"You danced divinely tonight my dear."
Marcella eagerly spun around. A man wearing a long black cape, wide brimmed hat, and a white half mask stood in the doorway to her dressing room. She tried to conceal her look of surprise, but hiding her feelings had never been her strength. "Don't tell me that you don't know who I am?" The mysterious figure spoke again. Marcella examined the man more closely. Who would be dressed like the Phantom of the Opera? Broad shoulders, strong build, Strong chin, slightly large nose… could it be… "Derek!"
"Derek! I can't believe that you are here!" Marcella ran and leapt into his open arms. She ceremoniously removed the hat then the mask, to reveal a ruggedly handsome face. She kissed him as he put her back on her feet. Her heart fluttered with excitement. Not only had she just given her best ballet performance ever, but also her wonderful boyfriend had been there to watch. "You didn't tell me that you were going to come and watch! You told me that you were too busy!" Derek laughed; it was a deep rumbling that seemed to come from his soul. "Are you joking Marcella? I wouldn't miss your first big performance for anything in the world. I just thought that I would surprise you." He lifted her from the waist and whirled around twice then pulled her close as they kissed. He suddenly ended the kiss. "My dear, that tutu that you are wearing is either causing me excruciating pain, or pleasure. I think that it is more on the painful side." Marcella pushed herself away and glared at him playfully. "Causing you pain? Men are such big babies. You try wearing these point shoes, and then you can talk about pain. I need to get dressed now, it was nice seeing you Derek. You look really good in that costume, you should wear it more often." She started to shoo him out the door. "Wait," he said, "Actually I came to see if you wanted to go somewhere after you get changed. I was thinking someplace romantic, and then maybe back to my place for the night." Marcella pushed him out the door and closed it. "Nice try big shot! We won't be making any "for the night" stays at your house until you put a ring on my finger and we walk down the aisle. But it was a nice idea, besides the girls and I have already planned a girls night out." Marcella slipped out of her leotard, and into a bright red party dress. "Please?" Derek begged loudly. She replaced her toe shoes with red high heels. Derek was still there when she opened the door. "Please? I'll even sing for you." He offered looking at her with his large green eyes. Not the eyes! Anything but the puppy dog eyes! "Well… oh all right. We can go out tonight." She stepped out of her room.
"Whoa! Where did you get that dress? You look hot. You were going to wear that for a girls night out?" "Yeah." Marcella answered with a slight giggle. "We were going to go bar hopping and the others were going to pick up guys." Derek's unruly hair flopped as he shook his head disapprovingly. "No you weren't, you aren't legal age, Charla is the only one who is." "I know, at eighteen you are an adult, but you can't legally drink. You can, but I can't. That makes me jealous." "Don't be, it's nothing really special, and it is not fun being drunk. So, onto more pleasant subjects…" Marcella sighed as Derek wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She always felt so safe when he was with her. "Yes," she thought, "the girls will just have to take a rain check."
***
Paris Opera House
Crash! Another beautiful china vase fell to the floor and shattered into a thousand pieces. A long sorrowful moan escaped Erik's lips as he fell to the ground. "She's gone." Christine was gone. She had left with her lover Raoul, but she would return. She had to because she promised to return the gold ring that he had given her. She would come back after he was dead and slip the gold ring onto one of his dead fingers. He wouldn't see her, but just to know that she would be there was a wonderful thought. She would only come back to him when he was dead. "Dead" The word echoed in his mind. The sooner he was dead the sooner she would come back. "Death" What could he do to cause his own death. He knew of many ways to commit suicide, but there was only one that would be without evidence.
Erik jumped to his feet and walked to his room. He passed his coffin and his organ. He opened a small chest and pulled out several flasks of liquids. He opened and sniffed the contents of each one until he finally found the one he was looking for. |He held the small glass phial up to the light. It contained amber liquid spotted with flecks of red. It was the red that would kill him; the amber was just there to make the death more swift. He brought the vial to his lips, ready to swallow the poison, then stopped. No, there was something that had to be done first. Erik took a piece of his music paper, his quill, and red ink and began to write a letter.
