Christine's POV
I couldn't stay in the camp, not after what Erik had done to me. When I was told to leave his caravan, I hurried into the woods and never looked back. The man was an evil monster and I couldn't stay with him, not anymore… The shackle was still around my ankle but I didn't care. No, I hurried into the woods and found a ditch to sleep in. In the morning, I would find a nearby town and seek work…
Erik's POV
I suffered through the night, the guilt of what I had done keeping me awake. When morning arrived, I was in no mood for visitors, not even Nadir. When he walked into my caravan, I sighed and turned to face the man.
"If you're here to argue with me, Nadir, don't bother… Miss Fleck can stay, I've changed my mind."
"No, I'm not here to argue with you, Erik, but I'm glad you changed your mind. Is there a reason why?"
I gave the man a dirty look and he knew better than to continue questioning me.
"All right, I won't ask why. Anyway, I came to tell you that we're nearly finished packing. The boy went to wake up Christine and once he has the animals ready to go, we shall be off."
"Don't even remind me about Christine," I groaned. "I did something last night that I regret…"
"What? What did you do to her?"
"She confronted me last night about Miss Fleck… We got into a heated argument and I just snapped… I…I almost had my way with her."
"You what?!"
"I couldn't… I stopped before my trousers were down. I couldn't go through with it… I…I saw the little girl I used to tutor. I saw her… I couldn't go through with it, Nadir. Ashamed at what I almost did, I told her to get out."
Nadir shook his head. "You are unbelievable…"
"Don't patronize me, Persian, I feel bad enough as it is…"
I was just standing up, when the boy came rushing into my caravan. It angered me, for he knew he wasn't aloud anywhere near my caravan.
"Boy, if you have any plans on living past today I suggest you turn around and leave this very instant."
"It's Christine," he cried. "I went to wake her up, but she wasn't in her room. She's nowhere to be found."
"I'm sure she's around somewhere," I growled. "Look for her…"
"I did, sir… She's not around."
Nadir looked at me as if I had done the worst thing possible. Christine couldn't have run away… She had been loyal these past few weeks… But then again, could what I had done frightened her enough to run away?
"Erik, perhaps she fled the camp and for good reason."
"What I did was a terrible thing, but I don't think it would have caused her to run away…"
"Well just to be safe, we should go look for her, Erik."
Nadir shooed the child away and I followed him outside. From there, we hopped up on our horses and began trotting into the woods in hopes of finding Christine.
"She couldn't have gotten far," I began. "She wouldn't have continued her journey if she didn't know where the nearest town was."
"You hope…"
I rolled my eyes and began scanning the ground for footprints. It hadn't rained in a while, causing the ground to be hard and not mushy. Oh, why couldn't it have rained? If it had, then I would have been able to spot footprints.
"What you did to her was wrong, Erik."
"I never had a father, Khan, and I don't need one to lecture me now. I know what I did and now, all I want to do is find her."
We were just coming out to a clearing, when I heard hooves galloping in the distance. I immediately stopped and got Nadir's attention.
"What is that?" he questioned.
"Horses… Sounds like there are three."
We waited a few moments more and then, from out of the brush three stallions appeared, but not alone… No, they were being ridden by Raoul's brother and two authorities. Great, this was all we needed. Yes, I could have turned and ran the other way, but then we would have looked suspicious.
"Ah, if it isn't our little freak from the winter." Raoul's brother sneered as his stallion approached us.
"Why are you roaming these parts of Germany?" I growled.
"Well, it seems as though we've had a big break in our search for Christine."
My heart began to race within my chest, but I stayed calm.
"Well, I'm not sure how she would have found her way out here to these parts of the country. She doesn't have a horse, and I'm sure she's staying away from people."
Raoul's brother raised a curious brow. "For someone who doesn't know where she is, you sure know a lot about what she does and does not have. Are you trying to tell me something, freak?"
"It doesn't take a scientist to know that people on the run don't spend a lot of time around people."
"Which brings me to my next question… Why are you out here?"
"You know that we're a traveling fair… We travel the world. It's just unfortunate that we've come face to face with the likes of you again."
The moment I said those exact words, both of the authorities placed their hands over their pistols that were latched to their waists. Nadir must have known that something was about to go down, for he spoke up.
"You must excuse my friend," he began. "He lacks manners. What he meant to say was that he and I were out here hunting."
"Hunting?" Raoul's brother snapped. "What on Earth could you be hunting for? And where are your guns?"
Great, Nadir had made the situation worse. Here we were, two men on horses with no guns or weapons to make it obvious that we were hunting. Leave it to him to get us killed.
"We set up traps last evening," Nadir continued. "We were just going to check on them."
"Well then, you wouldn't mind if we tagged along then would you?"
