Chapter 35: A Miracle

Erik's POV

I had carried my beloved Evangeline from the stage and and into the chapel, the wooden cross looming over me as I held her limp body to my chest. Surprisingly, the gendarmes let me go even after I had killed Robert and as soon as I was free, I ran away with Evangeline in my arms.

My poor, sweet love.

She had saved my life by sacrificing her own.

Tears freely flowed down my bare face as I sobbed uncontrollably. I took no care to put my mask back on now as I was too drowned in grief to care. Here she was, the one person to ever love me and now she was gone.

Life is too cruel. I thought to myself as my will to live diminished rapidly. I took a glance at the cross hanging on the wall as I continued to craddle her in my arms, sadness filling my soul.

Once upon a time, I too was a devout little Christian. In fact, it was a Catholic priest who had ultimately saved my life and named me when my mother couldn't even stand to be in the same room as me, let alone give me a name at the time of my birth. She even refused to nurse me so that I would die. But as the years went on and my abuse continued, I started to lose faith in an all-loving God. After all, if God was so loving, then why did He let me suffer? Why did He give me this face? Why didn't He give me parents who would love me? Why did He let me live?

To me, an all-loving God was equivalent to a fairytale, a being derived of the pure fantasy and paranoia of a mass majority comprised of coniving monsters who didn't even follow the simplest rules of their religion and naive, simple-minded fools who went along with anything that they were told by their parishioners.

But that was before Evangeline came into my life.

Her devotion to this seemingly non-existent Diety wasn't like anything I had ever seen before. She read the Bible as if it was a letter from a loving suitor. I would sometimes hear her pray at night and would even hear my name being mentioned as she asked for a blessing for me.

Little did she know that she was my blessing.

An idea soon blossomed in my mind in that place of loneliness and despair as I slowly got on my knees, Evangeline still in my arms.

"Alright God, I have forgotten how to do this, but I hope You can hear me." I choked out as I faced the small altar.

"I know I am less than worthless and I know that I deserve nothing, but please give Evangeline back to me! I had been shrouded in darkness and pain ever since I was born and she was the light that chased it away. She still is! If you take her now, then my world will become dark again and I have been with the light for so long that I never want to return. I don't know how You will do it, perhaps You will not do it at all, but I swear to You that if You give her back to me, I would be Your most willing servant. I will do anything and everything that You ask, no matter how horrible, no matter how degrading. I will die and go to hell if You so wish if only to see her alive and well again! So please, let her come back to me."

I closed my eyes, a final tear falling from my cheek and splashing onto her forehead as I kissed her for what I hoped would not be the last time.

That was when a miracle occured.

As my lips left hers, I felt Evangeline's body give the tiniest twitch in response.

I sat still for a moment in shock.

Did she just move?

I watched again and caught another twitch.

I quickly placed my ear to her chest, waiting on baited breath for a sound of a heartbeat.

For a moment, nothing happened and I soon began to lose hope as I reasoned that the twitching was my own and grief made me think it was her.

That's when I heard it.

It started as a small, faint thump, but the more I listened, the louder and faster it got. Soon, her heart resounded from her chest as if it was an African drum. The lungs were soon to follow as I heard the most wonderful sound to ever grace my ears.

Evangeline gave a loud gasp as her chocolate eyes opened wide once more.

No symphony, not even anything written by the greatest composers in the world would match the sheer beauty in that one gasp nor would it match the unspeakble, unexplainable joy that filled me from head to foot as my love sat up in my arms, looked me in the eyes and smiled.

"Hello, you big old knuckle-head. Missed me much?" She giggled.

I said nothing in reply. Instead, I began to weep tears of joy as I hugged her tightly to my chest and kissed all over her face.

"You're alive!" I cried as I took care to not cause her any harm.

"It seems like it." She smiled as I kissed her knuckles, checking her pulse and pinching myself to make sure that I wasn't dreaming.

"I thought I would never hear your voice again!" I sobbed.

"Shh. It's okay, babe. It's alright. I ain't leaving anytime soon!" She said as she kissed my deformed face.

I wasted no time as I stood up, carrying Evangeline bridal-style as I stole one more kiss as we began to leave the room.

"Thank You, God. Thank You." I whispered as I took one last look at the altar before heading back to my lair, the woman I love alive and well and fussing at me to let her walk by herself.

Maybe God is real after all.

A/N: Hello my fellow Phantom Phans!

How're you this fine evening?

Thank you guys so much for the 43k views, the 3.02k votes, and all of your comments!

You all are the best! 🎉

As you can see, our little adventure is almost over, but don't worry! That will be a chapter or two away.

In the mean time, how did you guys like this chapter?

Did she make the right decision?

Will they finally have their happy ending?

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