Hi! I just thought I should post this now.
It's short, though.
I promise there will be more really funny material soon.
Thanks to all of my reviewers!
Disclaimer: I take full credit for what me and my mind come up with – things such as characters, bits of exploding scenery, etc. – the rest I give due credit to Andrew Lloyd Webber, Gaston Leroux, and Susan Kay.
Round Three: Chains and Alter EgosWhen Gerry awoke he was surrounded by darkness.
Alarmed, he sat up abruptly and almost got knocked over when the floor shifted unsteadily underneath him.
Flinging his arms out, he encountered wooden sides of something to his left and right and he grabbed hold of them for dear life.
He could hear water lapping against something.
Somehow, he found that observation extremely unnerving.
As the swaying stopped he tried to look around to see where he was, but even with his superior night vision, he couldn't.
Suddenly, a voice surrounded him, booming and echoing across the room.
"I see that the little "imposter" has awakened."
Gerry, instantly recognizing the voice, tried to stand up.
"I would be careful, if I were you, messieur." the voice suggested companionably.
"You might go over the side too soon, and then where would we be?"
The voice laughed manically.
"Notice the shackles and weights wrapped around your legs?"
Gerry bent down and frantically patted at his ankles.
Cuffed and wrapped tightly around his legs were a set of chains with large metal weights attached to them.
"I see you have found them."
The voice sighed dramatically.
"A little something left over from the soldiers that once inhabited these cellars."
"Unfortunately, you can probably get those off almost as fast as I can,"
The voice moved over to the left.
"so those are most likely useless,"
Gerry, sensing that the voice was up to no good, hunkered down on the rough wood flooring.
The voice continued,
"I have left your lock picking equipment in your pocket, just to be fair."
Gerry could hear something moving through the water off to his left.
"This is probably too late to be saying this, but I hope you'll agree with me that I must test this theory of your lock picking skills rivaling my own."
"If you do not, well…"
Before Gerry could react he was dumped into the water, sinking underneath immediately due to the chains.
The voice exclaimed,
"then I have just attempted to kill a man!"
Gerry was struggling valiantly and within twenty seconds he had freed himself from the chains.
Bursting out of the water, he flailed around until he came across what he believed to be a boat.
The voice was behind him, quietly hissing to itself,
"He broke my record! That…little…""He is going to PAY for offending our preciousssssss ego."
"Yes he issss."
Gerry froze, halfway into the boat, as he heard the insane muttering.
"We seeessss that you have gotten back to the boat."
Halfway through that last hiss the voice had switched back to normal.
"A shame, really, I had hoped that you would drown."
"But I think both you and I will enjoy this much, much more."
With that the voice disappeared and Gerry was left in darkness.
He sat there for what seemed like hours, squinting out into the distance, trying to find even a hint of where the voice was coming from.
Then, with a hiss, a match flared to life a little ways in front of him.
The match was brought to a lamp, which flared to life and illuminated its holder.
There, standing in a black painted gondola in navy blue pants tucked into black Hessian boots, a ruffled cream shirt with a black vest covering it, a black velvet cape with blue lining tossed carelessly over one shoulder, and a wide brimmed hat with raven feather trim tilted rakishly to the side covering his eyes and half of a black velvet mask with navy swirls dancing across its surface was Erik.
He had the hand not holding onto the lamp placed on his hip and he was smirking sexily.
Mist from the lake was drifting across his form and spreading around the boat.
Gerry whimpered and said shakily,
"I could have sworn that I killed you."
Erik chuckled and replied,
"But you did. I am…"
He tilted his hat up, giving Gerry a full view of his glowing golden eyes.
"…only a ghost."
With that the candle was blown out.
WINNER: Heh, heh, heh.
LOSER: Who do you think?
