The Ring

"You alone can make my song take flight..."

"No, don't say it's over. It's never over!"

"... it's over now, the music of the night!"

"NO!"

"Robin!" A door swung open, revealing a tall, twenty year old woman. She looked around the dark room and found a girl about eighteen years in age. She had long black hair that was tied to one side of her head and in a long quadruple strand braid. Her light green eyes were glued to her dvd player screen and her earphones were blasting the sound at full. The tall woman walked over and closed the player.

"Hey!" Robin shouted.

"I swear, why did I ever agree to look after you?" The tall woman wondered.

"Because you're my sister." She said happily.

"I regret that." She said.

"Come on Tracy." Robin said whining. She opened her player again.

"You've been watching that thing ten times already!" Tracy said. "Give it a rest." She closed the door. Robin sighed.

"Man, I hate it when I'm always being bugged about this sort of stuff." She turned off the player and checked the time. "Two in the morning? Crap! I have school in five hours, and I have to get up in four!" She jumped under the covers and turned on her alarm clock. She took out a framed picture of the Phantom she found on the internet and kissed it. "Good night Erik." She placed it back under her pillow and went to sleep.

''''''''''

Paris, 1884

Three years have passed since the chandelier accident in the Opera Populaire. Since then, Erik had lived in seclusion. With the money that he gained from living in the opera house, he bought a large mansion outside of Paris where he could be alone. He spent most of his time in his study working on new operas and would send them out to the new Opera Populaire, yet they never question who they're from (Sucks for them!). Yet, he is still haunted by the past incident with Christine Daae.

"Why?" He asked himself. There was a knock on his door. "What?" The door opened slowly.

"Monsieur," A young girl about sixteen with short red hair and blue eyes stepped in. She stared at the large chair facing one of the large windows on the far side of the room. "I have received this letter earlier today." She placed it on the small table next to the chair. "Excuse me." She said before leaving. he stared at the white envelope then turned his attention back to the window. He began to hear a sweet sound. It sounded like someone was singing.

"Where is that-?" He noticed someone walking through the garden. He stood up and made for the door. She stormed outside and found the figure still dancing around the many different flowers. It was a girl. She was wearing a white dress with black lace trailing around the bodice and outer rims. Silver ribbons were tied in her long hair. "Who are you?" He asked her. She just giggled.

"The sun is rising." She said. She stared out onto the open field that surrounded the large house and smiled.

"Who are you?" He started demanding.

"Please send me back home at once." She began. "In the name of the fire and water within me..."

"Hold it!" He tried reaching for her.

"Release!" A stream of light shot down from the sky and surrounded her. In a moment, she was gone.

"Who was that girl?" He looked up at the sky.

'''''''''

Robin was once again reading in class. But even though it was English class, and they were meant to be reading, she wasn't even paying attention. Her teacher slammed a ruler against her desk.

"Robin!" Her head shot up.

"Yes?" she asked in an almost innocent tone.

"Where is your book?" She asked.

"Right here." She held out the book in her hand. She snatched the book from her hand and held it in front of her face.

"We are NOT reading The Phantom of the Opera! We are reading The Scarlet Letter!" She slammed the book to the floor.

"Your point?" She asked.

"Go be a wise-ass in the Principal's office!" She pointed to the door. Robin picked up her book and her bag.

"John was expecting me anyways." The entire class burst into laughter. The teacher slammed the ruler on the desk again.

"Back to work!" The class was silent again and turned back to their books. Robin walked down the empty hallway. She expected it to be more lively since during class is the best time to chill. A chill suddenly went down her spine. She looked around.

"Who's there?" She asked. No answer. She heard a whisper. "This isn't funny!" She kept looking around.

"Release!" She turned again and a thin stream of light hit her. She was forced back and hit the wall, head first. She woke up in the nurse's office. She started rubbing her head.

"Wh-what happened?" She asked.

"Well, by the look of it, you had a concussion." The nurse explained.

"I did?" She said. She remembered the light.

What in the world was that? She wondered.

"Your sister is on her way to get you." The nurse explained.

"Oh great." She said and she rested her head against her pillow again.

Where did that light come from? She wondered. And I heard someone shout 'Release' right before it hit me. The bell rung.

"I should go to class." She said picking up her bag.

"No, I already called your sister." The nurse said. "Lie back down."

"No, I'm fine." Robin said smiling. "It was just a slight bump to the head." She lightly tapped her head with her knuckle. "Call Trace to turn around and get back to her work." She walked out the door. The nurse sighed. As the day went by, the vision of the light and winding up in the nurse's office seemed like a dream. As the final bell rang she made for the bus. She sat in the back and waited for her friends to come. A girl with blue dyed hair and grayish green eyes sat in front of her.

"Hey Robin." She said.

"Hi Sarah." She said. "You re-dye your hair?"

"Yeah, I decided to make it a brighter shade of blue." She flipped her hair. "Not bad huh?"

"It's pretty." Robin sighed. "I want to dye my hair but Trace thinks that the ink would go straight to my head."

"Don't worry." Sarah said. "I've been dying my hair since middle school and I'm fine." They started laughing. As the bus started moving, Robin saw the girl in white outside wearing a large hat that covered her face. The only part of her face she saw was her mouth. The girl was smiling.

"Robin?" She turned back to her friend. "You okay?" She looked back out the window and the girl was gone.

"Yeah." She said. "I'm fine." I think.

That night, she was once again watching The Phantom of the Opera for the third time. She had her covers over her head so the light from the player's screen wouldn't shine under the door. She would always cry at the part when Christine and Raoul kissed on the roof and when Christine left Erik all alone, never to see him again. As the movie ended, she checked the time.

