You Don't Know Your Own
Chapter 2
I awoke, tired, in the arms of a stranger. At once my eyes flung open in fright, and I noticed the ground moving beneath me. The person carrying me was walking...somewhere, and quickly, at that.
"W-who are you?", I asked stupidly. The face looked down on me, showing me the full-face white mask on it.
"I have seen you have awoken, Annie! You seemed to have fainted once you landed? Are you all right?", said the male voice.
I was confused...how did he know my name? And why did he just respond with a question? This annoyed me.
"Yes..., I have awoken...I'd suppose I am all right," and as I had planned my response, I said,"Oh, what is your name?"
"And you are quite sneaky in your ways, Annie. All right, I guess...I am Erik, and I judge by your astonished look, you think I am Erik, as in who I call myself after. No, Annie, I am not that Erik, he has been dead for a long time-"
"Then who are you?"
"Annie, please do not interrupt me. My actual name is Robert..., but I'd prefer not to be called that. When your mother underestimates you, and calls you 'Little Robbie', as you piece together an annoyingly hard problem..., you learn to hate your true name, and call yourself whom you so resemble."
"Oh. But,...why am I here?", I must have sounded like such an alec, "I mean..., why me? Oh...I am so stupid, sometimes..."
"I have figured out what you mean, Annie," he laughed , " I make quite a haste, don't I? Oh, and you are not stupid, Annie, not at all. And I reply to you; Why not you? Your voice...how beautiful-"
"Why not Maura? She has a splendid voice!" And, so I interrupted again.
You're stupid, Annie, stupid, stupid, STUPID! Alec, alec, ALEC!, I thought, cursing myself.
"Annie, please cease to interrupt me. Maura? Why not
Maura?", at this point he burst into laughter, I thought he
would drop me, and lean on a wall to support himself from falling
of laughter ,"Do you actually think I would destroy my
domain with such crazy and sick music she loves? 'NSYNC, are they
called?, I would not dare put such things here! I would be
insulting my
father!" He had stopped, so, I quickly spoke. "Your
father?" Then, he looked at me, as though I were the stupid
girl I thought I was...then quickly wiped the look off his face,
and realized his mistake.
"Another one of my sayings. I consider Erik my father; so I call him my father."
Now we were approaching a small boat, and as we reached it, he gently placed me down in it. Then, he removed the cape he wore, and placed it over me. His arms reached for the oars, and strongly rowed through the black waters. In the water, the oars moved gently, making beautiful ripples...I was practically asleep as we were close enough to the house for me to see a figure in the doorway.
"ROBERT! What do you think you're doing?", said the figure. I quickly noticed it was a female voice.
"Marie, I am doing as I please at my home, go back to your little apartment on the streets. 'Mawwie'.", he replied in the same tone. The woman flinched at 'Mawwie', as Erik had at 'Robert'.
As we approached the dock, she noticed me. "Who the hell is that?", Marie ordered angrily.
"Damn, Marie, just leave! You have your own little way of ruining my days, just get the hell out of here!"
Wow, sounds just like a fight with Sarah at home...younger brother, though, and older sister. Interesting. Now I get to see what it looks like when Jon is hanging around and watching us fight.
"You, girl, who are you?"
"Annie..., Annie Siablle." I must have sounded so tired...I was! If she just wasn't here, I could be resting under this blanket-like cloak, and on this oddly comfy boat...
"Annie..., Annie, why are you with Robert?"
"Marie, I said it once, and I'll say it again! Just get the hell out of here!", Erik spat at her, as he stepped from the docked boat. He offered me a hand to help me up. I took it, I was tired, I'd be using my knees for support to get up in a rocking boat if he hadn't. Marie just stood, looking quite angry.
"Mum will be so angry at you, Robert! She'll kill you! You took a girl, and what are you going to do, kill her?" Erik muttered something under his breath,...I was able to make it out; jusdging from a few syllables I heard, and years of experience. He had muttered "Maybe I'll kill you."
"Robert!"
"She'll be angry at you, Mawwie-"
"DON'T CALL ME MAWWIE, ROBBIE!"
