Your Voice

Chapter 2

I'm really glad you guys enjoyed my first chapter! Thank you so much to the_fantasy_writer who was the inspiration for this fic, and you should check out her amazing works. Enjoy this chapter!

Two months later

Christine

I sat on my bed brushing my hair for what I think was the seventh time. Raoul, my fiancé, was probably at a bar again, drinking his life away. We haven't slept together neither have we moved in with each other. To replace the money wasted on Raoul's alcohol and his nights out - his multiple 'bachelor parties' - I've been singing more, although I've been repeating the same aria over and over again, since the opera house's composer has vanished. Everyone, dancers, managers, those in charge of the set, costume designers, thinks of it as good riddance. Little did they know of the horrible nights I spent crying over him, over my angel of music. It was as if someone had torn a piece out of me, and I don't know how long I can take it anymore. Try to deny it, try to forget? Impossible. He comes to me in dreams. Sometimes I hear his gorgeous voice ringing in the room, but wake up to the cruel silence and the emptiness of my heart.

Why did I agree to marry Raoul? Being a celebrity, I guess I wanted to maintain my high class reputation, and I would also be sent to jail if anyone found me with the masked culprit behind the fire that consumed the Opera Populaire. I tried being logical, try to change my view on it all. I forced myself to follow everyone's beliefs: he was a murderer and a criminal. I sang it right in front of Erik's face...
"It's in your soul that the true distortion lies..."
But there's a stronger side of my heart that constantly reminds me of his troubled past, and tells me to consider his abuse. He was living in a cage at a freak show, was whipped and jeered at multiple times daily. His own mother left him because of that face. He had no choice but to murder his way to freedom. He grew up to be an amazing composer, artist, architect, but was still shunned and despised by the world. Of course he's violent and harsh! They fail to realize all he needs is love, love will calm him down. He fell in love with me... and I had no choice but to deny his heart...

I breathed in and look into the full length mirror, half-expecting Erik to be on the other side. Instead I see my wedding dress on a mannequin. It reminded me that my wedding, the event that I dreaded for so long, was going to take place when the sun rose the next morning. I had my gown made to look slightly like my nightdress - the lace lining and long flowing sleeves - because it reminded me of those nights I sat on my bed letting him sing me to sleep...

My heart won over my mind. I threw the brush across the room in frustration and hurt. Panting, I rushed over to the bottom drawer of my vanity with a key. I violently unlocked it, and carefully pulled out the wad of sheet music out. My fingers traced the notes and the lyrics which were in his handwriting. I reread the beautiful words, which sounds as if he wrote the song especially to instruct me to remember him.

"Think of me
Think of me fondly
When we've said goodbye
Remember me
Once in a while please promise me you'll try
When you find that once again you long
to take your heart back and be free
If you ever find a moment spare a thought for me"

I finished the song, a tear rolling down my cheek. I felt an ache in my chest, a sharp sting that had been there ever since I stepped out of his hideout.

Without a thought, without a why, I grabbed my cloak and went out the door.
"Where are you going?" I jumped as heard someone behind me speak in a groggy voice.
"Oh, Meg, it's you... I'm just going to get some things I left in my room at the Opera House." She looks at me suspicously, but heads back to bed anyway.

I climb into the carriage after handing a few coins to the driver. Crazily, I couldn't help but hope he was still there, sitting at the piano, creating beautiful melodies. I closed my eyes, picturing him... without his mask.