Dear Daroga,
The time has come for you to inform Madame deChagney of my death. By the time you receive this I will all ready be dead.
Your grateful servant,
Erik
He sat the letter outside his front door knowing that the Daroga would come by his home in the next week and find it. Erik lowered himself into his coffin bed and raised the glass to his lips and let the poison flow into his mouth. It tasted very bitter and burned like fire as he swallowed it. His chest constricted and his body felt as heavy as a rock. With a heavy sigh he closed his eyes for what he thought would be the last time.
***
Present day
Marcella smiled happily as she listened to the hum of the car and Derek singing along with her favorite musical Phantom of the Opera. As he shouted "Sing my angel of music!" She began to sing Christine's notes that were incredibly high for her pitiful voice. She decided to stop and spare her boyfriend's ears. "I'm sorry my love, but I am not a singer, I am a dancer." "And you danced very nicely tonight." He replied quickly. "I liked one of the costumes that you were wearing it was quite revealing."
Marcella smiled "Oh, so you liked that one. There was a moment that I thought that I was going to fall out of it." "That would have been nice… I mean embarrassing for you. At least you have something to fall out; the other girls don't have to even worry."
Marcella lightly punched Derek's arm. "You had better be quiet. You don't have to rub in the fact that I am bigger than the other girls." "Sorry Marci, but really I think that it is nice. You are still more graceful than any of them." "Thank you very much." She let her hand slide down his arm and rested it on his thigh. He sighed softly and took one of his hands off the wheel and caressed her hand. "Marci, you know that I love you. I have since the first day I saw you coming out of the dancer's store. We have been dating for two years now, and I want to ask you something." "Yes what is it?" Derek cleared his throat. "This isn't at all how I imagined, but will you marry me?"
Marcella felt her heart jump up to her throat. "What?" Derek sighed. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked so suddenly. It's just that I love you so much and I can't even imagine spending my life with anyone else but you. If you say no I will understand. I know that you don't want to give up dancing, but if you married me you could keep dancing."
Marcella hadn't heard a word that he had said. "I will." She whispered inaudibly. Derek just kept talking over her. "I said, I will marry you Derek." He stopped short for a moment. "Will you? Oh Marci! You don't know how relived I am." He took her hand from his lap and began kissing it.
Marcella laughed as she spoke. "I love you so much! How could I say no?"
Just up the road about 100 yards a dark figure stood in the middle of the road. The two in the car didn't see him until it was almost too late.
Marcella looked up at the road, and saw the figure of a human. "Derek watch out! She screamed. "Oh God!" he yelled as he swerved. It all happened so fast. There was a horrible crunching sound as the car hit the guard rail head on.
***
Erik had just closed his eyes and he suddenly found himself standing on a strange road with two yellow lines painted underneath him. There were two bright lights coming toward him very fast. He couldn't move. Suddenly the lights swerved away from him. He heard the sound of metal grinding and crashing together. It was almost like the sound of a chandelier crashing into the audience.
How had he arrived at this place? The last thing that he had remembered was the poison flowing through his veins. What had happened?
Erik thought that it would be wiser to move off of the road just incase any more of those machines came. The back lights on that machine were flashing frantically.
There was a slamming noise and Erik saw something coming out of the contraption. It was a young woman. She was holding something in her hand and started speaking into it in a halting voice. "Hello… please there… there has been a … terrible accident. It is on highway 9 at… the, no halfway between marker 456… and …and hurry please. My boyfriend is in the car and he is knocked-out. What? I am out of the car, but it hurts so much…hurry please…I think a pedestrian may have been hurt too…oh god. Hurry please. What did you say?" She paused "I'm sorry…everything I spinning… I can't hear you…please hurry." That was the last thing she said before she collapsed.
Erik hadn't heard a word that she had said, but he knew that she was in trouble. He heard the sound of a siren in the distance. He sighed and closed his eyes.
Suddenly Erik was back in his coffin looking up at his ceiling. The poison hadn't worked. He didn't even feel the slightest twinge of pain. How had he suddenly gone from death, to that strange place with the panicked woman, back to life? What was going on?