a rather interrogative manner.
"I think you already know the answer to that question."
Begin Flashback…
Yesterday night, Erik had just finished his cold shower and put on his black pajamas. He left the bathroom and quietly closed the door behind him… then he heard voices, the voices of Raoul and Christine to be exact, talking downstairs. They appear to be having a very lively conversation, since Erik could sense a feeling of cheerfulness in their vague, indistinct tone of voice.
What could they be talking about? Erik asked himself, wanting to know eagerly. And what's worse… is that I'm not even there to hear about it! Are they hiding something from me? I must know…
Erik casually went down the stairs, trying his best not to look too suspicious. The last thing he needed was to be caught eavesdropping on the couple's chit chat.
"What do you think we should do tomorrow Raoul!" Christine was sitting in the kitchen chair with Raoul right across the table. "We should do something fun and different!"
"Hmmm…" Raoul thought about it for a few seconds, and then he finally had an idea in mind, marked with a big smile on his face just from thinking about it. "I know I know, how about we go berry picking in the forest down south of the summerhouse. It's different and fun… what do think?"
The thought of berry picking did not sit well in Erik's mind. His primal instinct is screaming to say no. And he did, Erik ran barefooted towards the kitchen and yelled—
"NO! NO! NO! There is no friggin' way we are going berry picking! That has got to be THE WORST way to waste your summer!" Erik crossed his arms in front of him to form a big X, gesturing his full rejection of Raoul's suggestion.
"How dare you say that about berry picking!" Raoul angrily said. "You haven't even tried it yet."
"And I would like it to stay that way."
"Hmmph… It's surely a lot better than sitting inside the summerhouse making crafts all day."
"The only reason why I prefer to do crafts is because I'm not very fond of going outdoors. I'm not into this 'The Great Outdoors' saying."
"Man, you make it sound like you have a sun allergy or something…" Raoul sneered.
"You're the only one here who wants to go berry picking anyway. So if you want to go prancing around the woods with a basket, just for a bunch of fruits, then go by yourself… you girly man!"
"Ummm… I want to go berry picking too!" Christine interrupted the brewing fight. "I've never done it before and I want to go!"
"…" Both Raoul and Erik went silent, staring at Christine, then towards each other with animosity.
"… Fine! I'll go berry picking with you guys!" Erik reluctantly agreed and accepted defeat. He absolutely hated the thought of being left out while Christine is having fun spending summertime with Raoul alone, much more than berry picking.
"Yay! I'm so excited about this, I can't wait!" Christine smiled.
Raoul grinned, happy to know that Christine is showing great interest. Then he turned around and caught a glimpse of Erik, with his shaking clenched fists on his side, and a slight twitch went across his face.
A few beads of sweat went down Raoul's nervous face. "I sure hope he doesn't do anything crazy or stupid tomorrow…"
End Flashback…
Raoul placed his hand on his forehead and let out a big sigh, worn out just from talking Erik into cooperating. "I can't believe I'm tired. Just talking to him tires me out!"
Seeing Raoul mentally exhausted, Christine decided to help out and try to encourage the phantom to get in the spirit of berry picking.
She walked up close to Erik and whispered to his ear: "Erik… do you remember those little waffles I made a few days ago with the tiny blueberries?"
"Of course, they were beyond delicious!" Just the mere mention of Christine's waffles caught Erik's interest.
"Do you want me to make those little waffles with the tiny blueberries?"
"Oh do I! Yes, I would love to have some of your lovely waffles with the blueberries for dinner!" Erik perked up with enthusiasm.
"Okay, then." Christine continued to calmly whisper. "If you want to have waffles tonight, can you help us gather some blueberries in the woods?"
Erik paused for a few seconds, contemplating long and hard about the deal… then finally, he has made his decision— "Alright… I'll do it! Now let's haul our asses to the forest and go get some berries!" And with it Erik ran off, arms up in the air, leaving Christine and Raoul trailing behind him, trying their best to catch up with the hopped-up phantom.
"Waffles waffles waffles…" Erik softly said to himself in a sing-song attitude as he happily ran ahead to the forest, with an almost total disregard to his companions trying to catch up with his speed. "WAFFLES HERE I COME!"
Curious and baffled, Raoul asked— "Christine… how on earth did you talk Erik into coming along with us?"
"Oh it's nothing special, really." Christine smiled and continued walking in a leisurely pace, swinging her basket on her arm back and forth. "I just told Erik that if he helps us pick some berries, I would make him some of my homemade waffles with blueberries for dinner tonight."
"… That's it!" Raoul raised an eyebrow. "That's all you told him!" He couldn't believe, let alone imagine, that Erik can be persuaded with something as simple as waffles. "Does this mean that we are going to be having waffles for dinner?"
"Well what can I say, it's his favorite food. And I promised to him already… so yes were having waffles for dinner."
"Hmmm… at least we can now start picking some berries." Raoul sighed. "Now let's hurry up, before we lose further sight of Erik. I doubt he even knows his way around the woods."
