Saturday
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Christine woke to the cold finality of morning. Her last morning. Her bare feet touched the cool floor and she slowly got up. She filled the tub with hot water and scented oils. She made an extra effort to make herself look nice. If Raoul was going to see her tonight, she wanted to be pretty for him. It'll at least the mortician's job easier, she laughed. I'm starting to think like Erik.
She sat down at the kitchen table and started to write a letter. She poured her heart into the letter. Page after page she filled with her loopy cursive. She told Raoul everything. She told him about the Angel of Music. She told him about how happy he had made her. She told him about Katie and Hannah. She told him about Erik. She told him why she had done what she was planning on doing. She kissed the letter and sprayed it with her favorite perfume.
She told him to keep living after she was gone. As much as it hurt to think of him with another woman, it hurt more to think of him spending the rest of his life alone.
Tears fell uninhibited, blurring his name, written lovingly on the front of the envelope.
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The chamber lit up in a flash of brilliant white light. Raoul looked around, finally seeing his surroundings. A tree grew in one corner. He could almost imagine a breeze ruffling the oak leaves. He was in a forest of oak trees, all identical. He placed a hand on the trunk of the magnificent tree and immediately recoiled. It was not wood but metal.
A thin wire hung from the lowest branch. A thin wire with a loop at the end – like a noose. Raoul backed up against the mirror.
He cried out. The mirror had burned him! He sat in the middle of the room, keeping a steady eye on the noose, as if it was going to wrap itself around his neck at any moment.
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Christine held Raoul's hand as she fell asleep. Distantly she registered that it was a bit feverish.
A solemn man walked into the room and saw Christine and her letter. He hissed and snatched the letter away, burning it in the sink in the hospital room.
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"Have you decided, my dear?"
Christine shuddered. "I can't do this, Erik. Don't make me do this."
"I will give you until 11:59 tonight. Decide! Be my wife or let kill him!" Erik stormed out of the room.
Christine looked at the tray. She touched one chalice, then the other. "I can't do this. God, give me strength. Suicide or murder?"She sat staring at the two glasses.
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Christine realized at some point that she had no timepiece. Death could come at any moment.
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"Choose!" Erik materialized. "Drink the white wine and you are free, but your lover stays here forever! Drink the red wine and your lover goes free while you stay forever as my bride!"
"Please, Erik! At least give me until dawn. Please?"
"Fine! I can wait a few more hours, my Christine, but at dawn I will choose for you!" He laughed. "I may choose to split that glass of red wine between you and your lover!" He cackled as he slammed the door. I made the sign of the cross and returned to staring at the two glasses trying to fathom the answer to my problem.
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Dawn was approaching. I just knew it. I took a deep breath and gathered my breath as Erik reentered my room.. I looked down at the two glasses on last time, picked one up, and drained it staring into Erik's eyes. The corpse grinned.
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Somewhere, deep in the hospital, a man screamed. And the sun rose.