Chapter 20-Searching For The Truth

The rest of the evening was quiet in the Moreau house. Emilie sat in her room the rest of the night staring out at the moon and listening to the ocean. On warm nights like tonight, she liked to leave her windows open and listen to the waves crash against the shore as she fell asleep. She could hear her parents in the hallway talking as they went into their bedroom to get ready for bed.

Opening her door just a crack, she listened out into the hallway to hear what they were saying and if it pertained to her.

"Dear, I just think we have to be honest. It's only fair, and she is a woman now."

"Christine, you were only 16 when you saw and look at how you reacted."

"If you don't remember that night I also told you that it was in your soul where the true distortion was at the time, not your face. How many times do I have to tell you Erik? You are not even close to the same person you were all those years ago."

"I know! I know! But it doesn't erase my past." He said rather loudly getting agitated.

"It might not erase your past, but it's the presence that counts now." Christine answered. They walked into the room and Emilie glanced down the hall and could see their shadows on the walls as her father was untying his tie and removing his jacket. The door was pushed by his foot and clicked closed. She could still hear them talking but couldn't make out what they were saying.

Pulling her head back into her own room, she closed the door and went back to sitting at the window listening to her parents talk loudly through the wall without being able to make out what they were saying. All she wanted was just to know about her parents. She just wanted to know the big secret about their relationship and why her father wore a mask. The curiosity had never been so great until the door was opened earlier that day.

She had to figure out a way to see, and she knew that she couldn't sneak into their bedroom when they were sleeping because the door was always kept locked. However, she knew that their balcony doors didn't have any curtains on them and their bed was by the doors, she could climb up their balcony and have a peek in. This was the best idea yet! How come she never thought of this before?! She felt so smart and was so excited of her plan that it took her breath away.

Opening her balcony doors, she climbed over the railing, just like she always did when she would meet Jean-Claude down by the beach. Carefully stepping on the trellis, she climbed down onto the beach. She walked towards the other end of the house where she could see her parents' bedroom still lit up. Quietly she began to climb up the trellis that was covered in flowers; she silently prayed that it wouldn't break for it felt more rickety than her own. She climbed over the railing and hid behind the large potted tree that blocked one of the windows and looked in.

She saw her father in his pajamas while he sat on the edge of their bed, he was talking to her mother who was pulling pins out of her long, brown curls while she sat at her vanity. The left side of his face was exposed to the window, but Emilie could see the white mask lying on the nightstand next to him and waited anxiously until the right side was exposed.

He finally stood up as Christine began to brush out her hair, she saw her father walking towards the balcony and she stiffened and hid even more behind the potted tree. Crouching down she couldn't see the door, but she could barely make him out as he opened the doors and said out loud,

"There that's will feel better tonight, at least we will be able to get a nice ocean breeze."

Looking through the leaves, the right side of his face exposed itself from the soft glow of the gaslights in the bedroom and the moonlight outside. Emilie covered her mouth ever so slightly as she looked at the twisted scars and exposed tissue that hung on her father's face. Stretched translucent skin and tissue covered the exposed portion of his skull. He wiped his hand over the severe deformity and said to his wife,

"That breeze sure does feel better. As long as I've lived with that mask, it always feels better to get it off at night and let my face cool off."

"I know it does dear." Her mother replied in the bedroom sympathetically. He stepped out onto the balcony a little more and leaned against the railing staring out into the dark ocean illuminated by the half moon in the clear sky. Emilie backed herself even farther out of sight behind the tree. Without the mask, her father's mannerism seemed so different. He didn't portray himself as the confident man that she was used to. He seemed relaxed and indiscreet, a side that she had never seen before. Emilie and her brother always knew their father loved them, but he was never one to be unguarded and openly show affection to anyone. She had never even seen her parents kiss unless it was a little plant on the lips in a moment where no one was around.

Her mother came out on the balcony and stood next to her father. Wrapping her arms around his waist, he put his arm around her shoulder and kissed the top of her head. Emilie sat in the dark watching in front of her the scene unfold. It relieved her to watch her parents show affection for one another, even if it was in a discreet moment. It gave her relief to know that they really did love one another, however now that she knew her father's secret, what was their secret together?

