Chapter 12
Erik's face had become deathly white. He stood there in front of the corpse as if to shield me from its plaque of darkness. I could tell that he was mortified at I was at Madame Giry's cadaver dangling by the thick red rope. Only for a moment did he do nothing until he turned his attention to the sound of footsteps running and loud voices talking. "Roxanne we have to leave."
I wanted to cry or run away or do something. All I could do was look at Madame Giry in dread. I just stood there staring up at poor Madame Giry. I felt as lifeless like her. She was living just minutes ago. It must have been agonizing torture to have endured the intense amount of pain as her attacker carved the letters into her chest. Her blood rolled down from her wounds staining the dress with streaks of thick red lines that were the same width as the rope which hung her. The puddle of blood on the floor had increased into a pool. Her hollow eyes were opened unnaturally as she stared back at me. The life in her stare had evanesced away. It was like looking into a doll's lifeless eyes in the way you knew like life should belong there and not nothingness. I felt like I was in a daze as time seemed to pass slowly. Erik's words didn't register in my brain until he was pulling me to the door. I snapped out of the horrible trance and I realized that I needed to do something.
I handed Erik the candle. "Wait here I have to do something." Then I ran to where I was staring at Madame Giry.
"Roxanne!" Erik whispered loudly, calling for me to come back. Like the other times before I paid no mind to his orders. I could hear him probably start swearing in French to himself about me (which it seems odd that I can understand most words they say but some I do not.)
Taking out my phone out of the dresses pocket I proceeded to take as many pictures as I could of her hands then her chest and neck. My hands started to shake but in an effort to not blur the photos I attempted to keep them as still as they could be. I kept on taking pictures of anything that I found useful until I heard voices started coming closer to me. I looked at the direction where the voices were coming from and I didn't have enough time to run. I was trapped with no exit. If they found me here they would think that I had killed Madame Giry. Erik had vanished from where he was only a moment ago. I was alone and trapped. I tried to think fast but I couldn't think at all. My thoughts seemed to be as slow as maple syrup as I considering my options. There was no way of escape. Then the stage engulfed me.
This time when I fell down the trap door I didn't black out. I was fully conscious when I hit the soft cushion beneath the trap door. I watched as they closed leaving me in darkness yet again. There was no black out or long never-ending drop like previously. It was short and quick like if I blinked my eyes then it would have already passed without me knowing it. The landing also seemed different for what was under me felt soft as a cotton candy which was the opposite of the hard surface of the back-breaking one I had encountered earlier. Even the pain of my body as I sat up was less than when it had earlier. In the quiet darkness you could not tell where you are or when for that matter. But the silence was familiar to me now that I welcomed it more graciously than the darkness that engulfed it.
So this is what it feels like to have Déjà vu. What if I am back in my time? I clicked my phone to light up to show the time. Nope, I'm still in Phantom time. This can't keep on happening like this.
I stood up slowly and noticed that there was something different about this room now. The air was so cold that if I held the artificial light of my Phone to my mouth I would have seen the fog-like mist of my breath. It wasn't even packed with much props and sets like the first time around as far as I could make out. I stared up at the ceiling, hearing the light footsteps as they scurried around a top of me without them even realizing what was hidden beneath them. I could almost imagine Meg seeing her mother, no they wouldn't do that to poor little Meg. No, that would be a far cruel punishment that any young child would ever need.
I gasped. What happened to Erik? I hope he got away somehow. No, please don't be captured they will think he did it and he would be hanged. The killer could be still out there…
It daunted on me as a new thought that was more horrid then my other one had come to mind just then; the murderer is still out there. My blood seemed to freeze at the thought. My heart stopped too long and I felt light headed. Images of horror movie as I watched as a kid with my dad streamed before my eyes. It started to feel as if my mind was replaying what my death could be in a hundred different ways. With each playback the room felt as if it was getting smaller and smaller around me as the darkness grew a menacing cloak around me. It felt as if the murderer was right behind me. Then a cold hand covered my mouth.
I thrashed about wildly trying to escape but my attacker held me in a tight hold. I didn't think of what I was going to do next. But I did what my brother would have done if he were me; bite the hand. When I bit down my assailant shouted in pain and immediately had let go of me.
"Ouch! Roxanne!" I recognized that voice. For once I'm glad that this killer had found me and not the other one. "Damn it Roxanne! Was that necessary for you to do ange?!"
