Hey all! I wrote this RIGHT after I wrote the last one…. So obviously no one has reviewed yet. That's why there are no names. Maybe by the time I have finished this someone will have reviewed… and if you did I LOVE you! I will give you credit in the next chapter!

Chapter 7

Etolee's Point Of View

I tiptoed through the dressing room where my mother laid motionless and I prayed she would stay that way. The last thing I needed was her finding me sneaking around. I wasn't sneaking, Gabrielle sneaked…. I on the other hand investigate… in areas I wasn't necessarily supposed to be investigating through.

All right… Gabrielle said that a mirror on this side of the theater would open. There are only so many dressing rooms on this side of the theater! But, I was trusting Gabrielle's word and advise… and that alone is dangerous. Mama's sick, so this would be the best time to go hunting for ghosts… Opera ghosts that is.

Ghosts talk, so why wouldn't this one be able to tell me about my father? Ghosts see everything too, so he should know who my father is. There is no telling what I could learn from him! If he wasn't a ghost, then I was in trouble. I was risking trespassing… oh well I had done it before!

I touched the mirror in my hands and scooted it from the left… ah ha! Gabrielle was right! The mirror opened. I stepped through to the other side. Uncle Raoul's old pants and loose undershirt fit me well. I was hunting for a ghost! I wasn't about to go in one mf my dresses. His old boots fit me perfectly too. The shirt moved as I turned to shut the mirror. The shirt was tucked in at my waist and was loose at the arm, but it was comfortable. I had washed my face of make-up beforehand. I hated the feeling of the cover up on my face. My face shone pale and by eyes appeared red and blotched, but I was content. The scar showed visibly and my dark curls hang around me as I walked.

The lights and torches led my way and the excitement in me grew. Someone had been her lately! I could feel it! The area pulsed with life, I just knew it! Someone was down here. My curiosity was turning to fear as I continued down. I had to be below ground level by now… how far would I have to go? A sense of forbidding haunted me like I shouldn't be there.

When I reached the lake however, I did not hesitate to pass it. I jumped in and swam as hard as I could. I ducked under the water and pushed myself forward. I could feel the curls come out of my hair. Curlers were put in my hair every night to keep the locks in. I had thick hair and I had some natural curl, mama just liked to enhance it.

The water was freezing! I hoped I wouldn't have to go far. I know it had to end at some point and propelled myself forward as hard as I could. I didn't have to wait too much longer. I saw a gate and a curtain. I took a deep breath and swam under them as hard as I could. I surfaced after I went under them, and I saw the most incredible place.

Candles were everywhere! Red and black cushions and things were everywhere! Gold glistened in the candlelight and the most beautiful drawings I had ever seen were off to the far side. I didn't look at them though because my eyes were drawn to the most gorgeous organ I had ever seen.

This place was like a dream, a hidden and forbidden place. A swan bed with red sheets was off to my right and a black curtain was hung above it. How could this all be here? Did someone live here? Someone had to. I had found it! I had found the Phantoms lair.

I was happy, yet I felt like I should be running in the other direction. I tried to fight the urge to touch the organ… it didn't work. I ran my fingers over the grand design.

"Who are you and why do you disturb me in my home?" I heard thundered around me. I jumped startled and fell to the ground shacking at the booming voice and cuddled into a little ball on the ground shacking and whimpering. But I doubt that could save me. …..

Erik's Point Of View

I watched her enter my domain. I watched her look around, and I saw her want to play the organ resting near the back of my home. This girl was an intruder! How did she get down here? What right does this child have to come in here like this?

"Who are you and why do you disturb me in my home?" I bellowed my anger flaring. The girl screamed and fell to the floor in a heap whimpering, her breathing trembling and her body shacking at my wrath.

"P-P-Pa-please! D-Don't ki-kill mmm-m-e!" she begged her voice quivering. I wanted to laugh at her innocence. She was like a pathetic puppy.

"You have not answered my question child! Answer me!" I boomed into the emptiness. She curled up tighter into herself, her dark hair falling around her as her body kept shaking. Had she swam across the lake? She was drenched! I couldn't believe this girls persistence! This child was unbelievable!

"I-I se-se-seek…" she stuttered.

"You swim across a freezing cold lake and do not falter yet you hear a voice and you drop into darkness and loose your capability to speak? No! ANSWER THE QUESTION!" I bellowed at the terrified girl.

