Ha ha!! 10 hours on the road, nothing to do except listen to my iPod and write on the long way and I happened to be very good at it, as well for it was very exciting writing this much, and I think my heart started thudding harshly against my chest. Yay for sketchy campgrounds along the way that happen to have internet! Hopefully the next campground we will be in will... I hope you'll enjopy this much and I may have the next chapter up tomorrow night... or the next two depending on how long the ride is.

Read and Review!
Love to you all!
~The Phantom's Flutist~

Chapter 24:

Hunted

I met Raoul in the lobby just as I said I would and came to him with open arms, hoping he would take me in.

"I'm so sorry, Raoul..." I whispered into his chest.

"What's wrong?" He asked, rubbing my back, pressing me against him and kissing my hair.

"He's not my guardian, Raoul... he never was." I sobbed, feeling slightly relieved to be with him, but not everything was entirely solved, leaving me at a dull end. Everything seemed to be in a blur as I turned my head to the side. "I need to get out of here and leave for just a little while and I was wondering if you could help me." I said slowly and unsteadily.

"Of course I'll help you," He assured me warmly, rubbing my back and patting my head, and everything was fine for at least a little while.

"I need somewhere to go..." I hinted quietly, "A hotel room or something."

"You can come to my place, stay there for a while, you know... We have many guest bedrooms. You've stayed there before, anyway... it'll be like old times." He pulled me aside and smiled down to me, his blue eyes sparkling, filled with dim understanding, but hope that I'd warm up to him more than Erik, and I complied a little too gladly.

"I don't know..." I said sadly. "I suppose it'd be okay."

"It will be fine..."

"I may get a call to be back at the theater... I hope you wouldn't mind then."

"I'll do anything you need me to." He said assuringly. "I love you... I wish you could find a way out of this and I'll be more than happy to do anything, you know that... I've always done that when I could. If this is what you need, then may it be."

A tear fell again and he managed to wipe it off with his finger, still smiling like his boyish self, and still there through thick and thin and that's why I've always loved him... I don't think that will ever in a million years pass.

He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and we walked out of the lobby together, "I trust that those are your things that you need." He hastened and I nodded and we walked to the parking lot where his familiar car awaited, and I hopped into the seat next to him... knowing that the last time we went through this whole escape matter Erik caught us before we were near his home, and dragged me away, and I was slightly frightened that would happen again, so I was tense the entire ride.

His house was a breezy one, with an ocean view and on a cliff... there was an entire section of his backyard pertaining to a usually unsuccessful garden, but it was nice just the same with a few dogs that were outside and tended to greet people on the way in from their cars which were parked in a large garage. It was all white paneled with many windows as was the usual New England style, and a large window in the center showcasing a chandelier above the front door that gave a glimpse of the upper balcony. It was a mansion to me when I was a little girl and went with Raoul to spend weekends sailing on the Chesapeake Bay, or canoing and we would swim in the small bit of water that was allotted for their property. And eventually calm down, grabbing a few chairs and many rocks and skip them along the water. My father usually sent me here to get me out of his hair during the summer, and it was usually beautiful. Now, the house looks smaller and less hopeful.

Philippe greeted us at the front door with a smile that is more business-like than Raoul who would always be a boy until he was eighty, and Philippe would wrinkle prematurely... His mother and father were hardly around, so I hardly knew them, but they were also very business-like and aristocratic. His father looked like he belonged in an office until death and his mother was... hardly anything to speak of with white-blond hair that was always pulled into an ugly bun on the top of her head. I didn't like them very much.

"Hey Philippe," I mentioned dryly passing by him with a family hug, which was always welcomed with both of the brothers.

"She's going to stay here for a while," Raoul said to his brother, who nodded simply, for people, I knew, always seemed to stay here for business matters and it was usually the central of the company which bothered none of the family except for on occasion when the parents were hardly around to make dinner. I felt bad for them when I stayed here... but we were all the same.

He led me to one of the rooms which was decorated with antique-looking furniture and cream-colored French doors that led to an outdoor balcony and had its own bathroom as most rooms here did. I stayed in it before, I think, because I remember I once tried to sleep on the balcony with Raoul who would lean on the bench and we would tell each other stories that we could think up... most were extremely silly and at the top of our heads in the wee hours of the morning, and then others were creative.

"I remember this room," I noted, smiling to him.

He laughed to himself and smiled.

"How could I forget those long nights without sleep?"

I frowned, "But they were the best nights without sleep... we didn't have anything better to do in the morning anyway."

