Chapter VII

Missing Things

I waited for a moment to see if the Phantom would come back for any reason, but he never did. I quickly changed into the white gown he had given me to wear. It smelled of rose petals. After I slipped it on and put my drenched clothes in a pile next to the bed, I quietly walked over to the desk from which he had pulled out the gown. I repeatedly looked over my shoulder, fearing that the Phantom would storm into the room and catch me prying through his things. I caressed the surface of the dresser from which he had taken the gown, and then proceeded to carefully pull open the top drawer. The drawer was heavy, but silent, which I was thankful for. As I pulled the drawer completely open, I couldn't help but gasp from shock. The drawers contained red rose petals and dozens of day gowns. Atop the gowns and rose petals sat a framed picture...of me. It was hand-drawn, but it was done so well that I would have thought it were a photograph at first glance. My thoughts were so muddled and confused that I didn't even bother to think why the Phantom would have posession of these things, especially all the drawings of me.

I decided that it was best not to look any farther. I didn't want to know what else the Phantom had that resembled an obsession with me. I quickly closed the drawer and then left the bedroom, hoping to never again encounter something like that again, and hoping that the Phantom wasn't planning some sick evil deed for me.

I saw the Phantom sitting at his organ, composing music, but not playing it. As if he could feel my presence, he turned to look at me. "Alas, shall we return?" the Phantom spoke as if words were fire. I numbly nodded as I walked over to the boat. The Phantom watched me as I clambered into the waiting boat. After I seated myself, the Phantom slowly stood from his organ and stepped in behind me.

I stood among Christopher, Milly, and Madison as Madame Lauralai worked her way around the room attempting to calm distressed girls. "You'd think we're all going to die," Christopher joked. Madison nudged him with her elbow.

"You didn't see it," Madison snapped.

"I don't think I need to now. All I've heard this morning was how sickening the dead man in the closet looked. I think I've got a pretty good idea how sliced up he was," Christopher retaliated.

"Sliced up? Is that what they're saying?" Madison sounded annoyed.

"Well, you know twitty girls, they really expand the stories to make them sound more gruesome than what they actually were." Christopher smiled in his taunting way. He ran a hand through his thick chestnut brown hair.

Christopher was a very handsome young man. At the age of nineteen, he had captured the hearts and lustful thoughts of many of the girls who worked at the Opera House. It's no surprise. Christopher had a nice, muscled physique due to all his hours of training for the ballet, and his dark green penetrating eyes were enough to steal away the imagination of any girl. He was a bit taller than most of the men, sized in at six feet and two inches. He was quite tall.

"Some twitty girls, most likely one named Vashti," I commented, spotting Vashti with her group of friends crying onto the shoulders of some of the chorus boys.

"Now that's someone who should've been found dead in the closet," Christopher smirked. He followed my gaze over to Vashti and her putrid friends, then looked back at me. He looked at me hard. His brow narrowed as he asked, "Are you okay, Rose?"

I snapped my complete attention on him. Oh no, I thought to myself. He knows. "What?" I questioned, knowing almost exactly what he was going to say...

"Your eyes look a bit...red...as if you were crying...you weren't crying were you?" he asked with a slight smile on his face. I tried to smile back.

"I'm a bit tired," I lied. Chris looked at me, as if reading my mind and saying, I know where you were.

To my blithe relief, Edward Milson's voice rang out over us, "Ladies and gentlemen! We have found there is nothing to worry about. The opera house has been searched and there is no sign of a remaining intruder. Chorus girls, you will be directed to a new dormitory where you may decide whether or not you will stay in that one or your old one after the closet has been taken care of. Rehearsals for the day have been cancelled and the performance has been delayed one day." I stood on my toes to see Milson and at the moment I saw him lean to the side where he whispered something seemingly malicious in Monsieur Vandyke's ear. "Until tomorrow, I ask that you all rest and please do not ponder on the happenings of today. There is nothing to worry about. Chorus girls, please remove your things from your old dormitory and place them in the directed dormitory. Thank you." Without another word, Milson turned on his heel and strode through the great oak doors of the ballroom and outside.

Voices began to rise in the air as frantic girls clambered after boys asking them to help them with their things. How pathetic. I was just turning to leave when Chris grabbed my left arm.

"If you're in trouble, Rose, please don't hesitate to seek help." Chris looked deep into my eyes as if pleading for me to tell him what had happened. I gently pulled my arm away from him and looked him in the face with a fake smile drawn across my face.

"There is no trouble, Chris," I scorned myself for decieving Chris, but really there was no trouble...I thought. "And if I ever find myself in trouble, you'd be one of the first I'd go to." I tried to give him a reassuring look, but Chris didn't return the smile. Instead he put a hand on my shoulder, looked me in the eye, then turned and walked up the ballroom stairs to the boys' dormitories.

Perfect, I thought to myself, Now that I've got a load of people fretting over me, how long will it take them to realize who I've been in touch with, and what will they do to me if they all think I'm in danger being around Aeron? Surely they wouldn't lock me up. They couldn't. I wouldn't let them...Aeron wouldn't let them...I let my mind wander in search of all the possiblities that could happen should anyone learn of my rehearsals with the Phantom.

Milly, Madison, and I all went up to our dormitory to move our things. Most of the things had already been removed, more than likely because some of the chorus boys chimed in to help so they would have more time to spend with some of the girls.

At first, when I looked around for my bed, I couldn't find it. But...I knew where my bed had always been, and the bed was there, but my things weren't. I hastily moved over to the empty bed in the corner of the room and frantically looked around for my things. Milly and Madison came up behind me. "What's the matter?" Madison asked.

"My things...they're not here..." I turned from the bed to look at her. I wasn't angry...I was mostly just confused.

"Well..." Milly suggested, "Perhaps someone accidentally took your things thinking they were another girls." I sighed with relief.

"That's it," I said, mostly to myself. "I'll go check the other room." Milly and Madison slowly nodded as they gravitated towards their beds to gather their things.

I walked hastily down the hall, turning left twice and right once. This dormitory was used for Carlotta's chorus girls years ago, but after the fire, it was completely destroyed. Rumor had it that the fire wasn't what got it. Some said that the Phantom went back and set each and every bed on fire, but left only one untorched. Apparently, that was the bed that belonged to Christine Daae years ago.

I stormed into the dormitory and looked around for my things. Almost all of the chorus girls were already in the room along with at least a dozen of the chorus boys. After scanning the room and not being able to spot my things, I asked in a bit of a tempered voice, "Has anyone seen my things? They're not in the old dormitory and I can't find them here." Everyone looked at me. Their faces looked a bit puzzled. I'm sure it was because they wouldn't ever expect me to speak out to them like that, but my temper got the better of me.

"Well, they're not in here," one of the girls, whose name was Valerie, said impatiently, raising an eyebrow at one of the boys, who smirked in return.

"We don't know where your things are, Rose," Marie said quietly, looking at me with calm bright blue eyes. I nodded at her with barely a smile on my face, then turned and walked out of the room and back into the old dormitory.

Milly and Madison were just leaving when I ran into them. "This is bizzare!" I whined. "I can't find my things anywhere and everyone says they haven't seen it!"

"Don't panic," Madison warned, "I bet Madame took them out or something...maybe they're inspecting your things."

"For what?" I snapped. "Inspecting?"

"Well...it was your blanket the body was wrapped in. Maybe they thought that whoever killed Isaiah might have done something with your things, so they're just checking them," Madison reassured me. I snorted, angry that someone had taken my things without even asking if it was okay.

Without another word Milly and Madison brushed passed me with their belongings and I watched them turn left, heading for the new dormitory.