Disclaimer: Please see previous chapter.
A/N: This was originally part of chapter five, but I decided to shorten it. I hope you like it. REVIEW! I beg of you!
Chapter 6: The Upstairs
My curiosity over the upstairs of the house was slowly coming to a head, though. I repressed it, but it wouldn't go away. On a Saturday evening, at the beginning of my third week there, it reared its ugly head. Louise had gone away for the evening to visit her brother who was in town on business. I finished up the list of chores she had given me and was quite bored. I sat down in the parlor and daydreamed (my favorite pastime). Suddenly, music floated down from the upstairs. I felt it draw me toward it. I couldn't resist. I stood up and walked to the stairs and crept up them. Louise wasn't there to stop me this time.
There was a long hall at the top; it split left and right. Each side had three doors on the side of the stairs. The other wall was empty. I listened to determine which door the music was coming from. It was the second door to the right. I walked over to it and found it slightly ajar. I opened it farther, making sure it didn't creak. The room I saw was like the parlor downstairs. There was a couch against one wall with some high backed chairs against another wall and the floor was wooden. The main difference between the two was the piano in between two windows straight across from the door. A man in a white shirt and black pants was playing the piano.
Oh, the music was so beautiful. I stood there, like the little peeping tom that I was, listening and enjoying it. Until, I realized I knew the song. Words unbidden came flooding through my head. The Music of the Night. Phantom of the Opera. I looked again at the man. I saw a gleam of white against the right side of his face. A mask!
I could barely contain my scream, though whether it was of delight or fright, I'm still not sure. Probably a mixture of both. All I knew was that he must not know I was there or had been there. Turning, I ran down the stairs as silently as I could and raced into my room. I shut the door and stood there, trying to breathe. The music had stopped. I was trying to overcome my amazement and fright.
The Phantom of the Opera had rescued me. I was in the house of the Phantom! All my dreams had come true. It was amazing. Then it dawned on me. The Phantom had never actually existed in my world. He was a made up character. This meant that not only was I in a different time period, but probably another dimension. Was that even possible? I didn't know. Apparently it was.
I undressed and went to bed. Not because it was late or anything, but because I thought I could think better lying down. I also wanted to escape the thoughts of what had just happened. The thoughts of meeting the Phantom turned around inside my head. That must have been why he never showed himself. He was shy due to the mask and his disfigurement. I could understand that. I drifted off to sleep. My last thought was that he hadn't come down to reprimand me for going upstairs but he had stopped playing. I wondered if that meant he had heard me.
Needless to say, I thought I had gotten away with my little expedition up the stairs. That is until Louise woke me up early the next morning
"Get dressed into your nicest dress." She commanded. "Master desires an audience with you." An audience? That couldn't have meant anything good. Or so I thought.