Hey everyone, sorry about not updating fast enough but I am a popular person to chill with in my county. Places to go people to see….you all know that saying. I have a few hours before I go out to the movies with some more friends so enjoy the latest chapter…….
A few more days passed leaving Erik in the dark. Ever since the day he had that chat with Christine about her being pregnant he didn't care to ever see her again. She wanted him to get a test ran on him to see if the child could possibly be his. Erik knew that there was no way the child inside of Christine could be his. "She belongs to Philippe now." thought Erik as he sat at his organ pounding his sorrow out into it's keys. He then heard Christine entering his lair and turned around. "Erik." she replied. "what?" asked Erik as he continued to play his organ. "do you want to go have that test done?" asked Christine. "no because it will prove nothing." said Erik. "yes, it will prove enough." she replied. Erik gave the organ a hard pound and said "if you would have kept your legs closed around the Vicount we wouldn't have this problem." "Erik, you're not the only man I ever loved." said Christine angrily. "I don't feel comfortable dropping my pants in front of Nadir to have this test done." said Erik.
Christine had a seat next to him, and said "so is this going to be the way our relationship ends? With me pregnant and you just spending your days pounding your organ until you pass out from exhaustion?" "most likely." he replied. "Erik we could be a family once more. You could have a son or daughter and we could be married." said Christine. "no, I couldn't because even if I stay with you and deliver this child I would suffer." said Erik. "how?" asked Christine. "everyday I would have to wake up and stare at a child who looks like Raoul. How do you suppose I am supposed to live and take care of a child who's daddy was killed by me? What am I supposed to say to it? "oh your daddy was an evil man who took your mother away from me so I killed him?" I'm sure that would go over very well Christine." said Erik.
Christine wiped the tears from her face and said "I was talking to Nadir and he told me that I could get rid of the child if I wanted to." "so what's stopping you?" asked Erik. "because I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I found out that the child belonged to you Erik." said Christine. "you still think that there is a possibility don't you?" questioned Erik with an evil smile. "yes Erik I do, there are no mistakes and if god truly made you for me then why would he give me another man's child?" questioned Christine. "Do you truly want my advice on that matter?" asked Erik. "yes I do." said Christine. "if you believe that there is a chance that the child belongs to me then do yourself a favor and get rid of it." Said Erik as he pounded his organ very hard. "what? Why?" asked Christine. "do you think I want a child who will come into the world looking like me?" asked Erik as he tore off his mask and forced Christine to stare at his distorted face. "any child who looks like me is bound to live a horrible existence. The gene is in my blood Christine, it is bound to haunt any child that god lets me conceive." said Erik. "so you're saying that even if I didn't sleep with Raoul and the child was yours you would still want me to get rid of it?" asked Christine. "yes, men like me don't have children." said Erik. Christine got to her feet in anger and said "I'm keeping the child Erik, this is going to be your suffering. I want you to get up and apologize to me right now, because if you don't I'm leaving you for good." Erik made no point to move and Christine took off her ring and angrily through it out into the lake before yelling "your ring is out on the bottom of that lake, it's drowning like our love." she then walked away leaving Erik alone once more. Erik pounded on his organ once more, as the tears ran from his eyes like rain from the sky. His feet wanted to run to her, but his heart ached and knew that this was for the better.
Later on that night as the crowd of opera goers entered the opera house Christine stood behind the stage in her gypsy attire waiting for the final performance of "Don Juan Triumphant" to begin. She stared at Madam Giry who was counting the performers as they lined up on stage and Christine knew something was wrong when she saw her approaching. "Christine it seems that Don Juan is missing." she replied. "really? I haven't noticed." said Christine sarcastically. "We can't have a performance of Don Juan with out a Don Juan. So if you know something of his whereabouts you best tell me now." said Madam Giry as she pointed her poked Christine with her pointer. "I don't have a clue where he is and if I'm lucky maybe he drowned in the lake." said Christine angrily. "Christine, you love Erik what happened that makes you feel so negative tonight?" asked Madam Giry. "I don't want to talk about it. We're not together anymore and so I just don't want to see him." said Christine.
