From Shadows to Starlight

Changing Tides

She was something special. So small, but so strong in spirit. So trusting. So kind.

So…beautiful.

A fair, delicately shaped face. Hair like spun gold.

And then she opened her eyes, looking out across a place only she could see as she sang.

Why have I never noticed just how lovely her eyes are? They shine brighter than the stars themselves.

Alana stopped singing, and turned to look at him. Her cheeks were flushed a rosy pink color. “Well? Was I all right?”

Erik abruptly stopped playing, and sat dumbly on the piano bench. There was something going on inside him, something he didn’t understand. He remembered the night when Alana had first called him her friend, how she had comforted him, and how overwhelmingly wonderful that had felt. What he was experiencing now was like what had happened then, but it was different. Stronger, more confusing. But there was a feeling that made itself known above all others, a phrase that kept repeating in his mind.

I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind, but now I see.

He vaguely realized those were words from the song Alana had been singing

“Were you all right? You were…” he searched for the right thing to say.

“Flat? Off-key?”

“…wonderful.”

Her cheeks flushed even rosier. “Really? Thank you!”

“You’re quite welcome,” Erik said. “I believe that’s enough for tonight. You’ve done more than well enough. From the looks of things, I’ll be forced to go to that ball after all.” That would be a bad day indeed; the thought of being in such a bright, crowded place full of strangers sounded unpleasant. But he’d made a promise, and he intended to honor it, to please the girl.

“You remembered!” Alana’s face brightened up. “It’s getting close! Cerise and I have already decided on our costumes…I’m going to be Snow White, and she’s going to be Rose Red. We don’t have dresses yet, but Aunt Amelie said we can go to the shop soon and…”

Erik held up a hand, and she stopped speaking. He had a better idea. “Before you buy anything, I know of a place where many costumes are stored. I could find gowns for you and your cousin without cost. I trust you are looking for something white, and something red?”

Alana nodded. “You’d really do that for us?”

“It’s no trouble.”

She thanked him. “Do you know what you want your costume to be for the ball?”

Since his days and nights back below the opera house, all Erik had done was lie in bed, being tended by Madame Giry and Meg--who’d been forced to join him underground--or drag his injured body to the organ to play. His thoughts had never drifted to the ball. He thought a moment, and then an idea came to him. It was a perfect fit, whether he liked it or not. “Are you familiar with the story of the Half-Man?” he asked her. It was a tale he had read years ago.

She shook her head. “What is it?”

“It’s a strange story, but one that has always intrigued me. It’s about someone who was only born half a man. One side of him is there, and the other isn’t.” He could feel the weight of her gaze upon him, and he could tell that she was looking at his mask. His entire being burned with shame. “The Half-Man has special abilities and is dissatisfied with his life, so he conjures up new situations and new images for himself. But try as he might, he can’t change his true self. He can’t be anything more than a Half-Man…”