Through Music We Thrive

IV - Erik

I don't know why I went to her room. Initially it was because of her playing, it was so loud and violent and threatening. Yet I do not know why I entered the room or touched her. When she dropped her bow a look of pure horror crossed her face as she froze in her seat.

For a moment I had thought she was afraid of me but it was not fear of me. It was fear for her bow. She did not ask who I was or why I was there. She asked for her bow.

I do not know why I returned it to her. I do not know why I answered her questions or asked my own. Yet when she asked to touch my face a cold fear swept in and I thought of Christine. How she pulled away in fear after stealing my mask.

Without me knowing my body leaned towards her waiting hands and slender fingers. She was so gentle touching me that it was almost as if she wasn't touching me at all. She drifted her fingers over my mask, my face and my jaw before pulling away with a smile. Unafraid. Not in the slightest bit curious at what was under my mask.

And when she asked for my name... I told her. I hadn't even told Christine my name. She only saw me as the Phantom or her Angel of Music.

"And yours? What is your name?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"My name is of no significance to you sir. Hardly important. You had saved me and I wished to know the name of my rescuer. I am simply an insignificant blind musician." She said with a laugh. "Surely I'm of no interest."

"I would like to know who it was I rescued." I said smoothly.

She shook her head with a small smile. "Cecilia." She said. "My name is Cecilia."

I thought on her name for a moment. "Latin for blind is it not?" I ask.

She nodded. "Although Madam Giry named me after the patron saint of musicians. Saint Cecilia."

I hummed. "Why do you keep your eyes shut?" I asked.

"They unsettle people. People gasp in fright and seem to shift away whenever I open them." She says slowly.

"May I see them?" She sat stiffly and seemed to think for a moment before sighing quietly.

She opened her eyes to reveal two beautiful orbs of green and brown and blue. I reached a hand and tipped her face to the light to get a better look. "People gasp in shock at how beautiful your eyes are." I mutter.