And Do I dream Again
Summary: This is an actual dream I had on January 1/17/07, and I just had to share it with you all! SO please enjoy! I may add some things in this story that were not in my dream, but I'll leave that decision up to ya'll. Let me know!
Disclaimer: I don't own POTO or any of its songs and characters…(sadly)
Chapter 1:
On this day, I had the most peculiar dream. It was one of those dreams that made me feel thoughtful, shaken, and excited. In my dream, my homeland Florida seemed to be mixed with France, so that there was a lot more elegance and fanciful nature in the atmosphere. Everything was absolutely beautiful!
In my dream, a new opera house was established somewhere in Merritt Island. I cannot recall its' name, but I do remember that it was bigger, brighter, more beautiful, and even more majestic than the 'Opera Populaire' in France! (Of course, that could only be possible in dreams like mine).
For some odd reason I had a younger sister by two years, and she just happened to be Christine Daae; much to my delight! Well, in real life I have a wonderful music teacher named Mrs. Steen, and she was in my dream as well. So it was, that Mrs. Steen took my sister, myself, and my great friend Monica (who is also one of Mrs. Steen's students), inside the beautiful new opera house.
We were enthralled with the beauty of the opera house, and from the awe of it all, we just began to sing to the empty audience. A little while later, a bunch of my friends joined us. They were Lisa, Brittany, Stephen (Monica's true love), Jenee, my little bro, and a few other guys I knew in the dream, but that I don't know now.
One of my friends suggested that we explore the opera house while it was still empty. We all thought that this was a grand idea, and began our little tour. We started at the very top of the opera house, and worked our way down through each level in this amazing building. After about and hour and a half of looking on the top and middle stories of the opera house, we decided to end our journey in the basements of the opera house.
These intriguing underground levels had many twists and turns, and just kept on going lower and lower into the earth…it was almost another hour before we reached what appeared to be the last level of the opera house.
However, this last level was different compared the other ones we had been in. It was the deepest and darkest of all the others…it had torches lined on the walls, lighting and stretching endlessly down the strange corridor. It led only in to one path, past a bunch of corners and turns, and brought us to large wooden double doors.
Oh…one had never seen such doors as these! They were so beautiful, and the carvings and texture are so hard to describe now, that you would have to imagine what they must have looked like.
Anyway, when we came to the doors, all of us came to an abrupt halt. Suddenly, the dark passageway began to fill with the most beautiful music we had ever heard. It was the soothing sound of the violin…playing such a lonely and mournful tune, that all of us began to shed unsuspecting tears.
After a minute of being enchanted, one of my guy friends foolishly decided to go inside the doors, and see who or what dwelled in the rooms ahead of us. Some of us attempted to stop him, but this friend of mine was a mischievous daredevil who never refused the urges if his curiosity. And so, he stubbornly refused to listen and walked towards the doors. The rest of us hid behind the wall that had turned into this hallway that contained the door, and we waited.
My friend opened the door and went inside. The music continued its' captivating innuendo, and flowed out the door and through our ears as soon as the doors were opened. You know how in dreams, you sometimes feel like you can be in one place, yet at the same time you can see everything else go on at the same time in different parts of wherever you are? Well that's how it was with me.
As I stood behind the wall with my friends, I was able to still see my friend walking in the large rooms, as well as watch him explore all of the different catacombs he found. During this part of the dream, other music began to play. It was not the kind of music that sounds like it's being played by someone, it was more like background music…it was like I was in an almost suspenseful movie.
As my friend continued to walk further in to the catacombs, I could hear the background music turning more intense, as if something terrible were about to happen! Well, I sure was right…for the next thing I knew, my friend came in to a large and well furnished room, where a tall broad-shouldered man was playing the violin with his back to my friend. My friend looked as if he wanted to say something, but could only just stand there and watch with awe.
But suddenly, the violin music stopped, and the man turned around. My heart stopped at what I saw from my hiding place, for this man was terribly, scarily deformed! No words can describe how horrid his face looked…yet in my heart, I honestly wanted to go and embrace him comfortingly.
