The Lady Or the Beauty

Blood

Christine POV

I wake to around 6:00 in the morning. Erik is still fast asleep. I slip out of his embrace and shiver as the cold in the room hits me. They floor is cold underneath my bare feet. I walk to Erik's piano. It's beautiful. I place my fingers on the keys and I try to play and sing quietly so Erik wouldn't hear.

Donde lieta uscì  
al tuo grido d'amore, 
torna sola Mimi 
al solitario nido. 
Ritorna un'altra volta 
a intesser finti fior.                                                                                                     Addio, senza rancor                                                                                             Ascolta, ascolta.    

Le poche robe aduna

che lasciai sparse.
Nel mio cassetto
stan chiusi quel cerchietto d'or
e il libro di preghiere.
Involgi tutto quanto in un grembiale
e manderò il portiere...
Bada, sotto il guanciale
c'è la cuffietta rosa.
Se vuoi serbarla a ricordo d'amor!                                                                       Addio, senza rancor...

By the time I'm finished, tears are running down my face. It's a song about loss and love. Just then, I feel nauseous. Great. Now's the time to have morning sickness. I race to the bathroom, vomiting my stomach out. I sit there for about 5 minutes and I feel someone pull my hair back. It's Erik.

        "I'm sorry I didn't mean to wake you-" I keep vomiting.

        "No, I was already awake...That song was beautiful..." He puts his hand on my back and supports it. I blush. He wasn't supposed to hear me singing. My voice is so untrained now. Finally the vomiting stops and I lean back in Erik's arms. He wipes the vomit off of my face and kisses me full on the lips. How could he do that right after I vomited?

        "Christine...I have to go to Phantasma today. I will be back by supper." He pulls me off the floor.

        "Alright. I'll keep myself occupied..."

        "Of course you will...you women are so damn curious. I don't understand it!" He pretends to try and figure it out. I laugh and kiss him.

        "It's what makes us special..." I slyly grin. We walk to the front door.

        "Goodbye my angel." He grabs a cloak and opens the door.

        "Goodbye! I love you!" I call after him.

        "I love you more than you will ever know." He leaves and the house is silent again. I go back to mine and Erik's room and sit down on the bed. That's when I start to have a coughing fit. I grab Erik's handkerchief and cover my mouth. That's when I taste a metalic taste in my mouth. I remove the handkerchief and find blood on it. No...It can't be what I think it is. Maybe I cut something in my mouth? I didn't feel any pain in mouth... I just felt a deep pain in my chest. No, no, no, no. I couldn't bring to myself to believe I had tuberculosis. This wasn't happening...I'll just keep it on the down low...I mean I couldn't go to the doctor, because there is no cure yet...I couldn't tell Erik, because he would freak out and blame himself. I start crying. Why me? Why was it always me that everything bad happened to? I know I promised not to keep secrets from Erik, but this would have to be one. I just stare at the blood on the handkerchief. My blood. The blood that proclaimed my doom. No one who has had tuberculosis has ever survived. Some longer than others. But they all met their Maker in less than a year. That was my destiny. To die.

Hey y'all!!!! I bet you are gonna freak out now...sorry...The song was Donde Lieta Usci from the opera La Boheme...I felt it was appropriate because in the song, the girl, Mimi is very ill and about to die and she is telling her lover to go and remember her. It's a sad song :(  The story is also going to go downhill from here. We promise it wont just be tragedy. Every tragedy has a comedy relief, so we will keep trying to make you laugh and enjoy the chapters enough that you will vote and comment!!!