Chapter Six - Understanding

Christine turned away from her mirror and took a deep breath. After exhaling in a gust she left the room and headed downstairs to find Erik. She found him in the lounge settled back comfortably on her sofa. Just like last night when he saw her, he smiled and patted the space next to him "Come sit with me, my dear" he said. As she sat down next to him he wrapped his arm round her shoulder. "Oh Christine, I still can't believe it. It's been a hundred years since we were last together, and it feels like it was only yesterday, my love" Christine nodded "It was only yesterday for me, Erik" she replied. Erik's brow furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?" he asked. She then realized that Erik had no knowledge about the whole time travelling thing.

She stood up from the sofa and stepped in front of the mantelpiece which had a huge rectangle mirror on the wall above it. "Do you remember yesterday when that sand bag hit me, then smashed into the mirror that was behind me?" she asked looking at Erik in the huge mirror, he stood up too and nodded "Well before that when I came to the audition, I only knew you were the serial killer composer, who had written the song that Meg had found for me to sing at the audition. And after that sand bag hit me I was then somehow taken back in time to nineteenth century London. Then when I was down in your lair and knocked that candle stand into that mirror, it was then that I was brought back here, and you were standing over me and you know the rest." She kept looking at Erik in the mirror and he looked very shocked. "I had all those years without you and yet it was only a few seconds for you. Not enough time to miss me." Christine sighed "To tell you the truth, I didn't really miss you at the time. Because if you remember I was angry with you and scared too I suppose." Erik Slowly sank back down onto the sofa "Why does everything bad have to happen to me. What did I do wrong in my mortal life to be condemned to this?" he said and buried his face in his hands. Christine heart nearly sank when she saw him looking heartbroken again, just like the night before.

She sat back down by his side and wrapped her arm round him "Hey, hey" she said gently. He lifted his face to look at Christine. She herself could see tears of sadness building up inside his eyes. He quickly took hold of Christine's arms, his face and voice was full of pleading. And he looked as if he was beginning to have a panic attack "Christine you must promise me that you will never try to leave me and run away again. Please, I'm begging you. I lost so much that awful night long ago, both my sanctuary and you. And I couldn't bear for that to happen again. Please love, stay with me forever..." Christine also took hold of his arms and said. "Erik! Calm down breathe! I'm not going anywhere, New York is my home and I have no intension of leaving here. And things have now changed between us, haven't they? So don't worry about whatever happened back then between you and me. Remember what I told you last night. "There's no point in me dwelling on the past. Bad things may have happened back then but there's nothing we can do to change it. So let's think about right now." We're together now Erik and everything is alright." Erik's eyes were wide "Do you really mean that?" he asked and Christine nodded. Erik let go of her arms and they both embraced holding each other tightly as if their lives depended on it. "Oh Christine, I was right when I said you were the angel" Erik said, his face against her shoulder.

While she was still in his arms Christine remembered something. "Erik, may I ask you something?" "Of course you may, Christine" he said and they pulled back to look at each other. "Are you still wearing a mask or is this a normal face?" she asked stroking her fingers over his cheek. "Yes Christine, I am still wearing a mask. But it isn't the same sort of mask as you can remember, and from what you can see. I have this friend who works with prosthetic, foam latex materiel, which he uses to make masks for actors of stage and screen. I drew him a portrait of what my normal face used to look like, and after getting a mould of my deformed face. He is able to make a whole load of prosthetic masks that I can wear for as long as I want, unlike the skin masks I had to sew onto my face back then. They of course hurt like hell"
"Oh I see" Christine said, still caressing the side of his face. "So this is what your face used to look like before the curse?" Erik nodded "Wow, it's so beautiful" she said and his smile widened "Thank You Christine. You know when I first looked in the mirror wearing the first of these masks. It made me feel so good inside, so much more human than a monster. Because I knew that I could walk round in the streets and people would look at me as any normal man. And it would look as if nothing had ever happened to me." Christine dropped her hand to his shoulder. "You're certainly right Erik. With this mask no one would give you a second glance. They wouldn't even guess you were wearing one. It really is exquisite." Erik's gentle smile lit up his face. "It's nice to hear you say that Christine" he said.

"I guess we should start making a move." said Christine, standing up. "If I'm going to be performing soon, you'd better start helping me practice." Erik rose too and put his arm round her back "Let's go and get our stuff together then" Christine slowly put her arm round his back too and side by side they went upstairs. It didn't take them long to gather up their things. Just before they went downstairs Christine stepped over to the bathroom door. "Do you mind Erik? I'll just be a moment." He nodded "Of course luv". A few minutes later she was hurriedly washing her hands, and then just as she was turning to grab the towel she accidently knocked the soap onto the floor. "Damn it" she hissed and stooped to pick it up. When she was face to face with the mirror in front of her again it wasn't her reflection she saw. It was Erik's hideous unmasked face snarling at her like a lion. Christine jumped in fright and covered her face with her hands. "No" She said quietly "This isn't real. This isn't real." When she slowly removed her hands, the wicked face of the devil grinned back at her through the mirror. "You're not real!" she said trying to be brave. All of the sudden his arm was through the mirror, his hand gripping her throat "I am, more real than you and that monster." He hissed. She jerked away from his grip and fell to the floor. When she looked up his face was gone and the mirror was just a mirror. She cautiously got to her feet, stepped over and tapped the mirror with her index finger that was still wet. A drop of water trickled down the mirror but nothing else happened.

