Of Masks And Roses

The Cemetery Part 2

Silence fell around us as Christine finished singing, the snow falling around us softly. Flakes landed upon my face as I lay there, leaning against the gravestone Erik left me on. My heart pounded in my chest as I listened around for him, trying to flex my fingers and toes and wake up my body. My breathing was labored as my eyes darted around, looking for a hit of black that showed that Erik, Raoul, or Christine was near, but to no avail. I was on my own.

'I have to get up and stop him from doing something stupid,' I thought to myself, 'I have to move! Move!'

"Wandering child, so lost, so helpless," I heard Erik begin, his voice echoing around me like bells.

"Yearning for my guidance."

'Ah, shit,' I thought to myself, my hands and legs beginning to tingle, 'Here we go.'

"Angel or father, friend or Phantom,

Who is it there, staring?" Christine's voice warbled, sounding nervous yet hopeful that there was some hope that her Father or Angel was still there for her.

"Have you forgotten your Angel?"

"Angel, oh speak, what endless longings,

Echo in this whisper?"

I grunted in effort, finally feeling my legs and arms begin to move. Snow was falling into my eyes, and the cold was seeping into my skin. My teeth began to rattle from the chill as I blinked away the snow from my lashes.

"Ah, come on," I whispered to myself, "Get up! I swear to god, once I get my hands on him I'm going to kill him. If Raoul doesn't get to him first." I chuckled, straining myself to turn over in the snow.

"Too long you've wandered in winter," Erik continued,

"Far from my fathering gaze."

I lifted myself up onto my elbows, my arms shaking but slowly gaining its strength back as I braced myself against a gravestone. Using it against my weight I pulled myself up to my knees and peered over the edge of the rough granite. I spotted Christine standing at the steps of her Fathers grave, her bouquet of red roses forgotten at the edge of the stairs. She was slowly making her way to the opening gates of her fathers crypt, and my blood ran cold at the sight.

"Wildly my mind beats against you," she continued, her head tilted.

"You resist,

Yet your soul obeys!"

"Yet the soul obeys!"

"Christine, wait." I whispered, trying to stand up, but with my wobbling legs and the snow beneath me my foot slipped. I cried out softly as my knee scraped hard against the granite, ripping the hem of my dress. I took deep breaths and held my throbbing knee in my hands, watching as blood appeared from under my dress as it ran down my leg and into the snow.

"Ah, shit." I muttered, putting pressure on it to stop the bleeding.

"Angel of Music I denied you!"

"Angel of Music you denied me!"

"Turning from true beauty!"

"Turning from true beauty!"

I glanced up from the blood on the snow and at Christine. Her face was full of wonder and she neared closer and closer to the gate. I took a deep breath and bracing myself against the grave I was next to I shakily stood up, leaning my weight against it.

"Angel of Music, my protector,"

"Angel of Music, do not shun me,"

"Come to me, strange Angel!"