Note as of 6/28/06: For those who have been following this story for the year and almost 1/2 that I've been working on it, you might notice a few changes. I am reediting some of my older chapters, which really needed work. It was just a few grammer and spelling stuff today, later this summer I will come back and rework some iffy sentences. For those newies that have just started to read this, I ask that you read atleast until chapter 5, so you can get a better idea of what is going to happen.
Note: (02/02/05) I do not own Erik, or any thing realted to the Phantom Of The Opera, even though I would like to... This is 1/2 from the movie/play by AWL, and 1/2 from the book by Gaston Leroux. Please tell me what you think! Also I am thanking the lovely Miss. AAJ who has so kindly edited this (twice) in stead of paying attenchion in class, she does such a wonderful job :)
The sun beat down on Aslynn's back as she sat on the beach, watching the waves grow and fade on the sea. The white beach was fairly empty around her, a few people here and there. There was a warm breeze that blew from the south, which rippled the brown sea oats on the dunes behind her. A couple walked in front of her, and two kids were making a sand castle on her right.
After letting out a huge sigh, she got up, stretched her arms, and bent over to pick up her surfboard. She decided to have one last go at the waves before heading home. As she moved quickly to the cool sea her toes sunk into the warm sand. She paused to let her ankle be submerged in the crystal blue water, and soon she was up to her waist in water. She jumped on her board and paddled out. The surf was rough, but there were still others out past the breakers. She was all the way out when she saw one of her good friends, Heather, whom she hadn't talked to in two months, back in January.
"Oye! So you decided to join us today," Heather shouted over the thunder of the waves.
"Yeah, I was going to give it one more try before tomorrow. How ya doing?" Aslynn questioned.
"Pretty good, it's a little rough out here today, but good sets come every so often," Heather paused, "Hanging in there ok?"
"You know… there have been my ups and my downs, but I'm getting by," she replied and not even Aslynn even knew if she was talking about the surf or something else. She gazed out past the horizon. Her wet, dark brown hair was plastered to her face and her dark blue eyes willed with memories, taking the form of tiny droplets that mingled in with the beads of ocean water down her cheeks. It had been only a year before. She shook the tears out of her eyes.
"We came here to surf, so let's rip up some waves." Aslynn added, hoping to change the subject.
"Good idea," Heather said, realizing it was a mistake to have spoken earlier, "Hey, Here comes the next set! You're up first!"
"See ya in a bit," Aslynn yelled, as she fiercely paddled.
The wave was hers, she had it, and she knew it. She quickly rose to the top of her board, and could feel herself taking over. But the wave grew faster and larger than she expected, she lost her balance.
It felt as if the wind suddenly picked up speed. She ungracefully slipped off the board, and was pounded by the mighty power of the wave. The gurgling water surrounded her, everything was blurry. She struggled to rise above the water, but it was no use; she was running out of air. The tide pushed her against the rocks that lined the shoreline. She couldn't even feel the pain of the gash as her head collided with the rocks, blackness filled her mind.
She woke in a drunken haze of confusion to find herself laying on her back, the cobblestone street pressing unkindly into her skin. Feeling the throbbing pain, she immediately went up and touched the back of her head. There wasn't as big of a gash as she expected, but the warm blood still ran down her back. As she pulled her hand away, she quickly whisked it out of sight; it had turned a sickening shade of red.
The distant rumbling of voices was drowned in the dull sound of her pulse in her ears. It took a minute for her head to stop spinning. Abruptly, the voices started to become several different distinguishable pitches, and she came back to the sense of her surroundings. There were several people near her, all dressed in peculiar clothing. An elder lady bent down to check if Aslynn was ok, she spoke to her in a sweet voice that Aslynn couldn't comprehend. The woman was speaking in, what Aslynn recognized as, French.
"I said, are you alright dearie?" A sharp-eyed, thickset woman hawked over her, cooing softly. But Aslynn didn't understand, or at least she shouldn't have understood. Yet the automatic reply flowed from Aslynn's lips,
"Yes, I am ok, I think."
