Well, I left y'all with a bit of a cliffhanger yesterday! I hope it made you come back to Ella and Erik, and read their story. Oh, and if anyone knew that song that Erik sang, I love you. You are a true Ramin Karimloo fan. Also, if anyone actually reads these, I love you too. Well, I love you all. Okay anyway, please read, review, follow, favorite, and enjoy! Thanks.

~Lauren

Chapter 7

Character

"Oh my God! Erik! What happened to you?!"

She rushes over to Erik and looks at his face. He has a very dark black eyes, making his eye puffy and swollen. He has multiple cuts on his cheek, the blood trickle down onto his trousers. His mask is off, and see that side of his face is chopped up to. But Ella remembers about his deformity and doesn't know if it naturally looks that way, so she just focuses on the other side of his face.

"Charley happened."

"What do you mean?!"

"Well, on your late-night performance, about three weeks ago, I saw Charley walking to your dressing room, so I decided to talk to him. I threw him against the wall and told him that he should stay away from you. Then he told me all that he knew about my past with Christine, and how he wasn't threatened, knowing my actions before." He groans in pain but soon catches his breath and continues. "After that, he said that he wants me to stay away from you."

"You could've just came to me! Don't listen to him!"

"No, Eleanore. He said that if I didn't, he would hurt you."

"W-what?"

"I couldn't let that happen to you. I care about you way too much, Eleanore."

"Thank you for protecting me, but I still don't get how this happened."

He sighs. "Well, I was finally going to send you a letter this afternoon, but Charley was also going into your room to give you a letter. When he saw me, he ran up and slammed me against the wall. He kept beating me up from there. I tried to fight back. But he was much stronger."

"Oh, Erik. I am sorry. Let's get you cleaned up. Where do you keep your first-aid supplies?"

"In that drawer over there." He points to a small desk with a couple drawers. He points to the bottom one on the left. Ella nods and rushes over and grabs the supplies. She kneels in front of the organ bench, coming up to the middle of his chest. She takes out a small rag and wets it with a disinfectant.

"This will sting a little." She says before dabbing it on his cheeks. He groans in pain through clenched teeth. Ella clenches her teeth too, feeling bad for Erik. She eventually clears up all of the blood and she realizes how long the cuts are. She then takes a cream and rubs it on the cuts. Erik now lets out a slight shriek, but he hold it in. When Ella finishes, she says, "That will help fight infection. Now, I don't know what we are going to do about that black eye."

Erik shrugs, sniffing away tears. "There's nothing you can do. We will just have to wait until it heals." He laughs a sad laugh. "Great. Just adds more distortion to my face."

"Don't think like that!" Ella exclaims.

"I am sorry the first time you are seeing my face is like this."

"No. It is fine. It isn't as bad as I was thinking."

"Really?" Erik asks, not believing her.

"Yes, Erik."

"I just wanted that moment to be different. I wanted to do it at a calm time…when you weren't afraid of me."

Ella sighs and looks at the floor. "I am sorry. I know I shouldn't be scared, but I am. Even though, I know you are a nice, caring, and amazing person, I am still scared somehow."

"Great."

"No, but it is a good kind of scared."

"How is there a good kind of scared?"

"It's that thrilling sort of scared. Like, you're on the edge of your seat and then something jumps out at you. Like, suspense and thrill. You are a thrill, Erik."

He chuckles softly. "That's one way to put it."

Ella frowns at her failure of making him feel better. "Erik, listen, you are my best friend. I care about you. I don't want you to hide from me or be anyone but yourself." He looks at her with pitiful eyes. "But first, we need to figure out what to do about Charley."

"Eleanore, I don't know what to do…To be honest…he scares me." Ella raises her eyebrows. The Phantom of the Opera? Afraid of something? But then she thinks, no. This is Erik. And Erik can be scared just like any other human being. He is a human being. And that's exactly what she says to him.

"You are a human being. Everyone is scared of something. But, trust me, I will get Charley away from us. I will talk to him."

"Did you see what the letter said?"

"What letter?"

"The one that Charley left when he beat me up."

"Oh, no. I didn't even see a letter. I just went in my room and ran down here. Thank God I did. You could've bled to death."

"I just want you to be careful around him. He said he would hurt you. If he knows you have been seeing me, who knows what could happen." Ella nods, understanding.

"Are you going to be alright? Or do you want me to stay down here with you?"

"I will be fine. I just need some sleep. You can go talk to him. But please be careful."

She gets up off of the floor and kisses him on the forehead before hurrying up the passageway and back into her room. She sighs and stand in the middle of her room. Oh! The letter! She runs over to her desk and looks around for a letter, and luckily finds it. She rips it open and reads it.

Ella,

I was wondering if you wanted to go out to dinner tonight. I have made reservations at a fancy café downtown. I hope you are able to come. You should come tell me so I know. Thank you.

All affection,

Charley

"Heh. 'All affection' my ass! There is no way I am going with that bastard to dinner." She smirks. "But I will go talk to him." She throws the letter down and rushes out of her room. She runs around the opera looking for him, but finds him on the stage talking with the managers. Charley sees her and says, "Oh, hello, Ella! Messieurs, will you excuse us?" The men nod and exit the stage. He faces her once more once the men leave. "How are you today?"

The rage boils up inside her, but she won't explode yet. "How could you?"

"What, my dear?"

"What you did to Erik! He didn't deserve any of that?"

"He came and saw you?"

"No! I went down to him! Did you ever think of that, huh? That I might actually go down myself and talk to him?"

"Well…um…"

"NO! You didn't! What do you want from me that made you go to such extreme measures?"

The rage starts to come out in Charley. "You belong with me, Ella! You need someone to protect you! Someone with money and a home! Not that musical bastard!

"I don't care about wealth, Charley! I care about character, and yours is horrible and wicked! I just want you to stay away from me!"

She turns to exit, but Charley grabs her arm tight. His eyes turn to death and Ella feels a jolt of fright. His voice grows dark and it reminds Ella of the devil.

"No one talks to me like that."