I thought we were out of the woods until I heard the man's request to follow us to these traps. I didn't say a word, but of course, Nadir agreed. Oh, yes, Nadir, such a brilliant plan you have… Nadir and I took the lead into the woods with Raoul's brother and the authorities following behind us.
"Very nice, Khan," I growled. "How are you going to get us out of this one?"
"Just stay calm, Erik." He began. "I have it under control…"
"For your sake, I hope so."
I wasn't sure what was going to happen next, but when we came across a ditch, there, in the mud was Christine. Great…This was all we needed. The girl was lying there with her knees pulled into her chest. That's when I heard the safety of a pistol being pulled back. When I dared to look over my shoulder, I saw two pistols being pointed at us.
"Do you remember when I told you about our new lead on Christine, freak? Well, a town five miles back said that they spotted Christine traveling with your camp. And here we are… But that's not all… When I started researching a masked man in Paris, I came across the Phantom of the opera, a hideous freak who was murdered by an angry mob. Well, as I can see, he's not dead, he's right here…"
"What do you want?" I asked.
"Well, why bring Christine in for murder when I can bring the Phantom in as well…"
Christine seemed surprised to see us there and stood to her feet.
"Christine, stay right where you are," I ordered. "Don't come any closer."
"And why not? The Phantom and his whore."
The moment Raoul's brother said that, I turned to face the man.
"She is not a whore…"
"I bet she killed my brother so that she could be with you… A monster and his whore. Or was it you who told her to kill my brother?"
"I did no such thing… And Christine didn't murder anyone. I'm not sure who killed your brother, but it wasn't Christine."
Raoul's brother jumped down off his horse and grabbed one of the guns from the authorities.
"All right, Phantom, I've had just about enough of you."
The man approached my horse and pushed me off its back. I plopped to the ground and gasped for air. Nadir took action and was about to jump down from his horse to help me, when the other officer pointed his gun at him.
"Now this is interesting…" Raoul's brother mocked, hauling me up to my feet.
"Get off me!" I snapped, pushing the man away. "You have no right to touch me, I am a business man, a free man!"
"You, Phantom are anything but…"
The man came forward and pulled my mask off my face. I tried to cover my deformity, but it was no use, for he had already seen how hideous I was.
"How ironic," he chuckled. "A freak running a freak show. Does showing off other freaks make you feel any better?"
"Enough…"
The man tossed my mask at me and grabbed Christine. She cried and began to fight Raoul's brother, but his grasp was too tight on her.
"Now this is how this is going to go. You, freak, are going to get up on your horse and come willingly with me and your whore. Once we get back to Paris there won't be a paper out there that doesn't tell of your story. A diva and her monster... Partners in crime."
I tried to come up with a plan to get both Christine and I out of this, but my options were limited. Knowing that the only way out of this was to fight, I turned to get back up on my horse and then, when the man believed me to be complying, I fought back. I pushed the man away from Christine and grabbed her hand. She and I hurried into the woods to hide from the men.
"Erik, where are we going?"
I put my hand over her mouth and pushed us both behind a tree, hearing gun shots ringing out from ahead. This gave us a few moments to spare, for I knew that in a few moments Raoul's brother was going to be looking for us.
"Christine, I need you to remove your dress…"
Christine's eyes widened in horror, but I was in no mood for games.
"Now!"
The girl gasped and began unchanging out of her filthy dress. I looked away and the girl handed me the article of clothing. A few yards ahead there was a cliff with a body of rushing water beneath it.
"Can you swim?" I asked.
The girl nodded, and that was good enough…
"Hold your breath…"
Within a second of me saying that, I grabbed the girl and pushed us both over the cliff just as another gunshot rang out. We plummeted into the water below, the water violently pushing me down stream. I swam to the nearest boulder and latched onto it, hauling myself to safety. I gasped for air and looked to shore, finding Christine's dress lying there.
"That was mighty stupid of you, Phantom…"
I stood to my feet and grabbed the evil man by his shirt. "Enough! I'm not the one you want, Christine is… You can have her. You can have her, just leave me be… Get on your horse and leave me alone… If you ever come near my camp again I won't think twice about shooting you."
When I pushed the man away, he reached down and picked up Christine's dress.
"Looks like I didn't miss after all…"
I wasn't sure what the man meant, but when I looked down at the water and saw a puddle of blood, I knew something wasn't right. I looked down at my chest to see if I was bleeding, but found that I wasn't… No, the stray bullet must have hit Christine.
"Well, Phantom, for doing my job for me I don't think I'll kill you… No, I'll let God decide your fate."
It was then that the evil man bashed my head into the nearest boulder and tossed me into the rushing water once more…
DUN DUN DUN! Please review! Thanks again everyone! Sorry that I haven't been updating often. Been busy... Was in NY seeing the Elephant Man with Bradley Cooper! It was a moving show...I would recommend it to anyone!