Raoul comes for me on my one-month wedding anniversary.

Erik was out. He did not lock me in my room, but told me he trusted me enough not to leave. I couldn't believe it. I promised.

"Goodbye Erik," I had called, determined to be thankful for this opportunity he was giving to prove that I was trustworthy. He stopped at the door and gave me a lingering look. I put on my bravest face and smiled at him.

"Goodbye, my angel," he said back sweetly. "Erik loves you and will be back soon."

I heard the lock click behind him.

Quite honestly, I do not like when Erik leaves. His house becomes cold and quiet, as if all of the music we have created in it follows him out. But today, I am thankful for this moment of solitude to display my faithfulness to my word. Fairly lighthearted and hopeful that this may be the first step to returning to the outside world, I wander around singing to myself. My voice sounds rather lonely without Erik's to accompany me.

But as the minutes drag on, I become aware of noises outside. My voice falters as I listen intently as to whether or not Erik has returned after such a brief disappearance. As the noise continues, I grow doubtful- Erik does not make that much noise. Yet if it is not Erik... then who is it?

I suddenly long for the man whom I call husband to return to me and solve this upsetting mystery.

Erik is afraid of nothing. I am afraid of everything.

The noise continues, like banging or chipping, and I slink back against the wall in absolute terror. Such a loud noise! Who has made their way down to Erik's pit of doom? Do they know that certain death awaits them if they travel much farther?

The siren does not go off. I hear no screams.

"No one could possibly get down here," I tell myself, my voice making a soothing sound against the Gothic walls. "And if they do, they will be dead within seconds."

I am appalled at my apparent joy of fatality, but suddenly comforted by the walls I had just so recently disliked. I am safe in here- whatever else here may be, I am safe.

My curiosity surpasses my fear as I creep towards the door. This was my chance to display to Erik that I would not leave... but I must know about the noises. I wonder if he has locked me in... I try the door without much hope, but it is unlocked.

Unlocked...

I open the door blankly and I am met with a rush of cool air that feels wonderful, even mixed with the dull smell of mold and water. Flights of freedom stretch up in my mind, begging for my attention. A moral dilemma rises up inside of me.

I could escape…

And go where? A little voice in the back of my head, that sounds suspiciously like Erik, reminds me that Raoul could be anywhere, probably the North Pole. I would have no one to take care of me. No one who loved me above ground. At this point, could I even return to the world I had once called my home? Somehow, the hurt was soothed down here, but would the loss of Raoul hit me hard above ground?

Erik was all I had.

The constant, bitter truth was that Erik loved me. I had come to depend on him, leaning on him through our silent living arrangements. He was always there, and I never once went to him, asking for his presence. Why had I not? I feel so tired sometimes, as if I could sink into my silk-sheeted bed and sleep forever.

I listen intently, but the noises are gone. It was probably a rat of some sort, or a person whose body was now cold and unmoving. I back away quietly, my adrenaline rush at freedom dying slowly away.

"Christine!" a voice cries from the shadows. "You are alive!"

I numbly throw my hands out in shock, and out of nowhere appears none other than Raoul de Chagny!

Raoul!

His hands grasp mine with a desperate roughness and before my mind can comprehend anything, he is pulling me away from the door, half dragging me along beside him. I cannot believe this is happening - part of me was only thinking about Raoul, and so suddenly he arrives! I must be hallucinating!

My mind blurry, I allow him to take me protectively in his arms, while a voice in my head is crying, "Erik! Erik! Erik!" I stumble as we move, trying to form words with my lips. "How-?"

Raoul is here! He has come to save me!

My stomach is turning and my head is reeling; I totter unsteadily, and I feel myself slipping away into a faint. Raoul is saying words that I cannot make sense of. His face swirls before me, but he does not cease moving, now half-carrying, half-dragging me away from the house on the lake.

"No, Christine, you must stay with me! I will get you out of here, I promise! Ah, how I have missed you! Christine, Christine!"

I pull myself upright. We are going down dark passages now, on the side of the lake. The dirt is all over, I notice, as if it's been dug at.

"Raoul!" I gasp, finally finding my voice. "You have come for me!"

He presses his lips into my hair, and I realize what it's like to be physically touched. I have gone without touch for so long, and I feel so comforted, safe in someone's arms. I was free! Free from Erik! Raoul is here! What is happening?

Erik?

"Erik." I say. "He will find me!"

"Hush!" Raoul commands. "We must escape quickly!"

A terrible altercation is raging in my head. I promised Erik I would not leave! Even now, my heart nearly bursting with affection at the sight of Raoul again, I cannot get my own words out of my head, chanting like a chorus, "I will be your living wife! I will be your living wife!"

He had trusted me. What would he do when he came home, only to find that I was gone? He would be quite insane, I was sure of it! He would be crazed with love and grief! Our trust had been building up in a tension-filled world for the past month, and now I would shatter everything that had come between us.

I had made a decision.

And I had chosen Erik.

My mind clears away and I pound my little fists on Raoul's torn jacket. "You must let me go! I cannot leave my husband! I promised him!" I dig my heels into the ground and he comes to a screeching stop, so that I may look upon his face for the first time. His eyes are light and lovely, but frantic as he gazes at me in horror.

"Oh, my Christine," Raoul moans. "What has he done to you? You made me promise to take you away, even if you protested!"

Be quite, you silly girl! my mind scolds. Raoul will protect you, and you will be free!

I cry. Did I want to be free?

Erik will hear me, I know, if I continue crying like this. Erik will come to me, and he will kill Raoul. Erik always hears me. He told me so!

But Raoul is still running, and I am still strung beside him, and Erik is nowhere in sight.

"We are so close, Christine!" Raoul cries. "Ah, my love!"

"I told him he could trust me," I say, more to myself than to Raoul. "I told Erik that he could trust me."

Raoul pats my hair awkwardly while scrambling on this beaten path. I wrench myself away from him again, my heart pounding, my head confused. At the change in our speed, Raoul's arms throws out protectively to hold onto me, and my legs cannot handle my own weight.

There is a violent, heart-stopping pain in my foot and I cry out and crumple to the ground out of sheer shock. My entire body tenses up at this unfamiliar, incredible pain that floods throughout my lower leg.

"Are you- Christine!"

Raoul kneels uncertainly beside me, but my eyes lose all their focus as this thudding pain travels through me. My mind goes blissfully blank of any other sensation except for this one, the pain driving out all unrelated concerns.

Dark… Why is it always so dark…?

Raoul…

I keep my eyes shut tight anyway, trying to block everything out.

"Christine, we must…we must…"

Raoul's voice falters and dies. My eyes remain closed.

And then I am falling for real… Darkness envelops me.

.