Gustave's POV

We were sitting down for dinner, when I noticed that my papa wasn't around. Curious, I tugged on uncle Nadir's shirt, causing him to look down at me.

"Nadir, where is my papa?"

The man looked at my father's empty spot and shrugged his shoulders.

"That is a very good question, Gustave."

I followed Nadir around his apartment, searching endlessly for my papa.

"Erik, you old fool, where are you?"

We searched around every corner, until we ended up at the entrance of the patio… I wasn't sure what Nadir saw, for I was behind him, but whatever it was couldn't have been good, for Nadir went rushing outside.

"Dear Allah!"

I rushed out into the cold, my heart stopping within my chest when I saw my papa lying on the cold ground. He was lifeless and motionless. Tears began to rush to my eyes when Nadir began hitting his cheeks to get him to wake. Oh, why wasn't he waking? Soon, everyone was surrounding the doorway, gazing down at my papa while Nadir worked on him.

"Someone call for help!" Nadir called.

When someone ran out the door, Nadir pounded on my father's chest.

"Erik, don't do this, man… Come back, do you hear me?"

This frightened me… Come back? Did this mean that my papa was already dead? No… I looked up towards the sky, praying to my mother that everything would be all right. I prayed that she would help my papa and keep him safe. The crowd was beginning to get so thick, that when help arrived, I was pushed aside. I couldn't see anything, or what was happening to my papa. The workers from the hospital loaded him onto a gurney and left….left me alone. And then, dinner resumed, as if nothing had happened at all. No, I refused to sit down at this table and pretend that nothing just happened. My papa was out there! My papa was on his way to the hospital…I wanted to be there with him.

"Gustave," Nadir grabbed a hold of my arm and looked me in the eyes. "As soon as we're finished with dinner, you and I will go to the hospital together… All right?"

"But I want my papa," I cried. "I want him…"

"And you will see him again," the man assured. "But for now, we should eat. There is no sense in letting a wonderful meal go to waste."

But I was not interested in eating. No, I wanted my papa and nothing more. Instead of joining Nadir for dinner, I sat on the couch, my soul empty and worried. The table was silent, all except for a few glances looking my way every once in a while. When everyone was finished with eating, they left one by one, leaving me alone with Nadir. Cecile, on the other hand came walking towards me with her winter coat in hand.

"Gustave, I'm really sorry about your papa… I'm sure he's going to be just fine in the morning. Tell him that I'm sorry…"

I only nodded and watched the woman leave. How it drove me mad to sit there and watch Nadir clean up from dinner, impatiently waiting for him to finish. When he was, he was just hanging up the towel, when his phone rang. I gasped and turned around, spotting Nadir rushing towards it. He answered the phone and looked at me the entire time. I knew it was the hospital… I knew they had called. When Nadir hung up, he looked at me, never daring to speak a single word.

"What's wrong with my papa?" I asked. "Did they say?"

"No," he replied, reaching out for his coat. "But we cannot see him tonight. He's in intensive care."

"Where are you going?"

"We are going to your house so I can put you to bed."

I didn't want to go to bed, I wanted to go to my papa. But I knew there was no fighting this. No, I knew that I would not be seeing my papa tonight. As he and I walked home, it began snowing again, making me cold and worried inside. If my papa died, I would have no one. Well, I would have Nadir, but I didn't want him to become my papa. It was hard enough going through the last few months knowing that Raoul wasn't my real papa. I had just come to accept Mister Y, and to lose him now would be devastating. Once we were home, I ran to my room and scooped Egypt up into my arms. I plopped down on my bed and held the purring cat close, salty tears soaking into his fluffy coat. But I knew what I had to do… When I had the strength, I ran to my window and opened my mother's mailbox. I would write her a letter, a letter that would ask her to watch over my papa. After pulling out a pen and a piece of paper, I began to write my message.

"Dear Mama,

Tonight, papa became ill at dinner and we found him on the porch of Nadir's home. I know that papa has missed you these past few months, and that he wanted to see you again, but if he's there with you, could you please tell him that I miss him? Would you send him back to me with kisses from you to give me? I know that in life all people must go to heaven, but it's too early for him…it's too early for me to be alone. When you were here with me, you once told me to look with my heart. I never really understood it until the day you died. The moment Mister Y wrapped his arms around me, I knew that I had found love, and I'm not ready to let that love leave me. Please make papa all better and tell him to come back soon.

Miss you,

Love, Gustave…"

When I was finished writing the letter, I folded it up and placed it into my mama's mailbox, knowing that she would soon read it. From there, I could only hope that she would answer my prayer.

"Gustave, what are you doing?"

I turned around to spot Nadir standing in my doorway. I wiped my eyes and approached my wardrobe to get ready for bed.

"I was writing mother a letter," I said. "A prayer, actually."

"And just how does she read them?"

I pointed to the box that was sitting on my windowsill.

"Papa gave that box to me. He told me that it's mama's mailbox, and that if I write her a letter and place it into the box, she will read it and answer me."

"And has she?"

"Yes, she does," I assured, slipping my nightshirt over my head. "She answers me all the time. It's the only way I can speak to her, uncle Nadir."

"And just what did you write her tonight?"

"I asked her to watch over my papa and to send him back to me. I asked her to send her lots of kisses for Papa to give me. Tomorrow, I hope he's back, and I hope he has those kisses from mama to give me."

"One can only hope, Gustave."

I crawled into bed and Nadir covered me up. "Get some sleep, child. In the morning, you and I will go see your papa, all right?"

I nodded. "Uncle Nadir, could you say a prayer tonight for papa too?"

"I always do, Gustave. Ever since I've known your papa, I say a prayer for him every night."

