Chapter 19-4 months later
The thunder crackled in the black sky over top of the D'Avignon mansion and the rain began to come down hitting the roof loudly. Lightning flashed in the sky lighting up everything including the little girl's bedroom waking her up with fear.
Adrienne sat still afraid to move from her bed barely breathing and praying in her head that the storm would stop. She held tightly onto her blankets as the lightning lit up her room and the thunder cracked and rumbled loud enough to shake the little decorative trinkets on her dresser.
Erik was asleep in his bed; it took him 2 months to get back into his and Gabrielle's bed. He thrashed about having the same nightmare where Gabrielle comes back to him as a spirit and tells him to get on with his life and be with Christine. Erik kept screaming her name over and over for her to come back to him but she just turns around and walks back to her grave.
Thunder continued to rumble over top of the house vibrating everything while Adrienne shivered under her blankets. Suddenly one of the trinkets that have been vibrating throughout the storm fell over with a small crash that sounded loud in the middle of the quiet room. Adrienne leaped out of bed and ran out of the room. Once in the hallway she stopped to catch her breath and heard screaming from down the hall in the direction of Erik's bedroom. Adrienne became more frightened and ran to her father's room bursting through the door to see him thrashing about in his bed. Adrienne huddled against the door frightened at what she was saw happening in the bed.
"No, Gabrielle, don't leave me! I'm sorry!" Erik's pitiful moans cried out against the storm. Adrienne suddenly ran forward to the bed and climbed onto it.
"Papa! Papa! It's just a dream Papa." Adrienne whispered disregarding the storm. Adrienne couldn't see anything in the dark and kept shaking him to wake him up, but he wouldn't wake up. He just continued to moan even louder until he sat bolted upright in bed as Adrienne cried out in surprise. Erik breathed in and out deeply and stared at the little girl next to him as he pulled the blanket up to his chin covering his bare torso. Erik stared at the little girl until the lightning flashed lighting up the whole room and revealing his face to her.
Adrienne winced when the lightning flashed, and revealed her father's face. She could only make out shadows of the scars that twisted in different directions but Erik suddenly put his hand to his face and said,
"What are you doing?" Erik asked suddenly. Adrienne was still a little scared at Erik's behavior while he was sleeping along with the storm and began to snuggle against him. Something that was unfamiliar to her since Gabrielle's death. Before that Erik was kind and warm towards her and she was light of his life, but since her death, he had turned cold and was no longer the father she once knew. He rarely ever played with her and now that she was living there permanently with her mother, Erik rarely spoke to either of them and Adrienne hated not having his attention.
Quietly she muttered, "I was scared Papa. I wanted to be by you."
"Adrienne, it's just a storm, it will pass over soon, they never last that long."
"But Papa, you were having a bad dream and scared me even more. I'm glad that you're awake and all right." She said squeezing him tighter. Erik unlocked her arms around him; reached over to the nightstand put his mask on and lit a lamp.
"Adrienne," he started looking at her. "You need to get back to bed. See? You haven't even heard thunder for a little while. The storm is going away. Come on." He said getting out of bed with his back turned toward her and putting his robe and slippers on. He walked over to her side of the bed and picked her up.
"Papa, I am really afraid to sleep in my own room." Adrienne protested but Erik opened the door and stepped out in the hallway whispering,
"When was the last time you heard thunder or lightning? A little while ago, the storm is already past us." With this explanation thunder rumbled but not as loud and Adrienne stiffened up but Erik explained how the thunder was in the distance and was no longer going to be loud and scary. He laid Adrienne down in her bed and sat with her until she fell asleep.
The next morning, Erik woke to Christine's voice nagging Adrienne to finish getting ready for her ballet school. He rubbed his eyes and noticed that he had slept later than usual. Sluggishly getting out of bed, he put on his robe and slippers and trudged down the stairs to the kitchen for breakfast. Adrienne ran past him on the stairs with her ballet slippers in her hand almost knocking him over.
"Bye Papa!" She yelled after she passed him. Once he was in the kitchen, Michele offered him some breakfast but he just waved his hand and continued on into his study where he sat depressed and staring out the window like he did every morning.
Christine and Adrienne stepped into the Paris Opera House and went to the ballet room where Meg was already making the youth ballerinas warm up. Adrienne ran over to the corner and changed her shoes to her ballet slippers and quickly jumped in line with the younger crowd.
"All right girls take a break!" Meg shouted at the little girls as they all eagerly stepped out of position and began chatting amongst each other. Meg turned toward Christine and Christine once again apologized for not helping teach ballet anymore.
"It's all right; you have to take care of Erik. He needs someone right now more than anything."
"Yes, but I don't think I am the person he needs."
"Well, it's not like he actually knows a bunch of people who are 'true' friends." Meg said.
"He's barely spoken to me in the last 4 months."
"But, he told you to live there and not go back to your flat when you insisted on going back."
"True, but that was awhile ago and maybe he's changed his mind."
"Just give him time, and don't worry about coming back here just yet, everything will be fine without you." Meg said winking. Christine smiled and went over to Adrienne hugging and kissing her and then left the building to head back home.
Erik remained seated in his chair staring out the window when he heard the front door open and close. He didn't pay any attention to it and remained staring in silence. Christine made her way from the front hall down the corridor to Erik's study, knocking softly before making her entrance.
"Erik, why don't you get up and get dressed? It's a beautiful summer day."
