A/N: If you are letthedreamdescend or SporkGoddess, then you need to read this, if not, then you can if you want. Okay, thanks for the reviews! To my latest two reviewers, I'm not trying to sound hot headed or like a know-it all, but this story is fiction, hence the web site, fanFICTION. I know that my info is not correct for the time period, but the stories that I write are just for fun! I write when I have a bad day because writing calms me down, so I don't plan on doing tedious research for something that is fun for me. When and or if I ever become an actual published author, then you have my word that I will research until I have every last scrap of info correct. I don't expect everyone to believe what I say in my stories are true, because I know that they are not because this is a fictional story. But one thing that is true in my story is that high school voices CAN reach all of the notes sung in phantom, because I myself am a singer, along with all of my friends, and we all take voice lessons, so I know for a fact that if your voice is trained properly, then anyone can hit those notes with little or no strain. Not to brag, but I can. Well, sorry about that long dialog, I just needed to make that clear, and if you don't like me for saying all of this, then by all means, you don't have to finish reading my story, or review. I'll do my best to make you a little happier though so that I don't get chewed out again in the future.
Chapter 9
Mrs. Carmichael came to visit Leslie two day after her spasms to see how she was doing. To her surprise, Mike was there instead of Mr. Donnelley. "Where is her father?" she asked Mike as she walked into the room.
"He is at home sleeping Mrs. Carmichael. He asked if I would stay with her until he got back tomorrow morning." Mike told his teacher.
"Mike, you can't stay here all night, not by yourself! And you have school tomorrow, how are you going to get to school?"
"My mom said it was okay, she wrote a note to excuse my tardiness." he told her.
"Well, I guess if it's alright with you mother I don't have a say in the matter. But make sure that you don't leave this room!" Mrs. Carmichael ordered.
"Yes ma'am, I promise that I won't. Why did you need Mr. Donnelley for?"
"To see if there was any improvement, but I guess I could ask you all the same since you seem to be here every time I am plus some. Well, how is she?"
"No visible improvement, although yesterday she did have an episode of spasms that no one seems to be able to explain. They stopped without any aid to anyone also, which adds to the mystery of what is happening inside of her head. If you ask me, whatever she is dreaming about or thinks she is seeing, it is affecting physical self because nobody can get her to eat, yet she shows no signs of starvation. She also seems to be perfectly hydrated, but no one can make her drink anything. The nurses have tried to feed and water her through tubes and IVs, but she just rejects them."
"That is indeed peculiar. The spasms and the food, I've never heard of anything before, where the patient doesn't need anything but a bed. I bet none of the doctors have either."
"That is why they are all so concerned because she really is not a textbook case comma victim. I think that Mr. Donnelley is going insane trying to learn all of her work for her and worry about if she'll wake up in time for him to teach it to her. The doctor actually had him thrown out because he wouldn't leave her side, not even to feed himself! The reason I'm staying is because they won't allow too sleep here anymore. I have special permission from the principle to do so in his place as long as I don't start to slack in my work."
"Okay then, but try and get some sleep. I'll stop by tomorrow to pick you up if you want,"
"That would be great Mrs. Carmichael, but Mr. Donnelley said that he would do it. He said that he realized he was being extravagantly concerned and should take some time away from the hospital during the daylight hours so that he didn't go crazy in this all white room. If you ask me, I don't think anyone could not go whacko if they had to stay here."
Laughing, Mrs. Carmichael said her good-byes and then left to go visit Jim Donnelley. One thing that Mike had not mentioned to Mrs. Carmichael was that the day after her spasm attack, Leslie had lost a bit of color to her cheeks, and hadn't been able to get it back yet.
Flash
As Alexa was dragged along the corridor, she struggled with all her might which was a considerable amount considering her size. The stranger had yet revealed who he was or what he really wanted, but Alexa had a pretty good idea on what that was. He also had not told her where he was taking all; all she could discern was that they were going deep into the basements of the opera house. When Alexa had given up hope that Dustin was going to come charging down the tunnel after them, she stopped struggling. By this point, the cement beneath her feet had turned into cobble stones, most of which where slick with slime. Trying as hard as she could not to slip so that she wouldn't have to lean on the man behind her, who still had a told hold on her forearm, just to make sure she wouldn't run off.