"Call me ROBBIE, or ROBERT again, and I swear you'll meet your end, Marie!" Typical fight...
"All RIGHT, Erik!"
"As I had been saying, before I was so rudely interrupted," I gained my balance on dry land, "Mum will want your blood, Marie, you have heard her: 'Don't bother your brother, Marie, you never know what he will do!' Of course, she thinks I'm a cold-blooded murderer, and I want everyone's flesh, so, what should the old bat know? But, Marie, one thing she does know, is where you keep your apartment key, and how to exterminate those privileges, so you can live with mummy dearest, again.", Erik snickered. They were much more sophisticated, but, God, would Sarah and I go on until I was 20 and she was 17?
"Erik! Just set her free, and-"
"I am willingly here! If I had not wanted to be here, I probably would have let the siren get me, Marie, or just have ran off into the halls of the cellars and gotten lost. But, Marie, I didn't!", I yelled. I hated when people would just decide things for me...but I was willingly here.
"Suit yourself..., Annie. You will reget your choices." Her eyes narrowed as she walked away.
"Wait, Marie! Tell the managers that Annie will not be there, Mlle. Diva!"
She turned and yelled ,"Damn you, Erik!". He laughed as she dissapeared into shadows. OK, maybe not too different from fights at home...same ending... "My apologies, dear, for that...Come in, relax yourself with music...the managers are still gulls enough to give me a generous salary."
I followed him through the door, and was amazed at the house...I had always imagined some shackish house, but it was beautiful! He headed over to a cabinet, and I turned to stare at the magnificent beauty...
"Annie,"-I turned,"...What music would you prefer? Violet Tide,...or...-"
"Violet Tide...but one question: How did you get their music, here, aren't they a NE band?"
"Music is a language we all speak..." His voice trailed off as the familiar music broke out. I loved this song, it was like she was making fun of her ex...:
"I used to care about you, now I don't worry at all. I stopped believing in Santa Claus, now I shop at the mall." I always found this line extraordinarily hilarious. I always thought of it as "I used to care about you. And I also use to nap at 11 o'clock in the morning."
"I wish I had a voice like hers.", I said. But, oh, I did! She had an awesomely alto voice!
A look of astonishment and horror passed over Erik's face. "Never say such things, dear! Your voice is beautiful! A beautiful operatic soprano! It is just like my father's classic tale: Christine Daaé, you are, and I am Erik..." His voice trailed off.
Oh, no...oh, no...He says "Just like my classic tale, I'm Erik, and I love Christine Daaé, who you are", doesn't he?!, I thought, Annie, do not be frightened...you have no reason not to love him.
A thought flashed through my mind.
Jon
Jon--I was over him..., wasn't I? Yes, yes, I was...
I allowed myself to become trapped in the music, singing along, waving back and forth like I was mad, my own way of imagining how it might be to dance to such a melody. Mikko was on, and I always thought this song was about suicide...
Suicide, hm, did you not show that to everyone when you left? Killing yourself to them? I shook my head, and held my head in my hands. Now I had a new world. My own new world. I could never figure out why nothing lasted for me, go figure. But, now, it was different. I would make sure everything would go right.
"Annie, are you all right?", Erik said from across the room in his chair. I realized I had tears running down my face, with my face rested upon my shoulder. I felt so lost, like the whole world had turned on me. I pushed my sleeves from my Eskimo Joe's shirt over my hands and wiped my face.
"Yes...I'm fine now..." I had always been so sucked into any music, caged in it's words and melody.
"What was the matter?", Erik asked. He seemed concerned. He seemed like the only one in my life to ever care or notice me. And I had only been here for a few minutes.
"Nothing...I was just thinking of something...", I said.
"Come, now, Annie, what is it?" He was too strong to give in. I might as well give in.
"I was just thinking of my family," it wasn't a full lie. Erik nodded softly. And, I started laughing. It took me a few seconds to realize what the cause of the sudden outburst of laughter was, and I laughed even harder.
Oh, God, this is the stupidest dream I have ever had! Sarah must be playing Phantom on my stereo, or she's reading it while I sleep. The little brat., I thought. This made me laugh even harder. I didn't know how much harder I could laugh until I started crying. I was getting dizzier and dizzier, as I realized my throat was dry, and I wasn't exactly making any sound in my laugh, except for the quick breaths of air in and out.
