It's strange that my chapters sometimes go to only 600 words to 900, very stange indeed. i guess it just means that each chapter has its own special length it needs to be.

well that made no sense at all!

here's chapter 13, hope you're enjoying the story!

# Part Thirteen:

Erik was fuming silently over a non-existent piece of music that should have been sitting at the organ's stand. Where was the other half? His weeks worth of work, missing! He scowled and checked around the organ and around his room with a slight feverish air. He even checked the other rooms of the whole house, but ended up coming back to his room. He was sure he lost it in his room. Digging through a mountain of paper, Erik got more and more frustrated as he could not find his missing page.

This was bad, he couldn't find it anywhere around his house. Not by the organ, not by the Louise Philippe room, not in any other rooms. Storming out of the house to the lake's silent shores, Erik kicked a rock into the lake with one swift movement of his boot and watched with a dull amusement when the rock skipped three times before sinking deep into the bottom of the lake. Taking a deep breath of the cold air, Erik went back inside to check, once again, around his room. He looked again around the coffin, desk, and the organ, shoving quills, papers, and ink bottles away from his search but found that he couldn't find even a trace of his missing music sheet.

Sitting down irritably at the organ's seat, Erik thought back of where he could've placed it anywhere outside the house. He rubbed his head as he tried to think, going over all he did that day. It hit him like a slap, Erik had left the sheet in his seat when watching the play; he had brought it to work on when he got bored. He had left it in that bloody box! Rolling his eyes he got up and stalked angrily out of his home to the pathway that would lead to the dressing room above the six cellars. Almost running up the numerous flights of stairs Erik didn't even breathe as heavily as he would before. Coming up to the glass mirror he peered carefully out.

Even though he was angry, it didn't mean he was careless after all. Seeing that no one was around, he opened the mirror with ease and stepped into the room. Lark had done well keeping it clean, Erik had to admit that grudgingly. Walking out into the dark halls, he felt relaxed as much as he could with a sheet of his work lying around. The night was his good companion, keeping curious eyes off him, keeping him safe. He had already long ago accepted the darkness in which he lived in, he never regretted it.

Thankfully the hallway leading to the boxes was vacant when Erik stalked down them, still fuming that he had left a piece of his precious music in some careless place where anyone could take it. Turning the corner to where box five's door lay open; surprising Erik only slightly. Madame Giry had gotten lazy with her duty to the boxes keepings, but when he looked inside he hastily hid in the nearby curtain. Curse that curious girl!

Yes, in the box he saw Lark looking around in awe, was the room that special to her? His eyes sparked angrily when a crinkle made her look down, she had stepped on his music! He ground his teeth together to keep from darting over there and shoving her away. Not knowing she was being watched, the girl plucked up the paper and scanned it briefly before smoothing out the wrinkles, much to Erik's surprise. Gently she placed the paper on the seat next to her and straightened, looking out at something Erik didn't see.

This was his chance, all he had to do was quickly grab the paper and leave; she wouldn't miss the paper for long. As he came out slowly from behind the curtain he stopped and watched as she leaned out and was attempting to grab something outside the box. Peering closely he saw that the necklace from the performance was dangling precariously from the fingers of a gold statue. 'That's foolish, she can't reach it.' He thought, grabbing the paper from the seat. Tucking it safely in the folds of his cloak he turned back to watch the girl before he left the door.

She couldn't reach it yet she was trying to reach it, not realizing the danger of the deed. Shaking his head, he turned to leave the box and head back to his lair when a feeling of dread crept over him. Erik swirled around quickly and saw that her hip that was hiked up on the side was sliding off over the wrong side as Lark gave one more lunge for the necklace. Erik's stomach gave a painful lurch as he heard the girl give a choked gasp, and tumbled over the edge.

Quick as a lightning strike, Erik darted over and grabbed her shoulders roughly, yanking her back over the ledge, stepping out of the way as Lark gave a startled cry as she fell over the seat onto the thick carpet of the box's floor. Her breathing came hard and rasping as her hand lay clutched over her heart, the necklace dangling from her other shaking hand.

He towered over her and yanked Lark roughly to her feet. "That was stupid!" he said angrily, "You could have killed yourself if I hadn't caught you in time!" Lark just stared at him with large eyes, looking once over the ledge then back at him, realization dawning in her green brown eyes. "Th-thank y-you monsieur..." she said faintly.

Erik made a face at her, "Did you know you could've snapped your neck during that fall you could've taken? You'd have been lucky if you lived with just a full paralyzed body, if you were lucky." Lark shook her head slowly, her face paling as she thought of her near death experience. "I don't feel good…" she murmured, and collapsed in a dead faint; who could blame her?

Updated. XD Oh yeah, and the # sign shows that I have updated an old one if you haven't guessed, though i forgot to add the # on one of them, but I siad it was "Updated XD" so all is well.

anything you would like to suggest to improve my writting is accepted.