As I walked off the stage, the crowd's loud applause roared in my ears. Whistles and murmurs of approval echo through out the opera gallery. I had just awed Paris, with a scene from the new opera, 'Farewell old lover.' After exiting off the stage, people immediately started approaching me with flowers, gifts, and words of congratulation. I couldn't help but smile.
Ever since Carlotta had gotten fired, I'd become the main attraction. The diva. People loved my performances. It wasn't such a bad deal either, because now I had a room all to myself! I haven't had that privilege since I'd been a young child.
Through the floods of young men, trying to get my attention, I saw Meg making her way toward me. She smiled and waved. I waved back. 'Finally, a familiar face' I thought.
"Hey! You were amazing out there," she started. But men trying to talked to me began pushing her out of the way. "Gosh! Hold your horses!" she yelled at them. "Can't you see there's a lady standing here? Hey Christine, why don't we go somewhere else?"
"Good idea," I called over the noise.
The two of us pushed our way though the busy crowds, until we reached a fairly quiet hall. "Ah, much better. So where was I? Oh, yes! Your performance was wonderful! You were just as astounding as the first time you sang it. Maybe even better. It was delightful that is... until the guys started closing in like vultures."
We laughed together.
"Yeah. It is kind of annoying after awhile!" I commented.
"Your the star now, so you'll have to get use to more of it."
'Yes...' I thought as I let out a small sigh. Life would be more busy. More demanding.
"Hey, now that your done, you want to come hang out with the girls and I? We're going to be relaxing in Gabriella's of dressing room for the rest of the evening," Meg spoke up.
"Um, sure. Why not?" I said. This raised my hopes a bit.
"Great. I was hoping for the company." I smiled and the two of us headed for Act 3's dressing room.
15 minutes later, the two of us lay relaxed on a bed surrounded by 20 of our friends. The room was filled with an excited chatter. It was nice to just hang out with other girls for a change. Instead, of rushing around preparing for a stage rehearsal or performance.
Suddenly, Elizabeth, one of the ballerinas, stood up and called our attention.
"Girls! Listen up. It's time for ghost stories," she grinned. The others squealed and giggled in delight. I glanced at Meg. She looked hopeful and grinned to show it.
"Shall I be the first brave soul to tell a story?" asked Elizabeth.
Everyone nodded.
Elizabeth continued. "For my first haunting tell, I will speak of our very own, mysteriously deadly...Phantom of the opera." A hush fell over all of us as Lizzy composed her version of Shakespeare.
"The story you are about to hear, is that of the truth. For I witnessed it with my own eyes. It was several months ago, in the wine cellars of this building. I had been fetching some Arnoux et Fils for one of the mangers annual meetings. As I pulled one off the shelf, I had the strangest feeling I was beginning watched. So I turned expecting to see one of the work men," She turned dramatically as if to exaggerate her story. "But instead of turning to see a man, there stood a ghost! He was tall wearing a cloak as black as the darkness surrounding us. His face was covered by a hauntingly white mask and his eyes... His eyes were so black and hateful that they weren't even there! And is teeth were like sharp knives forming an ugly smile."
Everyone watched in amazement as Lizzy form a mask with her hands and mimicked the face.
"I felt like death himself had come for me. I wanted to scream but no sound came out. Then he quickly putted out a dagger covered in blood..." Elizabeth pretended to pull out a dagger from behind her back. This cause the girls to scream in terror.
"He was there to put an end to me! To seek out my soul like the angel of death. Just as he let out his evil crackle of laughter the cellar doors were flung open by worker and just like that... the Phantom was gone! So I warn you my friends watch your back, or you could be next..." Lizzy pointed to the others, then bowed deeply. The chorus girls clapped and cheered loudly. I laughed and looked to Meg again, she grinned widely and clapped too.
The stories went on for a couple more hours, until I decided to go to bed. It was late and I sadly had to wake up early for a rehearsal. As I walked down the hall I thought of all the stories that had been told of the Phantom of the opera. Was he really that bad? Sharp teeth? Claw like hands and a thirst for death? Black as night and ugly as hell? Could a man really be like that bad ..?
I walked into my room and threw my casual robe onto my bed. With a sigh I began taking the clips, pins, and fancy decorations out of my hair. I was ready to sleep. Just then I began to wonder about my angel of music. I hadn't heard from him all day. It wasn't like him to leave me for long.
"Angel..." I sang softly. No one replied. Troubled, I frowned and continued to remove the hair pins. Where was he? Was he mad I'd not been in my room earlier? I decided not to become too upset over it. He would probably come tomorrow after practice.