She slowly started to sit up.
Since when could I speak French? She wondered, and why am I dressed funny, the last I remember, I was surfing.
She gazed down at her clothing. She was wearing a pale green dress that went to her ankles, stocking, and a black long wool coat.
Then she asked, "What happened," Looking up to the woman, hoping for a comforting explanation.
"You fell off your horse dear, gave everyone quite a fright," she gestured to the people surrounding Aslynn, "I was on the street when your horse became frightened. It bucked up, and sent you flying off. But I am afraid, my dear, the horse ran away, we couldn't stop it. It took you a while to come about."
Aslynn just sat on the cold cobblestone street with a look of bewilderment on her face.
"You should probably see a doctor," the lady then said," There is a kind old doctor on the next street."
"Thank you," replied Aslynn, "Thank you for being so kind." She slowly got up, realizing that her back was full of sheer pain. She was very stiff. She said good-bye to the lady, and headed down the street.
Where am I? She asked her self, why am I dressed like this, why am I her? Did I die? Is this Purgatory?
She continued to walk, and glanced in a window of a shop she passed. She caught her reflection out of the corner of her eye, and stopped. She had a large bruise growing on the side of her head, and she could make out a lump on the back where she was bleeding. Other than her new clothes, and bruises, she looked the same. Her brown hair still fell past her shoulders, was still layered, and still had its natural blonde streaks. Her eyes were the same dark blue, and she was still tan.
As she was looking over her reflection, she caught a glimpse of a newspaper in the window. She scanned over it for a date. It said in the right corner, February 28, 1875. As she continued to scan the paper she read the headlines, "Paris, France, L'Opera Populare will star remodeling this summer, five years after the fateful fire…"
Wow, I am in Paris, how did that happen? I was on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, and was in the year 2005. How did this happen? She thought to her self, utterly confused. Maybe this just a dream.
She continued down the street in hopes to find the doctor's office.
As Aslynn tried to find the doctor's office, two rough looking men were watching an elder gentleman, dressed in a fancy suit, with a thick coat on, looking at a display of books outside a store. The two men snuck up on the gentleman, and kicked him in the back of both knees, causing the man to collapse. He struggled to get up, but the larger of the men, with ratty clothes, and a shaggy beard, pushed him back down, while the other reached into his pocket and retrieved his prize, a wallet and a gold pocket watch. Aslynn watched in confusion with a feeling of complete hopelessness.
Finally she realized that she could help, she could help the man.
I was strong in 2005, so why wouldn't I be strong now, she thought, walking over to where the gentleman was lying. The two men who robbed him where walking away know. She yelled out after them,
"Hey, what makes you think you can rob a man, and just leave him in the streets?"
She then bent over and helped the elderly man up. As she was doing this, the two men turned around, shocked that a woman yelled at them. They walked over to her, and the smaller one gruffly asked,
"What makes you think that you can tell us what to do?" Then struck her in the face.
"Know that was uncalled for, you filthy louse." Aslynn spat back at the man.
With that, the larger man swung to hit her, but she got him first. She punched him in the chest, and the man backed away in shock.
"What a feisty little whore we have here now, we could have fun with her." He said with rage growing in his eyes. Not only did this woman talk back to him, she punched him. With that, he motioned to the smaller man. The smaller man with scars on his face, grabbed her wrists, and bound them together. Aslynn screamed, and thrashed about to get out of the bonds. While doing this, she failed to notice one of her rings fall off. The men dragged her off.
"Now you're going to pay for all this, you bitch." The smaller man growled.
"I don't have to pay for anything, you worthless dog." Aslynn said back, still struggling to break free of the coarse bonds around her wrist, which was becoming irritated. But the more she fought the bonds, the tighter they were pushing against her wrists.
"You have a lot to pay for, first, you caused way to much attention that needed, then you punched me, which no one can do, without being punished." The rougher man said, who looked to be at 200 pounds, not someone you would want to get in a fight with.
