Erik's POV

I woke up gasping for air from a horrible nightmare, a flash of lightning frightening me as I sat up to run my fingers through my sweaty scalp.

"Erik?"

When I heard Christine's groggy voice, I looked down at her naked body. After she and I had made love, I hadn't moved from her embrace, or her bed. The woman sat up and placed her hand upon my bare, scarred back. I sighed and laid back down, pressing my eyes closed as her curls tickled my bare shoulder. It was a feeling I would simply never tire of.

"Mama, there's a storm!"

I heard Christine's door open, only to meet Gustave face to face. He stopped the moment he spotted Christine and I beneath the blankets, our clothes thrown all over the floor. The boy looked up at me and then backed himself towards the door.

"Gustave," Christine pulled the blankets up over her chest to cover herself and looked at the boy. "Go back to your room…I'll be in to tuck you in bed."

When Gustave was gone, I reached for my robe and slipped it on, fumbling around for my mask.

"Forgive me," I said, placing on my mask. "I…I shouldn't have stayed after we…"

"Erik, don't feel guilty. It was bound to happen, ange…"

I pressed my eyes closed and headed towards the door.

"I'm going to make myself some tea."

"Erik…"

"Christine, it's all right. I'll spend the remainder of the night in the comfort of my own chambers."

"Erik, please, let's talk about this, can't we?"

"Christine, it's all right. Goodnight…the sex was amazing as always."

"Erik, please don't be like this."

But I wasn't listening. No, instead I headed into the kitchen without another word said to the woman. But I didn't even have the stomach to drink tea. No, instead I hurried up the stairs to my room and changed into my trousers and a shirt. Once I was dressed, I threw on my coat and headed back downstairs, Christine catching me by the arm as I opened the front door.

"Erik, what are you doing?"

"I'm going out…I need some fresh air."

"Erik, I made tea…Please, let's drink it out on the back patio…"

I sighed, knowing that it would be utterly ridiculous to leave the house at two am. Therefore, I came back inside and walked with Christine out the back door to my patio. It was raining, but there was a roof covering the patio. It was one of the many things I loved about this house. I always loved watching the rain, I just didn't enjoy getting wet. That roof made everything worth it. Little did I know that Gustave would also be joining us. Oh, what was he doing here? I had thought the child would have gone back to bed, but instead, he was here with Christine and I. I nervously took a seat across from him as Christine placed my cup of tea down in front of me. Gustave was gnawing on a cookie and looking my way. Oh, this made me so uncomfortable.

"Gustave," Christine began taking a seat beside me and covering my hand with her own. I wasn't sure why she was doing this, but I was sure I was about to find out.

"Gustave, you don't have to feel upset about what you just saw in my room. It was nothing, all right? It's what adults do with one another…"

Gustave swallowed his cookie and nodded. "Don't worry, mama…Mr. Erik told me all about it."

My heart began to race a mile a minute as Christine removed her hand from my own and made a serious face.

"What? I…I'm sure you don't understand, Gustave."

"Of course I do," the boy assured. "Mr. Erik told me that when I become thirteen, I'll start to have feelings for girls, and that when I meet the right one, I'll take off all my clothes and crawl into bed with her. That is what you and Mr. Erik were doing, right?"

Christine looked at me, her eyes peering through my soul. Oh, I would kill the boy for breaking his promise.

"Mama?"

Christine finally looked away. "Yes, Gustave?"

"Does this mean that Mr. Erik is going to be my new papa?"

Christine opened her mouth to speak, but I quickly interrupted. Though, I wish I would have kept my mouth shut, for I had only made things worse.

"Gustave, what your mother is trying to say is that sometimes adults don't get married. No, sometimes, they enjoy the pleasures of marriage without actually being married. Your mother and I do care for one another, but it's nothing like that."

At that moment, it seemed as though Christine's world had been shattered.

"Gustave," she began. "Why don't you go back inside and crawl into bed?"