Before I could speak Erik shushed me and pointed up at the trap door. We waited until we were sure no one could hear us. My eyes were fixated on the ceiling above Erik and me. I could only hear footsteps over my head but nowhere else around above me. The rest of the ceiling had to have been thicker then the chasms' entrance looming over top of us.
"Erik?"
"Who else in there bloody mind would know where the trap doors that I made for the theater lie?" Erik sighed. With his good hand he lit a single candle that illuminated a small portion of the room. I could now see that it looked more like a weird mix of a studio, a laboratory, a weapon room and a magician's storage all wrapped up under a wooded roof.
"Why the hell did you cover my mouth?!"
"Because Roxanne you have one of the loudest voices of anyone I have ever known. Pray that I don't want the entire city of Paris knowing where we are. Also my dear someone's high pitched screaming is ear-shattering to listen to in a room that echoes when you whisper. I was trying to conserve your hearing as well as my own."
"There are better ways then to sneak up on me genius!" I huffed at him with my hands on my hips. My anger subsided and I looked around again.
"Where am I?" I asked walking to the desk. I stood beside him watching as he Erik stared to inspect his hand.
"You could call it the storage room for that what it seems to be."
I watched him as he groaned "It seems that you broke the skin quite deeply when you made a meal of my hand. Could you please go to the cabinet with all the bottles on it and bring me the one that says 'adhésif à la peau'? Don't touch anything else!"
Running to the cabinet that he was referring to, I opened it up and scanned its contents. There must have been hundreds of small potions that it almost made my head spin. All of them had French names with little captions underneath saying their names in English. I even found a familiar looking one that said 'liquid good fortunes'. Some of the names said 'toad's voice', 'writer's block', or even 'acid rain'. By the one I needed to find was one with gold hand writing. It was the only one that was different. The bottle itself seemed more of a perfume bottle. It had a pink hue to it that it was almost like it was glowing. The label said 'Aphrodite's Kiss'. Reaching out to touch it I hesitated but as I held it in my hand I read "turn's you into the goddess of love".
I turned to look at Erik to see if he was watching. With my great luck you would have thought I had taken the liquid good fortune. His attention was on something else so I easily slipped the Aphrodite's Kiss into my pocket as I grabbed the other vile. With a soft pat of the doors closed I walked over and handed Erik the bottle he requested.
Thanking me he took the bottle and took a paint brush out of a cup. "Erik, I'm sorry."
"No I'm the one at fault. Perhaps I should be creeping around frightening you all the time for it only makes me regret it." Erik opened the bottle to dab his brush into the clear paste. As if he were painting a picture he gently plastered it on to the skin where I had bitten him. I watched diligently as I saw that it was almost good as new. I stared at him in utter disbelief and awe.
Erik chuckled at me. "It is not magic, only a mix of everyday ingredients that when mixed together the right way it makes a short of glue-like substance. It is science."
"I could figure that. The other ones—?"
"The same concept but some trick your brain into believing something. In the liquid good fortune all it does is help your brain make the right choices unconsciously that will benefit your needs." He laughed at what he thought was so simple that a child could have done it; Like it was as easy as pricking your finger.
Or murdering someone.
The otherworldly voice inside my head brought the subject of death that made me remember what had happened moments ago. I felt dizzy as if I were going to faint. "Erik?"
He knew immediately what I was asking him and he guided me to the chair in which he had been sitting in. I put my head into my hands as Erik watched me concerned. I tried to regulate my breathing by checking my breathing. Erik put a hand on my leg to comfort me. A small smile crept on my lips but they vanished when we heard a loud door opening next to us. We raised our heads to find that it was Daroga out of breath in a hidden door way.
"Erik!" Daroga yelled as he ran toward Erik. Before I could react Daroga threw a punch aiming straight at Erik's head. Luckily Erik blocked it with his arm and with the other he swiftly did not permit Daroga's other hand from hitting him in the stomach. "You Killed her!"
"I did no such thing." The two wrestled their way as I watched. They each other slammed into the wall knocking down a bookcase. They fought like children which made it even harder to break it up. I couldn't get close no matter how much I tried. It was madness as they continued on.
I searched for something, anything in the room. I didn't know what to look for; maybe a blunt object or a sword. Scavenging like a buzzard I helplessly started to search for a non-existent item as the two men fought wildly.
You know what you need… Do I? Yes jeune fille you do so go and find it, he hides it in his desk.
