After the Lair

King of New York

|| Erik Destler ||

I burst through the door, tears flowing.

I placed my hand on her cheeks, then one on her neck, looking for her pulse.

I found it.

She was alive.

My sweet Christine.

"Sir, you will need to transport her to America to get the medication and attention she deserves," the doctor told me.

"America?"

"Yes, but you're going to need to start an amusement park to get there."

His voice was light and joking, but an underlying message came and I thought,

Good thing I had always dreamed of having my own...

3 Months Later

She was still not awake.

Still...not...awake...

I had opened up my amusement park to the public with the help of Raoul and Meg Giry.

In fact, that's where I'm restarting our story.

Meg had walked in late, drunk as one could get. She stumbled through the door, eyes locked on me.

"I love you," she had boldly  announced.

I turned towards her, confused.

"What?" I whispered.

"And I know you love me too," she slurred.

"Liar. I love Christine. I always have, and just because she's asleep doesn't-"

"She's never going to wake up," she said, proudly.

"H-How do you know that?" I asked, to scared to make threats.

"Because I killed her," she laughed.

"What?" I yelled.

"Now, you're all mine. You can't love a dead woman," she laughed, maniacally.

"Watch me," I hissed.

She grabbed my mask and pulled me closer, with my struggling.

Meg kept trying to kiss me, and I knew that she wasn't going to go down without a fight.

Well, the girl had always screamed about the Phantom of the Opera being there.

So it was time he was.

I picked her up by throat and slammed her against the wall.

"You're going to leave. NOW. Before I change my mind about killing you, you will be gone."

She ran out the door once I put her down.

That night I had gotten a note from the hospital that Christine had been stabbed in the leg.

Fortunately, she would live, if she would wake up for the surgery.

I did everything in my power to wake her up.

"Darling, please, wake up. Christine, I'm so sorry for the way I acted. I knew you didn't cheat. I was just so scared of losing an angel that I pushed along the process. Christine, Angel, please wake up. I need you. I need you to live. I want you to marry me. I want us to have a family. I want to grow old with you and die and be buried next to you. Christine, I know I'm not perfect, but you are and the world needs your singing, but more importantly, so do I. Christine wake up."

"Do you love me?" she whispered.

"I don-Oh, my gosh. Christine! You're awake! Doctor! I need a doctor in here NOW!"