Love Will Continue - Sequel to Phantom Child

19. Finale

*takes a deep breath* This time there really might be some typos, because I wasn't able to read this particular chapter as many times as the other ones. It's too much😅... And yes, it is at the same time a warning not to read it on the bus like some people have decided to do last time... *takes another deep breath* 🙏 Okay, let's go...

"Ah, Christine!
My Christine!
What a triumph you gave me tonight!"

I heard Erik's voice, slowly growing from stunned to powerful and confident just before I laid my hand on the doorknob of Christine's dressing room

"My Christine!
All the dark, silent years now set right!
Ah, Christine!"

"The song was beautiful!" Christine replied, still a bit shaken by her own success, just like it was her first time on stage again.

"It sounded beautiful!
Every note, every word.
And it felt beautiful!
And I felt beautiful!"

I lingered before the door, listening to their miraculous harmony. I felt no shame for eavesdropping this time though.

"Lost in the music once more,
Feeling it rise up and soar,
alive once again!"

Subsequently came silence. I smiled, leaning my head on the wood. After a moment, the fact that the only sounds were Erik's footsteps became a bit suspicious, so I quietly opened the door and peeked inside.

"My dearest wife..."

Christine was holding a note in her hands and hesitantly reading it's contents. I frowned.

"Little Lotte, I beg you forgive me..."

"Raoul, no!" She added, having read just the first line.

I looked at Erik and saw his golden gaze was set on me as well. It lasted no more than a second and we quickly went back to observing Christine as she was reading:

"Little Lotte,
Ah, what fools we once were...
Long ago,
In our youth
In Paris,
at the opera house.

Romantic idiots...
Those two people are gone.

Now I must go, our choices are made.
The opera is done, the last notes have been played.
May your Angel of Music watch over you now,
And give you what I wish I gave you somehow...

Yours in regret...
Raoul."

I slowly stepped inside, still processing what we had just heard. It seemed like both me and Erik were seeking appropriate words to put down our thoughts in. But before any of us could make a sound, Christine spoke up.

"Gustave..."

"What is it?" Erik asked, confused.

"Gustave!" Christine repeated.

"What's wrong?" Erik asked, visibly already infected by Christine's rising panic.

Gustave wasn't in the room and him and Christine had agreed to meet here and spend time together. Why wasn't he waiting for her?

"He should be here. He was meant to be here!"

With one stride, Erik was on the other side of the room, looking straight into my eyes. For the first time, his half face revealed fear. My own expression was very much resembling his. Then an idea struck me and it seemed as though it was telepathically transported into his brain as well.

"It's that idiot, Raoul
Why, I'll kill that drunken fool!
That he dare take this child
A child that isn't his!"

Erik shouted, pacing the floor like mad. Gustave was gone and it was now our only concern, also his.