Erik's POV
I was asleep for the longest time, waking to find myself still in Nadir's home. My world was spinning around me and to make matters worse, my chest was pounding with an unbearable pain. The room was illuminated in a bright orange glow that was coming from the lantern on my night stand. As my eyes began to scan the room, my heart stopped within my chest, for there, seated at my bedside was Christine! I gasped and rubbed my eyes, making sure that this wasn't just some cruel hallucination. No, it wasn't! She was here at my bedside! She was sitting there with a blanket wrapped around her body.
"C..Christine?"
When she heard me call her name, she looked at me and tried to smile.
"How are you feeling?"
"Better now that you're here…"
"I…I actually came to say goodbye."
When she said those exact words, my heart broke in two. Goodbye? Where was she going, and why?
"Christine…"
Christine held up her hand to silence me. "Don't…Just don't…"
"Don't what?"
"Don't argue with me like you always do. I've made up my mind and I am sticking to it. You can't do this to me any longer…"
"Do what? What have I done, Christine? I have done nothing but love you."
"And when I leave here tonight I want you to stop loving me. You have wronged me for the last time."
"I never once wronged you, Christine. I have done nothing but love you. Everything that I have ever done was in your best interest."
"So challenging Raoul to a sword fight was in my best interest?"
I didn't say a word, for what could I say to that? She was right… I did so out of jealousy. I wanted to kill that fop and make him bleed! He didn't deserve Christine, not now and not ever!
"He doesn't love you, Christine. He only loves the idea of it! If you weren't the leading diva he wouldn't have even noticed you. I made you a diva, me, not him! Don't do this…don't leave here and take his hand in marriage! Stay…"
"Stay and what? What, ange? Stay and what? Marry you? Is that what you would like me to do?"
"You don't even know me, Christine. Please, stay and spend time with me… There is more to me than what you've seen."
"I think I've seen quite enough! You murder anyone who bothers you… You steal from the Opera House and you live in a damp lair… What have I not seen? Did I sum it up for you?"
"The Opera House is done and over with, Christine," I assured. "Please, stay with me. We will leave this place and move far away."
"And go where?" she cried. "Where are we going to go?"
Oh, her questions were giving me nothing but a headache. I was so weak and ill that I didn't need her asking me one hundred questions, questions that I didn't have the answers to just yet.
"I don't know, another city, another country…Anywhere but Paris."
"Where would we live?"
I was silent, for I wasn't sure where we would live.
"And how would you support me? Who would give someone like you a job? No one, that's who… You can't even take care of yourself, and yet, you're asking me to leave my home for a life that wouldn't be good enough for the poorest peasant."
Her words hurt me to the core… Never had I thought that she of all people would be capable of saying something so hurtful to me. What she was saying was worse than some of the things my mother used to say.
"What? Have you nothing to say now? It's because it's the truth… You couldn't support me in the way a man is supposed to support his wife…And then there's the fact that our relationship would never work."
"Christine, I love you…"
"Why? Why do you love me? Give me one good reason why, ange… Besides my voice, why do you love me?"
There were many reasons why I loved her, but trying to choose the exact reason was hard. Her voice was certainly one of the many reasons why, but why did I truly love her?
"You're the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes on."
Christine rolled her eyes and stood to her feet.
"That's what I thought. You don't know what love is… You will never know what love is! Love is not beauty and the sound of someone's voice! Love comes naturally… You feel it the moment you see the person for the first time. Your heart skips a beat and you know that's the person you want to spend your life with… I don't love you, I love Raoul."
"I…I love you, Christine."
"Then let me go… If you truly love me, let me go live my life with the one I truly love. Let me go live my life with Raoul. I'm asking for your blessing! I'm asking you for your blessing to marry the man I love."
My heart was beating painfully inside my chest. If I could tear out my heart and hand it to her, I would…Oh, but I couldn't. She was asking me for my blessing to marry the fop! I didn't want to give her my blessing to marry someone other than me! It wasn't fair! I just didn't understand it! I didn't understand why she would cut me down from the noose and drag me all the way here if she didn't love me!
"I want you to promise me that you won't ever seek me out again," she begged. "Promise me!"
"Why would you save me if you didn't care for me a tiny bit, Christine? I just want to know why…"
Christine gave a confused expression. "What do you mean?"
"Why did you cut me down from that noose if you didn't care for me?"
