Chapter 10
The Escape
"Murder?" Gustave repeat slightly louder.
"Shh!" Eloise begged, "I don't want them to find you."
"Follow me." Raoul began, making Eloise begin to pray that he would run into one of Gustave's many booby traps. Then again, Raoul had been through this opera house in search of Erik once before. He knew exactly what to avoid and how to get to the Phantom's lair, beginning with the passage way through Christine's old dressing room.
Gustave began to search frantically for an explanation then. His eyes shot from Eloise to the footsteps edging closer and closer to his lair.
"Oh my," He turned to Eloise and held her hand, "I'm sorry that you had to witness this. We'll be alright." Gustave reassured as he led her back on the boat and continued to calm her with his words. What Gustave didn't know was that Eloise was shaking to the point of tears because she feared for him. She feared that Raoul would realize that it had been his son all along, not Erik, and give him a future he didn't want. She feared that Brigitte would ridicule him for his face, making him slip into madness once more. Gustave felt conflicted too. Perhaps he should have let Eloise go sooner, for none of this would've happened if she had not stayed with him. I am a monster, he thought grimly, for keeping a girl with so much potential to myself.
Once they had made it to a large door leading outside, Gustave began to second guess himself.
"What's wrong?" Eloise asked, looking for any sign of Raoul, Brigitte, Mr. Lefevre or Gaston.
"I cannot leave without my mask." Gustave looked behind him to the echoes of voices coming from the search party.
"It's not forever." Eloise smiled, touching his burns. "You're with me, it shouldn't matter what you look like."
"Eloise," Gustave whispered, "no one will be as kind as you to me out there." He pulled her closer to himself and shut the door behind them.
"Gustave, follow me." Eloise began to lead Gustave a different path, closer to the village his mother used to live in. Her mother's home was now completely empty after Geneva had refused to sell it to anybody, and soon after she left, she feared she had gone back to the house to live alone.
"Your mother shouldn't be at that house, the village is extremely old and they won't be reselling homes."
"If she isn't there – I don't know how to get in." Eloise breathed in deeply trying to stay calm, for Gustave's sake. "I want you to be safe," She admitted, shivering slightly in the wind. Gustave put his arm around her and felt her calm down as she felt his warmth.
Soon they found themselves looking at Geneva's house, which in a bittersweet way, was completely empty.
"Are you alright?" Gustave asked, feeling his heart beat faster as he remembered the day that Christine had died in front of him. He knew losing a mother wasn't kind to the mind, or the heart and that Eloise was happy for him, but breaking down on the inside.
"Yes." Eloise sighed, kicking down the door and pushing Gustave in. They were able to wedge open the lower corner of the door and crawl in before straightening the door back up. She leaned against it for a few moments, breathing in the cool air and calming herself down.
"We're staying the night." Gustave declared, making sure the coast was clear. When he saw Eloise begin to shake with fear again, he walked up to her and placed his arms against the door, on either side of her head.
"Gustave," Eloise began, trying to admit that she had been the one who made Raoul believe Erik was back. "The thing I wanted to tell you before was –"
She suddenly found Gustave's lips on hers, feeling their warmth as he embraced her. Overwhelmed with emotions, Eloise let silent tears fall down her cheeks. What was she to do now? Gustave loved her, but Raoul was out for revenge with her only friend at the academy. She loved Gustave back with all her heart, but telling him the truth would send him past insanity. Frightful of the future, Eloise kissed him back, hoping they could be happy for this moment, for many more to come may not be.