Well here it is, the next chapter is up and running. And for those of you who are interested, the story's word count is 107198 words. Enjoy chapter 10...
Chapter 10- Obsession
It was one morning, a few weeks after Christine had been to the Opera Populaire and Carrie was lying in bed, thinking. 'The Phantom of the Opera' was all that had been on her mind for quite a while now. She had been going over and over things in her head, trying to figure out who this man could possibly be.
Carrie had actually gone as far as sneaking into the managers' office in the dead of night to see if there was any information about this man in there. The only thing she could find that was of any interest however, was a bunch of letters, all sealed with a red skull and all signed O.G.
It did not take her long to work out what O.G stood for. She had heard a lot of the girls refer to the phantom as the 'Opera Ghost'. This did not really bother her though. All that she was worried about was who the Phantom or Ghost was.
Carrie had heard enough stories to know about all of the different people this Phantom had terrorised. One thing that she felt would help her in her investigation was the story about the old conductor, 'Monsieur Reyer'. Rumour had it that he had decided to leave because he did not have the nerve to stay around and wait to be killed, like the old stage manager, 'Joseph Bouquet'.
She at last decided to go and speak to Jean about when he first took up the conductor's job. He would be somebody to talk to who she was sure would tell her the facts and only the facts, not the wild rumours that everybody else came out with.
Getting up, Carrie made her way out of her room and towards the dining room, as it was time for breakfast. She was sure that Jean would be here along with everybody else. Carrie was very pleased to see that she was correct. He was sitting in his usual place at the far end of the huge refectory table.
There was nobody sitting next to him, so Carrie decided to go and sit in the seat next to him so that she could have a quiet word with him.
"Good morning Carrie." He said to her in a very jolly voice. It was clear that he was a morning person.
"Hello Monsieur LeRoi." She replied, sitting down in the empty seat that was next to him.
"Are you alright?" He asked, looking concerned for her, "It looks as though something is troubling you…"
Any other person with something on their mind would have denied that there was anything wrong, yet Carrie was eager to get what was on her mind out into the open.
"Well, actually…" She began, turning her face towards him, "…there is something that I would like to ask you…"
"And that would be?" Jean asked, in a polite tone.
Carrie was afraid that other people were going to hear their conversation. However everybody else seemed to be too engrossed in conversations of their own to take much notice of the two of them talking.
"I would like to ask you what you know about the Opera Ghost…" Carrie said, not sure how Jean was going to react to these words.
"Well…" Began Jean, "… I know he is the reason that I got this job, otherwise I would be working elsewhere…"
Carrie was astonished that Jean had actually been told that it was the ghost that had scared off the previous conductor. She had however considered this unlikely possibility.
"Please continue. I would like to know as much as possible about the Phantom…"
-
"Two deaths… one mysterious resignation…" Erik muttered to himself, whilst writing notes on a piece of paper which was on the desk in front of him.
It was just like Christine had said. The mystery of 'The Two' had become an obsession with Erik. Somehow, however, he still seemed to be able to find time to compose his latest opera 'Fires of Eden'.
Christine could not see how he could possibly cope with these two things at once and still have time to practice his blade skills. At the moment however, Christine was not in. She was round at Meg and Byron's house to check up on her friend. Meg still had not uttered a single word.
This meant that Erik was alone and he could concentrate more easily on the papers he was studying. He threw down his pen on the desk, rubbed his eyes, and then started to mutter to himself.
"Unbelievable that there can be so many witnesses and not one of them saw either of their faces…" Erik started to drum his fingers on the desk top.
He then noticed the most recent newspaper, which had only been purchased the previous day. The headline was enough to give Erik the inspiration he needed to carry on his own investigation. Detectives still searching the Frelques estate…
This gave Erik a fantastic idea. It was so obvious that he was shocked at his own stupidity in not thinking of it sooner. He was going to go to the Frelques' manor and see for himself whether or not there was anything that might give him a clue as to the identity of the two, or possibly lead him to them.
He suddenly got up from the desk and headed to the bedroom. He got changed into something warmer as it was very cold outside, this included putting on a hooded cape that he hardly ever wore. Erik knew that if there were going to be detectives there searching the scene of the crime then he did not want to be seen, as, according to Christine, he was apparently a suspect.
The fact that she was not in made everything so much easier. He did not want to trouble her with what he was planning. She would probably tell him that this 'Obsession' of his was starting to get out of control. Erik probably would not listen to her even if she did say all of this, yet he felt that avoiding all of her unnecessary nagging would be better.
