And he loved her (Phantom of the Opera Fanfiction)

Chapter 3

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He passed the little corner where I hid.

It won't be long before he found me there.

When the distance between us had increased, I bolted upright back to the escalators heading downwards, for the ground floor.

He turned around, and I felt him lay his sight on me where I was frantically scrambling down the steps. I heard his footsteps grew louder.

Run...run...RUN! My heart thumped loudly and so quickly. Even though he was just walking, Eric was much faster than I am, and he was about to catch me. Each step he took, he strides confidently so, almost rather like a catwalk. But I had to flee away from his grasp, back to my freedom. And this little thought had inspired my legs to move faster, to quickly reach the ground floor. But from behind me I saw that familiar towering figure, rapidly closing the distance between us.

I gasped in horror as I glimpsed his dark gloved hand, just about to reach my hair.

No. I will run away from the reality this wretched man forced me into. I will escape from him.

Violently I jerked myself and lurched forward to the other escalator, the one that was heading to the higher floors of the building. In the process my arm had did an extreme twist, and the pain so acutely stung. Grasping my injured arm, I climbed up the escalator and sprinted towards the many abandoned little shops there.

The sound of footsteps got louder at every step, and my heartbeat had raced so violently. Eric was coming. Eric was about to reach me. A voice in my head boomed and vibrated so strongly in my head.

Immediately I dashed towards to the row of empty shops that stuck cramped together. I needed a hiding place, away from those terrifying eagle eyes Eric had.

"Christine." He had called out. The way he said my name, it was made sounding so exotic and sensual. But disgust wrenched in my stomach that it came out from his lips, the lips of my kidnapper.

However, from where I ran, I saw the other end of the path- a dead end. Here I was, cornered with Eric not far behind my trail.

Instinct drove me to hide myself. I dashed to the toilets, where I saw a parting of two ways: The male toilet or the female one. No one would guess I would choose the male cubicles, and so I rushed inside the toilet and closed the door as silently as I could. I did not dare to lock the door for if I had done so, it would be easy to tell which cubicle I was in. With my fingers, I gently grasped the door handle and stood on the little stool in the cubicle. I did not want Eric to see my feet nor my slippers. However, my right arm, that very limb which I sprained, groaned so angrily in the devastating hurt from the wound.

I gritted my teeth from the pain and stilled my breathing. I could not let Eric find out I was here. There were footstep sounds echoing from the other empty shops, and switching in between the abandoned stores to the pathway.

Finally I heard Eric enter the toilet. His breathing was slightly louder than before, and the heaves of air in and out surely indicated that he was angry and furious. And also extremely annoyed. In my mind I could picture the expression he would make. The amber golden eyes locking a gaze with mine, and the terrifying silent and still aura he brought with him. The expression that would certainly make me cry so fearfully and cower shakingly in fright. His anger had my skin crawl to the bone and my heart race in flights of tears before.

I stood in the very pose I made, and remained as cautious and careful. Eric walked towards the toilet cubicles. He must be staring at the doors now. I held my breath. What was going to happen now? Can nothing really escape his eyes? But then I heard something else. Something my ear longed to hear. The sound of footsteps leaving this room! A tired grin could not help but spread across my face. Freedom was here! Freedom was near! But even after ten minutes after he left from my hiding place, still I stood quietly. For all I know he might be just outside.

The minutes were long, the wait that my caution made me do was almost everlasting. But still I waited. I stood quietly, just waiting. Then my heels started to ache, and so did my limbs, especially my injured arm. But I gritted my teeth and still continued on the pose I did.

And then the minutes had finally turned to an hour. Then another hour. And another hour again. My right arm groaned and burnt so painfully now. By then, 5 hours had passed. No normal human being would be able to wait for me that long. Eric must have thought that I left the building a long time ago.

Slowly, I brought down my arms, and I started to sit down. This was it! My escape was finally successful. All my limbs has ached and burnt in exhaustion. But the wait was worth. Once I got out of the building, I could just head towards a police office. Probably the office was two streets away, but I would walk there even if I was so tired. I would walk there and be safe once again. And then I would be back to my own old life, and maybe perhaps shifted to another place to live and get another different job. And also change my name. Then Eric would never be able to find me again and the whole madness of me meeting him and the forced marriage would be nothing more but a nightmare that has ended. Ended with a sweet, happy ending like those fairytales.

Enough of the daydream. I would make it become reality. I opened the door and dragged my tired legs across and just when I was about to get out of the toilet, I saw someone standing just outside.

A masked man, his shoulders broad, his eyes now a fixed golden glare on me. ERIC?! He waited the whole period of 5 hours in the building?! I started to try and sprint away from him, but my legs were too weak and the run was reduced to a slow walk. And then my legs gave away in exhaustion. With my only good but definitely tired arm, I tried to crawl away even if I was such a pathetic sight. I tried to escape from Eric even if I was the same as a worm that could not move.

My breathing was loud and heavy, as I heaved in and out so breathlessly.

The sound of footsteps became louder. He was gaining on me.

No. This can't be true. All the hopes, the thoughts I had about starting my life renewed as another person. They were all destroyed, all gone and perished forever. Eric had waited for me for five hours straight. FIVE LONG BREATHTAKING HOURS! And he was going to seize me back into his grasp. Lock me away from the rest of the world like before, no doubt.

No. I would rather die. Die and be gone, than be with him. All he ever did was spread fear into me, made me go insane. And yet he still claimed he loved me. But those were just words, and words could always be nothing more but a white lie.

I slung my good arm to the railing, then my whole body. Right here, I was on the third floor. I could just give in all my weight into the pulling gravity, and that would be it. I would be brought to lovely Death, and be separated forever from that Eric.

"Christine! NO!" Eric yelled. Wait, this shout was not of anger. Was there actually a hint of fear in his voice? Fear for my safety?

But before I could react, I felt his arms snake around me and pull me in a jerk away from the railings. My body fell weakly towards his chest, and warmth enveloped my whole being. I tried to struggle, to break free from him, but there was no energy in me that I could grasp. I just lay back obediently into his arms and fell back into darkness.