"Ten thirteen." She whispered. "I'll watch it once more." She went back to the main menu and pressed play. As it got to the part with the mirror, she started dozing off. Her eyes started drooping. But she was determined to keep watching. But she fell asleep.

''''''''''

That night, Erik couldn't sleep. He could only think of the girl in white. Who was she? Why was she here? Where was she from? These questions clouded his mind. No matter how hard he tried, she was always on his mind. He slammed his fist on the silk sheets that lay beneath him.

"Why wont it stop?" He asked himself. "How can I put her out of mind?" He heard someone giggle. He shot up from his bed and looked around the room. In a dark corner, he saw the girl. She was still wearing her white dress.

"You're funny." She said.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"All in good time." She said. "I believe your name is Erik. It's nice to formally meet you."

"How did you get in here?" He questioned.

"How didn't I get in." She said and started giggling.

"Stop toying with me!" She started toward him. "Don't take another step." The girl stopped.

"Then, will you come to me?" She asked with sad eyes. He began to feel strange. His body started moving on its own. Before he knew it, he was right in front of her. Compared to him, she was almost like a child. She reached up and stroked his exposed cheek. She gently traced out his features. She then placed both hands on his chest and leaned her head on top of them. He jumped a little. "So warm." He wanted to push her away, but he felt almost calm with her.

"Please." He said. "That's enough." She moved away.

"We will meet again." She said. She quickly stood on her tip toes and managed to kiss his cheek. "Please return me to my home. In the name of the fire and water within me, Release!" She disappeared again in the same light as before. He touched his cheek as if he could still feel her kiss.

"She was so cold."

''''''''''

"Hey, wake up sleepy head." Tracy continued to shake her younger sibling. "Get up."

"No." Robin groaned. "It's Saturday."

"Yeah, but you also have chores to do." She said. "You have to help me with the laundry and the dishes. Then we have to mop the floors and clean the windows."

"Can't we wait till New Years?" She whined. "I didn't sleep well." Tracy picked up the dvd player, which was on rerun.

"You left your player on again." She said and placed it back in its case. "I swear, how did I ever get such a lazy younger sister?" She left Robin to herself. Robin pulled the covers over her head. She started rubbing the top of her head with frustration.

"I fell asleep while watching it again!" She shouted. "I'm so terrible."

Later that morning, after sulking for about an hour, Robin finally decided to get up. Tracy had just finished the dishes.

"There you are." She said. "Since you slept in so late, you can handle the laundry yourself. All the baskets are down in the laundry room." Robin just nodded and opened the door to the basement. When she reached the laundry room, she found three baskets waiting to have their clothes cleaned. One was for herself, one was for her sister, the other was for kitchen and bathroom washables. She started loading all her dark clothes into the washer and kept her lights in the basket.

"Man, why couldn't we have done this sometime else?" She stuck her hands in her pockets. She felt a piece of paper. She took it out and looked at it. "Oh yeah, I was gonna go to the library today." She looked at the washer and a devilish smirk appeared on her face. She took the darks from every pile and stuffed in all into the washer. After they were all clean, she stuck them into the dryer and put in a few dryer sheets. She put in the light load in the washer next. After that was done, she waited for the darks to finish. After that, she pulled them out and stuffed them into one basket and stuffed the lights into the dryer. As the load was going, she ran upstairs and got changed.

"Where are you going?" Tracy asked when she noticed Robin making for the front door.

"Library!" She said.

"Phantom give-a-way?" She asked.

"Yes!" She bolted out the door and down the walkway. She grabbed her bike and started for the library. The building came into sight. But before going there, she stopped at a small stand.

"'Mystical Artifacts'?" She read. "What's that suppose to mean?" She walked over to the stand and looked at the objects. It looked like normal stuff. But one thing caught her attention. It was a ring. She picked it up and started examining it.

"You like it?" She jumped at the sound of the strange voice. It was a man about in his mid fifties.

"Um, yeah." She said. "It's very interesting."

"That is a special ring you know." He said. "It give the wearer the power to travel through time and space."

"No foolin'" She asked.

"That's right." He said. "Why, just a while ago, I had traveled to the year nineteen forty three, to meet my grandfather as he fought in World War II." She looked at the ring again. "It can even bring people to other places too."

"Like...?"

"To universes that we could only dream of." She raised her eyebrows.

"Is that so?" He nodded.

"You must speak the words to activate the ring." He explained.

"What are the words?" She asked.

"You'll figure them out in time." He said and went to the back.

"Hey!" She slammed her hands on the stand. "Tell me the words!" She sighed. She looked back at the ring. "I'll learn them in time huh?" She slipped the ring into her pocket and got back on to her bike. She totally forgot about the give-a-way at the library and went straight home. When she walked through the door, her sister was surprised the wasn't carrying a truck load of stuff.

"What happened to the give-a-way?" She asked.

"Um..." She just realized she had forgotten. "It was a false alarm." She said.

"Oh, bummer." She went back to her work. Robin went up to her room. She pulled the ring out of her pocket and started examining it.

"The words..." She started thinking. "What are the words?" She continued thinking. For an hour she had her mind on the ring. She finally fell backwards on her bed. "What are the freakin' words?!"

"Release!" She heard the voice again. Another burst of light was headed for her. The light disappeared into the gem that was on the ring. She stared at it with amazement.

"Is that the word?" She wondered. "Please, take me to the world I long for the most."

"In the name of the fire and water within..."

"Release!" The ring started to shine. The old man checked outside.

"The little lady left so soon. I forgot to tell her that if she traveled to another universe, she'd have to find the portal back to this world."

There, if you don't like it, don't read it. So, this is the next story I'm working on along with three others. But, it will keep me busy for a while. It makes me happy to be able to write stories. Well, I should get going. I wanna keep writing more chapters for other stories before the new iCarly comes on. gotta go. Itekimasu!