Twisted Every Way

Chapter 19~ Remembering

~Paige's POV~

I stared into his eyes.

"Erik? I thought you dead. The fire... You never came and found me." He looked down. "I expected you to come as soon as I left. I waited, but you never turned up. I had to move on." I looked at Mia who was looking at me in a confused manner. She had no idea what was going on.

Erik turned his gaze onto Mia as well. His eyes softened but had a glint of sadness in them.

"She looks just like you." Tears welled up in my eyes. For some reason, I felt really guilty. Seeing Erik again brought back so many memories that I had tried so hard to forget. Maybe if I had waited longer for Erik to come, I would be with him instead of Alexander.

Speaking of Alexander, his face was scrunched up. I could tell he was fuming that Erik was here, still obviously alive, and that made me angry. All of these old memories had caused me to remember that Alexander had tried to kill Erik by causing the fire. Luckily, Erik was still alive, but all of those innocent people who had just wanted to watch the new opera had died too.

"You killed them," I croaked to Alexander, my voice braking. "All of those people. I can't believe it has taken five years to remember that." Alexander growled and grabbed Mia's hand.

"Come on Mia, Paige. We're going home." He put his hand on my back and guides me forward, but before we left he stopped right in front of Erik.

"I suggest Monsieur," he hissed quietly, "you stay away from my family. You don't have a chance anymore. Why don't you go back to living underground and save everyone from having to see your monstrous face," and with that, Alexander pulled us away and we walked home.

Once we were inside, I took off Mia's coat and she ran off upstairs to play. Alexander had stormed off to his study so I decided to make some tea.

I filled up the brass kettle and put it over the fire. As the water started to boil, I heard smashing sound. Alexander come in and grabbed a glass from the cabinet. I turned around and he went back into his study. Why did he need a glass?

I followed him back into the study and there was glass shards covering the floor. I looked at Alexander who was pouring rum into his glass and downing the whole thing. He then went to drink from the bottle before I took it off of him.

"What are you doing? You haven't had a sip of alcohol for nearly five years!" He snatched the bottle back, dropping his glass in the process. It fell to the floor and immediately shattered, glass flying everywhere. Alexander took one look at it, shrugged and went back to his drink.

I went back into the kitchen, grabbed a dustpan and brush and returned to Alexander's study. I got on my knees and began brushing up the broken glass. Alexander was sitting in his chair, drinking the remaining rum that was in the alcohol bottle. Tears were welling up in my eyes. He hadn't drunk since we were told we were going to be parents. I knew what alcohol did to him; how fast it affected him. I knew that he was drunk already and I didn't want to anger him in any way, so I kept quiet after that.

Once I had cleaned up all the glass, with Alexander watching me from his desk chair, I stood up, brushed off my dress and began to walk out of the study. Before I could leave completely, Alexander yelled, "Leave me alone tonight!" I nodded and closed the door behind me. Once I was away from Alexander's glassy eyes, I slumped onto the floor and let all my tears flow free. Why had Erik showed up in the marketplace? Why couldn't it have just been me who went and saw him? Why did Alexander have to turn to the drink again?

After about ten minutes of crying, I got up and went into the kitchen to put the dustpan and brush away. The kettle was boiled and so I made some tea, put it on a tray and placed it outside Alexander's office. I grabbed Mia a glass of water and took it upstairs. Once I reached Mia's room, I knocked on her door. I heard her soft giggle and I opened the door. She was hiding under her blanket on her bed, laughing.