ERIK
I looked at the harsh, jagged scar on Danielle's stomach. This had been done to her over twelve years ago and it still looked puckered and pink, though the scar wasn't thick; it was as thin as one of her slender fingers. The overwhelming urge to pull her to me and promise to protect her almost overpowered me but the sight before me had frozen my bones. I tried to imagine this woman as a sweet, cherub faced little girl lying on the ground with her stomach cut open and her organs rearranged in the open cavity. The scar reached from the bottom of her breastbone to just above her navel before it split in two directions, ending at the before bumps made by her perfect hips. I wanted to scream, or both her and I who had faced the horrors of this earth. Where I was born with my face deformed she was perfect and this imperfection was forced on her.
"I spent months in the hospital, I still go there for weeks on end. It get's hard to keep up with school work but I don't want to stop going and be the kid who left before the tough got going so my teachers gave me a lot of leeway and extra help, tutors, make up assignments that can make up half my grade. I was lucky. After school work I studied languages, I can speak sign and Italian.
And then I learned to sing." Her voice floated down to me and broke me from my trance. I slowly laid my fingers along the scar on her stomach and traced it. Her muscles tensed at my touch but she did not pull away. I wanted to press a trail of kisses to the wounded flesh but refused to do so, relying on my better sense.
"Was it terribly hard?"
"Oh, no." Our voices overlapped a bit at the end; the sound rang like the silver bells of heaven, our voices together.
"Was it very painful?"
"Yes, yes." Her voice rang with sorrow, beautiful sorrow.
"Could you ever forgive him for what he did?"
"Not if he got to his knees and begged me!" Soft sobs escaped her as she stood in front of me and held her hands over her eyes.
"Danielle, Danielle." I pulled her to me and she rested her head delicately against my shoulder. "Danielle." I could feel the sorrow hanging around us in a dark cloud. "what could I do to help you?"
"Just hold me like this sometimes, big people make me feel safe." She kicked off her shoes and curled into a ball against my chest, in the odd clothes she wore it was easy. I felt myself flush when I felt she didn't have a corset on.
"What year were you born? What year was it when you left?" I made myself think of other things to try to distract myself from noticing how close we were. Should anyone be this close until marriage?
"I was born in nineteen ninety-five, my father tried to kill me four years later in two thousand and I first saw your story in two thousand four, when I was eight years old and it was twenty twelve when I came here." Some things didn't add up to what she said when she saw me on the 'big screen', whatever that was, with her mother but she said the had passed four years earlier.
"I thought your mother took you to see my story on the 'big screen' as you called it?" I tried not to prod at the wound that was her childhood.
"There was a nurse at the hospital I went to and she looked like my mother. I was still really... messed up from the whole experience that I regressed and thought she was my mother. I don't remember much of it but she taught me Italian, which I mastered after a year or so; time seemed to stand still there. I just remember waking up one morning and seeing her. I thought 'this isn't my mother, my mother is dead.' I'm pretty sure the doctors were worried that I'd do something drastic so they sent her to another hospital. I never saw her again. I was bored throughout the day so my brothers hired a singing teacher for me, it was kind of hard but I am now a master at singing on my back." She seemed proud of this odd talent.
"Why did you not learn an instrument?" Violins could be learned while sitting down, along with the cello, piano or any wind instrument.
"I'm pretty good at playing the flesh flute." I looked at her blankly. She looked like she was going to giggle. "Let that sink in for a minute." She tweaked my cheek.
DANIELLE
I watched Erik's face: confusion, hard thought and more confusion.
"I'd love to stay and play twenty questions with you but I need to go above, I have to get ready for Il Muto," I skipped off to the entrance to the tunnel that would lead me back.
"You never told me what you meant!" He stormed after me.
"What do you mean?" I inquired innocently. I really wanted to hear him say it; maybe then he'd understand the joke.
"What is a flesh flute?" He stopped then, finally having said it out loud he was beginning to understand. I grinned as his face turned a bright pink and his eyes went huge. I walked up to him swaying my hips and pressed myself against him, wrapping my arms around his neck. Erik had his hands suck out, not sure what to do with them.