Gustave left seeming utterly confused, but I had worse things to deal with, I had Christine. She was crying now, hot tears running down her cheeks.

"Christine, what's wrong?"

"You are so cruel," she sobbed. "How could you say such a thing about me? You not only disgusted me by telling Gustave about what a man and woman do to one another…"

"Christine," I interrupted. "There is a logical explanation for that! I swear…"

"And now," she continued. "You tell my son that you and I are nothing more than two friends who are using one another for pleasure…Is that what we are, Erik? Is that what this is all about?"

"You believe there to be more?" I crooned. "You haven't tried to make this seem like anything more than pleasure…"

"Only because you don't want anything more! I…I can't do this anymore, Erik. You need to decide. You need to decide what you want in this life. If you don't want me as your significant other, than I don't want anything to do with you in that aspect. It's doing nothing but confusing Gustave and breaking my heart."

"Christine…"

I tried to stop her, but she didn't stick around another moment. After she was gone, I went inside, ready to speak to the woman, but her bedroom door was locked and I could hear her crying from inside. I knew I had broken her heart once more, but at least now she knew how I had felt all those years ago. Angered, I stormed to my room and buried myself in my music until the sun began to rise. Today was audition day at my opera house, and I had promised to take along Gustave. Usually, Christine was up and making breakfast, but she was nowhere in sight today. Gustave hadn't forgotten about it, for he was already dressed and waiting for me at the front door.

"Mr. Erik, you're late…"

"I was getting dressed," I said, gazing towards the hallway. I would have gone to the woman's room, but Gustave pulled on my arm, causing me to leave the house.

"You know, Gustave," I began. "You shouldn't have said those things last night. It hurt your mother…"

Gustave stopped walking when he heard this.

"But it was only the truth, Mr. Erik. Mama says that I should never lie, and I didn't think it was right. But is it true that you and mama are only doing things married couples do just for the pleasure and not for the love?"

"Gustave, enough with this. When you're older, you'll understand. For now, you and I have auditions to tend to."

"Mama told me last night that she wants to leave the house…Please say that you won't make her leave, Mr. Erik!"

Now this stopped me in my tracks, for I hadn't ever heard this until now. The woman wanted to leave me? It would only break my heart once again, and therefore, I knew I had to make things right between Christine and I. Once at the opera house, I gave Gustave the boss treatment and sat him with me in the middle rows of the audience. When the auditions started, I spoke only to him as each act went on. Some were dancers, others were jugglers, there were even acrobats. Each act was different in its own way, making it extremely hard not to enjoy it. Though, when Meg Giry arrived for her audition, I could only sit back and wonder what she was going to do.

"And what is it that you'll be doing for me today, Ms. Giry?" I questioned.

Meg was dressed in a short skirt and fishnet stockings, her blouse halfway open at the front. Oh, she looked as though she were auditioning for some vaudeville whore house. Either way, I had promised her an audition, and therefore, I would give her that audition.

"I'm going to dance for you…"

And with that, she motioned the piano man to start the music. At first, I believed her dancing to be absolutely absurd, but as I continued to watch, I began to take a liking to her creativity. In Coney Island there were a lot of men, men who would pay to come to a park and see a woman such as Meg romp around the stage…Men didn't care about attractions and fun houses…No, they simply had a one tracked mind, that mind being sex. If there was one thing in America that sold, it was sex, therefore, if I placed this girl on stage in the skimpiest outfit there was, put on some music and had her dance, she would make me a fortune.

"So," she breathlessly gasped when the music came to an end. "What did you think?"

I opened my mouth to speak, when Gustave intervened. "That dancing looked like the dancing those women do at the club my mama works at."

I quickly covered the boy's mouth with my hand. "What my associate is trying to say, is that an act like that would work here in my park. I'll come up with some proper music and get back to you Ms. Giry."

Meg seemed excited after this, for she pounced off stage with a smile across her face.

"Mr. Erik, I didn't like that lady's dancing…" Gustave whined as he and I walked home that evening. "It was icky."

