Chapter 1

"I am your angel. Come to me angel of music." I heard a voice sing behind me. It was a striking male voice that sent a shiver down my spine. Promptly I turned around to find a mirror; but there was none. Instead there was only a dark wooden frame which held a dark figure. He stood in the frame like a dark angel. My heartbeat quickened, beating loud inside my chest. I blinked back in surprise as I saw a man's face with a white mask covering the right half. His cloak billowed when he reached his gloved hand out to me.

"Whose is that voice? Who is that voice in there?" A less hypnotizing voice from behind me asked frantically snapping me back behind me. I found an extravagant door placed behind me with wood carvings of dainty swirls and columns. They moved as someone pounded on it, unable to open the door itself. I took a step back in alarm as the pounding quickened and grew louder. Whoever it was behind that door wanted in and now.

I stepped back in alarm. The door shook and pounded but the frantic voice stopped shouting. I couldn't breathe. It seemed as if all my energy had drained out of my body. I was scared and alone except for the masked figure.

"I am your angel of music. Come to me angel of music." The beautiful Tenor voice called. My attention returned back to the mirror-less frame to the dark figure. The figure looked at me, confidently smiling as I looked into his warm eyes. Their rich mahogany color made me feel warm inside. His eyes held my gaze for a moment longer until I looked back down at his gloved hand. I glanced up back at his eyes for approval.

"Christine! Angel!" I heard from the door as I gasped when the masked man held my hand. Under his unstained white gloves there was no heat. No warmth. His hands were as cold as a dead man's.

"Roxanne!" a voice yelled annoyingly. My eyes fluttered open. The streams of the new day poured into my golden room. Running my hands through my hair I felt my headphone. Pausing my iPod slowly I rolled over on my other side glancing at the clock on my bedside table. It read 4:45; an hour earlier than I had to wake up for school. I shut my eyes again and groaned. "Wake up we have to be at the airport in one hour."

I sighed as I sat on my bed groggily. As I pulled each of my ear buds out and placed them ob my bedside table I rubbed my eyes, yawning. I got up out of my bed and scrambled to the dark hallway to the bathroom. I turned to look at my own reflection. It was not much to look at, at the moment. My blonde hair was tangled and sticking out on top of my head like a rats nest. It was the color of sunshine, was as thick as could be and was usually straight once I brushed it. Unlike my other friends I wasn't plagued with caring if my hair was curly or straight. But in the mornings it just bugged me. It was always in my face and when I would come down for breakfast my dad would say "the bear is up". Usually I would just roll my eyes but today I wouldn't hear him say it to me as he gave me breakfast.

Turning on the faucet I splashed cool water in my face. Then I took my contacts out of their cases and placed them each in my eyes. I closed my eyes, rolling them around then opened them to see perfectly clear. I then walked toward the shower sliding open the glass door. Turning it on and waiting for it to heat up I skipped back to the sink looking at my reflection again. I pondered for a minute trying to figure out what to do with my hair after I would dry it.

My face was beaming about where I was going to go for the summer break. It was all that was on my mind for the whole freshman year of school. Tomorrow will roll around and I will not wake up in my house in Bellevue, Washington. Tomorrow I will wake up in Paris, France. Today was when I was going to fly to Paris with my drama club to go sightseeing, visit the famous Palais Garnier, and other theaters. But to see the Palais Garnier would just have been the highlight of my high school life, besides seeing it with my crush.

My reflection showed my burning red face in the mirror. I smiled giddily just thinking about him. My crush for the past two years was the Josh Parks. He was the kindest, sweetest, most outgoing guy in the whole school. Josh was also President of the drama club and the funniest guy around. For the past couple years, Josh had the lead role for every annual musical, in and out of school, and was only one year older than me. I had become good friends with him and he always said hi to me with a smile. Josh was always having fun and stuck with his dream to go on Broadway.

