Chapter Five: Forging a Friendship

It had taken the better part of an hour for Lisa to explain that she'd come from another planet, as well as from the future. She told Erik that she'd heard a lot about him and was curious, and pointed out that it was a good thing she'd come down here, otherwise he might be dead by now.

Erik helped her up and retrieved his fallen wig and mask, but didn't put them back on right away. Lisa said to him, "You can wear them if it makes you more comfortable, but your face doesn't bother me, really."

"Why?" he asked. "Everyone…everyone thinks I'm a monster." He turned away and put them on.

Lisa frowned. "I come from a time where things like that aren't really a big deal."

Erik laughed humorlessly, his back still towards her. "I find it hard to believe that such a place exists…"

"I'm sorry," was all she could say. She found the way people had been treating Erik absolutely awful. It was another one of the things she hated about the past: people were overly prejudiced. This was still around the time that slavery was still prevalent. She hated it, but there was, of course, nothing she could do. If she could just do what she could to make this one individual's – to make Erik's – life a little brighter before her friend came to pick her up, then that would be score one for her.

"I don't find you a monster," she said. "I don't save just anyone, you know."

She was smiling when he turned around, and he searched her eyes, probably determined to find an untruth in them, but, of course, there was none. She was very sincere. She found him handsome, in fact, underneath the redness of his face.

Lisa went to him and took his hand in hers. She felt him trembling. "What?" she asked, confused. "No one's held your hand before?"

"Not like this…"

"Not even your mother?"

Erik pulled away. "My mother feared and loathed me," he said bitterly. "She gave me to a traveling fair when I was young. I was the 'Devil's Child'." His voice started to break. "I wore a sack over my head…I was whipped…I still have the scars on my back. For years, I was a sideshow oddity. Finally, I'd had enough." He walked over to a table, where a figure of a monkey in Persian robes sat next to a papier-mâché barrel organ-shaped music box. "I was nine…my old master came into my cage while a group of girls were outside the bars, along with the usual group of oddity-seekers. The sack was pulled off and I was whipped while the spectators laughed and jeered. When my old master left the cage…I strangled him. Mme. Giry was one of the girls. She helped me escape and hid me here."

Lisa listened with a growing distaste for the human race. Just because his face was different than other people, he was treated like that. It wasn't right. It wasn't fair. She then reminded herself it was 1860 and that was the way things happened in this century.

That didn't mean she had to like it, however. She went to Erik and took his hand again "Not everyone's like that," she said softly. "I'm not. I've never been. Where I come from, people with a condition like this – " She gestured to his face. " – they live normal lives. They don't have to hide."

Erik shook his head, finding it hard to believe. This was, of course, the only life he'd ever known.

Lisa reached for his mask. "Can I see? I mean, really see? You already know it doesn't bother me."

He considered, his eyes to the floor, for a moment, then looked up and pulled off the mask. He tensed when Lisa brought her hand up to touch the redness.

"Shh," she said softly. "Sit down. It's okay."

He sat on the bench for the organ, trembling at her touch, as she gently ran her hands along his face.

The condition, it seemed, was all scar tissue. It felt thick, tough and leathery with a few rough spots like fine sandpaper. His eyelid on that side was, indeed, stretched downward, showing more of the lower white of the eye. His scalp was also slightly raised just in front of his ear, and his right eyebrow was barely there. Underneath the wig, his light brown hair was thin on the side the deformity – and Lisa didn't even consider it that – was on and a little thicker on the other side.

Erik sat, still shaking, not even daring to shut his eyes and barely breathing. He didn't know what to think of do as Lisa's hands gently caressed his face.

"It's really not that bad," she said as she ran her thumb over his missing eyebrow. "Does it hurt at all? No, I guess not, if you wear a mask over it."

He wasn't even paying attention, so focused was he on her touch. He finally couldn't restrain himself any longer. One hand flew up to press hers tightly to his cheek. He squeezed his eyes shut and a few tears slipped out.

Lisa wiped them away. "Hey, shh, it's okay." She'd always had a soft spot for vulnerability in men. She wrapped her arms around him and held him close. He went rigid in her arms until she bent low and kissed him.

End chapter five.

Back *~*~* Chapter Four *~*~* Chapter Six