Rated M.
He pulled me through the crowds that cluttered the pathways. He stopped at each game to show me how it worked and each prize. He face was glowing with pride for all of the worked he had achieved over the years. He showed me to each food stand and let me eat as much as I wanted. He pulled me through the smaller buildings that displayed a wide variety of freaks from all over the world. There was even a mermaid that had come to him from Scotland. After leaving the final building he draped his right arm around my shoulders and we began our walk back to the house. My mind began to slip away from where I currently was and back to the night I got the wound that was currently stabbing pain through my body. By the time I realized what I was doing I had already dragged Erik half way down towards the pier.
"Christine, I don't think that this is good idea. This isn't going to bring up any happy memories for you… or me." His voice faltered. The internal pain was slipping through the cracks of his façade. I stopped were I was and spun around to face him.
"I'm sorry, Erik I didn't mean to drag you down here. I was thinking about that night and just kind of ended up here." But my sorrow quickly changed into anger. "I'm not going to do this, Erik! I'm not going to stay hidden and scared because of one night! I can't do that! I will not let this one event rule my life. I have already let that happen in the past." His arms were around me in moments. His hands raked through my hair as his calming voice hushed my tears before I even realized that they were falling. He picked me up in his arms and carried me back to our room.
By the time he laid me down on the bed my tears had dried up. I needed to feel his warmth and his presence. I needed him to wrap me in his love. He understood my needs. He pulled off his jacket and hit the empty wall that was beside the bed. It opened up and I could see that it held thousands of sheets and blankets and pillows. So that was why his room was always so clean, because his walls were all secret storage. He pulled out a thick white blanket and wrapped it around me. He sat down next to me and pulled me into his arms.
"I'm so sorry Christine. I didn't mean to cause you so much pain in your life. I have done nothing but harm you Darling." I looked up into his pained eyes.
"Erik you are wrong. You have done everything for me. You have brought me more joy than I would have ever of thought possible. You have loved me more than anyone else in the world. And you gave me the best gift anyone could ever receive. You gave me Gustave, Erik. The only moment I would ever change in my entire life time would be the day I chose Raoul." He kissed me lightly on the cheek.
"Oh, my Christine." His breath was hot on my flesh and his lips were soft and delicate against me. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Erik rose to answer it. When he opened the door Squelch was talking rapidly about a major problem with the show line ups. Erik nodded his head. He must have been used to the chaos. He turned towards me and I nodded my head. It was a simple gesture but it was a language that we were both attuned to. I knew by the look in his eyes that he was asking if I was okay and if it would be okay if he left to go handle the problems erupting everywhere. Erik knew that by the shake of my head I was telling him that I understood and that I loved him so dearly.
He turned to leave but ran back to place a firm kiss on my lips and then he was gone. What was I going to do without the constant company of Erik? I got up and closed the cupboard door that he had left open. And then it hit me. I would take a little tour of my own. I began by running my hands along the walls of our bedroom. Each wall opened to expose a secret room. In the bathroom behind the door led to the bathroom cupboard, full of towels and wash clothes and toothbrushes. In the bedroom, the wall that faced my closet was Erik's closet. I couldn't resist journeying inside and running my hands along his various shirts and suits. I took notice of each differently detailed mask. There seemed to be a mask for every occasion life could throw at you. His wigs were combed back perfectly resting on their own mannequin heads. But at the very back of his closet was a small box. My curiosity got the best of me and I opened it. Inside sat the infamous Punjab. I quickly closed the box and slid it below the last rack where I found it. I couldn't expect him to be completely rid of his past but I had been hoping.
Once the exploration of the bedroom was done I found myself wondering through the strange hallway of doors. The first door I came to was the white one that led into the powder room. The room itself was grand enough to be back at the Opera Populaire. The floors were made of a white marble. The walls were a deep red. Each piece of décor was gold. The towels were either a deep crimson or a rich gold. The room smelled of roses and lilies. There was a large porcelain claw footed bathtub in one of the corners. I walked out of the bathroom and ventured to the next room.