He left the house. By this time he had read so many different newspapers that he knew the exact location of Frelques' manor. He headed off in the direction of the manor on foot as it was not too far. He had to be careful to stay out of sight however, as he was sure that with his hood up like it was he looked very similar to one of 'The Two'.
-
Carries head felt ready to burst. Jean had told her so much information about the Phantom that she had not heard before she was nearly skipping as she walked. One piece of information in particular had piqued her interest the most. She had been told that the Ghost lived beneath the opera house before and yet what she had been told by Jean was far more interesting.
According to Jean, there was a woman who claimed she knew where an entrance to the lair was. What was even more interesting was that Jean knew where this entrance was. It was the statue of the right side of the grand staircase as you walked down them.
Another thing however was the fact that this woman, whoever she was, only seemed to be able to open up this passageway once and had made herself look very stupid when she tried to open it again. Carrie was told that in order to open the passage you had to press the two eyes of the statue to the back of its head, which revealed the passageway.
None of the other people who lived in the Opera House actually believed this story and yet Carrie thought that it would be worth a try. She thought that anything would be worth a try if it meant she would learn more about the Phantom.
Entering the large entrance hall Carrie immediately made her way over to the statue which Jean had told her would get her to the Phantom's lair. She examined it and it looked just the same as its twin statue which stood on the other side of the staircase.
Carrie reached both of her hands up to the eyes of the statue and pressed as hard as she could against them. They did not seem to be able to move. Carrie thought how stupid she must look pressing the eyes of this statue to the back of its head.
She was brought back to her senses when a familiar voice hit her ears.
"Please don't tell me that you believe that is an entrance?" It was Andrea, not that Carrie was really listening to her.
"I believe that it may once have been an entrance and that when the Phantom left he made sure that it was sealed…" Carrie was expecting Andrea to laugh, but she was surprised, as all Andrea did was let out a very long sigh.
"I'm worried about you Carrie…" Andrea confessed, taking a step closer to her friend, "…you are chasing something that does not exist…"
"I am not saying that it does exist. I am saying that it must have existed once." Carrie argued back. "Who was the woman that claimed she found a passage down to his lair anyway?"
"Catherine Beaumont." Andrea said. Carrie recognised the surname at once and thought that it would be a very good idea to talk with Zurie about this later. "But Carrie, please promise me that you are going to stop thinking about the Phantom. It's become an obsession of yours and obsessions are not healthy."
"You know that I am not going to be able to promise you that." Carrie replied, then patted her friend on the shoulder and walked off.
Did it exist? It must have. I mean that woman would not have just made the whole thing up…
-
Erik was standing a very good distance away from the manor. From what he could see there were no less than three policemen and three detectives searching the grounds outside it, meaning that the task of getting inside was not going to be an easy one at all. Erik studied the movements of the police. Three of them seemed to be guarding every entrance to the house, whereas the three detectives seemed to be searching the grounds for any clues.
The detectives did not seem to be very difficult to sneak past, yet it was getting into the actual building which was going to be the biggest problem. Erik knew that he was going to have to create some sort of a diversion in order to get inside. He seemed to be very fortunate however as one of the detectives requested the help of two of he policemen, meaning that one of the entrances to the manor was free for Erik to walk in through.
He did not much care what the detective wanted the policemen for. His main objective would be to see if there was anything that would help him identify 'The Two'. Erik thought back to all of the newspapers that he had read. He knew that the actual murder had taken place in the main hall.
Upon entering the hall however, he saw that there was absolutely nothing of interest to see. There was movement from the other side of the hall and Erik quickly hid behind a column so as not to be seen.
Thinking that this was probably going to be the place where most of the detectives would be searching, Erik wracked his brains and tried to decide where would be best to go next. He finally came to the conclusion that the best place to go now would be the master bedroom.
He knew the layout of the house very well, due to reading so many papers and therefore had no trouble at all in finding his way. Upon entering the bedroom he saw that it was a very large room indeed. For some reason Erik felt very uneasy about being in there, he kept glancing over towards the bed, remembering what was under there on the night of the murders.
Erik went over to the window and looked out of it. He saw that the detectives were examining something on the ground which Erik could not see. Erik then stared straight forward, expecting to see nothing, yet he saw something in the reflection of the window, something that would have made any normal man scream in terror.
He drew his sword which he had taken with him for safety as fast as he could, wheeled around and was placing the blade against the neck of a man whose face he could not see.
Erik was breathing very heavily and yet he had this man at his mercy. Erik had an instinct that this was one of the people he wanted to meet. He just fitted the descriptions too perfectly.
