To Whom it May Concern,
I bid you greetings
from the bottom of my heart. If you have heard that the Opera
Populaire has been bought and restored you have heard correctly. I'd
like to invite you to come back to the Opera house and perform one
last work of art. If you come you will not be disappointed. I hope to
see you soon on the 3rd at 1 PM.
Sincerely,
The new owner of
the Opera Populaire
That was what the note sent to all the old cast had said. It was written in the red letters- childish letters- that looked like they were written with the tips of burnt matches. The Opera Populaire was remodeled to its' former glory by an unknown man. Rumors spread around Paris quickly, but no one had any notion of who this mystery man was. It was said that not even the people who had worked on the Opera Populaire had seen the manager. They had received instruction by notes and were paid by money in envelopes.
Erik would have signed as O.G., but he thought that that title might scare the old performers away from the Opera house, instead of bringing them back into it like he had hoped. Don Juan Triumphant was finally finished, with the exception of a few minor problems he needed to work out of it.
The world would not suspect him- he knew that. A body dead for a few weeks had been found dressed in a suit coat close to the one he himself wore. They thought it was him- any body rotting away might remind them of him. Even Christine thought so- for when he had heard the rumors he went to look at the body himself. The gold band that he had given to Christine was around the corpses' finger. He had taken the gold ring back and it now rested in a small box in his house on the lake, which had been drained when he had bought the Opera Populaire.
It had been five years since the incident.
"Christine, you must love me!" He had told her in a masterful tone. "How can you talk like that? When I sing only for you!" She had shouted back at him, tears stinging her eyes. "Are you very tired?" He asked after a moment. "Oh, tonight I gave you my soul and I am dead!" She replied to him. "Your soul is a beautiful thing, child," Erik had replied in a grave tone, "and I thank you. No emperor ever received so fair a gift. The angels wept tonight."
Erik sighed deeply, and rubbed the back of his neck to relieve the stress that was building. He stood from the organ, which he had been sitting for the past day and a half. A candle flickered from on top of the organ and he watched it, studying it with his green eyes… eyes plagued by pain.
He walked over to a chair and reached for his cape. Wrapping it around himself and hooking it on, he walked over to a boat. Pulling on a chain that opened the gates into his lair, he began his journey across the lake to reach the Opera house.
'She won't come.' He thought to himself as he paddled. 'She knows you're writing… she has her own husband now.' Those were his thoughts for the whole ride- although he fought his conscious. He had not expected anything else.
He had followed their movements almost as a hobby. Recently he had an excuse- and that was to just bring her back to perform. Why there was a need to speak, to see someone who would understand, he did not know. He did not want to see Christine again although. Unfortunately, she was the only one who fit the star of his Don Juan Triumphant. He longed to see his Masterpiece on the stage. Also after it- he could finally be a normal "nobody". It was one of the things he had longed for most of all in his life.
"…I can't go on living like this, like a mole in a burrow! Don Juan Triumphant is finished; and now I want to live like everybody else. I want to have a wife like everybody else and to take her out on Sundays. I have invented a mask that makes me look like anybody. People will not even turn round in the streets. You will be the happiest of women. And we will sing, all by ourselves, till we swoon away with delight. You are crying! You are afraid of me! And yet I am not really wicked. Love me and you shall see! All I wanted was to be loved for myself. If you loved me I should be as gentle as a lamb; and you could do anything with me that you pleased."
He wondered how he could have ever been so naïve. It was amazing, and oh how he had rambled on about nothing! Something told him that he could change all the past! Unfortunately he knew that he could not, although he tried to convince his mind otherwise. It did not matter! He would soon be a normal "nobody"… like he always wanted.
He jumped out of the boat as the bottom hit the dirt of the lake. He threw the oar into the boat and tied it up. Walking into the shadows he knew that his plan would soon be engaged. He wandered in the shadows of the Opera house, making sure everything was perfect. He awaited one o'clock impatiently.