Family Secrets (A Phantom of the Opera Fan Fiction)

Chapter 14

*Hey guys. . . so i know this has been a long time coming, and I am very sorry , but its a long chapter, so thats good right? Like always I have alot of fun writing this chapter and might I just say it took awhile to get it just right, lost of scraches and rewritting and rewording. Hope you Like it!

Please comment and vote:)*

Erik P.O.V

It was a better day that usual. I had the opera house back under my control, had my salary back, 30 thousand francs a year. I might ask for a raise later on, I thought to myself, sitting at my organ playing Bach's toccata and fugue in d minor. 30 thousand francs might have been a great sum 30 years ago, but now . . . I would have to wait and see.

Getting the money was no easy feet. M. Fleur defiantly did not believe in ghosts, he had made that perfectly clear, even if there was a waver in his voice as he spoke. Even so, I made no mistake in showing him how ghostly I could be. I won't go into detail but pretty soon he was very happily leaving the money for me to collect. Leaving the money right next to the portrait in which I hid, he turned to leave. Before he had time to turn back, I snuck my hand through a panel and snuck the money away. Seeing this M. Fleur Tripped over his own feet trying to get away. Finishing the piece, I chuckled to myself remembering his face.

I had everything that I could want, materially. I managed to clean up my home, so that everything was how I left it. Yes, the organ needed retuning but I expected that, being gone for so long. My boat needed some work done, a new coat of paint and such but nothing too bad. My final duty was cleaning the rooms of dust and grime, the parlour, my room, the mirror room, but then I came to Christine's room. I left it for last, I couldn't bare to enter that room again. i thought that the longer I put it off the less it would hurt but I had to go in, to clean the room and prepare it for Aria.

I entered slowly, taking in the smell of a room that was left to the wearing of time. it was dark and gloomy, even after I turned the gas lamp on. As soon as i turned the light up, my eyes fell on the portrait of my angel, but I turned away unable to look upon it. The canopy bed on the far wall sat, looking deflated from lack of use, the curtains, half falling off of the hangings above. The white silk bed dressings I got custom ordered from Italy were yellowed from time and dust. The wallpaper was peeled away leaving ugly patches of the wood underneath. The once beautiful mahogany wardrobe with carvings done by an artist in Sweden, was now infested by spiders and other insects.

I walked quickly to the wardrobe and flung the boors open, sending a cloud of dust blowing in my face. There, full of moth holes, the colourful pile of clothing I bought for Christine before I brought her down here, most of which she never wore. With a sigh I wrapped my arms around the pile of dresses and coats and pulled; The hanging rack came off with the clothing and fell, clattering to the floor. I took the pile and layed then in the fire place, I looked at the pile of my beloved angels clothing laying in the opening, ready to be set a blaze. If I did this, I knew it would help me let go of Christine and put all my focus on her granddaughter. I stuck my long, thin hand into my pocket, searching for a matchbook. Striking a match, I felt the warmth of the tiny flame warm my ice cold hands, the red-orange flame lighting the area around.

With a deep breath i threw the small flame onto the pile of cloth. Soon the heap was glowing in flames, and it felt good. It felt like I was finally getting a weight off my shoulders from 30 years of carrying it around. With lighter steps, i made my way back into the room to finish my work.

Walking into the room, I stopped as my eyes rested on the portrait of Christine. This was the one thing in the room that looked as it did the day i left. Beautiful, flowing blond hair and the eyes that used to stare around her dressing room as her angel sang to her. Those beautiful, beautiful eyes!