Rain tapped against the windowpane as thunder rolled throughout the house.
Christine woke blinking out her blurred vision, her eyes slowly fixating on what small slivers of the moon she could make through the combination of both blinds and clouds. It was still late, she realized, the moon still high.
She sighed heavily, closing her eyes once more and turning her body so that she could get closer to Erik. She searched blindly for him, hoping to at least graze his slender arm with her fingertips. Instead, she found nothing but cold, empty sheets.
A crack of lightning sent thunder rolling back through the house again, the tapping of the rain growing in frequency.
Her entire body shivered as she sat up, the cold air of his house making her skin ripple with goosebumps. Piano music trailed into the room from under the doorway—a soft, enchanting melody she could not quite recognize at first, but then she remembered: it was the lullaby she had sung for him.
Christine clenched the top coverlet to her as she stood and shuffled to the bedroom door, opening it to find Erik sitting in the lamplight at the piano, his body relaxed in the same way it was when he played his violin.
She drew closer so she could get a better view of his playing, watching his hands dance over the keys, every note perfect. She wondered if he had already played the song before.
She drew closer again and noticed he had replaced his mask—dark silk satin tied neatly at the back of his head, almost not apparent against his thick headful of jet black hair.
He finished the song, leaving the final note resonating as thunder accompanied it.
"You learned it."
Erik's back straightened in a snap, his head turning over his shoulder to gaze in her direction. She froze still, realizing he had not detected her presence.
The shock and fear in his eyes settled as he looked over her, taking note of the coverlet she'd fixed around her shoulders.
"Did I wake you, my dear?" His voice was heavy and thicker than usual, and she shivered once more, the coverlet no longer any use.
"No," she said, reassuring him with a small shake of her head. "It's just the rain."
Lightning cracked outside, and the room lit for a small moment, the house trembling almost immediately with thunder. She shook as well.
"Ah... yes," he spoke slowly as if he hadn't even realized there was a storm; as if he'd been deaf. "Would you like to accompany me?"
Christine looked over in the direction of his open kitchen in an attempt to make out what time it was. But the red glow his microwave's digital clock was all too far for her to read. She decided to join him for the moment—anything if it meant getting him back into bed.
He moved over to allow her some room on the bench, smiling for a second as she sat, and began playing. He added a simple underlying melody as she sang, transforming the song into something entirely new.
She closed her eyes as the song finished, only opening them again to look at Erik, hoping he would lock eyes with her as she did. Instead, she found his eyes closed.
She watched him for a moment, catching the building tremble in his jaw before a sob caught in his throat. "I don't know how much longer I can do this, Christine."
Her mind ran wild with what he meant before he turned to her, the tears glazing his eyes.
"I can't do this," he decided, his fingers clenching around nothing but air as if he were holding back from tearing something apart. "I love you, Christine. I've been in love with you, and I cannot go on with any of this."
Emotions of confusion, bewilderment, and grief all piled up in the pit of her stomach.
"What do you mean?" she asked, her voice small.
"You are undeserving of a lifetime with this," he said, gesturing harshly to his face, "and I cannot- will not subject you to it."
Her heart sank, and the pile built up to her throat, threating to disable her speech entirely. "What do you mean?" she repeated now through tears.
He clenched at the coverlet around her. "Do you not understand?" he sobbed. "You can have something better, you know? You're perfect in every shape and form a-and I'm a ghost of a man that could've been, and you deserve better than what I can provide."
She sat there gaping for a moment, and the pile washed away with her vexation. "Do you not understand?" she spit the question back in Erik's face. "Do you not understand how much I love you? Do you not see how enraptured I am with your music, the way you touch me and kiss me, the way you talk to me? Did you not hear how I giggled at dinner with you? Did you not feel that electricity as I did? Did you not feel it later in bed?"
He bowed his head pitifully as he sobbed. "Christine, that is not at all what I mean."
"What then?" she demanded. "Because I cannot understand why you'd decide to break my heart now unless otherwise!"
"Because I never want you to live with this!"
With one swift lift of his arm, he pulled his mask up and over, revealing to her the harsh truth of his reality. The uneven texture of his cheek which she had felt earlier was spread all about his face, barely missing his mouth and chin. She'd noticed before how deeply set his eyes were into his skull, but the fact did not bother her, not until now at least, his death-like appearance accompanied with the gaping hole where his nose should've been.
"Am I handsome, Christine?" he yelled, horrifying her all the more. "Is this what you'd like to wake up to every morning? Is this the face of the man you imagined making love to you? The man who would kiss and hold you, wed you, father your children?"
She sat there beside him, frozen in horror, only capable of breathing and trembling, not sure of whether she was more afraid of him or his face.
Christine wasn't quite sure whether she'd blacked out or just blocked it all out completely, but by the time she woke in her own bed the next morning, she was glad to be home.
At first, she thought it was all a dream. Just one large, terrible dream. But the onyx ring on her finger suggested otherwise, and she ached.
A/N: No smex this chapter, sorry!
Also, there may or may not be only two more chapters left after this... we'll see.
Thanks for reading, as always!