In the Presence of an Angel (Phantom of the Opera Fanfiction)

Chapter 19- One Wrong Move Changes Everything

Chapter 19- One Wrong Move Changes Everything

Initially, everything happened very quickly. The white mask fell on the piano keys, Erik stopped playing, Christine moved to see him, she gasped, and their eyes met. Then, everything slowed down. In fact, everything stopped.

It was as if their surroundings faded into nothing. Christine and Erik were the only two things that existed. Christine's eyes were huge as she looked at Erik's face, and his eyes were expressionless as he watched her. It seemed to go on for about a minute, and then, slowly but surely, things changed.

Christine blinked, returning to reality. His face.. It was grotesque. The flesh was mangled and torn revealing bone and a sort of yellow-grayish coloring underneath. His eyes were sunken into his face, and there weren't eyebrows. There was barely a nose at all, mostly just two black holes. It was awful, horrible, ghastly. After several long moments, her right hand involuntarily began to slowly rise until it covered her mouth. Still, Erik watched her without emotion.

Oh… My god.. She'd never seen anything like it. Sure, she'd seen deformities in the past, but not like this. Never like this. It was bad, it was really bad. Christine found she had to look away from such a sight. It wasn't something one would stare at for long. But, as soon as she tried to avert her eyes, a whisper gained her full attention.

"Look at me…"

So deep was her fear that she immediately did as she was told, though her mind was racing. I never thought this would happen… I didn't think it would be like this.. She could only imagine what he was thinking. What's going to happen? How mad is he going to get? Nevertheless, she looked him fully in the face. Tears couldn't help but spring to her wide eyes abruptly.

"What do you see?" Erik whispered curiously as he watched her.

Christine's eyes widened further, if that was even possible. She wasn't expecting to hear such composure in his tone. He sounds so… calm. Too calm. Why? Actually, she'd rather him have acted like he was furious. This reaction was too unnerving, too unpredictable. She couldn't speak.

"Come now, what do you see?" His hands, which were in his lap, were beginning to shake. "Don't be shy. Tell me." His voice was so light, so soft.. feather-like.

The sound of his voice was almost able to fool her into thinking he wasn't mad… But she noticed that his hands were shaking. "Um.." she said softly, her voice trembling. What can I say? What does he want to hear? "I see… your face.."

"Yes," Erik said, looking down at his shaking hands. "I suppose you do." After several long seconds, he suddenly commanded, "Bring me your purse, Christine."

Her brow furrowed in confusion. What? My purse? But why? Maybe she hadn't heard him right, because those were the oddest words that could come out of him at a time like this. Christine's eyes tried to focus on his hair so as not to stare at the deformity. It was hard to speak when she was looking at it. "Sorry, what?"

Erik's mind focused on one word from her question. " 'Sorry'?" That word was not what he wanted to hear, so he chose to overlook it for the current time. Again, he commanded, "Bring me your purse." He spoke the words slowly while looking into her terrified eyes.

Christine gulped uneasily. Why would he want my purse? Accidently, her eyes focused on his face again. His expression was unreadable, though perhaps that was because of the deformity. It was hard to look past it. In the end, it was her fear that caused her to obey. She walked slowly towards his desk and grabbed her purse before moving back towards his still form and handing it to him. She made sure to stay as far away from him as possible.