Like Father, Like Son | Phantom of the Opera

xiii. When We Say Goodbye

"Do you think I want to do this? Do you think it doesn't cross my mind every hour of every day that I might not come back from this?" Gustave asked. "It kills me to think of you here, waiting for me, and that some other man can simply sweep you away because he is here to be with you. The thought of someone else holding you because I can't be here to do it myself is enough for me to hate myself for having to go. I am sorry for lying; you know I would never try to do that to you. I suppose that's why you saw right through it. Even still, I need you to support me."

"How am I supposed to support you when you are going to be half a world away?" Lara demanded. I felt like it was wrong for me to be hearing their entire conversation, but I couldn't force myself to move away from where I was standing to listen.

"I don't know! I just need to know that you will be here." Gustave was getting so choked up that my heart ached for him. I wanted to be there for him, to be by his side for comfort, but I knew that they needed the moment to themselves.

"I need you to promise me you will come back." She was pleading with him, begging for a concrete answer that he could not give her.

"Love, I just said how hard it is for me to lie to you. I will always try and make it back to you, but...I can't make that type of promise."

"I don't know how you can expect me to sit here and wonder if I am ever going to hear from you again or not!" There was another long pause that made me very worried about what would come next, only for my fears to be confirmed when Lara spoke again: "I don't know if I can put myself through that. I need to go."

I heard a rapid succession of footsteps come down the stairs as Lara raced out the door with Gustave following close behind, but not fast enough for him to make it out the door before she closed it in his face. He started fumbling with the doorknob in his haste and I was able to see the tear streaks running down his cheeks. I heard him mumble curse words along with, "I need to get to her" before he was finally able to swing the door open and chase after her.

I once again hated that I was spying so much into his life but something inside me needed to know how the whole ordeal ended. I stood up and walked to the living room window to see if I would watch them from inside and, luckily for me, they were just barely within view and I was able to watch Gustave catch up to her. I obviously couldn't hear anything but there were a lot of hand gestures. Gustave tried to reach out to her but she walked away and it felt like I was looking in a mirror, and I immediately saw that awful memory of when Christine walked away from me when I tried to do the same. Thankfully, they continued their conversation and after a while, they started gravitating towards each other and eventually they were locked in an embrace. After what I could only assume was a brief goodbye, they shared a kiss and Gustave returned to the house.

I quickly went to the front hall in an attempt to cover up my eavesdropping in case he had noticed. Once he was inside, he closed the door and pressed his back against it, breathing heavily as he slid down onto the floor. The fresh tears were still shining on his face. He was still crying. He began mumbling something, which I wasn't quite able to understand, but I managed to catch the last bit and hearing it broke my heart:

"Then on bended knee, all I ask would be that this road bring her back to me. My prayer would be, whatever my destiny let this road bring her back to me."

~~~~~

To think that such weighty, emotional statements were coming from the mouths of eighteen-year-olds was tragic; these weren't things a young couple in love should have to consider, but it was the reality of the world. I just hated that it was the cruel reality of my world.