During the two weeks the trip was being offered, there were no soccer tournaments schedule. With soccer, playing it only to make my dad happy, gave me little time to do musicals, go on vacation, and hang out with friends. But I managed to convince my dad into letting me join the drama club as well as be on the freshman soccer team so that I could hang out with friends and Josh. Back in the summer I worked with him on a couple of small productions outside of school while juggling soccer. We sometimes would hang out during rehearsal but never outside because we were so busy. We became friends but that is all that he thinks of me. But I should be glad that I'm even friends with him because Josh was so talented being with a girl like me would only bring him down.

I looked down at my worn-out tee-shirt in disgust giving myself a little chuckle. "How could the best actor in the club like a small-part nobody like me?"

A voice in my head replied "You are just like all the other girls that you hate in books. All they do is 'woe is me' crap. Toughen up and be positive. Stop thinking that you are worthless and go grab a shower."

After having the nice refreshing shower to wake up and clear my mind I carefully selected the outfit I should wear. I pulled on my rose tee-shirt over my head. Sticking my head out of the hole I looked at my outfit. I nodded in approval and went to put on some blush and mascara. When I finished putting it on I stepped back to look in the mirror at the finish project that I had planned the night before. The graphic tee with the dark red rose looked great with my dark boot cut blue jeans. I gently slipped on my fuzzy boots that I use for post and pre soccer games. Looking at the ensemble something was missing. I remembered the key necklace my Mom had given me. When I put it on it tied in very well with the whole setup.

I fiddled with it remembering my 15th birthday last year she had given it to me. She told me that every woman in our family had passed it down to each generation. Mom was always sentimental about heirlooms and felt that to follow tradition she would to give it to me when I turned fifteen. She said that way back in the 19th century girls were considered to be women at the age of fifteen. She told me that one of my ancestors had lived in Paris as a dancer at the Palais Garneir had fallen in love. The ancestor had then married and had children. This was also a reason why I wanted to go to Paris to see the Palais Garneir.

"Roxy, come on, five minutes until we leave." Dad's voice warned outside the door.

"Ok." I whispered remembering that my mom and little brother were still sleeping soundly in their nice warm beds. I looked at my own bed and placed my suitcase upon it and unzipped it double checking that I had everything. Satisfied I zipped it up and checked my carry-on to also be at ease that I found everything.

Dragging the bags down the stairs I found my dad drinking his coffee and reading the news paper on the counter top. I watched him as he sipped and read unaware of my presence. His brown grizzled beard streaked with gray matched his hair. His reading glasses were currently lower on the bridge of his nose as a result of them not fitting quite right. His bluish green eyes, which I inherited, were closely examining an article on the museum's new gala. Turning his head his eyes looked at mine and smiled softly. Digging into his pocket he pulled out his car keys jingling them in front of me.

"Are you finally down and ready?" Dad asked teasingly.

I rolled my eyes unable to wipe the stupid grin off of my face. "Yes I am ready. Can we go now?"

"Where are we going?" He asked again playfully. I groaned in frustration at his taunting. Dropping my bag with a bang I stamped my foot impatiently.

"Of all days you decide to joke with me! It is of course the day I fly out to Paris." I said heatedly.

"Oh, was that today?"

"Dad!"

"I know, I know. I'm sorry Pooky." He coed my pet name sincerely. He placed his hand on my head and ruffled my hair. I smiled happily having him say his nickname for me. I always thought it was a cross between Cookie and Pumpkin.

"What's going on?" I heard behind me. Quickly I turned around to see that the voice belonged to my little brother. He was eight years old with energy of a ten year old. At times he was annoying but most he was sweet in his own way. His dark brown curls stuck out every which way just like my own hair in the morning but his curls never went away. He had a lovable round face with cute little chubby cheeks. He had my mother's appealing blue eyes and looked at me with them.

"What is it Mason?" I asked.

Instead of answering he ran into me wrapping his small arms around me. Shocked as I was I wrapped my own arms around him. I smiled happily at my brother's affection. He released me a short while after. "If anyone of my friends hears that I hugged you, it never happened."

