IM SO HAPPY!
I GOT THREE REVEIWS ON THE DAY I GOT OUT THE CHAPTER, YOU ALL MADE ME SO HAPPY THAT I WROTE THIS SUPER QUICK (QUICK FOR ME AT LEAST)
I SO GLAD YOU LIKED WHAT I DID WITH ELIZABETH, I HOPE YOU CONTINUE TO LIKE HER AND I HOPE I CAN CONTINUE TO KEEP THE PHANTOM IN CHARATER. ALSO, I WOULD LIKE TO MENTION THAT WHILE ELIZABETH IS A PLAIN JANE CHARATER TO BEGIN WITH, IM NOT GOING TO KEEP HER THAT WAY FOEVER, THOUGH HER EXPERIENCES IN THE STORY SHE SLOWLY BECOMES A STRONGER PERSON. ALSO, WHILE SHE CANT SING BETTER THAN CHRISTINE OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT TO BEGIN WITH, SHE DOSE HAVE A BEAUTIFUL VOICE ENOUGH TO CATCH THE PHANTOM'S ATTENTION.
KEEP THAT IN MIND
IMAGINE ALL THE GIRLS SPEAK IN AN ENGLISH ACENT
PLEASE READ AND PLEASE REVEIW
I DONT OWN PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
CHAPTER TWO
THE SINGED OPERA SCORE
The next few days passed and Elizabeth still couldn't get the song from the opera house out of her mind. That solemn sound touched her in a way that she couldn't forget. Because very few things actually managed to touch Elizabeth like this, it only made it more memorable.
Life went on as it had before. She continued to attempt to learn how to be a lady, and she continued to fail miserably at being a lady
Her mother would tut and shake her head, then compare her to one of her sisters. All in all, nothing changed.
Only, something had changed.
Elizabeth felt...restless somehow, and it wasn't like her.
She was seated at the breakfast table as the servant spooned porridge into her bowl when the mail came. Elizabeth hated porridge, but her mother loved it and insisted that it was good for you, and being the dutiful eldest daughter she knew she had to set a good example.
Her father was at sea on trading business and there was no telling when he would be back, could be days, weeks, months. Who knew?
The letter came into the room on a silver platter, just the way her mother liked it. It made her feel fancy.
The servant presented it to her and her mother nodded in small thanks as she pulled apart the monogrammed seal and skimmed over its contents. Elizabeth looked up discreetly from her bowl as her mother smiled.
"It seems that the Malory's are hosting another of their balls and they have invited us to attend."
"A ball!" Verity gushed "oh what a marvellous thing, it's been absolutely ages since we went to a ball."
Elizabeth held her tongue, she hated balls. Another way for her to stand out against her beautiful sisters.
Her mother nodded as she said to the servant "It's not for another few year or so yet Verity" she said "They're only sending it in advance to request your beautiful piano playing skills for the ball, you know how proper they are." The the servant she barked "Has my daughter arrived yet?"
"No Mam" the servant answered "Lady Hermione had not arrived."
"Be sure to tell me when she does."
"Yes my lady" he bowed and exited the room.
Hermione was her first younger sister at only three years under her. She was also the only one of the girls who was married. To a lord no less.
Lord Redway.
"Elizabeth, stop that at once, with that gormless expression you have about you."
Elizabeth hadn't been aware that she had been making any particular expression. She shook her head "I apologise mother." She said simply.
The same old routine.
Just then the door rang and the footman answered the door.
A servant appeared and announced "Mrs Ashwin, Lady Redwood had arrived."
Sophia clapped her hands together in glee at the sight of her second eldest daughter entering the room "Hermione darling, how good of you to visit us."
"Good morning mother." She said as she reached forward to give her mother a hug.
"I hope your husband knows where you are?"
"Yes, Anthony and I have an understanding, he knows where I am."
"Good, good" Sophia gleamed.
"Mionie!" Verity cried "where have you been, it's been ever so long!" she leaped up to embrace her sister. Hermione returned it, but then turned to Elizabeth and smiled breathily "Bethy"
Mionie and Bethy, those were the names they called each other.
Because Hermione was only three years younger than Elizabeth, they had always been closer than the others. She was the sister Elizabeth loved the most. And the sister she had lost to the most.
"Are you finished eating?" Hermione asked "I have much I want to tell you."
Elizabeth stood and took her sisters arm "May I be excused?" she asked Sophia. Sophia nodded and Elizabeth walked off with Hermione.
As they left the room they went towards the greenhouse
"So, tell me, how has Anthony been treating you?" Elizabeth began, wishing to start some sort of conversation.
"Oh he's been an angel. Treating me like something that will break at any moment."
Elizabeth nodded but secretly disagreed; she would find a man who treated her like glass quite annoying. But down in her heart, she knew that was a lie.
