Oh...mi...gosh...YOU LOVE THIS!!! (squeals for several minutes)

Dedication- to LowlyAlto. I'm an alto too!! YAY!! BTW- Je suis americaine. Et toi?
Disclaimer- How many times must I relive the fact that I own nothing? It's depressing!
Orry's dream suddenly shifted. From a peaceful forest with his friends to a strange dark street. There were cobblestones underneath his feet, strange dark buildings surrounded him on either side. A song haunted the shadows. It was rather sad, melancholy and depressing. It almost sounded as if it were being hummed. He walked down the street, no destination in mind. There were no people, either in the buildings or on the street. He turned his head and beheld a cafe, and a figure seated there. He was the only other person on the entire street.

"Hello." said the figure, gesturing for Orry to join him. Orry asked no questions, walking over and seating at the table. A blank-faced waiter brought a cup of coffee. "You are Orry." said the figure, watching him with deep dark eyes.

"Yes." said Orry, cupping his hands about the cup. No warmth emanated from the ceramic.

"You are friends with Katrina, are you not?"

"Oui," replied Orry, staring at the strange figure, neither man nor boy. Who was he?

"I'm a friend of hers as well. She is marvelous." said the figure, smiling. His teeth were dazzling in that dim, dank setting. Orry was puzzled. Why was he talking to him?

"What do you want?" he asked, being blunt. He didn't want to talk to this person any longer than necessary. Those eyes seemed too familiar...they brooded with concealed anger.

"Why, just to get to know you better. Tell me, what is your greatest fear?" Orry hesitated. Should he tell...?

"Giant, fat, flying insects. They creep me out." said Orry, the words coming out before he could stop them. He shuddered slightly at the thought of the fear. The figure grinned wickedly.

"Well, then..." he said. A sudden buzzing filled the atmosphere. Orry looked above, and saw a strange cloud descending upon him. Only it wasn't a cloud. Giant insects of all types were falling from the sky...no, not falling--flying. Orry looked furiously at the figure, but he had vanished. He jumped up and tried to run. But the insects out flew him and soon covered every inch of his skin...

"ARGH!" he shouted, sitting bolt upright in bed, successfully knocking his head against his friend's. He fell back in the bed, grabbing his head.

"Orry, what the heck was happening?" demanded JT, rubbing his forehead ruefully.

"Nothing, nothing. Just a dream." said Orry, massaging his heart and head.

"Must've been one heck of a dream." said JT, wandering back over to his own bunk. Orry sat there, blankets in a disarray, breathing heavily, his heart still pounding. He was so busy trying to calm down, he didn't hear the quiet chuckling behind his head; in the wall.

More than a week later, and Orry's dreams hadn't gotten better. If anything, they had gotten worse. Now, he was afraid to go to sleep, no matter where he was. If he was at school, he remembered dreams from the night before and they haunted him. At night, in the Opera-House, he heard the back round music everywhere, he saw shadows everywhere, he could not shake his fears from his head. Katrina grew more and more worried. Their last performance of "Into the Woods" was the worst. Orry hadn't slept for three days and he could not sing.

"Orry, why are you not sleeping? I'm getting really worried." said Kat, sitting next to his dejected self. He turned away from her.

"Don't sit next to me." he said, refusing to look at her. "I'm ashamed."

"So you haven't been sleeping. And your voice was off today. Big deal!" she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Orry, if this continues, I'm personally gonna take you to a doctor."

"I'm fine." he said through gritted teeth. "I just need to-"

"Sleep. Tell ya what. I'll spend the night in your dorm tonight. Keep a night vigil for you. I'll find out what's causing these nightmares of yours." Orry smiled and turned to her.

"You will? What about Madame Yowling's-"

"Screw Madame Yowling's rules! Your health is a heck of a lot more important to me than some bunch of stupid butt rules!" shouted Kat, whacking him upside the head. He laughed and whacked her back, almost like old times. Before the happenings of the Opera-House. Before a shadow haunted the passageways. Before songs echoed through Kat's mind...

How dare she...? How dare she?! He was doing this for her! Yet she felt the need to go and comfort his enemy! Her enemy! That boy was a obstacle and obstacles must be removed. He was doing that just fine! That boy was weak, in both mind and spirit. Otherwise, he would never allow him control every single night. No matter how much that boy detested the night horrors, more were still to come. But he could not do anything with Kat there. She could not know what was going on. It was better if she were not involved.