"If they do laugh I will slug them for you." I laughed knowing that he was only joking. Unlike most of his friends and their siblings we got along well. Between us it was an inside joke that I couldn't even tell you, dear reader.

"Alright kido we got to get going." Dad said.

I gave Mason one last quick hug. I smiled as I said to him "I'll bring you back something, ok?"

Mason looked at me smiling. Nodding happily he let me go. I started walking out the door and turned around. "I will be back in a three weeks."

I adjusted my backpack nervously. I took a deep breath and looked up at the clouded sky.Maybe when I get to Paris it will be sunny? I thought to myself. Then courageously I stepped out into the frigid air of Washington.

"Roxy" someone shook me. I recognized the voice almost instantly. Opening my eyes slightly I saw the ceiling of the plane with all the little buttons and knobs lit staring down on me. I heard my name called again. I turned to see Lauren shaking me violently. Her bright brown eyes were wide open ready to play like a puppy would. Tucking her light brown hair behind one ear she reached over to wake up Melanie on the other side of me facing the aisle way.

"Wait."I groaned pushing her back. Lauren sat back and nodded. I shifted so my body faced away from her to my friend Melanie who was sleeping. I opened my eyes and shook her like how Lauren shook me. "Mel, wake up."

"Huh? What?" Melanie rubbed her blue eyes. She fixed her golden hair and looked at me then to Lauren. "Are we there yet?"

Lauren pointed out the window from her window seat. I leaned over her looking out of the petite window. From what I could see was a city. I was about to make a comment telling her that "we are not there yet. You're just pranking us for the fifth time for the whole flight" until I saw a weird triangular shaped building. Its cast iron frame was bare with no walls. Looking at it more closely I gasped. It was the Eiffel tower.

"Whoa" Melanie and I said in unison.

Lauren looked at us with our mouths hanging open laughing. Having gone to Paris once every two years to visit her family this wasn't new. But mine and Melanie's reaction was new. Then she smiled happily "Yeah, whoa."

I heard the lady on the speaker say. "Please buckle your seat belts. We will be landing shortly."

Buckling our seat belts I caught a glance of Josh on the other side of the room. He was sitting with his two other friends who were messing around next to him. One of Josh's friends saw me staring and nudged Josh. He turned in my direction and saw me. Josh smiled and waved. I returned a wave and sat back in my chair as I blushed while Melanie looked at my smiling.

"So are you going to confess to him when you are in the city of love?" Lauren asked teasingly.

I gaped at her in surprise. I could feel my face grow hotter as her smile grew wider. I whispered hoping no one else could hear. "What? No!"

"You should. Now it would be the perfect time." Melanie butted in. Lauren nodded in agreement.

"No."

"It would be so romantic. And if you don't I'll stab you with a fork."

"I thought it was boys who asked girls out."

Lauren heard me say the last sentence looked at me annoyed. Her eyes burned with angered as she glowered at me. Jill then became Miss Women's Rights saying "Roxy it's the 21st century. Girls have every right to ask boys out."

"See." Melanie said. I gave her a danger-danger-walking-on-thin-ice look. She put her hands up in defeat. "Fine let's talk about something else, like I don't know that we are going to see the Palais Garneir! Where as a matter of fact Phantom of the opera's setting was based."

"The Phantom of the Opera was based on the Palais Garneir?" Lauren teased. Before Melanie could fully lecture her on how many times before the trip she had told Lauren already we felt the plane jostle up and down hitting the ground as we landed violently. I could hear one of us scream from the unexpected impact but I do not remember which one. My guess was it was probably me but it sounded like Lauren's. After we finally figured out that it was only the plane landing we relaxed laughing at the spook.