"That's probably right." I nodded, still smiling, placing my bag onto the bed and sat on it, leaning back. "Thanks for doing this by the way... I don't know where my life would be without you."

"Probably up the wall..." He mentioned jokingly.

"Yes... but don't worry, you would be a very lonely child if it weren't for me." I said with just as much enthusiasm, feeling more alive than I was four hours ago, and he nodded once more acknowledgedly.

"Are you hungry for lunch? I'll make something for the both of us if you want." He said, putting his hands in his pockets and I nodded, getting up from the bed and following him intently down the stairs. I helped him make a pizza, putting together some dough, sauce, and a bunch of cheese, feeling like a little girl with a little boy all over again and it felt amazing.

I helped him put it in the oven and set the timer for he always never knew how, and we waited, reminiscing all over again. I happened to tell him what it was like being on stage, and he would rush a few more questions about it before getting the pizza out of the oven and we went outside to eat it on the deck.

"You should be my brother, Raoul," I brought up suddenly after a brief moment of silence. "We practically are brother and sister, you know that?"

He seemed to think on it for a second, taking another bite, and I folded my legs up into a criss-cross position, enjoying the sun while I could.

"Maybe," He shrugged. "I intend on marrying you one day, Christine," He said after another thoughtful pause. "Maybe not in the near future but I don't know anyone who I'd rather spend my life with."

It took me by surprise and I almost spat the bite of pizza back onto the plate, but I forced it down my throat and cleared it, "Not in the near future, of course..." I hinted.

"Well... Whenever we are both ready, of course... I don't want to be married so soon... do you?"

"I don't know..." I replied, "I never thought much upon the matter, actually. Not since... well, you know... not since that whole incident which was all basically a lie. If he wasn't my guardian and if I never had one, then it wasn't legal. I don't see why he could lie in the eyes of God."

"As I've said before, he's mad."

"Raoul, I know what you said." I said quickly, feeling a little annoyed at the entire thing.

"I'm sorry... We don't have to go through it again."

"Good," I scoffed, looking out to the ocean and all the sail boats out on the water with the sun shining directly above us. "This is really nice. Just like old times, you know?"

"Yeah, it truly is," He agreed, leaning back on his arms and looking to the sky, and I could depict every perfect line on his body, looking over to him thoughtfully. He was warm and welcoming and Erik was... not warm and not someone I would like to approach on a dark street in fear for my life instead of my money. Probably someone, if I didn't know better, I would throw my purse at him, saying the hell with it, and run until my legs could take it no longer.

"Wasn't your birthday two months ago?" he asked suddenly.

"Sure..." I scoffed, grimacing at the memory of being on the plane for most of the day and becoming apologetic to that lier Erik is.

"And I never brought it up. Mm... We would have to do something about that."

"You don't need to." I said quickly. "I kind of want to forget it ever happened. The only gift you could give me for that reason is the gift of ignoring it and letting me forget."

"Oh, I'm sorry." He replied, thinking on it.

"What happened, anyway?" He asked.

"I don't want to tell you..."

"But you can trust me, can you not?"

"Of course, but Raoul-" I stuttered, feeling like an idiot. He huffed, and looked at me his blue eyes glaring once more, and I had him in a bad mood at not revealing things to him. He stepped closer to me and stood on the same bench as I, wrapping his arms around my shoulders, and I leaned my head against his shoulder, looking out once more, and he rubbed my head.

"I won't tell anyone else. I promise." He said, "I just want to know what happened to my first and only love... Is that too much to ask?"

"No, of course not..." I said slowly, breathing in his different scent, the cologne and things I've been missing for months on end like warm skin to hold me close. "We went to Italy. Evidently, Erik had business and things to take care of and he never was near, giving me some Italian girl named Gianna to escort me throughout Florence. He was mad that I was mad at him so we went home on my birthday, after giving me a gift that I would have refused."

"Isn't that something that you would have never stopped talking about? Like when you went to Florida that one time, I think I finally got you to shut up about it after a year."

I rolled my eyes, and sadly shook my head in the negative. "I don't really care to remember what happened. The man is made of deception from head to foot as much as he's made of death." I felt horrible deep inside for saying such a thing.

"You describe him like it's Satan."

"He made me fall for him one night because of his voice... We didn't do anything, but he made me believe that I was in love with him." That was a lie... I know for certain I definitely did love him in that point of time but I didn't want to upset Raoul in the least bit. Erik would never lead me through that for he was dead-set at the moment for me to never fall for him instantly, but of course I would...

