Chapter 4: Naughty Girl
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Warnings- Just a general creepiness for this chapter, and minor language.
Disclaimer- See chapter 1
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She woke up in a slight panic, not recognising her surroundings. It was only when she saw her reflection staring back at her from the big, gaudy mirror across the room that she breathed a sigh of relief. She was at the opera house, arrived yesterday after about three days of travel, she was here with her Uncle.
Berdine sighed.
Sunlight shined through the windows and she realised she had slept in till about nine. Odd for her but understandable due to the late night she had and days of poor sleep before she arrived. What time did she even need to be up anyway? She didn't exactly have a set schedule, and no one had come to fetch her. Berdine sat up and winced, her hand coming up to rub at her neck. The cot made for an awful bed, and she would have to figure out how to request a proper one later.
Rather reluctantly, she crawled out of bed and went over to her pack of personal belongings. Her parents had given her quite the allowance in order to buy herself new clothes so she wouldn't require to bring so much with her. She'd have to do some shopping later on today, perhaps Meg or Adeline would be willing to come along and show her some of the cheaper stores around the area. For now, she settled with a simple blue dress her mother had fondly made for her sometime last year. Berdine was lucky she still fit. Once she was dressed she grabbed a brush and went over to the mirror to remove last night's tangles, the sheet she'd covered it with folded and placed on the floor.
She froze.
Berdine stared at the sheet with something akin to uneasy confusion. There was no doubt in her mind that the sheet had been secure in its hanging position over the gaudy mirror last night, the possibility of it having fallen off were slim to none, and if it did somehow manage to fall that wouldn't even begin to explain how the sheet ended up folded to perfection and sat itself neatly on the floor. Someone had been in her room.
Chills ran down her spine. This didn't make sense.
Perhaps they didn't know I was staying in this room? But even so, to come in when I was asleep… Maybe it was Adeline, or Meg? But the sheet? Why would they come in just to remove the sheet?
She began to pace the room, her mind started to run away to possibilities she would rather not explore- perverted stagehands, thieves, murderers, and the like made her heart rate skyrocket and her hands clammy. Should she ask for another room? Maybe she could tell her uncle what was happening...
And ruin the charade?
Damn! Berdine grabbed at her hair in frustration. How ever would she communicate this to people who treated her supposed mutism like it was a supernatural phenomenon? They had probably never even heard of sign language! Her brother had had it easy, she then realized, he had been surrounded by people who actually took the time to learn his ways of communicating and put forth an effort to make his life as a mute easier. There would be no such support here, she was a freak and everyone thought the plague followed her.
Her eyes went to the sheet again, then the mirror. Was it really important enough to reveal her little prank? She wasn't injured in any way. What if it was only Meg or Adeline, and she was worried for nothing? Despite how she was ranked low on the totem pole here she wasn't at the very bottom either. She was kinda treated like a pet, she guessed, and the two women from yesterday had no problems with taking 'care' of her. If she arrived to the Opera with the ability to speak, she had a sinking feeling friends wouldn't be as easily made.
Berdine wasn't a charming, life-loving, young women that people flocked to. She shared her world views with her rather cynical, eldest brother- who believed rich people could burn in hell and poor people were lazy dopes with no imagination. She didn't truly think for herself on most things, she had her opinions of course, but none that she could truly call her own. Berdine supposed she could blame this on society, who had no interest in letting women think for the sake of thinking, so her idea of the world originated from her father and brothers.
She also wasn't much for the social setting. People were not her forte, she couldn't act the part of a proper lady or an air-headed beauty, and despite her desperate attempts to make herself seem presentable to the public, her mouth often shadowed any efforts to appear 'female'. She wasn't delicate, she was a country girl with little to no education and a body for bearing children. Come to think of it, that may have been her only positive quality...
And I don't even want children, she thought miserably.
No, this was something she could fix, there was a lock on the doorknob that she had dismissed yesterday simply because they didn't lock the doors of her parents house, but obviously the trusting attitude of those in her small village town carried could not be applied to the Opera Populaire. In fact, she was learning quite quickly that many of her personal expectations couldn't be applied here. Berdine sighed irritably, glaring heatedly at the mirror who simply wore the same expression.
After dressing, Berdine left her room and made her way down the long corridors on her search for either breakfast, or Adeline. Meg would have been okay too, but the girl was a bit too… much for her this early in the day.
What she ended up with though, was much worse.
