Chapter 13- The Proposition

Erik and Christine's cab pulled parked on the street in front of a very expensive hotel and Erik paid the driver extra to go inside and get a room for them. They waited without speaking as Erik pulled Christine's bag out of the back and the driver came out with a key. He handed it to Erik as Erik handed him a wad of bills and the driver's eyes became huge and he thanked Erik over and over and Erik grabbed Christine's arm and led her inside. He hid underneath his hat as they quickly made their way across the crowded lobby and restaurant.

They walked silently up two flights of stairs until they reached their room, 240. Erik unlocked the door and led Christine in. She stood in the dark while he put her bag on the floor.

"Should I light a candle?" She asked while gazing across the room to the window where the sun was setting.

"No need for that." Erik said walking back over to the door where he flipped a switch and an electric light came on. Christine realized how much this room must have cost but she didn't let her excitement show. Instead she just looked around the room at the massive four poster bed and she also realized that this was the first time that she stayed somewhere that was a lot of money. She sat down on the bed and faced Erik who already sat down at the desk. He was writing something on a tablet.

"What do you want for dinner?" He asked.

"I'm not hungry." She answered quietly even though she was starving.

"Christine, you are not a child anymore stop playing these childish games and tell me what you want or I'll pick it myself." He said getting quite annoyed at her. This made her mad and she jumped up,

"Then pick it out yourself!" She yelled running into the bathroom. She began to run water for a bath and began to undress. She hated him; she hated being here with him. Maybe if she took a long bath she would feel a little better and she could go straight to sleep when she got out.

Erik picked out an entrée for Christine and as he heard the bathwater running he took it downstairs and turned it in where the man at the front desk said it wouldn't be too long. Erik returned upstairs and waited until dinner. He decided to be nice and went through Christine's bag and hung up all of her clothes so they wouldn't be totally ruined. He hung up her blue dress and even straightened out her hat so it wouldn't be ruined also.

Twenty minutes later, there was a knock on the door and Erik answered to see a young maid standing there.

"Your dinner Monsieur." She said handing a tray of food to him. He took it from her and thanked her. Erik sat the tray down on the desk and opened the bottle of wine. He poured two glasses and produced a small bottle from the pocket of his cloak and poured a few drops into one of the glasses. This would knock Christine out for the evening so he could take care of business.

Erik knocked on the door of the bathroom,

"Christine dinner is here." He said through the door. Christine jumped at the sound of his knock and after he said what he needed to, she relaxed back in the water. She began to scrub continuously all over her body and her stomach growled. She couldn't take it anymore, especially since she could smell chicken coming from the next room. She pulled the drain from the bathtub, stood up and dried off with a towel. She looked around the room frantically and realized that her nightgown was still out in her bag. She quietly knocked on the door where Erik answered,

"Yes?"

"Erik, I need my nightgown I left it in my bag. Can you please hand it to me?"

Erik sighed out loud and grabbed her nightgown from the bed where he placed it. He opened the door slightly and put his hand in the bathroom holding the nightgown. Christine stared at the hand holding the nightgown and quickly grabbed it. The hand disappeared and shut the door again.

A few minutes later, Christine emerged from the bathroom to see Erik sitting at a small table waiting for her. She quietly sat down across from him silently and began eating the wonderful food. Erik watched her for a moment as she ate and drank down half of her wine before he started eating himself. They finished their meal within twenty minutes of silence.

Christine stood up from the table and felt a little dizzy. I must be exhausted from the events from yesterday and today. She thought as she lay down on the bed. Erik watched her and began cleaning up the plates and glasses quietly. She shifted in the bed trying to get comfortable.

"Is everything all right dear?" Erik asked sweetly with a little bit of evil in his voice.

"Just fine, I'm really tired." She answered in a clipped tone. Erik sat down and pretended to be doing some kind of work until she finally fell into a deep sleep. He could hear her labored breathing and quietly stood up, put on his cloak and hat, turned off the light and left the room.

Erik crossed the brightly lit lobby which was now desolate and stepped out into the warm night air of Paris. He looked around at the city life surrounding him. Couples walked past him arm in arm, laughing with one another while others stood next to him kissing one another passionately. He watched all of them with disgust and jealous rage. He clenched his teeth and held up his hand and watched as a carriage slowed down to a stop and he walked up to it, told the driver where he was going and climbed in the back.

Erik rode on through the higher class of the city to where it turned into the slums and the carriage continued to push on until he reached the jail. He felt the carriage stop, took some money out of his purse and secured it beneath his cloak.

