Hey, back!
Another Freakish Fan-yay! I'm again glad you liked. By "a LOT" I'm guessing you really liked it, which totally makes my day, believe me! And, about the dying thing, well, I can't tell you that one. You will just have to find out…
SteakMeSpike04-offense, never. Boy, do you like abbreviations! Well, "WYWSHA" as you so fondly put (lol) is one of my favorite songs as well. Besides The Point of No Return of course, but that one aside. I can't wait to do both!
Robin and Star Fan-heehee, thanks. I will try to update faster than I have been lately. Normally it's been taking me FOREVER to get chapters done!
EmeraldShine-thank you so much! I want that book! I just don't know where to find it! But yeah, since I only saw the movie once I've been DYING to see it again, meaning I want to buy it on DVD. But, luckily, I found out that it comes out on DVD on May 3! Even though it is kinda far away, its not that bad!
Grace-well, thank you! It is weird that stuff like that happens to people. Although my life almost completely revolves around cruel irony, I still manage to take super slow in updating chapters, so bear with me!
TitansFan-why, why, WHY? Why on earth do THEY get to sing those! All we get is stupid patriotic songs, (which I have nothing against my country in any way, mind you) but they are just sometimes not as interesting as songs from musicals (although we DID get to sing "I'm a Believer," but that's not from a musical).
Laurashrub-you must tell me NOW! WHERE WAS THAT MISSPELLED WORD! I must find it! And I have tried! But I still can't find it! Sorry, I tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to some things, this being one of them (obviously). But yeah, glad you liked. And I hope this one is as good! And, also, I absolutely LOVE that "And what is it that we meant to have wrote—written…" line. It makes me laugh every time I hear it!
StarfireFowl-thank you! And lets remember that some of the ballerinas may be a little on the stupid side, along with the fact that they had WAY too many cups of punch. But, still, hope you like this one!
Jaina 12-you got to see it in New York? So not fair! I usually see all my "Broadway Plays" at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis. That place is soooooo pretty!
Victor twitched his eye nervously as his mind slowly shredded away with Gar's pestering paces around the flyer-filled hallways. Gar's footsteps were in exact sync with one another, trotting round and round in circles. Victor was in vain trying to read the newspaper to find anything about the show the previous night. Gar's footsteps were becoming quicker, and it was driving Victor insane.
"Could you…?" Victor impatiently looked at his friend.
"Sorry," the clown of the junior class sighed, almost as if out of breath from his anticipation, and his pacing, "it's just, kinda nerve-racking."
"I hear ya…" Victor looked glumly back to the newspaper, hoping to find good news, "I really do…"
They were both nervous, of course. Kori hadn't gone home that night, and everyone was looking for her. Their lead diva acquitted, and their replacement missing, the first thought in their minds was that they would have to stop the theatre productions. Both truly enjoyed theatre, watching, not performing, but both were mostly concerned with the money issue. Although raised for the school, they would get credit for all they accomplished. Not ones to be cocky, the boys still liked attention. Now they were even more concerned, for if they closed the theatre they would lose the true joy they experienced when working with music. Neither would ever admit it, though.
Gar stopped pacing again and stared at the wall. He stood there for a few seconds, pondering his own thoughts.
"HA!" Victor said in almost triumph, "I finally found something!"
Gar then perked up his unusually pointy ears to the jock, trying to lean over his buff shoulder to see what was being read. Victor read aloud.
"'Mystery,
After gala night',
It says 'Mystery
Of soprano's flight!'
'Mystified,'
Baffled writers say,
'We are mystified,
We suspect foul play!'"
Victor threw down the paper and rolled his eyes. This was certainly not what he wanted to hear. Especially in the papers. He turned back to Gar and stood up.
"Bad news on soprano fee,
First Kiona now Kori.
Still, at least the seats get sold,
Gossip's worth its weight in gold…"
Victor then walked towards Gar and they both headed down the hallway towards the auditorium. The spot being half way across the campus, they made a few stops on their way. Gar walked a bit quicker than Victor did, and he listened to Gar as he spoke up.
"What a way to run a business!
Spare me these unending trials!
Half your cast disappears,
But the crowd still cheers!
Opera!
To hell with Gluck and Handel,
It's a scandal
That'll pack 'em in the aisles!"
The two boys arrived at an empty hallway full of lockers. Victor's locker being on one side and Gar's being on the other, the two went to the opposite sides of the hall, still within speaking range. Victor slammed his locker open, with a few books falling out. He rammed his fist into the nearby locker.
"Damnable!
Will they all walk out?
This is damnable!"
"Victor, please don't shout."
"It's publicity!
And the take is vast!
Free publicity!"
