Sorry for the long wait. Working with deafblind people is not always easy, but it's fun. Especially when you get new ideas for writing there. Always a great thing. I also don't know how I came up with the topic in this chapter but it could be that I'm getting old. Anyway, enjoy reading more.
Greetings Petit Erik
22.1.2022
Demolition day. Today the whole Christmas decoration was dismantled again. Despite the agreement that they did not want to do it so early and also wanted to sleep in, Kari was already 7:00 awake. He stretched with pleasure and let his hands slide to his head. Instantly he sat bolt upright in his bed. He felt his head and his few hair. Somehow they felt different. Although he hated it more than anything, he jumped out of bed and ran to a mirror. Then he saw himself and let out a gasp.
The hair he still had was all tied up in a braided pigtail and fastened with a pink bow. Not a single hair dared to get out of line. He was on the verge of fainting, partly because of his hairstyle and the other part because he had been looking at himself in a mirror when he heard from above: "Holy Mary Mother of God!" Immediately Kari ran to the second floor and yanked open the door to Gerry's room, from whose room the exclamation had come.
Inside, he also stood in front of a mirror and looked at his hair. Like Kari, he also had a braided pigtail, but his was secured with a red bow.
"What, you too?", Kari asked him.
"Yeah," Gerry replied, "I just hope we're not the only ones. Otherwise we really do look like total dorks."
"I totally agree," Kari replied, "but look. You make it look better than I do."
Gerry looked closely at the West End phantom. Well, he had more hair than Kari but it still didn't look bad on him. "I think we both look okay," Gerry said.
Kari grinned and replied: "Let's hope someone can top it."
At that moment, a scream echoed from the basement up to the third floor. The other two phantoms looked at each other in panic and ran down. On the way down, all the other room doors were opened and the rest of the opera ghosts, with Jenny in tow, also ran down the stairs at a storming pace. Downstairs, the others had also come out of their rooms and looked more than confused. From Derik's room came the scream, which was rather unusual, since he was very quiet after all. His door was opened quietly and the others gasped softly and soon burst out laughing.
Derik also stood in front of a mirror and looked at his hair. Only they were braided far more complex than those of Kari and Gerry, who only grinned at each other. They had been right, one could still top it. And while the others smirked or laughed slightly at their hairstyles, Derik's almost made them curl with laughter. But he also looked more than funny.
His curls had all been braided into small pigtails and tied together with hair ties, which were then united into one big braid, which was also braided and fastened with a yellow bow. And to complete his look, he wore a Viking helmet. Unfortunately, this was also tied tightly, so that he could not take it off at all. When he then gave everyone a pleading look, Jenny then went to him with a grin and took off the helmet. He relaxed his head with a loud crack of his neck.
"So, after this ordeal, I'm hungry," he said.
"Are you sure?" asked Jenny, "it's still pretty early and I honestly don't feel like it yet and I'm not hungry either."
"Okay fine, a little later. It's not that bad now. I'm still hanging in there," Derik said with a smile. Jenny smiled and together they all went back to their rooms. Jenny went back to sleep with the biggest grin you had ever seen on her face.
What no one knew was that she was behind the whole thing. But not just her alone. Crawford and Erik were also involved. She had reached them through her secret passage behind her linen closet. And because the heads of the basement, second and third floors, which were Erik, Crawford and Jenny, regularly met with each other, there was a secret passage behind the wall of their closets into each other's rooms.
So in one of their "meetings" Jenny had explained to the two of them the plan which she had implemented that night. It was decided that Crawford would help her carry the bows, which were in a basket, to the first and second floors. Erik would then be responsible for the basement. So in the middle of the night, after she was sure everyone was asleep, she snuck down the secret passage behind her closet to Crawford's room. She gave his closet a quick knock and it was opened by him so she could step out.
"So, ready for our undercover mission?" she asked mischievously.
"Sure thing," Crawford replied with an equally insidious grin on his misshapen lips, "where do we start?"
Jenny pondered: "Hmm. I'd start with Gerry, so we can work our way down."
"All right," he replied.
So the two of them went back upstairs together, through Jenny's closet, and then headed for their first victim's room. Jenny gestured Crawford to be quiet and with absolutely no noise at all, she opened the door.
Gerry lay comfortably in his bed, sound asleep. Jenny crept up to him and motioned Crawford to follow her. The latter quietly walked behind her like a phantom. Gerry was fortunately lying on his right side for the two of them, which would not be a problem thus to get to all his hair. Normally she hated it when the boys slept on her right side, because with the musical phantoms and Gerry it was the side with their disfigurement. And Jenny didn't like it at all when they hid them, whether awake or asleep. For today, however, she would make an exception, even if her understanding of it was already hanging by a thread again.
Quickly, she hurried off with Crawford. She quietly stood behind Gerry, first lightly combed through his hair with a comb, and then braided it into a nice braid. Then Crawford handed her a bow.
"Red," she whispered, "good choice. Like his roses for Emmy."
She received a friendly smile. When the bow was fastened and everything was checked, they walked back out of the room as quietly as they had come in.
When they were back in Jenny's room, they breathed a sigh of relief.
"Whew, that was hard," she said.
Crawford replied: "Indeed. But it was worth it. I certainly enjoyed it."
"Me, too."
Before they went downstairs, Jenny rummaged under her bed and pulled out a Viking helmet. Crawford raised the spot where his eyebrow was originally supposed to be.
