Christine dans Deux

An Alternate Multiverse - A Phantom of the Opera Story

Nyasia A. Maire

© 2006

DISCLAIMER: See Chapter One
Chapter Forty-Five – The Cottage

"Ready? This part of the trip will be rather boring."

I consider his expression for a moment to see if he is teasing. If he is, he has hidden it rather well, for I cannot catch a glimpse of it in his face or sense it in his mind."

"So, I have lost my allure?"

"Pardonnez- moi?"

I realize that he is not teasing me and that something has definitely distracted him. No, not distracted...distressed! My love is distressed!

"Dearest? What is wrong?"

His eyes are troubled and he bites his lower lip in exactly the same way I do when I deal with my empathy. (Hey! I didn't say it was a good way, but it is a way of dealing.)

"Can't you feel that?"

I take his arm for support. I draw back the curtain and gaze out the window of my mind. The emotions of thousands of people beat against the glass.

I hiss in horror and reach for Erik's mind then draw him into the peace of my mental shelter.

"Hush, my dearest. That's better now isn't it?" I caress his mind with mine and he calms a little. "See why I've always avoided people? And you thought you avoided people when you lived in the sub-basement of the opera house? Ha! I avoided people in the light of day, while walking in their midst! They have no control over their emotions! They just let them gush out all over the place. It's worse than living in a sewer. They flood my mind with their emotional waste. It's taken me years to build this cottage in my mind. Most of the time, I am safe here, but there have been a few times when even this was not enough. However, the protection of the cottage is better than being out in the storm completely unsheltered. I can protect you for now, but you must learn how to protect your own mind as well. We will begin lessons after we are settled in Paris, okay?"

I prattle for a time. Drawing him into an embrace, I hold the man both physically and mentally. Gently rocking him to help calm him. After a time, he sighs.

"Thank you. I'm all right now."

"You're welcome. Yes, you are all right as long as you remain with me. So, I guess that settles it then," I whisper, "You will stay here with me in the cottage and I will teach you how to either build one of your own or to create whatever visualization works best for you. Please, my love, make yourself at home here."

He draws me close and places an all too brief, yet passionate kiss upon my lips. I feel my body respond to even this brief touch of his. The burning rushes through my chest and spreads throughout my body. My reaction to his kiss seems to have restored his confidence and he leads me away from the stables.