"Annie, calm down! You'll faint again!" I kept laughing. "Annie, why are you laughing so hard?"
Through my laughs I fit in, "This stupid dream! How else would I be here? My damn sister is reading out loud, and I'm dreaming it!" Erik just looked at me as though I were absolutely mad.
Don't tell me this is reality. If it is I have made a fool of myself. An utter fool.
I quickly let my laughter fade away, and grabbed a small piece of my skin. I twisted a full rotation, until I screamed. It hurt, and I could always tell if I were dreaming or not by pinching myself.
"I'm so stupid...," I muttered, "But, Erik, you must admit it would seem quite strange to you in my place, if you were here...You must think I'm absolutely insane. I'm so sorry, a thousand pardons!"
"Yes, I must admit, it must seem strange in your place...next time you wake up into such an odd position, dear, just try and figure out if it might be reality, or your host may send you to an asylum," he laughed soflty, "I think I ought to get you home, Annie...they will start to worry, and search." He walked over, and helped me up. Even through my sleeve-covered hands, I could feel his icy hands.
I was still dizzy, from my crazy outburst of laughter. I had
barely gained my balance, as Erik began to row to the other side
of the lake. I looked at my watch...the performance was either
over or going on at the moment. The water seemed to give off a
coldness, I noticed, as I looked into it. If there was light, it
probably would have been clear to the bottom, but, there
wasn't light. The darkness made it look black, murky, and quite
frightening. As my eyes looked across the water, I suddenly asked
,"What is in the lake?" I did not look up, but I knew
he was now looking at me. I could feel his gaze on the back of my
head, and I pushed my hair back. Guessing he must have wanted me
to look up before he answered, I did.
As I lifted my head, he turned his face to the water. It was as though he did not want to look at me. He remained silent. "Erik?" I was not sure if he didn't want to answer me, or had not heard me. His gaze still was on the lake. At last, he looked up, and I suppose he was looking into my eyes. But, in the darkness, I couldn't see, the mask's shadow hid his eyes.
"Death," he spoke, "Death is in the lake. Should you fall in, death will find you." I could hear misery in his voice, an unspoken horror. I wouldn't try and make him tell me, but I wished he would. The water's ripples were slow, and his face kept staring into the black lake. I was silent the rest of the way to the surface.
***
I waited in the foyer for Mme. Klasner to come and pick me up. Maura had quickly noticed me when I had come out to the foyer, and contacted Mme. Klasner to pick me up.
"Annie!" I looked up, to see Maura guiding Marisa to where I was. Mme. Klasner walked quickly away from Maura, over to me.
"Are you all right, Annie? What happened?", she asked. Marisa sounded worried.
"I just walked over an open trap door, that's all, I'm fine, Mme. Klasner."
"Annie! You were gone for hours!", Maura cried , "Where were you the whole time?" Mme. Klasner nodded in approval at the question. I would not give away that secret.
"No where, you guys, I'm fine!" I felt a litle gust of wind "Cold, that's all."
"Oh, come home, then, it is quite late, Annie. Someone stopped by this evening for you, I told him you would be home around now, come now, he will be there.", Mme. Klasner said, grabbing my shoulders and walking me to her car.
He? Erik, maybe...no, not Erik, I was with him whenever he could have gone...
***
I was in the door, and Laura ran up to me.
"Annie, Annie!" Laura grabbed my arm to stop her from sliding into the table.
"What? What?", I said, making fun of her repeating Annie.
"Who is he?," she whimpered ,"Oh, do tell me, Annie! Who is he? Please, tell me!"
"Who is who?" I was confused, now. I pushed my bag onto my shoulder, and dug my hand in it for my key.
"Hold on, let me go get him..." Laura ran into another room, yelled "Come in, Annie's here!" I heard Laura's jumping footsteps, it had to be someone likeable.
Then I saw who it was, and I dropped my purse.
"Hello, Annie!" He ran over and hugged me.
"Jon?"