Cold...it suddenly became cold. He shivered slightly in the arctic chill, but soon ignored it. He watched Katrina sleep on the ground next to that boy's bunk. On the floor! She deserved the finest of apartments, arrayed in gold and satin. Not a blanket on the floor! Tomorrow night, that boy would suffer ten times what he had suffered these past nights. Kat...look and see! That idiot is nothing! Nothing!! I am here. I am waiting...I cannot wait any longer, Kat. This feeling I should not be feeling. It only brought me sadness and despair last time. Why do you awaken this within me? Why?

I cannot stand this Kat. Please...don't make me feel like this...My heart, it's being mended. Don't break it again, Kat. Please don't...Perhaps...it is time. Kat, though you don't know it, I will soon appear to you. And then you will love me as I love you.

"Thank you Kat! I haven't sleep that well in over a week!" cried Orry the next morning, sweeping her up off the floor and swinging her about as if she were a small child. He was laughing and his infectious attitude made her laugh too.

"Okay, you can put me down now, Mr. Sunshine!" she laughed, struggling playfully to place her feet on the ground. Orry swung her around once more, then set her down. "What are you doing up so early on a Saturday anyway?" she asked, pulling down her hair and re-pony-tailing it.

"I just feel great. Wanna go do something? Like, walk in the park or something?"

"Alright." she agreed, smiling. It seemed it would be a great day. There was no school, she barely had any homework...but there was a damper on the day. She had not heard Erik last night. She had forgotten her cell-phone in her room, and couldn't go out to get it after lights out in fear that Madame Yowling would find her creeping in the halls. That would be embarrassing. She wondered if he had called last night. If he did, she didn't answer! Oh man! He must think that she was the biggest loser in all the world!

She dashed out, ran down the hallways and entered her room in a rush. She quickly picked her way across to her dresser and picked up her cell-phone. She looked at missed calls. There was one. Of course it was Erik. She quickly called him back, but received no answer. That was weird. Her heart sank. He was mad at her. She didn't want him mad at her. Dispirited, she got on her only pair of designer jeans, a rather nice purple shirt that went with her hair well. She slipped on some silver jewelry, and got on her boots that made her an inch taller. Walking about Paris in the springtime was one of the greatest times ever. One had to dress the part.

She walked out of her room, putting a purse on her shoulder, her wallet, cell-phone and IPod in it. She walked down the passageways rather wobbly, as she hadn't worn her boots in a month or more. She thought she felt eyes on her back, but there was nobody there. She dismissed it as her imagination, and tapped on Orry's dorm's door. He answered, dressed in a pair of baggy blue jeans and a black shirt. "To Write Love on Her Arms" was written on it in green print.

"Com'n, let's go!" he said, grabbing her arm and they started running. Soon, they were passing the chapel, and something caused her to slow down and stop.

"Orry, go ahead. I'll meet you out there." she said, turning back to the chapel entrance. She started down the stairs, almost as if she were in a trance. She heard a song from below. She walked down and down...

Orry walked along the hallway, confused. Why had Kat decided to meet him out near the entrance? What had she needed to see? There was something strange going on. He turned about, staring at the way he had come. He felt a chill emanating from the direction from which he had come. There was something wrong. He started to go back...

Katrina turned a corner, and entered the chapel. There he was, standing in the light of the stained glass windows. He was taller than she expected...and much skinner. But that was forgotten as Erik sang. His eyes were closed and the light danced across his face. The face hidden by a white mask. Soon, even that was forgotten as he sang, she found a strange fluttering sensation holding her stomach hostage. She stood there, feeling like an intruder in a miracle. Slowly, she felt her feet take her closer and closer...

What was that haunting the air? It was indefinitely sad, eternally longing. It was as if all the sadness in the world had been translated into the melody that flowed through the air. Orry walked so slowly. When had his limbs gotten so heavy? It was as if he were walking through heavy syrup or molasses. He was moving so slowly. Why? Katrina...!

She was standing right next to him, and yet he did not acknowledge her presence. She did not wish for him to. He could feel it. She wanted him to keep singing. He knew the power of his voice and he knew how to execute it. She was fully underneath his power, yet he did not wish to frighten her. He could not frighten her. He was all too aware of the mask and the horror it hid. He continued to sing, putting all of his hidden angst and sorrow behind it, making it so infinitely sad that she started to cry.

