Erik's POV
For days I laid there counting the endless hours of loneliness. Her name ran through my mind every second of everyday. My first few nights in my new home were the worst. I would wake in cold sweats, screaming her name like a madman. I tossed and turned, horrible thoughts racing through my mind. What if Raoul found out about what she and I did? What if he was torturing her right now? So many horrible thoughts, and yet, I couldn't get them out of my head. During the day, I would sit there on my windowsill, petting Ayesha or doing nothing at all. My life had become a meaningless pool of loneliness. What was my purpose now? What was ever my purpose in life? I had been here two whole days, and I hadn't even the stomach to try and play the piano. I knew by finding out that I couldn't would only send me flying straight into a deep depression. Not that I wasn't in one at the moment.
When I attempted to walk downstairs, I fell, ending up on the landing near the first step. I couldn't stay in that dreaded room all hours of the day, but after my fall, Madame Giry insisted that I stay where I belonged. I needed a place that was all on one floor, a home that was easy to walk around in. Yes, I had become used to my attic bedroom, but this was not a home. I wanted to be able to walk around my kitchen, know where everything was, take a stroll in my garden. This attic would do for now, but I would not become its prisoner.
"Christine!" I cried her name unknowingly as my body tossed in the sheets of my bed one evening nearly a week after our arrival. I had seen her! She was running in the woods, bleeding from her stomach as if someone had stabbed her. I was trying to run to her, trying my best to call out, but she didn't hear me. It was as if I were a ghost. Then, I saw Raoul! He was chasing after her, a bloody knife in hand.
"You can run, Christine!" he spat. "But you can't hide! Your monster isn't here to protect you now! You like fucking dead corpses do you!"
"Christine!" I called her name again, hoping she would hear me. Raoul was getting closer and closer to her. My angel tripped over a rock, and landed on her stomach. There was no escape for her now. I watched in horror as Raoul began stabbing my angel over and over again.
"Christine!"
A crash of thunder dragged me from my dream. I shot up in bed, my body covered in sweat. I could hear rain pelting against my window as thunder violently crashed against our home. I took a few breaths before reaching over to turn on the gas lamp that was on my night table. When the light was finally visible, so were the shadows of the furniture in my room.
"Oh, Ayesha," I cried, sobbing into my hands. "I miss Christine so much. All I do is dream about her."
Ayesha curled up in my arms in an attempt to calm me down. But what if those things were truly happening to my angel? No! I couldn't think like that. Christine made her choice. She was probably married by now-right? I knew the only thing that was going to keep my mind occupied was if I got a job. If I did, then I would have a purpose each day. It would even bring in a steady paycheck. With money coming in, I could find myself a suitable home, one that would make my life a lot easier. But what kind of job could I possibly do? I was blind, and without the ability to see, what could I do? Perhaps I still had it in me to do simple magic tricks? I needed to do something to make my way in life. I guess I would find out.
The following morning, I went to my wardrobe closet and dressed in my finest suit. For the past few days I had been settling with just wearing a shirt and trousers because of how easy it had been to put them on. Dressing in my suit was another story. Attempting to tie a bowtie blind was a task that took nearly thirty minutes to complete. I didn't care, I was blind and in need of a job. If I couldn't look my employer in the eyes, the least I could do was look respectable.
"How do I look?" I questioned Ayesha as I stood there adjusting my shirt.
My kitten purred and I took that as a good sign. After placing on my mask, I grabbed my walking staff and headed out the attic door. I knew from memory that there was exactly five steps until I reached the staircase. Today, however, I gently stepped down each stair, counting them as I went along. I would need to know how many stairs there were to climb for when I returned home later in the evening. Thirteen steps, there were exactly thirteen steps to reach the second floor. This was the floor that held the bedrooms. I counted my steps until I reached the final staircase that would lead me to the first floor. There were twenty steps, and then fifteen stairs to the bottom.
This had been the first time I had actually been able to make it to the first floor without falling. It even made me proud. If Christine were here, she'd probably be proud too. I could smell something cooking from the kitchen, and heard Madame Giry talking to her daughter. I followed her voice until she was only a few feet away. From a distance, I spotted her shadow standing beside Meg. I wasn't sure, but there was something long placed in the center of the kitchen. Guessing it to be the table, I made my way to it in need to take a seat for a few moments.
"What in God's name are you doing down here?" the old woman asked. "I thought I told you to stay in the attic?"
