Ok, this is my first fan ficcy ever, so just review! You don't like it? Flame it, but please use as much constructive criticism as possible! If you do like it, please tell me so! I know that how Erik ends up in America in 2005 is very weird and stupid, but whatever, it's all I could think of. Review with suggestions and I'll change it. Oh, and the whizzing lights are cars, in case you didn't know!

Disclaimer: Phantom of the Opera belongs to Andrew Lloyd Webber, Joel Schumacher, and Gaston Leroux. I own none of it, though I do own the girl Erik will meet later on in the story...

Erik shivered and jerked himself awake. What had happened? Where was he? How did he get... wherever he was?

All he could remember was he had been sitting in his lair, feeling pathetically sorry for himself. He had been cold. Very cold. Freezing cold. What had happened after that?

"Ah, the specimen is awake!" an old man shouted, his face inches away from Erik's. Erik's eyes shot widely open and he sat up with a start.

"Finally!" the old man cried again, "We have successfully brought a frozen being back to life! The first test ever! He is alive!" A group of men behind the old man cheered loudly.

"Where am I?" Erik asked groggily. It was all he could think of.

"You, sir, are in America! California, to be precise!" the scientist answered him in a booming voice.

"America? California? What the... Who the... what about Paris?" Erik felt very dizzy. His mind was foggy, and he was very tired and confused.

"Paris! Paris! Paris, did you say?" the man yelled, and he turned to the crowd behind him, "He even has a memory! I told you he was found in Paris! They all thought he was dead, but someone convinced them to bring him here, for study! He even knows he was in Paris!"

"What day is it?" Erik inquired. He couldn't think very straight, and could barely concentrate on finding where he was.

"August the 3rd, in the year 2005."

"WHAT! " Erik could not help but shout aloud at his answer. His mind cleared a bit as though he had gotten through the fog by shouting, "2005! What about 1861? You mean, it isn't 1861? What is America? What about Paris, and 1861?"

The group of men all laughed, causing Erik to stop panicking and wonder what they were laughing at.

"What is so damn funny?" he asked them, now thoroughly flustered.

"Oh, my dear man, you are funny! You don't even know how you came to be here! Though, that is to be expected, I suppose, since you were near dead-"

"Near dead?"

"Why, yes. You see, your body was found in Paris, in a sewer or something like that, I think. You were thought to be dead, but some guy told them that your body should be brought here, for study! They sent you here, to America!"

"But what is America-?"

"America is another continent, far from Paris," the old man explained, "You were frozen, it must've been very cold where you were. I mean, you must have been down in that place for 200 years! I guess the temperature is what kept you from growing older, actually... Well, we heated you up, and kept you warm, and now, you're alive! Why, this is magnificent! This is superlative! This is-"

"You mean, I am here, far from my home, far from my century, and you are happy? You are... laughing! How can you be... How can this be... real? Ok, I see now, this isn't real," Erik shouted madly at them, "I am just... dreaming! I will wake up, and I will be back in Paris in the year 1861, and I will be feeling sorry for myself all over again, and everything will be as it should be and how I am accustomed to it being! I will not be in 'America' in the year '2005'!"

"Calm down, man! You shall hurt yourself!" the scientists in the room all rushed forward and grabbed Erik in an effort to calm him down. He thrashed around violently, swinging his fists at anyone who approached him.

"No! I will not calm down! I am, I mean, this can't be... real!" Erik was now even sobbing gently, trying to make his tears of panic look like tears of rage. He did not like showing weakness in front of other people, particularly men.

The scientists all kept trying to calm Erik down desperately, only frightening him more and convincing him that they were all mad. Erik searched this way and that for an escape route, and saw a window.

Well, if this is a dream, then I shall experience the joy of flight before I wake up, he thought, and crashed through the brittle glass.

With a dull 'thud!' Erik hit the ground and gasped in pain. Wait a minute... Pain! He... he could feel! This couldn't be a dream, yet it couldn't be real... could it?

Erik focused his entire mind on getting away from where he was right then. He whimpered and limped, but crawled as far away from the building as he could.

Erik had not gone far when he saw flashing lights up ahead of him. They were whizzing by at incredible speeds. Erik wandered over to the lights, but found that the lights were connected to much bigger, more powerful, more harmful things, and soon figured out that he had to avoid them.

What are these things? What is this strange world? he thought miserably as he kept journeying.

Erik could not have said how long he was walking for. An hour? Two? Three or more? He traveled along in the freezing cold, trying to sort out his thoughts.

The sun was barely beginning to peek over the horizon when Erik found himself come upon a small town. There were many houses, futuristic houses, compared to what he had ever seen. He knew that he could not look to these for help, and instead tried to find shelter for himself besides the houses.

After a while, Erik found a small hill with houses at the top. There were houses at the bottom as well, and the hill was most likely only 40 feet from top to bottom. Erik felt uncomfortable walking along this hill, fearing that he would be found, but he soon found a small cave-like thing in the dirt.

Someone had dug a small hole under the roots of a tree. Erik used his great observing skills and figured that this cave had not been visited in years. Still shivering, Erik decided to spend at least the night in this little hole in the ground. He curled up into a ball and fell asleep.