Once I finished, I blew the candles out and crawled into bed. Sleep did not come to me right away, but soon I was in a light slumber. About an hour after I'd fallen asleep though, I was awaken by a noise out in the hall. It sounded like feet shuffling quietly outside my door.
Immediately, my thoughts turned to my angel. Had he come while I slept? Foolishly though, I did not stop to think that my angel was not suppose to have no human form, thus no footsteps.
I jumped out of bed and ran for the door. But nobody stood in the eery hall. So I decided to search a little just in case he was still near by.
Without a candle, I ventured into the black,cold opera halls. I felt so exposed in the darkness, because I have never been through the opera gallery alone at night. Everyone had got to their post or beds by now, so if my angel had visited me, he too would be alone.
The sound of something begin faintly hit from around a corner gave me renewed hope that I was on his trail. "Angel?" I called as I rounded the bend. There was a lantern on a small crate, but it appeared no one was then.
Suddenly, I was grabbed by something. Just as I was about scream, a hand covered my mouth.
"Hehe. Wandered away from the herd finally, huh?" a rough voice said behind me. It was the voice of Joseph Bouquet. My eyes widened. 'Joseph? The scene changer?' I fought to free myself, but his grip was too strong. "Nuh uh-uh. Y-your stay right here... " His voice was slurred and smelt horrible. He was obviously drunk.
"You see... I'm under payed you see and I can't afford a-a delightful prostitute because of it. So I guess I'll just had to settle for a...," he burped "... ballet girl."
'No! NO!'
I desperately fought against him as he began dragging me. I had known Joseph to be one to get drunk and inappropriately touch the women of the opera house. But rape me? A chorus girl?
He released his hand from my mouth, only to stuffed a gag in it before I could scream. Gruffly, he pushed me against a wooden beam and began to tie me up. Dearly, I prayed for safety. I wanted to be taken away from this horrible scene!
'Angel, help me,' my thoughts screamed. 'Deliver me from this!'
Even though Joseph was drunk, he was surprisingly not slow and within in seconds had me roped. I stared horrified at his figure in the poor lighting. He gave a satisfied smile at his work then leaned back in to me. He studied me as if to decide what to do first.
I watched as he rubbed my neck with his gross fingers. His awful drunk breath almost made me gag. 'Joseph Bouquet you are a wrenched man!' I violently thought. 'I hope you'll pay for this!'
Then to make matters worse, he pulled out a pocket knife and began tracing the tops of my breasts with it. "Pretty," he commented. Ugh, I felt so violated and repulsed by this man. I wished to never had even seen or heard of him! And I wished dearly at the moment he'd never been born!
Glaceing down again I saw he was about to lean in and touch my breasts with his mouth. 'NO!' Tears came to my eyes and I closed them and turned away. I did not want to see him put his lust into action. Dreadfully, I waited for him to touch me.
But nothing happened.
Cracking my eyes I saw nothing. Joseph... was gone?
Puzzled, I looked about. I hadn't even felt him lift off me. He just vanished. Fear began to pulse through me like fire. He had been very determined on having me so what even made him change his mind must have been much worse. Uneasiness settled in as I remember the ghost stories from earlier. How the dead souls came to take their victims and so on.
Then out of the corner of my eyes I notice moment. My heart was flung into a frenzy of terrified pumping. Who was there? My mind screamed at me to run! RUN!
What I saw next made my heart stop all together. Before my eyes, the darkness pulled out of itself like smoke and formed the shadow of a man. The ghostly figure was tall and had a white mask. It was the Phantom of the opera.
He stood less than 10 feet from me. The opera nightmare. The murder who had terrified the mangers. The one who had scared every ballet girl with the very idea of his presents. And now what was I to do? I couldn't run. I couldn't scream. I couldn't even fight! I was helpless as a lamb set before the beast to be slaughtered.
The form took a step toward me. I watched his every movement with fear bubbling beneath my surface. Who knew what he was capable of. This made me wondered if I would have been better off with Joseph. 'Oh angel where are you?' I thought.
But as the Phantom came to the dim light, my thoughts froze as I noticed his appearance. His 'skull' white mask only covered one side of his face. He did have hair, but it was so black that it blended in with the darkness. He had high cheekbones and sharp angles, but his face was not harsh. In fact it was almost gentle.
It was a curious thing too. Here this "phantom" who looked more like man than anything, had been describe for years as a hideous creature of death and bad luck for years. But now in the flesh, he seemed... less ghostly. Defiantly, not as ugly as told, but he still carried a sense of mystery and power about him. He was striking creature, maybe even handsome.