They talked for some more before Sophia appeared in the greenhouse and asked to speak with Hermione privately.
Hermione apologised and left with her mother.
Elizabeth was about to go look for Abigail when she noticed that Hermione had left her comb on the bench. Elizabeth went to return it.
But as she approached her mother's study, she heard her name being mentioned in the conversation.
She paused and listened.
"...Elizabeth can't do anything!" came her mother's voice "She can's sew, she can't play, she can't even embroil a rose! I don't know what I'm to do with her, at this rate she will never find a husband."
Her mother's words stung a lot, but Elizabeth was used to it. What she wasn't used to however was Hermione's comment:
"I agree mother" Hermione said "I worry for her also."
"Worry for her! She's useless! When men approach this family they all have certain expectations about how the women of the house are. But Elizabeth, she's nothing like us, how will she catch a husband at this rate. I mean she's the one who should have been married first being the eldest, but all the men gravitate towards her sisters. Where did I go wrong?"
"Perhaps I can do something? Anthony has many friends; perhaps I can persuade them to take a shine to Elizabeth..."
"Perhaps if we raised her dowry..."
But Elizabeth could hear no more as she wrenched herself from the door and strode off.
It hurt that that was what they both thought of her.
Oh Elizabeth had always known that she was of no use to her mother, but what hurt was that her precious sister thought the same. She would have thought that at least Hermione believed in her.
But no one did, no one believed any good could come from the eldest child of the Ashwin family. They all hoped to marry her off quick and be done with it.
Hermione stayed for three days after that and not once did Elizabeth's mask slip. She smiled and nodded to every question and didn't let on that she had heard their conversation.
She continued with her day-to-day routine without fail.
When Hermione eventually left, Elizabeth escorted her back in the carriage.
They arrived outside Hermione's home and her sister leaned over to embrace her "Oh Elizabeth, I do miss all of you sometimes. You simply must join me for tea sometime. I have a few people who are dying to meet my famous older sister."
Elizabeth tried not to scoff, she had no interest in meeting stuffy mama's boys who spent too much time in their castles to know what a real conversation was and were most likely only thinking how much they wished it was one of her sisters sitting in her place.
But Elizabeth only nodded "Yes of course" she smiled "I hope to see you again soon my sister."
Hermione returned the smile before slipping out of the carriage.
Elizabeth watched as she embraced her husband and sighed. She closed the carriage door and nodded forward "Drive on"
They clip-clopped onwards home. For some reason, Elizabeth had the strangest urge to go riding alone. She loved riding; it was something that she was actually good at. Of course her sisters could still do it better than her, but because they preferred to be inside rather than on a horse, horse riding was something left for only Elizabeth and her horse.
Or she would paint, perhaps she would read. Elizabeth was very learned, she was more intelligent than most ladies, which unfortunately was a bad thing because intelligence was unattractive in a lady. But whatever she decided to do Elizabeth wanted to be alone.
As they were riding along, Elizabeth began to recognise where they were, it was the place where they had changed a corner last time. Because of the fiasco with Hermione, Elizabeth had momentarily forgotten about the organ song and the opera house.
Suddenly all other thoughts emptied from her mind and she became overwhelmed with the desire to go back there.
"Driver" she called "Turn right, I have business there."
When the carriage swerved left, Elizabeth watched with anticipation as they drew in closer and closer to the opera house till she could see it again.
"Stop the carriage" She ordered and when it came to a halt she stepped out and handed the driver a small bag of gold coins she had brought with her in case she found anything to her fancy "Wait here for me and do not follow unless I call for you. Tell no one of our coming here."
Thankfully, the driver today was William, a man who didn't care much for her family and knew how to take a bribe as nodded "Right miss."
Elizabeth turned back to the opera house and made her way to the stairs. She traced a gloved hand along the pewter marble banister. Slowly she made her way up the stairs, so silently. When she reached the top she noticed that the front was boarded up. "Hmm" she murmured to herself and began to walk along the other side of the house, all the while trailing her hand along the wooden planks until suddenly she realised that one or two of them were loose.
She looked around. She was now completely hidden from view by trees and other such. She looked around some more, paranoid that someone could be there hiding behind the bushes. But there was nothing.
So carefully, she pushed against the weakened wooden planks and went inside.
It wasn't exactly like how one would imagine an old opera house. But that was perhaps because she wasn't in the main part of the opera house, more so she was in what looked like a set of tunnels. Dark, dreary tunnels.
Warning bells sounded in Elizabeth's mind 'turn back' they said 'turn back, this is foolishness.'
And she almost listened to the voice she really turned her shoulders in order to return to the carriage, to her comfort zone. But then Elizabeth the soft, distant sound of an being played eco through the tunnel.
