The Phantom's opera

Down once more*

Something inside me snapped. I just couldn't do it anymore. I put down the dress I had just started sewing and grabbed my cloak, assuming that it would be cold in the cellars at this time of the year and made my way down to Erik's house. It was probably a dumb idea, knowing that if anyone in the opera house needed me, they probably wouldn't be able to find me but by I couldn't find myself caring less about my job. When I arrived at Erik's house I realised quickly that wasn't there. I thought quickly about returning to the opera house and pretending that I was never here, but I decided I needed to stay and give Erik at least one last chance. Like many other times in this house, I found myself bored. My eyes fell onto Erik's much loved organ. I didn't know how to play the organ and was quite horrendous at it when Erik attempted to teach me. Despite my inability to play, I remember a song Erik had played back when I was here. I remember watching Erik press the keys and I mimicked the movements to recreate the song he made. I stop when I couldn't remember what key he pressed next.
"What are you doing here?" Erik's sharp voice asked from behind me.
"Do you want me to leave?" I offered.
"No." He replied quickly. There was a couple of seconds of awkward silence as neither of us wanted to point out the elephant in the room.
"I haven't heard that Sonata in a while." He commented.
"I thought it was your own composition" I replied, confused.
"It is, I just haven't played it since you left." He explained. We returned once again to the awkward silence.
"I guess you already now why I'm here." I sighed.
"I assume that it's about last time." He guessed. "Look Alina I'm sorry but I can't-"
"But why can't you?" I asked, tired that we were at the same place as before.
"Alina." He faltered before continuing "she used to do things and used to blame things on me. She used to make me say that what I did was wrong in order to feel as though she was doing something good. So once I ran away from her I promised myself that I would ever admit that I did something wrong again." It was clear that he found it hard to confide that with me.
"Erik I know your early life was hard but you can't keep a promise like that." I told him as gently as possible, knowing full well I was in trauma territory now.
"Why not?" He snapped defensively.
"You may not have done something bad when your mother forced you to admit it but you are bound to do something, that's just how it is for all of us. We're all humans and we make mistakes and do the wrong thing and we need to face that." I pointed out "When we admit we did something wrong, we understand that we need to change and that's how we become better people."
There was a couple of seconds pause. I thought that my spiel hadn't convinced Erik and made my heart heavy.
"I'm sorry Alina for manipulating you, I now see that it was wrong." He admitted slowly. I was really proud of him and I knew had made a massive step in stopping the story from ever happening. I couldn't help but give him a hug
"I can't tell you how happy it made me to hear you say that Erik." I praised him in the embrace.