More cliffhangers! I hope you are liking this story. I try to put cliffhangers so you guys come back, and I hope it is working. Who else hates Charley's guts? *raises hand* Yeah. Well you're going to hate him even more after this chapter. So I hope you like it! Please read, review, follow, favorite, and enjoy. Thanks.

~Lauren

Chapter 8

Out of the City

Charley starts dragging Ella off of the stage. She tries to plant her feet on the floor, but they just keep sliding. She grunts a lot, still trying. "Let me go, you bastard!" He looks back at her and grunts with clenched teeth. She feels tears spring into her eyes. Who knows what will happen to me! She thinks, hopelessly. There is only one way to find out. She gives into his force and lets him drag her. He smiles wickedly to himself as he takes her out to a carriage. He opens the door and shoves her into it. They sit across from each other in silence as the carriage rolls down.

Ella finally lets the tears rolls down her face, but she soon sees that Charley doesn't like that.

"Stop crying." He says in a hard tone.

She nods slightly and sucks in her lips to stop the sobs from coming out. He keeps glaring at her throughout the whole carriage ride, and she feels very uncomfortable. She looks at him and realize he is looking at her very sexually. She feels even more frightened and uncomfortable.

Then she feels the carriage and her stomach starts to churn. Charley steps out from the carriage and pulls Ella out. She sees a small house standing before them. Ella is slightly relieved. She thought he was going to take her to some ditch and beat her to death.

He grabs her arm once more and starts pulling her, again. They get to the door and Charley pushes it open with a creak. She looks around and sees that it is like any other normal house. She is shocked.

"Sit down." He says harshly with a glare.

She obeys and rushes over to a chair. She observes Charley as he closes the door, locks it, and shuts all of the blinds. Leaving them in the dark. He walks over to Ella and kneels in front of her. He smiles a wicked smile. She glares at him.

"Come on, Ella. Don't be like that." He brings his hand up to her cheek, but she turns away with a disgusted look on her face.

"Don't touch me…" she mutters.

"Ella, you need to learn to be around a decent human being. Not someone like that Phantom."

Ella looks at him with an even more disgusted face. "He's not the decent human being?! You're not the decent human being! You dragged me here and are probably going to keep me here forever! You told Erik to stay away from me or you would hurt me! A decent human being would not kidnap me, tell my best friend to stay away from me, beat him up, and threaten to hurt me. Yeah, you're a pretty decent person."

"Ella, listen to me. I am just trying to protect you. You should love someone like me."

"I don't LOVE you! I don't love Erik! I don't LOVE anyone! Okay? I don't love him or you."

He gets up and glares down at her like she were only a crumb. "Don't make me force you."

"Force me to do what? Love you? That will never happen!"

He sighs. "We will talk about this later." He turns and starts to walk away.

"I will never talk about such a matter with you."

Charley stops in his track, turns around and opens his mouth to say something. But he closes his eyes, relaxing himself, then walking around a corner, leaving Ella on the chair.

XxXxXx

Erik knocks very hard on Madame Giry's door for many seconds. She eventually opens the door with an annoyed look on her face and a hand on her hip.

"Have you seen Ella?!" he asks with great urgency.

"No. I have not. What is the problem, Erik?"

"I saw her just a few hours ago when she came up here, and I haven't seen her since. It has been almost six hours."

"No. I am sorry, Erik."

He sighs, but then Meg pops out and come to the door. She has bright eyes and seems like she knows something.

"I saw her leave about six hours ago."

"With who?! With who?!"

"A man…Charley, his name was?"

Erik bulges his eyes and the fire grows. He starts breathing very heavy.

"Did you happen to see where they were going?"

She shrugs. "I saw them get into a carriage. They were heading east into the city."

He nods. "Thank you, Meg. Thank you!" he manages to say before running off.

He runs down the hall and out of the Opera Populaire. He then runs to the stables and grabs his horse, Cesar. He jumps on his back and brushes his hair with his hand. "East into town." He mutters before hitting the reigns and making Cesar ride into the city.

He doesn't know if Charley took her into the city or out of the city into a father region in France. He thinks she is out of the city. He has a gut feeling. So he keep making Cesar ride through the city until he is eventually out of it.

Erik rides on a nice country rode with little country houses. The houses eventually stop as the go down they rode, but he thinks he should keep going. And he was right. He gets to the end of the road, a ways away from the nearest house. The house is small and looks slightly old, but not too old. Maybe thirty to fifty years? Oh, it doesn't matter.

He gets off of Cesar and walks slowly up to the house. He sighs, relaxing. God, I hope she is here. He thinks with hope. He takes a step closer to the door, brings his hand up,

And knocks.