Madam Giry fixed the sleeve of Christine's dress, and said "Christine, he has saved you from Raoul. Nothing he could have said or done could be enough to want to leave him. You are with child and that my dear is a reason to work things out between you and him." "I've tried to work things out between him and I. You don't understand that Erik is self conscious and he puts himself down all the time even after I tell him that I love him." said Christine. "who's child is it?" asked Madam Giry. "I don't know. I loved both men at the same time and to tell the truth it's most likely Raoul's. Even though the doctors told Erik that he wasn't able to conceive I still believe that there is a chance that the child belongs to him." said Christine. "well we need a Don Juan so I shall go find him." said Madam Giry.
Madam Giry walked down to Erik's lair and saw him sitting at his organ with his head in his hands. "Erik." she replied. "Go away." said Erik without even looking up at her. "why so sad Erik?" asked Madam Giry. "just leave me alone!" shouted Erik as he got to his feet and walked towards his bed chambers. "this is the last night of Don Juan triumphant and frankly we need you because you're Don Juan." she replied. "there will be no show tonight or any other night Madam Giry because as far as I'm concerned the music has left my heart." said Erik. Madam Giry sighed "you should be ashamed of yourself Erik, the music is what has kept you company your whole life and now you are abandoning it for reasons unknown. Christine loves you Erik and the love of a woman is something that doesn't come easy to you. You should forgive and forget or just go away for good instead of sitting here torturing yourself." she then walked away leaving Erik alone once more.
Philippe gathered his men around the opera house. He handed one of his men the map of the basement and said "I have found this in Christine's dressing room one night while I was searching for her. Do you all know the plan?" "yes sir." they replied. "now while everyone is watching Don Juan Triumphant you men make your way down there and block all the passage ways to the main floor. But make sure before you do that make sure that you do what I have told you to do." said Philippe as he took two cans of gasoline out of the back of his carriage. "but what if this plan fails and more burns up then what we expected?" asked one of the men. Philippe grabbed the man by the shirt and yelled "make sure it doesn't or so help me I'll personally burn everyone of you at the stake. We only want the Opera Ghost to burn in hell for good, and nothing else."
Andre and Firman paced the stage, waiting for Erik to arrive so the show could begin. Madam Giry then came up from one of the passage ways and said "I'm sorry to be the barer of bad news but our Don Juan will not be performing tonight." "what!" yelled Firman. "we have a full house Ms. Giry, what are we supposed to do? What are we to tell them?" questioned Andre. "tell them that it will be postponed until the actor who plays Don Juan is feeling well." she replied. "oh this is going to give us a great reputation." said Andre in anger. "what in the devil is wrong with the Opera Ghost? Since when did he ever miss a show? Even last year he always came to haunt us and ruin the performance." said Firman. "if Carlotta were performing he'd be here in a flash." said Andre sarcastically. "that he would." said Firman.
Philippe's men split up and poured gasoline down each passage way of the opera house's basement. After emptying each can, the men lit a match and set it ablaze, causing the smoke to travel downwards. Philippe on the other hand walked to Christine's dressing room and knocked before entering. Once he entered, Philippe saw Christine sitting at her dresser sobbing. "Christine, what is wrong?" asked Philippe as he took a seat next to her. "nothing." she replied. "yes there is something wrong, tell me what's wrong?" asked Philippe. "tonight was a total disaster, sometimes I just wish my problems would go away for good." said Christine. Philippe smiled, and said "sometimes it comes true if you wish hard enough." "look Philippe, you seem like a nice guy. Just go away and leave me alone." said Christine pushing him away. Philippe got to his feet, and said "my love your problems will soon be gone and when ever they are you know where to find me."