"Who are you?" Erik asked, very calmly considering the situation.
"I was about to ask you the same question…" The voice answered in a very low sinister tone.
"Too bad, I asked you first… you are one of 'The Two' aren't you?" Erik had come to this conclusion very quickly, and when it was confirmed her planned to find out more about him.
"That is just a name that the media decided to make up for my friend and I. May I say that our actual titles are quite different…" The man seemed to be very calm considering the position that he was in.
"What is your name then?" Erik asked, starting to get quite annoyed with him.
The man chuckled. "My name is 'Wraith'…" Erik was a bit taken aback by this name. It was too similar to 'Phantom' to be a mere coincidence.
"Ok then Wraith…" Erik began, making sure that the blade was still pressed firmly against Wraiths neck, "…why have you returned to the scene of the crime?"
"Why do you think? To make sure that they do not find any evidence that we may have forgotten to clean up…" He made it sound so obvious that Erik nearly felt like kicking himself.
"Not expecting to run into someone like me I bet?" Erik asked, feeling quite proud of himself for being so prepared.
"Which brings me back to my question, who are you?" Erik had forgotten that his face was also in shadow. It appeared that Wraith was wearing a mask as well as his hood. Obviously to make sure his face was not seen.
"I don't think that you are in a very good position to be asking questions…" Erik said, laughing.
"Well…" Began Wraith, "…please allow me to ask one more question, and think carefully about your answer… why do you think I am telling you all of this?"
Erik knew he was referring to his name and reason for being at the manor. "Because you would be a fool to disobey someone who is holding a sword to your throat?" Erik thought that this sounded like a very logical answer.
"No…" Began Wraith and without warning, he did a perfect back-flip away from Erik, kicking at the sword while in mid air. Erik only just managed to hold on to the sword.
Erik looked over at Wraith who had unsheathed a double ended sword. Erik looked at it, a bit afraid.
"…because they are sure that they will win…" He struck. Erik only just managed to block the blow in time before it stabbed him in the chest.
Even though Erik had been practicing his blade skills for a scenario such as this, he had never envisioned that his opponent would be wielding a double ended sword.
Erik found it very difficult to be able to read his opponent's movements, meaning that several times he nearly had his head cut off. He was sure that all of the noise they were making would attract the attention of the police that were downstairs.
It was just as Erik swiped at Wraith from the side that he noticed that Wraith had a gun. Why the hell did you not just kill me with that!?
Erik blocked about six attacks thrown at him by Wraith in a row. This caused him to end up standing very close to the desk. He seized the chair to his side, pushed it in front of him and kicked at it with all his might. It went flying towards Wraith, and he only just managed to dodge it.
"You think you are going to be able to beat me with cheap tricks like that!?" Wraith cried out, giving a high false laugh which did not suit his voice at all.
"It is a mystery to me…" Erik began, giving a very violent uppercut with his sword, "… as to how you are so sure you can win."
Wraith swung one end after the other at Erik, causing the swords to lock. Erik then seized the opportunity to head butt Wraith as hard as he could. He almost immediately wished that he had not, as the mask that Wraith was wearing appeared to be very hard as opposed to the soft masks that Erik used to wear.
This attack seemed to stun Wraith. Erik recovered from the pain that was caused from the attack and took his chance to kick the sword out of his hands, causing it to fly towards the window.
Wraith was on his back, crawling towards the window to retrieve his sword. Erik still could not work out why he did not use the gun that he had attached to his belt. He had to stop Wraith before he got to his sword however. He raised his blade above his head ready to strike.
Erik then felt a terrible pain shoot through his right hand. He was about to attack as soon as he had recovered, yet Wraith had already smashed the window and jumped out of it. Erik was sure that the fall would kill him, yet he was wrong. He could see him running off into the distance, the police and detectives that were there earlier had moved.
It then struck Erik why Wraith had not killed Erik while he was vulnerable. "Don't move!"
As if Erik was going to obey this order, he ran to the window and jumped out of it like Wraith had done, yet unlike wraith he grabbed some ivy that was growing on the walls on his way down. This did not cushion his fall completely, yet it reduced the damage he would have suffered if he had not grabbed the ivy considerably.
Erik did not hesitate to run as fast as he could to get away from the police. He had to get back home, and at the same time make sure that he was not followed.
What am I going to tell Christine…?
Authors Notes: As per usual i hope that you liked it. And an interesting fact, if everyone who read this left a review then by the end of the story there would be well over one thousand... (see the hidden message there? lol). Next update on wednesday.
R