As she walked backstage she heard a whisper. She was at rehearsal for "The Phantom of the Opera" for her part of the leading lady. As she heard the whisper she followed it, thinking it was her boyfriend. To her surprise it was a man wearing a mask on half of his face. The woman grew in shock then heard the man whisper "the hair of Christine." The other cast members heard her scream; they ran only to find her hanging from a pipe, above the stage, dead.
"…And the 'Lady of the Opera' murders continue at Davenport Stage Performance Theater. This is the third woman to take the lead in two months that has been found hung dead with their hair missing. Investigators say they have no leads, but sole witness from the murder of her boyfriend a year ago says that the killer wears half of a mask. Going on to sports…" Sam turned down the television.
"You hear that… Dean? Hello? DEAN!
"What? I'm trying to eat and I don't wanna talk with my mouth full! You okay with that cupcake?"
"What are you talking about? You talk with your mouth stuffed all the time! Now did you hear the news talk about the murders?"
"Yeah, but Sam this is probably just some random serial killing spree, I don't think anything supernatural is involved, I mean their hair was missing, what demon would do that?."
Sam went over to his backpack and grabbed his laptop and his dad's journal. While he was scanning through his dad's journal, Dean rolled his eyes, finished the last bit of his burger and went over to Sam.
"Dude, you really think that dad would have something in that thing about a couple of leading lady serial killings."
"Right Here!" Sam said slamming the journal on the table and pointing to an article with the head line 'Leading Lady Killer Strikes a Guy?' Dean read through the article.
"A man was found hung from a pipe in the Davenport Stage performance theater, the victim was identified as 19 year old Jason Quici…blah, blah, blah; his girlfriend whose to be kept anonymous told the police that the killer killed Jason right in front of her, then looked up at her, smiled, then disappeared into thin air." The older boy looked at his brother. "Looks like we might have found our next destination."
The next day the boys drove past a sign that read "Welcome to Davenport." Sam looked through the printouts of all the murders that happened at that theater.
"According to this newspaper article, the very first leading lady murder happened after the theater reopened in 1966. Sadie Daniels was found hanging from a pipe above the stage, but it wasn't her hair that was missing, her eyes were literally ripped out of her head."
"Ew, come on man! Could you be less graphic Sammy, I just ate, and you'll be cleaning her up if I puke."
"Will you stop calling the car 'her?"
"Sorry, but she's my baby. Man, there better be some hot chicks here! Not the gross, 'haven't eaten in 3 weeks' kinda chicks." Dean stated as he was slowing the car to the side of the road, arriving at the theater.
Sam and Dean grabbed their fake ID badges and walked into the theater to find the place busy with people rehearsing. However, an older woman walked up to them.
"Excuse me gentlemen we are in the middle of rehearsal."
"Sorry, we didn't mean to intrude. We're from the "Cove University newspaper", I'm Dean and this is Sam. We're writing an article on the play and some of its cast and crew members."
"I suppose I could give you a quick look at the rehearsal. I'm Mrs. Flume by the way, director of this theater." The woman then walked them near the stage. "As you already know, the play we are working on is a classic musical 'The Phantom of the Opera.' We have over a number of fifty people in the cast and crew together. Well, we did."
"Yes, we heard about the latest leading lady killing, I'm sorry."Dean spoke.
"Not to be abrupt, but I have to ask, who is the new leading lady?" the younger subling questioned. Mrs. Flume pointed to a young girl who looked not even twenty years old.
"Her name is Amelia Russo; she came to the theater to work as soon as she graduated from high school in Philadelphia. But Amelia also goes to UI (University of Iowa) part time. However, we made an arrangement for her to come here. Amelia loved playing the lead roles whenever she got the chance and in the musicals, that girl had the singing voice of an angel, but that was a little over a year ago."
"Why? What happened?" Sam asked.
"Well, her boyfriend came to surprise her at the opening night of one of our plays, and he was murdered right in front of her by the leading lady killer. Poor thing was so upset that she never wanted to perform again. She had trouble sleeping and needed tranquilizers to get sleep." Mrs. Flume paused for a moment. " Amelia almost drove herself into a nervous breakdown."
"So if Amelia was so broken hearted about her boyfriend's death then what is she doing back here?" spoke Dean.
"After the latest murder, there wasn't time to go through days and days of auditions again to find the perfect girl and we would have had to refund a full house. I begged Amelia to do the part and to help her conquer her fear. She simply agreed saying that she would only do it to conquer her fear, but I think in her heart she felt like she was going to be the next victim."
"Well it looks like she is enjoying being back here." Sam stated pointing to Amelia playing hacky sack with a group of people.
"Yes, her best friend, Maggie, works here. Together those two make work enjoyable." Flume looked down at her watch. "Two o'clock, we have to close early for the police to continue further investigation. But if you boys want to stay and talk with the rest of the cast feel free to do so. I however must be off."
"Well, thanks for your time." Dean said as Mrs. Flume left. He looked back over to his brother. "Okay so our only lead is that the killer wore half a mask and disappears without a trace after the crime."
end chapter one: so how was it? not too bad i hope. chapter two will be coming out soon, and i hoped you've enjoyed it so far! also, comments and reviews are welcome!