The door was a light brown oak with music hidden in its grain. When I opened the door my mouth fell open. The walls had thick black velvet hanging over them. The floor had a deep rich and fluffy dark purple carpet. The room was large and was almost empty accept for the large piano in the center of the room and the pipe organ set against the back wall. As I walked closer into the room I noticed the clunky lumps in the fabric. I pulled one of the curtains to the left of the rod it rested on. Behind the curtain were hundreds of different brass instruments. Each was unique with patterns carved into the metal. I recognized many of the instruments like trumpet and trombones, but many of them looked foreign. I pulled the curtain back in place and walked to the next curtained wall. When I pulled it back the wall was covered with, what appeared to be, every woodwind instrument ever made, except the clarinet which I knew was the one instrument Erik couldn't stand. It didn't have the capability of catching each intricate piece of the story that music told, as Erik would say. The next wall was covered with a large family of string instrument. The final wall was covered with various percussion instruments. It was obvious to me that Erik had been collecting instruments from all across the world. This was his collection that he had been working at for years. And the instruments themselves were above average. Each instrument had its own beautiful carving on it. Each one was unique and had to be extremely rare. I carefully walked out of the room afraid to break anything.
The next door I came to was made of a light blue stained wood. The room belonged to Gustave. Unlike Erik's room, it wasn't a dark cave. Gustavé's room was rather large. The left side of his room was carpeted in white and it contained his bed, which was perfectly made, a bedside table, with a lamp on it, dresser, and his closet, fully stocked. But the right side of his room was what caught my eye. It was raised up on a small level. The level was deep brown oak wood flooring. The walls that touched this level were made of pure glass overlooking the park and the ceiling above it was filled with skylights. It held a large black grand piano. It was obvious that Erik wanted our son's inspiration to be light. The piano and the floor that surrounded it were scattered with sheets of music. It was obvious that whoever was cleaning Gustavé's room knew better than to touch his work. It probably had to do with a past altercation with his father that they would never forget. I smiled to myself at the care that Erik put into designing this room. I turned and walked back into the hallway. The hallway was at its end. I had finished exploring the rooms on the hallway's right side so I turned and started in on the left. The door across from Gustavé's was made of a red cherry wood. The doorknob was crystal. I turned it and entered the room. It was completely empty. The entire back wall was made of glass that over looked the water and the floor had white carpeting that matched Gustavé's room, but there was no furniture or anything that made it unique. It was nothing but an empty room.
I quickly left the room feeling dazed and confused. Why would Erik have an empty room? I continued my journey to the next room. The door was a swinging door made of a dark brown bamboo. I pushed the door open and it exposed a medium sized dark brown and black room with a large rectangular table, a diner table. The table was a deep brown maple table with matching chairs set all around it. The table was set with a delicate set of white matching plates, teacups, and bowls. Each piece of the set had an intricate design of a gold vine weaving its way around it. The silverware were all silver with the same gold pattern going up from the stem of the utensil and blooming up into the head of it. I didn't dare touch anything. I was afraid I would mess up the pure perfection of the picture that stood before me. Against the right wall there was black swinging door. I went through it and it exposed a large elaborate white kitchen. The kitchen was cluttered with workers going about their business in their white uniforms. Everything in the room was silver and shined in the room's light. I followed the room to the white swinging door that led back into the hallway of doors. I turned and saw that from the hallway the door was white with a small round window in it. I walked forward to the next door. It was pure black and it gave me a thrill to imagine what would lie behind it. The walls were all black and the floors were made of a black marble. The ceiling though was made completely of glass. I could see curtain rods that ran the length of the ceiling. The rods held white curtains that could hold out the sun in the day and still keep the room bright enough to see. The room was clearly Erik's office for Phantasma. There were plenty of silver filing cabinets. There was a silver couch in the room's corner. In the middle of the room sat Erik's large silver desk. With two small black chairs in front of it and a large black one behind it.
