Author's Note: Thank you, thank you, thank you to all who reviewed my story! It really boosts my spirits and makes me want to write more! :D

Chapter Five

My eyes fluttered open and I looked around. Sunlight stung my eyes. I sighed and sat up, crawling out of the bed. I was tired, and there were dark shadows underneath my eyes.

Two weeks had passed since my second rendezvous with the masked man underneath the opera. I hadn't seen him since, yet he still wandered through my mind.

I rubbed my temples, wearily.

A knock sounded at my door. "Mademoiselle Durand?"

I yawned and walked over to the door, answering it. I saw Monsieur Firmin standing there. "What can I do for you, Monsieur?"

He flashed a smile. "Will you be attending your parents' funeral this evening?"

I looked down for a moment. "I'm… I'm not sure."

"Not sure?" he echoed. "Why?"

"I… I don't want to talk about it. Please, monsieur. I may show, though," I murmured.

Monsieur Firmin nodded. "I apologize for bothering you, Mademoiselle Durand."

I nodded with a vague smile. "Goodbye, Monsieur."

I lay back down onto the bed in my room. I laid on my side, staring out the window. The sunlight reflected in my dull, hazel eyes. I closed them and turned, burying my head into the soft pillow. Tears fell, once more. "Come back… Mother… Father…" I whimpered.

Before I could notice, I was asleep. I dreamt I saw my parents' bodies- mangled and cold.

I screamed, "No!" Running to them, I fell wrapping my arms around my father's lifeless body. "Father! Father, wake up!" I turned to my mother. "Mother!"

Turning, once more, I saw the dark shape in the corner. An evil smile plastered on his face. "You murderer!" I lifted myself and ran at him, but he vanished just as I reached out to grab his neck. He vanished…into shadow. I fell, weeping. My parents' bodies disappeared just as the figure's had done. "Come back… Come black…" I pleaded.

I gasped and sat up. Sweat beaded my forehead and I panted, shaken by the terrible dream. "Just a dream, Emily. It was only a dream…" I whispered to myself. I rubbed my eyes and looked around. I walked over to the bureau.

I stared into the mirror on the top of it. The weary, dark-eyed figure stared back. I sighed. I was tired…and troubled. My life was falling apart. Was there nothing I could do?

I quickly changed into a nice, pale pink day-dress. Pulling my hair back, I quickly walked out of my room.

I soon, ran into Jude. He was accompanied by a dark-haired woman. She was beautiful with pale blue eyes and raven black hair.

Jude smiled. "Oh, hello, Emily!" he greeted, cheerily.

I returned the smile and a small greeting. "Who's this?" I looked at the woman.

"Emily, I'd like you to meet Aurora. My fiancé," Jude introduced her.

She smiled. "Judas had told me much about you, Emily."

I nodded. "Jude's said you were in England?" I said. It was more of a question than a statement.

"Yes, but as soon as I received his letter, I fled to Paris," Aurora explained. "I am sorry about your parents."

"Thank you," I said, quietly. "Where are you off to?"

"I was about to give Aurora a tour of Paris. Would you care to join us?"

I swallowed. It was tempting- I wanted to know more about the woman that my friend was planning to marry, but I hesitantly shook my head. "No thank you. I have…things to attend to."

"Well, I'd like to talk to you again, Emily. It was nice meeting you!" Aurora said, cheerfully.

The couple walked away, hand-in-hand. I smiled to myself watching them.

He really loves her, doesn't he? I thought to myself.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Madame Giry tapped her cane on the wood of the stage. "No, no, no!" she scolded. She began to instruct the ballet dancers, boldly.

I watched from a seat, listening to the music, conducted by Monsieur Reyer. I hummed along with the familiar tune. It was Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata". Though usually played upon a piano, the strings did the instrumental justice as well.

My memories flickered back to when my father was teaching me how to play the song; his fingers atop of my long, slender ones. I pressed a wrong key and he smiled, correcting me.

I snapped back to reality.

Madame Giry came up behind me. "Emily. Are you alright, dear?" Her strong, French accent was rather comforting to me.

I turned, getting up. "Oh… I think I'm alright," I muttered.

"Are you sure?"

I bit my lip and said, "No…"

"What is bothering you, my child?"

"It's been two weeks, Madame Giry. No sign of him. He just disappeared…" I explained. Just like in my dream, a voice said in my head.

I sniffed. I held back wet tears.

Madame Giry put her arms around me, comfortingly. "It's best you are rid of him, Emily."