Amazed at this, I watched as he walked up to me. With every step I sucked in more air, until we were standing face to face, but I gasped when I saw his eyes. They were the most rare, tantalizing pair of eyes I'd even seen. Around the iris they were different shades of blue, but then turned into a smooth honey, gold as they reached the outer area. How did one make his eyes like that?
His gaze did not waver from mine and I felt like he was gathering information about me while I did to him. We both didn't move an inch. The air was tense and cold, but seeing him in the flesh was enough to made me forget all this.
Then slowly he turned and walked behind me. I watched his graceful form as he passed. It was like seeing a lion for the first time. Terrifying, yet exciting. I felt his leather gloves near my hands behind the wood beam. The phantom was untying the rope and... touching my skin. The smooth covered on his hands gently brushed against mine as he swiftly removed my bonds.
Once he finished, I put my arms down and rubbed my sore wrists.
I tried to slow my heart beat down as he made his way around me again, but hopelessly failed. Then when he was in front of me, he bent down and began working on the rough coil around my feet. I watched his dark form below me. Even though he was freeing me, I knew I couldn't move even I wanted too. I was to hypnotized by his very presents.
Then after he freed my ankles, he rose up to his full height like a majestic king. I shrunk against the pole at his size. His face was about half an arm length away from mine. His hot breath tickled the tips my face like a cat's whiskers. I felt more vulnerable now than when movement had been prohibited by rope.
His agile face got a little closer to mine.
I held my breath. 'The phantom... is...' My thoughts stopped here for my brain waves went viral. I was just about to place my hand on his face when suddenly... he disappeared.
Just as mysteriously and quickly as he had appeared, he left. I stood shocked. Where had he gone? I hadn't even seen him leave. Puzzled I looked for where he could have gone. It was impossible to know for sure.
Then my mind started again. I had just encountered the phantom. He did not kill me. He was not as hideous as I thought. And he had just... saved me. It took me until now to realize that he had stopped Joseph Bouquet from raping me and freed me. 'So he does have compassion in his heart...'
But had happened to Joseph?
A hint of fear chilled me like a winter breeze. I suspected that the phantom had done something to him. I looked around uneasily as I quickly walked away. The phantom probably had room for only so much mercy.
I woke the next morning to a crazy buzz of chatter and confusion. The opera girls were running away like chickens with their head cut off, while the mangers and other important men of the opera popularize were totally stressing out. In the night Joseph Bouquet had been murdered.
He had been found behind the main stage background, with a rope tightly around his neck.
Everyone was gossiping around "It was the phantom. He did it!" Which was true, but nobody could figure out why Joseph had been killed. I knew and ever fiber of me wanted to scream that the nasty man had been trying to steal my virginity, but the phantom... the phantom had rescued me! It was an act for my defense. But by doing so I knew things would not end good for me. Many people would question me and judge my opinion. This could cause a riot of gossip through out Paris. So wisely I kept my mouth shut.
It was around noon when Meg walked up. "What do you make of all this ciaos?" she asked me.
"I don't know. I only know about as much as you do. Joseph was found dead on the floor behind the stage background with a rope around his neck. What more is there to say?"
She looked me over. "Well so much for enthusiasm! What's up with you? It's like you don't even care a man was MURDERED, Christine! I mean that's kind of a big deal."
"Sorry, it's just I didn't get much sleep last night. I'm kind of tired."
"Okay, but still." She was quiet for a moment. "What do you think happened?"
I tried to think up a decent story idea that would satisfy her curiosity, but I was lacking imagination at the moment. "Well, he probably ticked someone off and they decided to killed him."
"That's all? What about the phantom?" she grinned "I know it was him! I bet Joseph had found him and trying to uncover his location to everyone, but like you said, they got into a fight. The phantom was trying to kept him quiet but the only way to keep him quiet was to killed him. So he did and dumped the body for everyone to find. It's probably a message not to mess around with the him anymore."
I wanted to roll my eyes. "Joseph was drunk." I mumbled.
"What..? How did you know that?" Meg asked confused. Then I realized I had slipped some of the truth.
"He was probably drunk. It's logical you know, since he was always drinking"
She nodded her head. "Yeah. He always a little high."
Just then Madame Giry walked around one of the hall corners in front of us. She called for Meg and didn't look to happy."Ugh, Okay mama! One minute! Mama has been bugging me all morning to practice those additional dances for the 'Romeo and Juliet' play. I've been too busy talked to everyone about the killing though." She smiled.
"Meg!" Madame Giry yelled
"I'm coming!" she growled back. "See you."
After the two had left grumbling to each other I decided to go relax in my room and see if maybe my angel was there. I wanted to know where had he been last night when the phantom had had to stepped in and saved me instead of him. Besides, I was starting to miss him.