Orry entered the corridor, and started down the stairs, the haunting melody surrounding his ears, surrounding his soul. His spirit was meeting such a resistance that he had to stop. He could not go a step further. What was preventing him? Where was Kat? What was this melody? Now that he was trapped, it seemed to envade his mind and it was almost as if he were plunged into one of his nightmares...

Kat felt tears drop down her face. She wanted to stop crying, but she could not. Erik's song brought back memories...memories that she wasn't sure she wanted to revisit. She instead lost herself in Erik's song, it's beautiful quality and clarity. She couldn't stand it, yet she would not be able to bear it if he stopped. Don't stop, Erik. Please...don't stop...As if he heard her silent plea, he made his song more beautiful if it were possible. Tears poured down her face, and yet she was powerless to stop them. Suddenly, a hand was on her face, gently wiping away her tears. Startled, she looked up. Erik's eyes were open and he was still singing, while gently caressing her face. He looked at her with such powerful yearning it made her afraid. Nobody had ever looked at her with such passion before. His voice filled her ears and calmed her fears. She nuzzled slightly against his hand, and his voice softened to almost a whisper...

"Kat..." whispered Orry, trying with all his might to advance on the stairs. An invisible barrier stopped him from even tiptoeing on the stair he was perched on. He had his hands up, pushing against this force as if pure brute strength would aid him. "Something is not right! What is this?! Katrina!" he cried out. The shield gave a touch. He paused. "Katrina!" he said again, with just as much hopelessness and worry. The shield gave even more. He took a deep breath, and started to scream her name, screaming it over and over again, until the shield imploded in on itself. "KATRINA!" he shouted, stumbling down the stairs.

"KATRINA!" the explosive shout echoed down into the chapel. They both looked to the entrance. Katrina felt Erik's hand leave her face, she turned, but he was already gone. Her hand went to where his face had been, but he was not there. Orry tumbled into the room, sweaty and out of breath. "Kat...are you alright? Why are you crying?"

"He's gone..." she said, tears starting to fall from her eyes once more, this time from an unnamed pain from deep within her soul. She needed Erik...why was he gone? "Erik..." she whispered as she fell to her knees. Orry stood there, unsure of what to do in his awkward boyish way. Erik watched the scene from behind the angel on the wall and his heart ached...

"The Phantom of the Opera is there...inside my mind..." Katrina half-sang, half-spoke to herself in her room later that day. After the chapel she had enclosed herself in her room, hoping for a call from Erik. Was she supposed to have seen him that morning? Why hadn't he called? What was going on? Orry spoke of a barrier that kept him from reaching the chapel. Only when he had spoken her name had he been able to breech the force. She called him a bangin' big banging liar, and dashed to her room, cheeks ablaze. He hadn't come after her.

She sat on her bed, only one candle lit. Her soul was now in shadow, and she only felt comfortable in almost absolute darkness. There was something hurting in her chest. She didn't know what it was, she just wanted it to stop. And she knew that to stop it, she would need Erik. This soul needed his music. Why wouldn't he call?!

"My God, call!" she screamed at her phone. As if it had heard her, it rang. She stared at the caller ID, as if she were afraid that it wasn't Erik. But of course it was he. She fumbled, and almost dropped it, such was her rush to hear Erik again.

"Erik." she said, somehow her panic and need leaking into her voice. "Please, I'm sorry! If I did anything wrong-"

"No, Katrina. The fault is all mine. I should not have touched you without permission. It was folly."

"I didn't say you couldn't..." she whispered into the phone. "Erik..."

"Yes?" he answered, his voice barely above a whisper. She didn't know how to ask him to sing to her. Her courage failed her, her voice failed her. She couldn't speak she couldn't- "Katrina? Are you still there?"

"Sing me." she asked, just like a little girl. He chuckled into the phone, making her smile.

"Sing?" he asked, playfully.

"Yes..." she said, her voice dropping several volume levels.

"Of course." he said, almost instantly launching into the song he sang to her at bedtimes. Her heart was calmed, and she leaned back on her pillows, falling asleep, with no troubled dreams. Erik's angelic voice echoed about her mind, lulling her into a sleep that was deep and dreamless.

That night, Orry dreamed that there were pianos falling from the sky. The discorded notes pounded in his head until he was afraid that he'd go deaf. Laughter filled his dream, laughter from above. Laughter that held a musical quality...

Thank you. I have been inspired by Susan Kay's Phantom. Erik...Erik...pain grips my heart. I wish I could have been there for you...