The Opera ghost's whisper
I do not own anything
Chapter 2
I woke up on a very comfortable bed.
Where was I?
The ceiling looked like I was in some kind of underground, but where? I didn't know Russell's Opera house got somewhere liked this place.
I looked around and the first thing I could see was the bed I had been sleeping on. It had a very strange shape, a shell, and a bird? Everything looked like I was in some kind of old black and white romance movie, but didn't that mean I was the maiden in distress? No way in hell I would be that.
I tried to stand up and looked around, looked like most of the furnishings were made from rocks so that explained why they weren't damaged after such a long time. But why all of them didn't cover in dust was beyond me.
...
Angel….
Come to me strange angel…
I have been waiting for you in the dark…
Yet you chose to leave me behind and go….
" who is there?" I tried to pinpoint where that voice came from, but no luck, it was like the voice was coming from the wall, how could that happen? Only a ghost could do that, and I was sure that wasn't the case. There must be some kind of explanation for this, well, whatever it was…
I looked around, what kind of house with a bed in the middle of the room? Everything seems to be placed around this bed.
I looked over the left corner and I almost had a heart attack. I saw a woman without any clothes on her body, but when I took a closer look, it was just a naked mannequin, wait, usually, they put clothes on the mannequin, and also, I thought there were no such things as a mannequin in the nineteenth century. And this one looked like a real woman, even with technology today, they couldn't make a mannequin that looks so much like a real human being.
The mannequin was beautiful, with long brown hair, looked so much like real hair, and its lips were red and full, the skin was almost perfect, if I didn't touch it, I wouldn't know it was not a real human being.
" Hello?" I walked around. " aren't you such a pretty thing?" I told the mannequin, I knew that was crazy, but I felt like the mannequin understand what I said.
Come to me, my angel….
" huh? Who is there? This is the last time, come out or else!" I was a little annoyed with this situation. How could one minute ago I was sitting in my favorite box and enjoy my favorite opera, then the next, I was in some kind of a haunted basement? And I kept hearing someone whisper strange things in my ears.
This place looked so familiar somehow like I have seen it somewhere before…
So I decided to take a tour around the place to see more. I could see there were a lot of hidden rooms in this place. In one room, I found a huge piano in the middle of it, a cello, and a flute on the left corner, a guitar, and a violin can be seen on the right corner, those musical Instruments looked really old, yet they were not covered in dust or spiderweb. These instruments are carved very elaborately and delicately. They must be handmade.
" It is so weird… I feel like I have seen those before…" I looked around. Where did I see those musical Instruments? Some I could name, some I couldn't and I doubt that I knew how to play any of them.
Then I saw. In the middle of the lake, there was a small island, I could see a huge rock on it, and there were words, red words, like someone wrote those lines with blood.
' where my Angel rests in peace. And one day we shall meet again.'
I continued to read the line. And suddenly, my eye grew wider.
Being a huge Phantom's fan, I could recognize that symbol everywhere.
A mask.
The phantom's symbol…
Was this a grave that the phantom made for his beloved woman?
Was this the famous phantom's lair?
Then why was I here?
What was I doing here?
And how could I get out of here?
I remembered that in the book, they said that the Phantom's home was full of traps, one wrong move and you would be as good as dead. and I didn't want that.
" where is my cell phone?" I could give Russel a call and told him to call someone to help me. maybe they could track my phone and find me here.
" OH MY GOD, JULIAN, WHERE ARE YOU? I WAS SO WORRY… YOU SHOULD THINK ABOUT MY POOR HEART BEFORE PLAYING SUCH A TRICK LIKE THIS…"
"relax, Russ, it is not like I planned to… honestly… I don't even know how or why I am in this place.. and I don't know where I am…" I said, "maybe I did found a hidden tunnel."
"what? What do you mean?"
" well… I was lucky enough to find my phone… but … well, I was in box five watching the show, and the next minute I am where I am right now…" I looked around again. This place did look like the Phantom's home in the movie.
" where are you?"
" I don't know how.. but I think I am in the Phantom's lair, as in his underground house…. As in… you know… I think this place did look like the one in the movie that I used to tell you about…"
" but… I thought it was all just a fiction…"
" I thought so, too. The phantom was all just legend, but look where I am now… yeah… and I think I just found Christine Daae's grave…"
" really?"
" yes."