Once in the protection of my dressing room I closed the door and called to my angel. There was a faint singing from far off. It was distance, but at least I could hear him. He came a little closer, but strangely would not come to my room.
"Angel, what keeps thee for me?" I sang. My heart felt a little broken.
"Her innocence,
Sweet innocence.
My fear and love captures me,
With in the grasp of she..."
My angel sang back to me. I tried to understand what he was saying. 'My purity is keeping him, but also his fear and love? I know my angel loves me, but like "love-love? Aren't angels not suppose to love humans that way?' But that was all he said for his lovely voice drifted off and I was left puzzled. I wanted to find out what he meant.
After a couple minutes, I went over to my bed and flopped down frustrated. "Argh!"
'What is going on ?' I scowled until my forehead hurt, then slowly I relax and closed my eyes. 'Maybe I should just take a tap to ease the stress...' Then my thought blacked out.
Something was touching my face.
It was a soft stroke crossed the cheek. Dazed, I let out a sighed and moved slightly. "Hmm?" I cracked my eyes. The lighting in my room was dim. 'It is evening already?' I wondered, then I looked to see what had touched my face.
There, next to me on my bed, sat the Phantom of the opera. He began to hastily rise to leave. My thoughts scrambled to catch up. 'The Phantom has been sitting at my bed stoking my face this whole time? But wait- didn't he saved me the last night? So...shouldn't I thank him? But why is he in my room? What?'
"Wait!" I almost yelled in a panic. The Phantom froze in his tracks. I sat up in my bed. The air was tense for a moment as I gained the courage to speak.
"You... you saved me last night," I started. "And I didn't get a chance to thank you because you left so suddenly. I guess if it hadn't been for you I might not be alive right now. My heart's appreciation is eternal. But why? Why did you save me of all people? I've never done anything to make me special."
Slowly the Phantom turned to face me. His cold, smooth face was magnificent. He was even more beautiful in this lighting. His eyes like two bright flames. Through his black, floor length cloak he put a boot out and took a step forward. He stood about ten feet away from me. Then he spoke...
"You want to know why I saved you?" his deep, powerful voice asked. My eyes grew and I caught my breath. His voice was overwhelming. It was like what a true male voice should sound like. But what was the most surprising was that it was the voice of my angel!
My mind raced.'The Phantom is my angel...?'
He continued. "Do you want to know why I killed that man in cold blood? Why I freed you when I could have given you the same horrible fate?" He took two steps forward. "Why would the Phantom of the Opera do such a generous thing? The horrible ugly creature that has haunted this dwelling for years... The one of no mercy." He was a few feet away from me now. "Could it have been the instinct to protect you? Or... was it something else?" Now, he was right in front of me. I stared up at him helpless. I felt save with my angel., but what about the Phantom?
Suddenly, he slammed his hands down on each side of me. I shrunk back for his frame practically engulfed me. His face was inches from mine. I could feel his breath.
"Because Christine, I care for you! You could even dare to say... I love you. That's why I pretended to be your angel all those years and that's why saved you last night. I want you to be safe and I would do anything for you. Anything..."
Then his lips pressed against mine in a slow, intoxication movement. My eyes widened in surprise. Nobody had ever touched my lips.
He massaged my mouth with his and I tried to fight him. I knew I should fight him, but... my mind. My mind started to stumble. I couldn't tell which way was up or down. And suddenly, I was captured by his aroma. I gave in and closed my eyes and joined his needy kiss.
It was a wonderful, overwhelming sensation of love that followed. I didn't know this masked crusader very well, but I felt as if we had a deeper connection. Was it because he'd been my angel over all those years?
My arms reached up and wrapped around his neck pulling he further down. This made him topple over on top of me. Normally, I would have been alarmed by this, but I honestly didn't care at the moment. I curled the tips of his black, wavy hair with my long, wry fingers. I heard him moan against my lips then he lift up, desperate for air. I was out of breath too.
The Phantom used his arms to push his weight off of me. The two of us lay on my bed in the fading evening light. The room had a rather mysteriously, sensual feeling about it. Here I was alone with the Opera Ghost, in my bed. What would the other girls think?
"I could scream..." I whispered softly, relaxing my arms above my head. The masked man leaned down to my face. I watched his bright, honey-blue eyes.
"But that would ruin all the fun." he replied. Then he pressed another raw kiss to my lips. His strong arms wrapped around my waist and drew my closer. Our hips pressed together. I held him tenderly in my arms as he kissed my face over and over again. I did not offer anymore protest. I was now my angel's... The Phantom of the Opera.
The End.