Raoul pressed his lips shut and didn't have anything to say, running his fingers through his hair at the mention of his thought-up competition, and I knew I shouldn't have done that almost instantly.

The rest of the day and into the night was filled with giving each other the company that we both longed for in the longest time, telling each other both fantastical and real-life anecdotes. I described Italy to him and he described me the city of love which is Paris... We fell asleep lying horizontally across my bed, my head on his stomach, listening to the beat of his heart as it lulled me to sleep, his hand caught up in my hair, as we both lingered on a dream of being together on a honeymoon in Europe. I slept peacefully, without any sort of tears, and I was thoroughly comfortable being right here right now as he helped me forget the past few days and think upon the best things and fantasies as I've always been on.

It wasn't such a pleasant awakening, though, I must say. I heard him yelp a startled cry which caused me to rise from the bed, looking around the dark room to see wherever he stood. He was leaning against the balcony with something that shone in the light of the lamp hanging over the bench. I walked over to him, throwing open the French doors, thinking he would have jumped if he wanted to, leaning so far over that it frightened me.

"Raoul!" I cried, and he immediately turned to me and encased me into his arms, looking the opposite direction, and I could feel that he was very nervous.

"He's gone... He's gone! At least, I think so..." He gasped, wrapping me more firmly into his arms, making sure something wasn't anywhere near us.

"What happened?" I asked, yawning, and coming out of his hold, looking into his deep-set blue eyes that glimmered with fear.

"He mocked me... he was mocking me! I awoke to use the bathroom and there were two star-like eyes from that tree!" He pointed, and I saw now that he was holding a gun. "It was Erik, I think... I shot at it and it hit something... but I don't believe it was him..."

I was thinking he was becoming mad himself over Erik and soon we both will be rather insane and hearing voices. I walked over to the end of the balcony and looked over it with fear still in my stomach at the very thought that Erik was over here and quite possibly could have killed Raoul if he wasn't too careful. Or maybe Raoul could have killed him if he had a better shot. I took the metal thing that was odd to my touch out of his hands... and saw that there was blood on the grass below and a furry thing laying next to it.

"You killed your dog." I noted dryly. "Actually, that would have to be Philippe's dog... Poor thing." Raoul shook his head and looked over it once more that lay near the tree he pointed to. I tried to portray less fear in my voice than I was feeling.

"He was old," I heard him whimper and began back inside, and I handed the gun to him, feeling outrageously tired instead of worrying over and over again. He placed the gun into the drawer of a desk, and I lay back onto the bed as he came beside me, warm enough to be without covers, and I soon fell asleep, but I knew he wasn't... his eyes were wide open, and his heart began to pound whenever the wind would come though, creaking the crevice of the door. My sleep wasn't that peaceful, but I had to sleep and I just wanted to forget more than anything in the world.

When I awoke, Raoul was still laying there, sleeping above the covers as I did, and I managed to sneak my way off the bed without waking him and went into the bathroom to take a shower, looking back to him who was still laying there looking very distressed, and I felt a pang of guilt making him suffer so, but went on and thought it was his own fault for worrying... Erik wouldn't have killed him with me around if that was him out there. It was distressing knowing that Erik was watching every move I made... But it was to be known that he wasn't about to leave me alone. I just wonder if he knows that I know what he's been hiding, and swallowed hard, looking at my pale complexion in the mirror, my eyes widened.

When I came back into the room, I found him still laying on the bed, though awake, leaning on his hands and smiling to himself.

"Good morning," He greeted.

"What's up with the odd smile...?" I asked, furrowing my brow.

"I think I'm insane. Nothing more." He said so strangely that I began to wonder if he actually meant it.

"Why is that?" I asked, stepping closer to him.

"What if that wasn't him out there and I was seeing things?" He asked himself.

"It was possibly him though." I replied assuringly, "Did you hear his voice, Raoul?"

"I thought it was the wind..." He said thoughtfully, looking into the distance dumbly.

"Let's get off the subject, shall we?" I grimaced at the thought of Erik saying horrible things to Raoul last night, I just hoped that if anything he wasn't intending on killing him. It came to me that both men that have been after me would kill each other just to have me. Any ordinary, teenage, hormonal girl would probably have a few heart attacks in utter pleasure, but all I found was fear that the two people I cared for most would go away just like everyone else I've loved.

"How about breakfast?" He asked, suddenly more perkier. I shrugged and we went downstairs.

The day was filled with keeping my mind off of the world... We took the kayaks down to the water, and we took them out to the middle of the cove and around, once we were bored with that, we laid out on the kayaks in the water and looked to the blue sky as the sun was setting, and was basically silent for the rest of the time.

