Let Your Fantasies Unwind

Chapter 10

After our odd conversation, we had the early supper, as the Phantom said, about two hours later. It was quiet, not wanting to ruin whatever is left between us, or if we had something to ask, we were too shy to speak up.

I go back to my room, and just roll up in the blankets. I put a pillow on top of my head, and lay there for a while before there's a knock at the door. Footsteps approach where my head is.

"Are you alright?" he asks, in a quiet voice, almost like a whisper.

"Still a little scared, I guess."

"From earlier?"

"Yeah."

He nods. "I'm sorry. I was just dealing with some...business."

I don't reply, and it apparently strikes as odd to the Phantom, because then he asks, "You miss your home terribly, don't you?"

I nod. "It's not that I'm not enjoying my time here. I am enjoying my time here, it's just...I wish I can see them again." I look at him.

A little spark of something is in his eyes before he hides it. "...I am...sorry for you."

"Don't. I'm sorry for you."

"But why?"

"I know you hide your face..." I trail off because his face turns sour. "But I've always wondered how it turned out that way."

"Would you want to see it?"

"So I can understand why you hide it, I guess. But I'm more interested in the story behind it."

"A birth defect or something, I've told you before."

"Obviously I've forgotten." My lips curl into a small smile. "A sign of a genius."

He smiles and ruffles my hair, and then stands up. "I was thinking about taking you outside, you so can run in the streets, socialise a little, and maybe even show you more to Paris."

I nearly choke on the spit I was swallowing. "Wait-outside?"

"Yes. I can tell you're getting a little restless. Plus, you're just about out of things to clean, for now." He clears his throat. "Get dressed in the clothes I got you the other day. You'd be warmer. I'll give you something else you can borrow, so your 'jacket' won't get odd stares." He stands for several seconds, and then slowly, and in an awkward manner, pats my head, and exits the room.

I slowly crawl out of bed and get dressed in the pants and dress shirt I got a few days ago. I put on a paddy hat, some gloves, my shoes, and go out to the living room to wait for Erik. I wait maybe ten seconds before something is thrown on my back. It's another cloak, but smaller, fitted to me. Erik appears in my vision and smiles.

"I noticed that whenever you had my cloak for a few minutes, you were enjoying it. I thought I'd make you one, so you won't steal mine."

"That probably won't change. I'd probably want to take yours because..." I stop myself.

"Because?"

I shake my head. "We're going outside?"

"Ah! Yes! This way." He leads me out the front door, closes it behind me, and helps me onto the boat.

I cling to myself, and try not to think about the water below.

'Everything is okay. There's nothing there. No one's there, it's just water. Just water.'

"What are you mumbling about?"

'Oops.' I take a shaky breath. "I have a small fear of bodies of water, that isn't a tub full of it."