Between Mirrors and Roses (A Phantom of the Opera Fanfiction) ✓

27: Christine Runs for Her Life

Christine

We could hear Erik yell my name during the first few minutes that we were in the tunnels. It was a terrible sound, but it got fainter and fainter until it stopped altogether.

Raoul forced me along, holding me almost in front of him so I could say which way to go. I couldn't lead him awry, or I would die as well, caught in his iron grip, and I wasn't quite ready to sacrifice us both yet—though it might come to it.

"What are you going to do to me?" I asked.

Raoul glanced at me contemptuously. "Well I'm certainly not going to marry you," he said, and my eyes went wide. "I think you've made it abundantly clear that you don't care for me in the slightest."

I had to try something. "Oh, but Raoul," I said in as smooth a voice as I could muster, "in time, I will forget him. It was you I loved first and you I'll love again if you let me."

He scoffed. "It was a good attempt," he said. "I applaud you."

I started struggling again, and we were forced to halt.

Raoul grabbed my other arm and shoved me into the wall. The strength with which he pinned me to the stone was disheartening.

I turned my face, trying to get as far away from him as possible. His hands, his domineering presence, and the cruel sneer on his face disgusted me.

"I have been patient with you," he snarled. "Begging again and again for your attention. And now I learn that all this time, you've been the Phantom's whore!"

I struggled vainly against his grip. There was barely any room to move in the dark passage, and I felt the oppressive weight of Raoul and the tunnel walls closing in on me.

Raoul continued his rant. "You think you are so high and mighty, but you're just a lowly opera tramp. No one cares about you; no one will remember you. I offered you the chance to be a Vicomtesse, and you refused! Who do you think you are?"

"Erik!" I screamed, knowing he couldn't help me.

Raoul's breath became ragged, and his eyes darted around furtively. His gaze raked over my body, possessive and vulgar. "I am not some toy for you to play with and then cast aside at your will."

"No," I said. "You are a brute who attacks defenseless women in the dark."

Raoul smacked me across the face, and I fell to the ground, released from his grip. I scrambled to my feet, ignoring my stinging cheek, and took off into the tunnels before he could grab me again.

I knew I couldn't outrun him for long. Where to go? My breath caught in my throat and I sobbed. No, I couldn't cry, I had to think. I was running out of time. I didn't know what Raoul would do when he caught me, but it couldn't be good. My only option was to take a risk.

I turned a corner and ran toward the path that had almost been my doom weeks ago. Now, it might save me. I could hear Raoul's heavy footsteps approaching, and fear spurred me on faster than I had ever run in my life.

I prayed to God that the step would hold me like Erik thought it would. Otherwise, I was done for. But I was done for anyway; I couldn't outrun Raoul for much longer. If he caught me, he wouldn't leave me alive, and who knew what he'd do to me first to mend his wounded pride?

The anticipated fork arrived, and I took the dangerous path instead of the safe one. I'm a cloud, I thought. A bird. A feather. I'm weightless, and the trap won't break for me. I stepped as lightly as possible as I ran, thinking as many light thoughts I could and praying with all my heart... then I was beyond the first step, and I skidded to a stop in safety.