Sprinting wildly past the enraged men I reached the desk. I know it is here. Where is it? I have to find it. I must find it. Find it! I scratched my way through empty drawers till I finally found what I had been searching for. There were two and out of them I had chosen the one I was the most familiar with. It looked like one that I had seen in TV shows that my dad and I would watch. Never had I used it before but I needed to now for them to stop thrashing about. Suddenly I heard a loud pound that turned my attention away from the object.
Daroga had Erik pinned to the wall. "I saw her with your initials that are your signature."
"I didn't kill her Daroga! I was with Roxanne the whole time." It was now his turn to pin Daroga to the wall. "You must believe me.
"Then tell me Phantom why don't I?" Finally Daroga pulled out of Erik's death grip by pushing him away and proceeded again to try to hit his opponent. Erik easily dodged every bullet punch Daroga tried to lay on him, even trying to fight back. But Daroga hit Erik in the face knocking his mask to the floor. In a blur of anger Erik punched Daroga so hard that Erik had knocked to the ground.
Bang! They froze. Not even moving a muscle they watched me attentively. Before either of them could have a chance to fight again I stepped in the middle of them. I had my hand pointed to the ceiling where the bullet had lodged itself in. "That is quite enough!"
Looking over at Erik I saw that he held his right hand to his face instinctively shielding it away so I could not see the horror. Instead of fearing his deformity I was angrier at the behavior of the two of them. The compelling desire to shoot both of the men with the derringer in my right hand was so apparent in my features that they both coward away to small children.
I walked over quickly to where Erik's mask had fallen off. Inspecting it became useless. The mask was unharmed and laid in my hands so obediently. Slowly I walked back to Erik and handed him his mask which he took back graciously. After quickly putting it back on he faced Daroga. On the ground Daroga started to get up but he winced and leaned back down on the wall for support. They seemed to stare at each other until Erik sighed hopelessly. Walking diligently towards Daroga's way he knelt in front of him to look him straight in the eyes.
"I have killed many people in my miserable life that would damn me to hell for ten eternities. But I would never ever kill her. Madame Giry has been too kind to me in this existence. Madame Giry has been like family to me in a way. How could I ever bring myself to ever harm her?" Erik asked so desperately. Daroga stayed silent only to nod slightly. "I would never betray anyone in this room right now or Madame Giry. Someone else has maliciously slaughtered her and I intend to find out with or without your help Persian."
Helping Daroga up both looked each other in the eye for a long while. I walked over and stood by Erik. No one spoke as Daroga tried to make out fact from fiction. I nervously reached into my pocket. I felt something round and cool under my fingers. Pulling the object I saw that it was the pocket watch Daroga had given me. The silver metal reflected the candle's light ever so slightly. I handed it to Daroga.
He held it in his hands as if it were a piece of china. Staring at it for a while he chuckled at a memory. He paused and looked at the watch tracing the grasshopper and the scorpion with his fingers. "When Erik and I first came to Paris Madame Giry gave me this watch when I got my job as manager here. She was my dearest friend."
Daroga looked up at Erik and I. His sad eyes seemed to smile just slightly. "I believe you on one condition. This is the one time I will allow you to."
I looked at Erik confused but he nodded. "I know."
"Now Mademoiselle Nilsson," The Persian turned to me. "We have to get you back up there."
"Why? What do they think I had any part in… that!?" I spat the word that built up a strong distasteful taste of anger in my mouth. My hands clenched into a fist near my sides at the very idea of it.
"No, no, no. It is Meg."
"What happened to Meg?"
Daroga sighed with a worried look in his eyes. "They are going to have to send her to the orphanage."
Disclaimer: I don't own Phantom of the Opera.
Think of me, think of my chapters after they have ended. review them every so often, promise me you'll try. On a happy read that's not to distant time when you are satisfied and free, if you ever have a moment spare a review for me.
Thank you again for reading The Ghost of the Opera. I felt like this chapter took so long to write but it probably was only a week since I last updated the chapters. I have to say that this chapter was more or less a transition into something more. I know that a lot of people don't like Rauol but Steve Barton (the original Rauol in the musical) is the best so I can not hate on Rauol because of him. In the next chpters I can assure you that you will see a lot more of him.
I absolutely love Erik. whoops did I say that out loud ;). but it is true, there is no other person like him so please agree with me and tell me why you like him (or not but we all know that you do). Well, look at the time it's getting late and I should be leaving so I will write later all right bye.
