The characters:

Antoinette Giry – Madame Giry from the movie. She is the ballet mistress at the Opera Populaire. In her early forties.

Madeline – Madame Giry's sister-in-law. She had a miss-carriage and she is divorced. Her ex-husband abused her and she is really scarred from it. A character made up by some friends. In her early forties.

Meg Giry – Daughter of Antoinette. You all know her pretty well. Knows nothing about Madeline. Teenager.

Erik – The Phantom. The Opera Ghost. The unknown. Well, you all know about him too. In his mid thirties.

Pre reading: Madame Giry trains the ballet girls hard for a new opera. Madeline sits inside the room watching without Madame Giry knowing. Madame Giry hasn't seen Madeline Giry since Antoinette's husband died.

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me. Only the story-line. None of the characters or the names belongs to me. Madeline (my fave, and also the main character) is Carolyn's invention and therefore belongs to her.

A thanks to Mme Giry for correcting my mistakes ;D

A tribute to Madeline.

The music swelled increasingly and the ballet-girls worked as hard as they possibly could. Antoinette Giry walked around between the ballerinas with her ebony cane, correcting and counting their steps. Antoinette stopped the musicians for a while to criticise a select few young ballerinas.

"You need to focus! How do you expect that you will earn money on this? You two! Silent!"

She shook her head in annoyance at the two girls. They were always talking to one another, and ruining their ability to dance properly, as she knew they could. She also suspected that they had been totally different places than their beds the night before also.

"Very well! One last time, from the beginning! And focus this time, you two. I am going to have to strap you onto your beds this tonight."

The music started again and the ballet-girls danced like never before. There was a blonde ballet-girl who took the lead. She danced beautifully and there was no doubt that she was related to Antoinette.

As soon as the music and the ballerinas finished, Antoinette heard two hands breaking into applause. She turned and saw a tall woman, much like herself, standing at the back of the room.

"Hello," Ann said with a strong voice. "May I help you with anything?"

The woman took a couple of steps towards Ann, and said: "I suspect you weren't expecting me."

Ann suddenly froze and stuttered: "M- Maddy! Is that really you? It has been years! You have grown incredibly."

Ann was right. The once tall and skinny girl had become a beautiful woman. Still skinny, but with curves. She had a cane, like Ann, and she wore a long dark-green dress with a nice hat.

"I am glad to see you again." Madeline replied. "I see how your daughter has grown. I would very much like to meet her."

Antoinette helped Madeline over to her daughter, and as they walked, they caught up on each others lives, and talked of old times.

"So, you still have the injury your husband gave you?" Ann asked as she led Maddy across the floor.

"Yes, I still have, as you can see. I can't say I ever really got well after the incident, but that is not important. How is your leg doing?"

"My leg is doing fine. I have to use my cane sometimes, but sometimes the cane works with me in order to control some of the girls." Ann said and glanced over at the troublemakers.

"Meg! Over here! Yes, now!" Ann called to her daughter. "There's someone I want to introduce you to.

"Yes, Mother. Who?" asked Meg, running over to her mother.

Ann gave a little nod in Madeline's direction. Meg looked at Madeline and her eyes widened. Meg whispered into her mothers' ear. "She is beautiful mother! Who is she?"

Ann smiled briefly, but didn't want the other girls to see her too soft. So after a moment she turned back to her usual face, which was mild, but strict. "This, Meg, is you Aunt Madeline. She was your father's sister."

Meg's eyes filled with tears. Never had she felt this happiness before. She had never had an aunt or any other family for that sake, but an aunt was what she had wanted since she had been a little girl.

Madeline saw the tears in her niece's eyes and felt so bad she had to leave this soon. "I am terribly sorry, but I have to be off. I have come to stay here for a week, so I could probably meet you two tomorrow."

Ann had also seen Meg's tears and quickly said, "How would you like to stay here? I see you haven't checked in to any motel yet." Maddy looked behind her back where all her luggage was.

"Well, I guess I could. Where would I sleep? I hope I will not be any trouble." Maddy smiled.

At these words, Meg went over to her aunt and hugged her tightly. "You will not be any trouble! You can sleep in the room next to mother! I hope you will have much strength and be wakeful tomorrow, because I have too much to show you!"

"Meg!" her mother warned her. "You need to go with the other ballerinas to bed now. You have a big day tomorrow, and I will not let you ruin it!" Maddy watched as Ann put the ballerinas to bed. When that was done, Ann came over to her.

"Oh! It's really been too long! Shall we celebrate?" Maddy smiled at these words and replied to her friend. "Yes we shall indeed. Let's go out!"

Outside, they both stopped to have a look at the Opera Populaire. "You know, about three years ago, this opera burned down, but a new one was built over the ruins. I remember that awful night."

Maddy looked at Ann. Ann's face had stiffened. Madeline could see that she experienced the night over and over again and felt she had to say something.

"So, where are we going? It would be fabulous with a drink. I could use something strong right now." She said, as she supported herself on her cane. Ann thought to herself that Madeline was much too young to walk with a cane. She still remembered the night she met Madeline. She had been a sweet girl but she had concealed a terrible secret. First, they had all seen a bruise Madeline tried to hide, and then it had evolved. The night had ended with Madeline collapsing and bleeding from the wounds she had been given by her abusive husband. A couple of weeks later, Madeline ate dinner with Ann and dropped a bomb upon her friend. She was pregnant. But again, her husband's abusive behaviour had ruined it all, and Maddy had had a miscarriage. Ann didn't think Maddy had gotten over that yet, but she hoped that she had

"This looks like a nice spot! Let's just go inside. I need to rest," Maddy said, apparently unaware of Ann's silence.

Ann came to her senses and said: "Yes, this is a nice spot!" They went inside and talked for hours. Somewhere in the late hours, they decided to get back to the opera house.

They got to bed, but Madeline couldn't sleep. She felt someone say her name all the time. After a couple of hours, there was a shadow that approached her bed. She tried to scream, but a strong hand was put in front of her mouth. A voice whispered in her ear; "Don't be afraid, beautiful lady, I am harmless. I will take you to a place where you can forget all your sorrows and fears."

Madeline was not scared. She followed the man's gentle voice into the chapel where she and Antoinette had spoken for so many nights when they were younger. The man seemed so kind and caring. She had to grab this opportunity.

She followed the man into a great cave under the opera-house. There was a great organ. The man sat in front of the organ and began to play the most wonderful music Madeline had ever heard. After a while, her head started to feel heavy and her eyes closed as the man played on.

The next morning, Madame Giry was on her way to Maddy's room. When she got inside, she could see that Maddy wasn't in her bed. Antoinette thought for a moment. She could not have got out of her bed by herself…

Oh no!

Antoinette quickly ran down to the Opera Ghosts lair.