Before she could even get to the next hall she was intercepted by none other than Madame Giry, the older women as stern and unhappy as she was yesterday, an impenetrable wall of ice that everyone that came into contact with her could feel even as they turned to run in the opposite direction. Berdine was momentarily stunned at seeing the women, as if she was an apparition coming to tell her of the second coming.
There were no pleasantries exchanged, no "good mornings" or "how are you's". The Madame ripped right to the point, pushing past even introductions, though, Berdine had a sneaking suspicion that Giry could have cared less about who she was. Berdine's arm was quickly grabbed and her body yanked to stand up against the wall, the woman now blocking her from any escape as her steel eyes glared down at the younger girl.
"I know of your unfortunate handicap, but it makes things much easier for me." The woman began. She spoke in quiet but firm tones, and spared a glance at the rafters above them before continuing.
"You must leave this place."
Berdine's eyes widened, confusion and borderline anger crashing at her mouth as her lips twitched. Looking back at this very incident she would later realize that she would have given herself away here without even realizing it, a retort just touching the tip of her tongue, but thankfully the Madame plowed right through.
"I don't care how you manage, but I want you gone. If you need money or transportation I can provide both, but it must be today. I will make excuses for you to your uncle. I cannot tell you why, but know that it would be a poor decision on your part to remain here."
What?! Her head was spinning with this new predicament. An open door had provided itself to her, she now had a way home without having to do much of anything! She could go back to her home in the little town with all the familiar faces, and never have to venture into Paris again. She could make something up on the way home of why she had returned so suddenly, perhaps her dear uncle wasn't up for the responsibilities that came with taking care of a young woman, or they just didn't have the room for her there. This was exactly what she had been waiting for!
Berdine gave the older woman a firm nod.
….
Madame Giry sighed in relief when the child agreed to her rather last minute proposition. Her mind had been busy since late last night trying to come up with a plan of action regarding this young woman. When he had approached her yesterday morning, after the opera house had filled with the incessant rumors surrounding the niece of M. Moncharmin, showing interest in the girl, she knew for the sake of the Opera and everyone in it she had to act fast. Get the girl out- that was the only thing she could think of- remove her from the picture and eliminate the possibility of a problem ever forming. Madame Giry had learned a great deal from the Christine incident, and never again wanted a repeat of that particular performance.
This was just safer, and the girl really had no place here in the woman's opinion. The child was a mute, and far from a dancer worthy of any stage. The girl probably couldn't even serve in the costume and makeup department. Yes, it would be best for everyone if the girl went back to whatever backwater she came from.
"Good then, off you go! I'll come and fetch you later so be sure you've grabbed everything you need."
As the two went to part ways a flitter of paper made itself known when it floated down between was an awkward moment of silence as they both just stared at the note, one face expressing curiosity while the other had a face full of dread.
It was an envelope, with a skull and crossbones stamped into freshly melted, red wax. The paper was thick and elegant- expensive, Berdine noted. She looked up into the rafters and squinted to look and see who had tossed it down to them, but saw nothing above but darkness.
Both women continued to stare, neither one willing to be the one to pick it up. But soon after the first, a second note- this one just a small parchment with the words 'Dear Madame Giry' scrolled across the top in elegant script.
With lightning speed a hand swiped up the second paper and before Berdine could blink the woman walked away from her and down the hall like she had never even been there to begin with.
Stranger and stranger…
Unsure of what to do with it, she picked up the envelope with careful hands, turning it over only to discover a single word scrawled across the middle in black-
Berdine
….
Erik was beyond furious. Leave it to the old wench to ruin everything he had so carefully planned out. Send his new plaything away would she? No! He refused to let this opportunity slip from his grasp.
He could live with the fact that Christine abandoned him for that pathetic pup, he wasn't happy about it, but he could learn to slowly let it go. However, letting Giry take away his second chance wasn't a possible outcome he could accept. This was his opportunity to get out of here, to make something of himself. He could finally become a normal man.
The girl, Berdine, was beautiful. This he couldn't deny, but unlike the former diva the girl was far from perfect. Her beauty was jaded by her lack of speech, and no sane man would wed a girl who could give his legacy a birth defect.
Good thing he was far from sane. Desperate even, he supposed.