"ISeekThePhantomOfTheOpera!" she screamed in a terrified voice at incredible speed. She started to sit up, her fear dieing. She didn't know where my voice was coming from. She looked around herself aimlessly. "Some call him the angel of Music…. Some the Opera Ghost…"

I wanted to kill her for her stupidity and curiosity. How dare she bring up these memories? How DARE she come here to my home and trespass on my property and say such things to me! How dare she? I wanted to kill her… somehow let this stupid girl know what my life had been like. No… if she wanted the Phantom… she would get a Phantom. I walked out of the shadows to her; I slipped on my mask as I did so.

"Why do you seek him? To make his life more horrible than it already was? A dare maybe from one of the ballet rats? Your own stupidity…?" she turned and faced me.

"You are not a ghost sir." She said timidly.

"What makes you assume I am the ghost you seek?" she shrugged at me and I turned away from her, my Persian robe tailing behind me.

"I just know…." she said in a small voice. I turned back to her. This girl was different. There was just something different about her and I couldn't put my finger on it. I watched her for a long time and she never moved. She just sat there. The candlelight flickered over her back. I saw for the first time she was dressed like a man. Boy's shirt, boy's pants and boy's boots. Her long black hair was moved to one side over her shoulder.

"Stand up in the light." I said gruffly. "I want to see you properly." She stood up and faced me, her face in the light of the candles. Her face was pale, and the area around her eyes was red. She had a nasty scar on the right side of her face on the curves of the side of her face.

"Stop looking at my scar…. I don't like it." I laughed. This pathetic child… if she only knew.

"You have problems with THAT? How would you like to have this?" I ripped off my mask to show her the beast that I was. I expected her to scream, run something. She did nothing. I NEVER willingly showed someone my face, only when I was forced, which has happened one more than one occasion. Now this child is just looking at me like a normal person would! She had some nerve, oh she had some nerve!

"WELL!" I bellowed. "Look at me! You have no idea what I suffered! You've found the Phantom of the Opera! Feast your eyes upon the hideousness!" she crossed her arms over her chest and bent her head sideways.

"I see a man… nothing more. I see no Phantom, I see no ghost. I came to find out who my father is, and instead I found a mad man." She turned to walk away from me, and I quickly replaced my mask over my face. With her hand on her hips she began to walk away.

"I will not deny that I am mad…"

"You're a genius as well. A musical genius and inventor and composer. A magician…"

"Who told you that?" I asked as she turned at face me again, her hands still on her curved hips. The light cast a shadow over her that made her look more imposing than I felt comfortable with.

"Meg Giry's daughter. My friend. I believe her." I stared at her for several long moments. Her face never changed.

"Why would I know who your father is?" I asked. I was getting annoyed. I like this girl. I hadn't killed her yet and I was having a normal conversation with her! I felt like I should kill her, like I had done before. But, I had told my Christine I was a changed man, and I would stick to it no matter what. I was out of character… and I didn't like it. I was talking; I wasn't hurting her or harming her. I thought she was a good girl… and that made me even more furious than ever. "How should I know?" I screamed at her.

"I thought you might know…"

"You thought wrong you stupid girl!" I spat at her.

"There is no need to call me stupid when I am the one who can control their emotions…" I ran to her and shook her by the shoulders.

"You will leave now and if you ever tell anyone what you have seen I will kill you."

"Chrisitne Daae would never allow that." I grew pale and my breath grew fast at the mention of the name. I wanted to throw her aside till she slammed into the floor.

"WHAT DOES CHRISITNE DAAE HAVE TO DO WITH THIS!" I bellowed at her. This child was beyond my boiling point; she was beyond my tolerance level.

"She's my mother…" I froze. No. She couldn't be! Christine's child? THIS was her girl? I never knew Christine had a child. I never knew she was pregnant with the fop's child. Now this girl was the last evidence and proof that I needed to know that Christine had never even come close to loving me.

"Get out of here… now. GET OIUT OF HERE! NOW!" she ran away from me and jumped into the lake and never looked back. I'm glad she didn't. I never wanted to see her face. That face that was part of Christine and part the Opera Patron.

I regret going to see Christine earlier today. I can't believe I had had seen her today, I had sang my want for forgiveness to her. Now it felt like I had been singing to a different person. A completely different Christine.

I can't believe what just happened, I can't believe who I just met. I don't want to believe who that girl was. I want to die.

I just wanted to die…