Chapter 8: Hidden Gifts and Parlour Tricks

A few of the campers had dreadful stage fright and refused to be on the stage, even if they just had to stand there and do nothing. They were deer in headlights under the bright stage lights and they always rushed off the stage as soon as possible, trampling their friends in the process.

"Please slow down when exiting the stage!" Christine yelled for the hundredth time that week. "Walking feet, please!"

"We should put them on stage crew," suggested Erik when he noticed the timid campers.

"We don't have a stage crew," said the preoccupied Christine. Nor did we have time to manage one.

"Well, we do now." Erik rounded up the small group of children who were uncomfortable on stage. "We're going to look in the basement for some useful props."

Christine didn't bother stopping him, but she grumbled privately that he'd left her alone to manage run-throughs of the script. Across the theater, Erik led the happily skipping children by the hand. He held the door open for his troops, and after the last one filed through, he shut the door silently behind them.

"Uh...Miss Daae, can I have help with my line please?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes. One moment…"

Christine looked at the script on her computer to find where they'd left off. The way Erik had watched out for the children softened her heart. She'd been so stressed with keeping everything running smoothly, she hadn't noticed the children's discomfort, and her inattention to their well-being plagued her with guilt. She was a teacher. She was supposed to care about her students.

"I think now's a good time to break for lunch. What do you think?" said Christine after they finished a run through of the script.

The children cheered in approval. Christine looked towards the back of the theater to see if Erik had slipped in quietly without her noticing, but he hadn't yet returned. Christine brought the remaining children into the lobby, so they could begin their lunch. After making sure they were settled, she poked her head into Mr. Richard's office where he was busy reviewing the theater's finances.

"Would you mind watching the campers for a minute?" she asked. "Erik took some kids down the basement, and I want to go tell them it's lunchtime."

"Of course." Mr. Richard removed his reading glasses and set down the paper he'd been scrutinizing. He could use a break. His head was spinning with numbers.

"Thank you. I'll be right back," she assured him.

"Don't worry, take your time."

Christine reentered the theater and opened the door beside the stage. She found herself in a long dark hallway leading toward the dressing rooms and other backstage areas. Before shutting the door behind her, she flicked the light switch, but the lights didn't illuminate. She'd have to tell Mr. Richard the electricals weren't working back here, but he likely knew and hadn't gotten around to fixing it yet. Christine released the door from her grasp, and it slammed shut plunging her into darkness. There were no windows in the hallway; the only source of light was the glowing red exit sign at the opposite end of the corridor. Her footsteps echoed against the floor tiles. A shiver ran down her spine, but Christine ignored her discomfort. She'd been down this hallway many times in the past. It hadn't scared her when she was a child, so why should it scare her as a grown woman?

Christine approached the eerie red beacon until she arrived at the door with a sign reading:

Basement: Authorized Personnel Only

Well, Mr. Richard never forbade her from entering the basement, so Christine guessed she was considered authorized personnel. The heavy door creaked as she pushed it open, and it made a loud bang as it shut behind her. Her earlier feelings of apprehension returned as she cautiously descended. The weak basement lights didn't produce much visibility; they only cast a dim yellow haze over the room.

The basement was a jungle of abandoned props and worn sets. Everything had been recycled multiple times, always being repainted and repurposed to fit whatever shows the Royal Garnet happened to be performing in a given season. Christine spotted a little Lotte sitting on a ripped sofa. The girl's eyes were closed, and she was swinging her legs and bobbing her head up and down.

"Hi...Where is everyone?" Christine asked. Her uneasiness grew when she remembered the conversation she'd had with Meg about Erik. Had she been foolish to brush off her suspicions?

Lotte shrugged without opening her eyes. Christine looked around. Everyone must be hiding somewhere, but they were doing a surprisingly good job at staying quietly hidden. An airy voice whispered in her ear:

"Boo..."

Christine jumped in surprise and looked over her shoulder. No one was there. She must've imagined the voice, but it sounded so real...

