The mob is approaching. Closer and closer... So close, it seems, that I can feel them breathing down my neck.

   I sigh tiredly as I rub my temples, resting my elbow's upon my sore knees.

Though, due to the circumstances, I shouldn't even be trusting myself to make such judgement of what could be perceiving me falsely tonight. My mind has already been viciously torn apart from such assumptions ... as well as my heart.

   The resonant buzz of my lake/house alarm suddenly sounds throughout my chamber as I close my eyes in apprehension.

Either way, it does not matter. I just sit here, deep into the walls of my underground chamber, awaiting the arrival of the dozens of audience members, managers, cast ... the whole lot of them ... to come barging through my 'secret' entrance doors. Though it took them enough time to find the switch ... how long had they been looking? I wouldn't know. For all I know they could have chosen the "less stealth" approach and crashed through my front door.....

    I sit there, listening intently to the mob silently enter my lair.

 The fools. They think I did not know of their arrival? They wish to surprise me?  Honestly, I could care less. 
A man can only take so much of running before it becomes a tedious occurrence.   I only want them out of my house,  to leave me alone.

  I wince slightly as I hear the glass mantle piece above my fireplace shatter  I dare not imagine what more of my possessions will have to suffer in my absence.....

          Hours seemed to have passed before those voices had begun to disappear. My legs are now numb from sitting crouched in the cramped passageway, my head throbbing with an approaching migraine - and yet, somehow, I manage to stay calm; patient even, as the last footsteps echoed sluggishly out the door. 

I wait a few moments, just to make sure no one will re-enter.

    Fully convinced of my being alone, I slid out of the small tunnel passageway which I had been occupying.  In the dark, the hidden slide panel leading to my main chamber becomes easily visible as my eyes have long since been used to the dark.

I enter the lair with my back turned towards the obvious wreckage behind me.

    Oh, its true, I have not yet seen the damage, but I am not deaf by any means!  I could hear the mob's greedy and clumsy hands fumbling with my rare persian vases and carpets, conveniently dropping and shredding them to pieces, then sprawling them on ground just as conveniently. I could hear them destroying my beautiful organ as it uttered it's last sound in a horrifying cry...  They smashed those beautiful ivory keys that once produced the finest of music so carelessly!  Then their insistent laughter following, thinking they had actually accomplished anything other than proving themselves to be the uncivilized imbeciles that they are!  'Imbecile' is a compliment really. They deserve much worse. Ah, but my distaste for humankind could never be put into proper words anyhow.
Now I dare say our roles have been reversed:  I, now the innocent spectator, and they the cruel predators.  Ah,  irony...

Taking a shuddering breath, I slowly turn to face the destruction.
 

Thump, thump....
 
 I suppose this was inevitably going to happen.

Thump, thump......
 

 I'll give them credit. They did a more thorough job than I would have expected from them ...
 

 
Thump, thump......
 

  This damnable migraine!

I look over to my left, in hope to find some sort of furniture left standing to sit upon. What greets me however, to my utter fury,  is my only black velvet persian couch in ruins on the floor.....

Cursing silently, I make my way over to it.

Kneeling down in front of the scattered cloth and wood, I slowly pick up a patch of the velvet material, stroking it gently within my ... bleeding hand?

' It seems I was a bit careless in my escape...'  I thought, raising my hand; half heartedly examining it.

    How exactly am I keeping so incredibly calm and indifferent to all this you may ask? Ah ... but if only you knew.  If you only truly knew the indescribable anger in my mind; the maddening, thrashing pain within my heart.... it overrides any on setting migraine easily. I have shed my tears, and yet it feels as though it is only the beginning of the torture I must go through.

The beginning.....

 Is it not enough...?  Is it not enough?! Enough torture! Let me feel whole; let me have peace!

Involuntary tears spring to my eyes.

Oh, Christine ...
 

Thump, thump.......
 

All these memories ... shattered memories.

I absently take note of the burnt books in my fireplace, the fallen organ in pieces on the floor, my smashed chest cabinets - wood chips still sticking out from the walls - and the absence of my mask, which the Giry child managed to steal off of my throne in the siege....
All, in exception for Christine's room (which they thankfully did not find),  my house is completely destroyed.
Yes. All I have are memories now.

     Carefully, I strode past the broken furniture, only to stop just in front of Christine's former room. I leaned heavily against the door frame as my vision began to mist in front of me. The pain was indescribable. The costume from Don Juan Triumphant lay sprawled across the bed as though she had never left....  Her fading scent of femininity slowly swirled around me, mocking me in all it's forbidden splendour....

"Christine....." I found myself whimpering, as my eyes pinched shut, hot tears coursing down my ravaged skin.

I slowly began to raise my head, when I suddenly felt the blast of an unimaginable pain hit me... first gathering in my chest then immediately spreading down the length of my arm.  I gripped the small vanity table closest to her door for support, but found myself gasping for air...  What was this?!

"It's too soon to be in here ..." I gasped.
 

Thump, thump.......
 

No sooner had I come to my conclusion had I heard the light shuffling of feet behind me....
 

Thump, thump.......
 

'My god! How could I have been so careless?!' My thoughts ran wild, only then did I notice the light buzzing over head, alarming me too late of the unwanted visitor.

