Chapter Six: The Fifth Cellar
"Les petites oiseaux ont chanté sur l'arbre… singing sweetly their tales of woe and joy.." Katherine was in her favorite place in the world. With a tad of imagination her mind transformed the ceiling rail walk way into a world in the sky.
"I flit, I float. I fleetly flee, I fly!!" Katherine sang as she 'floated' across the sky, twirling without end.
Perhaps one of the reasons Katherine loved to twirl around was because of the movement her dress did when she did so. Today she was wearing a pale blue dress that reached a foot below her knees with a white top and a white sash tied up in a bow for her hair rather than around her waist. She also had on her old ballet slippers, not the ones she used for performances, but those she used for practice, and it felt like she hadn't worn them in ages.
Normally someone all alone in the Opera House in dim lighting would have their hair standing on end with shivers running up and down their spine. Even the people who worked there were paranoid enough to find themselves hearing things and seeing things that weren't really there. But not Katherine Beaufort. She practically grew up most of her life in the theater. She knew it like the back of her hand…somewhat.
She was comfortable here, it truly was her home. There was nothing about the theater she didn't love, it gave her the only happiness she's ever known. With it came her best friend Michelle, and people who cared about her like Christine and Meg and Madame Giry. And now that she was part of the Opera cast, she couldn't see herself ever leaving this place…
There are times, I'm sure Reader, that when you're alone you talk out loud not truly to yourself, but to the walls, the air, the floor, whatever it may be. You pretend you're talking to someone else who isn't there, but you do it anyways. Katherine did that on occasion, and now would be one of those times.
Leaning against the rail Katherine looked down to the auditorium. She could see the entire theater from up here. It was her kingdom, her homeland.
"I don't think I'm ever going to leave this place," she said, patting the railing. "This place…is like a mother I never had," she found herself saying. "It has given me everything I ever needed…I'm happy here…I'm happy here…"
Katherine jumped a full 180 degree turn in mid-air. She could have sworn she heard someone. It wasn't like the other noises she thought she would hear. This one was definitely human.
It sounded like a sigh, and she was positive it came from behind her. But everything behind her was in darkness, so even if there was someone there, that person could continue hiding there and if they were quiet enough, Katherine would never find them.
For long moments Katherine stood gripping the railing behind her, waiting for her breathing to calm down. But even in the silence she couldn't hear who ever caused the sigh.
At least two minutes went by when Katherine finally decided it was her mind playing tricks again. "Oh god Katherine, you're so obsessed in you fantasy world you hear things and believe them…wake up Katherine…wake up already." But she didn't want to wake up, if she did she would have to face old boring reality…
Katherine decided to descend to the lower parts of her kingdom, parts she wasn't familiar with. The cellars. So many times she'd been told not to wander down there, some many times she'd heard frightening tales of occurrences down below. But Katherine Beaufort was Princess of her land and could see any part she wanted.
Katherine fooled around in the third cellar with some abandoned costumes which were filthy with dust and needed mending or repair. But soon the dust was too much for her, who was sensitive to dust, so Katherine continued to go down lower. She had never gone down any further than the fourth cellar, so when she reached the fifth she began to grow cautious.
Katherine shook her head and laughed at herself in her mind. Foolish girl, there is nothing to be scared of here. After all…it's only the land of the underground fairies…
"Oh your Highness, leader of the Underground Fairies of the Fifth Cellar, whatever caused your thriving nation of joyful light to live in such a world of darkness?" Katherine asked to an old torn curtain placed on an equally old wooden chair.
The Queen explained to Katherine that when she was a young fairy princess, she wandered down into this place and she was not careful despite the fact she was in an unknown environment. Her carelessness caused her to get her wing caught in an old grandmother oak's sap. All fairies knew it was disrespectful to remove anything off the old oak tree without permission. The young princess begged if she could removes a slight bit of sap to clean off her wing, but the grandmother oak tree, in her vain jealousy of those who lived in the land of light and beauty, neglected to let the princess to remove the sap. Therefore the fairy nation had no choice but to move down the fifth cellar, they couldn't abandon their future Queen.
"Oh that wicked oak tree!" Katherine exclaimed, kneeling in front of the 'throne'. "But alas, your Majesty, I may have a solution!" she cried out standing up. "The dancing elves of the blue ball room have given me their most powerful axe as a gift. I believe that, with your permission you Highness, with the axe I could once and forever kill the wicked Grandmother oak tree and you and your people will be free at last of her evil spell."
The Queen consulted with her advisors and granted Princess Katherine the chance to chop down the oak tree. Katherine grabbed her axe that was as light as air, because that is what it was made of, and she marched forward to face the powerful Grandmother oak tree.
That's when it happened. Katherine's most crucial moment of fate that changed her view of the future forever.
As Katherine climbed, crawled and fought her way to the 'heart' of the oak tree which she must strike for it to die, she walked blindly into the darkness, without a clue or care for what lay ahead. It didn't take long for her to become disoriented, and eventually lost.
Katherine felt like she was walking in circles until she decided to sit down and think. She was actually tired from all her running and floating and traveling. Plus it was quite hot and stuffy in the fifth cellar. As Katherine took several steps backwards to meet up with a wall that she could lean against, her foot hit something small but it was enough to send her flying backwards. She thought she was going to hit the wall behind her with her head but she kept stumbling backwards until she hit the ground. Then she heard the sound of what appeared to be a door closing…but it sounded slightly different.
Crawling on her knees and feeling with her hands Katherine realized in horror that she had gone through some trap door and landed in another secluded room. Katherine was mortified because she was standing in pure darkness and there wouldn't be anyone near the area for another week and a half to hear her cry for help, and by that time she would surely be dead.
Katherine began to panic, tears began to fill her eyes. For a moment she stood there in a dreadful silence in which she could only hear the loud beating of her heart. Finally she couldn't take the horrible silence, she didn't know why, but for whatever reason her legs ignored her mind and started running.
Afraid she was going to hit a wall Katherine braced herself…but she didn't. It was as if her legs knew there was a way out. With more speed Katherine raced through what appeared to be a tunnel. (The world 'tunnel' being used here merely because it was so dark, but it was truly a secret corridor.)
The loud echoing of her feet and her breathing made it even more eerie which encouraged her to go faster yet. Katherine was nearly sprinting when all of a sudden…there was no ground.
It was as if a strong gust of wind blew and swooped her stomach away. Katherine found herself plunging through a perpetual darkness, though she screamed as loud as she could, her voice felt so faint for the abyss she was falling through was gargantuan.
The last thing she remembered before waking up was the quick instant pain of her body smacking against the surface of cold water. And just before passing out someone pulled her out of the water, Katherine tried to lift her head but she was in so much pain whatever she saw gave her the impression that someone with a brilliantly white face saved her. His face shone so bright she thought it might be an Angel…an Angel with beautiful green eyes…