"Be as it may, Gustave, it's dancing like that, that will make the money."

"How so?"

"Men will come from miles around to see Meg Giry, the Oh LaLa Girl…It does have a certain ring to it, does it not? The Oh LaLa Girl…Hmmm… I shall have to make a poster for her. She could open for your mother, get the crowds riled up. It will be a work of art, Gustave, you'll see."

"I still say she's icky…"

I chuckled. "When you're my age, Gustave, you will understand. Men are men, and men have urges and needs, those needs being to watch women like Meg dance their tail feather off. Your mother on the other hand, is an angel, and she is what people will pay to see. She will be the best act Coney Island has ever seen. Her voice is like one of an angel…"

"I'm hungry, Mr. Erik…"

I lifted the boy onto my shoulders, causing him to laugh. We were turning the corner now, nearly to my house, the street lights coming on from up ahead.

"Well, why don't we see if your mother is hungry and we'll go out to dinner together? The pizza parlors are open now…Does that sound good to you, monsieur associate?"

"It sure does…Working makes me hungry."

Once inside my house, I placed Gustave down, flipping on the lights to notice that my family room had been destroyed. There was overturned furniture and broken pottery…Gustave clung to my leg as I stepped farther into the house.

"Christine? Christine, are you home?"

"Mr. Erik…" the boy whimpered. "Where is mama?"

"Gustave, stay right here," I ordered, prying the child from off of my leg. "I'll be right back."

Around every corner I searched for my angel. Gustave's room had gone untouched, but when I arrived in Christine's, my heart stopped within my chest. The floor was covered in a red substance that I believed to be blood. This was enough for me, for I immediately headed towards the kitchen and picked up the phone with hands that shook, calling for the operator. I would have the entire squad of Coney Island police on her trail…I wouldn't stop until she was found safe and sound. When the officers arrived, they had brought along a few dogs to sniff out her scent. Gustave was wrapped in my arms now, sobbing over his lost mother. Oh, if I told the police once, I told them five million times about what I had done that day. It angered me that they would believe me to be a suspect in her disappearance.

"We need something of the woman's…" the officer replied. "The dogs will catch her scent."

I took my angel's night dress and handed the intimate garment over to the officer. The dogs sniffed it for at least twenty seconds before running out the house and down the road. Yes, I would have gone with them, but the boy needed comfort. I wasn't sure where Christine was, but if she was in a gutter somewhere, the boy didn't have to see that. No, it pained me to stay put, for it made me feel helpless, but it was for Gustave's own good. Instead, the officer said he would call me when he got any new details.

"Mr. Erik," Gustave cried. "Why is mama's blood all over her room?"

I was scrubbing the floor, when Gustave came walking in. Scrubbing the floor made me feel better about the entire situation, but that didn't stop Gustave from worrying. No, instead, he took a cloth and began to scrub the floor beside me.

"Mr. Erik,is mama all right?"

"They're out searching for her now," I cringed. "I'm…I'm sure she is all right."

"And what if she's not? What if she's dead? Will I have to go to an orphanage?"

"Never," I assured. "We're associates, remember?"

"But I won't have a mama to take care of me…"

"No, but you'll have me… I won't ever let something happen to you, Gustave, I promise. You're stuck with me…"

Gustave was about to say something, when all of a sudden, I heard someone knocking at the door. I quickly shot to my feet and ran to open it, finding the head officer standing there.

"Mister E, you need to come with me quickly…"

"Why?" I gasped. "Did you find her? Is she all right?"

The officer didn't answer me, and his face was filled with false hope.

"Sir, I believe its best that you come with me to the hospital…I'll explain the details on the way."

I scooped Gustave up into my arms and never looked back. For the past five years I had lived my life hating Christine, but now, when I thought about losing her, I couldn't hate her any longer…No, for the thought of losing her hurt me worse than it did many years ago. It was clear that my love for Christine had finally returned to my heart.

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