As he said this, he slapped her deeply tanned skin, the roughness of his hand causing her cheek to sting.
"I still will not pay for anything which you have done, because I haven't done anything I consider a crime." Aslynn protested.
"Shut her up! Shut her up!" the smaller man whispered loudly, covering her mouth with his filthy hand. "What are we going to do with her?"
The heavyset man pondered, then said,
"Let's let Him deal with her." They both laughed heartily. She tried to squirm free of their grasp frantically, but to no avail, then handled her as easily as a rag-doll. They had come to a door on the side of an ally, which was very dark for being midday. They thrust her through the black doorway, and followed her into the shadows.
Aslynn could make out what appeared to be the back stage part of an old theater. It was very dark, but enough light to see the outline of pullies and props. The place seemed to have been abandoned for sometime know, she could smell the wood rotting. Her nostrils also caught waft of what smelled like burned wood, as if there was a fire a long time ago, that the damages were never repaired. That fire might have even shut down this building.
"Well my pretty, you might be willing to pay more so now, than before, or do you 'not believe in ghosts'. If that is the case, I'm sure we could change your mind." The smaller man said with amusement in his voice. The two men then laughed at Aslynn. He slapped her across her face, his hands where rough, and had rings on. The rings caught her skin, and tore away some of the flesh. She could feel the warm blood form droplets on her check. She flinched in pain, and said nothing this time. The came to another door, which was rather dirty, the two men both lit candles, which gave off a little light. The men opened it, and shoved her in. They followed. The walked down one set of stairs, and stopped at a landing.
"We are at the first level dungeons, still for more to go, if I recall." The larger man growled. He then pushed Aslynn forward, who was not prepared for this gesture, and fell.
"Get up you scum," The smaller man said, pulling her up by the collar of her green dress, which by now was more of a brown, with red specks.
Aslynn groaned in pain, but didn't say anything. They continued down several more flights of dark, old stairs. She could tell they were getting farther underground by the dampness in the air, and the coldness of the stone under her shabby shoes. The shoes looked to be somewhat new when she awoke on the cobblestone street what was about two hours ago, but from all the walking, and roughness, they were hardly that. Once they were on the last set of stairs, the smaller man paused and thrust out his arm for them to halt also.
"This is the one," He said simply. With that, he picked Aslynn up, and threw her over the large step. She landed with a thud, on her side, and was unable to get up. Pain spidered out across her body. The smaller man jumped first and the larger one followed and landed on the other side of her. The smaller man kicked her, and she rolled down several steps, and grunted in pain.
She slowly tried to pick her self up, and as she did, the heavyset man grabbed her neck, forcing her up. He then pushed her to continue down the stairs.
They continued to walk, and soon they reached the bottom. Spread out in from of them, as smooth as glass, although, not quite the same color, was a large lake. One of them pushed her in and she fell on to her knees in dark, murky water.
"Shhhh, make sure to be quite, you don't want to awake the sirens." The smaller man whispered hoarsely to Aslynn.
The larger one lead, followed by Aslynn, and in the tail was the smaller man. They made sure to travel the edge of the lake, because they didn't know how deep it got in the center. Also, there were many traps set all over the place.
"The last thing we want to do is ring his bell," The larger man growled softly, holding his candlestick high so it wouldn't get wet. It was pitch black and cold all around them, the only thing she could see were the candles and the two men.
Suddenly, the men stopped, and they were facing a large silky material, that didn't appear to be the wall of the lake. Then the larger man called out,
"Hey, Monsieur Opera Ghost, we brought you a little present, you might enjoy it."
With that, the black curtain slowly rose, followed by a large black gate. It opened to what appeared to be the inside of a house. The room was well lit, with a soft glow of a thousand candles. In the room there was what appeared to be an organ. Then, she saw Him; there was a man cloaked in black sitting at the organ with his back to them.
Her eyes grew in fear, and she gasped in shock.
Chapter 2 should be up this weekend, I am working on it now, then i will send it to my editor, the lovely Miss. AAJ. Please Review!