I hope this segment gives you a little insight into the hearts of a few of my characters. Phantom will not have interactions for a while but I am trying to decide if I should write about some of his private trappings, where ever he may be. Please send critiques because it has been years since I wrote. So please feel free to leave the negative right along with the positive. Thanks much, Vesperluna
A Simple Game
Kathryn took one last look in the glass and made her way to her father's office. As she walked in she could smell sweet tobacco from his pipe and she could hear Isabelle laughing. She was impressed to see that the office was finished and full of her father's mahogany furniture. Even more so when she laid her eyes on his expansive miniature battle field. It was covered in little cloth trees and tiny painted men that looked to the priming, ready to fight.
"I do believe Capitan the enemy is coming this way." Isabelle spoke in her very best soldier voice and stood at attention, a British army hat on her head. Though crooked and too big she was determined to wear it.
"To the cannons!" boomed a gallant voice. Nathaniel Benjamin Buckingham stood tall and straight, his round belly moving in time to his voice. His eyes were the greenest green and his hair just as red. A large mustache covered his upper lip and his pipe dangled in the corner of his mouth. He too had an army hat on that refused to contain his wild locks of hair. Kathryn had his features but the softer version of them. 'He is still quite a handsome man' she thought. She stood silently in the doorway and smiled not wanting to interrupt their play.
"Yes sir! The enemy won't get by me sir!" Isabellel raced to arrange her cannons and straighten her ranks. "Can I roll the dice now?" she whispered not wanting to ruin they're play. She rolled some high numbers and jumped for joy.
"Well done! Fire one!" he boomed moving his troops threw the trees.
"Booom" she yelled
"Fire two!" he said with a grin
"Boooom! Oh captain sir, that one was more damaging than the last! Do I send in my troops?
"Not yet corporeal. We must see the whites of they're eyes! Fire Three!
" Boooooom! Attack! Attack!" Isabelle yelled jumping from one foot the other.
They both grabbed long wooden poles and knocked the appropriate enemy soldiers over. Nathaniel gave his daughter a wink and yelled,
"Ohh, I'm hit right in the heart. I fear I am lost." He put his hand to his chest and feigned death.
"I will avenge you daddy!" She giggled and gave him a tight hug. He looked down to her and was touched by how much she looked like her mother. It never ceased to amaze. He looked up to see his second eldest child beaming in the doorway. For a moment he had thought it to be the ghost of his lost wife. 'She is always with me' he thought smiling at his children, his only girls.
"Come in, come in." he smiled and repositioned his pipe.
"I was merely enjoying the show, and thinking you should make it an opera. Such grand actors" Kathryn laughed and fingered the ruffle of her dress.
"Ahh, you shouldn't jest. I've been known to belt out quite a tune."
"Yes father, but New Years Eve doesn't count."
"I suppose not" he said with a laugh
"Oh Kat," said Isabelle "Did you see me defeat the French army?"
Kathryn raised an eyebrow in her father's direction. "Father, you do recall the fact we live in France now? Isabelle might chat of your games to Aunt Vivian. What a stir that would cause."
"Good god in heaven I hope not. The old French bat. I will tell Isabelle not say anything." He said with a laugh.
"Hmmf, I'm right hear you know, still in the room. Piff" Isabelle crossed her arms and stared out from under her helmet. "Always the baby, it's not fair."
Nathaniel let out a boisterous laugh "Ah my dear, I would have it no other way." He pushed the hat down over her eyes making her giggle.
"Now run along and wash for supper. Speaking of that I do hope our chef is here. I'm dreadfully hungry. He collapsed into an easy chair and put his hat on the floor letting his unruly hair free. 'It looks as though his head is on fire' thought Kathryn smiling to herself.
"Papa, I wanted to speak with you about Ben. I was wondering if you would go easy on him. I gave him a speaking to just a few minutes ago. I'm assuming Izzy mentioned the situation to you." Kathryn also plopped down in a comfy chair.
"Yes, yes she did and she also told me you handled it quite well already, which is grand because I'm not in the mood for his shenanigans tonight." He sighed rubbing his forehead
"What is vexing you father? Money affairs no doubt."