Yes, the girl would be a perfect wife. She could give him children, comfort, pleasure, and a life that had up until this point been denied to him. And the best part about it was she couldn't tell a soul about his face, or even his more violent tendencies. She could know all about the monster who wed her, it wouldn't make any difference to him. She couldn't run off to gossip with a Vicomte about it, afterall.
Erik watched the girl below from the darkness in the rafters as she bent to pick up his letter. Her body tensed as her eyes scanned her name written on it. His eyes crinkled in amusement as his little pet looked up to him once more, then glanced around the deserted hallway before she scurried back to the dressing room.
He chuckled. "Run away, little bird. But realise that as long as you are within these walls there is nowhere you can hide from me."
….
This can't be happening...
Her eyes scanned the letter for the third time in the past ten minutes. Berdine paced the small room, which only seemed to be getting smaller the longer she stared at the words that- she feared- were meant for her and her alone.
At first she was terribly confused, maybe even amused at the audacity of the note written with a careful, masculine hand. The language was elegant, but direct in its meaning, and Berdine found herself in quite the delicate situation and she wasn't sure how to proceed from here.
She had opened the letter in the privacy of the dressing room, read through it only to burst out laughing… but then she re-read it. Chills ripped down her spine the longer she stared at the sentences strung together to create a single message: she had a stalker of sorts.
Dear Miss Berdine,
I understand you have come to stay at my opera house under the watchful eye of your uncle. I say this, of course, lightly as we both know how much your dearest uncle cares little for your wellbeing.
I am known by many names, not all of which I can disclose at this time, but you may know me by one in particular- the Phantom of the Opera. Ridiculous in its entirety but I suppose a man such as myself deserves to be known as a ghost. To make a long and unnecessary story short and on point, I simply ask that you stay here at my opera with the expectation that I will be watching your every move, and making up for the lack in ambition of your wretched uncle. I assure you that, under my care, you will find your stay here pleasant.
Despite what you may have heard I am a very understanding individual, and know that I have been informed of your deformity. I care not for it. It doesn't bother me. Your beauty more than makes up for it.
I will be visiting you often soon enough. Our first meeting has already taken place, and oh- how wonderful it was. You are so very beautiful when you sleep, my darling.
I look forward to seeing you again.
Your obedient servant,
E
What an ass, she snorted in distaste. Whoever this was, she was pretty sure it wasn't the infamous 'Opera Ghost' who was long since dead. The note was creepy, yes, but not entirely alarming. He (and she assumed it was indeed a male) wasn't truly threatening her, and perhaps was just pulling a practical joke. Now the only question remained… what was she to do about it?
Madame Giry's proposal lingered in her mind, and she still intended to take her up on her offer- especially after reading the letter. The only problem she faced was whether or not to inform the women of the content staring back at her from the slightly perfumed page. Was it really that important, or could she get away without having to bring it up? Probably, after all she was mere hours away from getting out of this whole situation altogether. What did she care if this crazed man went after someone else.
It's not your problem, let them deal with it, she decided.
Without another glance at the letter, Berdine began to frantically pack her things in the small traveling case. For the first time in days she was actually happy about the prospect of travel. She missed home, and missed the familiarity of everything- from the smell of manure to her mother's laugh as her father grabbed her waist and forced her into an awkward dance around the kitchen. She missed the way her brother's wife would bring her girly gifts on their monthly visits like perfume and scarves. Normally from their home in the north, but also from other places they traveled. She wanted to wake up to the scent of horses and grass, the morning sun glowing in her window. She needed to feel her mother's arms again. It had only been a few days since her trip, but already she felt the effects of being on her own. God how she longed for home again.
She was so alone here.
She had no real friends, and her uncle could hardly be called family. She was the odd girl who couldn't speak, in a place filled to the brim with talented, beautiful people, and she wanted out.
Once packed and ready, she wandered down to the mess hall and had a quick bite to eat before she went back to the dressing room and waited for the Madame to come fetch her. She figured that it wouldn't be long now, as the woman made it sound like the greatest urgency that she get out of the Opera and on her merry way. So she sat herself on the cot and passed the time by twirling a loose string on her dress.
And there she sat…
And waited…
And waited…
By the time she came back to herself and realized that Giry might not be coming after all, she was humming. It was the first time she had made a sound since she arrived and her voice was a little worse for wear. Berdine supposed that she was a good singer- not an opera diva by any means- but she could carry a tune when it counted. That was, in part, how she received the nickname 'birdy'.