She froze, was this in her imagination? Elizabeth had thought about the music form before so often that sometimes it seemed like it was real, only to have been a dream.
But no! This wasn't a dream, it really was the organ playing. And also the song was different.
Without even thinking about it, Elizabeth ignored all the warning bells and found her body gravitating down the tunnels towards the music.
As she got closer, she heard it better.
It was so intense; Elizabeth had to stop for a moment as a shiver went down her spine. Elizabeth had always been very musically in tune, it was one of her only good points. But this music, so brilliant, when she closed her eyes she felt hot, like flames were licking at her shoulders and burning her in heat and passion. The music screamed of lust so powerful it was almost sinful.
She forced herself to take a step forward, but her foot hit a pipe which sent sound echoing throughout the tunnel and just like that, the music stopped.
She almost cried out, but thought it wise not to.
Eventually she found a way out.
The tunnels lead out to another room. It looked to be a composing room of some sort. There were books scattered here and there and the walls had posters of past shows and stars. Everything was dusty and dirty.
Except for the small chandelier hangin above, with fresh candels burning softly, and the grand piano in the corner of the room.
Someone had been here.
"Hello!" Elizabeth called out "Is anyone there?"
Obviousally, there was no reply and Elizabeth felt a little silly for even bothering to ask.
Where on earth was she? And who had been playing the music? Those questions ran through her mind.
Well whoever it was, they were gone now.
Elizabeth slowly approached the piano. It wasn't a piano she realised, it was an organ, a dusty, old and almost broken down. How had such a thing produced such powerful music?
She then noticed something resting on the top, a score?
Carefully she picked it up and scanned over it. As she read it she realised that it was a music score for an opera. Elizabeth had seen an opera score before. Once when she was younger, an opera singer who was going to France to join an opera house stopped by her father's house. Her name was La Carlotta. To gain some English publicity she showed the eldest daughter of a rich family some of her music scores and showed her how to read it enough to sing.
Elizabeth had tried it out, but she must have been terrible because Carlotta looked stunned and angry as she announced "One thing is for sure, this child will never be an singer." Elizabeth never thought about it again.
Until now.
The paper in her hand looked as if it had been rescued from a fire, it was singed and burned in places that made it almost unreadable. However there were some places that she could understand.
The lyrics were written under the notes, she read thought them Elizabeth fought a blush, if this were the song that the organ had been playing, then she could see why it had made her think of fire. Even this small part of the song spoke of lust.
She looked at the title printed in small letters in the top left corner: Don Juan Triumphant, The point of no return.
She hummed a few bars, it sounded alright. But she couldn't hit any of the high notes with only humming, and it sounded hollow to her somehow. So softly she sang, according to the music score
"You have brought me, to that moment where words run dry.
To that moment where speech disappears into silence
Silence..."
It was a little embarrassing to hear her own voce when she knew how bad it sounded, but she shivered. What an amazing feeling, even singing softly, her voice echoed in the huge open room. What an amazing feeling, to sing.
'Louder'
Elizabeth froze. What was that?
She shook her head, most likely nothing more than a dream or her imagination.
She sang some more, relishing the powerful feeling she received, what a beautiful song, filled with emotion. Elizabeth, even growing up in a family where every member could play some kind of instrument (even her father who could really work a fiddle or harmonica when he had time) none of the music was the same as singing. It was like she was living the music, it was alive and pouring out of her, fresh and warm, like blood from her very veins. She had always liked singing, even if she wasn't any good at it.
"I have come here, hardly knowing the reason why..."
'Louder'
There it was again, that voice calling from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. it was most likely only in her head? Louder it said.
What did she have to lose?
She sang louder, breathing as Carlotta had explained all those years ago and opening her mouth as she felt she should
"In my mind I have already imagined our bodies entwining
Defenceless and Silent"
'Softer'
The voice commanded, Elizabeth complied
"And now I am here with you, no second thoughts
I have decided
Decided..."
'STOP!'
She stopped but even that echoing voice could not stop the rushing warm sensation in her stomach. What exhilaration, what excitement.
Elizabeth had never felt like this before, like she could do something, like there was a...she didn't even know.
The song ended there anyway, the rest was burnt,
But then the fact that the voice had sounded angry set in her mind and Elizabeth felt fear. That was too real to be in her mind, someone was here!
She took a step back, then another...
And then suddenly, everything went temporarily dark as she felt a rope around her neck, choking her silently.
SORRY
CLIFHANGER!
HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT?
IT'S MY FIRST EVER REAL CLIFHANGER
I HAVE THE PHANTOM'S REAL APEARENCE AND HIS POV NEXT CHAPPIE
REVEIW TO SEE IF ELIZABETH DIES?
PLEASE REVEIW, REVEIWS IS WHAT INSPIRED THIS CHAPTER