Stand and Watch It Burn: Two Frightening Notes and One Ghastly Performance

Chaos.

If one were to try and describe complete and utter chaos, this would be it.

Scripts were left carelessly on the floor and in the seats, music stands toppled over as the orchestra students nearly jumped on the stage to be amidst all the commotion. There were both excited and fearful gasps, as well as skeptical sighs and hushed whispers. There were the occasional failed attempts by the directors Mr. Andre and Mr. Firmin to restore some sense of order: "Students, please! Back in your positions! Sit down! I will not stand for this...Jonathan, how did you get up there? Quiet!" But, as restless, hyper high school students tended to do when something out-of-the-norm happened, they paid no attention to anything resembling authority.

Christine watched this chaos unfold a little anxiously from stage left. It seemed the entire cast and the majority of the crew were all huddled near the back of the stage, while a few sensible students and faculty chose to keep their distance. Christine couldn't help but chew on her lip nervously as she watched the situation unfold. It seems Miss Carlotta Guidicelli had received a most curious letter.

"ENOUGH!" cried Mr. Andre, and although silence was immediately granted, a few people offstage snickered at the crack in his voice. "Ladies and gentlemen, please. We have one week left until the performance! Now, it's obvious a few students decided to play a childish joke, but when we find out who it is, we will deal with it accordingly. Until then, we will resume rehearsals!"

"Er...Mr. Andre?" Piped up one of the assistant stage managers, a small and rather sickly looking brunette. "Rehearsals ended six minutes ago..."

Mr. Andre 'hmphed!' and dismissed everyone, but a majority remained gathered on the stage around a seething Carlotta, who was reddened with embarrassment as many of the other seniors tried to flatter and comfort the diva.

"Oh, Carlotta, what did it say?"

"Did the Ghost threaten you?"

"It's only because she's the most talented one here! Someone is obviously jealous!"

"But then why would he be making her quit if she's so talented?"

"Shut up, Lucy, no one asked your opinion!"

"It was just a question, actually."

"Is it really from...you know...him?"

"Of course it is, Julie! Look at the paper type...and ink! And the word 'eradicate.' You think anyone at this school uses words like that?"

"That's the stupidest explanation I have ever heard, Cindy. It's probably a prank."

"Everyone, just leave the poor girl alone! She's obviously distraught! Carlotta, hun, you want me to rip it to pieces for you?"

"Oh, no! Don't do that! Not before I have a chance to make copies and have it framed!"

"Oh, keep your mouth shut, Liam!" One of Carlotta's chippies snapped at the red-head, who was clearly not bothering to hide his delight at the present situation.

"Carlotta, Carlotta, can we read it?" some of her friends asked practically in unison.

"Fine! Take it! I don't want the piece of trash!" Carlotta angrily tossed the folded piece of parchment into the palms of several students, who clutched at it and opened it with excitement. Carlotta folded her arms and huffed as some of her close friends rubbed her back sympathetically, but she shoved them off.

Miss Guidicelli:

It has come to my attention that your position in the lead is rather undeserved as your presence seems to have a negative impact on the production of "Madame Butterfly." Therefore, on behalf of the cast and crew, whom I can attest to having observed their own discontent at your rather insufficient vocal shrieking and whom I am sure are silently consenting at this very moment, amicably request that you eradicate yourself from this production. I assure you it will be an action most appreciated by your fellow cast members, as well as the audience who will not have to clean the blood out of their ears by the end of opening night.

PTO:

I do strongly urge you to adhere to my request. It would be a shame if some incident were to prevent the production from resuming due to foolish noncompliance.

Signed,

T.G

There was a bit of an ominous silence that followed the reading of the letter by one of the male cast members, who seemed to enjoy his own dramatic reading of it.

"Harsh..." muttered one of the male juniors, followed by many nods and echoes of agreement.

"Do you think it was just...a prank?" One of the girls asked, glancing up a bit fearfully.

"Maybe, but I don't think anyone at school is stupid enough to include threats," another answered.

"I don't care who it's from!" Carlotta screeched suddenly, causing most around her to jump. "When they find out whoever it is, freshman or ghost, my parents will get them kicked out of the school and sent to jail! I was born for this role! There is no way I'm going to drop out and let the glory go to some untalented freshman! Not because of one stupid note!"

"But didn't you hear?" Liam's stepped near the center, now waving the note around with his hand. "This wasn't the only note found. I saw Andre and Firmin whispering with the same kind of paper in their hands, with this same waxed skull." As if holding up evidence, Liam smacked the blood red skull-faced wax seal on Carlotta's letter.

"I don't care!" Carlotta stated, stubbornly though clearly perturbed at this bit of information. "It's obvious the directors aren't going to listen to this...vile person's demands...so neither will I! I'm sure I'll get another letter of apology once the audience gives me my standing ovation!" With this last declaration, Carlotta stormed off the stage and left the auditorium.

Some of the crew members backstage, including Christine, slowly crept out from the side of the stage to join the rest of the students. Christine's eyes flickered for a brief second to Liam, but he quickly looked away. She instantly felt a pang of guilt and regret that it had been several weeks and their friendship still seemed tainted and drifting.

"Well, folks," Liam cleared his throat and rubbed his hands together. "It doesn't look like Carlotta will be quitting anytime soon. I guess we'll all have to...watch our heads."