Christine sighed and grabbed the towel to dry her hands off. She left the room and headed downstairs. Erik was standing by the front door wearing his black coat and holding both of their bags. His expression however was somewhere between curious and worried, as if he had heard all that had happened. But Christine decided that now wasn't a good time to talk about it. "You ready then?" she asked brightly taking her coat off the banister. "Yeah all ready" He replied handing over her bag, but still looked confused. "Well let's get going then" said Christine leading the way out the door. After locking the front door she took Erik's hand and they went to the edge of the pavement to call a taxi.
The ride in the cab was silent. Christine was comfortably relaxed under Erik's arm, her head on his shoulder. All the way she kept her gaze straight ahead through the driver's windshield. Her heart was pounding with fear as she thought of the devil. Erik certainly did know something, because Christine kept seeing him glancing down at her out the corner of her eye. When they arrived at Erik's home she got out of taxi and waited for Erik while he paid the driver. Then while Christine was staring at the car window there was a sudden flash and the devils faded face was reflected in it. She gave a quick gasp and the image was gone. Erik turned round quickly to face her "You alright, Christine?" he asked. Christine nodded "Yeah, I'm fine." But Erik didn't seem convinced.

After taking off their coats in Erik's front hall Christine walked straight towards the keyboards. "Shall we?" she said smiling. Erik was still staring at Christine as if he was trying to see into her brain. "Uh, alright" he said and came slowly forward. He stood in front of one of the keyboards and switched it on. The next hour and a half that past was filled with the magnificent sound of Erik's music, and Christine's wonderful singing. They went through all of songs that Christine's part was involved with in the show. Christine could tell as she watched Erik play with his eyes closed, that he was thoroughly enjoying himself. When the last note of the last song ended they were both silent as they took a few deep breaths.

Christine was the first to talk. "Well that was great! Let's go and get something to eat and drink, my throat is so dry." As she turned and started to walk off Erik's voice came from behind her "Christine" he spoke in a tone that made her stop in her tracks. "I need to ask you something" She kept her back to him as he continued to speak. "Since we left your house you have been acting strange. Don't think I haven't noticed, but you've been acting as if you're hiding something and you keep trying to distract me from asking." She heard him take a few steps towards her. "This is true isn't it, Christine?" he said. Christine knew that he would have noticed and asked her sooner or later, so it wasn't worth keeping it from him anymore. "Yes Erik, it is true." She said staring at the floor. When he next spoke his voice was soft as velvet "Christine, look at me" She turned round and looked into his caring eyes. "Tell me what happened, Christine." He said.
"While I was washing my hands in the bathroom I knocked the soap on the floor. When I stood back up again I saw your unmasked face in the mirror snarling at me. I looked away and said that "It wasn't real" but when I looked back the devil was in the mirror, and his hand came through the mirror and grabbed my throat. He said that he said that he was more real that you or I. After I pulled away and fell to the floor, his face had vanished from the mirror." Erik wrapped Christine in his arms and gently cradled her. "Oh Christine you should have told me, you didn't have to keep it from me." Christine nodded. "I'm sorry, Erik" And he patted her back.

As they broke away Christine went to sit on his black leather sofa. "I don't know why I didn't tell you. I guess it was just because I didn't want you to worry." Erik sat next to her wrapping his arm round her back. "You must know by now that you can tell me anything." She rested her head on his shoulder "I guess I do now." With her head still on his shoulder Christine thought. I don't want that asshole of a devil invading my life anymore. She remembered that when she went to bed with Erik the devil had given her that nightmare. But when she and Erik slept close together he went away. And after all that had happened this morning, it looked as if Erik's theory had proved itself true. She had to get closer to Erik, even more closer and increase the love she had for him. She decided that now was the perfect time to make a start.

She quickly grabbed his shoulders and pushed him onto his back upon the sofa, and she loomed over him pinning him down. He seemed very shocked and looked up at her in alarm. "Christine! What are you doing!" he gasped. Christine grinned and said in an alluring voice "You pinned me on my back once before. Well it's now my turn to pin you." Erik's smile returned as he understood her joke. He placed his hands on either side of her waist. "What are you going to do with me now?" he asked. Christine leaned in close to his face and whispered "Keep you here until I'm satisfied" Erik chuckled and Christine slowly lowered herself right on top of him and slipped her hands underneath him to embrace him. His arms wrapped right round her back to hold her in return. Even though her forehead was rested on the leather on the sofa, her chin was on the top of his shoulder so they were cheek to cheek. Just feeling the fake flesh of his cheek made her wish so badly that it was real like her skin.

"This feels so good" she sighed. Erik's hands stroked her back. "You can't imagine how it feels to me" He said bringing one hand up to stroke her back. "I never want this to end, Erik" she whispered in his ear. He placed a kiss on the side of her head and whispered back. "It never will Christine, trust me. It NEVER will"

Author's Notes
Please keep leaving your reveiws guys. I really want to know how much your enjoying it.
Plus I LOVE reading them :)