IM BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!
MY EXAMS ARE OVER AND THE RESULTS ARE COMMIN IN ON THE 25TH OF AUGUST, ALL OF YOU WISH ME LUCK PLEASE
ANYWAY HERE'S A NICE NEW CHAPTER, I THINK YOU'LL ALL BE PLEASED WITH IT.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
"I simply can't wait for this month's ball at the Malory's" Verity exclaimed as the tea was poured out. It was a sunny afternoon so Elizabeth and her family were taking their afternoon tea together in the warm sun. She looked up and smiled in thanks at the servant who poured for her while her mother just waved them away without a thought.
The servants didn't care; the only one they really liked was Elizabeth anyway.
"Verity darling" Sophia said with a smile to her daughter "Have you chosen the song you wish to play for their ball, after all they were kind enough to give you a letter two years in advanced, you know how particular they are, only absolute perfection will do for them."
"Oh I know mother" Verity nodded "At the moment I believe that I will play something from the play the magic flute, I'm partial towards the aria Queen of the night. But then again, I feel that if I should see the best song it will...oh I don't know, I suppose it will hit me?"
Sophia frowned "Dear you are not making any sense!"
"I understood Verity" Elizabeth said with a smile "You feel you should be playing something else but if you cannot find it you will settle for the Aria?"
Verity smiled widely "Yes, that's exactly it Lizzy!"
"Verity, use your sister's complete name when addressing her, all these nick-names is most un-ladylike." She did not mention how she tolerated Hermione calling her 'Bethy' or her father calling her 'Lizzy' as he was her husband and Hermione was her favourite daughter (being the only one married)
"I apologise Elizabeth"
Truthfully Elizabeth didn't mind, she really didn't like her name anyway. She didn't mind nick-names but she sometimes wished that she could have someone call her a nick-name she actually liked for once.
Sighing Elizabeth smiled as gently bit into her scone and licked some of the crumbs away, delicious. She wished she could eat more, but she knew that with her mother there that was an impossible dream.
Verity was still trying to find a song to play for the Malory's ball. The Malory's were a particular sort, even more so than Elizabeth. Usually a woman could decide to host a ball and then host it on that very week if she so wanted, but the Malory's always planned at least two years or so in advance. This year they were holding their ball on all hallows eve and it was to be a masquerade ball. Elizabeth could not wait, she loved the idea of dressing up and becoming someone else for one night, it was a time when she could truly be herself.
"Elizabeth, are you ready for Hermione's ball tonight?"
"Yes mother" Elizabeth said standing "in fact, I think I'll go have a maid air out my dress."
Sophia nodded "be sure that you do, I'm telling you, you are too nice to the servants, a lady should be commanding, how are you going to run your husbands home of you are spending all your time befriending the help?"
Elizabeth liked befriending the help, it kept her humble, but she didn't say that she sighed and left the room.
"And remind Anabeth to pack my new perfume" her mother called sharply as she left.
In a few weeks they were all taking a small trip don to Cornwall for a holiday, which is why her lessons were so much longer that usual, to make up for time she would loose. Elizabeth found that she did not care, she loved spending time there with Erik, and she certainly liked it more that entertaining her mother.
Erik had said he had something to show her, something he wanted her to see. And after last weeks lesson, she somewhat had an idea what it was about.
Flashback
Elizabeth took a breath as she sat in the nearest chair beside the organ as she crossed her hands over in her lap in a manner that showed submission. Immediately after she had done so she quickly reprimanded herself for her posture. Erik was always telling her that she was too quiet and needed to show more backbone or the world would walk all over her, that being said in his exact words. She knew he was right and so badly wanted to do so, but she had been born and bread into the mindset that proper young ladies were to be seen and not heard.
She bit her lip, an action she did when she was thinking and at the moment she had bitten it right down to the flesh. She had been doing a lot of thinking. Since a while ago, for some reason Erik had been acting…a little more intense than usual would be the correct word for it. He insisted on her lessons being longer than usual and her training was more and more intense, it would almost be two tears since she began learning from him and he still made her feel like she was only scratching the tip of the iceberg that was opera.
