Disclaimer: I do not own the Phantom Manor, Walt Disney does. This fanfiction is dedicated to him and his great work.
Thankyou for your reviews, AW, and I still admire you work! Will the comics come out in England, cause that's were I am.
The character, Daisy the maid, is my own character. I've also given the Phantom Pianist an identity and a backstory, as well as other things in the attraction.
Chapter 3: Ghostly Goings-On
Zeke and Hilary, slightly shaken from their meet and greet with Ezra, entered a dark corridor. It was decorated with fine, but aged wallpaper, and what looked like an assortment of wedding decorations.
Zeke was in thought. His ancestor, Melanie, had been waiting in this old house for years, after The Phantom murdered her groom and hung him in the attic. But who was The Phantom?
The two walked passed a billowing curtain, as a window was open. But then, the silence was pierced by the beautiful melody of a singing woman. Then Zeke saw her standing in a curtained archway. There stood a young woman with long, flowing, red hair that was curled. She wore an old fashioned bridal gown. She smiled sweetly at the two mortals and her deep green eyes glistened. In her hand was a lighted candelabrum. It was Melanie Ravenswood, the lost bride. She bowed respectfully at Zeke and Hilary.
"It's her!" cried Zeke is astonishment, staring in awe at his ancestor.
"Who?" asked Hilary.
"Melanie, our ancestor," said Zeke and he bowed back at Melanie.
Melanie continued smiling and she suddenly disappeared into thin air. Zeke dashed to the spot where she had stood just a second ago.
"Where did she go?" he asked madly looking about.
"Hey dad, come look at this!" called Hilary from down the corridor.
Totally forgetting about Melanie, Zeke walked down the corridor, passing a dark sitting room and a dusty suit of armour, he found Hilary staring bewildered, into a doorway. He peered down the hallway beyond the door and discovered it was misty…and very, very long. In fact, the end was not visible, and the hallway seemed to stretch on forever. In the middle of the hallway floated a candelabrum, dancing in midair.
"This hallway is endless!" said Zeke, looking astonished.
"Let's hear it for Captain Obvious!" said Hilary sarcastically, then she looked down the corridor and went wide-eyed. "Dad, look!"
Zeke looked down the corridor, wondering what in the world his daughter was staring at. Then he saw, frozen in time, was Melanie. She held the candelabrum now, and appeared to be running from or to something. She seemed to fade in and out constantly, and then she disappeared for good.
"She looked like she was fleeing from something. The Phantom?" said Zeke.
"Or she might have been searching for her groom," said Hilary.
"Well, well. You could be my apprentice in my detective cases," said Zeke, making Hilary frown.
Then, without warning, the suit of armour abandoned its position and swung its sword. Zeke ducked, pulling Hilary with him. The knight took and step and was about to swing his axe again, when suddenly, a young girl, about 11 years of age appeared. She wore a maid's uniform and had blonde hair. She waved a feather duster in the knight's metallic face. A cloud of dust engulfed the knight's face and he started coughing loudly. The girl grabbed Zeke by the arm and pulled him and his daughter through a door and slammed it shut.
Zeke turned to the girl, panting heavily.
"Thankyou very much," he said. "If you hadn't appeared, then we would have been in pieces."
"My pleasure, sir," replied the maid. "I am Daisy."
"Nice to meet you. This is my daughter, Hilary and I am…" said Zeke, but was cut off when Daisy cried "I am honoured to meet you Captain Obvious!"
"Captain Obvious? I'm Zeke Ravenswood," said Zeke.
A faint tune of a piano unexpectedly filled the room. The three looked around for the source of the music. Hilary found it first. It appeared they were in a stately piano room, the back wall covered with a huge glass window, covered in dust and weeds which had crawled in through a crack in the glass. Amid the fading photographs hanging on the walls and a series of furniture, stood a large old piano, black as the night. A bunch of moldy flowers sat on top, as well as a photograph of Henry and Martha Ravenswood. An open music book sat on the piano, and the yellowed ivory keys were pressed down by an invisible pianist. An out-of-tune version of the Bridal March echoed across the room.
