I woke up to a pair of cruel eyes glaring mockingly at me. I instantly recognized the unwanted presence as my gypsy master, Javert. Quickly looking around, I saw the band of gypsies and a man I had never seen before. I went into a panic.
"Release the girl demon." Javert demanded, whip in hand.
A got a new scar across my back.
"Monsieur," the gypsy spoke to a man behind him, "is this your daughter?"
"Yes." M. Daae said, relieved and a bit worried at the same time.
Little Christine started to stir and quickly awoke hearing her father's voice. Seeing her father, she squirmed out of my embrace and ran to him. I couldn't help but be saddened as the little angel left me.
"Papa." Christine said as she embraced her father.
"My little angel." Her father cooed, "Are you hurt? Where did you get this shirt?"
"I'm alright papa." Christine said innocently, "Erik wanted to make sure I was warm so he gave me his shirt."
"Erik? Who's Erik?"
Christine pointed her little finger at me, smiling innocently, not fully understanding the situation.
Christine then took off my shirt and started walking over to me before her father quickly stopped her.
"Christine," he grabbed her arm and then forced her to look at him. "Stay away from him."
"Why? He's a gentleman papa. Right Erik?"
"This is no gentleman, little girl." Javert spoke. "He kidnapped you and forced you into this cage with him."
"No he didn't." Christine said, bravely and stupidly standing up to the gypsy and his goons. "You threw me in here."
"Shut up girl. You were stolen by my finest show piece."
"I didn't steal her, Javert." I boldly stated, speaking up against my master for the first time in my pathetic life.
Another scar across my shoulder.
"Erik!" Christine yelled in fear before turning once again to the gypsy, "don't do that to him!"
"I would hush up that daughter of yours," Javert told M. Daae, "if you want a job here the little wretch needs to know how to keep her mouth shut."
"I didn't harm your daughter, M." I said, "She's telling the truth. The gypsy's forced her in here with me for fun. How could I trap her in her with me when I can't even open the door?"
Another scar.
Christine squirmed out of her father's hands and rushed over to me, putting herself in between me and my master.
"You will not hurt him." Christine looked straight into the gypsy's eyes, "he is a good person."
"He is a monster."
"He's not the monster. You are!"
I heard the whip crack before I realized what had happened. That gypsy had whipped Christine, leaving a deep mark on her arm.
I barely saw Javert raise the whip once more to harm my little Christine when I reacted. I grabbed the little mademoiselle, held her to my chest and turned towards the wall, shielding the girl, with only a split second before Javert's whip struck my back.
He beat me harder than he usually does. My mind was only on Christine. With her in mind, the pain dulled on my back. I'd rather face the pain than have this little girl face it.
She was sobbing heavily, clinging to my skeleton frame and scar covered skin. That man had hurt her terribly, I could tell.
"Stop!" M. Daae yelled, trying to come closer before Javert's goons grabbed him, forcing him in place, "stop beating that man!"
Javert didn't stop. He just kept lashing out at me. Eventually I found my strength and turned my arm out so that the whip fastened itself onto my arm before I yanked it out of Javert's hand.
I stood up, the girl still in my arms and towered over everyone in the room.
"You will not hurt Christine." I said boldly.
I walked over to M. Daae and handed him his daughter. He, not being able to carry the girl as I was, put her down and started check in her arm.
"Let's go." M. Daae spoke to his daughter before looking into my eyes, "let's leave. All of us."
He whispered the last line.
I followed the Daae's a few steps before I heard the sound of a gun being set to fire.
"Take one more step and you're all dead." Javert spoke to me but it affected everyone.
"Go." I told them. "Leave."
"I will never forget you Erik." Christine spoke through tears.
"I will inform the police of this cruelty." M. Daae spoke quietly to me, "they won't get away with keeping you in this place."
"Go monsieur."
The Daae's rapidly left the caravan barely making it outside when I heard the gunshot.
I was waiting for something. A searing pain in my stomach. Blood oozing from my chest. Something. Nothing. But I felt no pain. I wasn't in whatever afterlife I would be sent to. I was still in the caravan. I half thought he missed but then I saw M. Daae fall to the ground.
"Papa!" Christine yelled through the gypsies' laughter as she desperately tried to lift the man's weight.
Mr. Daae had his hand on his bleeding stomach. One of the worst places to get shot: fatal and painful (Author: Spoilers, for those who've seen the sequel, Love Never Dies, Christine gets shot in the same place.). The acid in your stomach seems out of the wound damaging your organ, searing you from the inside. Near impossible to operate on. The man would soon be dead.
But what would become of his daughter?
"Monsieur Erik!" Christine called to me, "Help me!"
Ignoring the fact that Javert still had a gun on him, I ran over to the girl and her injured father. I tried to perform any medical assistance I could provide before I was stopped.
"Erik." Daae spoke my name through a hushed, forced, shaken whisper, "Take my daughter and get her as far away from here as possible. I believe every word that you had said. I trust you. Take her to a woman by the name of Madam Giry."
Fortunately, or rather unfortunately, I knew the woman.
"She lives at 235…"
"...Angeville lane." I finished the address and thanking whoever was in charge of life that she had not changed her address. "I am familiar with the woman. I know where to take Christine."
He gave a nod in understanding.
"Christine," He spoke even quieter than before.
"Yes papa?" the girl said through tears.