Christine and Raoul had entered the woods a couple of miles south from the summerhouse. After much extensive searching, they finally found a large patch of blueberry bushes hiding in the trees.
"Wow! Look at all the berries." Christine exclaimed, quickly walking towards the bushes, ready to pick them. "I have never seen so many them all in one small place, it's so amazing!"
"Mother used to take me with her in this very same spot when I was a child. Indeed, this is one of the best berry picking spots known only by my family."
"But that was a long time ago. What if someone else had discovered this place?"
"Nonsense, this forest is so remote that we have a much better chance of crossing paths and being attacked and killed by a hostile bear."
"… That's not funny at all." Christine coldly replied. "I could have gone without knowing that."
Suddenly, a loud rustle came from the bushes far across them. By instinct, Christine held Raoul tight around her arms, in an attempt to gain a sense of security.
"That noise! What could it be?"
"Maybe it's a bear, like the one I was talking about."
"You're not helping here Raoul. That kind of talk is just going to make matters worse." The suspense was too much; Christine loosened the grip of her embrace and held one of Raoul's forearms with both her hands. "Hurry, while we still have time! We should run!"
"No, we mustn't!" Raoul resisted the pull from his panic-filled wife. "I've read and heard stories of violent bear encounters, and turning your back and fleeing is the last thing you would want to do."
"Then what do you suggest we should do?" Christine's hands trembling even more.
Raoul lifted Christine's head by her chin, allowing her to make eye contact with his steady and calm eyes. "I have an idea… trust me."
After he whispered the plan, Christine lied down on the flat grassy part of the berry patch as Raoul instructed, with every effort attempting to appear dead, in hopes to deceive the bear.
Her husband, on the other hand, hid behind a tree nearby. His eyes fixed upon the rustling bushes.
Seconds later, the bushes moved even more. A tall, unknown, black figure came out, making its way towards where Christine was hiding.
With one quick swift motion, Raoul's steady hands swung a big broken tree branch above his head and down onto the assailant's head, creating a loud thud.
"Gotcha!" Raoul threw away his blunt weapon and motioned Christine to come out. "You can come out now honey, everything is fine."
"No everything's not fine, fool!" The black figure grabbed Raoul's wrist and held it with a vice-like grip, delivering pain. "You've got some nerve to pound me on the head like that!"
"Erik! What the hell were you doing in those bushes!" Raoul painfully said, doing everything in his power to pull away from Erik's crushing grip.
"When I ran into the forest… I started looking for you guys since you got lost and…"
"What do you mean 'WE got lost'? You're the one who went ahead without us and got lost." By then Raoul had finally freed his arm, holding his red marked wrist.
"Owww… you hit me pretty damn hard!" Erik placed his hand on his sore head, feeling a bump from the area of impact.
Christine approached Erik and knelt down beside him, looking worried. "Are you alright Erik?" That's when she noticed that his cloak, lying on the ground, had unusually large lumps on it, as if there was something underneath.
Christine lifted up one of the corners of the cloak, her eyes widened at the sight of what was hidden underneath, a large mass of assorted fruits found in the forest, cleverly concealed in his cloak like a basket.
Erik stood up, still staggering, brushing off the dirt and dust off his clothes but failed. When he saw Christine's discovery, he smiled. "While I was looking for you guys, I came across with a lot of trees and bushes with different kinds of fruits and took them… What do you think?"
"You've picked up so many!" Christine said with awe. "I've never even seen some of these other ones before in any marketplace."
Raoul took a closer look at the assortment of fruits that Erik had already picked. There were fruits of every shape, colour, and size. Among those that were commonly known are apples, peaches, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, and of course blueberries. After his first glance, one fruit in particular caught his eye and his attention, the one that closely resembled the shape of a heart, but as tiny and bright red as a strawberry. A scheming look briefly painted an expression on Raoul's face.
"Hmmm… I noticed that you picked up this one fruit here that's shaped like a heart." Raoul said in a nonchalant manner.
"So… what about it then…" Erik said without a care for the fop's comment.
"I'd have to say that it's just my luck that you picked up this fruit… I've always wanted to find it in this forest, since it's well-known for its distinct sweet taste… And now thanks to you I can finally have it!" Raoul slowly reached out for the heart-shaped fruit, when Erik batted his hand away, with a devious countenance.
"I don't think so… seeing that you want this fruit that much intrigues me. In fact… it makes me want to take away from you even more…"
"But I want it! Gimme! Give it!"
"NO!" Erik quickly took the heart-shaped fruit into his hands, with an evil grin on his face. "Heh heh heh, I'm eating this fruit… whether you like it or not… and there's nothing you can do about it!"
Erik ate the fruit whole, slowly chewing it to catch its taste.
"How is it, Erik?" Christine asked, who got really curious of this little heart-shaped fruit from the way Raoul described it. "Is it good?"
Erik, eyes wide open, placed both his hands on his reddened face, covering his mouth. "WATER! I NEED WATER!"