I nodded and pushed away. "Yes… I suppose it is…"

Madame Giry smiled, vaguely.
"Do you suppose there is a piano anywhere in the opera house?" I asked.

She thought for a moment. "I believe there is. It's just down the hall from your mother's dressing room."

I nodded, thanked her and walked away, just as the "Moonlight Sonata" ended.

I cautiously opened a door and looked inside a room. There was a beautiful piano in the middle of the decorated room. Smiling, I walked and sat down on the bench.

My fingers were placed lightly on the ivory keys. I could almost feel my father beside me ready to play a duet with me. "This is for you, Father…" I whispered.

"Fur Elise" burst out from the piano, gracefully…at first. My fingers began to stumble and I stopped out of frustration. It had been years since I'd played.

Clapping sounded as I stopped playing. I turned around seeing the shadowed figure in the corner. It was him…

"Brava, Emily Durand. You play rather well, but could use lessons," the Phantom of the Opera said.

"Leave. Now…" I said. My voice shook. I was actually afraid of him. I searched my mind for the courage my parents had.

"Now why would I want to do that? You could be great. A singer even," he said, persuasively.

I licked my lips and bit my bottom lip. "No. Leave… Please…"

"I will leave this once, but you are not rid of me yet, Mademoiselle Durand," he said, smiling. He shifted away and seemed to vanish. I walked over and searched the corner for him. He wasn't there!

"Impossible…" I whispered in awe.

"Nothing is impossible, Emily. Only unbelievable."

I gasped as Madame Giry stood in the doorway of the room. She held a white envelope in her hands, with a scarlet, skull wax seal. I stared at it.

"He left you a message," she said, holding the letter out to me.

I stepped back. "I don't want to read it."

"Very well. Stay on your guard, Emily," Madame Giry said, quietly. Just before she turned to walk away, she said, "Please…"

Once she had left I sighed and fell to the floor. I sat there, staring at my hands. "What have I gotten myself into?" I questioned, knowing no one could answer.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Jude laughed and smiled as he and Aurora walked in the front doors in the foyer of the Opera Populair.

I looked up at them. I had been sitting on one of the steps of the stairs, reading Romeo & Juliet for about the fifth time. "Did you have a nice time?" I asked.

Aurora looked at me and ran over, taking my hands in her own. She sat down beside me. "Oh, Emily, you're so lucky! You've known Judas his whole life and you get to live in Paris!" She grinned. She obviously wanted to establish a friendship with me- and I didn't disagree, she was nice.

I smiled back. "I wouldn't say that. After seventeen years Paris is just like any other place, really."

"Aurora? Shall I show you around the Opera Populair, now?" Jude asked, cutting in.

She placed a hand on my shoulder briefly. "Will you come with us? Please?" she asked.

I shook my head with a small smile. "I'm sorry. You two enjoy yourselves though. The opera house is…amazing," I said. And mysterious.

Aurora frowned a bit. "Well, goodbye Emily."

I bid them both "goodbye".

Aurora took Jude's arm and they walked away.

I sniffed and got up, walking into the rehearsal. The orchestra was tuning up and the dancers were dancing around the stage gracefully. As I walked by, towards my room, I studied them: so carefree- if only I could be that way.

My hand twisted the knob on the door and I walked in, taking a black cloak from my bed. I walked out and backstage. Climbing up a few flights of stairs, I made my way to the roof of the building.

The wind blew in my face lightly, only stirring my hair. I sighed and sat down staring down at the city. I hugged my knees, once again going through the events of the past few weeks.

"Beautiful? Isn't it?" the man in the mask dressed in his black suit looked out at the city, then down to me.

I turned and looked at him. "You see everything. Isn't that right?"

He chuckled and gave me his hand. I took it and he lifted me up.

"No. I only see you."

I knitted my brow in confusion. "Pardon?"

He didn't repeat. "I hear you did not read my letter."

I shook my head. "I want nothing to do with you," I said, sharply.

He didn't flinch. "Yet you want me dead."

I sighed, confusing even myself. "Forgive me. That was but the sorrow of my heart speaking," I answered in a sort of poetic way.

"Yes, I suppose it was…" the Opera Ghost mused, quietly. "You do play the piano quite lovely, though."

I bit my lip and my cheeks flushed red. "It's been years," I muttered.

"You could get better. You even sing like…" he hesitated to say her name.

"Do you mean Christine? Christine Daae?"

