Chapter 1: Grand Reopening

Marissa de Chagney looked up at her ballet instructor as she paced back and forth. Tonight was the grand reopening of the Opera Populaire and crises were quickly taking place. The beautiful Marissa's nerves were already on edge, because she has heard stories of the Opera Ghost since she was as little as she could remember. Surely Erik would be long gone. As her mother told her, Erik was only human.

Marissa was the great-great granddaughter of the famous Christine Daae, the student of the long feared Phantom of the Opera, and the reason for the famous tragedy. Marissa truly had mixed emotions about performing in the reopening of the opera house. Half of her felt honored to take part in something her distant relative was so famous for. The other half felt an unease, an eeriness.

Returning from her thoughts back to reality, Marissa had a decision on her hands. The lead of the show had broken her leg. Claudia was a tough part to replace. As she was not only the lead and had to sing and act well, she was also a good dancer. It had been suggested that Marissa take on this role.

Charlemaigne Giry, also a descendant of people directly involved in the disaster knew not to push Marissa on this decision. She needed to consider it and do what was best for herself. This caused worry for Charlemaigne, if Marissa decided not to go though with it or if she took too long on her answer, it could mean postponing the long anticipated reopening weeks, even months. She knew Marissa had the talent and knew the part, but she was unsure of Marissa's confidence.

Marissa continued to watch her ballet instructor pace back and forth as she thought. She knew Madame Giry was trying to be patient and allow Marissa to make the right decision for herself, but her pacing certainly wasn't helping Marissa's nerves any.

Marissa closed her green eyes and focused her mind on her great great grandmother. Christine Daae had been very very beautiful and Marissa looked just like her. If people had been unaware of the change in time, she could have easily been mistaken for Christine.

She opened her eyes again and sighed. She saw a strand of her curly brown hair fall from her bun. She thought more of the decision before her. She thought for a moment that if she decided to do it, she knew she could. The lead had been a toss-up between her and Bianca. Bianca ended up getting the role, yet now Marissa was left with the decision to either play the role or not. With that last thought, Marissa looked up at the clock. She had an hour to decide if there was even a chance to pull it off.

Notes: Sorry this chapter is so short, I am hoping the rest will be longer.