All I Ask of You

Chapter 29

When I made it home to Erik, he was in shambles. Madame Giry was holding him in her arms trying to comfort him, but he was inconsolable.

"What's happened?" I asked, running toward him.

"He's having an episode."

"What is an episode?"

"A psychotic episode... speaking of himself in the third person, having flashbacks, wanting to cause harm to himself."

"My God... I've only seen that happen once before."

"It's the situation. He is being haunted by his past."

I moved to where Madame Giry was sitting and took her place. She left us alone and closed the door behind her.

Blood stained Erik's mask and I slowly removed it from his face to see what damage he had done. He recoiled in fear when he felt the air touch his face, "Please, don't hurt Erik!"

"Erik! It's me; your Caroline," I whispered, "What have you done to your face?" I frowned as I looked at the marks in his deformity. He looked like he had been clawing at the deformity until it was scratched and bleeding every which way.

"Erik is hideous!"

"Shhhh..." I whispered, "Erik is not hideous. Erik means the world to me. I love Erik."

I felt his body relax into mine and I held him. I had forgotten what the character I had read about could be like at times. While I still believed Leroux had heavily dramatized the elements of horror, Erik was a broken man, an incredibly lovable albeit broken man.

After awhile, Erik began to have another fit. He clawed at his face and yelled. I tried to restrain him, but I still hadn't regained all of my strength after giving birth. Finally, I called for the Daroga, "Daroga, please! Is there anything we can do? He's going to hurt himself!"

The Daroga acted quickly and gave Erik some sort of drug to relax him. After a little while longer, Erik passed out on our bed.

I stepped into the hallway and found Madame Giry. She gave me a hug. I smiled weakly, "He will be fine."

I nodded and went to sit alone in the kitchen. I don't think I went to sleep at all. I sat alone with my thoughts. Thoughts of Erik and Gisele... Thoughts of our future... Thoughts of my old sad life. There was a soft knock at the front door, and I opened it carefully.

There stood Raoul holding my Gisele.