As we were getting off the plane and into the terminal I saw France for the first time. It didn't feel any different than home. The skies were clouded and dark making the outside seem grim. With the gray buildings it seemed eerie. There was only the sound of the gentle patter of the rain hitting against the glass that seemed to be rhythmical. A bolt of lightning struck in the distance. The sky was dark but the city had beauty that was marvelous that no one else seemed to notice. The terminal itself was very different; it was lit by florescent lights that gave it unnatural brightness. The current inhabitants of this artificially lit habitat were hustling and bustling around yelling making a racket. It was hard to concentrate but it felt more comfortable than outside.

I felt a tap on my shoulder making me jump in surprise. Turning around I found my friend Abby staring slightly down at me. Her short dirty blonde frizzy hair reached just above her shoulders. Her vibrant forest green eyes looked into my bluish green eyes. Another clash of lightning struck from outside the window. As the lightning flashed the gold specks in her eyes illuminated making her seem magical.

"Hey Roxy." She greeted smiling warmly.

"Hi Abby." I sighed in relief. Sometimes it seemed that Abby, Melanie and Lauren all popped in all at once out of thin air. I saw in the distance Melanie and Lauren walking over.

"Come on we have to catch the bus." Lauren said. She grabbed my hand as Melanie grabbed Abby's. Running through the crowd to where the bus was waiting was not an easy task. There was such a huge crowd that people would bump into us. By the time we got to the busses it was pouring rain, stinging our bare faces with the cold, hard droplets.

"Hurry ladies. We already have your luggage." Our Drama teacher shouted. Piling into the bus as quick as we could the driver then drove off to our Hotel. When we got to our hotel Lauren, Melanie, Abby and I went to our room to dry off.

It was rather large room with three beds and a couch. The view was not as spectacular as I had hoped but it was still lovely. The walls were painted a light gold color that illuminated the room. The bathroom was occupied by a shower/bath, a toilet and sink of good quality. Nobody at the time cared about all this or even noticed it. Instead we dropped our luggage of near the beds and lay down looking up at the egg-shell colored ceiling. Closing my eyes only for a moment I heard the rain hitting the glass of the window.

As we turned out the lights Abby whispered quietly "Tomorrow we are going to see the Palais Garneir."

"Hurry up; we don't want to miss the actual stage now do we?" The tour guide asked. Her dark red lipstick and her bobbed haircut made her seem like she was out of a fifties movie. Her thick accent made it hard for us to understand precisely what she was saying, but we managed. We all rolled our eyes at her too bubbly personality. Even our drama Teacher was annoyed by the overly cheerfulness.

"Can we kill her yet?" Lauren complained softly. A girl in front of us shushed loudly. "Well shush to you too."

"No." I laughed.

"Well not yet anyway." A voice said behind us. I jumped out of my skin until I realized it was only Josh.

"Hey." I said awkwardly.

"Hey yourself." He greeted back. He brushed his short light brown hair out of the way of his pale hazel eyes. "Can we talk later… alone?"

I felt my face heat up as I looked down at the moving ground. Looking back up at him I nodded. "Sure."

"Great!" Josh flashed one of his dazzling smiles.

I was about to say something but I was interrupted when we walked onto the stage. It was at least twice the size of our stage at our high school and four times as beautiful. The dark wooden floor boards were gently placed covering what was hidden deep below it. The carvings that lined the stages outer frame were detailed and beautiful. I was captivated by the stage's beauty and elegance.

Someone had raised their hand. "Where is box five located again?"

We all looked at the tour guide eagerly. The corner of her red lips started to twitch. She took a deep breath and said "let's get this all out of the way. I know you all want to know about the Phantom of the Opera. But the Phantom never existed. Never has and never will. Now will you please follow me?"

I sighed disappointed and was about to follow until the dark floors gave out from under me. I saw Josh and Lauren look down in horror as I fell down to the darkness below. The floors above me closed concealing me in nothingness. A scream escaped my lips as I plunged into the darkness of the opera.


Disclaimer: I don't own any Phantom of the Opera.

Hi everyone, I'm JMsoccer35. I love Phantom of the Opera so much I decided to make my own version. So I hope you all like it.