The Night Will Only Know

A Rooftop in Paris

Erik's POV

I meet Antoinette with the screams of frightened ballerinas still echoing down the hall. She was exiting the primadonna's room where Christine was getting ready.

"What happened?" Her eyes were panicked, 

"A disaster beyond their imagination." I replied darkly, she didn't press any further and let me slip into Christine's room. Christine timidly stepped towards me,

"What is the screaming about." I hushed her,

"I'll explain later, but meet me on the roof in two minutes, alone." She bit her lip and looked around me to the door. Looking back to me, she set her jaw and nodded.

"I'll try, what if Raoul comes to call on me, I m-?" I quickly place a finger on her lips and glance anxiously over my shoulder, her nervousness sets me on edge. She stops talking instantly,

"Go now." My voice a raw whisper. I silently slip to the mirror and push it open as quietly as I could. 

"You'll meet me there. Promise?" Her voice urgent. I nod and slip down the hallway.

__________________________

There are two ways to the rooftop of the Opera House. The maintenance stairwell and the attic window. Many opera workers knew about the attic, but almost no one knew that the window had the ability to open.

I paced anxiously around the rooftop. The view was majestic, the crisp autumn leaves shone under the first frost, their surfaces gleaming in the star and lamplight. The Seine snaked through the heart of Paris a few blocks away, mirroring the moon's soft light. I heard the door behind me creak open, I looked back. Christine took a few tentative steps out into the cold, shutting the door behind her.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" Her voice soft as she came to my side. I smiled down at her when she looked up at me, her own warm smile answering mine. The tender moment lasted for a second until she looked away,

"Why did you want to see me?" She pulled her cloak tighter, shivering. I took off my cloak and slipped it over her shoulders. I stepped back, I didn't want to be touching her, tainting her when I told her the news.

"Joesph Bouquet-" I choked, "...he's....he's dead." Her face became inquisitive, until it dawned on her a moment later. Her voice became as crisp and cold as the night air.

"What happened?" Her tone hurt me even more, drove that splinter of guilt deeper.

"He saw me on the catwalks and he caught up to me. He tackled me and began to strangle me, I was ready to die, Christine. I wouldn't care if he killed me, I had always lived the role of the monster. The outcast, and I was tired of running and hiding. Just as I began to see angels Christine, something ignited in me that told me I had to live. So I fought back and I-I-" I took a shuddering breath, "I killed him." Christine stared blankly at the Seine,

"What made you live?" She asked, ignoring the fact that she was standing next to a murderer. I cleared my throat,

"You did." Her star-filled eyes turned to me, "I had to live, for you." Christine bite her lip again. Her eyes searching mine, I felt myself being laid bare by her gaze. I finally looked away, unable to bear the weight of her blue eyes. 

"We are all wear masks." Christine said, I looked back to her confused. She traced the seam of my cloak. "You must wear one of a monster. I must wear the mask of a perfect chorus girl afraid out of my wits of you, it comes with loving the impossible I suppose." She smiles a sad, tiny smile and accepts my out-stretched hand. We sit on the base of a statue depicting the god Apollo and his lyre.

"What's impossible?" I ask, shifting closer. Here I was, a clueless boy who was clinging to every word that left her lips.

"Loving y-" The maintenance door creaked open,

"Christine darling?" I stifled a growl, it was the Vicomte. Christine sucked in a breath, her eyes telling me to flee. I stood and climbed through the tangled mess of marble limbs, hoping the shadows would be my friends. Raoul came around the side of the statue, he tenderly touched Christine's arm.

"My dear, it's freezing up here, have my clo-" He stopped, his eyes narrowing. He stared at my cloak that Christine wore,

"Where did you get this?"

"I grabbed it from the costume rack on my way up. I had to clear my head, I should've told you. I had to calm myself down, the Phantom of the Opera frightened me."

Raoul chuckled,

"He is nothing more than a fable, my dear. A silly stage hand looking for attention." 

Christine chuckled as well, except forcefully. Raoul said, "I am excited to announce our engagement, perhaps tomorrow." Christine's eyes went as big as saucers, I inhaled sharply. Engagement? 

"It seems so soon though...darling." She grimaced at the word. 

"Its never too soon for two people in love." Raoul said, grabbing her shoulders, "You know how much your father would have wanted this." At this argument, the Christine I knew seemed to crumble before my eyes. She nodded, a frown quickly replaced by a fake smile.

"Of course." She placed a peck on his cheek to which Raoul kissed her back, on the lips. Christine drew back quickly and let out an uneasy laugh, 

"May I be left alone for awhile Raoul? The stars always make me feel closer to my mother and my father." He was completely charmed,

"Of course my love." He kissed her hand and bid her goodnight. I waited a full minute after the door closed behind Raoul. Watching Christine gently pick up the smashed rose and my now cold cloak, she slipped over her shoulders. 

"I'm sorry." She whispered, a great deal of sadness burdening her voice. I stepped out of the cold marble,

"You have nothing to apologize for." I said, coming up behind her, she turned to face me. We stood in silence.

"My mother always used to show me the constellations," She pointed above us, "That's Andromeda and Perseus is over there." She said pointing a ways over, "The cursed lovers, kind of like you and me." I watched her face in wonder, the way it lit up when she talked about the stars was captivating. I could have listened to her talk on for hours about the beauty of the stars, but one question gnawed at my attention.

"Engagement?" That one word shattered the moment, she looked down embarrassed.

"I didn't have a choice, my father made me promise to marry Raoul because he thought Raoul would be a good man, however Raoul hasn't changed for the better." She looked at me, her eyes wide and pleading. 

"I guess that means I only get one shot at this." I pulled her close and kissed her with more passion than all the kisses Raoul would give her combined. I kissed her with the beauty of her own galaxies, stars, and song. When I withdrew, we were both out of breath and flustered. We looked into each other eyes and together we surrendered to that sweet torture of being with someone you could never have.

"Promise me." She whispered, breathless. I cut her off with my lips, I kissed her jawline, down her throat, gently sucking her neck. She moaned, her hands digging into my back.

"Promise you what, mon ange?" I replied, just as breathless, returning my attention to her neck.

"Promise me-" She tilted her head back and sighed as I nipped at her skin. "Promise me that no one will ever know." I kissed my way back up her throat, pausing on her lips.

"The night will only know, the stars and us will hold this secret forever." I whispered into her mouth, and with those words, I had sealed our fate as we whispered things in the dark on a rooftop of Paris.