The sounds of suppressed laughter were coming from Raoul's mouth, as Erik darted out of the forest, with one hand still covering his mouth.
"Erik wait! Where are you going!" Christine promptly picked up Erik's forgotten cloak full of fruits and ran as fast as she can to try and catch up with the phantom. Raoul followed right behind her, still holding himself back from bursting out into an all-out uncontrollable laughing and pointing.
More than a few minutes later, after some running around in circles and zigzags, Christine and Raoul finally came out of the forest… and in front of them is the scenery of the nearby lake… and Erik drinking water right out of the lake like he was trying to drink up the lake dry.
Seeing this, Raoul couldn't keep his laughter in check anymore, which finally resulted in him letting out a huge burst of hysterical laughter. "AHA HA HA! I can't believe you fell for it! That was truly priceless!"
Christine dropped Erik's cloak and took out a little battered pocketbook entitled "Wilderness Survival for the Not-So-Average" in her pocket and looked up the red fruit culprit. After scanning through some of its pages, she found the page she was looking for at last— "According to this pocketbook, the fruit that Erik just ate is one of many poisonous/malicious berries most commonly found in the forest. The fruit's name, 'Heart of Fire' (A/N: sweet treat reward given to anyone who can guess where I got this name from ) is given due to its heart-like shape, and its distinct spicy and uncomfortable fiery taste."
"Raoul! I can't believe you made him eat that!" Christine said. "You knew this all along now, did you!"
"No, of course not!" Raoul answered, still laughing in between his speeches. "You think that I, Raoul would have intentionally brought upon this to Erik!"
Erik, looking flushed, trudged out of the lake, dragging his wet feet on the ground as he approached Raoul.
Uh-oh! Now he's really angry! Raoul thought.
"Whatever you do Erik, don't kill him!" Christine shouted, hoping that Erik won't go into his old ways of insane murderous rage hysterics.
"Don't worry Christine…" Erik eerily replied, walking closer and closer to Raoul, his head loosely hanging down, looking on the ground instead of what's ahead of him. "I won't do anything that drastic… just… THIS!"
Erik picked up a pale blue piece of fruit in his cloak, and plugged Raoul's mouth with it; who accidentally swallowed it afterwards.
"What the hell was that!" Raoul took a couple of steps back from Erik, shocked by what had just happened. "What did you just put into my mouth!"
Erik shrugged. "How should I know…? I just picked up some random fruit in my cloak that's all!"
Christine opened her pocketbook once more, flipping through the pages. "Erik… did it happen to be a pale blue plum-shape fruit with tiny yellow spots in it?"
Erik scratched his head, recalling the last few minutes. "Ummm… come to think of it… yes! Yes it does! Why do you ask?"
"Raoul… I don't think you're going to like this one bit. The fruit that Erik just force fed you with is called 'The Forbidden Fruit' and it's been named for a very good reason. It's the most poisonous/malicious fruit in the forest."
"What! What does it do— !" Raoul anxiously asked, but before he could finish his sentence a sharp sensation of pain passed through his body, and he went down on his knees. "Ooohhh… my stomach hurts! I think everything I ate today just went south."
"It's one of the side effects of eating 'The Forbidden Fruit'… a bad case of-"
"I GOTTA GO USE THE CRAPPER!" Raoul ran like he had never run before back to the summerhouse with both of hands on his buttocks.
"…Diarrhea…" Christine finally finished reading the entire profile of the fruit. She slammed the book shut and put it back into her pocket, hoping that she would never have to open it ever again.
"Don't worry Christine…" Erik patted her shoulder as they started to walk back towards the summerhouse, with the fruits in his cloak. "I'm sure he'll be fine, once the fruit completely passes through his system that is."
I think my wish for a normal summer vacation just went further downhill. Christine thought, and she let out a big sigh.
Mini Epilogue
Later that night… the aroma of freshly made waffles filled the kitchen. Erik and Christine are both having their waffle dinner, even though Erik seems to be the only one enjoying it the most.
Erik: "I love you WAFFLES!" (Takes a big bite off the waffle) "Mmmm… so good… this has got to be the best waffles I've ever had, beats my usual cold cereal breakfast back then at the opera house any day."
Christine: (Keeps staring at the stairs, looking worried) "I wonder if Raoul will be well enough to come down for dinner tonight?"
Erik: "Nah, relax! He'll be fine… he may be girly man, but he's a persistent little girly man… so he'll manage on his own. And this is going to remind him not to pull a stunt like that on me next time." (Pours a spoonful of the safe-to-eat berries they picked that afternoon and eats it with the waffles)
Meanwhile upstairs… the sound of a toilet flushing came up and Raoul slowly walked out of the bathroom, feeling very relieved.
Raoul: "Ahhh… that feels so much better… I think that's that last of them-" (his stomach loudly growled and he placed both of his arms on his stomach) "Ugh… Guess there's still some more left…"
Raoul quickly turned around and went back into the bathroom.
It was a long, hard day indeed for the trio.