"What's that?"
"Oh that?" asked Jenny, "that's from one of my brother's old Mardi Gras costumes. I'd take that for Derik because of his curls."
She grinned mischievously. She was also answered with a grin and together they went downstairs.
They crept through Crawford's closet and then down the hall to Kari's room. They cautiously opened the door and saw Kari also fast asleep in his bed. He, too, was lying on his right side. Jenny gritted her teeth softly so as not to wake him. Crawford put his hand on her shoulder and asked what was wrong. She explained to him in a soft whisper so as not to wake Kari. It would be hell if he woke up and saw what they were going to do to him. But fortunately, even after Crawford answered Jenny, he continued to sleep peacefully.
After they spoke, they went to work on Kari. Jenny also carefully combed back his hair, of which there was significantly less than Gerry's but that was not a problem. As she carefully finished the braid, a pink bow was held out to her. Surprised, she looked up at Crawford, but he just grinned. So she took the bow, carefully tied it into Kari's sparsely braided hair, and then left the room again in tow with Crawford.
Then they walked back down the hallway. She climbed back through the closet again, wished Crawford a good night, who wished her the same with a wink, and then headed down through the closet to the basement. When she arrived at her destination, she knocked softly. Immediately Erik opened the door for her, grinning broadly. She was a little surprised because he was in such a good mood, but didn't mind.
"Hello," he said quietly but still full of excitement, "I've never been allowed to do anything like this before. Thank you for giving me back a part of my childhood through this." And with that, he hugged Jenny, who returned the embrace. She felt him trembling against her body and hugged him tighter.
When Erik had calmed down again, he detached himself from her, wiped the tears from his cheeks and took the bowl with the bows from Jenny. Jenny handed him the Viking helmet.
"What's that for?" whispered Erik softly.
"For our final victim," she said conspiratorially.
Erik nodded playfully serious and together they set course for Derik's room. After they went in, Jenny quietly told Erik to look carefully in the box for hair ties. This he did immediately. So while Derik was making little braided pigtails, Jenny asked Erik for a tie each time. In the end, she tied them all together with a yellow bow and carefully put the helmet on him. This she also tied and together they left the room again. All the time they had a grin on their faces. When they were back in Erik's room, they laughed out loud.
"Did you see what he looked like?" asked Erik, wiping the tears from his eyes.
"Yeah," Jenny laughed, "I wonder what he'll say about that in the morning."
"I bet he'll be totally surprised. How did it go together with Crawford and the other two?"
"Just as well. Looking forward to tomorrow morning, too."
The two continued to laugh heartily and then went back to their room. Jenny went back upstairs through the closet and took the bows. She had quickly taken a picture when she was done with each one and sent them to Sierra. Let's see what she would say when she saw Kari in this new look. The three of them were quite proud of what they had accomplished and that success was seen the next morning.
So at breakfast this whole story was told by Crawford, Jenny and Erik. Derik had taken off his helmet but the braids were still there. He had admitted it to himself that they actually looked quite cute, and even Gerry and Kari came to that conclusion. When breakfast was over, everyone set about putting away the Christmas decorations. Together they all worked around the house. One part of the boys distributed themselves downstairs and the rest upstairs, where finally everything was brought to Jenny, who was in the attic. She stowed everything away again, including Derik's helmet, and then came back downstairs.
Then they all sat together in the living room and chatted a bit. The three "special ones" sat together inspecting their hairstyles, sharing who looked better and making comments. Jenny grabbed her smartphone, took a picture and sent it to Sierra with the caption: "Same Style." From Sierra came a laughing emoji with a thumbs up in response. Jenny sent a thumbs back, put her smartphone back and went back to talking to everyone. The two LND phantoms, Murphy and Lewis, were chatting about what to get their ladies for Valentine's Day. On the other side, Panaro was talking animatedly with Jenny. She had seen his grin once during the music of the night and she absolutely loved it. Especially because he looked totally good with it and it absolutely suited him.
"You can get any woman with that", she said, "that's why I'm not surprised you got Trista."
"Well, it took a while but it worked out in the end," he said, giving her that very grin.
Jenny practically melted in her chair, turning bright red and hiding under her snuggle blanket she had wrapped herself in. Panaro chuckled softly and looked absolutely pleased with himself. On the other side, Kerik was talking to Lerik. Whereas, Kerik was talking and Lerik was doodling on his tablet but still the two were having a conversation.
Somewhere else, Wilkinson, Warlow and Jones were talking together while Mauer played the organ and Erik accompanied him on his violin. Crawford stood with them, humming lightly, so overall there was a nice, relaxed atmosphere. Jenny had crawled out from under her covers again and was relaxing reading one of her favorite books; Harry Potter. Since she was about 7 years old, she loved everything about it and had become a real freak.
The first time she used that word, the others looked at her in shock and explicitly told her that she wasn't one. They were, they said, and they all pointed out her disfigurements. But Jenny had explained the meaning of the word to them at the time and they had understood, but were still not enthusiastic about the term. So she decided to say the word junkie instead.
So they all spent this relaxed get-together in the living room. There were exchanges about grins, Valentine's Day gifts, hair and much more. Still, everyone missed the Christmas decorations because they had gotten used to them. "At the end of this year again," said Jenny. Although some grumbling came, but they saw that they had to wait until the end of the year. So they decided to pass the time differently. With their Christines, the children, Jenny and above all, lots of love.