"When I am in heaven, child, I will send you the angel of music." He said this and I instantly recognized the child's tale which he was referring too. "I promise. I love you, my Christine. My little Bourgeon rose. "
"I love you too, papa."
"Go now." he urged me.
"I can't papa."
"Take her. He practically begged me."
"I won't leave you papa!"
"Just go now and leave me!"
I grabbed christine from under her arms and hoisted her up into my arms where she preceded to cry into my chest and beg for our return to her father. I understood why he wanted me to take her away. He didn't want his daughter to have to watch him die and most excruciating death.
I hurried through the empty streets of morning Paris. The sun had barely risen and people were still fast asleep, not wanting to get up early on a cold winter's day where the nightly snowfall had turned the world completely white. I heard the bells of Notre Dame within a few minutes. I counted how many times the bell rang. 6. 6 in the morning.
Within a few minutes I was at the home, well tendent, of the Giry's. I knocked rapidly to call attention to myself.
A little blonde girl opened the door. She screamed. It didn't bother me but Christine jolted in my arms. For a split second I thought that I was at the wrong house but Giry soon came to the door.
"Meg, how many times have I told you, do not answer this door?" Giry scolded the child. "Erik, get inside the house quickly before the police or whatever mob you started this time comes."
"I did nothing this time, Giry." I said, hastily entering the house. "You owe me a favor and I you with repay me now."
"I was wondering when this day would come. Who did you kill this time?"
"See this girl." I said, ignoring her comment, "This is Christine Daae."
"I know who she is. Her father and I are friends."
"Well her father was just shot at the gypsy fair at the edge of town."
"Dear lord…"
"I need you to contact the police this instant and do anything in your power to make sure those gypsy vermin don't find me or this child."
"I'll leave this instant." Giry said, fetching her winter coat and heading out the door, "Meg, show the gentlemen and the girl to the spare room."
"Ok mom." Meg looked a bit skeptical but knew better than to defy her mom.
Meg showed us to the spare room which was a sitting room lodged into the back of the house with only a curtain as a door. The room was small and only had a couch, a lounge chair and a small rounded table. I placed the crying girl onto the couch. Laying her head gently on the throw pillow that was there. Giry would handle the girl's father: I had to fix Christine's arm.
I quickly got a towel, some bandages, soap and a bowl of water and came back to Christine.
"I'm going to fix your arm, Christine." I said, gently taking her arm. "This will sting a bit."
I gingerly place the soapy, wet rag onto the cut. The cut from the whip was horrendous. It trailed from her elbow and snaked around to her wrist, cutting a deep crevasse in her flawless, plump arm. It seemed deeper than most of my cuts.
"Ow...that hurts." Christine tried to pull her arm away but I held it firmly in place.
"Please Christine." I almost pleaded with the girl, the thought of hurting her painful to my heart, "I don't want to hurt you but I have to do this. It's for your own good. Please hold still. It will hurt less."
I tried to clean out the wound as quickly and effectively as humanly possible. A few minutes later, her arm was wrapped up and on the road of healing.
"Can I do your cuts?" Christine asked, deeply concerned. "They must hurt an awful lot. I would like to help you."
"No, no Christine." I assured her. "My cuts don't hurt as much as yours did. I'll be fine."
This girl was an angel. No one had ever offered to help me in such a way without me having to act superior to get them to do my bidding.
"Monsieur Erik." Christine's voice trembled.
"Yes, my little mademoiselle?"
"Is my papa going to be alright?"
How could I tell this little darling that her father was probably dead? It would break her heart which I couldn't bare to do to such a little angel. I'd rather die myself than ever hurt the little girl who was the first one to embrace me.
"I don't know, little Christine." I said, lying through my teeth, "But I promise you that you will always be taken care of."
No answer.
All we could do was wait and hope.
…
Giry wasn't back at the house until late at night. Meg tried to stay as far away from me as possible which I was used to. Little Christine fell asleep after a few hours. I remained awake, just sitting on the soft, worn chair, waiting for Giry to come home. As I waited, I found a few pieces of paper and began composing music.
"You're back I see." I said as Giry came into the room.
"You are so lucky that the opera is off season at the moment."
"What has become of the girl's father?"
"Dead. I was able to get the police to arrest the gypsies for manslaughter and explained that I would be taking care of the girl which was a whole lot of paperwork."
"I don't care about the gypsies' fate. What about the girl's father?"
"He was taken to the hospital but died before arriving. He's being buried in 2 days at Perros."
"So the girl is now an orphan."
"I believe you knew the outcome from the beginning. Now how did this start."
I told her the brief story of how I met the young Miss Daae and she held on to every word.
"So you love the girl?"
"Yes I do. I want to make sure she is well cared for."
"I'm assuming you have a plan."
"Of course madam. Which you have a key role in." I held up the score that I had written on the spare pieces of paper I found. "Take this score to some cheap theater and sell it. With that money I need a dress for Christine and a shirt and pants for me. Make sure she has a coat as well. Make it blue."
"Alright. Fine. I owe you big time."
"Yes you do madam. I got you your job in the brief moments of my freedom before those gypsies found me in that sewer. Now it's time to repay me. I will compose music and you will sell it under an unanimous name. Understand?"
"Completely. I am to assume that most of your profits will go towards that girl?"
"That is my business. Just do as you are told."
"Fine. I'll sell that composition tomorrow. In a few weeks the opera opens."
"And by that time Paris will be buzzing with gossip on who the mysterious composer of the newest opera is."