He was having her sing mostly actual opera songs these days when usually he was fond of having her continually return to basics, believing them to be of upmost importance.
But she didn't mind. What made her sad was that even though they had become somewhat closer, more than simply master and student, he always felt far from her? Like he was holding her at arms length, was she really worth so little to him?
No it wasn't that, it was that there was someone else, someone more important.
She closed her eyes and thought of the time she had seen him at the organ, the night he allowed her to call him by name. For the first time she had seen him truly filled with emotions, his eye brimming with pain. The way he sang screamed depression and the way he called out the name Christine, she was obviously someone very important, perhaps someone he loved.
At that thought a pain pierced her chest so suddenly she gasped at the feeling of it. This pain was so familiar, only it somehow felt stronger. She had been feeling it for a while now. Every time he would push her away and treat her like a stranger and every time she thought of Christine she would feel the pain. But she couldn't put her finger on what it was.
Sighing she shook her head. She had come early again because she wanted to escape another lecture from her mother about the importance of not embarrassing her sisters at the ball or they would never catch good husbands. She had heard it all before from her mother and frankly it was becoming quite tedious.
With another sight she stood and sat walked around the organ, just to get the circulation in her legs moving again. As she circled the great instrument she noticed something sticking out of the corner of the top flap.
How curious, she though. Elizabeth had never before taken time to properly observe the organ, so could that have been here all this time. Good gracious her observation skills were lacking, now that she was looking at it, it seemed impossible that Elizabeth should miss it.
Curiosity pulled at her hands as she remembered something her mother once said: "Curiosity killed the cat"
But what her mother constantly forgot was the second part of the saying "But satisfaction brought it back" she whispered to herself.
It had not at the time occurred to her as she opened the organ and pulled out the paper, that perhaps it had been placed there by Erik to keep it hidden, but it did after she had smoothers out the crinkled edges and looked at it properly.
At the word CRISTINE written in bold in capital letters she promptly dropped the paper in surprise. What a coincidence. But as ideas filled her head she couldn't stop her beating heart. Could this be the Christine Erik had so sadl;y whispered the name of?
With a little tremble to her hands, she forced herself to bend down and pick up the paper. It looked to be a newspaper clipping from a few years ago. On the top in clear bold letters FAMOUS OPERA SINGER CHRISTINE DAAE RETIRES FROM HER OPERA CARREA TO MARRY RAOUL DE CHANEY!
Christine Daae? Elizabeth knew that name! Wasn't she that famous singer from France? She left France and travelled to America after some catastrophe in her old stage 'The opera Populaire'. It was a huge scandal that one of the most well known opera houses in France was Almost completely burned down eventually. The blame was cast on something they called 'The Phantom of the Opera'; they claimed it was a ghost. Elizabeth had not given it much notice. Ghosts didn't scare her, people did.
She continued to read the article:
After five long years of a successful career in singing on the stage, singer Christine Daae retires to marry the rich well known philanthropists and supporter of the arts, Raoul de Chaney. After her ordeal with the fabled Phantom of the opera she quotes that she only wants to get back to her old life.
Five years previous miss Daae was abducted by the rogue who haunted the opera house, terrorising all who lived theatre and extorting money from the owners. Since then she has made it to stardom…
Elizabeth skipped that part since it was mostly only praise for Christine's talent but she understood everything now. Christine Daae was the one who Erik must have loved. Her eyes scanned further down the paper to the black and white image below.
Then she froze as she saw her. The image showed a young woman with thick curly hair, a perfect petite face with a strong nose, almond eyes and perfect bow lips. Her hair was a mass of untamed thick curls and she was tall and slender. Though the picture was black and white Elizabeth could tell the woman was fair, her hair was most likely brown. She was so beautiful. Properly even more beautiful than Verity or Hermione even. And her face held such a expression of childlike innocent it was heartbreaking. This was Christine, the was the one Erik loved.