"This is a better time then what you'd have with him, right?" He asked suddenly, and I looked over to him on his kayak and huffed angrily.

"Whoops..." He said suddenly, backing away, but I came forth and took the edge of the kayak and dunked him in the water, hearing him cry out before landing in the water, and I laughed at him playfully until I felt my own kayak began to wobble in the water, and before I knew it, I went headfirst into the water without any sort of bathing suit, and the clothes weighing me down.

"Raoul, you suck!" I cried out, screaming with laughter as he was, until he was suddenly silent...I couldn't see him on the other side of his dumped over kayak, so I supposed that he was trying to put it over again, but I didn't see it move. "...Raoul?" I asked, beginning to tread water, and swim around looking for him. I knew he could swim... so he couldn't possibly have drowned, could he? I nervously called out his name until I decided to go under, my heart beginning to pound against my chest anxiously as I dove down into the water with my eyes squinted open to hopefully see his white shirt somewhere. I saw that... and something black... I dove down further and saw Raoul who was no longer fighting the water and I grabbed his hand, and with all my strength tried to lift him above the water which was taking us both in slowly, and my air could no longer hold itself in for so long. Something else tugged and pulled at it, but I kicked at it with all the energy I had until it let go.

We eventually came to the surface and Raoul took in a deep breath of air, becoming conscious almost instantly. Both of us looked around the water for the overturned kayaks but found only one which is when we began to try to swim all the way to them. Once we got to them, was when we both began to cough up the water we accidentally swallowed beforehand whilst swimming very quickly to the boat, breathless and tired. We managed to get back onto it, turning it over, but that was all we could do, and laid horizontally across them, taking in as much energy as we could to get back to land in case of whatever that thing was would come back.

"What happened?" I asked breathlessly, coughing up more water, spitting it over the edge. His hand moved over his stomach.

"Something... something grabbed my ankle and began to drag me down..." He scoffed. "I thought I was going to drown..." He shook his head, "I took in some breath before going all the way under, and kicked at the thing until it would let go... But it never did..." He sighed, taking in more air, and huffed it back out.

I looked out to the water to see the black figure floating anywhere but there was no way I could in the murky water and it was getting so dark. My wet clothes kept pulling me down, my strength degrading quickly as I held onto the kayak.

"We have to get back to shore..." I noted, trying hard to get my legs to kick the water and use it as some sort of motor.

"It's so far..." He sighed.

"We need to get there before the sun goes down, Raoul... it could get worse and the thing could come back... we have to kick!" I rushed, trying to get my legs to move but they couldn't. I was so choked up on fear and worry, that I began to shiver, for the water seemed to turn instantly cold.

"Where's the oars?" He asked dumbly. I looked at him with a brow arched, questioning his sanity.

"The oars sank," I replied dryly.

"Oh!" He gasped, "Of course... it makes sense."

"Those things are made of metal and hard plastic. Raoul, of course they sank." I scoffed, "We need to swim or use this boat..."

"Yes, right," He nodded in agreement.

I felt like I was in a nightmare when the sun started to disappear into the shore's trees, painting the water a frightening and deathly black, where it felt we were lost in the middle of it. Soon enough, we began to kick to where the pier's light shone, as if floating, in the cold blackness.

The water became shallower and the kayak got stuck on rocks periodically, which caused a heart attack for the both of us, but we managed to get the boat off of the many, and get back into the water, though a little further from the shore then.

"I feel like Rose from Titanic," I said as we approached the slimy sand that was stuck in between my toes as I sunk, and I gasped with fear, thinking it could have been a hand in the sand as well.

"Why?" He asked dimly, sounding very tired.

"Because it's freezing, we were floating out in the middle of the Bay, and we could have died..." I sniffed, feeling the same fatigue sweep over me.

"Well, at least I don't make promises and then die..." He sniffed.

I didn't want another debate, I felt like I could pass out right now when we reached the grass of his lawn.

"What do you think it was?" I asked.

"A fish... Or I don't know..." I looked up to him dazedly.

"Fish don't have hands and they don't grab people and pull them under. Nothing in the Bay pulls people under, honestly." I was the only one thinking logically right then.

"Then what do you think it may be?" He asked snidely. I though of all the possibilities...an eel, though it didn't electrocute him, a shark but how could he possibly mistake hands for teeth... we were both a little jumbled up but even someone completely out of their mind could depict the difference from hands to teeth... so the only possible thing that would be so...

"Human."