"And were your prayers answered?" I asked.

Nadir nodded. "Always."

"And what did you pray?"

Nadir took a seat at my bedside and smiled. "Well, first I prayed that your papa would find salvation. Then, I prayed that he would find happiness…And finally, I prayed that he would find love. And do you know what? He did…He found salvation in the opera house, happiness from your mother, and love from you. Tonight, I shall pray that he finds his way back to us. Do you believe that is a fair prayer?"

I nodded. "Always."

"So do I… Now, lay back and get some sleep. Tomorrow we will go to your papa and hope that he is in better spirits."

"Goodnight, Nadir…"

"Goodnight, child."

And when Nadir left, I held Egypt close and sighed… I hoped that my papa would be fine in the morning, and I hoped that he would be back with us tomorrow night. I loved him more than anything in the world and wanted nothing more than to feel his arms wrap around my body once again. That would be the best hug…One that I would never let go from.

Erik's POV

When I woke, the first thing I noticed was that I wasn't in my own bed. I sat up and looked around the room, taking notice that the sun was shining in through the window. I stood up and approached the windowsill, gazing out that window to see Christine standing by the ocean. This was real! The water was crashing against the shore and her feet were soaked from her ankles to her knees. I ran out of bed and through the tiny house, coming straight out the door and allowing the sun to warm my cool flesh…But wait…Something was wrong… I backed myself up into the house, turning to look at myself in the tiny mirror that was hanging on the wall. My face… I was beautiful! I lifted my hand just to be sure, running my fingers over my flawless cheek. There were no scars, no sunken cheekbones… No, I was absolutely beautiful! Handsome! And I had hair! Real hair! A whole head of it… Dark and black…I ran my fingers through my scalp, pulling on it just to be sure this was real. I felt the pain and knew that this hair was not from a wig. I laughed… Oh, how I laughed. I was real! I was handsome… I lifted my white poet shirt, taking notice that there were no lumpy scars. No, everything on me was flawless and handsome.

"Christine!" I ran out of the house, my toes hitting the sand. "Christine!"

I ran to my angel and scooped her up into my arms. I was happy, oh, so happy…I never wanted to stop hugging this woman. But how was it that I was here, and handsome? Christine once told me that when one goes to heaven, there is no pain, nor is their ugliness… But how was it that I was in heaven?

"Christine," I put the woman down and turned her around so that I could face her. She seemed so sad, for she had tears running down her cheeks. Oh, why was she crying?

To make things better, I pressed my lips to her own, and oh, how real they felt. I could spend the rest of my life kissing this woman, for I had been starved of its reality for months. If not for her death, she and I could have been doing this every hour of every day. But instead, we were here, in heaven…But where was Gustave? Where was my little boy? I looked both ways, looking in every direction of the beach. He was nowhere in sight…Soon, the sun was replaced by dark clouds and Christine was there looking up at me with tear stained eyes. She wouldn't even speak to me as she ran towards the house. I chased after her, pulling her arm just as we entered the house. Rain began to pour, so hard that I could hear it on the roof.

"Christine, please…"

"You're dying…" she cried, spinning around to face me. "You're dying, Erik."

"Dying? Did you see my face?" I gasped. "Look at me, Christine, I'm handsome."

"You always were to me," she cried. "You only look like this because you're here with me."

"And why do you say that I'm dying, Christine? I'm not…Look at me…"

"Erik, wake up…Don't you remember last night?"

I stopped and thought about it, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember anything.

"Christine, I was here, with you all last night. I don't understand what you're talking about."

"Stop this… You were not here with me last night. Erik, you have to remember…Please, you must try. If you don't remember last night, you can't go back. You have to try to remember last night. Gustave's childhood depends on it! Please…"

The woman was shaking my shoulders, and she wasn't letting up. She was shaking me back and forth, forcing me to remember something I didn't remember. If I could remember, I would, but I couldn't.

"Erik, think… What was last night?! Tell me!"

"I…I don't remember. I was here with you."

"No, that's what they want you to think. Please, try, Erik… Try to remember our son and what you were doing with him last night. Please, you must go back."

I didn't want to leave, Christine, I wanted to stay with her here… If she and I were here, we would stay this way for the rest of our life. No, I didn't want to go back.

"Christine, I don't want to go back. Please say that you and I can stay here…It's sunny, it's just you and I… Please say that we can stay here forever."

"Erik it won't ever be sunny as long as you're here with me."

"And why not?" I cried. "Why wouldn't it be sunny? It was just a few moments ago."

"Erik, it would only be sunny if I'm happy, and right now, I can't be, not when Gustave is still young and alone. Endless days of rain and clouds…Dreary, like my soul would be. You and I will be together again, Erik, but it can't be now. When that day arrives you and I will be happy together and we will spend endless days with one another."

Tears began to pour down my cheeks as I stood there staring at my angel. And then, she pressed a kiss to my cheek and smiled.

"Please, Erik, Gustave needs you… Please, go back to him… For me… Please."

I stood there a few moments and knew what I had to do. I stood there with my eyes closed and thought about last night. It was hard, but a vision came to my mind, that vision being dinner at Nadir's and Cecile! Oh, that witch! She had kissed me and then…Yes! My heart… I blacked out. A few moments later, I jolted awake, but I was no longer in the home by the sea…No, I was in a hospital bed. My chest was killing me, but Christine was there beside me. I laid back down and felt her hand caress my distorted cheek.

"Christine," I groaned. "Where am I?"

"Back, Erik…"

And then, I closed my eyes and sighed… Back… More like hell. But at least I had Gustave, for without him, life simply wouldn't be worth living.

So, Erik seen heaven...Urm...Sort of. Anyway, please review! Thank you, everyone!