About ten minutes after her kidnapping, they reached what appeared to be an enormous roof with a vaulted ceiling made of crude cut stone and a black marble floor; or so it appeared with only the light of a three pronged hand held candelabra that the mystery man had picked up off of the floor at the exit of the tunnel, for this room had no candle holders attached to the walls like the secret corridor had had spaced just close enough together so that you could barely see the floor.
The cobble stones ended at the edge of the great black marble floor, and Alexa was surprised to see a boat tied up to a wooden post sticking out from the marble. The man firmly put Alexa into the boat and she felt it heave from side to side as she struggled to remain upright. As she sat on the only seat at the bow of the boat, she noticed that there were ripples spreading across the marble flooring. Sticking her hand out over the side of the boat, she felt the marble, but it wasn't marble as she had thought, but water! Quickly, she looked up at the man who had just gotten into the boat. She watched as he picked up a pole that was lying on the floor of the boat that she hadn't noticed, and she watched as he shoved off from the cobble stones, and out into the dark lake with nothing to see by except for the pitiful candelabra.
In the middle of the lake, Alexa looked around and couldn't see a single thing except for herself, the, boat, the man and the candelabra with the shadows it was casting onto the lake. After a few minutes of the man pushing the boat, she felt it jolt against a wall. Turning around, she saw a small ledge about two feet above the waters surface, on which only one person at a time could stand on if you wanted to stay dry, that is if you didn't slip from all the slime that was covering it. There was also another post in which to tie to boat too. After tying the boat, the man grabbed the candelabra and stepped onto the ledge. From what Alexa could see, he seemed to be fumbling along the wall until his hands hit something which she couldn't see. To her surprise, the was suddenly slid into itself, showing to be another hidden door with anther secret passageway. This was on the other hand, was considerably brighter than the other, blinding Alexa as it opened.
Throwing up her hands to shield her eyes from the blinding light, she felt the firm hands of the mystery man grab her around her waist and lift her out of the boat and onto the ledge, shoving her into the passageway before ceiling off the doorway again. Once again, she felt his hand encircle her forearm and lead her down the hall. By this time, she could at least squint into the bright lights. Looking around, there were about three times as many candles as were in the other passageway. This hall had a white marble floor and it lead into a large circular room also with a white marble floor. This room contained a single couch with a table in front of it, two arm chairs facing the couch with a table in between them, many floor length mirrors spread all along the curved wall which had three doors which where curved just like the wall so that they blended in. There was also a great pipe organ at the far end of the room from where they stood. Around the organ where piles and piles of papers.
"Welcome to my home." the man said beside Alexa. She jumped, practically forgetting that he was still holding onto her arm because she was so dazzled by how bright the room was with all its candles, candelabras and mirrors which reflected the light and their reflections so well. Looking into one of the mirrors directly in front of her, she saw for the first time, the man who had abducted her from her room. He was very tall, over six feet tall. He was wearing a black tuxedo complete with cumber bun and bow tie. His raven black hair was slicked back and plastered with gel to hold it in place. From what she could see looking into the mirror at this distance, he had mud brown eyes. Upon his face, or at least half of it anyways, was a pure white mask that covered the entire right side of his face with the exception of a whole for his eye and an indentation for his nose to protrude from, angling down to his chin from there, skirting the edge of his lips. This mask was the only thing he wore that was white apart from his pristinely white tuxedo shirt. His skin was pale, but not colorless. Upon looking at him, fear gripped itself around Alexa's heart, utterly terrified of what she knew he was capable of doing, for she knew that he was very strong because he had been able to suppress her screams while holding her still through all of her struggling, and was able to drag her down that corridor without a second thought.
She watched as this horrifying man walked into his home, took off his coat complete with tails, and hung it on a coat rack next to the organ. She watched transfixed as he sat down on the organ bench and flip through a stack of papers piled next to him on the bench. She watched as he pulled out a packet of papers and set it on the music stand attached to the organ above the keys. She watched as he turned around to face her with a smug expression on his face that she could only imagine what he could possibly be thinking, and she didn't like it.
End of Chapter 9
A/N: I know that this chapter was really short compared to all of my others so far, but to me, this chapter was the most crucial and I needed to make it short to emphasize some key things that happened. Please review! I want to know what everyone is thinking! I know that school is starting up again, so I won't be able to update as often as you would like, but I'll do my best with my busy schedule. I'm a senior this year so I have a tone of work to do. Most likely, I'll be writing to clear my head of everything I'm doing, so I might be writing more that I think!
