Elizabeth had immediately taken up the dressing suite that belonged to the star of the show. There was no surprise in this, as she was demanding of everyone and wanted only the best. Alex took the room next to it at his sister's insistence, but everyone else spread out.
Hope took a room towards the very end of the hall, a smallish room with a giant mirror in an elaborate frame. She was somehow drawn to it, this ancient relic of the past. It had not cracked, and had only the thinnest coat of grime. There were dried rose petals all over the room, lending it a fresh, sweet smell… it relaxed her. And so she sat in her small amounts of free time, staring into the mirror in an attempt to divine it's secrets, day after day.
It was after a day of assisting the quiet and morose Paul with the wiring of the main part of the theatre that she finally saw something, something that did not belong in the reflection of her dark and delicate face. A flash of white! Or perhaps a face… a masked face. Yes, that seemed right… a man's face, half covered in a white mask. Hope smiled sleepily. She leaned against the wall, still peering into that glassy expanse, not noticing her reflection had since disappeared, and fell into a deep sleep.
An organ, playing a morose song. Commanding, yet sad all the same. He wore ancient clothing, a cloak, a suit, a lovely vest. All in black. His mask was white, his face apart from that was handsome, but grief-stricken. She tried to comfort him, to tell him there was nothing to be afraid of, but he did not hear her.
A boat, a dark lake deep underground. His song surrounding her, entreating her to stay, to keep from the light, to never leave him.
"Christine…"
A pounding on her door shocked her awake. She jumped up, shook the stiffness from her neck, and answered it. Paul said there was a problem with one of the light boards, and so they had to get an early start today. She nodded, pulled back her hair into a knot, and then left with him.
In front of the mirror, where she had been laying, lay a single red rose, a black ribbon tied around its stem.
