The Temptations Of Christine Daae

She had to get out of there, be away from these people.

Pushing the two doors open, the cool night air kissed her skin.

Breathing it in, she puffed out a blissful and peaceful sigh from her lips.

Shutting her eyes, a image from the past soon appeared in her memories.

It was of a man that is not her husband because he did not wear a mask.

She reopened her eyes, her body shaking like a leaf of how very real he still was to her.

It had been several months if not a year since Christine Daae left Erik to be with Raoul Da Changy.

Was it the right decison? At first, yes. She deeply loved Raoul ever since childhood, when he called her Little Lotte.

Their wedding was a small event in the outskirts of Paris, a short and brief kiss until they departed to Itay for a new life.

Nearly every night, he would take her body and make love to her until he was tired to do no more. For her, it was a living nightmare.

At times, he would gentle and ever so loving like the first time they coupled. But now, it was rougher and demanded more out of her.

She would lay there, silently crying, her body aching, staring at the celing until her eyes grew heavy and fell in a deep slumber.

Raoul soon got annoyed that Christine wasn't with child by now, it angered him so that he began drinking and didn't stop until he was very drunk.

The arugements between them frightened the servents dearly that some quit that day without telling their masters while others carried on working.

Thinking back on that decison long ago, she started to wonder if she did make the right choice after all. She wasn't happy, everyone could tell.

Even the people in this dinner party she and Raoul were at, complained at her glum face and lack of mingling to anyone which was unspoken for.

He gave out the usual excuses "Oh, my wife's tired. Italian lifestyle isn't her forte, she misses Paris." Some argeed, others did not which angered Raoul.

After standing for a whole hour while he chatted to these people he somehow knew them like they were family, Christine had enough of their company.

Standing alone outside with only the eerie glow of a full moon, Christine rubbed her arms up and down furiously.

The image of Erik, wrapping his long and strong arms across her waist, was chilling every single part of her body.

"Oh God, please fade away!" She whimpered, igorning the stinging prickles of tears forming in her brown eyes.

"Why can't I be free from this man?" Christine yelled out, head up high facing the clear night sky above her.

"Because he can't ever be free from you." Replied a familer voice. She gasped, lowering her head instanly.

"Where are you? Show yourself!" She pleaded, her eyes searching all around her but there wasn't a shadow or a figure to be seen.

"No Christine, I will not show myself to you. You already know what I look like, don't you?" He asked in a uneven tone of voice.

"Yes but isn't it better to speak to someone face to face?" She replied, again igorning the sudden return of tears that decided to fall down her cheeks.

Hearing him breathe out a long sigh spun Christine around to discover a dark shape just a few meters from where she was standing.

"How did you know I was here?" She asked, cautiously walking closer to the shape hoping that it wouldn't move or disappear.

"That is a secret I will never tell to anyone, especially you." He replied, softly. Those words send shivers rushing up and down her spine like tiny spiders.

"Then, step out of the darkness, Erik." Christine demanded, breathlessly. There was not a single moment or pause for he to appear before her eyes.

Looking gaunt and black rings under those magical orbs, it didn't take away the confidence and charsmia Erik oozed out him without fail. Not even her heart dared to beat again.

Wearing a black mask that bought back that electrfiying memory of Don Juan, his white plain shirt was loose on him and his pants were barely holding because of his skinny body.

After a few minutes of silence and a careful stare of the man who has haunted her for so long, Christine slowly rose her shaky hand to caress his hollow cheek. He shut his eyes.

"Oh Christine..." He sighed sadly, the same tone he used from before. "Oh Erik..." She replied, barely a whisper. Erik took her other hand that hung uselessly by her thigh and placed it to where his heart was.

"Feel it, my love. It hardly beats, do you know why?" He asks, reopening his eyes to burn into her own. "It was because of me, I chose the wrong man. But I can not throw away my marriage." She replied.

He deeply swallowed this information in, it was too late to spirit Christine away now. But was it? "Mrs Da Changy? Where are you?" Cried out a woman's voice that was dangerously close to the pair.

"I got to go, Erik. Please let me go." She pleaded. He didn't utter a answer, he simply released his hold on her and stepped back in the darkess as the woman came to find Christine.

"Thank goodness I found you, your husband was wondering where you went." She said, placing her hand on her pacing heart. "Not to worry, I just needed some air." She replied with a fake smile.

Before she followed the woman who had a head start, Christine turned around to see a pair of beautiful eyes burning back at her. "I'm so sorry, Erik." She whispered, then walked away.

The agony in Erik's already painful heart doubled to a point that it could easily break, he had to see her again. To whisk her away from this false life, to start again with the man she really did love.

Watching her disappear back inside the building, he began to wander through the never ending darkness with only the moon's glow showing him the way out of this lonely place.

Author's Note: Mmm, So What Do You Think?