Some of the girls clutched their arms and looked up into the flies above them, fearfully. "Did you really have to say that, Liam?" one of them complained.

In small groups the students and adult members of the crew cleaned up a bit and departed from the auditorium. Christine and a few others, including Liam, were left alone as they picked up their belongings.

"All this is pretty strange, huh?" Christine was surprised when Liam approached her as she threw her bag over her shoulder.

"Uh...yeah, it is." Determined to make this a conversation that was not awkward for a change, she continued. "Do you think it was just a prank?"

Liam shook his head without a second thought. "Not a chance. I think there's something going on in this place, Chrissy...I'm not sure what."

Christine smiled softly, finding herself reveling at the sound of her friend's nick name for her, despite her usual hatred for it.

"Which is why...I have to ask..." he continued a bit hesitantly, and she stopped to look at him. "Did you really think you were dreaming that one time, Christine? I know the last time I brought this up I was sent the glare from Hell..." he gave a little half-hearted chuckle at her bashful apologetic smile. "But I've just been thinking about it lately."

Christine swallowed, unsure of what her answer should be. He wanted her to say yes, that she had heard the Ghost of the theatre talking to her, singing to her, teaching her. But she couldn't, could she? In fact, she hadn't even heard a ghost. It was her angel. And he wouldn't understand that. Liam believed in the supernatural, sure...He even believed in God. But Christine just didn't think that he'd ever believe that her father in heaven had finally sent her the angel he promised. But the look in her friend's eyes begged for honesty...

"I...didn't hear any ghosts, Liam."

A part of her heart broke at his quiet and sad nod as he looked away from her as if he could see she was lying and his own heart was broken because of it. He had always told her she was a horrible liar, but normally he would call her on it. Now he just seemed defeated. She watched as her friend walked away from her, shutting the doors behind him.


The next week of strenuous dress rehearsals brought no more notes from any mysterious ghosts, although both the directors, Carlotta, and many other cast members worked anxiously and nervously, as if expected some spectacular disaster. No one had known whether or not Liam had actually seen the two directors with notes similar to the one Carlotta had received, but their jumpy behavior was apparent.

Christine was thankful her disembodied music teacher had given her the week free of music lessons, due to the demanding rehearsal schedule and the upcoming show. However, she also hadn't spoken with him since before Carlotta had found her letter. She wasn't incredibly willing to believe the notes had actually been sent by her tutor. He had, on occasion, made several scathing remarks regarding Carlotta's lack of talent in relation to Christine's angelic voice. Thinking upon their lessons, she could recall a fairly threatening tone when he had mentioned Carlotta, but she had thought nothing of it until now. Could her angel really have something planned?

She was incredibly confused and shocked when she received her answer on Opening Night.

As Carlotta prepared her throat with one of her many expensive sprays, the audience and crew members were aghast as they erupted into hysterical laughter when deep croaks erupted from her mouth instead of any beautiful song.

The performance, after that, had been a disaster. A tear-faced Carlotta was replaced with the understudy, who was extremely unprepared and the actors did their best to adjust.

Nonetheless, the musical cast and crew of the prominent Willoughby Academy were humiliated. It was an event gossiped about well into the spring as students' rumors of the legendary Theatre Ghost ran rampant through the halls once again.

Christine continued her lessons, looking forward to each and every one of them, no matter how stressed out she was about school. Once, she had brought up the threatening letter to her mysterious teacher, but he simply stated that the diva's humiliation was well-deserved and bid Christine not to dwell on the event any longer. Her voice was evolving into something even she couldn't process, but she felt glorified by each lesson and with each praising from her angel. Her friendship with Liam was still waning, but it wasn't as awkward as it had been before Opening Night.

Everything seemed to be going fairly well in Christine's life. She was extremely excited about her upcoming eighteenth birthday, which was only about a month away. It was springtime, which means summer was approaching. Life, it seemed, was pretty perfect.

This, of course, made Christine extremely nervous, since she was used to everything spiraling downward when things seemed well.


"Have a good day at school, Christine?"

"It was great, Aunt Annette, thanks!" Christine dropped her bags down with a smile and retreated to her room.

Annette could have sworn she heard Christine humming a pleasant melody as she shut the door to her room, and she smiled. Shaking her head, she sipped her drink of coffee as she proceeded to open up today's mail. Her brow wrinkled curiously as she cut open a letter with no return address.

A moment later, her coffee mug dropped helplessly to the floor as she read the short contents of the letter.

One word. One simple word was written in the center of the folded paper. If it did not have her own name on it, she wouldn't have given it a second thought.

But she felt her heart turn cold as ice, her breathing turned shallow as her mind struggled to come to grips with what she held in her hand.

Annette,

Soon.


A/N:

A few things about this chapter. Firstly, I hated signing the letter "T.G" because "O.G" sounds so much cooler. But they aren't at an opera, so I couldn't use it. Also: Willoughby Academy? Totally and completely made up. It's fictionally located some place called Middletown, which I just got out of my head. I got the name 'Willoughby' from that Twilight Zone episode, by the way. You know, "Next stop: Willoughby!" Yeah...Just a weird FYI tidbit of what goes on in my head. It's a fairly scary place.

Lastly: I wasn't sure how I felt about using Carlotta's "toad" experience, but I figured it was enough to completely humiliate everyone. Heh. As always, I beg for reviews! Please?

la M.R