EDITED: 7/25/13
Chapter one has been updated and re-edited, so if some information is confusing you, please refer back to chapter one. Thank you for all the reviews!
"So basically all the teachers freaked out and now you and your colleagues can't enter the building until they find the said source from where this mysterious letter came from?" My somewhat portly companion asked as we sat out front of La Maison du Chocolat. He was munching on one of their famous eclairs, with the strawberry cream gushing out of it while I lamented my story of what happened.
Lou Molyneux was a reporter and was skeptical about my incident with the Phantom. His feet were propped on the cafe's table and we were people watching. I sipped on my coffee as the breeze tried to blow my beret from head. He pushed up his round glasses on top of his straight nose as he thought about my story. I sat my cup back on the table as I studied his features.
His brown curly hair curled tightly around his scalp that ran into side burns. He had on his reporter/ critic look as that was deeply in thought, a place I learned never to bug him in. I smoothed out my cowl-neck, short-sleeved sweater and patted my jean-clad legs. His blackish-brown beady eyes were just staring blankly at the building that was in front of us.
He puffed out his cheeks, and then blew out the air he was holding. "You do know Leroux was a reporter right?" I rolled my eyes; I took my bag and drew out my newly purchased book, Le fantôme de l'Opéra. "No really? I didn't bother reading the first few chapters and foreward to find out that he was a reporter and a theatre critic." I replied back as I flashed the book in front of him.
He just looked at me before he grabbed my coffee cup and took a long drink from it. He swallowed, "you must be really scared about all this Phantom crap, your back bone is showing again." He smiled lazily as he took my coffee and leaned back into his chair, "the last time I saw it was when you had your hair dyed red and went by the name of Madeline to get someone out of revealing some juicy gossip from a said theatre critic." I blushed crimson; embarrassed that he still remembered that moment. "Though I don't blame you for using that name Maggie, it took a moment to realize that Madeline was a later version of your name Magdalana."
He took another swig of the coffee before he reached into his coat's pocket for his flask. He had on a light brown jacket with his press pass showing between the gap of his coat. Underneath the coat was a white Polo shirt and khaki colored pants. He poured whiskey into the coffee cup and took a long drink until you heard a dry suck of air that the cup was now empty. "You do realize that there are two theatre colleges here in Paris? And the one I'm talking about has archives about the Palais Garnier and Gaston Leroux."
Oh, I knew the college he was talking about. Only that anyone from Garnier went to that college and try to get information from that place was was automatically thrown out and chased away. The Conservatoire de Paris is a college that practices only music and dance; with Garnier you had a broader horizon. You have acting, dancing, music, and the arts; it runs like a regular theatre to show you what has to be done. That everything must be done as a team or it will never work out. I thacked my head on the table in a defeated way, "I'm dead. No one can go into their library without getting shanked and hanged."
I heard Lou scoot his chair back and walk over to my side of the table. He put his large hand on my shoulder as 5'6 look down at me. "Come on Mag, we're going to the park. Maybe bugging the old people and trying to pet a pigeon will cheer you up." If its one thing, I love pigeons and doves. My uncle raised racing pigeons back in the United States and we always messed with them when they came back home for the day. Plus, they are the only birds that love to be petted.
When I got up to my feet my phone started to vibrate in my pocket. Lou picked up my purse from the back of the chair and was holding out for me. I flipped open my phone to see that Ginger had left a text message for me. I grabbed my purse and put it around my shoulder. He led me through the crowds as I read the message from her.
Deacon is mad beyond belief, keep away from the theatre until I text you back. Odd thing though is that the door is locked as if no one had opened and yet from what I heard is that strange things are starting to happen, again. He asking for the name of his new "Christine".
I showed the text to him as we entered the park and went to a bench where an oak tree gave us shade. He nodded and had a glint in his eye, "You know Mags, I might become the new Leroux if you keep this up." I swatted his arms as I lay in wait for the pigeons to start pecking at the ground in front of us. "Please, if I'm still alive for that long." My phone started to vibrate again, he looked confused at me for a moment before he got on his phone and started texting to someone.
It was from Ginger again, I saw errors and it looked like it was in a hurry.
You and Lou mead to watch out. Collin said he sawed a shawdow creeping out the back floor. He hought he sawed a white mazk on the shawdow's faze.
She had crappy spelling when she was frightened and this showed she was terrified. "Lou, I think I'm not the only freaked out here. Gin spazzed out in her text she just sent me." He shut his phone with a click, "look you know Deacon is superstitious just like you."
I swatted his shoulder, "he's a devoted Catholic. Of course he's going to believe in demons."
He frowned as rubbed his shoulder, "yes, I'm not stupid. I happen to do my homework on people before I report it. Maybe it was just some punk kid trying to get a rise out of you and Gin. I mean, you can find any white mask and cape in any costume shop in Paris. Or some hobo dressed up as the Phantom, I'm I would be sure to keep up the legend of the Phantom if it meant it would keep out curious peepers from trying to get into the room that was staying in."
I snorted, and then stopped when I saw some old couple drop some bread crumbs on the sidewalk. A flock of pigeons descended on the bread crumbs and I pounced on the first pigeon that was within my grasp. The rest flew off in a flurry while I clutched one to me as its big eyes looked around dumbly and panicky.