Gar looked helplessly at his angered friend as he opened his own locker.
"But we have no cast…"
Victor suddenly calmed down at this. He took a quick glance at the floor and found something that had fallen out of his locker. A letter.
"But, Gar,
have you seen the queue?"
He saw Gar pull out a letter from his own locker as well.
"Oh, it seems you've got one, too…"
"But…Gar stuttered vaguely, "I just fixed my lock last week. No one has ever been able to get in my locker before." He looked on, stupefied, at his open locker. He checked all sides, searching for a picked entry. None. He looked over to Vic, hoping for an answer in return.
"Hey…" Vic stared wide-eyed at his friend, "Same here! No one has ever gotten into my locker either! And look…" he pointed to Gar's letter, "they both have the same symbol on the front."
They both looked at the ghastly symbol. A blood-red skull. It was in the exact spot on both letters. Gar looked worriedly at Victor.
"What if…they're from the same person."
"Open yours first." Victor said quickly.
"Say what? No way, man…you go first…"
"Naw, man, you…"
"NO freaking way! I'm not going first!"
"Fine then!" Victor threw up his hands, "I'll go first, if you're SO concerned!"
Victor took the faded envelope in his hands. He felt his skin shake as he carefully opened the flap, and took out the neatly written letter. It was strange, he thought, that it was written in red ink, which bled almost right through the paper. He read aloud in a shakier voice than he expected.
"Dear Victor,
What a charming gala!
Kori enjoyed a great success!
We were hardly bereft
When Kiona left.
Otherwise,
The chorus was entrancing,
But the dancing
Was a lamentable mess!"
Gar took his out as well, not as afraid, now that Victor had already broken the ice. He read his aloud after Victor.
"Dear Garfield,
Just a brief reminder;
My salary has not been paid.
Send it care of the ghost,
By return of post,
PTO;
No one likes a debtor,
So it's better
If my orders are obeyed!"
They looked at eachother strangely, each wondering the same. They continued to make their way to the auditorium, and they said together,
"Who would have the gall
To send this?
Someone with a puerile brain!"
Victor took both of the letters and examined them closely.
"These are both signed "OG"…"
Gar almost snatched the letter back into his hand, to check for himself.
"Who the hell is he?"
In a flash of an instant, the two teens shot their heads in unison towards the back wall behind them, to find nothing there. They nervously recognized in unison what it meant.
"Opera Ghost!"
Gar turned back around and made his way in the original direction, now getting impatient.
"It's really not amusing!"
Vic nodded his head, quickly catching up.
"He's abusing our position!"
Gar turned his head again.
"In addition he wants money!
He's a funny sort of spective…"
They both angrily made their way into the auditorium doorway.
"…to expect a large retainer!
Nothing plainer,
He is clearly quite insane!"
A boom was heard that caused the two teens to jump from behind. Richard exited from the doorway the two had just entered. Stiffly held in his pale hand was the same looking letter as the one the latters had received. He brought the note up to eye level and yelled worriedly.
"Where is she!"
Victor turned abruptly, surprised with his sudden appearance.
"You mean Kiona?"
"I mean Miss Anders!
Where IS she?"
Gar backed away slowly.
"Well, how should we know?"
Richard stomped closer to them, each time the two boys would inch another step back. They knew well not to mess with this boy.
"I want an answer!
I take it that
You sent me this note?"
"What's all this nonsense?"
Gar threw up his hands, and stared in wide-eyed impatience at the visitor.
"Don't look at us!"
Richard stared back, just as angry as them.
"She's not with you, then?"
"Of course not!"
"We're in the dark…"
Richard glared. He didn't believe this at all. He stepped another angry stomp towards them.
"Guys, don't argue.
Isn't this
The letter you wrote?"
Gar impatiently grabbed the letter from Richard's cold hand. He didn't look close enough to realize that it was from the same person who sent theirs.
"And what is it
That we're meant to have wrote?"
Victor nudged his friend's shoulder slightly.
"—Written…" he said in almost a whisper.
"Ugh…" Gar rolled his eyes, again, becoming more impatient.
Victor then snatched the loosely held note from Gar's hands and sprawled it out. He read it aloud so all could hear.
"Do not fear for Miss Anders.
The Angel of Music
Has her under his wing.
Make no attempt to see her again."
Realizing what he had just read, Victor gaped at Gar, and Gar did the same. Their mouths fell flat while trying to understand what it meant. Their stammering brainfreeze was cut short with Richard's words of worry.
"If you didn't write it, who did?"
"Well," Victor said, "Whoever did write it, we're pretty darn sure he don't like you very much…"
All Richard returned with this obvious statement was a blank glance to the opposite wall. His eyes suddenly drooped into a look of despair. The jock and the prankster saw this, and, Richard still being one of their best friends, sought to comfort him.
