Hello to each other. It goes on. I have decided that I will update this story every Sunday from now on. It is already prescribed but far from finished. I hope you enjoy reading and see you next week.

Greetings Petit Erik

Louise POV

After I finished the story, Erik looked at me with huge eyes. He dropped into my chair and didn't say anything for a long time.

Then he finally stuttered: "Isn't that why you were scared when you saw me?"

I smirked slightly.

"That may well be. I've always liked you the most. The first time I heard Carlotta sing, I got total goosebumps. And it wasn't from awe."

Erik laughed, and I was amazed at how wonderful it sounded. His breathtaking tenor echoed in the room, sounding like the music itself. A comforting shiver ran down my spine at the sound.

"I can understand this reaction very well. It might also make you know how I feel about her singing," he said, still grinning slightly.

I chuckled as well.

"To be honest, I've never liked her," I replied.

"Who does?" came directly the prompt counter-question from Erik.

"Piangi."

"Touché."

Erik and I continued to talk the whole time. In the meantime, Madame Giry came back with some blankets and Erik put some behind my back. Then she went back outside and we chatted for quite a while.

"Why did you actually come through my mirror last night?", I finally asked.

Erik turned a little pale.

"You noticed?" he asked me.

"Yes, I had a terrible backache, and I'm sure I would have voiced it out loud if a shadow hadn't suddenly appeared in my room, and that shadow turned out to be a man to boot."

Erik scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"I couldn't help it. I was so drawn to your drawings."

I had to laugh, even if it hurt a little.

"Yeah, I noticed."

He blushed slightly and I was still grinning.

"Is it really true that you have an underground home, as the story always says?", I asked the opera ghost.

He nodded.

"Yes, it's true. It's actually more of a dungeon than a home."

"Why?", I asked, surprised by the use of that word to describe his home.

"Because I'd rather live above it. I'd like to have a normal house with windows where the sun shines through once in a while. Because living in the dark forever makes me sick. Or maybe I'm destined to live in the dark forever."

After this statement, he turned to the window and looked out. Just then the midday sun was shining in and he closed his eyes. I could tell he was enjoying it.

Shortly after, he turned back to me.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I didn't mean to dump my problems on you."

"It's okay," I replied, "sometimes you need someone to talk to about everything."

He nodded and I could see his eyes moisten slightly.

"Now back to your home, not dungeon. When I'm better, which I hope to be soon, I'd like to come see it."

His eyes almost fell out of his head.

"You'd what?"

"I'd like to look at it. I've seen some versions in my world but I've never seen it in reality. Would you please show it to me?"

At this question, I folded my hands and looked at him with puppy eyes. He laughed, walked to me and knelt in front of my bed.

"As Mademoiselle commands," he said, kissing my knuckles again.

I grinned and hugged him as best I could. He was more than taken aback by this because I could feel his hands trembling at my sides but soon they rested very lightly, so as not to hurt me, on my back.

"When do you think you might come to me, Mademoiselle?," Erik asked me after we let go of each other again.

"I don't know," I admitted honestly, "maybe about a week. I'll have to see how well I get on with the healing. I hope it doesn't take too long, though."

"I hope so too," he replied with a smirk.

I smiled at him as well. Soon after, however, I realized I was getting tired.

"Sorry Erik but I'm totally tired," I said between huge yawns.

He laughed.

"I can tell."

I carefully lay back in my pillow and closed my eyes.

"Erik," I murmured.

"Hm?" came his reply from somewhere.

I opened my eyes a crack for a moment and saw that he was sitting on the stool by my dressing table.

"Do you think you could sing for me?"

"Of course", he said.

I smiled at him and closed my eyes again. Soon the music of the night reached my ears and I fell into a deep sleep.

