Note: Hey guys! Wow! Keep up the great reviews...you have no idea how much they make my day...wow I am a dork...anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter! I had no idea what to do, please tell me what you think!
Chapter 6
Ana gushed over her presents from her uncle and aunt. "Oh Auntie the stockings are really too much. And Uncle Joseph, you really didn't need to buy me any chocolates! Why, I'll soon be as fat as the Christmas goose!" She gave them a hug each.
"Ah, to spoil someone other than my wife. And my dear Ana, I highly doubt you'll get fat, you're always on your toes." He chuckled.
"Yes my dear, the tights are to replace the ones that seem to have gotten quite a few runners. How does the opera go?" Marishka asked as they made their way back from Ana's room.
"Quite good. Although La Carlotta complains about everything. Ze danzer's are in my way! Zey are smacking me with zer tutus! That iz it! I quit! Madame, bring my puppiez!" Ana said doing an impression of the diva. Her uncle gave a hearty laugh while her aunt merely smiled. "Oh and then there is this whole nonsense of an Opera Ghost! I have to keep telling Meg that there is no such thing and it is a mere figment of her imagination. She seems quite disturbed that I don't believe in him."
Marishka's eyes grew wide, "But my dear! There is such thing as the Opera Ghost! We have seen him, we were at the play that he created when the chandelier came crashing down five years ago! We saw him capture Miss Daae and then he disappeared! Whatever Meg has been telling you about this Opera Ghost, it is true!"
Ana just merely chuckled at her aunt, "Oh Auntie, not you as well. Well, if there is such thing as an opera ghost, then he can try and scare me all he wants. I still will not take orders from him! Now, you must be going, I brought my pointe shoes along and I would like to get some practice time in before everyone else shows up." with that said, her aunt and uncle gave her another hug each and left through the Grand Foyer. Ana waited until the door had shut behind them, before venturing off to the empty and silent stage.
She opened the door hesitantly and then slipped in unnoticed. Feeling her way around the back part of the stage, she finally came across the front curtains. There were only a few lamps lit out on stage, and so she quietly sat down and laced up her shoes. Making sure they were extra tight, she stood up and went up on her toes to test the tightness. Seeing that it was tight enough, she came down and looked around. She let her imagination drift, and thought about attending a beautiful ball, where she was the Prima Dancer.
Music struck up in her mind and she began to dance. Slowly at first, with pirouettes and going up on pointe. Then, imagining that some handsome young man asked her to dance, she giggled like a school girl and curtseyed. Then she danced with her make believe man. Spinning around and leaping she felt like she was weightless, the only sound in the house were the clicking of her wooden parts of her shoe. Then she took a giant run and leapt into the air, twirling not once but twice. But somehow she miscalculated her landing and fell, rolling across the stage. The music in her mind stopped as she drew up her left knee to nurse it. Suddenly, something caught her attention, it appeared to be floating down from the fly's above. Slowly she got up, wincing in pain as her left knee still reminded her of her prior injury. There, lying in the middle of the stage, was another letter, same as the one that was in her room.
She bent over, picked it up, and with shaking hands, she opened it. Drawing out the stiff card, she read it aloud.
"Dear Mademoiselle Ana,
You are such a silly little girl, forgive me, woman. Asking around the stage crew if they had saved you last night after you hit your head. If you only payed attention to what Meg had to say, and she was correct. It was I who saved you from the rooftop. It was also I that gave you that rose to make your day a little better. Ah, but my dear mademoiselle, I know all about your little past. How you had another lover and your husband despised that. If I were in his place and found out my wife had another, I would most likely take drastic measures. Only I see you for who you truly are, a trollop, pure and simple. Now, do not fret my dear, for I know that is what you are most likely doing. If you assist me, I shall keep your secret safe. Do not help me at all, and I am afraid that Alex will have to pay a visit to the Opera House to see his little wife dancing around the stage.
Now that I have your attention, I believe it is time you met your savior. And I take that lightly, for I may not save you ever again. Meet me on the rooftop tonight at exactly midnight, do not be late or you shall feel my wrath. Take care, and do be more careful when your dancing with an invisible man. I believe you might have stepped on his toes once or twice.
Regards,
O.G"
Ana felt her face pale. This...joker had saved her. He was the one that gave her that rose and carried her back to her room. Not only that, but he knew of her secret. How could he possibly know her secret?! If he was on the roof, she would have seen him, and he called her a trollop. Did that mean he thought she was a whore who sold her body or took a lover after marrying her husband? Probably, for that's what she wanted to get across to Meg, even though that wasn't the real truth. The real truth couldn't be told. She would just merely get a shocked look at why her parents really died. But still, he knew...he knew about her secret and threatened to spill her secret and have Alex come running to the Opera House to see her. That would only increase his anger and she feared his anger. She glanced at the letter again and sighed. The only thing she could do was meet this fraud on the rooftop. She glanced up at where the letter had fallen to see if the writer was still there, but saw nothing but shadows. Shaking her head, she walked off the stage and back to her room.
He smiled his sly smile as she walked off. Had she really been looking hard, she would have seen the faint outline of his mask. He had gotten to her, forcing her to meet him in fear of him spilling her secret. His first part of his plan worked perfectly and now he had to work on the second part. Sweeping his cloak around, he silently made his way back to his lair to put the second part into motion.
Ana pulled on her warmest gown and slipped the woolen shawl around her shoulders. She was contemplating on whether to put her hair up when a knock came at her door.
"Ana, are you in? Do you want to get some dinner? Mama said she'll take us out this evening." Meg's quiet voice came through the door.
"Yes, I'm in, but I really don't feel like going anywhere. I'm rather tired and I had a trying day. Thank you anyway Meg!" Ana called back. She seemed somewhat puzzled, why would Meg and her mother go out to eat at a quarter until midnight? That seemed odd in it self. But she merely shrugged it off, sometimes dancers got a weird appetite cycle. At times they went to eat breakfast at three in the morning, other times they ate dinner really late. It was a hard life for a dancer, but no matter. She enjoyed what she did no matter when she got hungry. Picking up a candle she lit it and held her hand over the small flame. Quietly opening the door, making sure the hinges didn't squeak, she slipped out. Looking around, she saw no one around. The opera house was as quiet and still as always but she felt like something was waiting in the shadows, watching her, seeing what her next move would do.
She walked up the stairs that led to the roof top, taking care of not to step on the stairs that squeaked when pressure was applied to them. She opened the door and stepped outside, the cold hitting her face shocking her at first. She shut the door behind her and walked out to the middle of the icon.
"Hello? Is anyone out there?" She stepped near a pegasus statue and gasped when she felt a presence behind her. She went to turn around, but found that she was paralyzed with fear. She opened to mouth to let out a scream when a hand with a leather glove on clamped over her mouth.
"Ah, ah, ah my dear trollop. We don't want to alert anyone, they wouldn't be happy to hear that the Phantom of the Opera is back." a man's voice said to her.
MWAHAHA! And so the Phantom of the Opera returns! What will happen? and don't y'all love cliff hangers?! WHOOHOO!! I'm seeing Phantom 2morrow for my second time then again on Sat....maybe I'll get some ideas for my story! Happy readings!!!
