Timeless Love

Chapter 30

Evie's POV

Several days pass, and the whole time Erik takes care of me while I heal. Maybe crying every tear in my body wasn't a good idea in the cold weather. For some reason his Phantom persona remains, and most of the time he is colder than usual toward me. I am beyond confused, but I guess that's what I get for being in love with him.

I'm feeling much better today, but I don't want to take lessons with him until he is back to being my Erik, so I decide to fake another day until I can figure out a way to escape. I have most of the plan laid out, but I need to think of the way to get it into motion. I feel awful for thinking these things, but I need to get away from here and get back to Louise so she doesn't have to worry anymore. Plus, I really don't want to miss any more rehearsals for Phantom, that would just break my heart even more!

He walks into my room at the same time as all the other days, only today my tray contains no medicine. Damn it, he must know I'm almost all the way better!

"Good morning. Here is your breakfast, and I expect you next to my organ in precisely one hour. If you're not there, I suppose you'll have to accept the consequences. Enjoy." Great, just what I need. My plan may have to be put into action sooner than I thought.

Maybe I'll sabotage the lesson by singing terribly, or maybe I'll drop a glass and make a run for it while he goes to grab the broom and dust pan. I feel too rushed!

I zoom through my meal and shower, and find myself standing in my closet trying to figure out what to wear. I remember these beautiful dresses like I was here yesterday. I still have half an hour left, so maybe I could try a few of them on. What could be the harm?

HOLY CRAP I'VE BEEN TRYING ON DRESSES FOR 30 MINUTES. I'M GOING TO BE LATE AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE CONSEQUENCES WILL BE.

I fix the dress I have on and run out to the organ, where he is impatiently sitting and watching me run toward him.

"I'm so sorry I'm late, I just got distracted when I was trying to figure out what to wear. Can you forgive me?"

He simply turns to the organ and says, "Let's begin, shall we?" Then he starts playing, which is my cue to warm up.

He decided to start with Think of Me apparently, because he starts to play the introduction after I'm all warmed up.

This song is no longer any trouble for me, and I hit each note perfectly. I am trying to figure out what he has planned for my punishment as I sing, however, and he yells at me for being distracted.

"Evelyn," Oh great, he sounds real happy, "You need to focus. Feel the song, don't just hit the notes."

"I apologize. I'm just really in my head right now. I'll do better." Yeah, if I can. It's hard to convey emotions when you feel like yours are all out of whack.

I must have done a satisfactory job, because he seems pleased after one more run-through. When I finish, he gets up and walks away.

Alright, well. I start to worry about my punishment again, but he seems to have disappeared. I just sulk all the way to my room and shut the door. I find a huge pile of dresses on the ground and decide to pick them all up. It was quite rude of me to leave them like this, but being late may have been worse. As I pick them up I wonder what he's thinking and doing right now. Hopefully he's not too mad at me, because if he is, I could have endangered many people with my stupidity I'll never be late again, that's for sure.

When I finally finish cleaning my mess, I decide to try and figure out what to do about this whole situation. Do I stay or try to escape? If I stay I will be tormented the whole time by the Phantom and constantly worrying about following his commands. If I escape, or even attempt it, he could become unforgivably mad with me, and he could hurt the people I love. Maybe I could convince Louise to leave with John through a letter of some sort. I could ask him to accompany me to my dressing room so I could get something, then place the letter in a secret place. That may work, if he isn't upset with me.