The door opened and Erik climbed out, paid the driver and stood beneath a dark and looming building. The cab quickly took off and he stood there alone among the poor who were in a corner of the building standing around a small fire in a metal trash can. Prostitutes roamed the streets and before he was able to make one step toward the building, one approached him.

"Would you enjoy some company tonight love?" She asked to the left side of Erik's face. He turned to face her giving her a full glimpse of his mask and she seemed a little startled but remained persistent.

"My dear woman, animals such as I don't know what 'company' is. Go find someone else and leave me alone." He took a step past her and made his way inside the barred doors and walked up to one of the guards.

"Who are you?" A burly guard in a uniform asked.

"I'm here to see Raoul Vicomte de Chagny."

"Not tonight, the Vicomte is being sentenced tonight. He will receive no visitors, especially mysterious ones that wear a mask." Erik rolled his eyes at the comment and continued,

"But I am the man who had him arrested and I would like to speak to him on account of why I put him here."

"Go on back then. Cell B-147. Follow that hallway and take a right at the first corridor, which is the B cells." The man said pointing to a hallway to his right. Erik thanked him and followed his directions. The cells started at 100 and he looked at all the prisoners in the individual cells as he passed them. Some of them made calls out to him on account of the nice clothes he wore. It was too dark and dingy for them to get a glimpse of the gleaming white mask as he quickly walked by.

Finally he arrived at cell 147 and looked in to see Raoul's back turned away from him and toward the back wall. Erik cleared his throat and said out loud,

"Vicomte." Raoul turned around and looked at Erik standing there. He was very angry.

"You fucking bastard!" He screamed running over to the cell bars.

"Why the hell did you come here?" He screamed at Erik.

"Calm down, I just want to talk to you." Erik said in a calm manner.

"You want me to calm down? I did nothing wrong. You're the one who has been doing everything wrong. You should be in here set up for your death, not me!" He screamed back at Erik again.

"I have a proposition for you. That's why I came to see you tonight. How much time are you going to get here?" Erik asked in a normal tone. Raoul's racing heart of rage finally slowed down to normal and he sat down on a small cot.

"I led the police to your house, but you were already gone. They looked upon me as a madman. I had them search all of Paris for you but nobody knew of your whereabouts or Christine's for that matter. So they thought I was some kind of deranged idiot and now they think I have kidnapped Christine. Erik, I am in big trouble here and there seems to be no future for me. So you finally got what you wanted. Why don't you just take a pistol out of your cloak and shoot me to get my misery over with?"

"No, I can't do that even though I have thought about it on occasion."

"Why not? You had no other problem killing anyone else for that matter."

"Well for one, I don't shoot anybody and two I gave Christine my word that I would never kill you. However, I can be an understanding man. I will get you out of here if you promise never to talk to Christine again until I am dead which I assure you shouldn't be long enough for your love to grow cold."

"What are you talking about?" Raoul stood up again wanting to hear more out of this crazy man's mouth.

"I have been alone for fifty years and now that I have someone I don't want to let her go. I don't have that much longer and I am in love with her. Sometimes I think that she has some kind of feeling for me too. But when you come around everything is horrible again. Please just stay away until I die. In fact, I will gladly give her to you once I'm dead. I hope the best for you both once that happens. But until then, don't take her away from me." Erik never begged anyone besides his mother for something, but he was desperate at this point.

Raoul sat back down again.

"Erik, you can't make someone love you. She is not your property, when you talk of keeping her you can't keep anyone. She's not a possession; she's a young woman, free to make her own choices." Raoul felt that he was teaching someone a great deal younger than him something besides someone more than twice his age.

"I know that fool! But she is mine now since she's married to me. If you give me your word that you won't go anywhere near her until I am dead, then I will devise a plan to get your ass out of here. Think about it tonight and I will be back tomorrow night." Erik said tipping his hat and walking back down the same dark corridor as he came in.

Raoul lay back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling thinking about his conversation with Erik. He knew that if Christine wrote him a letter begging for him to come to her he wouldn't be able to restrain himself. But he also knew that he would rather wait for Erik to die and then be able to have Christine for himself instead of wasting away in this hell hole. He felt torn between both worlds and he wasn't sure if he could trust Erik or himself to stay away from her for that matter.

Erik rode in another cab back to the hotel and thought about the situation himself. He wasn't sure if he could trust Raoul to stay out of their lives and maybe the best way to prevent that from happening was to keep him in jail. But then he thought of his dear Christine, he wanted to release him for her, to make her happy now and make sure that she had a future once she was widowed.