Look With Your Heart and Not with Your Eyes- Phantom of the Opera Fanfiction

Chapitre Dix-Huit Ans : Retour

I have not returned to the lair for a week.  During the night I am either on the roof or roaming the halls.  I have not heard from the Phantom over the week, I have felt his presence a few times but hide from his sight before he can get to me.  I do not know why I have not went back to the lair and why I have been avoiding him, but I have found myself near Evan ever since the day I heard him sing.  I also do not know why drags me towards him but I am always looming over him like a shadow.  Last week I dropped a letter to him requesting his presence today after the rehearsals.  I saw him open it after lights out, knowing that he read it I felt some what confident that he would show later today.  Again, I do not know why I requested his presence but I did.  The boy was fascinating and quite a good singer for a stagehand, if only he was a performer.  I sit on the highest catwalk watching the performance.  Like every other performance Christine stands center stage singing a duet with the head male singer, Calvin Moreau.  Calvin Moreau had a high voice for a male and struggled to reach most of the notes.  I sigh when the ballet comes in and messes up the whole performance, one of the girls spun right into another one and crashed into Calvin.  Since he was standing right next to Christine he fell on top of Christine.  

Those ballet rats did not have any sense of stage direction, and balance.  I hear Madame Giry start yelling at the girls and Monsieur Reyer telling Christine and Calvin to start over from the start of the song.  From below Monsieur Reyer walks over to Madame Giry with both of the managers following behind him.

"What ever are we to do, the show is in two days and it is a complete mess," Monsieur Reyer asks the three of them.

"Trust me, my girls will have the dance down by tonight," promised Madame Giry, I roll my eyes.

"It is a full house," said Monsieur Firmin.

"We cannot refund a full house," added Monsieur Andre.

I have had enough of this, they have been having the same conversation for the past few weeks.  I can not have this kind of thing happen.  I lower my voice and shout my voice almost as deep as a mans, "You would not have to refund any show if your dancers had any sense of stage direction!"

I watch as everyone freezes up and I hear a few ballet rats' screams.  I smirk in satisfaction, I was going to keep a low profile with a few accidents, like props and scenes falling but this just got out of hand and something had to be done.  I hear Meg Giry shout from a group of ballerinas, "He's here the Phantom of the Opera!"

The managers look around and Andre mutters, "No... he is dead."

My smirk widens as I drop four letters one addressed to Firmin, Andre, Madame Giry, and Monsieur Reyer.  They simple explained all of my requests and things that had to be done.  A few ballerinas were to be let go of, the same for a few musicians.  After staying with Erik for such a long time I developed an ear for music.  I knew when something was being played wrong, and what it should sound like.  I also explained that I was not the Phantom they were used to.  It never said I was me, and never said I was Erik, just that I was not what they were use to.  I knew that Madame Giry knew it was me and if she was to slip any information about anything that she would end up dead.  

After everyone calmed down for the most part the managers released everyone to their chambers.  Madame Giry did not even stay to investigate.  After the lights turned off in the theater I swung down from the highest catwalk to a lower one, I was about to leave when I hear footsteps from the stage.  When I looked down I spotted Evan, he was not frightened away to his dormitory.  When he was almost center stage I pulled a lever making one of the lights go on so I would be able to see him.  He looked around the theatre with his chestnut brown eyes.  He was in his night clothes, a pair of brown trousers and a red shirt, his feet bare.  His brown hair was tossed around on his head and in his face.  I study him from the shadows as his eyes travel around the theatre and the stage then to the catwalks where I stood.  He could not find me but still tried to look for me.

"Where ever are you," asks the boy.  When I do not respond he adds smiling, "Will you talk to me today?  I am curious to see who dropped the ribbon on my head."

I look down at the boy ready to reveal myself to him, but feel my mind wandering to the Phantom.  I have not seem him in a week.  Since I left him standing at the exit of the lair.  I was distracting myself throughout the week, I let my mind wander off of the man who took me in and who truly understood me.  I turn and walk to an entrance to the tunnels not even looking back at the curious boy standing on the stage.  I run through the tunnels determined to find Erik.  I have not seen him in a week.  I cannot believe I let myself get distracted I did not even try to talk to Erik within the week, I completely ignored him.  I step out of the way of I trap just in time nearly getting my head chopped off. I let out a laugh at the ridiculousness of it.  

I get to lair quicker than I thought. I stop for a millisecond adjusting myself before walking through the entrance to the lair.  I see Erik sitting at the organ just staring blankly at it.  I turn towards him taking a step in his direction.  His head snaps up looking at me.  His eyes scan me in a unsure way, as if I was just a figment of his imagination and he needed to know I was not.  I walk closer to him and he continues to stare at me in that unsure way.  

"Erik I-," he cuts me off.

"Where did you go," he asks quietly.

"I was in the Opera Populaire," I say to him.

"Why did you not come back," he asks looking up at me.

"I let my mind wander.... I was lost, when I realized how much time had pasted I came back," I say quietly, letting my eyes wander around the lair.

"You only came back because of the time that passed," repeats Erik quietly to himself but I heard.

My eyes widen, he did not understand, "Oh no Erik!  I missed you!  I truly did!"

He jumped up his voice rising, "You did not miss me!  You pitied me!"

"No Erik!  You do not understand," I say my voice matching me.

He growls, "You pitied the monster so you came back."

"Erik you are not a monster," I say stepping towards him.

"Yes! Yes I am!  That is why you left," he shouts.

I take a few more steps towards him, "Erik!  I did not leave!  I got too caught up in my thoughts.  I never meant to hurt you!"

He turned to me, "You did leave!  You did!"

I walk up to him so I am less then a foot away from him, "Erik and I am sorry, I did not mean to hurt you.  Please Erik forgive me."

He takes a step back and takes a breath, "I-I am sorry Hailey..."

I look up at him and hug him, "It's okay, it's my fault.  I should be the one apologizing.  I was the one that left you standing in the doorway."

Erik wraps his arms around me.  We stand there hugging, after a while he releases me and I do the same but find myself wanting to be in his arms again.  He grabs my hand and pulls me to the organ sitting me down next to him.  I find it rather funny how we can go from arguing to sitting peacefully next to each other by the organ.  I guess we are not all that different.

Je te veux. Chacun d'entre vous. Vos défauts. Vos erreurs. Vos imperfections. Je veux que vous et vous seul.

_________________________________

Sorry for the wait guys!  I revised this chapter a few times because I was unsure of how I wanted the end of this chapter to go!  I finally got it how I wanted it to be, feel free to comment what you think, what you want to see, and/or characters you want me to create/to be more involved!

Thank you guys for all your support and the reads!

~The Author