"Do you want me to show you?" Erik turned impossibly pinker. He began to stutter out some response before I cut him off. "Why don't you show me how to play your," I flicked my eyes down and up his body before continuing, "mighty organ?" Erik went beet red. He tried to speak but his voice failed him. I couldn't hold in my laughter anymore and just about doubled over. "Don't worry Erik, I'm kidding, I'm kidding."
"That was not funny!" Erik tried to regain his composure, he looked ridiculous standing awkwardly and trying to straighten himself.
"Don't get your bloomers in a bunch, resist temptation." I held my hands up. "I know it's hard when I look this good but you must."
"Who'd be tempted by you?" He muttered darkly.
"Mankind." I walked over to the alcove to change my clothes into what I had to wear up there. I'd forgotten how easy it was to wear a bra. I slipped on my garters and stockings, dreading the corset all over again; though it didn't hurt like it used to. I walked out and said goodbye to Erik.
"Are you really going now?" He asked, I can't believe that he almost let me out of here in my future clothes.
"Yes, I am. Feel free to moon over your copious amounts of drawings of Christine." He turned away from me. "Erik, quit acting like a child and face me." I put my hand to my hip. He turned toward me, muttering something dark under his breath. I walked over to him and took his mask off, placing a kiss on the twisted skin. "I like you better without the mask." I turned and walked away, leaving Erik behind me.
I looked around the corners before coming out of the tunnel and walking across the stage to get ready for the play. "What'chu doin down there girl?" A gravely voice came from above. I looked up to see Joseph Buquet coming down the ropes for me. Yay.
"What's it to you Buquet?" This man constantly hit on the dancers, some were grimy enough to screw him and it had made him arrogant.
"Don't play games, I saw you coming out of that tunnel. You talking to the Phantom?" I clenched my fists.
"What are you talking about? There's no such thing as the Phantom of the Opera," I said. Was I going to be found out? If they kicked me out I'd have nowhere to go! "Get out of my way, I've got to get ready for the production tonight." I elbowed my way around him.
"No use trying to protect him sweetheart, I know you're lying and I'm going straight to them new managers, dumb as they are I'm sure they wouldn't mind sending a few gendarmes down there to check it out." He leaned in close to me, I refused to back away. "But if you do something for me I might forget to mention how I came by that knowledge." He grabbed at my body but I twisted away.
"Stay away from me you disgusting creep, I wouldn't go to bed with you if my life depended on it." I tossed my hair and turned around to leave.
"Come back here you little-"
"Danielle? Is that you?" Blaise ran across the stage to my rescue. "There you are! Minette needs you in your dressing room pronto! Come on!" He grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the stage and ran us to the dressing rooms and locked my door. "What was going on back there? I thought he was going to attack you!" We panted a bit from running so fast.
"He was trying to get me to go to bed with him." I shuddered.
"Gross." Blaise's face contorted into one of horror and his blue eyes flashed behind his dark hair, he brushed it out of his face, looking annoyed. "Dumb hair." He muttered.
"Here, let me do something." I took my hair tie and pulled back his bangs into a brain spout. "Better?" He looked in the mirror.
"I look ridiculous!" He whined.
"Yeah but no one can tell because you're wearing a hat all the time." I smiled smugly as he put his hat on again.
"No one better notice. Come on, I need to take you to someone," he said, pulling me from the room.
"I thought that was a lie." He was tugging me to the front staircase.
"Sort of. Minette didn't need you but our handsome vicomte was looking for you." Blaise teased me.
"God Blaise, it's not like that. We're only friends, that's it." What would happen if he spread it around that Raoul was trying to hit on me? What a mess that'd be for the story.
"That's no fun." He pouted; at least he wasn't going to tell anyone.
"The truth is often boring." But not in this world. I walked with Blaise to the stairs and saw Raoul waiting for me.
"Bye Danielle, see you later!" Blaise leaned in close. "I want to hear everything when you're done here."
"Alright, alright." He waved and was gone; I turned to Raoul and he smiled at me. "What's up Raoul?"
"I wanted to give you something." He reached into his pocket but I put my hand on his arm.
"Why? You don't need to give me anything." I didn't want him to try to win me over by giving me things; I'm going to die and he needs to be with Christine.
"I really want you to have this, I saw it and thought of you." He pulled out a velvet box and opened it in front of me. Inside was a silver chained pendant made of blue and white china shaped into a heart with silver metal around the edge.
