[The Phantom of the Opera] Boundary Bridge

The parchment showed a yellowish color, and the dark red blood stains on it seemed to be an ominous omen.

But Eric is already very familiar with these scores, because there is no discomfort at all.His finger, the finger that belongs to the artist, rubbed the slightly congealed blood on the paper with a slight trembling, as if at this moment he also recalled the frenzied and violent emotions when writing.Those deep despair, mournful weeping, and burning of the soul.He seemed to be talking to Enid, but also seemed to be talking to himself, he said:

"This is The Triumph of Don Juan."

Works that have completely ingested his soul.

Recalling the desperate and desperate physical and mental despair at that time, Eric can't help but feel like a world away.He tremblingly wrote the first note of "Don Juan" a few years ago, and in the next few years, intermittently feeding on pain and painstaking efforts, he gradually drew the grandeur of the tragic world.He was originally groping and crawling in this painful hell, until the failure in love gave him a fatal blow - Christine's escape and betrayal made him lock himself in the basement, sleepless all night, distraught , and sacrificed all souls to "Don Juan's Triumph", this work burned like a raging fire.

Till the love-song of lovers on the roof sent his poor phantom feebly up into the world, up to the nearest sky in this splendid building.Then when he met a witch, Eric was not ignorant of the ridiculousness and absurdity of the agreement. How many satirical poems and strange prophecies he had written...but he was holding on to it like a life-saving straw.

His pain is deep and cannot be changed by a light magic.When Eric stumbled towards the Parisian streets after the snow and was at a loss, he was not unaware of the mourning deep in his soul.But then, the singing from the depths of the sea fell into his heart like a ray of sunshine, leading him out of the darkness and confusion.

Under the guidance of this song, Eric finally pulled out his painful soul from "Don Juan", and wrote another story with unprecedented beauty and sadness - the story of the bubble flying to the sky.That is "Daughter of the Sea".

The process of writing "The Daughter of the Sea" may be transparent and ethereal, which is rarely seen in his life.The work is sad, no doubt about it, but it is so beautiful and melancholy.It does not burn, but quietly drowns in the sea of ​​sorrow, and then slowly lifts up the soul, gazing at the sorrow and beauty of the world in the half-dream and half-awake realm of heaven.If "Don Juan's Triumph" is the strangest, grandest and dirtiest human suffering, then "Daughter of the Sea" is a poetic and silent martyrdom.

She stood there silently looking back, staring at what she loved, and smiling.After that, her footsteps went to the sea and to her former hometown.Her body gradually became transparent and turned into foam, so thin and beautiful, but she never looked back from the beginning to the end.Just silent and quiet.

When writing that Ariel died and turned into foam, and the princess and the prince came to the beach to enjoy the sunrise, Eric was deeply saddened by the beautiful image of the former.He was immersed in that kind of dreamlike pain until he was awakened by a more concrete and colder paradox - the moment he turned his head, he saw Enid's face clearly!

Although he knew that Enid was the prototype of Ariel, Eric still felt anxious for a while after that, and could no longer concentrate on thinking about the scene at that time.He sat in the room all day long, letting some fantastic and beautiful notes float around his ears, but he refused to close his eyes to stare at the sad and heartbroken face of the mermaid.

It was all too real.

In addition to the frightening dream of a glimpse, what Eric obtained in the process of writing "The Daughter of the Sea" was a more profound peace.He is in heaven, quietly and peacefully gazing at the beauty and sorrow of the world.And these seemingly calm but extremely abundant powers also made his soul completely get rid of the fire of "Don Juan" in a short time, and he lived in a corner to obtain peace.

Eric felt incredible about this, as if he had really escaped the flames of pain during that time.The writing progress of "Don Juan" was also completely interrupted, and it was sealed in the dark underground together with his once ugly appearance.

Until today when he returned with Enid, until he touched those blood stains again and trembled because of it, Eric almost really thought he was a happy and ordinary person.But now he knew he wasn't.

A pained sigh escaped his lips.

"I know, I know." He said as if talking to himself, while stroking the music scores that had been painstakingly condensed, "One day, these messy notes will bring me to the place I long for."

That place may be hell in the eyes of everyone, but it is heaven for him. "Don Juan's Triumph" is devoted to all his human sufferings, and when the opera is finally completed and all his human sufferings have been burned to the top, he can face death without any hesitation, just like Greet a long-awaited old friend.

Only two things stand between him and death--"Daughter of the Sea" and his love for Christine.

Enid sighed deeply, she took a step forward, and her body and mind seemed to tremble just because of this terrible movement.But she finally controlled herself, staring at the messy blood in her blue eyes.She said:

"But you're turning away from that."

How can there be only one answer to a question in this world?Eric used his painstaking effort to write "Don Juan", what he was looking for was only a road to death?On the way to death, he is constantly pursuing to strip away all the pain, and expose his true soul and self, so as to complete another sense of rebirth.Music is a search for self, Enid has always believed in this.

When you sing or write music, you are also looking for something.

That is not necessarily death, but rather the truth—the truth of the self.

"No, Enid." Eric defended himself, he could understand what she was saying, "I'm going to live..." He knew she was accusing him of completing a ridiculous act in order to covet human love. Dealing with others, using a handsome face to flatter all beings, thus destroying the purity of suffering.However, he is not only the carrier of music, but also an ordinary human being who longs for happiness in the world!

"I've got to live," he repeated painfully, his fingers trembling slightly.

But Enid's answer was as sharp as ever, and he couldn't escape it."It's not a question of survival," she said.

"It's not about surviving, Eric," she repeated, with a certain sadness in her eyes, "You're so obsessed with being seen, but what they see isn't the real you, and that's your pain." s reason."

Eric clenched his fists tightly, and for a moment his heart surged with violence, irritability, and confusion, and then he ran away completely.He closed his eyes, he didn't want to listen to her at all, he just wanted happiness, even if it was false, and he didn't need someone to analyze him like this.He replied:

"...Can't I use it as a medium?"

With a handsome face, it is much easier to communicate with people, and it is also easier to penetrate into the soul.That's Eric's answer, but he already knows what Enid will say.

Sure enough, after a moment of silence, the blond woman's gentle voice became a little harsher.

"You know you're putting the cart before the horse," she said. "Eric, you've lost yourself emotionally. You're making yourself disappear in order to be accepted by 'people' and 'crowds'...I can't watch I want you to do it."

For a long time they stared at each other in silence.

Did Eric get real happiness because of the restoration of this face?No.All kinds of dark emotions are growing in his heart every day, and he must suppress them with all his strength so as not to come out.He told himself day after day that his choice was right because there was no turning back.And under such circumstances, how could he face the cruel truth?

But he is not without pain.

The eyelashes of Phantom of the Opera trembled, and suddenly, he seemed to have caught a ray of inspiration deep in his heart.That was his vitality, his life-saving straw, and the only way he could use to deny all the previous arguments and return to the illusion of peace and tranquility.And he knew that apart from his own ridiculousness, everything was true.Eric was struck by this incredible thought.

He finally realized the most crucial thing.

- This cruel game will be blamed on you.

He raised his head and looked directly into Enid's eyes.

"If the pain that belongs to me is the contradiction between the cognition of others and the true self. Then Enid, what is your pain?"

In this sudden questioning, in the long staring at each other before, in Eric's warm and indifferent eyes, Enid knew that the other party had understood everything.He understood everything.

The blonde girl's lips were moving slightly, and she finally spit out the answer:

"...never stop."