I found a chair and pulled it out, but fell flat on my butt when I attempted to sit down. I was still working out the strings when it came to judging depth and how far away the shadows were. In this case, that shadow being my seat.
"See what I mean, Erik!" she scolded. "You're going to kill yourself."
"And if I don't try to do things on my own, I'll never learn how to live like this."
I used my staff to stand up and Meg gently took my arm to guide me into my seat.
"Would you like some tea, Erik?" the young girl asked. "I made some."
"Yes, that would be nice."
I never thought Meg to be the caring kind, but I was obviously wrong. At least she was trying to help me, unlike Madame Giry who only wanted to scold me every time I attempted to do something. A smooth, hot glass was placed in between my hand before Meg's voice filled my ears again.
"It's right in front of you, Erik." she said. "Be careful not to burn yourself."
"Meg, would you stop treating Monsieur Fantome like a baby?"
"Don't yell at her, Madame!" I growled. "She's only trying to help."
"Help? Did she help dress you this morning, monsieur?"
"No, why?"
"Because for a blind man you're dressed like you're going out on a date."
"I'm going to look for work."
The room fell silent, and Madame Giry burst out laughing. How dare she laugh at me! Oh, how this taunting hurt me more than anything. Just because I was blind didn't mean that I had to lay down and die!
"A job?" she laughed. "Who on earth would give you a job? You're blind! Just where do you think you'll be looking for work? And better yet, how will you know where to go?"
I slammed my hand down on the table, causing droplets of my scolding tea to burn my palm.
"I can see shadows! I can see your outline, Madame!"
"Your eyes still aren't focusing on anything, Erik. Just how do you expect to make your way in this world?"
"Maybe being a magician."
"You mean showing your face? That's all you'll be able to do. Let onlookers gaze at your hideous face in return for a paycheck."
Oh, how my blood was boiling!
"I need money! I need to get out of here! I need a home that's only one floor and small enough so I can know where everything is."
"You mean blind proof? There are plenty of those homes in the city. A home where hundreds of blind men live together."
"I will not go to the insane asylum! I will buy myself a place to stay, and then, when Christine returns-"
"She is not going to return to you, Erik!" the woman screamed. "She hates you! She pities you! What would ever make you think that she would return to care for you? If you wish to leave here, then you better get a job and get out soon. I won't be caring for you like a little baby. Yes, I promised Christine to care for you until she returned, but she isn't going to!"
"Mother," Meg intervened, but I knew it would do her no good. Madame Giry was not someone to quarrel with. Once she made up her mind, there was no changing it.
"Silence, Meg! If monsieur thinks the grass is greener on the other side then let him learn his lesson."
When I couldn't take another moment spent with Madame Giry, I stood up and began walking towards the door.
"Yes, that's right, Erik, go out into the real world. You'll be back in a few minutes, I would bet my life on it."
The world was indeed cruel. The moment I stepped outside, I didn't have a clue on where I was or where I should go, so I walked. The streets were empty right until I reached the boardwalk. Once there, those thousands and thousands of shadows appeared, pushing me if I made the slightest contact with one.
"Watch where you're going!" they would scream. "Get out of our ways!"
I was shoved from side to side, landing up against a wall one time. I groaned in pain, but no one seemed to care. When I attempted to stand up straight, I was pushed again, this time, my walking staff had been thrown from my grasp. I heard it hit the ground a few yards away, but I couldn't see a thing. In an attempt to find it, I got down on my hands and knees to feel around, only causing the passing people to step on my hands. I yelped and pulled away, being shoved and yelled at once more.
Was there not a single person who cared enough to help me?
"Move it, ya freak!" one man screamed.
"Get off the ground, beggar!"
So many people were yelling at me, but then, there was one voice that stood out in the crowd, one that lifted my spirits.
"Hey, have some compassion! "
It was the voice of a woman. When I dared to look up, I noticed a dark figure pushing past the crowd to get to me. It was most definitely a woman by her slim outline, but she was wearing some sort of costume with long things sticking out from it…feathers perhaps? I wasn't sure, for I could only see her dark outline.
"Here, let me help you up." I was lifted to my feet, my walking staff placed back into my hand. She even dusted off my clothing with her hands.
"Here, let's get you out of this crowd. They can be real mean to people like us."
The woman left my side, walking ahead. She obviously had no clue that I was blind. When people began to shove me again, she turned around, dumfounded over why I was stumbling around like a blind man.
"What's wrong with you?" she asked, grabbing my arm and pulling me from the crowd.