"I don't feel like it." He said quietly. Christine sighed and went up to him pulling on his arm.
"You need to get dressed, maybe get a bath. You go two weeks without bathing and you only bathe because you suddenly begin to smell. Erik, you need to get on with your life. Gabrielle would have wanted that. You know that." Erik pulled his arm away and settled back in his chair leaving his back toward her. Christine turned around beginning to walk out the door when he spoke quietly,
"Did you know that around this time the most beautiful person that ever walked this earth would have been a mother? I, we took that privilege away from her. God, she would have made a great one too." Guilt by these words fell over Christine for she realized that she also had a part in Gabrielle's death. She suddenly took a look at herself and realized the person that she had become was her worst nightmare.
"I really am a horrible person. What has happened to me? When I was young I never would have been the person I am today. What would my father think? What is wrong with me?" Christine asked herself and Erik aloud. Erik began to chuckle at her questions and rose from his chair walking toward her and standing right in front of her face.
"I know what your problem is and the cause of it." He spoke quietly.
"What is it?" She asked eagerly begging to know what it was and how to change. Erik stared at her as if he had all the answers to every question she ever wanted to know in his dark eyes.
"Your problem is that you met and are involved with me." He whispered and walked past her, out of the room and up the stairs to his bathroom. Christine remained in the same spot dumbfounded at what he said until suddenly realizing that what he said was true. She had turned into a terrible person, the same person Erik was when she met him and he was turning into the way she used to be. She began to cry for everyone she has hurt, Raoul, Gabrielle, all of Gabrielle's family, Erik and anyone else that was involved in her manipulations.
Erik turned on the water and let it run in the bathtub until it was steaming before closing the drain. Taking off his robe and looking at himself in the mirror he thought,
Look at how ugly I am? How in the hell does anyone like me? I wonder if it is because my personality has changed so much. I wonder if it's because I am not the controlling monster I once was. Maybe women do like a man for his personality and not his looks. Oh hell if I know! He took off his mask and stared at himself again this time running his fingers over his ugly scars, engrossed in his thoughts he jumped at the sound of a knock on the door. He quickly turned off the water, put his robe back on and opened the door.
Christine stood silent outside the door. Her eyes were red from crying and Erik's brow rose with confusion.
"Everything you said is sinking in. You are a bad influence on me, look at who I am. What have I become because of you?"
"Oh Christine, don't you see? We are two evil people. I was born evil and you have become evil and our child will be raised evil. We were meant to be together!" Erik said angrily grabbing her arms and forcing her into a kiss. Christine pushed away from him and said,
"What are you doing? We are terrible people and we need to change." Erik looked at the ground and said,
"I know, I've been trying to change. Gabrielle changed me and then you changed me back. Don't you realize what I have been telling you ever since you came back in my life? You bring out the worst in me." Christine stared at the ground too and said quietly,
"I think that we need to be apart for awhile. Find out who we are without each other, become better people. We need to change. I don't want to be the person I have become. I am moving out." Erik stood silent and finally nodded his head. She was right, they needed to become better people and get on with their lives without one another. But Erik shut out his life before he met Christine and didn't want to remember what it was like being alone.
"I just don't want to be alone anymore or ever again. Gabrielle wanted us to be together. She told me that was what she wanted, it was her dying wish. I want to be with you, but I also want us to become better people."
"I can only pray everyday for such a miracle. Ask forgiveness and become the person that I once was." She replied.
"Just don't go. Let's become better people together, let's learn together, the way it was meant to be." Christine stared at him for a moment and then turned around and left the room. Erik felt stupid and embarrassed for basically begging her to stay with him for the second time in his life.
Madame Giry sat at the tiny tea table in her flat sipping on tea and reading that day's newspaper when there was a knock on her door. She rose slowly and walked to the front room when she heard the knock again. Opening the door she was surprised to see Christine standing there.
"Well, what a surprise it is to see you." She replied.
"Yes, I know it's been awhile, but I've been so busy with Erik and everything." Christine said as the older woman gestured for her to come in. Madame Giry went back into the room where she was drinking her tea with Christine following. The two women sat down at the table and Christine suddenly asked,
"Madame, you've known Erik longer than anyone else. I don't know how to handle him, he only works out of his house now, and he won't talk to anyone besides me and sometimes Jean. He never leaves the house, never to check on his work sites and he usually sits staring out the window. He never bathes until he starts to smell and he never eats. I don't know what to do to help him."
"Well, Christine, he's lost you once, his wife and now you are once again pushing him. Erik always went his own way and took his time. All I can say is give him time. But you aren't exactly an angel. You've betrayed him and denied him and now he's blaming you for his wife's death, which I'm sorry to say my dear, is sort of your fault."
"But today I told Erik I wanted to learn how to be a better person without him and he asked me to stay, but then he shuts me out of his life and never speaks to me."
"He doesn't want to be alone. Be his friend, Christine, not his lover." At that moment the clock chimed and Christine jumped up,
"I better get going; I have to get Adrienne from the opera house." She grabbed her bag, kissed Madame Giry's cheek and left the flat. Madame Giry waited until Christine was gone for a few minutes until she too left and headed for Erik's.
Erik felt much better after his bath. He smelled his hands to take in the smell of the soap, the same way Gabrielle would always smell and continued to work on his sketch of a new wing that was going to be attached to a building when Michele walked in with Madame Giry. Erik looked up surprised to see Madame Giry standing there.