This time, he did not yell as I said her name. He only nodded slightly and whispered, "Yes. Christine Daae…" His pale green eyes seemed to stare past me.

I closed my eyes for a brief moment. When I opened them I stared at him. "Listen. I don't want to sing. I just… I want…" What did I want?

The Phantom of the Opera looked at me, waiting for an answer.

I quickly changed the subject. "Why do you keep coming to me? What do you want from me?" I asked.

"I want your voice, your mind…" he whispered.

"No. No! I… I want to stay in the opera house. You had your chance with Christine Daae and you frightened her away. I won't go with you, I won't learn to sing. I want to be…me," I said, rather loudly.

He looked at the ground. "I see how you feel," he growled quietly. Without another word he whisked away back into the opera house.

I sighed. I felt bad inside, but something told me I made the right choice.

I placed my face in my hands, wishing that my parents had never died, even wishing I'd never come to the Opera Populair.

The wind once again rushed through my hair.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Emily you must eat. You haven't eaten in two days!" Meg Giry sat on my bed beside me, begging me to eat something.

"I'm not hungry, Meg," I said. Two days had passed since the meeting on the roof. I had shaken by him, he was so…strong before he left. I didn't even want to think of what he planned to do.

Meg sighed through her nose. "Alright. Well, get some rest. Maybe you'll have an appetite in the morning."

I smiled and nodded. "Perhaps… Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Emily," she said, kindly and walked out of my room.

When the door closed, I turned and blew out the candle on the table beside my bed. I then lay down, wrapping the blanket around myself.

I stared at the wall, my eyes heavy and tired, but they would not close for me to sleep.

"A crystal moon sheds crystal tears of crystal light upon your face… My darling child, I sing to you, thankful for your grace…" I could hear my mother's voice in my head, singing the same lullaby she used to sing when I was younger.

I fell asleep soon as I started to quietly sing the lullaby. My voice actually wasn't that bad, but I was half asleep and couldn't tell.

I had fallen asleep, but not fully. I felt soft hands pick me up. I had the urge to open my eyes to see who was with me, but I was too tired.

Then the lullaby started again, but an angelic man's voice was singing. He changed the lyrics a bit as well. "A crystal moon sheds crystal tears of crystal light upon your face… My dearest Angel, I'll turn your voice into endless grace…"

I moaned softly and wearily, the voice lulling me to sleep once more. I sighed, comfortably. My eyes opened only so much as I caught a glance of the man who had me in his hands.

I sighed again and my eyes shut. I was now fully asleep.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Beautiful music: that's what I heard as I opened my eyes. I was lying in a soft bed, but I was somewhere I thought I recognized. I looked around. I sat up and realized I was in a swan-shaped bed with red blankets. I looked around and I heard music coming from the black curtain. I climbed out of the bed and moved the curtain as I walked out of the "room".

I saw the man- the Phantom of the Opera at an organ. He played the lullaby he sang to me the night before.

He turned when he heard my footsteps. "You're awake."

I moved hair out of my face. "Why did you bring me here?" I asked.

He smiled a bit and moved towards me. He didn't answer.

"Why did you bring me here?" I repeated, becoming aggravated a bit.

Once again, he did not answer.

I sighed and stared at him.

"You…have a lovely voice. So much potential, yet you choose not to use it," the Phantom said, simply.

I licked my lips. Staring at the floor, I stayed silent.

He took his hand and lifted my chin so that I looked at him. "Why do you not use your voice?" he questioned.

"I don't want to be the center of attention. I like to be…quiet and just…" my voice trailed off.

"But you could be great…loved…admired." His voice was like a snake, so persuasive.

I thought for a moment. That did sound nice. But something in me told me to say 'no'.

"Emily…" he cooed. "Emily, you are an angel with a voice of heaven."

Tears fell down my cheeks, slowly and he wiped them. Something was different. He wore no gloves. The touch of his gentle hands calmed me. I fell against his chest, tears still falling.

The Opera Ghost- the man whom everyone thought to be evil; the man whom everyone hated- was so…sweet and gentle and… There weren't words to describe him.

I felt as if I wanted to stay with him. Stay to listen to his music, but then my mind reminded me of Madame Giry and Meg and Jude and Aurora. I wanted to return to them, but I knew that this ghost- man, rather, wouldn't let me leave him.

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Author's Note: This is one of my better chapters, don't you think. It's longer to! I spent so much more time thinking on the happenings for this chapter!

I took down the "Writer's Block Contest", but you can still enter ideas and characters! Please do so! :D

-O.G. Knights