Yay! Quick update. Tell me what you think. Also, for blue-chimera, sure, there will be fluff, not to worry, it may or may not be soon, I won't tell you, but I'll keep it in mind.

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~The Phantom's Flutist~

Chapter 16:
Hurtfully Succumbed

I awoke in my familiar dark room, laying in my bed... to the side. I had an urge to use the bathroom, so I rose up naturally, and felt something weighing down the other side of the bed. I turned my head slowly, to see Erik's dark figure soundly asleep on the other side of the bed... or, I hope that he was asleep. All I knew was his eyes were shut and he was breathing evenly from what I could tell with the light of the moon. My hand rose up, and my jaw went down about to scream but that wouldn't be the greatest idea, as I backed away, clasping my hand to my mouth, so if I had the thought, it would be muffled.

I backed up into the bathroom, and blinked a few times to wonder if he was actually doing this... and he was still there, of course, except now he was rising up. I slammed the door shut, and turned my back against it, and began to sob into my hand, scared out of my whits of what he was possibly thinking. If he... pulled something on me, I would ache, wouldn't I? I made a self-check and I didn't hurt anywhere. Besides, Erik may be a complete son of a bitch sometimes, but... I'm sure he wouldn't do that to me... Oh, I hate him, though... I hate him so much I could just kill him before he died.

The cold tiled floor wasn't inviting to be laying on for the rest of the night and I was ridiculously tired. There was no way in hell I was going back to that bed. I hardly recalled even eating, though I was well fed and my stomach wasn't growling.

I wiped my tears away, though I couldn't stop them from falling. The room was silent, and I shut the light off, gathering the many towels in the bathroom to make the floor more comfortable than it is, and clenched my legs to my body, my back still against the door so that it wouldn't open with a little struggle. Curious if he was still there, I had to simply look out the door. It creaked a little, so that he would know, and I knew I didn't care if he did. I looked out to see him still there, and I shut the door immediately, resting my head back on the door, with a towel used as a pillow, and I shut my eyes, but I never seemed to be able to drift off.

Through the door, I heard soft sobs on the other side which was when I decided sleeping against the door may not be so bright. I nestled the towel on the ground and buried my head into it, smelling the fresh cotton scent, and thought about happier things like being on vacation in Maine, being with Raoul, being kissed for the first time... I thought about soft piano music, and blocked it out with my mind, fantasizing that someone would be playing it for me, and slowly, but surely, I fell asleep on the bathroom floor.

I awoke at what felt like an hour or so later, to see morning light through the crevice of the door. My entire body ached from sleeping on the hard floor, but it was worth a little more longer of being unconscious just to forget my situation for a little while when I'm faced with it every single day.

I opened the door to the bright room, and I squinted my eyes to find him gone, thank God. The time was noon, so I guess he would have got tired of waiting anyway. There was a note, however, laying on the foot of my bed scrawled in red ink. For a moment, I thought about not reading it at all, but what was the use of ignoring it? It could possibly be something I wanted for once.

My darling Christine,
I will be out for a few hours, I hope you don't mind but I might be back before you're awake. Forgive me for last night... If anything, I hope you forgive me. I don't want to hurt you anymore, I do promise completely. I'll never do it again, I swear. I didn't harm you, I didn't touch you, just know that much.

I love you very much still, and I know you hate me, but that doesn't effect my feeling.

Anne will prepare whatever you wish to eat whilst I'm away.

Yours,

Erik

I dropped the note to the bed, not wanting to crumple it for some reason, but not wanting to hold it much longer either for it seemed to burn my hand. In fact, I tucked it into the drawer that held most of my things I wished for him not to see, into the bottom, not knowing what else to do with it.

I took a quick shower and changed into new clothes, since I slept in the clothes from yesterday as well. Walking downstairs, Erik was just walking into the house, looking surprised I stood there, his eyes open.