She remembered the day shortly after her parents forced her into the trip to Paris, she had been singing with her mother as she made dinner, her father not too far away fiddling with some contraption that stopped working hours previous. The whole house smelled of bread and stew, warmed by the fire, and the living room glowed orange with the flames.
Her mother suddenly broke into giggles. "Oh, my sweet Birdy! Keep singing like that and the Phantom will take you away from us! Just like he did with… oh what was that girl's name?"
Her father jumped into the conversation. "Daae, Darling- her name was Daae. And you know that Phantom shit is a bunch of whoo-ha! Besides, Birdy has to actually have real talent to be able to sing in an opera."
"Oh Bayard! How cruel of you! Birdy sings beautifully!"
He snorted. "There's a difference between singing and Opera singing Margret. Just because a girl can sing doesn't mean shit unless her voice is as strong as ten men and pretty as all the king's treasure."
Her father had been more than right. It would take years of training to turn her voice into half of what someone like Carlotta's was. Besides, she hated the thought of performing and it was something she would never consider.
She sat for another ten minutes, just to be sure the Madame wasn't simply late (even if there wasn't a specified time she most assuredly should have been here by now) before she rose from the cot and decided to search out the woman herself.
It was a pity she never realised there was another occupant in the room with her- listening, observing, just like he promised. He had watched the girl the entire time, and imagine his surprise when the little siren began to sing. The creature could actually sing! She was no mute! Granted her voice was horrible to his ears… but there was potential there. His mind began to spin with possibilities that suddenly revealed themselves with the girl's deception.
Once the initial shock dissipated, a predatory smile stretched across his face.
"Naughty girl."
….
Madame Giry sat staring at the parchment lying on the desk in front of her. On the top of the page read: Dear Madame Giry, but that's not what frightened her. No, it was what came after that.
Stay out of my way.
That was it, then. Erik had an uncanny ability of bring out the fear in most people, he knew how to tweak a person just right in order to get the response he wanted- a skilled magician of the mind. It wasn't necessarily the words themselves that bothered her, though that was in part as to why the other thing attached to the note was so frightening.
It was a single, dark hair that was held onto the paper with melted wax, curling ever so slightly.
To some it might not click what Erik was trying to tell her here, but she was a mother and could recognise a strand of her daughter's hair anywhere. It was a threat, not to her, but her young daughter who only had a taste of the monster that lurked deep inside of the man who had loved her friend Christine. Giry had a fear growing inside since the evening Christine had come to her asking for a way out of Erik's clutches. It was a gnawing ache deep in her chest, below her heart that seemed to tug every time his shadow lurked above them all- out of reach of reason or emotion.
Berdine had stopped by a short while ago, an annoyed look upon the child's face. The Madame couldn't help but notice how isolated the girl was. She supposed it made sense, being a disabled female in a world like this wasn't promising in the aspects of being successful and sought after. Maybe the girl's pretty face would help, but she doubted it. Only royalty had the kind of luxury to pick a woman based solely on her looks, the peasant and middle classes wanted a working broad that could farm and birth male heirs to take over the work when the father died- all the while not giving said children disabilities.
She could see what Erik saw in such a girl, she was pretty, silent, and deformed. A social outcast just like he was, who would be able to grasp the loneliness he himself felt. Christine, bless her heart, wasn't able to understand Erik. She could sympathise, but the girl- from the time she was just a babe- was doted on and treated like a porcelain doll. Christine was loved by all, and therefore never experienced what it meant to live a life of solitude and rejection. And despite what Erik thought this was not the girl's fault by any means, it was just in her nature to be kind and loving, and it was in society's nature to love the beautiful.
The Madame had to send Berdine away with the pathetic excuse of 'something has come up', in the hopes of actually taking back her offer altogether. She didn't have the heart to tell the child that, though. But it was too late for either of them now, Giry especially.
All they could do now was sit back and hope the damage wouldn't destroy them all.
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Author's note: Wow, this chapter took a ton of my time to write. And even now I'm not truly happy with how it turned out. Pain in my ass if you ask me. But enough of my bitching, what did you all think?
A big thank you to everyone who reviewed, you guys are so awesome! I can't even say how grateful I am to you all.
Question time!
1. What do you think will happen now that our favorite phantom has discovered Berdine's secret?
2. What do you think of Berdine herself? Still likeable? Not so much? Why or why not?
3. If there is one thing you could add to this story what would it be?
Thanks again!
IiR