"It's okay man," Victor said, more calm now, "it'll be okay. She's probably doing fine."
"I'm just…really concerned."
"We could tell…" said Gar, who had now chosen that it was a better time to be near him.
Suddenly all three boys jumped again to hear the door swing open again with a loud slam. Kiona stood in the doorway as light streamed through her pitch black hair and into her cold, hate-filled eyes. The boys almost cowered at her angered face that had been twisted into fury. With the speed of a deathly light she shot into their direction. All three boys backed away a few steps, moving as quickly as they could before she could pounce on them.
"WHERE IS HE?"
Victor shakily stood in front of his two cowering friends.
"Ah, welcome back…"
The haughty senior ignored him, and prepared to shove him aside.
"Your precious patron,
Where IS he?"
Richard, common sense ringing in his mind, finally wondered why she was angry with him. He looked at her strangely and with the same hostility as she now showed. He spat back at her.
"What is it now?"
"I have your letter!
A letter which I rather resent!"
Gar swung his head in Richard's direction.
"And did you send it?"
Richard sat, agape at his friend.
"Of course not!"
Victor took Richard's defense, coming from behind him to approach the angry girl.
"As if he would!"
Kiona swerved her head at Richard and eyed him venomously.
"You didn't send it?"
"Of course not!"
Gar confusedly looked from Kiona to Richard, wondering who would hit him hardest if he objected to either.
"What's going on…?"
Kiona ignored him as well. She kept her hostile attention on Richard, and kept her haughty tone.
"You dare to tell me,
That this is not
The letter you sent!"
She impatiently tossed her arm out to reveal the letter, exact in detail as the others. The teens gawked at it, wondering how many people had received notes such as these. Richard interrupted the confused silence.
"And what is it
That I meant to have sent?"
He took the letter from her, just as hastily as she had presented it. He opened it out and read it aloud, just as the others had done.
"Your days
At this auditorium are numbered.
Kori Anders will be singing
On your behalf
In the next musical.
Be prepared
For a great misfortune,
Should you attempt to take her place."
He closed it, intrigued with its words. Gar and Victor looked at eachother, obviously tired of the too many surprises that were being sprung upon them. They both walked towards the stage.
Far too many notes for my taste!
And most of them about Kori!
All we heard since we came
Is Miss Anders' name..."
The two boys were cut short, for Raven and Jinny suddenly appeared on the stage. Raven looked out to the four frazzled teenagers and said in her completely controlled voice,
"Miss Anders has returned."
Victor, now very tired of the overly immense amount of drama, retorted dryly to the Goth.
"I trust her midnight oil
Is well and truly burned."
Gar spoke up, frantically trying to catch the dark girl's attention.
"Where precisely is she now?"
Raven emotionlessly looked at Gar, causing him to blush unwillingly.
"I thought it best
That she went home…"
Jinny spoke out from behind her.
"She needed rest."
Richard pushed his way through the bustling crowd of thespians to reach Raven. He got close enough so that he did not have to yell.
"May I see her?"
He looked at her desperately, knowing the answer before the deadpanned ballet instructor could reply.
"No, Richard,
She will see no one."
Kiona burst Richard rudely aside, and made her way to the girl.
"Will she sing?
Will she sing?"
"Here, I have a note…"
Richard, Gar, and Kiona rushed at her, saying all at once,
"Let me see it!"
Victor snatched the letter from the three groping pairs of hands, and looked at them with a strange glance of inferiority.
"…Please!"
He opened the letter and read it to all who wished to hear. Seeing that everyone in the room was lending an ear he figured he should let all in on what the letter contained.
"Gentlemen, I have now sent you several notes of the most amiable nature, detailing how my theatre is to be run…"
"No, duh!" Gar tossed up his hands, rolled his eyes, and listened on.
"…You have not followed my instructions. I shall give you one last chance…
Kori Anders has returned to you,
And I am anxious that her career should progress.
In the new production of "Il Muto",
You will therefore cast Kiona as the Pageboy,
And put Miss Anders in the role of the Countess.
The role which Miss Anders plays
Calls for charm and appeal.
The role of the Pageboy is silent,
Which makes my casting,
In a word,
Ideal.
I shall watch the performance from my normal seat in the balcony, which will be kept empty for me. Should those commands be ignored, a disaster beyond your imagination will accur.
I remain, Gentlemen,
Your obedient servant,
O.G."
This one was….longer. I don't favor this song over any of the rest, but it takes a LONG time to write! Man! I'll try to update faster next time….I pomise….