"Good afternoon," He greeted openly. I continued to walk down the stairs, glaring at him more coldly than ever. I grimaced to him, feeling like yelling to him, but I couldn't let myself give in so easily because he was being horrible again.

"Did you just wake up?" He asked, still trying to be sweet.

I nodded in the positive, and continued to descend the stairs, turning so I wouldn't be chewing on my lip to hold back my nasty comments. Just as I went into the living room, I felt Erik's hand touching my shoulder, shaking. "I'm so sorry... Erik was bad... No, Erik was horrible! You hate me now, I know it..."

I shook my head in the negative and tried to get out of his grasp, walking away without looking back. The dining room was empty, obviously, and so I was half-expecting to see Anne in the kitchen, which I did. She was putting away her cell phone, saying goodbye to whoever she was talking to when I walked in.

"Good afternoon," She greeted kindly. I sighed, as if I was holding my breath for all this time.

"Hey... Could I help you make my meal?" I asked, tilting my head to the side, leaning against a counter.
"Erik wouldn't like that." She huffed, rolling her eyes.

"Then I'll make the entire thing. I don't really care what he doesn't like and likes, as I've told you before." I huffed angrily, searching around for a pan to cook noodles or something simple like that in.

I turned around and she was there, holding a pot and a box of spaghetti noodles, and at times like these I just know that she reads my mind.

I grabbed them and smiled sheepishly, heading to the sink to pour some water into the pot.

"Erik slept with me last night after knocking me out." I muttered, snidely, practically hissing the words as I heated up the stove and put the pot onto it, leaning against the counter once more casually.

She widened her eyes, and huffed a breath, shaking her head. "That's pushing it... Did he...You know...?"

"He said he didn't." I rolled my eyes, "I don't think so... I trust him slightly enough that he wouldn't do that if he actually wants me to like him back." I replied unevenly, stirring in the noodles, feeling relieved intensely that I was sharing this with someone, instead of burning inside of me, weighing my shoulders down further into the deep water. Talking with Anne was like her helping with having the world off my shoulders.

"I'm very sorry. How did you know?"

"I woke up in the middle of the night." I replied dryly, reminding myself just how sore my body was in the back.

"And..."

"I slept in the bathroom. Not the brightest idea, but I was gone." I explained exasperatedly.

"Ooh." She shook her head. "I'm sorry, once more... I hate to say that. I wish I could help, but... you see this is my job and it's all it takes to help my family."

"I know." I replied. "Thanks for listening all this time, though. I don't know where I'd be if I didn't have you to talk to..."

"I'll always be there. Well, unless I screw up sometime, then I may not be there, but for right now, anytime." She said, giving a reassuring smile.

"Does he listen to you as well?" I questioned, stirring the noodles.

"Rarely." She rolled her eyes leaning on the island in the center of the room with the spatulas and other utensils as such hanging over her.

She brought me the strainer once the noodles were finished, and I brought the pot over to the sink, and poured the pasta's extra water into it methodically, and poured a serving into he bowl she offered, along with the butter and Parmesan, just how I enjoy it.

"I'm going to eat in here, if that's okay. I don't feel like facing Erik right now."

"It's fine." She dragged over a stool for me to sit down on and sat on the stool across from me on the island.

"This is nice... I wish I could do this everyday." I sighed, filled with dread at the thought of having to eat another meal with those burning eyes into my head just as I eat.

"I don't think he'd like that," she sighed.

"Once more... I don't give a crap. I'll eat as much as I want without him staring at me... he may control every bit of my life right now, but he must give me some rights in the house he locks me up in."

"I don't deny that." She added thoughtfully, looking through the newspaper on the table. I gazed at the headlines... mostly politics. Well, at least the world wasn't coming to an end without me knowing. No World War III, or the next ice age, I guess it doesn't matter at the moment if it even was happening. Erik wouldn't let me see it. I sighed on that thought, winding the pasta on my fork.