The couple looked away in disgust and went the other way. The bird cooed while it tried to escape my grasp, "I'm pretty sure it wasn't a hobo. The clothes looked like it belonged in the 1890's high fashion in Paris. Plus there was the smell of roses; the person didn't smell like they slept in the sewers or dumpsters." It pecked at my hand and let it go, getting ready for round two for pigeon catching.
I heard his phone chirped as he got another text message, he flipped open his phone and started texting back to the person. "Then it must be some stagehand that found the tunnels and used it to scare you to death. The make-up department probably has the requirements to do a complete face change. I mean look at what they did to Lon Chaney, he was the Man of a Thousand Faces," he replied back to me as sent the message off.
I leaned back into the bench, trying to get more details from that night. Something occurred to me, "have they made contacts that glowed in the dark?" The reporter sighed and started to type something on his phone, he found a page on Google search page. It showed an online shop that sold theatrical contact lenses. I grabbed the phone and started browse through the online selection they had. "Maybe your reading too much into this Maggie. You're stressed out from the play and maybe you might be having some hallucinations."
I looked away from the phone and glared at him, my friend since last year thinking I'm finally going crazy from the stress Graves might be putting on me. Telling me that I needed improvement, I needed to be showier, more aggression needed to shown onstage. My patience was waning on my friend, I huffed. "Well Monsieur Molyneux, if you don't believe me, then try and get into that library! See if you can find any evidence that they may have over looked to see if Leroux was crazy or not."
I turned my back to him and showed him my back, I pulled the sleeves of the sweater all the way back until you could the rose's head peaking out from underneath the shirt. He looked closer, and then touched the redness of my irritated skin from where I had been marked. "And you know I hate tattoos, I don't like to be showy with paintings on my skin." He pulled back as his phone played La Liste by Rose, telling him someone was calling him.
"Molyneux here."…. "Hey Claire I need a favor."…. "No you still owe me that favor or do I need to put an Oops! Moment of you in my review page?"…. "Good now were getting somewhere. I need access to the Music Academy Archives"…. His face twisted into pure annoyance as I heard squawking at the end of the other line. "I don't care on how you get my access there! You always find some loop hole on how to get into places like this!"…. "I might have found the scoop of the century and if you want a good selling paper…." He smiled and mouthed to me, "hook, line, and sinker." "Yes Leroux, Theatre season is coming up and why not celebrate it with Leroux on his discoveries of the Phantom of the Opera?"…. "Good, alright. I'll be there around six to pick up the pass to get in the library. Thanks Claire."
He shut the phone with a satisfied laugh, "Claire works for the paper and she goes to the campus with the archives. Shes a cello player, and she has a cute older sister that could charm cobra with that flute of hers." I lunged at him and hugged as tightly as my arms could go around his round middle section. "Thank you Lou! If you didn't have a group of fans that wouldn't kill me, I'd kiss you!" I got up and just started praise him with all might.
He got up from the bench and twirled me around until I was dizzy, I fell on my bottom and looked at him with the world spinning. "Ah, you could honor me by getting me a spectacular seat for me in one of the boxes." I smiled, "I'm so happy I could probably sing the Berliner Luft at the top of my lungs for the whole world to hear!" He wrapped an arm around as we left the park, "you must be excited then, you just offered to sing an operatta in German."
"I'm just glad to have a reporter for a friend, sometimes Gin not being to hold her liquor might have been a good thing." We stopped at the gate to see two amber pinpricks staring out of an alley from across the street, it was five o'clock and the sun was beginning to set. A street lamp turned on as we both saw a white mask covered the entire face with exception of the area around mouth area on the figure's face. The figure looked taller than Lou and had something in his hands. A car passed us quickly and the figure was gone from its place.
We both dashed across the street to the alley with a few taxis blaring their horns at us. When we approached the alley we looked around to see if there was a way to escape the alley without running to the back of it. Lou went to the back of the alley to see that there was nothing there that could be used as an escape route. I looked around the front of the alley to see if there was maybe a manhole he could have used as an escape route.
Lou came back to the front with me and just shook his head, "nothing. Not even a fire escape. Hey whats that by your feet?" We looked down to see a rose, not a red one this time, but a true blue rose with a black satin ribbon tied around the stem. My hands starting shaking as I picked up the flower. I looked it over to see if it was really a white rose dyed blue, freaky thing, it wasn't dyed.
Lou looked at it closer too, "well I be damned. A blue rose, not some knock off dyed white rose," he let off a laugh, " a grown blue rose!" He saw my face and grabbed my shoulders before my legs buckled beneath me. We walked to a bus bench while I tried not faint from this. He sat me down and pushed my head in-between my knees, "take deep breaths and try to keep calm. Give me your phone, I'll call Gin to see if its safe to back to the theatre." I dug into my bag and handed him the phone as he quickly called Gin. I just looked at the blue rose and I knew what a blue rose and black ribbon meant.
The rose color meant to signify a dream, nothing real. The black ribbon said something different, death. Showing that this wasn't a dream, he was real. He was back, and nothing will stop him from achieving his fantasy, finally getting his Angel of Music back into his arms.