I sat down in his chair and took in the scent of him. I could feel his presence envelope me. I could feel the pain that had clouded this room's atmosphere for years. From where I sat I could see the repeated scuff marks by the couch. The marks had been left on the floor by his shoes as he paced back and forth night after night, unable to sleep. On the right side of his desk sat a picture of me from my days in the Opera Populaire. Along with that photo were multiple newspaper clippings about me through the years of my life. The oldest was an article about my father's death. The youngest was of my arrival to America. On the left side sat a framed photo of Gustave and Erik exploring Phantasma together.
He could make my heart completely melt. I was so in love with Erik. I made my way out of his office and walked through the hallway's final doorway. It was at the very end of the hallway's long passage. The doorway was made of rock and there was set of double copper doors that sat within it. I walked through the doors making my way back into our bedroom. I was growing lonely and I felt strangled with all of the boredom that was quickly filling me. I didn't know what to. I lied down on the bed. I got up and walked towards the linen closet. I pulled out another set of black sheets and made our bed. I pulled a thin black comforter on top of the sheets and repillow-cased the pillows in a metallically gold fabric. I didn't know what else to do with myself. I figured Erik would be returning to me soon. I walked into the bathroom and filled the bathtub with burning hot water. It only took me moments to get used to the water's temperature and relax into it. My tense muscles relaxed and the pain burning in my side calmed itself. I washed my hair and realized how quickly it was growing back. I got out of the bathtub and pulled one of the big towels tight around my body. I sat down at the mirror and combed through my thick wet hair. Moments out of the water and my hair was already beginning to curl. When I finished I got up and walked to my closet. I pulled on a black bra and a pair of matching underwear. But my loneliness was swallowing me so instead of slipping on a nightgown I found myself back in Erik's closet. I slipped my arms through the sleeves of one of his black button up shirts. It was crisp and clean and smelled just like him. I buttoned it all the way up and then lied on the bed hoping sleep would overtake me quickly.
A few moments later Erik walked into the room. I was still wide awake attempting to count sheep to quicken my descend into the land of dreams. He walked in with his head bowed as he intently looked through the papers in his hand. He looked up and saw me lying on his bed in his shirt. A huge smile graced his face and he threw the papers down on the floor and began to walk towards me. His pace quickened with each step that he took. I kneeled on the bed anticipating the warmth and safety of his embrace. When he reached me his hands knotted in my hair and he kissed me. His lips were feverish and passionate against mine. My finger raked against his back pleading for him. His hands slid down my back and grabbed the back of my thighs. I flopped down onto my butt. He pulled me closer to him so I wrapped my legs around his waist. He picked me up and crawled onto the bed. He gently laid me down on a pillow and his lips moved down my neck. I quickly began to pull at his jacket. With his assistance, it finally released its grasp on him and fell to the floor.
He hands found the first button on the shirt I was wearing. As he skillfully unbuttoned each button his lips followed down my body. As he finished the last button he sat up his hands rested on my waist just above my underwear and just below my bandages. We turned and I was on top. He pulled the shirt free from my body and threw it on the floor. I was more than happy to pull at his buttons. But after a while my clumsy hands were still on the fifth button. Erik chuckled and finished the rest for me. I felt the blush rise on my cheeks. I had never met someone before that I yearned for so badly. I had never felt the urge to rip at someone's clothes before my first night with Erik. Erik was the only man I had ever met that could drive me so insane. Every fiber in my body yearned to feel his touch. Suddenly I was pulling at his under shirt, untucking it from his pants and ripping it off over his head. As I left my hands slide down to the belt buckle on his pants, he placed his hands on my face and pulled my lips down to his.
"I love you Christine" His words whispered against my lips and sent goosebumps all across my skin.