Capturing A Phantom Heart.
Chapter Seven: To Learn A Name.
It had been a week since that fateful night.
Seven days without the man that has simply swept her off her feet.
She terribly missed him during those lonely hours, wondering when he would return.
Though she wasn't caught by anyone when she returned, there was tenison from Mother and Raoul.
He refused to speak or even look at her, made excuses to leave if Olivia wanted to visit Christine.
But she tried to carry on with life, even if sometimes she would stay in her bedroom and cried until she couldn't no more.
Her dreams were once more erotic that left her breathless and wanting him all the more.
Different places, shocking postions and the fear of being caught always appeared whenever she closed her eyes.
It frightened yet stirred her deeply, no other could ever know how she was feeling for her masked man.
Then it came to her, she didn't even know his name.
She called him Phantom like his infamous title everyone else called him or Opera Ghost but she didn't like that one.
A wave of curiousity overflowed her, if he ever did come back she would want to know his name.
During the second week of being alone, Olivia was walking down the coridoors to have dinner with Mother and Meg until she froze at the person before her.
It was Raoul.
A angry stare was across his face, his hands clutched into fists and a sneer was on his lips.
"Good afternoon, Raoul. Could you please step out of the way please?" She asked nicely.
But he didn't reply, his breath was coming out faster from his nose and his chest was puffing up and down.
She frowned at his strange behaviour, then asked him again the same question.
Suddenly, he grabbed ahold of her arm and dragged her into Carlotta's dressing room.
He slammed the door and threw Olivia on the floor, then stomped towards her.
His face was dangerously close to hers, a shiver of fear ran down her spine as his breath was chilling against her skin.
"I saw you with that madman, you whore! Did you let him touch you?" He asked, cruelly.
Olivia remained silent, what happened between her and the Phantom was her own business.
Suddenly he took her by the throat, tightening his grip until she was chocking.
"I ask again, did he touch you?!" He roared.
"No!" She cried, now sobbing.
Pleased to have his answer, Raoul let go making Olivia fall back on the floor.
"If I catch you with him again, he will die in your eyes and then you will be alone in this world." He warned, spiting on her face.
Within that, he opened the door and slammed it behind him loudly.
Olivia pushed her legs against her chest and wailed to herself.
"Phantom, please. I need you!" She cried but to no answer.
It took her an hour to gather herself and have dinner, she hardly spoke throughout the meal and headed straight back to her bed.
Meg noticed her distress and came to comfort her but had no luck to help her.
She knew then that it was only Mother that could really do something about it.
So Meg told Olivia to go and see her when she felt like it, then left her alone again.
Night fell, the Opera house was silent and dark once more until daylight comes.
Olivia tiptoed out of the bedroom, wandered down the black coridoors and knocked on Mother's door.
She opened it, dressed in her nightgown and her long hair free from it's plait she wears everyday.
"Olivia, what are you doing up at this hour?" She asked, ushering her in and shut the door behind her.
"I need to speak to you about something, Mother." She replied, placing herself on a stool.
"Tell me, then. I won't share it to a another person here."
Olivia watched Mother sit on the couch, her elbows on her legs and her eyes staring right on her.
"Well, I think I'm falling in love with the Phantom of the Opera." Olivia began.
Mother's face reacted in shock then compassion and a little of despair.
So there were two daughters that have seen him, enchanted by him but only one that has fallen for him.
"Olivia, this is something that is going to be hard to give advice to. The Phantom is in love with Christine, always have been since her debut and would do anything to have her. But when she was replaced by you, it's happening all over again this time with a different woman. I can not see him feeling the same way for you, it's impossiable. Even if he does, he's a man not to be messed with. You saw and felt it that very night. He has a rage that turns to violence, he has killed before and would do so if you ever push him in the wrong way. He stole you that night because he did not have Christine with him, if things went well he would take her away from Raoul and keep her down there forever. Not even you could save him." Mother explained.
"So what are you saying, that all I am to him is just someone to toy with, confuse me with my emotions and then dump me for Christine?" Olivia asked, tearfully.
"Yes, I'm afraid it's true." Mother replied, sadly.
Olivia stood up, shaking her head while pacing around the room.
"But.. he showed me his lair, he sung to me. He even kissed me! What does that all mean?!" She cried, rising her hands in the air.
Mother gasped at this sudden outburst that made Olivia turn to her.
"He kissed you?" She asked.
"Yes, he did. He's in my mind always, in my thoughts and in my dreams. He makes love to me, I constanly surrdener to his touch. I know it's forbidden for a woman like me to feel like this but I can't escape from him. I don't even know his name!" Olivia replied, collasping on her knees and began to cry.
Mother leaned down and laid a comforting hand while she sobbed, her wails were full of pain and agony.
"I'm so sorry that I haven't told you this before you met him, I wouldn't think this would happen to you but now the worst has come: you have fallen in love." She said.
Olivia looked up at her, then asked:
"What can I do, Mother?"
"What did actully happen that night?" She replied.
Olivia stood up and sat beside Mother, then began her tale.
"So what did he say before you walked away?" She asked.
"That he needed to think this through and he would return soon. He gave me a rose, then disappeared behind the mirror." She replied.
"When he does return, be taken down to his lair and get the truth out of him. If he does not love you, be prepared to accept this and walk away before anymore is fallen onto you. If he does love you, then keep it a secret from everyone else. I know Raoul has seen you two together because he told me.."
Olivia nodded at this, she refused to tell Mother what he did to her.
"But be warned, my daughter. Don't wait for him, don't pin for him everyday. He will come when he is ready to tell you what he was to do. Don't be disappointed if he rejects you. Accept the fact that what you are feeling for him is lust, not true love. You do not know his name or his background, only that he has killed and wants Christine. So forget him for now, live your life and who knows he might return when you least expect it."
Olivia understood every word though some were cruel and a little harsh for her.
"Now go back to bed and get a good rest otherwise you will be ill." Mother said.
A swift kiss on the cheek, Olivia stood and headed towards the door.
She stopped as she opened it and looked at Mother for a moment.
"What is his real name?" She asked.
"His name is Erik." Mother replied.
Olivia let the name echo in her head, then shut the door behind her.
Author's Note: So we learn his name at last. Hope you like the chapter.