As Erik sat with his head in his hands, he started to smell the familiar scent of smoke. He got to his feet and turned around to see a blaze of fire coming toward him from one of the passage ways over the lake. Erik then ran to the second and last passage way to see that up in flames as well. "oh no." was all that Erik could think of to say. He didn't know how the blaze started but he had to get out before he was to become just another object in it's path. Erik ran over to his bed and grabbed the music box with the Persian monkey sitting on top of it and hid it in his shirt so that it wouldn't catch fire. He then ran out into the lake to keep the flames from catching fire on him. He was surrounded by the flames and didn't know what he was going to do or how he was going to escape.
As Christine sat in her dressing room, she began to smell smoke. She looked down and noticed that there was smoke seeping up through the floor boards. "Erik?" questioned Christine as she opened the two way mirror that was in her room. As she walked down through the passage ways and approached the lake she noticed that there were nothing but flames surrounding his lair. Christine noticed that the ceiling was falling down as the flames got higher and thicker to see through. "Erik!" was what Christine screamed as she coughed and tried to breath through the thick smoke.
As the flames began to consume the water, Erik began to feel ash falling on him and looked up to see that the ceiling was falling apart and landing in the water. Just as he was about to swim under the flames a huge heavy part of the ceiling came apart and hit Erik, causing him to become pinned underneath the water. He lifted his head above the water level and gasped in air but found himself coughing due to the thick cloud of smoke that was surrounding his lair. He was pinned and couldn't free his body from the waters nor could he get up to find fresh air to breath in. Just then he saw a figure standing though the flames watching him. Just then another flaming part of the ceiling fell down and hit him in the head causing him to pass out and go under the flaming waters of the lake.
Christine saw Erik go under the water and immediately ran through the flames to save him. She dove under the flames and got a hold of his body and tried to free him from the piece of ceiling that was holing him down. With no luck Christine forced his head above the water only to see that there was no more fresh air and only smoke. She had to get them out of the flaming lair but how? The passage ways were full of hot flames and the only way out now was swimming deep down to the bottom of the lake where there was a level to pull to have a secret passage way open up to the streets. Christine swam down deep and tried to quickly find the level so that she could return to help Erik. As she pulled the rusty level the door began to open and as she was about to swim back she was grabbed and pulled inside. Once the door closed and the water drained she looked at Philippe who was standing there next to her. "what the hell are you doing?" asked Christine. "saving you." said Philippe. "open this door right now! I have to get back to the lair." demanded Christine. "what? And drown? Or be consumed by flames? Hell no, come we must leave the opera house it's on fire." said Philippe. "Open the door!" demanded Christine once more. "he's dead Christine, just let him face his fate." said Philippe with a smile. "you did this didn't you?" questioned Christine. "like I said before, if you wish hard enough your wish will come true." said Philippe. He then pulled her away as Christine screamed for him to let her go.
When Erik awoke everything was dark and he couldn't move his body. He noticed that his ankle was killing him and he smelled of smoke and fire. Just then he noticed a candle being lit and Madam Giry standing over him. "Erik, you're awake." she replied. "where am I?" asked Erik as he nestled up against the pillows that were under his head. "the Opera house burnt down, everything is gone." she replied. "is everyone ok?" asked Erik deliriously. "no, Firman and five of the performers died." said Madam Giry as she held back tears. "I saw Christine, she came to me." said Erik. "it has been two days since the fire and I haven't seen her since. After the flames were put out Nadir and I searched for you and any survivors but had no luck in finding Christine. We found you pinned down beneath a pillar with a fractured ankle." said Madam Giry. "where am I now?" asked Erik. Meg's house, she is still on her honeymoon and won't be back until tomorrow." said Madam Giry. "if she has left me then I shall let her live her life happily some where's else." said Erik. "Erik, don't be like this with her." said Madam Giry. "no, Christine has left me and so I shall let her be." said Erik. "you are welcomed to stay as long as you wish." said Madam Giry. "I appreciate it." said Erik. Madam Giry left the room, leaving Erik alone to rest.
