Chapter 3

He sat in waiting, hunched over in the shadows of the large, white Victorian city home. Christine had returned here a few hours ago, though her light only went out a little while ago. Even with the healthy time lapse, he still wasn't sure if she'd be asleep well enough for his plan to carry out. Yet his joints started to grow too stiff to care whether he was caught now or not, so he climbed the tree that led to her window.

Peering in, he saw Christine in deep sleep on her bed, the moon lighting her face and glistening in her hair.

This was his chance. He looked around to make sure he saw no prying eyes with guns. Seeing none, he slipped into the bedroom...

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Christine started to come out of her dreams. She smiled as she stretched her limbs, then opened her eyes. At first, she thought nothing of her surroundings. Then the shock of it made her sit up as fast as lightening. Stripping her legs of the scarlet sheets, she swung them over the swan bed and started to run her bare feet over the stone floor until she stood at the top of the stairss, staring at Erik as he played the same four notes on his organ.

"Why I am here?" She demanded loudly, but Erik didn't even flinch by the suddeness of her voice, as if he had been waiting for it.

"Shh...I almost perfected this." He said instead, with such a relaxed tone. It infuriated her, knowing that he could act like this was no big deal.

"Why am I here?" She screamed, louder and angrier than the first time. Her mind couldn't begin to grasp the concept of her being here. She'd think this was still a dream, if not for the painfully cold flooring beneath her tender feet.

Sighing, he slowly put away his music sheets into a folder, then turned around to sit on the other side of his bench. "I'm finished; I hope that makes you happy. Now, what were you saying?"

Christine stood there with her mouth agape as he gave her a pleasant smile. "Why did you do this?" She asked, knowing her other question would get her no where. "Why did you take me down here? You didn't harm Raoul, did you? Please tell me you didn't!"

"You need not fret, Christine. I assure you that the Vicomte slept soundly last night. This morning however..."

"Why did you bring me here?"

"Will you be patient? If you really must know, I'll tell you. Would you like tea, awhile?"

Christine's hands balled in fists. This man had taken her from her bed and dragged her down here for an unknown reason - and now he acts as if nothing happened!

"Tea? Erik, have you gone mad? I want an answer!"

Sighing, he turned to her. "Alright, I'll tell you. Christine...you have terrible judgement. You swore up and down to me that you would be happy-ever-after with your Prince Raoul - that you really loved him. Yet you have doubts. I knew that boy could not take care of you right, but you were so persistent. It's because of this fault and more that I brought you down here - so that you could learn to know yourself, and then evaluate your situation. When I see you of reasonable sense, then I shall let you go free once more. I mean this to be good for you in every way, so please don't take offense."

"Take offense?" She exclaimed. "You just said I had terrible judgement and my life is miserable because of it! Then you say do not take offense?"

"You are too tense, my dear. Let me get you some soothing tea, then we can talk of this more." He said calmly, but Christine refused to let him go so easily.

"I don't want tea, Erik! I want you to take me out of here - now!"

"I'm afraid I can not allow you to do such."

"Then I'm leaving myself!" She said determinedly, walking right by him and going to the gondola. He allowed her to do so much as to drag it from it's rocky shore and into the lake, then try to balance while she got in it. Only after she finally succeeded did he bother to stop her.

"I'm afraid you can not do that, either."

"And why not?" She asked, feeling quite proud of herself.

"Have you forgotten the fire that destroyed this place? If you even make it out of the tunnels that are in shambles, you will not get far on the floors. The fire turned the sturdy wood floors to ash - step on them at all, and you shall fall to your death. If you don't believe me, you can trust my word that I have found a few unfortunate souls that tried to do such from above, just to come crashing down. If you still don't believe me...well, allow your memory to serve you. Your dressing room was destroyed, as well as the ballet dormitories. You know that there were a few young girls that did not participate in my wonderful opera, and they did not make it out in time."

Christine bowed her head, knowing this was true. Three girls that she had known since she first came to this opera house had died tragically in the fire. Remembering this, she got out of the small boat and put it back on shore - there was no escape that way.

"All the tunnels can not be destroyed - how do you get in and out?"

"No, not all of them are. Only the ones people such as yourself know about. There are certain ones that only I am aware of. Well, there was one that survived...funny it should be the pathway to the torture chamber..."

"You're really going to keep me here?" She asked softly, feeling more defeated.

"Not forever...unless you'd want it to be." Was Erik's ending statement, before he started to walk away, leaving Christine to deal in her own way the cold truth. She was trapped.

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