Eek! So much time went by since the last time I updated. And I promised myself I wouldn't be the author who abandons her stories. *sigh*. And yet somehow a month went by- I wouldn't be at all surprised if someone you either stopped reading, gave up on my story, or give me a piece of your mind in a review.

I'm sorry. My schedule sort of clogged with family, a birthday, back to school shopping, and various other things, including getting sick twice. Forgive me, my faithful readers! And I'd like to say, writer's block picked on me a lot this summer. So that's why this chapter is so late. I've never planned for it to go past five chapters, and then behold! It does! So I knew what to end it with, but not quite so sure how to get there anymore. And now that I've worked it out, the next chapters shouldn't be as long a wait as this one was.

So if you were wondering why I had dropped off the face of the earth, there you go! And now, on with the story!

Even as Erik left, Christine felt unable to move, frozen by what she had seen. It flashed through her mind, fear and hate and pity following it at every turn. She watched as Erik fled the room, covering his face as best he could with both hands, leaving Christine alone, ambivalence etched onto her face. Erik's resounding cry of "YOU WILL PAY" still rang in her ears for the long minutes after he had left. She gazed at the floor in shame.

What have I done?

Elsewhere, in his room, Erik was curled into a ball on his coffin bed, his skeletal frame poking at his stretched, yellowish skin where he bent his thin body. Erik found that he was crying more than ever these days, letting his weaker emotions ravage him with Christine there. And he hated it. It made him feel like a child, prey to the most simply of humanly emotions, emotions the Phantom of the Opera, that Erik, did not have. But the weakest he had felt was now.

So she has once again seen her poor, unhappy Erik's face. Now it will be like before. She will hate me and wish to kill me, and run from Erik with someone else! Not that Erik deserves his angel anyway. Bitter tears slipped onto his pillow as bitter thoughts pooled in his mind until he finally exhausted himself enough to sleep in a dreamless haze.

However, across the hallway, Christine was doing the same. Lying on her side, head in her pillows, crying.

Erik is my husband! I should have trusted him. He loves me, and never wanted me to see this! He'll hate me, want me gone, and I'll be alone with nothing- no memory of recent life. Oh Erik, I'm so sorry! She let lose gasping sobs until she cried herself into a fitful sleep, still dressed in her day clothing.

When she awoke, Christine has no inkling of if it was night or day. Being without the sun greatly depressed her, and made her long for fresh air and a sunrise. She couldn't remember what they looked like, but she knew that they were beautiful.

With his face, did Erik ever see a sunrise?

Christine shook her head to clear her thoughts. There must be more the Erik, something that made her love him. After all, she did marry him, didn't she?

I will apologize to my Erik. If I married him, then I must have learned to see past his face. I will do it again. For him. She vowed in her mind. Dressing quickly in a simply gown of soft red with black lace, black shoes and a black hair ribbon, she quickly and quietly exited her assigned room and crossed the hall to gingerly rap on Erik's wooden door, her heart pounding violently in anticipation. She could have sworn that if it beat any harder, her heart would have ripped from her chest. Each second she waited for Erik to answer his door was a lifetime.

Hello again! Just a quick message this time. I promise that I will try to get the next chapter up much sooner, and thanks to Deadtom77, Vamp-Fledging, and PhantomFan01 for the lovely reviews last chapter.

And Vamp-Fledging, I must agree that LND simply didn't agree with me, and you can be sure that I will never touch into that. I hated it, because it distorted every character it touched. *sigh* what was ALW thinking?

Okay, I'm done. Sorry this chapter was short, but I promise that the next one will be longer, and not as much me and more actually story. Till then!

Bye!