When I woke up again, Erik was nowhere to be seen. Sure, I thought, why should he stay with me all the time? Surely he must eat and sleep once in a while. I only hoped that he did not have such bad eating habits as the Erik of Gaston Leroux. But this Erik didn't look like a skeleton and he didn't smell like death. In fact, he smelled very pleasant. Like mint, candle wax and roses. After I was really awake, I saw a note lying on the small nightstand next to my bed. I took it and read it through. Of course it was from Erik, who else?

He wrote: "Dear Louise, I would have liked to stay longer but I had to do something. I will see if I can give you something for your pain. If you will allow me, I would like to come to see you again this evening. I enjoyed and did very well with our conversation. Please let Madame Giry know if you would like me to. I look forward to seeing you again. Your friend, Erik."

This note made me smile. It would be wonderful if he came back and had something for my pain at the same time. As luck would have it, Madame just walked through my door.

"I take it you read his note?" she asked me with a little grin on her usually stern face.

"I did, Madame. And I would like to see him again tonight."

"I could see that you would. That's why I said yes to him right away. I suppose you know his insecurity?"

I nodded. Erik's insecurity and shyness was well known to me. He always needs reassurance that he is wanted. He certainly is with me. I already considered him a friend after this short time we had both been talking. I look forward to hopefully meeting his home soon. Madame gave me a small smile, which I returned, and left the room. I stayed awake thinking of things to ask Erik when he came back.

Erik POV

It was hard for me to walk away from Louise. We had talked beautifully and she had a great sense of humor. I was amazed that she wasn't afraid of me when she saw me. She told me how she knew me and I could have listened to her for hours more. What I admired most about her, however, were her drawings. They looked so wonderful that the first time I saw them, my voice was stunned. She had drawn everything in exact detail and with great love. My personal favorite right off the bat was the Apocalypse by Dürer. I had seen it before in the original but never such a successful redrawing. We had talked for several hours but eventually she got tired and wanted to rest a bit. She asked me to sing her a song and I sang her my music of the night. She smiled and closed her eyes and was soon asleep. I quickly wrote a little message for her on a piece of parchment, put it on her bedside table and disappeared through the mirror.

I headed straight for the pharmacy. I had to get something for Louise's pain. When I arrived at the pharmacy, I got a few strange looks but I didn't bother. I went up to the counter and asked for medication for very severe back pain. Morphine was almost the first thing recommended to me but I immediately declined. I had heard about how it made others addicted and I definitely didn't want that to happen to Louise. Thus, I had them give me some pills and a prescription for a drink to reduce her pain. I paid and immediately headed back to the opera house. I went into my home, took off my cloak and immediately set about making the drink.

I looked for the necessary herbs, which fortunately I had all there and measured everything very carefully. From the heat, because I had to cook the drink, I became warm and to cool down, I took off my mask. This reminded me of when I gave Louise a kiss on the knuckles. Most were shocked or disgusted at the mere appearance of my lips but not her. I thought she would flinch at the latest when I kissed her knuckles but none of that happened. Instead, she blushed, which I found more than adorable. After a short while of wallowing in my thoughts, I took the liquid off the stove and let it cool a bit. Soon after, I poured it into a cup and headed back upstairs. I went to the room where Louise was lying, through the mirror, and placed the cup on her nightstand. She was still asleep and her face betrayed nothing of pain. I knelt beside her bed and slowly started humming. Her eyes fluttered and she yawned with pleasure. I smirked and watched her wake up. She turned to me and smiled.

"Hello, Erik," she said in a somewhat raspy voice.

"Hello," I echoed with a smile as well.

Suddenly something struck me. The movement in my face felt so light. I reached up carefully. Merde! I had forgotten my mask!