"I didn't cut you down from that noose. I thought you were dead… The mob chased you into the woods and that's the last time I ever saw you again. Nadir begged me to come here to help you through the night. I didn't want to come, but did so just this once to repay you for helping me all these years."
The truth was out now and it stunk! Christine wasn't the one who helped me out of those woods… It was Nadir! He lied to me…Lied! He lied and said it was Christine when in reality, it had been Nadir all along!
"I'm leaving now, ange… This will be the last time you will ever see me again. I am going to marry Raoul and I want your blessing."
Oh, I was angry now, angrier than I had ever been before! I would not give her my blessing to marry that boy! I would never give her my blessing to marry any man! She would die a virgin if it were up to me! If I couldn't have her then no one would!
"I will never give you my blessing to marry anyone! If you wouldn't allow me to marry you, you would die a virgin!"
Christine's jaw dropped and she stormed towards the door.
"Well, you're not my father, so I don't need your blessing! If you ever live to see tomorrow, you will never find my husband and me anyway! We're going to be so far away from Paris that it's not even funny. You will never find us, and if you ever do, you best stay away. If I ever see you again, I won't think twice about having you killed."
"I'd rather be dead then live another day without you, Christine. Don't leave…"
"Good, at least you won't bother me any longer if you're dead."
That was the last thing the girl said before she stormed out of the bedroom. No, I couldn't let her leave like this. I couldn't let Christine just leave me to marry the boy. I hadn't been out of bed in days, but I didn't care. I forced myself out of bed and stumbled to the door, my body screaming in the worst pain I had ever felt before. I tripped on the first stair and went tumbling down to the bottom floor, forcing myself to stand up just as I spotted her fleeing out the backdoor.
"Christine!"
I was barefooted and only in my robe. I hurried as fast as I could out the door and into the snowy afternoon. Before I had the chance to catch up with her, Nadir was at my side and grabbing a hold of my robe.
"Erik, what are you doing out here?! You barely made it through last night, and yet you're putting yourself at risk once again!"
"I don't care!" I growled. "I won't let Christine flee like this!"
I pushed the man aside and continued hobbling towards the stable where Christine had run to. I was just opening the gate, when the girl came flying out on one of Nadir's horses. I fell back and watched her fly off into the distance, but not before throwing something onto the snowy ground. Everything came back to me…my pain, my fever, my broken heart, and even my burning side. I crawled towards the object that was lying in the snow and picked it up, noticing that it was the last red rose I had given Christine a week ago at her latest performance.
She was never coming back… Christine hated me and with this rose being tossed aside, I knew that it was her way of telling me that she truly never loved me.
"Erik, we need to get you back inside," Nadir said, lifting me off the ground. "Come, we need to get you back inside where it's warm."
I was lifeless without her… I had loved Christine like no other, and all she did was leave me in the end. Her words were like a brand upon my skin, and I knew they would never disappear. My love for the girl was like a dagger to my heart… I thought that she would come back to apologize for what she had said, but she never did. Nadir tried to keep the morning newspaper out of my reach, but he didn't keep it well hidden, for I eventually seen the article about Christine's marriage to the boy in one of the editions. It was from that article that my love for her finally slipped away. Just the thought of their perfect wedding and their lust filled wedding night made me absolutely furious! It should have been me! It should have been our marriage and our wedding night, but no…Christine married that handsome fop! For three weeks after the announcement of their wedding, I spent my nights getting well again and preparing for my departure from Paris. I couldn't linger another moment in this disgusting city. There were too many memories of my angel, too many people who knew my face, and too much hatred. I wasn't sure what lied ahead for me, but if there was one thing I was sure of, it was a life without Christine.
"Where will you go?" Nadir asked one evening while I tried to escape his house without him knowing. I was still extremely ill, but I needed to leave. Therefore, I packed a small bag and proceeded to leave, when he stepped in front of the doorway.
"I don't know… You shouldn't care."
"But I do…"
"I couldn't guarantee a life for Christine, and I sure as hell can't guarantee one for you. It will be a dangerous journey, Persian. I don't need anyone slowing me down…"
"Then let me join you, Erik. I don't have anything better going for me here. Someone needs to watch over you."
"I don't need a babysitter."
"Then let me be your friend."
Knowing that there was no turning back, Nadir and I set out into the snowy night, not knowing where we would end up or if we would even survive the night. If there was one thing I knew, it was that I would never step foot in Paris again.
And so our journey begins! Where will Erik wind up next? Stay tuned!