This had made me extremely angry. I had so much anger pent up inside of me from this morning, that I let it finally slip from my body.
"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with me? I'm fucking blind! That's what's wrong with me! Did you think I carried around this staff for laughs!"
"I'm sorry, monsieur." she gasped. "I didn't know."
"Please, just leave me alone. I've been having the morning from absolute hell."
"Where's your family?" she questioned. "How could they allow you to walk around without an escort?"
"I don't have any family. At the moment I'm living with two women who could care less about my well being. I had no choice but to come out looking for a job on my own."
"A job?" she questioned. "What could you possibly do?"
"I can do magic tricks."
"You must be joking, right?"
This angered me even more. I knew I could do them, and yet, this woman didn't believe me! I groaned as I pulled a coin from my pocket. I knew how to do fluid motions with my hands without having to see it. I waved the coin in front of her, before flicking my hand and making it disappear. The woman gasped in amazement, my trick had obviously worked.
"You really are telling the truth."
"Yes, now if you'll excuse me, I have to be on my way."
I turned to begin walking, when her voice caused me to stop.
"I know where you can get a job!"
I turned, still seeing the shadow standing there.
"I work for a freak show on the other end of the boardwalk. My boss, he's always looking for new acts. Surely a blind magician would bring in more crowds."
"And he would hire me?"
"Yes, especially if I put in a good word for you."
Why was this woman treating me with kindness? She didn't know me and I didn't know her. We were complete strangers. But, perhaps here in Coney Island, freaks treated other freaks like family.
"I'll escort you there." she offered. "If you're still interested in the job?"
This was my only chance to make money and to get out of Madame Giry's house. I needed this job, and I knew if I denied this girl's offer, I would be denying myself a life.
"All right." I finally said.
The woman interlocked her arm with my own, and we began walking towards her workplace.
"Thank you, for helping me." I said. "I thought I was going to be in that horrible crowd forever."
"You're very welcome. You're not the first person I've helped. For some odd reason, these human beings love coming to see the freak shows, and yet, when a freak is in need on the streets they simply make matters worse for them. Horrible, really."
There was something odd about this woman's accent. Surely, she wasn't from Coney Island. No, she sounded like she belonged in England.
"You were born here?" I questioned.
"No, London." she answered, speaking loudly over the screams coming from the attractions we were passing. "Came here four years ago."
"And what's your-" I paused, trying to think of the right term. "Affliction?"
She giggled. "Affliction? Come now, monsieur, we don't call our abilities afflictions. Yes, some of the freaks here do have physical problems with their appearance, but most of us have special abilities and talents."
Oh, how I liked this girl. She reminded me of Christine in a way. It was nice just to have another being laugh and joke within my presence.
"I came to Coney Island because of the way I liked to dress. I love wearing colorful feathers. Back home, people called me a freak. When I came to Coney Island, I soon learned just how much of an acrobat I really was."
"How many others are there like us?" I asked.
"Thousands. At the show I perform in there are fifty. There's everything from a strong man, to Siamese twins."
"What's your name?"
"Nymphadora, but everyone knows me as Miss Fleck. How about you, monsieur? Surely you're not from around here?"
"No, Paris France."
"Paris? How wonderful. What's your name?"
"Erik."
"Erik?" she questioned. "That's a nice name and all, but if you're going to perform, you need a stage name. They introduce me as "Miss Fleck, half bird, half woman." No one is going to be impressed by a magician named "Erik."
"Well, it's my name." I barked. "Sorry it's not magnificent like yours."
"What's with the mask?"
I could see the shadow of Fleck's hand moving towards my mask, but I snatched it in my grasp before she could remove the leather garment.
"Touch my mask again, and I'll snap your wrist in half."
"You don't have to be all sentimental about it, monsieur. If you have some kind of deformity-"
"It's none of your business, girl!"
"Wait, if you're blind, how did you-"
"I can see shadows." I said. "I've only been blind a few weeks. An accident back in Paris left me this way."
Before I could say another word, the shadow of something big appeared before my very eyes. A tent perhaps?
"We're here." she said. "Come, I'll introduce you to our boss."
This was it, this was my chance to prove that I could work. I needed this job, and I was going to do everything in my power not to screw it up, for this could be the only chance given to me. Without this job, I would be stuck living with Madame Giry for the rest of my life, or worse, locked away in an insane asylum.
Miss Fleck to the rescue! Please review! Thanks everyone!