Christine sat with Philippe on his ship as he filled out paper work. "this child isn't Raoul's." lied Christine angrily. "what so ever do you mean?" asked Philippe. "I had Erik have a test run on him to find out if his cells were living and they are. This child could be his." said Christine. Philippe smiled evilly and said "let me put it to you this way. If this child that you're carrying is his you will truly burn at the stake along with the child. The Opera Ghost is dead and soon you will be joining him." said Philippe. "at let me go where I wish. The Opera Ghost is dead so what is the big deal." said Christine. "go ahead love." said Philippe. Christine got up, and before she left, Philippe said "now that the Opera house is burnt down where are you going to go?"
Christine left, and walked to Meg's house to see Madam Giry. Once she knocked, Madam Giry answered the door, and let her in. "where have you been? I've been worried sick about you." said Madam Giry. "I'm here now and that's all that matters." said Christine. "come, I want to show you something." she replied. Christine followed Madam Giry to a closed door, and said "before I show you what's inside you better rethink about your life and what you really want. Sometimes if you wish hard enough your wish will come true." she then opened the door and Christine entered the dark room. She then turned the corner and saw Erik lying in the bed that was up against the wall. She thought that he was dead until she saw him breathing slowly. Christine had a seat at his bedside, and watched him sleep. As he slept, Christine touched his bandaged ankle and thought about the fight they had a few days ago.
Erik then opened his eyes and saw Christine sitting there and he immediately grabbed the covers and shifted his body upwards. "Erik, shhh…it's ok." she replied. "No it is not ok." said Erik. "I thought you were dead." said Christine. "dead? Is that what you wished for?" asked Erik. "no, I would never wish that on you." said Christine. "really? Because you left me for it." said Erik. "Philippe pulled me away from saving you Erik, what was I supposed to do?" asked Christine. "I set you free, just go away and leave me for good." said Erik. "Erik you made me mad when you told me to get rid of my baby." said Christine. "I just don't want you having Raoul's baby and if it's mine I'm afraid that it will come out looking like me." said Erik. "Raoul has given me to Philippe and if this baby turns out to be his I'm going to be trapped." said Christine. "oh Christine what do you want me to do? There is nothing I can do about this." said Erik. "we need to get rid of Philippe so that you and I can live free. Free from danger, free from Philippe and free from entrapment." said Christine. "but how Christine?" asked Erik. "did you set the fire in the Opera House?" asked Christine. "no, of course not." said Erik. "then that's it, we tell the police that Philippe and his men started the fire and that will be the end of him." said Christine. "you are forgetting one thing Christine, you and I are finished." said Erik. "forgive me Erik." said Christine. "forgive you? Forgive you? Christine you don't know what you want. Sometimes you want me other times you want someone else. Do you want me? Or do you only want me when no one else wants you?" asked Erik. "I don't know what I want Erik." said Christine. "exactly, so I'll tell you what. I will go with you to the police and turn Philippe in and after that you need to stay away from me." said Erik. "fine." said Christine. As Philippe sat on his ship, he saw the police walking extremely close to it. He then heard one of the police men yell "you are all under arrest for the arson of the Opera Popular." seconds later, Philippe and all of his men were handcuffed and taken away. Philippe thought about what was going on and then realized that his Christine had betrayed him.
As Erik and Christine arrived back at Madam Giry's house, Christine tried to help Erik who was limping but he shoved her away from him. As they walked in, they noticed Andre sitting there with Madam Giry waiting for them. "What's going on?" asked Erik. "I have been waiting for you to arrive sir." he replied. "why?" asked Erik as he took a seat. "well you see Firman my partner is dead and the opera house is no more. I need someone who knows about operas to help me rebuild. I guess really what I'm asking is that you become my partner." said Andre. Erik looked at Madam Giry and didn't know what to say…..
More to come soon….R&R