"Who is playing the piano?" asked Zeke.
"He is!" cried Hilary, looking stunned.
Zeke and Daisy followed Hilary's eyes and looked onto the shredded carpet. Bleeding across it was the shadow of a spectral pianist, the hands moving in unison with the piano keys.
"That's Jacques Schrillman," said Daisy.
"Who?" asked Zeke.
"Jacques Schrillman. He was a famous pianist born in Dakota. He moved down here to Thunder Mesa to be the local pianist, and eventually got to live in this manor. But during the night when he was playing the piano, two jealous music lovers attacked him and killed him on the spot!" explained Daisy.
"Why did they kill him?" asked Zeke.
"Who knows? Anyway, I suggest we move on. He doesn't like being interrupted," said Daisy.
Then, a black bird suddenly flew out of no where and perched on a music tuner. It was a raven, and a big one for that matter. It gazed at the three with glowing red eyes and it started squawking.
"Shoo! Be gone you fowl bird!" cried Daisy. The raven did not move, nor was it frightened by Daisy's screams. It just sat there and squawked continuously. Daisy then froze, her face going very pale.
"He's calling the Phantom!" cried Daisy.
"What?" asked Zeke in surprise.
"If the Phantom finds you here, he'll kill you!" sobbed Daisy. "Just like he did to me!"
"You mean you're a ghost?" said Hilary. Daisy frowned and nodded.
The raven suddenly took off and flew into Zeke's face. Zeke tried to scare the bird off, but he accidentally triggered a lever and he vanished through a trap door.
"Dad!" cried Hilary as he father disappeared.
"Don't worry about him, he'll be fine!" said Daisy and she grabbed Hilary by the arm and dragged through another door.
Suddenly, there was a loud crash and the knight burst in through the door and saw Hilary and Daisy disappear through the opposite. He angrily gave chase. As he ran out, the pianist stopped playing an annoyingly shook a fist at the knight, before starting to play again.
Zeke tumbled down a long tunnel, rolling over himself countless times, until he landed in a dark room. Wherever he was, he had no idea.
Hilary and Daisy dashed down a corridor, the knight gaining on them.
"Muhahahaha! There is no escape!" bellowed the knight, an axe in his hands.
"This place is horrible!" screamed Hilary as she and Daisy ran down a corridor, lined with doors that each were being banged on from the inside, as if poor guests at the manor were trapped within.
"I've lived in this place for years and it's grown on me!" replied Daisy, eyeing a pair of skeletal hands that were visible over the top of one door.
"It won't grow on me, if I die here!" said Hilary, as the two passed by a demonic-looking grandfather clock, a large 13 imprinted on the clock face and the minute hand spinning wildly backwards.
Then Daisy stopped and realised that there was no way out.
"We're trapped! Way to go Daisy!" said Hilary.
The knight started walking towards them, laughing evilly. The raven appeared and perched on top of the clock, which forever tolled midnight.
"I will make quick work of you, so my master does not!" laughed the knight, and was about to bring his axe down on the two girls, when Daisy grabbed Hilary and the two disappeared in midair. The knight looked about in shock and the raven flew up to the spot where the two girls had stood a second ago.
"Where are they?" shouted a sudden cold voice.
"They disappeared, master!" replied the knight.
"Well, find them! Otherwise, I shall destroy you!" replied the voice.
"Yes master," said the knight and he dashed back down the corridor. The raven took off and flew out of an open window.
"Hmmm… my descendant is more of a troublemaker than I thought," said the voice. "I will have to keep an eye on him."
Character Cards
Daisy: A young maid who is trapped in the Phantom Manor. She is only 11, but is very brave and good at making jokes. She seems to think Zeke is called Captain Obvious. Will she be of any help to Zeke and Hilary?
Jacques Schrillman, The Phantom Pianist: A famous pianist born in Dakota. He became the manor's music player and was very good at playing the Bridal March. But one night, he was murdered by two rival music lovers. His shadow now plays the piano for all eternity, until the manor is freed from the Phantom.