" if that is the Phantom's home, I suggest you stay where you are, and wait for me, I will call the police, someone that can take you out of there. The Phantom's home is full of traps and who knows, you may drop dead and no one can find you…"
" I know, I know… stop being such a daddy…"
" I am not your 'daddy'. Stop calling me that. And remember what I said, stay where you are…"
" but I am bored..."
" Stay there."
"boring."
" if you fell on something and died, I will pull you up from your grave and I will not say anything but 'I told you so'. So no, stay where you are or else."
" fine."
" I will call the police and have them track your phone, you will find.."
" I know."
Angel….
Come to me…
"huh?" I looked around " who is there?"
" what is it? Julian?"
" I don't know, it is… I think there is someone with me… I keep hearing someone whisper in my ears…"
" …. Julian, don't go anywhere, I will call someone to help you… please, stay where you are…"
"ye…." Suddenly, I felt something hit my head from behind and everything went black again.
oOo
I was alone again in the darkness. All those voices,
Darkness…
Where are you?
" Julian…"
My angel …
My love…
Come to me…
Come to me…
" wake up…"
I have been waiting for so long…
Where are you?
All I want is…
Anywhere you go…
Let me follow you…
That is all I ask of you…
"WAKE UP!"
" huh?" I opened my eyes and saw Russel's worried face looking down at me. " where am I? Russell? Rachel?"
" Oh god, you just took away twenty years of my youth. Man, don't scare me like that… My poor heart can't take it..." Russell sighed. " you just disappeared during the accident and then re-appeared in the old dressing room."
" the old dressing room?"
" well, there is this room, it hasn't been used in a while. I think it is since the accident happened…"
" accident?"
" Julian… you don't know? The legend said that the tragic story that happened between the phantom, the opera diva, and the Vicomte, happened right in this opera house. I did tell you that before."
" yes, I remember you told me that, but I thought it was a joke or something…"
" no, it did happen, or at least that was what I hear. before I bought this opera house, I heard of this legend. It said that there was a young girl, who was taken in by a man with a haft face covered in a white mask's protection, but when she was eighteen years old, she met her childhood friend, who was a Vicomte, again and fell in love with him…"
Suddenly, I felt like something was wrong… I felt like I knew that she didn't fell in love with her childhood friend…
"…. And her teacher saw that the girl was proposed to by the Vicomte. He was angry, so he set a plan to revenge… he kidnapped the girl on the night of his first opera show, and made her chose, him or her lover's life. And the Vicomte and the girl were able to escape and left France, but before their wedding, the man came back and kidnapped the girl again, this time, he didn't let her chose, they said that he raped the poor girl and killed her so that no one would be able to have her…"
After I hear the story from Russell, I felt like there was a cold wind flow on my neck.
Liar….
That is not true…
Angel …
Don't listen to him…
He tried to take you away from me…
There was no such thing as that…
No…
Don't believe in his words...
" Russ?"
" yeah?"
" is that all?"
" yes, what?" he asked.
" well… I felt like there is much more in this story than just that… things are much complicated…."
" well, it is a little different from the story 'phantom of the opera house' you've read."
" no. I think there must be something else… something more important… tells me, Russ, who told you about this story?"
" The last owner of this place."
" huh?"
"yes, he was the one who sold me this opera house. Well, he told me that he has had enough of those ghost stories about this place, and he believes that this place was haunted."
" Russ, you know this place is haunted, then why did you buy it?"
" well, I didn't have much money, my father said if I want to do this, I will have to be on my own, he won't give me anything."
" oh…"
" and, well, I don't know why, but when I first came here, I felt rather…. Familiar with this place. And I won't have to change much around, just fixing things here and there…"
" To say the truth, this place gave me some bad feeling."
" well… let's go home then, there were a lot of things that happened today and both of us could use some rest…"
" what about your opera?"
"well… I just told everyone that the show will be moved to next week, a good thing I gave them free tickets today, you know, for publicity."
" I see. so I will go back to my hotel room then."
" let me and Rachel treat you some homemade dinner."
" great, I will be over around six then."
"good, see you there."
When I turned around to walk out of the opera house. Suddenly, I heard…
Don't go…
It is dangerous…
Stay with me…
This is your home…
I will keep you safe…
" huh?" I took one last look at the old opera house, then walked out in the night. Trying to block those haunting words that the wind whispered in my ears.
I will keep you safe… no matter what it cost…
(TBC)