Elizabeth felt her heart pang horrible, she choked at the feeling, like it was climbing up her throat. Look that the page, she thought, it looked as if it had been crushed up so many times and then smoothed out so carefully. How many times had Erik seen this article, read how the woman he loved had married another and crushed it? Then smoothed it in haste as he pressed a kiss to the black and white face? How many times had he looked at her with contempt and love? And he did love her; even now he still loved her.
The reality that he loved another hit Elizabeth and she felt strange, a feeling bubbling in her chest she couldn't explain.
Suddenly there was a sound behind her and she quickly smoother the paper out again and replaced it inside the organ as she hastened to sit back down. Her eyes zipped around wildly looking for something to do to look more natural so he wouldn't be able to see hoer deception and realise how she had been invading his privacy.
And when she finally saw him she gasped from all the world emotions in her chest, Christine's name still in the back of her mind. She didn't know why, but for some reason she wanted to cry.
But she held it in and smiled sunnily, if he noticed the fakeness of it then he didn't call her out on it.
Instead he nodded "You came early again?"
She nodded "I had nothing else to do, and decided that it would be better to come now than risk your wrath. After all as the saying goes, 'tis better to be on hour early than two minutes late'."
She was getting better at teasing him and he was coming to allow her to do so. Since she so rarely spoke for herself he found it amusing when she did and disregarded the disrespect towards a teacher. But he didn't tease back. In the back of Elizabeth's mind, she wondered if he would have teased Christine back should she had stayed.
After their lesson she took a breath and prepared herself for her announcement to him "I'm afraid I won't be able to attend any lessons for at least two weeks." He froze at the organ and turned "And why, pray tell, is that?"
She sighed "Because in a few days my family and I will be going to Cornwall for a week and then a few weeks later there will be this big masquerade ball I have to attend and of course mother will want to take us all out shopping for gowns. And I won't be able to get out of it.
He paused "A masquerade ball?" he asked
When she nodded "Hmm, this might work to my advantage, the opportunity came earlier than I thought, but that's to be expected of an English lady such as yourself."
Elizabeth didn't know if he was praising her or insulting her and she didn't know if she was supposed to stay quiet or get angry. She wisely chose to hold it in for now.
After that the lesson ended and it's been a few days since seeing him. But she was expected to be at her lesson now and for here hearts sake she pushed all thoughts of Christine aside…for now.
An hour later she found herself tethering Moonlight to a tree. She petted the mare on the nose gently as she leant her head against her nose. The feeling in her chest had not gone away and Elizabeth wasn't any closer to figuring out what it was. She sighed "Oh Moonlight what should I do?"
"Well I can tell you what you can do, you can come quietly without giving any trouble" suddenly there was a knife at her throat and an arm at her waist. Elizabeth froze. This wasn't Erik's voice and Erik wouldn't kill her using a knife. This hand was rough and it groped at the skirts near between her legs. A stubble chin was pressed against her neck and the stench of cigarette smoke, alcohol and filth filled her nose.
"Now what's a pretty thing like you doing in a place like this? What, the Rits ain't good enough for you, or did you come down here looking for some fun?" he squeezed her breast and chuckled" well I can help you with that."
Elizabeth was terrified. All this time she had been so occupied with the thought that Erik might one day want to kill her on a random impulse that she never once thought of anyone else killing her.
"N-no!" she cried and struggled wildly, absolutely terrified.
Her wriggling was beginning to work "Stop struggling girl! You're only making it harder on yourself." But she didn't stop struggling. Moonlight was going crazy but couldn't do anything because her mistress had tied her up. She just kept crying out and rearing up on her hind legs.
Moonlights outbursts had given Elizabeth the opening she needed though, the man let his guard down for a moment and loosened his hold on her and Elizabeth too the chance. Now usually Elizabeth would never have the nerve to do anything like this and later she would look back on herself and wonder what on earth had gotten into her. But right now she was petrified and fear made people do strange things as she pulled back her skirts and as hard as she could kicked her attacked in between the legs.