"Raoul, it's gorgeous. Thank you." I let him put it on me and admired it around my neck. "How does it look?"
"Wonderful, I knew it would." He smiled again, thought a bit sadly. "I wanted to give it to you last night but I couldn't." He ran his hand through his hair. "I want us to stay friends, if it's not any trouble." He looked hopeful.
"Raoul, I treasure your friendship. C'mere." We hugged and I kissed him on the cheek. "I hope you like the show tonight." I went to my dressing room to get powdered and prim for the night's shows.
ERIK
I decided to make sure Danielle got upstairs alright, after what had just happened I wasn't sure that she was going to not have a breakdown. I looked in horror as I saw Danielle standing with the vicomte and smiling. I was about ready to kill Buquet after he tried to desecrate her, then the stagehand she was friends with saved her and brought her to him. The necklace he gave her was the mark of a lover, somehow it make me angrier than when Christine had stolen my mask. Maybe it was because Danielle accepted who I am and what I look like, my blood boiled when I saw her kiss his cheek like she had mine. As they parted ways I followed her to her dressing room before branching off to begin preparations for Il Muto. The managers had not heeded my warning and now they were going to suffer.
DANIELLE
I placed my hand over the heart necklace Raoul had given me. No doubt Erik was throwing a hissy fit right now but I had more important things to do than worry about Erik's tantrums now. Tonight was the opening of Il Muto. For some reason the managers decided the letter was full of bull crap and made Carlotta the lead. Seriously, what do they see in her? She's such a bitch and has no respect for others. So what if she's an okay singer? She still needs work on pronouncing her vowels.
"Danielle?" I turned to see Christine dressed as a boy standing in my doorway.
"Christine, why are you dressed like a boy? I thought you were going to be the lead." I tried to act surprised.
"Well, La Carlotta came back and now I have the silent part of the page-boy." She looked down, looking the physical embodiment of hurt and sadness.
"Those bastard ass'! How could they cast you as the page-boy?" I kicked the leg of a chair with one uncomfortable shoe.
"Why do you say that?" I stopped and turned to her, a lie coming easily to my lips.
"I wanted to be the page-boy!" Christine looked bewildered.
"Why would you want such a small part?"
"I thought I'd look cute in the costume. No I'm joking. Okay, not really but there are no small parts only small people." I recited my drama teacher's favorite quote from God knows where.
"It just seems ridiculous that you would want such a miniscule role instead of the relatively large one you have now." Christine shook her head.
"Less stress I guess. Good luck today Christine, I'm sure I'll work out eventually." I tried to sound encouraging but I was in a rush to finish fixing my powdered wig and get out there. Where the hell was my fan? I looked down at the purple dress I wore. Not too bad.
"Thank you, good luck to you as well Danielle." She walked out of the room and I soon followed her, after finding my fan under my notebook, which I usually kept hidden in my purse in a locked drawer but decided to take it out after finishing a song I had been working on in Italian; it wasn't a masterpiece like Erik made but I think Sweet Sopranomight be in a play I write, if I could write one for this song.
As I walked to the wings of the stage I again heard my name being called. "Danielle, there you are! I've been looking for you forever!" I turned to Blaise. "I thought I told you to find me when you were done talking to Vicomte Hunk?" He put his hands on his hips in mock anger.
"Don't be such a baby, nothing happened. He told me he wanted to be my friend and gave me this necklace." I pointed to the one around my throat. Blaise gasped, pressing his hands to his face and looking, strangely, like a young MaCaulay Culkin in Home Alone.
"He's totally into you!" Blaise swatted my arm. I swatted him right back.
"Watch the music note, had to get those drawn on specially. And he's not into me, we're friends." Blaise rolled his eyes; was it impossible for him to believe me?
"Fine, fine, but I'm going to keep my eye on you and this whole business." Someone called him from the rafters. ten minutes to curtain. "I'll see you after the show."
"See ya," I said. I had a show to do and the hour of Erik's demise grew closer and closer.
Hey everyone, hope you liked the chapter! Everyone belongs to themselves and all that. This chapter is dedicated to a reader of mine who gave me a the kick in the butt I needed to finish this chapter! Thanks Lea, this one's for you! ;) Review and add!