We ate in silence, but it was comfortable for I had nothing to say except for complaints on her master, but I didn't bother to worry her more than I already have. I kept my head low, eying the next page of the newspaper, headlines around the community, schools starting, sports beginning to play.

I finished too quickly, facing the exiting door before I left. "Thanks," I said quietly, putting my dish by the sink.

"Once more, anytime." She smiled, and continued reading the paper casually.

I walked out to the living room to face Erik who was sitting there. I ignored him sitting there, and walked on to the library. I sighed, and shut the door. It wasn't long until he followed like a dog on his feet.

"Christine?" He asked as if I'd answer. I didn't look up from selecting the book from the shelves once more. "I don't want to hurt you again..." He hedged, and I still ignored him, grimacing whilst my back was turned from him. I picked a book, considering it unlikely that I'd be left alone long enough to actually pay attention to it. "Will you sing again?" He pleaded quietly. I gripped the edges of the book tighter and sat down onto one of the chairs. "It won't be good for your voice to recover if you have not been singing for a while." He noted knowledgeably. "Oh, please... if you speak again, Erik promises to be good. He promises... I'll give anything to hear your voice again. Please, please..." He pleaded, coming to my feet once more, suddenly at my lower jeans level.

I looked at him for a good long time, with his head bowed, as if praying to me, his waxy forehead shown to me. I grimaced, and looked the other direction.

"Anything?" I asked quietly, hardly a whisper.

"There's restrictions." He quickly noted, looking directly up to me with his bright eyes glowing gleefully at the very sound of my voice. God... What have I done to this man?

I sighed, and looked back to the book, but then to him. "You're hiding something. I want to know what it is." I whispered lightly yet directly.

"Why should I be hiding something? I'm not hiding anything." He defended almost instantly, trying to make his voice utterly convincing, but all I could do was grimace.

"What did that man want?" I asked swiftly.

"You're not leaving me." He said, as if that was the answer already. My eyes watered at the chance of escape gone through the window, already implying that he was insisting on ridding of me. Well, that's enough of that.

"Why did you lie to him?"

"I answered that," he dully replied. I let out an exasperated groan, for he was still impossible to deal with.

"Oh, don't be so angry, please don't be... I only want to try to please you as much as I can." He pleaded again, being at my feet again, bending his head down low like a chastised child.

"You don't tell me accurate answers." I muttered snidely.

"You'd be very angry."

"I'm already angry." I spat back.

"I'm not telling you." He pressed roughly.

"I don't trust you, then." I pressed angrily, losing my own patience just as he gradually lost his. "Love is built on trust. I don't trust you at all." I hedged dryly, crossing my arms firmly, trying to mask my strength with the feeling that he knew I was strong, which was reassuring in my own right.

He groaned, sounding bemused already, and bent to face me directly, studying my face from my eyes to my hair, though frightened to look anywhere else.

"Tell me if this 'marriage' is even legal." I tried him tensely.

"It is," He said boastfully, as if rubbing it in. I sighed once more, and backed off swiftly. "Judicial consent and everything, Christine, my sweet."

My heart dropped along with everything. I found myself useless, for he said it with such certainty that I could shatter into shards of glass at his feet right there. I went through this whole ordeal hardly believing this was happening to me, and then reality and fate came back once more to give me one more icy slap on the face.

"If you learn to trust me, then I would make you happy..."

"You've said that before, Erik!" I argued, annoyed.

"Oh, just love me and I'll be good! I'll be very good! We'll go to the opera again if it pleases you, if it would have you sing for me. I cannot let you go, oh, Christine, I love you! Can't you see? Can't you see at all!? Will you try to get over this hate? Will you?"

"I don't want to hate you, Erik..." I think I said those words, for they were the thoughts in the back of my head, they wanted to show themselves up front. "You must understand..." I began imploringly, "This whole marriage wasn't the best thing. And, Erik?"

"Oh, yes, Christine?"

"I don't know if I could get over that."