The man crumpled to the ground and Elizabeth scrambled to her feet and ran looking for one of the only places she felt really safe. Towards the pipes, towards Erik.
She had almost made it, her food touched upon the metal ground when her hair was yanked painfully as she screamed "No! Let me go!"
Even as the man pulled at her hair she struggled to get free but it was useless. He yanked her up and slapped her right across the face. Elizabeth went crashing against the metal wall as a loud clank echoed though the pipes. She tried to jump up quickly but the man kicked her in the leg and she screamed again. He was much bigger than her and she was sure her leg was going to be bruised.
As she was recovering from the pain he straddled her waist and used one hand to gather her wrists above her head. His grip was so tight, she couldn't move. All this time she was screaming "NO, NOOO!"
"SHUT UP YOU BITCH" he yelled in her face. He grabbed her hair and slammed her head down on the metal floor. It shut her up for a bit as she was coming too and when she did she realised he was undoing the buttons for her dress and was almost to her breasts. "NOOO, LET ME GO. SOMEONE HELP!"
"No one can hear you sweetheart" he grinned "No one is coming for you. Now shut your mouth and be a good girl!" and he pulled out a knife and held it to her throat."
Elizabeth's voice caught in her throat at the sight of the gleaming steel. He grinned and pressed it against her shoulder, running it down her arm to cut the fabric as blood gathered ion the wound. Elizabeth whimpered.
"That's better, now you just be quiet now"
"Please, no. No!" she whimpered again but he ignored her and pressed the knife to her neck and pressed his lips over hers, the weight of his body forced all the air out her body till she couldn't breath but she kept her mouth firmly closed.
Elizabeth felt disgusted, her entire body felt as is it wanted to die and she was so scared and tears dribbled down her cheeks.
Suddenly his body was of hers and accompanied to her choked sobs was the sound of him choking. She looked up to see him his eyes wide and gasping, then suddenly all the light left his eyes and he went limp.
She had just seen a man die.
His body fell to the ground to reveal Erik, holding his noose, his one eye livid as he looked down at the man on the ground. Then he looked at Elizabeth with cool eyes.
Erik took a step closer and reached a hand out. On impulse she flinched. His hand froze and Elizabeth didn't know what to think. One thought kept ringing in her mind, Erik had just murdered someone in cold blood and he wasn't even fazed.
Elizabeth only stared at him in shock and terror. He just killed a man. Granted it was her killer, but he just murdered someone, shouldn't she feel repulsed?
But then he frowned and said softly "Elizabeth, come here" and she was lost.
All her previous thoughts, her knowledge that she should be afraid, her ideals on murder and right and wrong disappeared. There was only Erik as she threw herself into his arms and sobbed heavily.
At first Erik froze, as if he was shocked at the close proximity, had no one ever held him before? Eventually though, he figured out what to do as his arms enclosed her and one hand gently caressed her hair. Her hands clutched his cloak and she buried her face in his chest "I w-was s-s-so s-scared" she stammered, words felt dry and useless on her tongue.
"Hush" he crooned, as if she were a small cat "He's dead now, he can't do anything. So calm down." But she couldn't calm down, the sobs kept coming and eventually Erik gave up on telling her top calm down and just let her cry.
For now, there was only her and Erik, and how safe she felt in his arms.
NEW CHAPTER!
IM SO GLAD TO FINALLY UPDATE.
BUT UNFORTUNETLY I HAVE TO BREAK MY PROMIE ON THE THREE CHAPTERS AT ONCE THING. BECAUSE A FEW WEEKS AGO MY LAPTOP BROAK SO I'VE BEEN WRITING FOR TWO HOURS A DAY IN THE LIBRARY THREE TIMES A WEEK AND I ONLY GOT BACK FROM A HOLIDAY A WEEK AGO SO THE HAPTERS ARE GOING TO COME SLOWLY UNTILL I CAN GET A NEW LAPTOP. BUT DON'T WORRY, I WORKING TOWARDS BUYING A NEW ONE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE SO UNTILL THEN THIS WILL HAVE TO DO.
PLEASE REVIEW.