Louise POV

I heard a soft humming sound next to me and opened my eyes. I saw someone kneeling next to my bed out of the corner of my eye and thought to myself that this could only be Erik. I turned to him and saw that he was not wearing his mask. Of course it was surprising but I wasn't scared or disgusted. Through the many different musical versions I had already formed a picture. But Erik looked as if he was about to faint with fear. He looked at me with huge eyes, apparently waiting for me to scream or push him away. But I did no such thing. I just looked at him and smiled and was glad he was back with me. When he saw that I wasn't afraid of him or disgusted, his fear subsided somewhat. He led his hand to the nightstand and I saw that there was a cup there. He handed it to me with slightly shaking hands and I could see that he was still a little scared. I took it from his hand smiling gratefully and drank the liquid which was in it. It tasted like a herbal tea and did incredibly good.

After I had emptied the cup, I gave it back to him. He took it and put it back on my nightstand.

"Do you have anything to keep us busy?", I asked him.

Erik thought for a moment and I could literally see the gears turning in his head.

"I don't know," he finally said a short time later, "I could read to you, sing, or we could just keep talking."

"Can we talk first and then read?", I suggested.

"We can do that with pleasure," Erik replied, smiling.

I smiled too and relaxed as best I could with my back.

"Are you all right?", Erik asked me.

"Yeah, everything's fine. I just need to get used to my new back."

"How did it actually come about?", Erik asked me with great interest.

"Well, during an examination it was discovered that I have a crooked back, similar to Quasimodo."

Erik had to laugh at this description and I chuckled as well.

"It's really true. I had a hump on the right side of my back, at the level of my ribs, and my doctor told me to see an orthopedist, which I did."

Erik looked at me with wide eyes, waiting for me to continue.

"When I finally went to the orthopedist, he had taken an X-ray of my back and then referred me to a specialist in Dresden based on the results. I then went there on November 3, 2017."

"And what happened?", Erik asked me excitedly.

He had such excitement in his eyes that it looked like he was about to burst. I had to laugh at this image and Erik looked at me in shock. His hand moved up to rest on the disfigured side of his face because he thought I was laughing at him.

After I was done laughing, I looked at Erik. He had a broken expression on his face and tears were running down his cheeks.

"Erik!", I shouted, "hey, are you okay?"

He shook his head as tears continued to run down his cheeks.

"You...you hate me," he choked out through sobs.

"What! Why would I?"

"You laughed," he muttered, barely audible.

"Yes, Erik, I did but I wasn't laughing at you."

He looked up at me with his different colored eyes.

"You didn't?" he asked, still with his hand on his face.

"No, Erik, I didn't. I laughed at your enthusiasm but I didn't laugh at you."

Sobbing with relief, he buried his head on the blanket under which I still lay. I gently stroked his back to soothe him.

However, his next reaction totally surprised me. He brought his hand up and took off his wig. I saw that he had only a few strands of gray hair and a section of bone was missing from his right temple. He looked up slowly, silently expecting this last revelation to be worse for me than the first. But it wasn't. Slowly, I brought my hand to his cheek and let it explore the different textures. He closed his eyes and leaned into my touch. I explored his cheek, his lips, where my guess was correct that they were slightly larger. His lips were normal on the left side and were bloated on the right. Then I saw his eyes. They were still closed but when they were open they had the most wonderful colors I had ever seen. While one eye was blue, the other had an amber hue. I thought they were the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen.

"Erik," I whispered, "look at me."

He opened his stunning eyes and looked up at me.

"I'm not afraid of your face, and I don't hate you. It's the face of someone I already consider a friend after this short time."

"A... friend?" asked Erik.

"Yes, Erik. And I might add, a very good friend."

He cried again but this time they were tears of joy.

"I too think you are already a very good friend to me, Louise," he said to me.

"That's nice," I replied and smiled.

Erik looked at me as if I were a miracle. I tilted my head and looked at him.

"What is it?"

"Nothing. Just... may I hug you?" he asked this still in a shy voice.

"Of course. You don't have to ask me."

The next thing I knew, I was literally melting into Erik's embrace. I hugged him as well, feeling the contours of his deformed cheek against my head. I didn't flinch from the unusual sensation and he leaned into my touch as well. So we hugged for a while, glad that the first and most important barrier had fallen.