Search for the Opera Ghost: Rewrite

XXXVIII.

Time seemed to pass quickly when one was pregnant. Zuri was in her seventh month and still learning to keep a reign on Erik's enthusiasm for sex. Though she loved being thought of as sexy. Zuri kept having feelings that something awful would happen to her or the baby. She did not know what though. They had not heard from the Vicomtess and that was what scared her the most. She knew that if the Vicomtess was silent then something would happen.

Erik kept an eye on his wife. He knew her body was becoming more susceptible to dangers. She was pregnant for God's sake! Erik was always behind her. When she walked up the stairs he would press himself against her back and firmly hold the rails or press his hands against the walls as she ascended the stairs. He did not want anything to happen to her or their baby.

He often felt his strongest during days and nights when she clung to him for support while they lay in the bed. 'Make love to me,' she would whisper, and he would though he did so in a much softer and gentler way. Erik found his soulmate...he knew it. He felt it deep in his bones. He felt it every night he lay beside her and every time she lay his hand over her stomach. 'Feel it Erik,' Zuri would whisper as the child within her would kick his hand. 'Do you feel it?' She would ask in an excited tone.

When she did this he felt a sense of pride swell in his chest. She was his, only his. There was no other man who would have her. Erik had never felt such an overwhelming need to protect anyone. Not even for Christine. He would often sing her to sleep on nights of sleeplessness and watch as she curled her arms around his neck. Her sweet breath tickling his throat as he wrapped his arms around her stomach.

But things could never stay in a dream state forever. Zuri's nightmare would eventually come true.

xxxx

Zuri was walking slowly towards a stairway. Where was Erik when she needed him? Ever since she had had the nightmares she began to fear stairs and without Erik there to keep her safe she worried greatly. She knew she should not have any fear but there was the great fear that she could lose her child.

She stopped suddenly. Something wasn't right, she could feel it in her bones. Zuri began to turn around. She had neared the stairs enough that she could take a step down and begin her descent. Zuri felt something hit her from the backside of her head. She reached up to touch the spot immediately and when doing so she felt someone push against her back in a hard motion.

It was then that she knew that her nightmare was coming true. Zuri felt dazed and as if she was out of her body when she began to fall down the steps. She desperately reached for the railing but couldn't grab a hold of it. Her hands flew to her stomach immediately as she realized that she was not going to be able to stop her body from tumbling down the stairs. She screamed for Erik before her head hit the stone floor below, knocking her out temporarily.

xxxx

Erik heard Zuri's scream echo towards him. It was now that he worried. He had only let her go off by herself for a few moments. Then he remembered that she had been heading to her old bedroom to prepare it for when the baby was to come. Realization dawned on him. There was a set of stairs to descend before reaching her room.

He began to quicken his pace until finally he was in a dead run to find her. 'Please be alright Zuri.' He thought to himself over and over. He finally found the stairs and gazed in horror at the bottom. "No!" He shouted as he quickly descended the stairs and carefully kneeled alongside of her. "Zuri. Wake up Zuri!" He commanded her as he checked her head and noticed a little blood seeping from an open wound. 'Check the baby.' Erik thought suddenly. He reached over and gently placed his hand over her stomach. He could not be sure if the baby was alright until he got Zuri to a safer place to check her wounds.

The only person he relied on besides Zuri was Madame Giry and that was who he intended to take her to. A thousand thoughts flooded his mind as he carefully picked her up from the floor. He wanted to know what other damage had been done. Zuri couldn't have fallen on her own. Who was behind it?

Erik quickly ascended the steps and began to rush towards Antoinette's room. 'Please be there.' He thought to himself as he rushed towards her bedroom. Antoinette would know what to do. All of the sudden he felt like the little boy that had escaped from the circus. He felt helpless and dependent upon the one person who had rescued him.

He arrived at Antoinette's bedroom and began to kick at it while shouting, "Antoinette! Antoinette!"

She opened the door hurridly, "Erik what are you..." Antoinette took in a deep breath of air then covered her mouth. "What happened?"

"I don't know. Antoinette, something is wrong."

"Did she fall?"

"I think...I don't know. Antoinette we have to do something!"

Antoinette could not believe Erik was becoming quite unsettled by Zuri's condition. However, he was about to become a father and he had been married less than a year. "Bring her in. Lay her on the bed."

Erik obeyed her, not knowing what to do with himself as he placed his unconcious wife on the bed. "Is there a doctor here?"

"No." Antoinette replied. "All we have now is some supplies. We would have to go get a doctor to make sure that Zuri is alright."

"The baby. What about the baby? She would die if it was injured in some way."

"Erik, the mother is always more important. You have to check on her before the baby otherwise both could die." Antoinette tried to reason with him. "Here, help me with her clothes then go get some gauze, cloths, and a bowl of water."

He obeyed her yet again and helped the older woman undress his wife till she was in her undergarments. Erik heard soft moans emit from his wife's mouth as he gently lowered her back down then went to find the items Antoinette requested. Erik's mind was buzzing with thoughts. Would she be alright? What about the baby? Would she go into early labor? Erik brought Antoinette the supplies quickly then sat down on the bed as Antoinette began to dab at the open wound on Zuri's head. "It will be alright Erik. She won't die from a fall."

"But the baby could..." Erik began but was interrupted by Zuri's loud moaning then a shriek of pain echoed in the room. He knew then and there that her water had broke. The fall had caused his wife to go into early labor.