"I'm just afraid." Erik said softly into Christine's hair.

"About what?" She asked back.

"Our children, what will they think when they see me? What will they think when I tell them about the horrible monster I once was? What will they think when they find out our marriage was not based on love, and how you ran away from me with that boy and all of a sudden we find out you're pregnant with Emilie?" Christine pulled away from him harshly, pushing him at the same time.

"Really Erik?! After all these years, is that what you think?!" She said shouting.

"Hush dear, do you want Emilie to hear you?" She scoffed and looked away out into the darkness.

"You're the only one that has had me. I was with him after I became a woman with you for one day!"

"Don't you remember your little afternoon meetings when I would leave for work?" She crossed her arms and turned her back towards him.

"You are absolutely ridiculous! I cannot believe that you would think that of me. You know back then, I would have been scared out of my mind to do anything like that against you because we both know of how terrible your punishments were."

Emilie felt rage boiling up inside of her. Her father sounds like a horrible beast of a man who would actually punish her mother. The abuse was so terrible her mother ran away. She couldn't understand it all, and to top it off, her father questioned their blood relationship. This was all too much and she could feel the overwhelming feelings take over her physical body. She felt her blood boiling beneath her skin and now all she wanted were answers from her father and her mother.

Erik took in a deep breath and counted to ten under his breath before he proceeded with what he was going to say next.

"I trust you, I really do. It's just that back then, things were out of control. Our relationship really wasn't…a relationship." Christine took in a sharp breath and said,

"We have never talked about this, besides when we decided we would never tell the children. But now that we are, it's reopening old wounds."

"Yes it is." He agreed.

"Is that really something you have always questioned for the last 15 years?" He didn't answer right away and instead wiped away a stray tear.

"It was always in the back of my mind nagging at me. But I knew that it was just the devil playing with my mind. The devil always seems to be somewhere in my mind, no matter how much you say I have changed over the years. I do believe you Christine, I always knew in my heart that you were a good girl but I couldn't get out of my head the few times you did betray me."

"Erik, I was so young back then and you were not the man you are now."

"I'm not the man I am now because I got the life I wanted. Not because I deserved it, but because I made everyone else give it to me. My God Christine, maybe I should just tell you to take Emilie and Erik and find that boy now, I'm sure he's still waiting for you like he vowed he would."

"Erik, we were meant to be together, and we are in this to deep now to give up. The Vicomte is just someone from my past. I don't know where he is or what his life is like now. I seriously cannot believe after all these years and the life we have built together we are rehashing all of this! Emilie is your daughter. Where else do you think she got her musical genius from? Not me, I had to be taught by you and Raoul, well we both know he didn't have any musical talent." He sighed and replied,

"My mind is just overwhelmed, I wasn't prepared to answer any questions she had about you and I and it has thrown everything into turmoil."

"We will face this problem together, the same way we have learned to face all of our problems together throughout the years, the way husbands and wives do. It will all be all right, it always works itself out. Even though you always showed off your confidence and power when your mask was on, that still entirely diminishes when you take that mask off. Maybe you should realize that you deserve everything you have and that the mask is not who you are. Maybe you should realize there really is a God and He has forgiven you for all of your sins and has granted you the life you deserve."

"Now you're talking too much." He said smiling down at her, putting his hand on her wrist. She smiled back and replied,

"One of these days I will make a believer out of you, you'll see." She planted a small kiss on his cheek and said,

"I'm going to go to bed. We will both feel different in the morning after some sleep tonight, so come join me." She walked back through the open doors and into the bedroom. Erik leaned on the railing and stared out into the black night. Emilie quietly shifted her weight and continued to watch the right side of his distorted face, barely recognizing her father looking like that. However that was not what she was thinking about, she didn't care so much about his physical secret, she wanted to get to the bottom of their relationship secret and if her parents didn't tell her, she planned on finding out herself.