"It will be like it never happened, then. Could you forgive me for pressing it against you so quickly? Please?" Well, that was something like I thought I wanted to hear. I thought through those exact words, pressing it deep into my head.

"I don't know."

"Be sure, Christine... be sure."

I could lie, you know... I was an actress. Maybe ignoring him wasn't the brightest idea yet again. He drugged me to get me to sleep next to him the very day that I decided to ignore him.

"Yes, I'll try to forgive you." I said thoroughly, trying to sound like I meant every word, when I meant not one part of it. It was difficult, but it was evidently what Erik wanted to believe, therefore he listened, and therefore it didn't matter if I was lying because he couldn't tell right up front.

Hm.

"Oh, thank you," He replied, grabbing my hand once more and pressed his lips against it, sending goose flesh down the arm he held in his icy grasp. He used that hand to slightly help him rise up, and faced me fully, intimidating me once more, but I don't think that he intended it this time. He looked intimidated for a long while before I heard him breathe in to speak. "I just want one more thing... And then in return, I'll give anything to you."

"It depends." I grunted dryly, feeling dried out of any more feeling for today.

"Could I... you know... hug you? It's not so much to ask, right? Could I?" He was like an eager child once more, asking for something on Christmas day.

I don't think I could have refused him no matter what mood I was in, for all he wanted was a hug. It was like a puppy pleading to be let out of its cage.

I don't think I had to nod before he pulled me against him, as he's done before to help me, but this time I think I was helping him. I don't really know what got into me when I pulled my arms around his thin frame, pressing him even tighter against me.

"I love you, Christine," He said into my hair. I pressed my lips together, thinking of something to reply instead of an uncomfortable silence.

"I believe you," I replied, dropping my hands to my sides, waiting for him to let go, but... it didn't happen as quickly as I'd like it to. I noticed that he had a very strange scent to begin with. It wasn't what Raoul would have, something between cologne and whatever his clothes smelt like. No, Erik's was something I couldn't put a finger on, it didn't smell anywhere near that. I'm just strange like that when I don't have much more to think of when someone is embracing me in this way and you feel something but you also can't place a finger onto.

I guess... sometimes I wish I loved him the same way that he loves me. Would I even be able to? If someone like he would be capable of such love and adoration, than it's truly a pity, for someone like myself, to not be when he thinks that I'm so wonderful. I suppose if he didn't think me wonderful than he wouldn't love me... for how could he? It would take a lot...

Huh?

I'm befuddling myself, and I ended my strange gathering of facts inside of my head when he pulled away.

"How would you like to go somewhere soon? A vacation, if you will?" He asked suddenly.

"A vacation?" I repeated, not being able to see Erik being in that tourist-like setting someplace in the commercialized USA. Ha ha... really, I have a twisted mind. Anyway...

"Italy, France..." He suggested as if it was nothing.

"Are you serious?" I asked disbelievingly. Yeah, of course... what would the USA be worth to Erik, anyway?

"Italy, actually. I have some business I need to take care of, and I won't leave you here for a week alone." It was like another day out for him, and I envied him for a second, looking back to all the chorus field trips to Europe that I never got to take no matter how much I cried at night because I didn't have the money, obviously. "Would you like to go?" He offered.

"Definitely... but when?" I hastily questioned, my brows raising.

"Oh, next week or so."

"That would be great, Erik." I replied enthusiastically, feeling the same excitement that I had one year when my dad told me Raoul, himself, and I would be going to ocean city for the weekend, except a little more excited to the point that I was already counting down the hours.

He was trying to buy my love, I knew it, but it was a start. Maybe it would be good for the both of us to get out of this damned house. I can't promise anything, but once more, I'll try. Raoul wouldn't take me to Italy anyway, the little girl part of my mind said.

"Could you sing as well? You need practice." He pressed suddenly serious. How does he do that?

"Sure." I replied and we were already off, walking to the music room.