"Well, yes. It seems the last owners of the opera left a few key details from me. How bad the actual damage was and the ghastly occurrences that took place here. They were a couple of weasels I dare say."
"Do we have enough funds to finish this place?" A look of concern spread across Kathryn's face.
"Yes, but whether or not we can get people to come when it's finished is the issue. I must sell seats, to pay debts. The last patron refuses to have anything to do with the place. Then there is getting actors, singers, and ballet dancers to return. I'm afraid they won't come back if they are superstitious." Nathaniel continued to rub his temples and sigh.
"The alleged opera ghost, I'm assuming, is to blame." Kathryn propped her head up with her elbow and looked compassionately at her Papa.
"Indeed he or it is. Can't fight what isn't there can you? Regardless this could become a grave issue." He stared off into nowhere, worry in his face.
"I think, father, that enough time has past and I very much doubt our upper class patrons are as superstitious as actors and bohemians. Even then how do you know no one will want to perform here or buy tickets? Who have you asked?" Kathryn gave him a reassuring look. "I am a musician myself and no ghost could keep me from my craft.
Most likely it would draw me to it."
"You are a dear Kat, but only time will tell if people have forgotten what happened here. You'd think two years was enough. Granted, this is France and we are smack dab in the middle of its cultural melting pot" He looked to his daughter's already solemn but now worried face. "Enough of this, we need some sustenance and maybe some sleep." He stood offering Kathryn a smile and a fathering hand.
"I'm not feeling hungry tonight father. I think I shall retire maybe play a bit of piano." She rubbed her right elbow with her left hand and despair suddenly covered her face.
"You, could play for us. Dinner music perhaps?"
"No, I shall require some alone time tonight. I love you very much but go enjoy dinner and the children's company." Kathryn stood a kissed her father on the cheek. "See you in the morn "She quickly removed herself before he could protest any farther.
Nathaniel gathered his overcoat and slippers from the loveseat by his desk. 'How quickly she is moved to melancholy.' He turned and his eye caught the calendar on his desk. "Oh, dear" he said to himself. It was June the fifth. 'How could I have forgotten? My poor Kathryn' He thought. He turned down his gas lights and entered the hallway, leaving his office as dark as Kathryn's solemn face.
Kathryn opened the door to the music room, brand new and still full of covered furniture. A few empty paint cans lay on the floor next to a partially nude statue of a goddess. She smiled thinking of Ben's earlier protests. In the center of the room was her precious piano partially covered in a white cloth. Finally she could play music again, especially on this day, this sadly memorable day. The children only pulled her from her melancholy for a short time and she cherished those happy moments but tonight was his. She moved towards her piano stroking the keys with deliberate sensuality, her eyes closed. "Tristan, my amore, my only love." Her words echoed threw the high ceilinged room, reverberating back to her heart. For a year she had suffered every night alone with her thoughts, and she kept him alive in her music each of those nights. Not being able to play for weeks had been very difficult and it forced her to sing herself to sleep instead. Slowly she pressed her fingers to the keys bringing forth the first few notes of her sad melody. His face came to her as she played. He had such a beautiful face so strong and so loving.
As the melancholy notes floated around her she completely succumbed to the sorrow of her loss, wishing it would drown her and silence her beating heart. When her song ended she moved her hands to her lap and her tears could no longer be contained. Normally she didn't cry but one year ago, today she should have been Lady Kathryn Aurora Delayna Benoir. Instead it was Kathryn Buckingham, the lonely daughter of a widower. He was ripped from her, torn from her side, and left in the cold ground. "No, please God take it away or take me instead. I cannot function in this world, not without him and if that makes me weak then so be it." She prayed her hands clenched so tight her knuckles went white. She sat this way for a while, until she had no more tears.
Stiff and shaking she rose from her bench and made her way to the door. Silently she thanked her father for not interfering this night. Her sorrow was her own, and for no one else to see.
So, for another night she let him sleep in the soft confines of her mind until she could visit him again. As she walked the last stretch of hallway to her room she was glad to soon be laying herself to sleep, but sadly in her bed, not in the softness of his heart or mind.
This makes me sad already. 'Cries uncontrollably'