I shakily turned to face the intruder, when I found myself coming face to face with the end of a rather large pistol.

I was alert instantly, letting my hands drop to my sides in quiet surrender as the person cocked the gun to his/her left, silently commanding that I follow suit. I obeyed without question, my breath coming out in short gasps from my earlier exertion as I made a valiant effort to control my breathing. 

How could I not have heard my own alarm system? It is muffled yes, but not inaudible! I cursed myself silently for my carelessness, as the frightened figure held up the shaking pistol.

But, naturally, I had a plan.

He/she motioned for me to kneel down next to the fireplace. I complied, my inner self becoming vaguely annoyed at the whole ordeal.  The moment my knees hit the bare wooden floor beneath me I knew I was in a very compromising situation. I looked up at him coolly from my rather humiliating stance. It was a woman.  She gawked pathetically in the horror of now truly seeing my face, ever so slightly lowering her gun....

Now!
 

Thump, thump.......
 

Before the poor woman could register what had happened,  I had lunged at her with a renewed purpose.  

Destruction!

All of the days, months - year's events suddenly came crashing at me in that very moment.  All the cruelty, all the prejudice - all the hatred! Nothing mattered, not even the fact that it was a woman I was strangling.  The only fact I cared to keep in check was that she had disturbed me in my state of misery. That was all that mattered. 
I tightened my hands around the woman's neck on impulse to her struggling. Another sharp pain stabbed me in my chest at the sudden movement, but I shook it off and prepared to squeeze one last time ... But what immediately proceeded was as clear as any bell.  All of my own musings and teachings I had taught myself had come to pay their respects tonight, it seemed.  Pity it had come a bit too late.

Lesson number one, Erik:  never loose composure while killing - you might receive a nasty surprise later on.

 
And I did.

I had been hit over the head. With what, I do not know.  But an immediate shock had taken possession over my body, immobilizing me momentarily. I had not been dazed for long, but it was long enough apparently for me to get yet another sudden surprise. The next thing I had known, I was cradling my own bloodied head between my arms.  It was a large, shattering impact that had sent my body tumbling towards the ground.  To make matters worse, I was in what could only be described as a 'foetal position', and was feeling the heat of a humiliation I had not experienced in years. My stomach churned apprehensively.

This had never happened before.  

Never in my 50 years had my stealth and calculated movements eluded me ... and yet, here I was.  In the exact position I had always tried to prevent at all costs.  It was beyond mortifying.

  A small, mocking trickle of blood suddenly fell down the side of my face - and that was all it took to get the motivation I lacked.  Gathering my strength, I blindly lunged forward, knocking down the stronger man in one effective shove, eliciting a quick scream from the woman. I attempted to strangle him, but a rather strong hand from behind me stopped me mid way, flinging me into the wall.

 Momentarily dazed, I growled.

  The figures in front of me had then began blur ...

So, its turned into a brawl!

 I got up and ran again in the general direction of the stronger man, knocking him to the ground.  I took him by the neck and began to strangle him further, tripping the woman out in her run towards me. 
 However, the man I had been strangling took the momentary distraction to free himself from my grasp and kicked me back into the wall.   

  A series of kicks and punches to my chest suddenly followed suit.

 These two are an incredibly strong duo, I mused painfully, the sweat on my brow coursing down my forehead -

A loud crack suddenly indicated itself from my chest.

 
I gasped for air.

 
  Thump, thump .......

 
 Enough was enough! Reaching around me, I had begun to trace the walls, when my skin came in contact with a familiar, silken rope.

 I nearly shouted out in praise.

The punjab lasso!

 I shot up, pushing the woman back, and, as fast as I could move, I strangled the man with the punjab lasso, the woman soon meeting a familiar fate. 

    As the last body fell, I stumbled back and gasped aloud as a sea of white haze blurred my vision, my breathing coming out in laboured gasps.  The nauseatingly disjointed feeling of cracked bones poking mercilessly at my bruised skin suddenly filled my senses -  it was all I could concentrate on, so not to faint.  

   Those bodies will have to be moved, was my immediate distraction.

   I limped over to the two warm cadavers, crying out slightly as I attempted to lift the bodies. The familiar, burning pain shot through my chest as my eyes beginning to water, dragging them across the room.  Flinging them gracelessly outside my door, I panted shallowly, forcing them into a hidden side panel.  I would keep them there for now until I could get them properly above ground.

  I stumbled inside and leaned against the frame of my fire place, my breathing sounding more like wheezing with each passing moment.

  Everything that happened next was mostly a blur.

I remember falling, allowing the greying darkness of unconsciousness to slowly seduce my body into its immediate control. The burning pain of my muscles had cut through my despair like a knife through fog, and I was glad to be rid of it. 

    I groaned out lightly in pain ...

Is this to be my death..? I thought warily, as the world of light had begun to disappear beneath the shades of my eyelids - the refreshing darkness of night greeting me in its cool embrace.

The forceful pounding of my body and heart had slowly become a distant memory, as the dull throbbing of my pounding head echoed out tauntingly though out my mind ...
 
 
 

Thump..........  thump .........................  

.