The man was shocked at discovering a teenage boy standing inside his room, while my friend became frozen with fear, and his mouth dropped open in terror at the sight of this man's face. All at once, the man's surprised expression changed into a twisted look of terrible rage, which held death in his eyes! All at once, I could no longer see the both of them, but only the spot where I was.
What I heard next will never diminish in my ear, for as long as I remember this dream. The man, I could hear, gave a terrible cry from his mouth! It was nothing I have ever heard in my life…it was as if this man had his wails, cries, growls, moans, weeps, sobs, and shouts all mixed together; resulting into one great chilling, heart wrenching roar!!!
No words…none at all can or will ever describe how terrible and hellish it sounded. It was almost demonic! And I almost had a heart attack in the dream as well! The man's roar echoed long into the caverns, and easily reached our ears. One could tell from the rattling of their bones, that it came from the depths of his soul.
The background music had really intensified now, and very soon my friend came running out of the doors looking as pale as a ghost. "Run!" He screamed in terror! "RUUUN!!!" We all took off without a moment to loose. None of us dared to look back…none that is, except for curious me. I glanced back as we were running, and I saw the enraged man coming after us, as a mad dog goes after his prey.
His face was so full of hate, that even in that moment of fear, I felt pity and compassion towards this lonely soul who seemed so troubled and embittered by life's troubles. He continued after us, his growls and footsteps following us endlessly…my friends ahead were getting breathless and tired! "Keep up the pace!" I shouted desperately. As much as I wanted to help this man, I wouldn't let him hurt any of my friends.
After more minutes of running, it seemed that we had lost him. Nevertheless, none of us stopped running until we were out of the caverns, in the lobby of the opera house, and outside of the structure altogether. When we were all finally outside, we collapsed on the cement stairs breathlessly.
After spending about ten minutes catching our much-needed breath, my friend Monica stammered out, "What--was--that--thing?!" "That-t w-was no t-t-t-thing!" My guy friend who had first seen the man stuttered, "That was a man!!!" All of my friends gasped and began to talk at once. Then Stephen told every one of us, about the rumors of a terrible spirit living in the deepest caves of the opera house. "No way!" I exclaimed, hardly believing my ears. "What is this?! Some strange modern repeat of the Phantom of the Opera?!" My friend Brittany nervously laughed, "Seems exactly like it girlie…"
I was amazed. My sister was even more astonished at the events unfolding. We all then resolved that the reason for this man's anger, was because we trespassed on his private property. But only my friend who had gone in, and myself knew that most of his rage came from our seeing his haunted face.
Frightened though we all were, we ended up feeling pretty bad and terrible for angering this poor soul so much. So that very next night, I brought a cherry pie, a letter, and some special piano music by the man's door, as a gift of apology for our meddling in his private affairs. He must have found the gifts, for he came to Christine and I that next night when we were singing in the empty auditorium, and thanked us graciously for our kindness and consideration towards him.
At first he seemed to still be angry and accused us of coming down there to find the "opera ghost." But when I explained to him that we were all touring the opera house, and had no idea that he existed, he appeared more understanding than before. After that visit, the dark man disappeared for a few weeks.
My sister and I would practice endlessly for upcoming operettas those next few weeks, and although we couldn't see the "opera ghost', we sensed that he was there always watching us. My sister and I often wondered where he was, and occasionally would think about going to find him. However, we decided not to attempt that again seeing as our last discovery of the "opera ghost's" whereabouts almost resulted in fatal consequences. About a month passed, and we started to forget about him.
One night, my sister and I were practicing the "Flower Duet" together for an upcoming performance. After we finished, there was silence…but then it was suddenly shattered by the sound of someone clapping, followed by an exclamation, "Brava! Brava! Bravissima!"
Christine and I gasped while grabbing each other's hands. "Whose there?!" I shouted boldly. Eerie laughter then filled the air, followed by the same voice, "Is that a trick question mon bel enfant?" Suddenly a dark figure came out of the air, and landed right in front of my sister and I. Startled, the both of us yelped at his sudden appearance…but the sight of his white mask brought back our memory of the "opera ghost."
