Hey everyone, I'm back from a fun day at knobels I got to ride roller coasters and eat pizza like crazy. I was surprised when I went into a souvenir store and saw Phantom of the Opera music boxes. I wanted to get the Phantom's monkey music box that played masquerade but that was 100.00 dollars. I would have bought it but I have to save my money for six flags fright fest so I bought a 30.00 dollar one instead that has the mask and music pieces thrown all over it. It's pretty cool and I'm going to make sure when I go next year I have the 100.00 dollars to buy that Persian monkey music box. Anyway, here's the next chapter as promised so R&R and enjoy.
The next morning Clorinda awoke and noticed that her mother and Erik were still asleep. She wasn't tired anymore so decided to get dressed and grab her Violin so that she could go to rehearsal. Her mother had placed her Violin over at Monsieur Kire's art table the last time she came back from practice. Erik had always told her to stay away from his things and up until now obeyed him in fear of his dreadful temper coming. She didn't want to wake her mother up so quietly snuck over to his art work and grabbed her violin away from the wall when all of a sudden the bow of the instrument caught hold of a pile of papers on his table and caused them to fall all over the floor. Clorinda quickly looked over at Monsieur Kire's bed chamber to notice that the sound of the papers scattering all over the floor hadn't caused either of them to stir in their sleep. Clorinda sighed and picked up the scattered sheets of music and placed them on the table once more before jumping into the gondola and floating away on the murky waters. Once she had gotten to the dock, Clorinda jumped out and walked through the halls of the opera house to get to the stage where Monsieur Ryer would be waiting. Before she got to the stage, Madam Giry stopped her.
"Clorinda, where are you off to in such a hurry?"
"To practice with Monsieur Ryer."
"How is Monsieur Kire? Is he alright?"
"He's very sick my mother says that he'll be ok once he gets his sleep."
"Ok, you run along and get to practice now."
Down in the lair, Christine awoke beside Erik and looked at him. He was lying there so pale and ill that all she wanted to do was stay beside him until he got well once more. As Christine moved to get up a cold hand gently grasped her arm. When Christine looked over at Erik she noticed that it was he who had stopped her.
"What's wrong Erik?"
He looked at her with his blue eyes for a second before he opened his mouth to answer her.
"Why are you leaving me?"
"I'm just getting up to check on Clorinda."
Once he let go of her, Christine walked out of the bed chamber and looked over to see that her bed was empty and her violin was gone.
"She must have gone to practice."
When she looked back over at Erik's bed chamber, she saw him struggling to get to his feet and immediately ran to his side to set him back in bed.
"What on earth are you doing?"
"I can't lie here anymore I have to get up."
"No, you're sick Erik you can't be getting to your feet."
"Sitting here doing nothing is just making me sick. At least let me go sit on the couch and work on my music until I grow tired."
"You're not going to give up without a fight are you?"
"Do I ever?"
Christine helped him over to the couch, and sat him down on it and then placed a pillow behind him so he would be comfortable.
"My legs are killing me."
"They are?"
"Yes, my knees hurt the worst I don't think I'll be running anywhere anytime soon."
"Nadir said that those policemen really put a beating on you."
"Christine could you go over to my table and hand me my stack of music pages."
Christine walked over to his table and picked up the pages of music and handed them to Erik who began to flip through them.
"Christine?"
"Yes Erik?"
"Has someone else been down here?"
"No, what do you mean?"
"Has anyone been screwing around my desk?"
"No, I don't even let Clorinda over there anymore."
"My musical pages are all out of order. I had every note in order and now they're all mixed up."
"Erik I swear to you that no one has been over there. Maybe a rat or something was over there."
Erik angrily looked up from his music with his face filled with such sarcasm.
"A Rat? You can't be serious. In all the years I've down here a rat has never touched my work."
"I'm just trying to help you out."
"Well you're not."
Christine thought a moment and then looked at Erik.
"I did go over there the other night to place Clorinda's violin against the wall."
Erik slammed his music down beside him and crossed his arms in anger.
"That child is nothing but a nuisance to me! She causes me more problems then she is worth Christine! I caught her once coloring with my pencils and once she even put a hole in my gondola, and now this."
"Erik, she is a child. She is our child you can't be like this to her."
"I can't stand it Christine!"
"Erik it's ok to be angry with out child but you surly can't hate her."
"This will take weeks to fix Christine do you understand that?"
Christine ignored him, and poured some more of his medicine on a spoon, and stuck it in his mouth.
"Christ that is so disgusting."
"Well it's going to make you feel better so suck up and swallow it."
At that moment, Madam Giry walked up to the couch.
"Erik, how are you feeling?"
"Things could be better."
Christine smiled, and sat down next to Erik.
"He's still very sick."
"I'm not sick, I'm mad at that retched girl."
"Oh Erik she takes right after you. I remember you when you were young and truth be told you were not an angel yourself."
"I had enough manners to stay out of other people's work."
"She's a child Erik and I wish you would start respecting that."
"Look Erik I came down here today to tell you that Monsieur Andre has been looking for you."
"and what have you told him?"
"I told him that you are ill and cannot attend any shows until you are well again."
"If all goes well I should be back at work within the next 5 years, 10 if my legs ever get back to their old selves."
Out in the grave yard…….
A tall man wearing an expensive suit and jacket walked through the graveyard with the grounds keeper at his side. The groundskeeper who was carrying a shovel looked back at the man following him and slammed the shovel into a pile of freshly laid dirt.
"Here it is."
"Are you sure?"
"Am I sure what?"
"Are you sure that this is where you through the dirt bag?"
"Certain."
"Then get digging, I'm not paying you for nothing."
The Grounds keeper then began to dig, as the man stood there watching.
"Faster Please I would prefer not to keep standing here all afternoon. This grave yard alone is enough to give me the creeps. You sir give me the creeps."
"Shut your bloody mouth, I'm nearly there."
"Already?"
"Yes we pile so many bodies in one hole that the more the bodies the shallower the hole."
The man looked down in the hole, and saw the grounds keeper brushing the dirt off of a body with a sack over his head.
"Is that him?"
"It's the last body we through in here a few days back."
"Take the sack off his head."
"Why?"
"Because I need to know, now do it!"
At that moment the grounds keeper took the sack off of the body's head to reveal Philippe as the body lying in the hole.
"Jesus Christ, that's not the Opera Ghost you dumb asses."
"You're mad, of course it's the opera ghost."
"No it's not."
"How do you know?"
"because Philippe has been missing for days you ass hole. You've all been out smarted that's why! The Opera ghost has gotten away and you've killed an innocent man that's what."
"Ok so you're telling me that this is the De Changy man that has been hanging around the Opera House?"
"Opera House?"
"Yes he has been hanging around there for months."
"Get him the hell out of that grave at once. He shall be given a regular funeral just like his brother."
"I can't do that! How do I even know that you're telling the truth? How do you know that this isn't the Opera Ghost?"
The man with blue eyes and short brown hair looked down upon the grounds keeper and pulled him close by his shirt.
"Because I am Colum De Changy, his brother now get him out of this hole so that I can give him a bloody funeral."
"That won't change what's happened to him."
"No, but it's a start."
"A start to what?"
"To finding the real murderers and if the opera house is where my brother was hanging then the Opera house is where I shall go."
"What do you care anyway?"
"Because no one messes with Colum De Changy that's why!"
More to come soon!