"EEEEK!"

Christine shrieked at the top of her lungs when a hand roughly grabbed her shoulder. Erik was doubled over in laughter. Lotte opened her eyes and pointed at the masked man.

"Erik, I found you! You lose!"

"Oh darn." Erik snapped his fingers in defeat. He'd never lost a game of hide-and-seek; he'd been the reigning victor growing up, but he was too busy laughing at Christine's reaction to be disappointed. If there was one game he loved more than hide-and-seek, it was jump scaring people.

"You idiot!" Christine screamed as she roughly shoved Erik into an old armoire. The kids collectively gasped at their teacher's use of the elementary school curse word.

Erik's demonic cackling filled the room as Christine tried to shut the armoire's doors and lock her annoying coworker in there forever.

"You know, you're not nearly as funny as you think you are," she huffed.

Christine wanted to call him worse names than "idiot", but there were children present. They'd emerged from their hiding spots when Christine screamed, and little Lotte was eagerly rounding them up.

"That's not fair! We thought someone was dying! We should do this round over again!"

The children scrambled into new hiding spots, but Christine stopped them. Their disappointment lifted when they learned it was lunchtime.

"Are you sure this is all of them, Erik?" Christine asked sourly. She was still angry at him for making her look like a huge fool.

Erik counted the kids once again and confirmed they were all present. He led the group out of the basement, down the dark hallway, and back into the lobby of the theater where Mr. Richard was failing to stop a few children from bickering.

"Don't worry. Everything is under control." The old man chuckled nervously. Thank goodness Christine and Erik were back. Mr. Richard knew he'd told her to take her time, but he hadn't expected her to take that much time. The two counselors stepped in to prevent the argument from going any further and Mr. Richard snuck back to his office, relieved he found Christine a coworker. He did not envy their job.

"You owe me an apology," Christine grumbled to Erik. She pouted and crossed her arms across her chest.

"Sorry," he said with a smirk. He didn't mean it. He'd enjoyed the experience.

Christine huffed and took a seat on their usual bench. Erik followed and sat down beside her.

"Did you whisper 'boo'?" Christine asked begrudgingly. She didn't want to give him credit for his successful trick, but she had to make sure she wasn't going crazy.

"Yeah, that was me," Erik replied.

"But how? It sounded like you were so close, but there was no one there."

"Ventriloquism!"

Erik grinned but Christine blinked in confusion. Ventriloquists were just charlatans with creepy puppets. You could always see them moving the corners of their mouth. They weren't fooling anybody.

"Oh, that's...interesting…" she replied. Just when I thought you couldn't get any weirder...

"Yes, very," Erik whispered without moving his mouth. Christine tilted her head in confusion. Erik had just whispered in her ear, but he was nowhere close to her face.

"Ventriloquism is more than puppets, Christine. It's about throwing your voice around," Erik explained. Everyone asked him about the puppets. No, he did not have one. They freaked him out. But he wasn't going to admit that.

"Say something else." Christine was in awe of Erik's hidden talent, and she was failing to downplay her interest.

"Alright...Watch that kid over there. I'm going to whisper in his ear."

Christine studied Erik's lips intently. There was not the slightest bit of movement, but his speech was entirely intelligible. She watched Gabriel Moncharmin, the kid Erik pointed out. The child jumped in surprise and looked around before returning to eat his sandwich with a very confused look on his face.

"Incredible…" she whispered. She looked at Erik and blushed. "I mean...don't torment the kids like that."

"Don't worry. I won't."

Erik's smile caused Christine's blush to deepen.

"So...how do you do it?" she asked as she averted her eyes.

"Oh, it just takes a lot of practice. I guess you could say I have some weird hobbies," Erik said.

Christine nodded. She never thought she'd agree with Erik on something, but his statement was just plain fact.

Hello! Thank you for reading! I hope you all enjoyed Erik's misguided attempts at...flirting? friendship? I don't know I guess we'll see ;)