"It's you…" I breathed out unbelievingly. "You seem almost displeased to see me…are you afraid of me my dear?" The man sneered while walking closer to me. "No sir, of course not. I am actually glad to se you." I retorted calmly. "As am I…" Christine added.
The man's eyes softened at our words, and he stepped back with surprise. "You are glad to see me?" He asked with unbelief. "Well, yes. We haven't seen you since a few weeks ago, and didn't know what had become of you." I replied with a smile. The man turned to face the empty auditorium, before saying, "But I've always been here…watching you and your sister sing..." "Is that why you're hear now?" Christine asked. "Have you come to give us your opinion about our voices?"
The man faced us again, and nodded. "Yes, my dear I have. As you both are aware, I have observed you both, and have listened to you sing these past few weeks. You both have the voice that makes me think of an angel…yet, forgive me…it still seems to be somewhat untrained."
My sister and I flushed. "We have a teacher sir, she has helped our voices prosper greatly." Christine replied defensively. The man smiled at her response, "I do not deny that you both have great maturity to your voices, compared to many other girls your age. But I have come to offer you some personal training of my own. You both have great potential, and I am sure that with more work, you both could become the 'golden voice' of Florida!"
My sister and I looked at each other, then back at the man speechless. "I understand if you do not want to accept my offer, but I sincerely hope at least one of you will. You both have too much talent to let it all go to waste, and I'll be damned if I am to stand here and watch that happen. So if one of you is to stay, then make your decision, for I do not have an opportunity like this every day, and neither do you two."
Christine looked at me with shinning eyes, and I at once knew her answer, for it was the same as mine. "Oh monsieur! We gladly accept your offer! When can we start?!"
The man smiled victoriously, then said while sweeping his cape across the stage, "Meet me here tomorrow, and I will take you where we can have our lessons in private." "We will be here monsieur." I replied quietly. "And I will be waiting mes petits oiseaux chanteurs." With those words, the man disappeared into the darkness.
My sister and I stood there a moment in shock, before squealing and embracing each other while jumping up and down. "Can you believe it?! We're going to get personal training from the master of music himself!" Christine exclaimed joyously. "I know dear! I can't wait! But we mustn't tell anyone, not even mother and father or Mrs. Steen…this is a great thing that is happening, and I have a solemn idea that the "opera ghost" likes to keep such events like these private." "Ya think?" My sister replied sarcastically while laughing. We both then gathered our things and went home, all the while talking about the results we should expect from our future lessons with the "opera ghost".
When my sister and I returned that next night, the "opera ghost" took us to his lair, and our lessons began. Our first lesson went very well, and we prospered greatly from his teachings.
The "opera ghost" became a constant companion of my sister and I after that night, and helped us with our vocal techniques every week. My sister and I called him our guardian…our master…our friend…our maestro…and of course, our angel of music. For when he sang, we completely melted at the sound of his voice, and forgot about the horrors of our first encounter with him.
Towards the end of my dream, my sister and I learned that the "opera ghost" called himself Erik. He continued to work with us as the days, weeks, and months went by. During those times, I began to fall in love with this angel of music, and it wasn't long before he realized his affections for me as well.
My dream ended when a few years later, I married Erik, this genius of music, and considered him to be my only prince charming and true love, no matter how deformed he was. I didn't care, for I was in soooooo much love with him! That was the bottom line...and nothing he did would ever change that.
My unconditional love and care for Erik, helped him to find light, loved, and peace from darkness he had for so long dwelled in. My sister meanwhile, married her childhood friend and first love, Christian (no it wasn't Raoul for some strange reason). In the end, it was a really happy ending for the both of us…and my dream turned out to be a pleasant one after all.
Author's Note: Well guys, that's how my dream truthfully went! So, do you think I should go ahead and add more to my dream, and put details in between some of the parts in my dream? Or should I just leave it like that and start a different story now? Please let me know! All suggestions are welcome, unless they are asking me to die. LOL! Hope you enjoyed it!